Nightmare Moon had just gotten her flank kicked by a tank platoon of US Marines, and was currently performing her best Team Rocket impression.
With shocked fascination I watched the entire battle scene take place. I could not tear my eyes away, yet I could scarcely believe what I saw. My Mistress had survived! I closely followed her attempts to flee the battle, and as such I saw the last shell clip her shield. I watched her subsequent tumble in mid-air, and soar head over hooves over the summit of the mountain.
Looks like Team Rocket's blasting off again!
Sadly, Nightmare Moon's ordeal for the evening was far from over. I watched as her ascent peaked, then arced downwards. Upon hitting its back side, the dark mare bounced and rolled her way down the mountain.
Ouch.
Ouch.
Ouch.
Ouch.
Ow! That'll leave a mark.
Maybe I'd better go down there, in case she needs my help.
I summoned my wings, jumped off the summit and glided down the back side of the mountain towards the ebony mare.
The Mare in the Moon continued to tumble down the mountainside until she reached its base, then rolled limply across the ground until her momentum ran out. Her body bumped into a dead tree that had fallen over, and came to rest in a tangle of feathers and fetlocks. I expected the mare to clamber back to her hooves and fly into a rage, cursing and spitting. So I landed several feet away, then de-summoned my wings. And hoped I was out of kicking range.
Then I waited.
And waited some more.
Uh oh. She should have gotten up by now.
I walked over and sat down on my haunches next to Nightmare Moon, then ran my eyes over the battered and bruised mare.
No blood, but she sure is a mess. Is she even breathing?
My first thought was to reach down and place my hand on her chest. A heartbeat passed before I was rewarded with movement.
Oh, good, she's breathing. Must've just blacked out.
Do I wake her, or let her sleep it off?
I hope she didn't break anything.
Wish she'd taught me some healing spells.
As I could not help my Mistress in any way, I sat down on the desert floor and settled in for a long wait.
A few minutes passed with my only company the night breeze. Out of boredom, I watched a solitary tumbleweed drift by. A slow and dull look around the area revealed naught but flat ground, dead trees and some scrub brush. I was sitting on the trunk of a dead tree, and the mountain Nightmare Moon fell down was off to my right. I could smell the scent of dead and dried wood from the tree, and the aroma of freshly tilled earth. The latter came from Nightmare Moon, who had an incredible amount of dirt ground in to her fur.
I let my eyes rove over the dark mare's unconscious form. I convinced myself I was just looking for injuries despite the fact that I was really bored. I happened to notice her ass wasn't glowing red anymore, such a shame. I also couldn't help noticing the sad state of her armor. Dinged, damaged and dented everywhere I could see.
Man, is she going to be pissed when she wakes up.
While I examined the mess that was Nightmare Moon, my ears picked up something new. The sound was quiet, so quiet I could barely hear it at all. I tried really hard to listen to the sound, in hopes of identifying it.
Sounds like a growl of some sort. Nope, not my stomach growling even though I haven't eaten anything for several days. That's a surprise, I thought I would have at least had SOME hunger pains by now.
The noise slowly got louder, and I looked towards the spot I thought it was coming from. Some several hundred feet behind and off to my right, I could see some light past the edge of the mountain Nighty had just fallen off of. The light bounced up and down, like the owner was driving over some rough terrain.
Wait, 'driving?!'
That's an exhaust note!
The Humvees are heading this way, looking for us!
I had to get Moony here up and moving, or we would be caught! I scrambled over to her side, and shook her frantically.
"Wake up!"
No response. I shook her again.
"Come on, you need to wake up now!"
Her body moved a bit, but I couldn't tell if that was her moving or from me shaking her.
I shifted to sit next to her head, and gently slapped her muzzle.
"Time to wake up, we have to go!"
The roaring of the Humvee engines grew louder, as the first vehicle cleared the corner of the mountain. It was soon joined by its comrade. I figured we only had seconds before we were found.
Aiming downwards, I smacked Moon Butt on her muzzle as hard as I could.
"Wake up you stupid bitch!"
The battered mare groaned lightly, then twitched a hoof.
Finally!
But I was too late. The Humvees had taken up position in the area, and had turned their searchlights on. I was sure we couldn't escape without being seen and shot. I racked my mind for something, anything that would help us get away. If we only had a cloak or something, or a camouflage net to hide us...
My mind flashed to a scene in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, where Frodo saves Sam from discovery by tossing his elvish cloak over the two of them. The magical cloak disguised the hobbits as a large rock. I did not have an elvish cloak, but I had illusion magic! I could make us invisible instead! But would it hold up against the intense light of the searchlights?
There was only one way to find out. I reached for my magic, and cast an invisibility spell over the two of us. From my point-of-view, it was as if we had both become semi-transparent. I looked down at my arm, and realized I could see both Nightmare Moon and the ground below through my flesh. I couldn't tell if Moony's ethereal mane and tail were invisible, they were already see-through. Now the question was, would the illusion work and hide us from view?
I did not have to wait for an answer. One of the searchlights panned over us, lingered for a long and tense moment, then moved away. The brief yet illuminating encounter told me what I wanted to know - neither Nightmare Moon nor I cast a shadow on the ground. Combined with the fact that the Humvees were not racing to our position, I gleefully concluded that the illusion had worked. I let out a quiet sigh of relief.
While my luck was holding, Nightmare Moon's luck was long gone. At that exact moment, she began to wake up. She groaned loudly, apparently still in some pain, and slowly tried to untangle her limbs. Her movement broke the illusion spell, making us visible again! And Moon Butt's grunting noises were loud enough to be heard by the soldiers in the nearest Humvee.
Their spotlight swept in our direction, so I had to act fast! I reached down and grabbed Moon Butt's muzzle, to clamp it closed and muffle her groans. The ebony mare froze in place as I gripped her muzzle tightly. Her eyes snapped open to look at me just as I leaned down to her ear and whispered my command.
"Don't move!"
At the same time, I re-cast the illusion spell and hoped for the best.
The light from the Humvee's spotlight played over our position. It was quickly joined by another. The two lights brightly illuminated our hiding space, lingered for several long moments, then moved on to examine the area all around us.
I let out another quiet sigh of relief. Whispering to my Mistress, I laid out my plan.
"My illusion worked. We just have to wait until they leave, then we can move."
The dark mare did not speak in response, but her muzzle nodded slightly under my hand. I released my grip on her, but left my hand resting on her muzzle just in case she made any other sudden noises. The searchlights covered the ground all around us, but never returned to our position. The urge to run away was really, really strong. But I knew we'd be seen and caught if I did. All I could do was wait and hope that the Humvees left quickly.
Well, the Humvees did move but didn't leave. To my horror, one Humvee was driving directly towards our spot next to the log! They couldn't see us, but what if they ran over us instead? And we couldn't move without being discovered! What could we do?
The Humvee pulled up right next to our hiding place, its left side facing us. As it pulled up and stopped, Nightmare Moon's eyes went wide and I felt her tense up under my hand. I quickly clamped down on her muzzle again, hoping to squash any noise she might have made. Then I slowly turned my head to look at the Humvee's front tire. The Humvee had inadvertently driven over Nightmare Moon's ethereal tail, pinning it under the tire.
Ouch.
I brought my gaze up to the Humvee's windows, and saw the driver looking around for our hiding place. I could hear more soldiers walking around the desert floor on foot. It was a safe bet that they weren't giving up any time soon. Eventually, the silence was broken by voices inside the Humvee.
"Anything?"
"Nothing. Not a damned thing."
A distorted voice came from the Humvee, which I presumed came from the radio.
"See anything?"
The first voice answered.
"Nothing, sir."
"There should be something. We found spots in the dirt where it looks like the thing bounced, and they lead right to you."
"Not sure what to say, sir. Should we search on foot?"
My blood ran cold at those words. If the soldiers got out of the Humvee, they'd trip over us and break the illusion!
"No need. Sergeant Matherson insists he hit it full on, but then there'd be pieces lying all over the place. More likely he missed and the thing flew off. Pack it up and return to our location."
"Roger, on our way."
The Humvee's tire rolled off of Nightmare Moon's tail and the vehicle turned around the way it came. Its tires showered us with dirt and the engine pumped diesel exhaust in our faces as the vehicle accelerated away into the night. The exhaust smell was unpleasant, especially with my new sensitive nose; I had to suppress the urge to sneeze. Slowly as not to break the illusion, I moved my hand to my face to gently rub my nose.
We waited in silence, Nightmare Moon and I, neither daring to move until both vehicles disappeared around the edge of the mountain. As soon as they did, I released the Moon Mare's muzzle and sat back on the ground. The illusion immediately popped, never to return. Nightmare Moon slowly and stiffly untangled her sore body, then managed to sit up facing me. She took several moments to stretch and roll her shoulders, testing out her body to see if she was still hurt. Flapping her wings once and raising a small cloud of dust, she folded them and laid them to rest on her sides.
The Night Mare then frowned at me and voiced her displeasure.
"I did not appreciate being silenced by you in that manner."
Oh great, she's taking out her frustration on me.
"You were about to give us away, I had to act fast. There was no time to ask nicely."
"Hmph. Fine."
She shifted herself around and looked away from me, as if uncomfortable for some reason. A few tense moments passed, and I dropped my arms down into my lap.
Concerned for her health, I spoke up once she had settled herself.
"Are you OK? That looked like it really hurt."
"I am fine. Remember, my magic allows me to heal most any wound at a rapid rate."
"Yeah, but you took two good hits, those must've hurt a lot."
The Night Mare cocked her head to the side in confusion.
"I do not understand. None of their cannon fire struck me."
"Well, something sure hit you hard on your butt, and something else knocked you out of the sky when you were trying to leave. I presumed you got hit."
The Moon Mistress ducked her head and began blushing furiously. And her adorably squeaky voice from earlier returned.
"You saw that?!"
I nodded slowly.
"I saw the whole thing."
"Oh."
Several uncomfortable seconds passed us by. Suddenly, the blushing mare sat up and quickly rattled off the following.
"We should verify that the enemy has left the area."
Without another word, Nightmare Moon jumped to her hooves and took to the air. Surprised at her sudden departure, I sat there watching for a few moments until I realized I should have followed her. Clambering to my feet, I summoned up my wings and took off after the ebony mare.
My eyes looked ahead for my dark Mistress. I saw her not in front of me as expected, but off to my left. It looked like she was aiming for a smaller hill, one that also overlooked the valley the tank platoon was in. She glided behind the hill, then banked right and floated upwards to alight on the hill's summit. About five seconds later, I gently landed to her right and de-summoned my wings. Down in the valley, I saw that the tank platoon was in the midst of leaving. The last tank had nearly turned around, while the rest of the platoon was on the move towards our left. Gunning the throttle, the last M1 Abrams tank quickly picked up speed to catch up to its comrades.
Curious to see her reaction, I turned to look at the dark mare. Instead of curiosity as I expected, I saw another emotion: fear. Her large, expressive eyes were open as far as I imagined they could go. Her jaw gaped open, and I swear I saw her tremble. Her mane lashed the air around it, whipping itself around in a frenzy.
Could her hair get tangled like normal hair? If so, she'll have a hell of a time getting the knots out of it later.
To be quite honest, Nightmare Moon looked TERRIFIED. And she had a good reason, too. These tanks were not only heavily armored and carried heavy firepower, but they were surprisingly mobile. I did not think it would quell her fears, but I felt the urge to explain to her what she was looking at. And consequently, the firepower that she had just faced earlier this evening.
"Mistress."
She slowly turned her head to face me, though her expression did not change. I inclined my head to point her back at the battlefield.
"As I said earlier, the large vehicles are called tanks. They are covered in thick armor, thicker than two hooves in many places. When we first saw them, they were firing tracer rounds which have a special flame on them so they can be seen at night. What they shot at you were likely penetrator rounds, specially designed armor-piercing rounds. You've already experienced how fast they fly."
Still staring at the retreating tank platoon, Nightmare Moon slowly nodded and did not reply.
"The tanks carry smaller weapons on top, which are intended to hit smaller targets. As you saw, they can fire a lot of rounds at once and concentrate their fire. They are trained to focus their fire on one target at a time, making it difficult to defend against them. And as you can also see, they can move very fast too."
Feeling more empathy towards the dark mare, I inched closer to her side and placed a comforting hand on her withers. Her dark flesh twitched slightly under my palm, clearly not expecting the contact. But after a moment, she shuffled her hooves and leaned her side against me. I could feel her muscles trembling and spasming against my armored side. It was a safe bet that she needed the comfort more than she realized.
We stayed on that mountain ridge in silence, merely watching the tank platoon drive off into the distance. The wind blew up and over our hill, bringing the dry smell of the desert up to us. The sounds of the tanks got quieter and quieter until they had faded away completely. All the while, Nightmare Moon did not speak a single word. Only once the dust had settled and all was quiet around us did she voice her inner thoughts.
"Thou...thou spokest the truth. Not with a thousand unicorns would I confront these wheeled demons. Pray tell, how dost one best them?"
"Usually with another tank, Mistress. The penetrator rounds they shot at you are made of a very heavy metal, which destroys its target by simply pushing its way through it. Imagine what a crossbow bolt fired at that speed would do to a pony, Mistress."
The Night Incarnate glanced down at the dirt near her hooves before she replied.
"I can imagine such, my student. I was nearly pierced in such a way several times during my ill-advised assault upon them."
She paused for a moment and licked her lips, as if unsure how to voice her next thoughts.
"I...I must admit to you that the thought of facing these warriors again frightens me a great deal."
Without thinking, I verbalized my next thought.
"Then I wouldn't think too much about the fact that, the friction from that round would end up setting a pony on fire."
The Mare in the Moon gasped in shock, then grimaced as her imagination told her exactly what would happen. Barbecued pony. And the carnivore in me wondered what barbecued pony would taste like, especially with barbecue sauce. Bad carnivore!
"Like I said last night Mistress, my people have much experience in waging war."
I quashed the urge to say, 'I told you so.'
Still facing the dirt in front of her hooves, She of the Night sighed as she mentally tore her plan to conquer this world into a million tiny pieces.
"So I see, my student."
Again, the mare fell silent. I imagine several near-death experiences will get you thinking about your life. Her head still drooped downwards, the dark mare glanced towards her bare foreleg which was still missing its armor covering. Lifting her head back up, she spoke with a firm voice.
"Before we proceed, I must retrieve my missing armor. I can only hope that the warriors did not find it and take it with them."
The Night Mare concentrated for a moment, and her horn lit up with her magicks. A fine line shot out from the tip of her horn and shot across the valley. It appeared to end at a point at the other side of the valley floor.
"Ah, my 'Lost and Found' spell has located my missing armor. I shall retrieve it straight away, then return here."
Nightmare Moon moved a few steps away, then unfurled her wings and prepared to take off. With a powerful flap, she took to the air and soared across the valley. The wind whipped up by her departure ruffled my fur and wound through the gaps in my armor, leaving me pleasantly chilled. I took a deep breath through my nose, and could smell nothing but the clean night air. My eyes followed my Mistress as she quickly crossed the valley floor and alighted on the ground some distance away.
I could barely see her lift something up in her magic, then place her bare hoof into it. With a flap of her wings, she took to the air again - but immediately stopped to look down upon the ground. Her magic picked up the item again, but this time she carried it with her while she returned to my spot on the hill. Hovering to a gentle landing nearby, Nightmare Moon smiled at me and revealed her prize: her missing piece of armor. As she levitated the metal across our field of vision, she explained what had happened on the valley floor.
"It seems my missing armor is sufficiently damaged that it will no longer stay on my hoof unaided."
Her magic smoothly floated the piece of armor back across to the front of her body. In one fluid motion, she lifted her bare leg and magically slid the piece of armor on to her hoof. Letting her horn go dark, she then placed her hoof back on the ground to pin the armor down and keep it from falling off.
Her horn lit again, but this time I recognized the magic: the Armor Repair spell. At first, she concentrated the spell's power on her recovered piece of armor. I watched as the broken leather straps stretched over her fur and the pieces knitted themselves back together. Then saw the metal on the armor began to bend itself back into its proper place. All of this happened without a sound.
It's so weird to see metal bend so far without hearing the metal screech and scream.
The Moon Mare next allowed the spell to cover her entire body. The deformed and damaged metal of her full set of armor then began to repair itself. Seconds passed while the spell worked, re-shaping metal and stitching straps, then the magic blinked out without warning. It appeared to have done its job, as Nightmare Moon's armor looked intact and in good repair though it was still tarnished.
A quick flash of an Armor Polishing and Overall Cleansing spell, and Nightmare Moon looked brand-spanking new. Once again restored to her natural beauty, her clean and scrubbed ebony fur rippled under gleaming armor. Armor that looked like it had been polished until it gently reflected the moonlight.
The dark mare sighed in absolute bliss.
"Ah, to be clean and restored at last."
I gave my Mistress a wide smile and a thumbs-up, and didn't care if she understood it.
"Looking good, Mistress."
The Night Incarnate slipped on a smug and indulgent look, and briefly strutted around the hilltop.
"Why yes, I do look good. Your praise is welcomed and appreciated."
My eyes rolled at her antics.
"So, what's the plan for the rest of the evening, Mistress? I imagine we're not going to prance around in the desert all evening."
The Night Mare ceased her strutting and addressed me directly. She lifted a hoof to her chest, and made her proclamation.
"Of course not, my student. Our plan is - was -"
The smug look dropped off her face like it was made of lead.
"Oh."
The Moon Mistress visibly wilted and seemed to shrink into her armor. Her upraised hoof dropped bonelessly to the ground. Hesitantly, she spoke a bit quieter this time.
"I confess, after my failure this evening I am not certain how to proceed."
"Well, I know we're going to need a LOT more trained warriors before we try to attack a force like that."
"There will not be any more warriors, my student."
"What, you're giving up?"
Nightmare Moon shook her head slowly at my words.
"Nay, my student. You have misunderstood the meaning of my words. Our army shall not be increased by new warriors that can wield magic. It must grow instead by absorbing the non-magical denizens of this world."
She turned to look in the direction the tank platoon had driven off to.
"And hopefully a number of these fighting machines as well."
"I'm confused. Why wouldn't you train more people, like you trained me?"
When she turned back towards me, she had a look of sadness over her muzzle.
"Two nights ago, while you were resting after your shield exercises, I cast several spells to scry for more warriors. As before, none could be found."
After a moment's thought, I concluded that her spell had to have gone wrong.
"That can't be right, Mistress. I know there are many more warriors that are much, much better than me. Even with your training."
"Not true, my student. Due to my ministrations, you are now a mage. A wielder of magic. The fact that you are freshly trained makes no real difference."
The dark mare looked away and across the valley floor.
"Unless those like you are especially adept at concealing themselves, I have determined that you are the only mage that is native to this world."
"Woah."
Glancing over at me, she nodded once.
"Indeed. Be assured that my search for more warriors was very thorough. To verify my search results were accurate, each one was separated into distinct pieces."
The Night Mare brought up her hoof and gestured with it as if counting off tasks with an imaginary hand.
"My spells found non-magical warriors too numerous to count, countless natives willing to serve me unconditionally, and an untold number with better knowledge of this world than thee."
Placing her hoof back down on the ground, she looked directly into my eyes.
"But none that have all I require. Only you."
In other words, I'm far from the best but I have enough of everything she needs. And was lucky enough to be close enough when she did her magical search.
"So, you're stuck with me then."
The Moon Mistress returned my lukewarm smile with a warm, genuine one.
"While that interpretation is accurate, it is not the one I would have chosen. Forsooth, disposing of thee and training warriors to replace thee would be a poor choice. Making thee battle-ready has taxed me far more than I foresaw, especially while imbuing thee with flight."
The Night Incarnate brought her hoof back up to gesture again as she spoke.
"Withal, only so much of my magical essence can be spared before I am too diminished to fight effectively. Further, as your training consumed more and more of my time and magical energy I chose to end my search for more warriors."
Noticing my expression had changed to one of sorrow, Nightmare Moon tilted her head in confusion.
"Is something wrong, my student?"
"Did making me a magical creature permanently damage your magic, Mistress?"
"Why wouldst thou think...ah, I understand now. Do not fear, my magical essence will recover in time. The amount necessary to seed thy form was small and shall not impact my ability to channel magic. You have my guarantee, my student, that creating thee did not do me permanent harm. Though your concern is most appreciated."
"Then why the worry of diminishing yourself?"
"One or two warriors created using a portion of my magical essence is of no concern to me, but two warriors are insufficient for my needs. Ten warriors would require some time to recover from. An entire legion? Impossible. Even if a legion of mages could be feasibly created, hiding them would be an impossibility. Discovery of such a force before it was properly trained would be disastrous."
Nightmare Moon grimaced at her next thought before she continued.
"Besides, I wish to conquer as much of this world as possible before my sister arrives. It is a certainty that she will discover I was not destroyed by the Elements of Harmony, but escaped to another world instead. In time, my sister or her student will determine where it is that I have escaped to. She will then come here posthaste to confront me.
"I suspect that she will try to treaty with the rulers of this world, in order to elicit their help in defeating me. That must not happen. Thus, our conquest of this world must be as swift as possible."
Not destroyed by the elements, huh? I guess that invalidates the entire My Little Pony series, since the second episode heralded the defeat of Nightmare Moon. Or maybe she's from an alternate universe? Ah, I'll probably never know. Oh hey, she's giving me a curious look. Did I miss something?
"Yes, Mistress?"
"I was certain that thy greatest concern would be that I had considered replacing thee with other warriors. Does this not concern thee?"
"Huh? Oh! Uh, no I'm not worried. You did also say that it was a bad idea, after all. I guess I was too busy thinking about how much making me had hurt you."
"Mmm, I see. As I said, any minor hurt incurred while creating you is easily healed."
Blushing slightly, the Mare in the Moon continued her reassurances.
"Besides, you have one additional quality that I do not wish to find elsewhere."
"Oh? What's that?"
The Mare in the Moon smirked knowingly at me.
"Thy skill in kissing. Or hast thou forgotten so soon?"
Fuck no.
"Perhaps I need a reminder, Mistress."
"It would please me to give you several reminders, but they must await until our tasks this evening have been completed. For now, we must decide on our current course of action."
The ebony mare gestured off in the direction the tank platoon had driven off in.
"Attacking this fortress is no longer a viable choice for the evening. We must find a smaller target, then increase our forces slowly until they can properly combat these...tanks, was it?"
Nodding in response, I ran my internal monologue while I thought her words over.
Smaller target, smaller target...what kind of military base has low firepower...aha!
"How about a police station, Mistress?"
"I do not know what a 'police station' is, my student."
I keep forgetting how little she knows of this world.
"Oh. Uh, it's a local guard station whose primary role is to keep the peace and enforce the local laws. They um...aren't trained like an army, but to deal with local disturbances such as theft and public drunkenness. I would imagine they would pose a much smaller threat to us."
"Excellent! Lead us to this...'police station', my student!"
Easier said than done.
The name of the Marine base told me approximately where we were; still in Southern California but about 200 miles east of where I met Moony here. Sadly, I was not familiar with the local area. To be honest, if the local police station wasn't down the street from the gym I worked out at I wouldn't be able to tell you where it was.
If only I still had my smartphone, I could pull up Google Maps and get a GPS lock to help us out. Sadly, no dice.
Maybe the Moon Mare could help me get my bearings? Couldn't hurt to ask.
"Mistress?"
"Yes?"
"Could you tell me where the sun will rise from? I'm trying to figure out which direction to head towards."
Closing her eyes for a moment, the dark mare gestured with a wing behind us. I noted that it was in the general direction of the sign we stopped at earlier this evening.
"There. We have several hours before the sun rises."
Alright, that direction is east. Meaning that we're on the east side of the Marine base. The city of Twentynine Palms is just to the south of the base, but if we don't want to attract attention we can't fly through the base grounds. We'll have to skirt the east edge of the base perimeter to get to the city further south.
I informed the Dark Mistress of my plan, and with a flap of our wings we were airborne. We flew towards the sign from earlier, then banked right just as we passed over it.
The base can't be THAT big. We should find Twentynine Palms in no time.