//------------------------------// // Getting Started // Story: Final Fantasy VII: Darkness in Equestria // by Axel IV //------------------------------// Princess Luna soared over the landscape on her dark chariot, being the only darkness in the land filled with snow. The winds were violent and angry, yet her magic kept nature's power at bay. Her lunar pegasi were fast and strong, flying through the snow swiftly and efficiently, their body pushing through the icy touch of the air. Luna's eyes was on the mountains below, looking for the meteor crash site. It was hard to miss. A massive crater was dug into the earth between two mountains, and the alicorn's breath was taken by its shear size. It could fit all of Canterlot with no problem! This was unheard of. The crater was getting filled with snow, yet for some strange reason it didn't seem all that piled up. It's as though it was giving off some strange heat, or some prevention magic. "Take us down." Luna said, her eyes squinting, "We must immediately investigate." Her stallions nodded, their heads turning below as the chariot began to descend. She saw nothing out of the ordinary. She saw no signs of life, no signs of a struggle...and definitely no signs of any bodies. However, a nervous feeling began to creep into her chest and she had a hard time not asking her pegasi to turn back. she needed to get to the source of this mystery, and she would report back to her sister right away. They landed carefully, the chariot sinking into the snow slightly. Luna jumped off, her hooves hitting against something...solid? "Hmmm..." One of the pegasi glanced around, "Nothing here but snow, your highness." "Odd...." The other shook his head, shaking off the snowflakes, "I had heard word of a struggle, but I see nothing of the sort. Do you suppose the bodies could have been taken?..." Luna kicked her hoof at the ground, feeling another strange object. Her ears flattened as she stared at the ground, beginning to think. It was a familiar kind of feel....something that she would definitely know....She hit a realization, and her horn began to glow. "Stand back and brace yourselves..." Lunar barked, her canterlot voice calling out. The two pegasi hid behind the chariot, the winds around Luna beginning to go wild. With a shout, a large shockwave exploded out around her, the snow flying up in the air, along with the chariot and her two lunar pegasi. A good deal of the snow was kicked up, launched out from the crater. It didn't cover even half the size of the earth scar, however. But it was enough for Luna to confirm her suspicious.; "This..." She took a step back, her eyes the size of watermelons, "No...No...." The familiar feeling she had gotten from that strange object was the toughness of dragon scales. Dragon scales were the toughest, strongest, and most impenetrable material in all of Equestria. Dragons could almost never be harmed, their scales and skin brushing off any attacks that had come across them. But here, she was staring at the bodies of hundreds of dragons. The snow dragons were revered as the most violent and worst of all of the species. And here they were, completely massacred, their bodies ripped and slashed to shreds. Their scales had been completely useless against whatever had attacked them, and she could see the mass amount of frozen blood that had came from their bodies. "Um..." The voice of one of her pegasi stuttered, "Your highness..." Luna whipped her head around, her eyes focusing on the form of her two servants. They were both pointing their hooves at something, their facial expressions surely showing that what they had seen was grotesque and unjustifiable. Luna cleared her throat, approaching them. Then, her gaze found what they had been pointing out to her. "Get the chariot...." Luna said quietly, "We...must immediately see my sister." It was Cloud's first morning living in Twilight's house, and she practically already knew what to expect from him. The night before, he barely said anything at dinner time besides a few nods, and he had gone down into his basement to be alone. He asked her about something like a repair shop nearby, and she had been clearly confused by his question. Ponies had no reason to have something called a "Garage". He then asked if she could somehow supply him with tools and lumber, which only confused her more. What was he trying to possibly build? She was happy that Applejack was willing to lend him whatever she had lying around along with Big Mac's tools. They would bring it all to him today sometime in the morning. She was happy that Pinkie had returned with news that she was completely out of confetti, punch, and that the bakery needed some flour to make the cakes....So the party would have to be set for the day after yesterday...meaning today. They were all relieved, and she was sure a heavy weight had been lifted off of Cloud's shoulders with the news. Yawning, the purple unicorn sat up on the bed, her mane sticking up in strange directions. She laughed lightly, thinking she could pass off for Cloud because of it. That guy did have ridiculous hair. But curiously, she actually liked it, and she was sure her friends found it funny as well. It gave that gloomy guy a strange funny look. Jumping off from the bed, Twilight headed on towards the bathroom. Twilight had been trying to figure out Cloud when she had been laying in bed last night. He was so untrusting, so blunt and harsh. Did he have a problem relying on others? Or was he still just trying to adjust to this world? Were the creatures of his species just the same as he was? Twilight shook it out, determined to find out more about Cloud. Besides, there had to be more to him then what he was implying. Approaching the bathroom door, she heard the shower turn off. Spike never took showers...so it must be Cloud. Shrugging to herself that nothing could go wrong, she reached for the doorknob and pushed open the door. Cloud had been busy all night thinking about how he could build a garage to repair his bike. Sure, he could fix it up in the basement, but there was a lack of light and the strange dust that always appeared would make things annoying. Plus, he would have to have Twilight teleport it outside if he repaired it, and it could break again. He wasn't sure if teleporting did effect it in some way, but he didn't want to give it a chance. Besides, his bike really couldn't be in a worse condition. When he had gotten up from the mattress Twilight had given him, he realized that it had been a while since he cleaned himself up. Normally, he wouldn't of really cared...but it was a habit given to him when he traveled with Tifa and Aerith. His shirt smelled like death, and his pants were almost in the same condition. His gloves needed to be cleaned as well, and his boots had been in who knows what. Unfortunately, he had no other changes of clothes anywhere. Later, he could ask that unicorn Rarity if she could make him something to wear when he washed his gear. Since it was early enough, he decided to wake up and take a shower. Problem was, was that the showers were also pony sized. This led to a very uncomfortable cleansing, which forced Cloud to have to lean down and crouch to get the water to rinse over his entire body. When he finished, he stretched out his muscles and wrapped a towel around his waist, staring into the mirror. For everything that he had been through, every battle and every fight, he had no visible scars. His muscled, light skin body was proof of the mako that had been forced into his body. The power from the lifestream had given him unremarkable strength, and it helped preserve his body. Unfortunately, due to its poisoning, he felt as if he had lost many years off his life. He was left from his thoughts when he heard the doorknob turn. He glanced on over, the door opening up and revealing the purple unicorn. She glanced up, blinking when she saw his face. In half an instant, Cloud pushed her back out onto her back and slammed the door closed, leaning against it. "Hey!" Twilight grumbled from the outside, hitting the door with her hooves, "What did you do that for?!" "I was just done showering. I'm practically naked in here." He said sternly, keeping the door closed with the least amount of effort he could do. "So what?! Everypony is naked in Equestria!" She whined. "Not where I come from." He winced, "Just wait a second. I'll be out." Twilight stomped her hooves angrily on the floor before turning around, sitting down on her flank. What was his problem?! So what if he was naked? He was an entire different species. Surely it wouldn't be awkward, right? After a few moments, the door opened up behind her and Twilight turned. Cloud was standing, before her, with just his boots and pants on. He was drying his hair with a towel, and he glanced down at her, his muscled torso in full view before her. The purple unicorn just stared at him, taking in his body. He seemed...so rough yet so soft. His features were delicate, yet he had a fierce appearance. His hair was still wet and down, and his bright blue eyes were on hers. "Uh..." She attempted to speak, a red blush visible on her cheeks, "Um...I...." "You have any detergent?" Cloud asked, raising an eyebrow at her. "Um...yeah...beneath...the sink..." "Thanks." He walked past her, not even giving her a thought. She kept her eyes where he had been standing, and cursed her own strange behavior. When she saw him, she just couldn't be angry. Sighing, she walked slowly into the bathroom. Applejack was on her way to Twilight's with Big Macintosh in tow, pulling a large wagon filled with whatever lumber they could find lying around in the barn. Surprisingly, there was quite a few just waiting to be used. When they had gone on their way, Applejack was filling up with strange optimism. Maybe she would be the one to make Cloud finally smile. That guy was a large wall of bad emotions, but maybe with a little smile things would pick up. Cloud barely spoke anything to her, but that made her more curious to learn more about him. He was strong but antisocial, and maybe on the inside he was weak. Applejack had a strange urge to help him in anyway, and knew that Pinkie was going to do what she could in order to make him smile. Besides, that Cloud was...cute for what she thought an alien would be. She spotted the blonde haired human beside the library. He had what appeared to be a close line hung up from a branch of Twilight's house to one of his six large swords impale in the ground. He had his shirt and a pair of gloves hung up, and Applejack noticed then that he was completely shirtless. Cloud noticed them come up, and Applejack had a hard time prying her eyes off the muscles on his torso. Why this alien was so good looking really irritated her. "Hey there, feather-head, " Applejack chuckled, "Brought you your lumber. But I'm not sure about this garage thing you want to build. Is it like a barn?" Cloud noticed the big red stallion behind her, dragging a wagon with tons of wood piled in. "Something like that." He replied, keeping his frown to her dismay. He made his way over to the big red stallion, actually able to look him eye to eye. "You Big Macintosh?" Cloud asked. He had heard of him from Applejack the night before. "Eeyup." The red stallion replied, "I'm guessing you're Cloud." "Yeah. Is it fine if I borrow your tools?" "Eeyup." "Thanks. We'll get along great then." "Eeyup." Applejack was speechless. How her quiet, soft-spoken brother was actually getting more words from Cloud then she did was just embarrassing. Cloud directed the large stallion to the largest part of Twilight's yard, and Big Mac proceeded to drop off the wagon. The citizens of Ponyville were just starting to wake up, and each of them gave Cloud curious glances once again. What in Celestia's name was he doing?! Applejack shook her head, entering Twilight's house. Her hooves padded softly on the wood floor, and it wasn't long before Twilight came out of the bathroom looking clean, refreshed, and ready to meet the brand new day. "Hey Twi..." Applejack started, "Um...Cloud's started on his strange garage thing. You wanna see?" "I've got more important things to do!" Twilight responded, still flustered from the encounter in the morning, "Whatever he does doesn't matter to me!" Applejack lifted an eyebrow, "Now hold on, Sugarcube. Princess Celestia wants us to watch over him at all times. I've gotta head back to the farm, and the others are busy with their work as well. You're the only one I can think of that has almost nothing to do today, so I suggest you get to it then." Twilight sighed, making her way down the stairs. Applejack was completely right...she couldn't afford to let Cloud out of her sights. The two mares left her house, and walked the short distance to see what both Cloud and Big Mac were up to. Surprisingly, they had already gotten started. Big Mac was helping Cloud get started, and was giving him building tips as they were starting up on the flooring. Big Mac was greatly talented in carpentry, and if it wasn't for him being in the apple family, a hammer and nails would have been his cutie mark. He had to help Cloud plan out the length and width of the structure, but with Big Mac's math skills that didn't take too long. Watching the handsome, muscular stallion work with the strangely attractive alien was almost a bit too much for Twilight and probably some of the other mares who were watching. Twilight felt like shying away, but knew she had to stay put. Applejack had given her a small goodbye, giving a last glance to the building scene before she trotted away. Evidently, that meant that Big Mac was given the day off in order to help cloud build whatever he was trying to build. And with the incredible strength of the two beings, that might not take as long as Twilight had thought. Author's Note: Looks like Cloud's going to be stuck in Ponyville for a while...Let's hope he doesn't start to develop crazy fan-mares! I don't have any editors or proof readers to help out, but I do what I can. Remember to rate if you like!