//------------------------------// // Ch3: RE;organization // Story: Equestria: The Afterlife // by Timzocker201 //------------------------------// POV: Markus So, my first night in an equestrian bed went by without any notable events. Not that I was awaiting a changeling attack in my sleep or something, but waking up and seeing neither Pinkie Pie pulling me to a party, nor Twilight throwing another wave of questions my way actually surprised me more, than a Surprise-Party could have. Nevertheless I was quick to get out of bed, as I wanted to get as much of my time possible to be actively spent on something. The guest bed twilight gave me was placed just like in that sleepover-episode, in Twilight’s bedroom, just across the room from her own bed. I went down the stairs into the main room of the library, where I could hear that Twilight was already rambling about, trying to make breakfast with Spike. I would say, that this reminded me of my wife at home, if I would have ever had one that is. I never actually bothered looking for one, as I was busy enjoying myself in the military. Also I couldn’t bear the thought of my potential family mourning over my death, if I was to die. Thinking about this now, maybe I should ask Pinkie Pie to throw me a “told ya!” – Party? As I casually strolled through the room towards what I would call the kitchen, I gazed over the bookshelves in the walls. While not as impressive as the ones she will have at her castle later on, this is still quite an extensive collection. I guess I will acquaint myself with most of them later on, especially the ones about magic and magic usage. For the moment though, I went to Twilight, as my stomach already started lamenting and I preferred to save my rations for when I really needed them. As I walked into the kitchen, I saw Twilight swinging a pan with her magic, while Spike was balancing a large Pile of pancakes towards the table. I slowly entered the room and Twilight greeted me with a grin. “Good morning, Markus. I hope you had a good night?” I quickly nodded and took in the smell of fresh pancakes. Twilight turned herself toward me, placing the pan back on the stove. She started pacing towards me in an awkward manner. That’s when I noticed, she was wearing an apron. Did she even need an apron? I mean, levitating the pan around with magic would hardly put you in danger of burning your coat, especially for someone as skilled as Twilight. I also noticed one far more crucial detail: she was missing her wings. She stopped only inches in front of me and started extending a hoof towards my belly. “You know, I was bored last night. Maybe you can ease my boredom a little tonight?” I immediately grabbed her throat and started pressing with my left hand, while with my right hand, I took my knife from my leg holster and cut off her horn. “Who are you, where are we, what happened to Twilight and Spike? Quick answers, no questions, no side trails or elongated Background Stories, understood?” I started demanding with the best interrogative voice I could imitate. Suddenly though, the wannabe Twilight started fading, as did Spike and the rest of my surroundings. It was dark. Again. I looked around me, as a single bright speck emerged in the void, slowly growing larger, revealing a dark blue alicorn mare with a flowing mane depicting a night sky, Luna. I chuckled slightly and put my knife back into its holster. “So that would make this a dream, huh?” I quickly determined. “So my sister was right, you are quite dangerous, grabbing our dear Twilight like that.” She said in a serious voice, as she moved towards me. “I created this dream for you as a test, how you would react. If you would’ve taken the offer, I could’ve been sure that you were harmless, however you attacked poor Twilight the instant she was close enough.” “So I was right, Celestia didn’t offer me a position in the military because she needs officers, but because she wants to have an eye on me. After all she is the only one who could’ve told Luna about me and her opinion is clearly biased. I should try and gain their trust as soon as possible, or else my life here will get very difficult. Though, I might just leave Celestia at least a bit wary around me. After all, some minor show-offs and power comparisons should make for some good fun.” “I will keep an eye on you, so don’t you dare even dreaming about harming our little ponies.” Saying that, she disappeared through another speck in the void and my dream ended. I awoke in the early morning hours in the guest bed Twilight gave me. Immediately after waking up, I pinched my arm. Sure enough, I was awake this time. I slowly rose from my bed and put on my woodland camo uniform. “Using my Uniform all the time is not exactly practical.” I thought to myself. “Maybe I can ask Rarity later on to make me some civilian clothes?” Out of habit, I put on my vest too and grabbed my Rifle, hanging it around my shoulder. I walked over to Twilight, who was still sleeping, and slightly moved her blanket. Sure enough: Wings. I left a note on the bed and went out for a morning stroll. As I felt the cool air run through my hair, I noticed that every time until now when I was in Uniform and outside, I was either wearing a Fieldcap or my Helmet. Since my Fieldcap didn’t get transported here and my Helmet was still inside the golden oaks library, I was currently wearing neither, making me feel slightly awkward. After standing in front of the door for a while, I decided that I would head into the Everfree and meet Zecora first. After all, if I want to learn more about the alchemy and natural magic of this world, I would have had to acquaint myself with her sooner or later. My only problem was that I didn’t know the exact location of her hut, so I had to guess and march blindly, following trails, which I presumed were from Ponies visiting Zecora themselves. I strolled blindly for a while, until I noticed a silhouette between the trees next to me. I swung around, raising my rifle as I was expecting a Timberwolf lunging towards me. Instead I found a pretty surprised Zebra looking into the muzzle. “I apologize for the surprise, I do. But may I ask: who are you?” I lowered my rifle and took a relaxed stance, as I identified the silhouette as Zecora. “I am Markus Becker, the newest addition to the Ponyville townsfolk, Zecora. I thought I would come by and properly introduce myself to you before I would one day need your help and you didn’t know about me.” She mustered me for a short while, visibly not sure what to say – or what to rhyme. She was about to say something as I heard the bushes behind me start to rustle. Zecora quickly averted her gaze and put her hoof over her face. “As dreadful as it may sound, you should not turn around.” She said with her hoof still covering her eyes. “Is it one of those pesky half-dragon-half-chicken-things, that’s currently standing behind me?” Zecora gave me a slight nod, while turning away. I in the meantime closed my eyes myself, concentrating on hearing. I heard the thing slightly pace around behind me, probably unsure of what I am. I turned around, sweeping low with my leg. The beast, just as I expected, managed to evade. I grabbed my Rifle and rammed its Stock in the direction of the flapping noise. It connected with an audible snap, followed by a thud a few meters away. I waited for a few seconds, listening for movement. Then I rose back to my feet, still keeping my eyes closed and pushing my feet over the ground into the direction where I heard the thud. After a few steps, my left foot hit something soft. I examined it with my hand and found it to be a chicken body. I felt for the chickens Head, stomping it when I found it. I reopened my eyes, slowly gazing down to my foot. Sure enough, it was that dragon-chicken. “You can open your eyes now, Zecora.” I called over my shoulder. “That dragon-chicken thing is dead.” She lifted her hoof off her face, taking the fact that I just killed a living being rather calmly, to the outside at least. “While a chicken indeed it is, we call it: a Cockatrice. But even though its intentions were ill, did you really need to kill?” I turned around to her again, which made her take a step back. In the future, I should really think twice or at least announce it before I step in for a lethal takedown. Thinking back, I actually am glad, that Fluttershy wasn’t there to see this whole ordeal go down, or else she might have done to me, what I did to that Cockatrice. Nevertheless, Zecora and I went to her Hut after that, because she wanted me to deliver something to Applejack, if I was to come by her Orchard somehow. Bonus for me: I finally know how to get to the Hut. I actually managed to walk past it by several hundred meters. I took my leave soon after Zecora gave me the small bottle for Applejack. I decided that, since I was tasked to anyways, I would head to her next. Where I definitely want to head then is Rainbow Dash’s. Even though I most likely won’t reach her house, at least gazing upon it should be doable. It was sunrise by now and I actually happened upon a few very surprised Ponies on the way to the Orchard. Funnily enough I actually couldn’t name any of them, apart from Scootaloo, who nearly crashed into me on her way to the CMC Clubhouse. Since the Clubhouse was located at Sweet Apple Acres, I figured we could walk alongside each other for the time being. “So, I guess you’re now officially staying here, huh?” Scootaloo suddenly asked, plucking me out of my thoughts. “Huh?” I mumbled, “Oh, yes, I am now an official Ponyville-Resident. At least I don’t plan on moving anywhere else. Though, I have enlisted myself in the Royal Guard as an officer, so it’s basically up to where Celestia sends me.” We walked for a bit more, when Scootaloo suddenly stopped and let her ears hang low. “I-I wanted to say that I’m sorry again for what happened at the Orchard yesterday. I mean, if you didn’t react as quickly as you did, we might be dead.” I have to say, as you probably have guessed by now, I am not really one to get very emotional around any situation for that matter. However I felt that, standing there like this, the poor Scootaloo was actually just adorable. I knelt down beside her and started stroking her mane. Her ears perked up on this and she started staring into my eyes. “It’s okay Scoots, I’m just glad that none of you got hurt in the blast. Although I must say, it’s a shame for the Grenade. I just have one more left and although I of course hope I won’t have to use it, my soldier-sense tells me otherwise…” Soon we were at Sweet Apple Acres and Scootaloo went off to the clubhouse. I on my part walked straight to the Farmhouse, where I saw Big Mac working on a broken fence, which comedically tilted every time he was about to strike a nail into it. I went over to him and helped him stabilize the fence, while he worked on it. After that was taken care of, I asked him where Applejack was and he pointed out into the Orchard. In hindsight, I must say that I don’t know what else I was expecting her to be doing. So I wandered out into the Orchard, gazing upon the rows and rows of Appletrees and soon noticing… that I forgot to eat breakfast. I paced further, soon hearing the sound of wood being hit with a blunt object, presumably hooves. A few meters further yet, I finally met Applejack, who was kicking away at the trees, raining apples into the wooden tubs she placed around them. I closed the distance between us, but Applejack was too busy to notice me at first. Either that, or the stomps from my heavy military boots were just imagination. I was standing right beside her, when Applejack went for another buck. It was then that she noticed me and, through her surprise, missed the tree by a good bit. I immediately stepped in and catched her with one arm, before lifting her to her hooves again. That is when I saw her blush and I remembered the anatomy of ponies. I quickly examined my glove in the hopes that I would not find, what I was looking for. Sure enough, there was quite a lot of sweat on it now, but the substance I thought I would be seeing luckily was not. I breathed a short sigh of relief, as being charged for sexual Harassment on the second day of being here wouldn’t really make for a good impression. Having that minor horror out of the way, I looked back at Applejack. “Why are you blushing? Did I do something that I might regret?” I gave her a slight smile and she smiled back, shaking her head. “Nah don’t ya worry. It’s just that it’s mostly common sense for ponies to not touch a mare’s belly, unless you’re very close. So you may wanna watch out, if you are going to help any other mares ‘round town.” “Note to self: be a dick, even if it means letting a Pony fall flat on its face. Ok, that’s going to get interesting.” After a moment of slightly awkward silence, I remembered why I was here at all and handed her the small bottle. Apparently it’s a strong insecticide she needs every now and then. As a thanks for bringing it to her, she gave me an apple from one of the tubs. I thanked her and bit into it. Truly, those Apples are quite sweet and juicy indeed. In fact, that particular Apple was so awfully sweet, that it almost killed my taste buds. I almost immediately started choking and coughing, sending a mush of chewed applepieces flying to the ground. “Are you okay? There wasn’t anythin’ funny inside, wasn’t there?” She looked at me with a hint of concern on her face. Suddenly though, she made a step back, dropping her ears behind her head. “You- You ain’t a carnivore, are ya?” She took a slightly lower stance, obviously ready to either buck me in the head or turn tail and run, should I decide to try and attack her. “Well, actually yes and no. I am an Omnivore, meaning that I eat both, fruit and vegetables, as well as meat. However do not worry; I won’t eat any of you Ponies, unless I absolutely have to.” “And which case would be >>absolutely have to<eat< and >flank< in one sentence after the situation we just had should also be avoided as good as possible.” Applejack was now finally convinced enough, that she would lower her guard. After that slight situation we had, I felt like I shouldn’t just leave it at that, so I offered helping with the bucking a bit. Applejack was at first surprised and thanked me for the offer, but she wasn’t sure if I could bring about enough force with just two legs. I decided that acting shows better than just saying and so I Karate-kicked the tree behind me with so much force that I almost made the branches fall off too. And thus, before long I found myself kicking away at trees for the next hour or so. When we reached the end of the row, Applejack thanked me thoroughly and after I helped her store the Apples, she asked if she should have me for lunch as thanks, but I refused. After all, I still had a good bit of exploring to do and I wanted to be back at Twilight’s by afternoon. With that I bid my farewell and left. The sun had risen a fair bit by now and I decided, that I would first go to Fluttershy’s, before then making a short stroll over to Rainbow Dash’s. Admittedly though: the decision to head to Fluttershy’s next wasn’t based on curiosity or any errand that needed to be done. Rather it was something that hit me, when Applejack asked about my diet: I wouldn’t get any meat around here unless I would hunt it for myself, which I would gladly do. The problem with that however was, that if she were to spot me during a hunt, Fluttershy would probably lynch me. Thus I decided that, in order to get some meat, I would have to get Hunting-permission from Fluttershy first and – I kid you not – I was actually a bit scared. Fluttershy’s hut was a lot less difficult to find than I had thought it would be. In the series it was always depicted as if Fluttershy would be living in the outskirts of the Everfree, but I actually found her hut a good few hundred meters away in a small patch of forestry. It figures though, with all those evil creatures living in there, I think she would go mad from fear, even though, or maybe even because she can speak with animals. I knocked on her door and waited for her to greet me in before entering. The inside of the cottage was just as one would imagine it to be. It was clean, orderly and full to the brim with animals of different kinds. Seeing this variety of animals before me actually made me question my intent of asking her about hunting rights, after all those animals would probably not react kindly to someone asking for the right to kill them. Instead I started playing around the question for a while, before changing the subject to my own species. I specifically trailed the conversation towards the thematic of diet. When I felt, we had reached the spot, I came to my point and told her about my intentions to go hunting. To my surprise, she wasn’t even mad at me. She just accepted and gave me the permission right away, saying that she can’t deny me a necessity such as food, when there are already predators out there killing to eat. As I stepped outside the hut, I noticed the sun being actually further up its path than it should be. Could it be that Celestia overslept and quickly made it become noon? In any case, there was no time for me to visit Rainbow Dash anymore, as I quickly needed to head back to town or else Twilight might get worried. Back in Ponyville, instead of going straight to Twilight’s though, I made a turn for Carousel Boutique and visited Rarity. A little time could still be spared, after all. As I entered the Boutique, Rarity was currently working on a new dress and didn’t notice me at first. – I swear, either my boots got enchanted when I got here, or those Ponies need hearing aids. What’s it with them not noticing me today? – Having learned from my Mistake at Applejack’s, I stood at the entrance and announced myself properly this time around. Rarity stopped working on her dress and turned around to greet me. “Good morning, Markus, Darling! I take it, you’ve decided on ditching that positively dreadful attire of yours and take a more fashionable approach?” I stood calmly at the entrance, giving her a friendly smile. To the inside however I was actually considering giving her a fresh taste of my boot for yet again insulting my uniform and thus, indirectly, my home country. Though I couldn’t deny that what she said was actually partway true, as I wanted her to make me some civilian clothes to use, when I’m not on duty. “Well, while I certainly won’t ditch my Uniform, I actually do need some civilian clothes to be made. I thought that maybe the most talented fashion designer in Ponyville could help me out on this one? Though by all means, please try to not make it perfect for looks but instead focus on quality and sturdiness. After all, not being in Uniform does not mean being free from trouble, as you might know and especially with you six around.” It seemed like Rarity wanted to say something about that, but she was cut off by a well-known, winged, lavender-colored Rhino bursting through the front door, with a pretty angry face and a hastily written note magically floating beside her. “Ah shit, that won’t end well…”