//------------------------------// // It’s Been a Year // Story: Before the Night // by Nugget27 //------------------------------// So, what happens when you decide to break the sound barrier? A fucking rainbow apparently. Wanna know how I know this? Well, it all started when I decided to go on my flying-super training arc or whatever. Luna’s hoof to hoof combat took priority over my training arc over the last few months, but I still took every chance I got to fly. It was actually kinda cool once I figured out how to land, slow down, and actually get to places without destroying everything on the way there. It was to the point where Celestia was actually impressed with how accurate and quick I was while flying. I still pushed myself harder, trying to go faster, and faster, and faster. Blaze often started barking her head off whenever I started going too fast for her to even keep up with me. It was kind of hilarious to see the usually calm and collected kitsune losing her shit because she couldn’t keep an eye on me and was panicking slightly over it. Blaze didn’t think that was funny, so I ended up getting sat on for making her worry about me. So I was happily just laying there, coming up with the calculations to go even faster so I could finally break that sound barrier… But something more important was coming up. It was my anniversary. Not for my relationship with Luna, no, that was next year(we officially got hooked up with our date a couple of weeks ago). No, it’s been a whole year since I became a pony and woke up in Equestria. On one hand, what in the holiness of shits, secondly time sure does fly when you grow a pair of wings, a butt tattoo that nobody will tell me about, and suddenly not be a hairless-ape anymore. Instead, you wake up as a yellowish, orangish pegasus with a black mane. So I guess I was supposed to try and find people to celebrate it with… It didn’t even take me a year to crack and fall in love with a pony.  I guess that shows how awesome Luna is. What isn’t awesome is the suit and tie I have to wear. Because I guess my existence requires that a ball should be thrown in my honor as ‘the Hero of Everfree’ even though the nobles still wouldn’t touch me with a ten foot pole. “So why are we doing this?” I asked as I looked over my suit, which I thought looked fucking stupid. “Like why are we holding a ball in my honor? I’m just some dude; I’m not worth celebrating.” “Well Ostri,” Celestia said from behind a dressing curtain. “You are technically a national hero, because you led the charge against that griffin charge, and then killed every single one of them. “Celestia spat that last bit out. “And as much as I do not like your more violent methods, I cannot deny how effective they are. If nothing else, you have my guards wanting to ask you about more war tactics from your race, and the one you already shared will revolutionize how Equestria fights its future battles. For that, I can at least thank you; even I thought the more honorable way of fighting was stupid.” “But is me killing a whole army really worth celebrating? I mean yeah, I was dead set on it, but that’s because they were attacking my home. Those guys had their own homes, families, and lives to live and all I did was put an end to it because their leader wanted to fuck with my home.” “Ostri, last time I thought like that, I lost a battle and half of my stallions. Just do not listen to thoughts like that; all it will do is come back to haunt you. Just know that you did what you had to, and that you did a good job at it,” Celestia hummed. “This will also be your award ceremony. I believe Sir Ostri rolls off the tongue quite nicely, don’t you say, Luna?” They were behind the same curtain.  “It does, doesn’t it? Prince Ostri would also roll off the tongue quite nicely.” “What’s with the curtain anyways?” “It’s rude to watch a lady get dressed,” Celestia sing-songed.  “You guys-” “Girls.” “Go fuck yourself, Celly. Anyways, I see you two naked and literally slept with Luna; I don’t think it’s that taboo. With Luna, I’d get it; she’s hot as fuck and I wanna have my brain fried when I see her in a dress. With you, I don’t get it.” “Who knows? You might find me attractive.” “Sister, get your own coltfriend; we may be allowed to share him, but I am not sharing him.” “And humans are all about only having one partner… having more than one is a taboo. Just having sex with another woman is a taboo. It won’t stop anyone from doing so, but I just want two in my life. Since one of them was gonna be my Mom, I guess there’s only one I can have in life, and that’s gonna be the woman I wanna marry.” I couldn’t help but chuckle at the mares’ silence after my joke. “You guys are still not used to me joking about my family, or lack thereof?”  “I’m just shocked that you joked about that,” Luna then chose now to step out from behind the curtain wearing the prettiest dress I’ve ever seen. It was a simple, black dress with sparkles in it, like the stars in the night sky. It hugged her barrel so tightly that it’s like Luna chose the dress because of how well it showed off her figure. The skirt ended off at her hinglegs’ ankles, but still allowed her tail to poke through. Her mane and tail were tied and it made her look younger… I just let my jaw hang while Luna showed herself off for my eyes to feast on the optical buffet before me. “And Blaze tells me not to worry about how I’m dating you…” I whispered. Oh, and Celestia came out wearing a dress, one that was a lot more ornamental than Luna’s, and a lot less form fitting. It was a white dress with yellow trimmings, fit loosely around her barrel, and ended where just short of the ground. Her tail also stuck out. Overall, Celestia was pretty and all, but Luna was simply breathtaking. I blinked a couple times at the sight of both of them and took a deep breath. “Well, how do we look?” Celestia asked. “Luna’s sexy and you’re pretty looking. Like Luna, what the actual hell? Why do you gotta be hotter than the Princess that is magically tied to the sun?” Luna giggled and kissed me on the nose.  “And you are quite handsome. I must admit that your coat makes your black suit stick out more. It’s quite lovely.” I then planted a kiss on her lips, and couldn’t help but love the shocked look in her eyes when I cut her off in such a way. The two of us shared a kiss until Blaze broke through the doors and tackled me.  “You and Luna need to just get married and mate already; you two reek of hormones.” “But-” “You sentient races are stupid. Just find a female, or male, that you love and mate with them!” Blaze chuckled before letting me up. “I can’t believe it’s nearly been a year since you’ve come to try and murder me!” Luna blinked. “Oh shush, I know you or your sister posted that job on the bulletin board a year ago. I must admit, I am glad you did because I got to obtain a stallion that I quite enjoy serving. His hooves are nigh heavenly when it comes to pampering as I’m sure you’ve found out.” “Can we just go to the party and get it over with? I want to get out of this suit as soon as possible-” “If you keep the suit on all night and stay until the ball is over, I’ll show you a surprise,” Luna said with a sly grin. Oh. Okay. I guess I like suits now. The three of us quickly made it out into the ballroom, it was full of stuffy nobles that all stared at us as we walked on up. A couple older dudes tried hitting on Celestia, but steer clear of us as soon as they saw Luna. Despite the fact that their eyes tried getting a peek at her hips. Of course, Luna didn’t mind, but I had to open my mouth. “Oi, if you’re gonna think my marefriend is a psycho, at least don’t try stealing looks at her.” “What?” “Yeah, I’m dating Luna, and I see you’re taking peeks at her.” “So you’re that degenerate we’ve heard rumors about… the stupid pegasus-” “So being in love with a Princess makes you a degenerate? Odd, but whatever.” I nuzzled Luna. “At least she can be polite unlike you fuckwads…” I grinned. “Bet you two would be perfect together; you’re both assholes and I bet you could fill each other pretty easily.” Both stallions just stood agape at me, while Luna was doing her best to not burst out laughing. Celestia just stood off to the side with a peaceful little smile, a trick I taught her, but the glint in her eyes told me she found what I just told them to be pretty funny. “Anyways, good day to you two, or night. Preferably night, the Night’s pretty nice.” With that, me and Luna decided now was a good time to break off from Celestia. We quickly found ourselves on the dance floor, and the two of us shared a dance. Well, Luna led the dance, and was the only one dancing. I was just following her lead and trying my damned best to not fuck up from doing a fancy dance on four legs. I tripped anyways, but Luna managed to catch me, kiss me, and then put me back on my hooves. In turn, I draped a wing over her, an apparent sign of ultimate affection amongst pegasi, and walked her back to Celestia, where she was on stage when she beckoned us up to her. Sitting next to her was a blond unicorn, who looked fairly muscular and pretty fucking the strong. The two of them were happily chatting away about cake, just… Yeah, I think Celestia just found herself a boyfriend. I see her eying his pristine, white coat while the stallion admires her. Yeah, if those two end up dating, I wouldn’t be surprised. “Hello Luna, Ostri. This is Sea Blueblood, a friend of mine….” Celestia bent that long neck of hers and nuzzled her ‘friend’. Yeah, you two are gonna end up in bed together, fucking more than a pair of rabbits do. “We’re about to begin your award ceremony. Are you ready, Ostri?” “Nope.” I nodded to the Blueblood fellow. “Nice to meet ya, I bet you and Tia are gonna be having some… fun later?” Blueblood chuckled. “Not just yet, Princess Celestia and I have only begun dating a week ago. She just kept our relationship underwraps. I’ve heard quite a bit about you, about how you chose to lead the charge against a clan of griffins. It’s quite impressive and takes a lot of bravery to do what you did. Even if your idea of a proper battle is a bit warped, I would probably be dead if you chose to go about the battle in a ‘proper’ way.” “I was just defending my home. I don’t give a shit about honor, my dude. What I cared about was that Luna was threatened, my home was threatened, and by extension, I was threatened. I know how tough a griffin is; they’re predators after all.” Blueblood nodded in agreement. “So I made damn sure that they, and everybody else knows this: They mess with my home, or the woman I love, then I will retaliate and make sure that they won’t be around to keep making threats or advances.” “You did a fine job at that; another griffin tribe sent me a letter requesting to come and become allies with us,” Celestia hummed. “Your methods were pretty violent, though.” “Again, they threatened you and Luna. You and I may not see eye to eye, but I’d like to think that we’re friends despite that. And I’m dating your little sister; I don’t have any family of my own, now I have people I care about, and I will defend them until I can’t draw breath anymore.” Celestia’s peaceful little smile became warmer and more genuine. “Well, I’m glad you consider me a friend; I was hoping you would. We will continue this discussion later though. It is time to turn you into a noble and give you your medal.” I nodded and went to take my spot next to Luna. while Celestia began to start her speech, I surveyed the crowd without turning my head. None of the nobles looked particularly excited about whatever Celestia was talking about, which is fair. It was just some speech about how Equestria is still standing strong and how she’s proud of her little ponies. “And now, I will discuss one of your fellow ponies, one who has shown great bravery, to be an excellent tactician, and a close friend of mine. Please give a round of applause for Bald Ostrich!” I walked up beside the Princess and waved. “Ostri, would you like to have a word or two about your actions?” I nodded, knowing I had nothing prepared for this. “Sup, name’s Bald Ostrich, Ostri for short. I almost died by being stupid and trying to fight the griffin general. And then did something even dumber and sucker punched him-and stabbed him in the shoulder-and pissed him off even more and got a whole army to chase me. It’s not as cool as it sounds, or as heroic; I literally killed every single person in that army. Uh… I dunno. I don’t know why I’m getting an award or anything like that.” I know, I am really good at talking. “Thank you for your… words. I don’t even think that would register as a speech,” the crowd chuckled. “Despite Ostri’s speech, what he did was very brave and something not just anypony would do of their own free volition. Let alone come out alive after being chased by an army of griffins. As such, I shall be awarding Ostri the title of the Defender of Harmony!” With that, Celestia summoned a medal out of nowhere. Then it was promptly lowered down onto my neck. The medal looked… pretty plain, honestly. It wasn’t extravagant, but it had the Equestrian Crest on the front and the name of the award on the back. It hung just above my chest and I simply smiled. Sure, I don’t think I earned it, but if somebody thinks I did, I’ll take it. This is way, way cooler than whatever was going on in my terrible life before I became a pony. Honestly, this last year went by quickly, but it was a good one. I got a new life, got a girlfriend, what is essentially a hyper-intelligent dog, and I’m a war hero? I simply smiled… then a flash of light made everyone panic. Some screaming later, a specific one stood out to me. A purple unicorn, with a darker purple mane with a stripe, which was the same color as her coat, landed head first onto the stage. Soon, she sat up on her ass and was rubbing the back of her head. “Ugh…” She groaned. “Where is that damned ali-” she stopped as soon as she saw me. “Sweet Celestia…” She then glanced at Celestia, her eyes got even wider, and then eyed Luna. “What… The… Buck…” she whispered. “W-where am I?” I raised an eyebrow, but decided to bite the bullet. “Sup, welcome to Everfree City. We were just in the middle of an award ceremony. Name’s Ostri, any idea as to who you are? You did hit your head; that can fuck with your memories.” “My name… is Starlight Glimmer. The last thing I remember is seeing this… light, and now I’m here.” I nodded. “Can… I don’t think I’ve ever heard of Everfree City.” I glanced back at the Princesses as she went on about her life, a magically gifted unicorn, being wronged in life before she somehow ended up here against her knowledge. “I’m sure I can figure out how to get back home… I just need a week to recover from… whatever happened to me.” “Well…” I looked at Luna. “If my marefriend says it’s alright, we can let you stay in the palace while you recover.” Luna nodded. “Aight, we’ll get a servant to show you to your room. Your appearance was… kinda shocking and you accidentally made everybody in this room run out of the building while screaming about how this is Luna’s fault.” I shrugged as a servant came by and actually took Starlight Glimmer to show her her room. “Something is wrong with that mare,” Celestia said bluntly. “Either she is lying, or genuinely has amnesia; there is no in between. I may not be the most experienced, but even I could tell she somehow recognized you, Luna, and myself. On top of that, her appearance had a sudden spike of magic to it. You may not be able to feel it, but other unicorns can… That mare is remarkably powerful and likely performed a spell that ended up with her landing in the ballroom.” “Oh, don’t get me wrong, she’s full of shit. All except for that week of rest bit; she looked genuinely tired. I’m down to give her the benefit of the doubt for now though. Maybe she’s just scared because she landed in a room with you and Luna; you two are kinda scary with your reputations. I won’t do anything to Starlight unless she ends up being a sicko.” Luna and Celestia nodded. “Well, the ball ended a lot earlier than usual…” I looked at Luna. “So can I get that reward for keeping the suit on?” “Hmm… perhaps. You can help me get undressed and we can go get you that reward.” The two of us were a giggling mess as we walked away. Then the next day I went out and used a lot of mathematical shit… I made a rainbow after absolutely destroying the sound barrier. Luna and Celestia, along with Starlight Glimmer were watching. Luna fainted, Celestia was pointing and laughing while going on about how cool it looked. Starlight was just silent, like her mind wasn’t actually present. It was… kinda scary, because it looked like her eyes were simply… it just looked like she was calculating something with every second she spends around us. I think I’m not gonna go speak with her. Starlight looks like a serial killer.