Canterlot Castle
Princess Luna was growing tired of Celestia's tricks and pranks. Not only was Luna falling for Celestia's most simplistic pranks, but even Luna's most intricate pranks were foiled by Celestia. It seemed that the sun goddess was completely invulnerable to falling victim to every kind of prank Luna had at her disposal. There was one prank that Luna hadn't tried yet.
Luna was the only pony to know of Celestia's fear of humans. Not even her star pupil, Twilight Sparkle, knew of this phobia. But Luna was a princess, and even though she had thrown her fair share of pranks towards the sun goddess, she was above such nonsense. Celestia hadn't used any of Luna's fears against her, so Luna would give her the same respect. Exploiting another pony's fears for her own enjoyment was wrong.
Tis something Nightmare Moon would've done, and we don't want to be banished to the moon again. Luna thought to herself as she shuddered at vivid images of bananas in bags and space cannons.
“Then again, she did use our horn as jelly-filled doughnut target practice whilst we were asleep.” Luna declared to herself.
Luna shook her head. “No. We shall keep our promise.”
What promise? The promise you made to yourself when you thought you were rid of me? The voice of Nightmare Moon echoed in Luna's head.
Thou shalt stay silent, devil-spawn. Luna spat back at the voice in her head.
When the elements of harmony were used to defeat Nightmare Moon, a small portion stayed alive and well within Luna's subconscious. Nightmare Moon was a part of Luna, even before she started to grow jealous of her sister's star. As such, Nightmare Moon could not be killed completely; for doing so would kill Luna as well.
Although, sister might congratulate us on a prank-well-done if we were to succeed.
“It is decided then!” Luna declared, absentmindedly using the royal Canterlot voice.
“What's decided Luna?” Princess Celestia asked as she walked through the door, curious as to why her sister would be using the voice at such an early hour.
“THIS!” Luna exclaimed as her horn started to glow a vibrant purple. The walls of her private quarters started to creak as the castle shook from the raw power of her magic. As Luna completed the spell, a loud boom was heard, louder than a sonic rainboom. Then all was quiet.
Nothing else happened.
“Oh, a decent sound spell dear sister.”
WHAT?!? A SOUND SPELL?!! WHERE IS THE HUMAN I SUMMONED?!
“Let me show you one I've been working on,” Celestia stated, a devious grin overtaking her face.
Oh no...
KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!!!!
Meanwhile in Ponyville...
“What the hay was that?!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed as she brushed herself off, cursing the source of the sound that made her fall.
Rainbow Dash had been practicing her newest routine to try out for the Wonderbolts when the now second loudest noise she had ever heard rang out. She was flying at top speed, about to achieve a sonic rainboom for the grand finale of her try-out routine, when she heard a loud boom.
That's weird, it sounds like I just achieved a sonic rainboom, but it sure as hay doesn't feel like it...
KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!!!!
The noise was so loud that the resulting shock wave had knocked the pegasus right out of the sky, landing her next to the entrance of the Everfree Forest.
“What the hay was that?!”
Rainbow Dash got to her hooves and looked around, trying to pinpoint where the sound had come from.
“Ugh...”
Rainbow Dash whipped around to find the source of this new sound. This wasn't the sound of somepony moaning about the headache the sudden bombardment of noise had caused. No, this was the sound of somepony hurt. Somepony dying.
“Hello? Who's there?” Rainbow Dash called out. There was no answer.
Just as she was about to blow it off as her just hearing things, whatever it was moaned again.
Rainbow Dash's head was clear now; and with the ringing in her ears gone, she was able to pinpoint the sound with ease. Nopony could have prepared her for what she saw. For in the clearing just past the entrance to the Everfree lay a unicorn bleeding from so many holes in his body that Rainbow Dash couldn't have counted them all. She immediately dashed over to the unicorn. He was wearing a strange vest full of pouches that contained metal rectangles, spheres, and canisters that had M18 SMOKE painted on them. He also had a weird tool that had one of the metal rectangles attached to the bottom.
“Ungh...” the bloodied unicorn moaned in pain again.
He's gonna die if I don't do something quick, Rainbow Dash thought to herself.
She picked him up and flew faster than she ever flew before towards the only unicorn in Ponyville that could heal these kind of wounds.
That egghead better be there.
Ponyville Library
“EEP!” Fluttershy exclaimed as she dove into spikes bed, a torrent of books falling all around her.
Fluttershy had come over to Twilight's place in search for a book about common ailments in reptilian creatures. Twilight had just enveloped the book in a familiar violet aura when-
KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!!!!
The noise not only startled Twilight, but caused her to lose focus on the simplest of levitation spells. Backfiring, the spell caused a ludicrous amount of shelved books to fall, whereas the shock wave the sound had caused brought the rest of them to the ground.
“T-T-T-Twilight? D-Did you do that?” Fluttershy asked, trembling at the sight of fallen books before her.
“No Fluttershy, I did not.” she walked cautiously towards the window “But it sure wasn't caused by nothing.” she concluded as she stared outside, hoping to find the source of this mysterious sound.
“It sounded like an explosion, but-” Twilight trailed off.
“B-B-But what?” Fluttershy asked.
Twilight didn't hear her. She was too preoccupied with a small cyan object slowly growing larger in the distance.
Rainbow Dash, she thought. It must have been one of her sonic rainbooms. But where's the rainboom? And the trail?
Twilight snapped out of it just in time to a realization. Rainbow Dash was carrying sompony. And that somepony was limp, almost as if said pony was-
Dead... Twilight thought grimly.
Not only that, but Rainbow Dash was heading right towards the library, right towards her.
“INCOMING!!!” Dash screamed. Twilight heard this.
“Fluttershy! Take COVER!” Twilight yelled behind her as she herself dove out of the way of the open window.
Rainbow Dash came barreling through the window, but surprisingly enough she stopped herself before causing more damage to the already wrecked library. Twilight looked up to see Rainbow Dash. She was holding something.
Someone, Twilight corrected herself.
The unicorn was covered in blood, and so was the cyan pegasus. The unicorn looked like it had been attacked by a hole-punch.
“Please help him.” Dash said, tears streaming down her face.
Twilight snapped into action, immediately casting a spell to slow the bleeding. She then levitated every book in the room and, scanning them, brought a plethora of healing books to her. She quickly scanned the contents of the books, using healing spells that worked at stopping blood-loss and mending stab wounds. As she started to concentrate on one of the wounds, she sensed a metal object no larger than a peanut still embedded inside the victim.
What in the hay is that? Twilight asked herself, quickly realizing that there wasn't just one metal object in the victim, but dozens.
Memorizing the page number of the healing spell, she flipped through the book to find a spell to remove foreign objects from the body. With haste, she cast the spell. She could hear the clacking of the objects as they hit the ground- all twenty-seven of them. She flipped back to the page she memorized and began focusing on one wound at a time, healing them with post-haste and precision.
Just one more left and... DONE! Twilight exclaimed to herself.
She was quite impressed with her work as she collapsed onto her flank with a big sigh. She had saved a pony's life today, for laying in front of her was a battered but breathing unicorn whom not moments ago was on the brink of death. Twilight looked up to face a very upset Rainbow Dash.
“Is he gonna be okay?” Dash asked.
“Yes, I believe so. He needs to rest though, for he's lost a lot of blood.” Twilight concluded.
“Good.”
Both parties were silent for what seemed like an eternity. Surprisingly enough, it was neither Twilight nor Dash who broke said silence.
“What happened?” Fluttershy asked as she walked up to the beaten unicorn, looking down upon him with sad eyes.
“I was flying around over by the entrance to the Everfree Forest, practicing my latest routine when I heard a noise.”
“Did it sound like an explosion?” Twilight asked.
“Yeah! Did you guys here it too?”
Both Twilight and Fluttershy nodded.
“Then what happened? After the noise?” Fluttershy asked.
“Well, I fell- I mean landed next to the entrance to the Everfree.”
“Then what?” Twilight asked, oblivious to Dash's sudden correction.
“Then I heard somepony moaning. I turned around to face the Everfree, and in the clearing I spotted this guy.” she motioned to the unconscious unicorn in front of her.
“He was hurt bad, and as much as Fluttershy knows about medical stuff, she wouldn't have been able to heal him fast enough. No offense, Fluttershy.”
“None taken.”
The room fell silent again. This time it was Twilight who spoke first.
“What is he wearing? And what is that object he has slung around him?”
“They were on him when I found him,” Dash said. “I couldn't just leave his possessions to get dragged away by wild animals in the Everfree Forest.” The element of loyalty stated, holding true to said element.
Twilight had the strangest feeling. Like the unicorn in front of her didn't belong.
“I don't think he's from here.” Twilight spoke.
“What do ya mean Twi? Like Ponyville? I've never seen him around here before, that's for sure.” Dash said.
“No, I mean here.” Twilight motioned all around her.
“You mean Equestria?” Fluttershy asked.
“No. I have the strangest feeling that-” Twilight trailed off.
“That what?” Dash asked.
“Never mind. It's silly.”
“Twi, you have to trust us. We're your friends, remember?” Dash said.
“It's just that-” Twilight struggled to find the correct way to word it. “He seems like he doesn't belong. Like he's not just a stranger to Ponyville or Equestria, but a stranger to this whole world.”
With that, Dash's mouth dropped wide open.
“But he's a pony. How could he be an alien?” Dash asked.
“Trust me, I have a feeling. When he wakes up we will ask him where he hails from, but for now we need to let him rest.” Twilight declared.
“Can me and Fluttershy stay the night so we can catch him when he wakes up?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“I don't see why not. As long as Fluttershy is okay with it.”
“I have no problem with it at all,” Fluttershy stated. “I just need to go feed my animals for the night, and I'll be right back.”
“Great! Before you go Fluttershy, I need you and Dash to help me bring him upstairs to the guest room. He obviously has had a very hard day and needs his rest. Just because he might be an alien, doesn't mean we should treat him any differently than everypony else.”
Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash nodded in acknowledgment.
Normally Twilight would have no problem levitating him up the stairs by herself, but the spells she had used to heal the unicorn had taken their toll on the librarian. That being so, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and Twilight picked the unicorn up and proceeded to carry him up to the guest room. Laying him on the bed, Twilight used her magic to cover him up. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy proceeded to exit the room, but Twilight stayed.
I just know he's a stranger to this world. Oh well, I guess we'll find out in the morning, Twilight thought to herself as she turned to walk out the door, oblivious to a small unit patch that lay in the unicorn's pocket.
A unit patch which showed that he was more familiar to this world than Twilight could ever imagine...