//------------------------------// // The second // Story: Dimensional travel and a stallion named Hopper. // by The desert brony //------------------------------// Hello again. I’m Hopper and this is entry is about my second adventure. But just to be clear I had no idea what had happened when I blacked out at Sweet Apple Acres. All I knew at this point was that I was now in what looked to be a brand new or possibly refurbished castle of the royal pony sisters. I still remember that kiss from Pinkie but her words were what stuck with me. “Just something to remember me by.” At this point I figured that Pinkie had known that I would be pulled away somehow but I guess it would be easier for me to say it was Pinkie being Pinkie. But I’m getting off topic here. So I wake up in the castle of the royal pony sister… ^^^ The first thing I become aware of was a hoof roughly prodding my side. I stir from my slumber which in hindsight I don’t think was enough. My eyes flutter open and I’m rewarded with the glaring eyes of a unicorn guard. He’s dressed in armor of the deepest hue of blue before it becomes imperceptible from black. His fur was the color of ash and his mane like that of mountains. His eyes on the other hoof were gold and cat like. I fear that I squeaked like a mouse that just got caught by a cat as he stared at me. I was less afraid of him than I was of his gaze. It spoke volumes of how I would be dealt with if I made a wrong move. A door opened and in trotted two more unicorn guards, one had what looked like a custom made suit of armor of gold color and orange trim and appeared to be higher ranked then the other two. This pony was however much different in color. His fur was a so purple it was like staring at a bruise, his mane was two toned yellow and red, his eyes were green and I never felt a pony could be so ugly to look at. Thankfully I was so rattled that I kept my mouth shut but that didn’t stop him. “Get up!” he barked. Fear is what drove me to comply and some degree of hope that if I cooperated I would at the very least be treated civilly. One of the guards moved in front of me and the other two placed themselves behind me. “You try to run and I’ll strike you down got it!” The commander bellowed behind me. I nodded in response not trusting myself to speak just yet. Forward we marched, down the halls of the castle and I must admit it was hard not to look anywhere except straight ahead. Every time I felt my eyes wander from the guard in front of me I was treated to some grand tapestries and stone busts of ponies I didn’t know. The hum of magic behind me warned me that my wandering eyes were rousing suspicion and I immediately focused back to the guard ahead of me. I needed something to keep my attention on the guard and as embarrassing as it sounds I kept my eyes on his hindquarters. It kept my eyes from wandering but the awkward feeling of looking at a pony’s backside was far easier to deal with than risk getting injured or killed. When we finally stopped I was roughly shoved into a room with only a table and a single hanging lantern to light it. The door was closed before I had even picked myself up from the floor. Through the midsized barred hole in the door the commander sneered at me. “If you try to escape you will regret it.” When they left I let the breath I was holding go and relaxed. It was here that I wondered what time it was and there was no window for me to look outside to even wager a guess. I don’t know how long I waited but it was too long. I had fallen asleep and was awoken rudely with water being dumped on me. I sputtered as the chilly water hit me and I pulled my head up to see just who had done this. The commander was standing above me with a pail but what drew my sight was the pony standing behind and to the left of him. I acknowledged two things at the same time. The first was that I was in the presence of royalty and that royal pony was Princess Luna! I quickly forced myself into a bow and hoped that I wouldn’t incur her wrath. “It was wise of you to bow to your princess. You will now tell us why you entered the castle at such a late hour.” Just so you know the Royal Canterlot Voice being used in a tiny stone room directed at you, you’re going to have a bad time. “M-m-my deepest apologies your majesty, I-I-I was caught within a spell of unknown origins and I awoke here in your castle. Please I meant no trespass against you.” Yes I was stuttering like mad and I was about two seconds away from begging for my life. I was not sure at the time if I should be grateful for what happened next or more worried. The pony that passed by the door was Princess Celestia cladded in full battle armor, her mane was less like the light multi-colored pastel that I knew from pictures and more like red-orange-yellow mixture and danced like flames. “Luna,” Celestia’s shout, even without using the Royal Canterlot Voice, made the walls shudder “Thou are to be in your room not gallivanting off to play some silly game with a commoner!” Her voice lacked any of the kind motherly tone; instead it was harsh and authoritative like a general in the middle of a war. “Sister I am not playing any games!” Luna retorted with a stomp of her hoof. “This stallion was caught in our castle after the doors had been barred. He claims that a spell caused him to appear here and we were going to determine if he was a spy.” The tone Celestia had taken with her sister made me feel as if Luna was just playing. If I were to wager a guess I’d say Luna was in her pre-teen stage but that is just going off the way she held herself. As far as I know I could be way off given the fact that she’s an alicorn. The next thought I had was I had no idea what the princess’s did for fun. An odd thought I know, especially when I’m probably seconds away from being tossed in the dungeons or worse. Celestia was not amused. “Luna we are fighting griffons not ponies. Why would any pony join with a race that wants to do nothing more than eat them? Use thy head Luna; I am not raising thee to be blinded by such outlandish claims!” Well there goes the cake. I never gave much thought to who the alicorn princess’s parents could be but I’ll go ahead and say they’re not around anymore. “But sister,” Luna stomped both her front hooves to the stone making small cracks “he could be a griffon in disguise!” Uh-oh was the only thought I was able to think before a blast of magic lifted me up into the air. What happened next made me feel like I had my tail lifted in school, embarrassed and violated. The magic pulsed through me searching every part of my body and I couldn’t do anything to stop it. My whole body tingled like your leg does after you return blood to the sleeping limb. This was the first of many times I would be scanned magically and I didn’t like any of them. When Celestia was done scanning me, I was rudely dropped from the air back to the cold stone floor. I know I grunted from the impact and I tried to pull myself back up into a sitting position but numbness from the magic kept me from moving. The most I could do was watch as Celestia gave the harshest stare of disapproval to her little sister. “I taught thee the spell to scan and dispel illusions yet thee still go about your foalish games Luna!” Despite her clear annoyance Celestia maintained the air of authority. “Luna thou will release this stallion at once. Commander Color Palate, thou will accompany us to the war room.” When Luna had used the Royal Canterlot Voice the room barely shuddered, when Celestia used it the whole room felt like it was going to collapse on us all! When the room stopped shaking Celestia, the commander and the two guards left. The first thing that I thought as they left was the commander’s name fit perfectly with the fact that his color scheme was an assortment of colors. My next thought was that I was still in the presence of royalty and slowly returned to my bowing position facing Luna. Hearing nothing from the princess I dared to look up to find Luna staring at the ground with anger in her eyes. I honestly felt that if anything was said she would turn her anger on me. With a huff Princess Luna let her wings fall limp and the anger faded from her face. I don’t know what possessed me to ask much less address the princess without prompt. “What troubles you your highness?” I truly felt I was going to be sent to Tartarus for this. Yet to my utter amazement Luna answered me. “We are treated like a foal by our sister and not like the mare we are. As this war with the griffons wages on, less and less of our beloved ponies will walk through our night. As time continues more ponies fear our night as a blight that brings monsters. Tiss sacrilege we say.” “I still like the night.” With how fast Luna looked up to me I was afraid she would snap her neck. The look on her face was golden. Her turquoise eyes regarded me with a mixture of happiness and relief. Then without warning her face became cold and serious. I dropped back into a bow hoping to spare myself whatever punishment she might give to me. “Stand.” I obeyed, looking straight ahead and doing my best to not look her in the eye. “Thou will follow me and not a word is to be spoken about what has been conversed in here, understood!” “Yes your highness.” She turned and walked out of the room. I followed but not so close that I risked being bucked without notice. If I felt awkward when I was focused on that guards flank, that is nothing to how much fear that was running through me as I caught myself staring at Luna’s flank. It was mesmerizing to watch the muscles beneath the fur of her flank, and I noticed she also had a small amount of fat there too. I know this because with each step her flanks jiggled slightly and I felt a blush come to my cheeks every time I caught myself staring. I didn’t notice that as we walked, I having to trot just to keep up, that there were no guards in the hallway. Or at least I didn’t notice until Luna stopped at a pair of grand doors with a silver crescent moon carved into them. I didn’t know what was behind these doors but I was ordered to follow her and I wasn’t about to disobey the princess. The first thing I spotted when I entered the room was the huge canopy bed that was donned silk of dark blue’s and violets. The sheets had what looked to be stars and constellations embroidered into them. Them the switch in my mind clicked and made the connection that I was in the princess’s bedroom, her sanctuary from the commoners such as myself and nobles alike. “Come hither.” My eyes locked on to where Luna had called me. She had placed herself in front of a fireplace and was beginning to light it with her magic. I moved from where I stood just inside the doorway and over to the fireplace. As soon as I cleared it, the door was slammed shut from Luna’s magic and I couldn’t help but jump at the excessive force she used. Once I managed to move to the fireplace on shaky legs, I stood as tall as I could and expected more orders from the Princess. “You may relax and lie down.” Not a hard order to follow, although I couldn’t truly relax as I was in the presence of the very pony who threatened to shroud all of Equestria in a never ending night… wait if the story is correct then Luna only did that because no-pony would admire her night. I do like the night and have a few fond memories, if I share some of them with her she might not turn into Nightmare Moon. “We do not believe thou has told us what thy name is.” Ok I may have jumped a bit too far but I can start there. “My name is Hopper your majesty.” I say as I lower my head to the floor out of respect. “Commoner Hopper, what is it about my night that you like?” I had figured that this question would be asked and I’ve already opened my muzzle, better not stick my hoof in there as well. “Well to start the way they shine in the dark makes me believe that they are like your eyes, beautiful and serene.” Lift hoof and insert into mouth. I’ve always had that problem of just saying the first thing that comes to my mind. But this time I wasn’t treated to a swift kick to the face or verbal lashing. I saw Luna blush, that’s right I was lying before the night princess and I made her blush. “Do thy truly believe I am beautiful?” That was the first time she didn’t use the royal “we” in a sentence referring to herself. “Yes your highness. Your beauty is like a wine, without proper air any pony would faint at the sight of you.” Raise other hoof and stick it in mouth while other two dig a shallow grave. I watched as Luna squirmed under my praise of her physical features. The blush deepened and her eyes longed for me to continue. “The deep blue of your fur is much like the night, a blanket covering sky so your stars may shine to all of the ponies below. Your mane is like that of a waterfall cascading around your smiling face.” After I was done I had hoped that it would be enough to lift her spirits but yet her head hung low once again. “Princess, is something the matter?” I had a dreadful feeling well up inside me. I felt her reaction was her taking my words not as they truly were but just expected praise to a princess. “No pony hath ever told us that we are beautiful,” Luna raised her head looking as if on the verge of tears “not even our sister.” I think my jaw hit the floor. I knew Celestia was beautiful in the radiant way, Luna was beautiful in the tranquil way. “Why?” That word was not just out of shock but genuine curiosity. With a sigh Luna scuffed the floor with her hoof. “Many ponies are always talking about how my sister is beautiful yet I’m always described as cute. Foals and bunnies are cute, and I am neither! Why does no-pony ever see my beauty or even care about the beauty of my night!” Oh drat, I think instead of trying to prevent Nightmare Moon’s coming I just started it. Well better pull my hooves out of my mouth and dig my grave in earnest. “Well does thy have an answer for us?” “I think it’s because you don’t mingle with the common ponies.” Great move Hopper, you just told the Princess of probably one thousand years ago to go talk and mingle with the common ponies. I think that earns you a one way ticket to the deepest level of Tartarus. “Does thy truly think if I walk among the commoners that they will see me for my beauty and not my crown?” If I wasn’t so petrified with fear I would have kissed her. “Given time I believe that if you show who you are to the ponies of Equestria, they will come to see you for the beautiful loving mare that you are.” Back to the original plan, get ponies to like Luna so they have less fear for the night and maybe even start to love it. “We hath made a decision. Commoner Hopper, you will no longer be known as a commoner but rather as our seneschal. It will be your duty to guide us in the way of teaching ponies to adore our night.” Can I just say this once… I’m going to anyway; Oh dear Celestia send me to the sun as I have just doomed all of Equestria. --- Okay I should say this now or I’ll forget to later. This was my second hop to another world and I didn’t know what I was supposed to do. I didn’t know at the time when I would be forced away from Luna’s company much less how. Yet as the sun touched the horizon I figured now was the best time to have Luna do a meet and greet with the commoners. “Princess Luna, tis time to leave and present thyself to the common.” Oh yea I am no longer allowed to talk as a commoner when I act as Luna’s seneschal. Over the past two days I was educated in the ways of royal etiquette and all the various lords and ladies of the court and their stations. My vest was also modified, sleeves were added that hung just above my fetlock, it was lengthened to cover my flank and my cutie mark embroidered over where they were hidden. My scruffy mane was washed and combed back and I must say that I look a lot better than normal. If my parents or even Bonbon saw me like this, I’m fairly certain they wouldn’t even know it’s me. Luna yawned and the glare she gave me told me that she detested being awake so early. After watching that past few days on how Luna addressed the court and the pony lords and ladies, I concluded that dusk was the perfect time for her to make an appearance to the common ponies. A part of my duties were to plan every event that Luna would do for her night. Sadly I found out rather too quickly that the only ponies who willingly come to Luna are the nobles, and they mostly are there to complain about another griffon raid on their town or city or to request that Celestia send more guards to protect them. And by them I mean the nobles, not the commoners. If I hadn’t done well in history class back in school I’d be wondering where was the representation of the common pony. I had found a calendar on my second night and found that I was truly in pre-Nightmare Moon era. That meant that commoners lived in squalor or lived under the rule of a Lord or Lady and did whatever the Lord or Lady told them to do; be it till the fields or push clouds to water the fields, if the Lord or Lady said jump you didn’t even ask how high, you just did it. So in order for Luna to visit the common ponies I needed to have her appear to a Lord or Lady. So I chose Lady Banana Fluff for this visit, mostly because she hadn’t come to night court in over a month. This pony and all the others lived about ten miles away from the castle, next to a forest from what I can tell. “Why must we awaken early rather than the commoners simply stay awake for us. Is this not to show the commoners that our night it to be adored like our sister’s day?” Oh boy Luna is grumpy. I had to plan this whole thing and if anything this plan should work. “The reason my Princess is so the commoners can witness as you call thy night in all its glory.” This was partly true. In truth Luna was very non-flashy as she called the moon and starts. All she did was sit, close her eyes and pull the moon over the horizon. She only opened her eyes as she crafted the stars for the night. For this to work she needed to put on a show per-say. I wanted this to work so the town I pick was for one reason above all others; it had no trouble with griffons. I found it strange at first but after being told by Color Pallet the reason this town had no trouble was because it was located on the other border of Equestria that has nothing but a large swath of untamed forest. That is of course after I had made sure that my new position allowed me to converse with the commander of Princess Celestia’s army. Oh I should also mention that Celestia didn’t take too well of my promotion but didn’t turn me into a pile of ash so I guess I should be grateful. I was only given one order by Celestia and that was to keep her sister out of the war efforts. Remember when I said when Lords and Ladies give an order you just do it, well I learned that the hard way through Celestia. Being the ruler of Equestria I remember Celestia being nice and very open to questions, in this time she was a whole different mare. When Celestia used her Royal Canterlot Voice, before it was projected away from me now it was literally directed at me. The force alone knocked me down to the floor before I was launched into a wall, all because I had to ask why. “Why can they not look up to the sky as our sister lowers her sun and we raise our moon? Surely that is enough for them to see our work.” I swear it was hard to see Luna like this. I guess that’s how these times are. Something that should be obvious today is not quite so in this time. “While they are able to do that, they need to know you love them so they can openly love you as well as your night.” Even though Luna likes me because I said I like her night, I still need to get her to accept the fact that common ponies won’t “love” her just because she sits on the throne. She needs exposure so her subjects will come to know her and not the crown she has atop her horned head. “And why would the commoners not give their love to us freely? Do they not know we art the princess of Equestria?” With how many times I’ve stuck my hoof in my mouth you’d think I’d get used to the taste. “What I meant Princess is that they need to know who you are as a pony, not just as their princess. I can assure you this will have a much greater affect then they simply accepting you as Equestria’s princess.” I could only pray that she accepts this logic. “Thou art saying that the commoners love for us will be greater if we show ourselves to them? If thy speak truth we must leave at once!” With a flurry of magic Luna donned her regalia and midnight colored shoes. I practically had to gallop after Luna in order to keep up with her overly joyous gait. Luna’s flying carriage was ready for us along with two smaller ones that had two unicorn guards in each. The smaller carriages had two pegasi guards strapped in while Luna’s had four. After every-pony was ready we took off, heading away from the castle and hopefully to a more peaceful portion of Equestria. --- As we flew I instructed Luna on how she should raise her moon and paint the stars. She protested quite greatly to my suggestions, but I was able to convince her that by simply flying up as if she was dancing with her moon that it would awe the commoners and allow them to see that she brings them such a beautiful night. We landed on the outskirts of the town and Lady Banana Fluff, a bright yellow unicorn with a purple mane and her cutie mark was that of three round cut diamonds, came out with most if not all the commoners following her. All the ponies bowed to Luna but what struck me dumb was when Luna stuck her hoof out to the Banana Fluff. Lady Banana Fluff pecked her shoe with a light kiss and greeted Luna with her full title. Princess Luna, weaver of the night and sister to Princess Celestia. Wow even in her title she is always second to her sister. It may be because of her age or maybe just the fact that she has less duties then Celestia does. But I couldn’t think about that right now, I had almost walked Luna step by step how she was to address every-pony and how she was to perform. ”Tonight we shall have thee all bear witness to this night’s raising of the moon and stars!” And here we go. The first thing Luna did was turn from the crowd and faced east where the moon was waiting patiently. When Luna’s horn started to glow and she made no movement I feared that she was ignoring my plan. Then she slowly unfolded her wings and kicked off the ground. With a small push from her wings she now sat to the left of the rising moon, she extended one of her legs across the moon to make it look as if she was hugging it and pulling it gently into the sky. I heard the first few ooh’s and awe’s from foals that had become brave enough to look around their mother’s or father’s so they could watch Luna raise the moon. Now with the moon raised the real spectacle begins. Removing her leg from the moon Luna rose up and stood on top of it, her horn glowing with a deeper shade indigo she fired off a blast that arced over the ponies forcing them to look into the sky as the trail of magic left the stars twinkling. Stars and constellations burst before the onlookers and even the adults were awed as the night filled their eyes with its glory. With a few flaps of her wings Luna landed on the ground once more and approached the commoners again. Nothing was said, not a peep from the adults or even Lady Banana Fluff. I grew worried that if some-pony didn’t do or say something this whole night would be a bust and that meant I would’ve failed to prevent Nightmare Moon! “It’s pretty.” The voice was so soft that if the silence hadn’t been there no-pony would have heard the little filly. My eyes were on her like lighting on a tree, the tiny filly’s fur was faded green like a sweater left out in the sun too long. Her powder blue mane was the same as her eyes that were firmly focused to the sky. “Hey look, that one looks like a bear!” A colt cried out, his dark purple fur and bright orange mane clashed horribly but he was excited to be pointing at the patch of sky where the constellation Ursa Major sat in the sky. Soon more fillies and colts were pointing at the sky and calling out shapes of animals and objects that were spread out for them to see. Then something I didn’t expect to happen, happened. The young faded green filly ran from her mother straight towards Luna. A pegasus guard moved to block her advance but she was so small that she slipped between his hooves and pounced onto Luna’s leg. “Thank you Princess! Mommy and all the other adults don’t let us out past dark because of all the monsters but with you here we get to see how pretty your night is.” I swear that the guards were going to tear that filly off of Luna in the bloodiest way possible had Luna not raised her other hoof to stop them. “Tell us child, are these monsters the reason none of thee can enjoy my night?” The filly let go of Luna’s leg and stared up to the princess. “We can’t open a window to look out because the monsters would find our house and eat us!” The filly wailed. ”Lady Banana Fluff tis this true? That your town is assaulted by monsters that cause you to fear the night.” It was wrong of me to pray to Celestia that this be true but I did. The way I saw it was if Luna thought that monsters were the cause of ponies not able to come out at night, then she would not become bitter to them and focus on making her night same for them to enjoy. “Sadly yes Princess Luna. Monsters roam through the forest that borders the town, every night we have to douse any light or they come into town and eat any pony near a light even as small as a candle.” Lady Banana Fluff said. I nearly jumped for joy as the truth rang through the air. “Seneschal Hopper, to what is the name of this forest?” I stumbled as I didn’t know what the name was. I opened my bag and took out the map I used to pick the town. Quickly scanning the map I felt the weight of one name fall on me. “It’s called… The Everfree Forest your majesty.” I now understand why these ponies have no problems with griffons, because even the griffons would avoid such an unnatural place as the Everfree Forest. ”Seneschal Hopper, take a note. I, Princess Luna, hear by decree that a platoon of guards will be stationed here in this town to guard them during the night.” I wrote the note with ease and double checked that it was legible. “Done your majesty.” With a stamp of approval from Luna’s hoof the document was official and this town was going to get protection. I felt ecstatic at my accomplishment and I felt that if I was able to get Luna to do more things like this then the ponies of Equestria would love her in no time at all. That is if I hadn’t started glowing. “Huh? W-what’s going on?!” I continued to glow and I saw something come out of the trees. “Manticore!” I had yelled before my vision was overloaded with color. --- This time I was awake for my next hop and believe me it was not pleasant. You’ve seen a rainbow after a rain storm right? Well picture that same rainbow curled around into a tube then imagine yourself being sucked through that rainbow tube. The colors alone were blinding and forced me to close my eyes. Oh and the feeling was the worst, just try to think of yourself falling through the sky but with no wind or sound to tell you that you’re falling. Then add the feeling of being underwater and you would come close to what I experience when I hop. When all my senses returned, I was woozy and didn’t feel well at all. My ears picked up on the fact that I was surrounded by ponies who were shuffling around me but not a word was spoken, not even a gasp of shock. When my stomach was done playing jump rope with my intestines I slowly opened my eyes to find myself very far from where I had been. And to top it all off, every-pony was wearing clothes that covered their entire body except for their heads. All the suits were colored blue and had a tag on the front with writing that was clearly not Equestrian.