Chapter 3
When the battle was over, and the griffons were recovering and cleaning up the damage done to the city, Lelouch made his way down through the lower levels of the city, to the front gate. He now had a saddlebag over his flanks, filled with important items that he had gathered.
He reached the first level in just under an hour, and stepped into the courtyard. It was now late in the day, and the Sun was starting to go down. Enough rubble had been moved away from the front gate so that he would be able to walk out. When he entered the main courtyard, he turned towards a griffon that was repairing a destroyed building nearby. “Hey.” Lelouch called out to him. The griffon was able to tell that he was calling him, and turned around to face him. “I was wondering if you could tell me how far it is to Equestria from here.”
The griffon gave him a strange look at first, but then he turned towards the front gate and pointed out towards the huge field beyond. “The Equestrian border is just beyond the opening between those two mountains.” He then changed his facial expression to one of anger, and clenched his fist. “But the actual Equestria is still a good bit on from there.” The griffon then turned to face Lelouch again. “All the land between there is rightfully ours and we will take it back someday.” He then grinned. “And with this victory here today, that may be sooner than you think.”
When the griffon was finished speaking, Lelouch simply smiled back at him and nodded. “Right.”
He then turned back around and started walking towards the gate, when suddenly he heard someone calling out to him from behind.
“Hey, Lelouch.” He recognised the voice and turned around to see Gilda flying towards him, swooping down from an upper level. When she had reached ground level, she touched down and moved to address Lelouch again. “Where are you going?”
“I’m heading back to Equestria for now. There are still some things that I have to do there.”
Gilda didn’t know how to respond to that, and turned her head to the side in thought. She thought that it was strange that somepony like him would want to return to Equestria. She then suddenly thought of something that she had wondered about earlier. She then turned her head back around to face him. “Hey, Lelouch; I wanted to know something.”
“Hmmm, what is it?” Lelouch raised his head, looking curious.
Gilda hesitated for a moment, but then she finally spoke up. “Are you…” She was then suddenly cut off by an incoming message on her headset.
“Huh?” Lelouch looked at her headset curiously and then smiled innocently. “Aren’t you going to get that?”
Gilda quickly glanced at her headset, before briefly turning back to Lelouch. She had a quizzical look on her face. After a moment, she tapped her headset. “Who is it?”
“It’s Zero.” Gilda’s eyes widened in surprise. “You did great in that battle earlier. If I need to get in contact with you later, I’ll call you on this channel. Will I be able to count on your support in the future?”
Gilda kept her eyes on Lelouch while Zero was speaking to her. When he was finished speaking, it took her a moment to realise it. “Oh, uh, yeah. You can count on me.”
“That’s good to hear.” Zero responded. “I’m going to need all the help I can get if we’re going to defeat Equestria. I’ll be in contact with you again soon. Until then, stay safe.” The radio transmission then cut off.
When Zero was finished speaking again, Gilda turned back to face Lelouch. “Who was it?” Lelouch asked. “Is everything all right?”
Gilda narrowed her eyes at him for a moment before responding. “It’s fine.” She concluded.
“Well, alright then.” Lelouch then turned back around and walked away. When he reached the front gate, he had to climb over some pieces of rubble, but he eventually made it out of the city. As he left, he had a big, triumphant smile on his face.
As Gilda watched Lelouch leave, she was soon joined by Black-Hawk, who swooped down next to her. When she saw him next to her, she turned her head to face him. “Hey, Black-Hawk.” Black-Hawk turned to face her. “Who do you think that ‘Zero’ guy was, anyway?”
Black-Hawk focused on her face more intently. “I’m not sure exactly; but it was only because of him that we were able to win that last battle. That makes him okay in my book. And besides, his strategies and tactics will be a big help to us for fighting against Equestria in the future.” He then faced forward again and grinned.
Gilda shifted her eyes away, and started thinking again. She then turned back to face Black-Hawk. “Hey, Black-Hawk.”
Black-Hawk shifted his eyes towards her. “Hmmm?”
“Have you by any chance had enough of just harassing small areas and defending against big attacks, like we’ve been doing?”
Black-Hawk was surprised by this question, though he didn’t show it on his face. “Huh? Just what do you mean by that? What are you getting at, here?”
Gilda then faced forward again, with a wicked smile on her face. “I mean, right now we’re really not doing much other than riling up the pony’s government and then defending against their retaliation. We’re not accomplishing anything with this, and we can’t keep this up forever.” She then raised her claw up into a clenched fist. “I say it’s time we started taking the fight to Equestria with full force; and show them all that we’re serious.” She then turned her head to face him.
When Gilda was finished speaking, Black-Hawk simply looked back at her, and after a moment, grinned deviously. “Now you’re talking.”
---
After Lelouch had passed through the city’s main gate, he then traversed the huge field that he had woken up in, and beyond. When he reached the gap in the mountain range, he spotted a border checkpoint up ahead. The checkpoint stretched from one edge of the mountain range to the other. There was a small area in the middle of the checkpoint where ponies could enter and exit.
As Lelouch approached the checkpoint, the guard stationed there spotted him and walked over to him. The guard was a black unicorn, wearing a set of golden armor, with a blue hairstyle on his helmet. “Hold it. I need to see your passport before you can cross the border.”
Lelouch simply turned to him, smiled, and activated his Geass. “You don’t need to see my passport.”
The guard’s eyes glowed red as the Geass took effect. “Yeah, you’re right. I don’t need to see your passport.” He then moved to the side, allowing Lelouch to continue. “Move along.”
Lelouch passed by the unicorn, and continued on his way. He then passed through the checkpoint and continued on his way to Equestria.
---
As Lelouch continued making his way along the Equestrian border; shortly afterwards, he came to an area where the surrounding landscape changed dramatically. Whereas the area in which he had been walking along previously was a bountiful grassland, this new area was an empty Badlands. There was also a large canyon nearby, just to the side of where he was walking. Lelouch guessed that this was the real border between Equestria and the Griffon Kingdom. He was now in the real Equestria. After a brief pause, he continued on his way.
As he continued his way along, he had to stop and take a break every so often because he was tired. He wasn’t used to walking this much.
---
After several days of walking and resting, Lelouch eventually reached the first town that he had found since arriving in Equestria. According to the sign on the edge of town, this town was called ‘Ponyville’. He also learned that he had entered Equestria from the East, and that was the direction that the Griffon Kingdom was located in from here, for future reference.
As Lelouch made his way through Ponyville, he took note of all the different ponies around him. Just like Gryphallia had only griffons, Ponyville had only ponies; unicorns, pegasi and earth ponies. There were also several guards stationed around the edges of the town.
Lelouch stopped in his tracks in order to properly take in his surroundings. While he silently surveyed the area, he was completely unaware of the fact that a pink earth pony was slowly rising up, behind him. She had a strong look of determination on her face. Then, she slowly opened her mouth to whisper something in his ear. She then immediately changed her expression to a happy one and said, “Hi there!”
The sudden interruption startled him and made him jump. Catching his breath, he turned around to face this mysterious pony. She didn’t seem to notice how strange she was being, and still wore a big, happy smile on her face, stretched from ear-to-ear.
Not knowing how else to respond, Lelouch simply asked, “Can I help you?”
“I know who you are.” That was all she said.
While Lelouch was inwardly worried, outside, he just shrugged it off with a warm smile. “No, you don’t.”
“Oh yes I do.” She responded immediately.
Lelouch was now worried, and his expression showed it. “What’s going on? Did she somehow find out that I’m Zero? But how could she possibly know that? Does she have some sort of psychic powers?”
Lelouch then simply uttered, “Y-You do?”
“Yeperooni.” The pink pony responded. Lelouch then activated his Geass. “You’re the new pony in town.”
Lelouch suddenly turned off his Geass, and reacted in a completely real surprise. “What?”
“Well you see, my name’s Pinkie Pie, and I know everypony, and mean everypony in Ponyville, and since I didn’t know you, that could only mean that you’re new in town, right?” She then leaned close to him as she finished speaking.
Lelouch was now more confused than he had ever been in his life. He just reacted awkwardly, and simply responded, “Y-yes.”
Pinkie closed her eyes and started trotting in place, out of sheer happiness. “Oooooooh, I knew it.” She then stopped and leaned in close to Lelouch’s face again. “Listen, since you’re new in town, that means I have to throw you a big surprise party.” She then suddenly became more serious. “I have to; that’s the way things work around here. It wouldn’t be fair if I suddenly changed the rules for you, now would it?”
Lelouch felt a bit awkward with this pony invading his personal space. “Uh, okay.” That was all he could say.
Pinkie then pulled her head away and smiled again. “Great; come to Sugarcube Corner at sundown. Everything should be ready by then.”
“Sugarcube Corner?”
Pinkie briefly looked confused, but quickly returned to her usual, upbeat self. “Oh, that’s right; you’re new around here. A-duh. Sugarcube Corner is the town’s bakery. It’s the building that looks like it’s made out of candy; you can’t miss it.”
Pinkie then turned around to walk away, but then she suddenly remembered something and turned back around again. “Oh, I almost forgot; what’s your name?”
“Uhhmm, it’s Lelouch.”
“Lelouch, huh? Well that’s great. See you around, Lelouch.” She waved back at him, and then turned back around and hopped away. “La la la.”
As Lelouch watched her leave, the only thought that came to him was, “Well, that was the weirdest moment of my life.”
---
After he had parted ways with Pinkie, Lelouch went back to learning more about Ponyville. He eavesdropped on several conversations in order to learn about what the citizens were talking about, and other things about Equestria that he couldn’t learn about in Gryphallia. It also gave him an opportunity to see what kind of propaganda the Equestrian government used on their citizens, and how they justified and covered things up. After several hours, he noticed that nopony talked about the war or anything going on outside of Equestrian borders. He found this suspicious.
By the time he was finished with this work, the Sun was going down and he suddenly remembered his conversation with Pinkie earlier, despite how much he wished that he didn’t. Remembering how weird she had acted, he didn’t want to go and see her again; however, if she really did know everypony in town, then it would look suspicious if he didn’t show up. He needed to keep a low profile right now, and not attract too much attention or do anything that made him stand out.
He then made his way through Ponyville, looking for Sugarcube Corner. After a while, he just decided to ask for directions. The streets were surprisingly deserted now. Eventually, he found an earth pony stallion, with a brown coat and mane, and an hourglass cutie mark, who eventually pointed him in the right direction.
With directions to where to go, he found Sugarcube Corner in no time at all. When he stood just outside the bakery, he looked up into the sky and saw the Sun setting. The Sun setting against the clouds, made the sky look a beautiful and calming orange. This made him briefly think of Jeremiah, and he snickered slightly.
Since this was the time that he was told to arrive at, he then stepped forward and opened the door. He stepped inside the bakery and closed the door behind him.
---
Inside, everything was black. Lelouch was about to look around for a light switch, when suddenly, the lights turned on and dozens of ponies jumped out and yelled, “Surprise!”
Lelouch stepped back a bit in shock. Even though he had been expecting it, they had still surprised him.
A familiar pink pony then appeared in front of him, and repeated, “Surprise! Were you surprised? Were you? Were you? Were you? Huh? Huh? Huh?” She drifted in closer to his face with every question.
Lelouch then very politely pushed her back. “Yes, you really did.” And he meant it.
“Well that’s a relief. Because this is your very own, very special, ‘Welcome to Ponyville Surprise Party’. It’s a surprise party so you have to be surprised, because without a surprise, a surprise party is just a party, and while all parties are fun, surprise parties are extra fun because they’re a surprise.” Pinkie spoke all of this in the span of a few seconds. Lelouch was normally very patient, but this pony was really starting to get to him.
Pinkie then reached out a grabbed on to him with her hooves. “Come on, Lelouch. Let me introduce you to everypony.” She then pulled him away, off into the party. The rest of the party then continued on like normal.
---
“And that’s Lyra. And that’s Bon Bon. And that’s Vinyl Scratch. And that’s Carrot Top. And that’s Daisy. And that’s Rose. And that’s Lily. And that’s Locket. And that’s Caramel. And that’s Thunderlane. And that’s Flitter. And that’s Cloudchaser.” Pinkie kept rambling on, pointing at ponies and saying their names as she led Lelouch through the party.
“Pinkie…” Lelouch spoke up, but Pinkie didn’t hear him; she was too busy introducing him to everypony, and she just continued rambling.
“And that’s Raindrops. And that’s Blossomforth. And that’s Candy Mane. And that’s Sparkler. And that’s Bulk Biceps. And that’s Lotus. And that’s Aloe. And that’s Dawn Flower. And that’s Lightning Flicker. And that’s Derpy. And I’m not sure what the pony’s name is; he just calls himself ‘The Doctor’.”
Lelouch was now starting to feel annoyed with this pony’s constant talking. “Pinkie…” He said again to try and get her attention. However, Pinkie just continued asking Lelouch even more questions.
“So did you get all that? Did you just get here? How did you get here? Do you like it here in Ponyville? How long are you going to stay? Where are you from? Lelouch is kind of a weird name, don’t you think? Do you think that the pineapple is an underrated fruit? Should I go with the name ‘Cherrychanga’ or ‘Chimicherry’?”
Pinkie spoke all of these questions within seconds of each other, not even stopping to take a breath. Lelouch stopped walking ahead, looked down and placed his hoof on his head in annoyance, while Pinkie continued to bounce around him, asking all sorts of random questions. The rest of the ponies at the party just continued on normally, not noticing the two of them.
Lelouch eyes started twitching from Pinkie’s annoyance. Lelouch grunted under his breath. “I can’t take it anymore.” He then quickly lowered his hoof from his face, and looked up at Pinkie, who had stopped bouncing around just long enough to look him in the eye when she saw him move. He wore a stern look on his face. He then activated his Geass. “Stop talking.”
As the Geass took effect, Pinkie’s eyes glowed red, and she stopped in her tracks completely. For several seconds, she didn’t move at all; like she was in a trance. Lelouch then decided to back away, in case anyone saw him.
A moment later, Pinkie came out of her trance, and Lelouch was gone. She was feeling very confused, and shook her head to regain her senses. She then briefly looked from side to side, in confusion. “What just happened? Where did Lelouch go?”
“Pinkie Pie; there you are.” Pinkie turned her head in the direction of the voice, and she saw Rarity walk towards her, levitating a glass of purple punch next to her. “This party of yours is simply wonderful, darling. And the punch is delicious.”
Pinkie closed her eyes briefly and smiled back at her. “Fhgfhjrketrsdgfhrdtrydg.” Her eyes then suddenly widened in shock. She tried to speak, but her words became muffled on the way out. “What’s going on?”
Rarity looked at Pinkie Pie quizzically. “Pinkie Pie… are you… feeling alright? You’re acting even stranger than usual. And for you, that’s saying something.”
Pinkie Pie seemed worried now. “What’s going on? Why can’t I speak?” She then tried to say something again. “Ytthghnfmjtdrdgfbngmfghfgbf.”
Rarity was now just getting annoyed. “Pinkie Pie, please speak normally.”
“Ytgfbnmuilythgnmjylkutreygfdgmktuyft.” Was all she could say in response. “No, Rarity; that’s not what I wanted to say.”
Rarity just huffed in annoyance. “Pinkie Pie, if this is just another one of you silly pranks, then I want no part of it. Now, goodbye.” She then turned around and walked away in a huff.
Pinkie held out a hoof at Rarity as she walked away. “Gfygtbnfmrtredsgnmktresytdgfbf.” As Rarity faded away into the crowd, Pinkie lowered her hoof again. “What’s going on?”
---
After Lelouch had left Pinkie, he made his way over to the dessert table. After the past few days he’s had, he needed to relax. He had become quite adept at holding things in his hooves now, and was holding a glass of punch in his hoof, no problem.
“Uhhmm, excuse me... Lelouch?” Lelouch heard a voice calling him from just next to him. He casually rolled his eyes in the direction of the voice, and his eyes immediately widened at what he saw. There; standing right in front of him was his younger sister.
Lelouch turned his whole head towards her, in shock. N-Nunnally?”
Nunnally suddenly looked at him in surprise. “Huh? What are you talking about?” Suddenly, the image of Nunnally disappeared in front of him, and he instead saw a butter-yellow pegasus mare, with a long, flowing, pink mane. She had a confused and worried look on her face.
Lelouch quickly collected himself, placed his glass of punch back down on the table, breathed in, and then smiled warmly back at her. “Sorry about that. You just reminded me of someone, that’s all.” He then tried to look calm, and forget about what he had just seen, but he just couldn’t shake the similarity out of his head.
This pegasus, still acting a bit shy, continued on with what she was saying. “Well, uhmm… my friend Pinkie Pie told me your name, and said that you were new in town, so… uhhm… I decided to introduce myself. My name’s Fluttershy.”
Lelouch was completely transfixed by this pegasus. Putting on a gentle façade, he smiled warmly back at her. “It’s nice to meet you, Fluttershy. Since we haven’t formally met yet, allow to properly introduce myself. My name is Lelouch Vi Britannia.”
Lelouch simply stared back at this pegasus in awe. She seemed so innocent; so pure. “Who is this pony? And why does she remind me of Nunnally?”
“I’m telling you, Twilight; this war is only going to get worse.” Lelouch’s ears suddenly perked up at the conversation he overheard. He turned his head to the side, and he saw a cyan pegasus with a rainbow-coloured mane, talking to a purple alicorn.
The alicorn leaned in closer, to whisper to the pegasus. Lelouch furrowed his brow and listened intently to hear what she was saying. “Rainbow, this isn’t the time or the place to talk about that.”
“Why not?” The pegasus responded, in a much louder and informal tone of voice than the alicorn. “You always say that, and you always shut me up. You always tell me it’s not the right time. Well, we’re here now, so let’s talk about it.”
Lelouch hadn’t heard any of the other ponies in town even mention the war, so he needed to hear this. He turned back around to face the yellow pegasus, and said very gently, “Excuse me.” He then nonchalantly inched his way over towards the pegasus and the alicorn.
As he moved closer to them, he had to listen very carefully in order to hear them over the sounds of the other ponies at the party.
“Look Twilight, I know that the Princess is all about the ‘Magic of Friendship’ and improving our relations with the other species; but this isn’t the way to do it. You can’t use force to try and make everyone get along. Just look at what happened with Discord, and the changelings. Peace can never be obtained through these kinds of methods.”
Lelouch briefly stopped in his tracks. The other pegasus that he met reminded him of Nunnally, and now this pegasus was starting to sound like Suzaku.
Twilight facehooved and sighed. “Look Rainbow; you wouldn’t understand. This whole thing is a little more political than that.”
Rainbow Dash just grunted in irritation. “You and the others always treat me like I’m the stupidest one of the group, but I think I’ve proved in the past that I’m smarter than you give me credit for. I know more about actual fighting, rather than just overseeing it, than all of you put together; even Applejack. I’m also the only pony around here who really knows the griffons.”
“Rainbow!” Twilight suddenly shouted out. “You know you’re not allowed to call them that. Not the… not them or us.”
“I know.” Rainbow Dash sighed again. “And that’s ridiculous. Why would ponies ever come up with the lame rule that a species can’t call themselves by their own name? Where do the ‘higher ups’ get off coming up with something like that?” She looked at Twilight even harder when she mentioned the ‘higher ups’.
Twilight just sneered back at Rainbow Dash in annoyance. After a moment, the cyan pegasus then let out a defeated sigh. “Look, I’m just saying that if we can just get the fighting to stop for long enough, then we can come to a peaceful conclusion.”
“I agree.” Lelouch said, walking closer towards them. Twilight and Rainbow Dash both turned to face Lelouch as he approached them. “Personally, I applaud you for the fact that you’re willing to stand up for these griffons; against your own country even. And to openly refer to them as griffons.” He then smiled warmly at them. “It’s good to know that war doesn’t change everyone.”
“War never changes.” Twilight muttered under her breath.
Ignoring Twilight, or possibly not hearing her, Rainbow Dash focused on Lelouch. “Well, well; if it isn’t the guest of honour?” She then slung her hoof around his shoulder.
Lelouch smiled and laughed a bit nervously. “Well, it’s just nice to see that there are other ponies who are willing to stick up for the griffons; and to refer to them as griffons.”
“Hahaha, yeah. I’m basically an honorary griffon.” Rainbow Dash gave a light chuckle. She then turned to face Twilight, but continued talking to Lelouch. “Just be careful what you say around her, Lelouch.” She then gave Twilight a knowing look. “I’m her friend, so I get a free pass for it, but she is still a Princess of Equestria, and has to enforce the laws; so watch out.”
Lelouch’s eyes suddenly widened. “A Princess?” He then turned to face Twilight, who simply smiled back at him. “If she really is a Princess of Equestria…” He then narrowed his eyes at her. “Then that makes her my enemy.”
Then suddenly, the door of Sugarcube Corner slammed open. All of the ponies at the party stopped what they were doing and turned around to look at it. Two pegasus guards entered and made their way over to Twilight. In all the commotion, Rainbow Dash took her hoof away from Lelouch.
“Princess Twilight.” One of the guards started. He then leaned in close to whisper into her ear. Lelouch concentrated hard so that he could hear what was being said. The complete silence around him also helped. “We have reports of a possible terrorist attack in the area. We need to get you out of here.”
Lelouch's eyes widened at this news. If this was about the Talons, he was very surprised; he wasn’t expecting them to make a move this soon.
When the guard was finished speaking, Twilight pulled away again and just nodded accordingly. “Alright; let’s go.” She then started walking towards the door, being escorted out by the two guards.
After Twilight and the guards had left, some ponies just went back to what they were doing before, and some ponies were wondering what was going on. Lelouch used the resulting confusion to slip out the front door undetected.
To be continued…