//------------------------------// // Modern Equestria. (A.K.A 1000 years after Nightmare Moon) // Story: Paladin Anon // by The7thElement //------------------------------// 15 years later The sun was shining over Equestria as Anon slowly woke up from his slumber to have the sun burn his retina out. “I really need an alarm clock.” Anon said to himself as he hopped out of his bed. ‘What’s on the order for today?’ Anon thought to himself as he looked over the notes on his desks before spying a particular note that stood out. As he picked it up he read it over in his head. ‘Pick a new replacement for the Captain of the Lunar Guard.’ “Sounds fun.” He said aloud before going over to his wardrobe and getting changed into his light armor. As he left his room he came face to face with Lieutenant Moonlight Rose. “Ah good morning Paladin.” She saluted. “At ease Lieutenant.” Anon said returning the salute. “You okay with walking and talking?” “Of course sir.” Moonlight said as she began to follow Anon through the halls of the castle. “So what brings you to my quarters Lieutenant?” “Came to notify you that the other Lieutenants are gathered in the training yard waiting for your decision on who will be the next Captain.” “That’s today?” Anon said jokingly. “Yes it is sir. Did you forget?” “Of course not Lieutenant. Only having a joke.” Anon said before holding out his right hand and summoning an egg and bacon roll. “I must ask sir why do you have that?” Moonlight said gesturing with a wing to the roll. “Well I convinced the chefs to always have one ready for me. I have to have something for breakfast.” He said before taking a bite out of it. After a few minutes of walking the duo arrived at the Lunar Guard’s barracks. At the sight of Anon the gathered Lieutenants gave a salute. “At ease.” Anon said as Moonlight joined the line up of Lieutenants. “Now you all know why you’re here correct?” “Sir yes, sir!” They shouted in unison. “Good. Now unlike what happened with the last change of the Captains, I’m going to be changing the test.” This had the gathered Thestrals to whisper about what the test would be between themselves. “Okay everyone calm down.” “Sir what would this new test be?” Lieutenant Silver Slash asked. “A good question Slash. As for what the test is it’s quite simple really. All you have to do is disarm me.” Anon said as he drew his sword. “Disarm you sir?” Moonlight asked. “Yes you heard me correctly. The first of you to remove my sword from my hand will get the position.” Anon then proceeded to take a few steps back from the gathered Thestrals. “Well what are you waiting for. BEGIN!” At this there was a few seconds as the Lieutenants stood still as they thought of what to do. Then one rushed forward towards Anon. Once he was a few feet away from Anon the Thestral launched himself into the air. The Thestral then landed behind Anon as he swung a wing at Anon’s sword hoping to disarm. The Thestral didn’t expect for Anon to jump into the air so he landed behind the Thestral with his blade to the Thestral’s neck. “And your dead.” Anon said as he lowered his blade. “Who’s next?” After going through most of the guard there was only one left. “Well seems that you’re the last one Moonlight.” Anon said as he readied himself for what was to come. What he didn’t expect was for her to walk calmly walk up to him. “To tell you the truth sir I’m not going to try and disarm you.” “How come Lieutenant?” Anon asked. “Well the others are much more skilled than me sir. So with your permission I would like to request that I be dismissed.” Moonlight said. “Well then your dismissed.” Anon said as Moonlight began to walk away before turning to the other guards. “Well then seems I’ll have to decide out of the rest of you which was the best.” Anon never got the chance as he found himself without his blade in his hand. “What the…” “I believe I win sir.” Moonlight said from behind him. When Anon turned around he noticed that Moonlight was standing behind him with his blade in front of her on the ground. “Impressive.” He said before turning to the other guards. “The rest of you are dismissed.” As he said that the other Thestrals walked past him to congratulate Moonlight. After the others had finished congratulating her Anon walked over to Moonlight. “I’m guessing you already know what your duties are as Captain.” “Yes sir.” “Good.” Anon said before looking behind Moonlight to notice Raven walking towards him. “Well you have one other duty that you don’t know about, and that would be that you get to choose your second in command. Now your dismissed.” As Moonlight left the Barrack’s sparring area Raven walked up to Anon a worried look on her face. “Anon I need you to come with me right away.” Raven said as her horn began to glow. “Teleporting? How about we just walk.” Anon said as Raven’s horn began to glow brighter. “No time Celestia wants to see you urgently.” Raven said before Anon soon found his vision filled with a bright red light as he and Raven were teleported. Anon soon found himself inside of Celestia’s study. “Anon good to see that you’ve arrived.” Celestia said as Anon steadied himself. “Good to be here Princess. Now what is it that you wish of me?” Anon said as Celestia levitated a book over to him. “Within this book is a series of notes and calculations that Twilight Sparkle made concerning an event that happened a thousand years ago.” Celestia explained as Anon read through the notes. “You can’t be serious.” Anon said as he reached the page of the book that contained the results of the calculations performed by Twilight. “Anon, what you are reading is correct. After a thousand years Nightmare Moon is returning.” Celestia said in a somber tone. “Let me guess you want me to stop her.” Anon said anger lacing his voice. “No Anon. I need you to stall her. As for how to deal with Nightmare Moon I have given Twilight a very important assignment.” “And what would this assignment be?” “Raven the file.” At this Raven levitated a file over to Anon. “Now Raven if you could please leave us.” “Of course Princess.” Raven said as she left the room. As Anon looked over the file he noticed that it was about the Elements of Harmony. “So you plan on using the Elements to banish Nightmare Moon again?” “No I don’t Anon. I have assigned Twilight to go to Ponyville and gather 5 other ponies worthy of bearing the Elements.” “And what will happen when she does find these other ponies?” “Twilight is a smart mare I believe she will find another way to deal with Nightmare Moon.” “So what do you wish for me to do Princess?” “As I said I need you to stall Nightmare Moon.” “Okay then simple mission. Where do I need to go?” “To me and my sister’s old castle in the Everfree.” “I’ll leave at once then.” Anon said turning to the door. “Alpha let’s get going.” At this Alpha appeared from his place in the shadows of the room. “Anon, please be careful.” “Don’t worry Celestia I will.” And with that Anon left the room to get ready for one hell of a fight. Night had fallen over Equestria when Anon and Alpha had found themselves outside of the Everfree Castle. “Here we are Alpha.” “A thousand years since we’ve been here. Isn’t it.” A voice said to Anon. “Who is that?” Anon said looking around his surroundings. “It’s Alpha. Y’know your companion.” At this Alpha began to hover in front of Anon. “How are you able to talk?” “Our mental connection allows me to me to talk to you telepathically.” “So no one else can hear you?” At this Alpha rotated himself to appear like he was shaking his head. “Wait a minute how come you haven’t talked to me before?” “Because it took me this long to modify my telepathic voice to speak English so whenever I’d talk to you it wouldn’t sound like a bunch of growls.” Alpha said before turning to look at the castle. “Makes sense. Now let’s get back to the task at hand.” Anon said as he walked towards the castle. “So what’s the plan boss?” Alpha asked. Before he could get an answer a loud boom could be heard as a dark blue beam shot out from the castle. “C’mon let’s go!” Anon said before running into the castle. After a short run through the castle Anon and Alpha found themselves outside the castle’s throne room. From inside Anon could hear a voice that sent shivers down his spine. “So you thought that you and your friends could stop me. You really are a fool Twilight Sparkle.” The voice of Nightmare Moon said. “Alpha I want you to hit Nightmare with a stun shot. We don’t want to hurt her to much, seeing as how she’s possessing Luna’s body.” After receiving a nod from Alpha, Anon kicked open the doors to the throne room as Alpha shot a beam of light towards Nightmare Moon. “Argh!” Nightmare exclaimed as the beam of light hit her in the chest knocking her on her back. “Anon!” Twilight exclaimed at seeing Anon come walking through the wide open doors. “I didn’t know that you’d be here.” She said as she ran over to Anon. “Didn’t know I’d be here either, it was sort of a last minute thing.” Anon said as the five other ponies and Spike gathered around him. “Hey Anon good to see ya.” Spike said to the human. “Good to see you to Spike.” Anon said before he noticed movement from where Nightmare was standing. “DIE!!!!!” Nightmare shouted at the top of her lungs as she shot a beam of light at the group. Before the beam could connect with anyone, Alpha levitated himself in front of the group where he then generated a shield around the group. After Nightmare’s beam died out Alpha let his shield drop. “Twilight get the Elements now.” Anon said as he separated himself from the small group as he drew his sword. “What about you Anon?” Twilight asked worry lacing her voice. “I’m going to stall Nightmare.” He said before a cyan pegasus dragged Twilight out of the room. “So then how are we gonna delay her?” Alpha said. ‘Simple we keep dodging her attacks.’ Anon thought back to him as he stalked towards Nightmare. “So Celestia has sent her dog to deal with me? Was she too scared of losing to me again!” Nightmare shouted at Anon. “I am no dog you bitch!” Anon shouted back as his sword was engulfed in a blue flame. “How dare you call me that! I AM YOUR RULER! YOU SWORE YOUR FEALTY TO THE PRINCESS OF THE NIGHT I AM THAT PRINCESS!” Nightmare Moon screamed back to Anon. “You ain’t no princess of mine.” Anon said before launching a fireball at Nightmare Moon. “Ha pathetic!” She yelled back from behind a shield she had erected at the last second. “A colt could do better than you!” She yelled before launching a number of lighting bolts at Anon. As he began to dodge her lighting bolts his mind began to wander. ‘How did I come to be in this position?’ He asked himself as Nightmare launched a set of fireballs at him. ‘Ah yes I was brought her by some sort of strange force. But what was I before Equestria?’ He wondered as he continued to dodge Nightmare’s attacks. ‘Oh yeah I was an accountant who had a hobby for swordplay.’ He thought before being interrupted by his opponent. “WILL YOU JUST DIE ALREADY!” Nightmare screamed at him. “Anon you know we can’t keep this up forever.” Alpha said to Anon. “We need to fight back at least a bit, if only to wear her down.” ‘Good point.’ Anon replied back before he realized something bad about having a mental conversation. Your mind wouldn’t be able to focus on dodging attacks. “Oof.” Anon groaned as he was sent flying into a wall by a fireball. “FINALLY!” Nightmare said as her horn began to smoke slightly. “Ow that hurts.” Anon said as he emerged from the rubble of the collapsed wall. “Don’t worry bud we’re not out of the fight yet.” Alpha said as Anon began to get back onto his feet. “Anon don’t worry we’re here to help.” The familiar voice of Twilight said as her and the others ran back into the throne room. “Oh no Celestia’s student has found the Elements of Harmony whatever shall I do.” Nightmare said in a mocking tone. “Oh wait a minute I do know what to do!” With that said Nightmare then summoned the stone Elements to herself before blasting them with a destructive beam of energy. Destroying their stony forms. “NO!” Twilight screamed as she saw the elements turn to dust in front of her eyes. “No-no-no…” She whimpered as tears filled her eyes. “Now then to get rid of you.” Nightmare said as she leveled her horn with Twilight. As Nightmare fired off a magical beam at Twilight the beam hit another one of Alpha’s shields. As Alpha lowered his shield Twilight looked up to see not only Anon standing in a defensive position in front of her but also her five new friends and Spike standing behind him. “You okay Twi?” Anon asked as he looked back at her. When he looked back he saw that she was beginning to levitate along with her friends. “What the…” “Heck?” Alpha said finishing Anon’s thought. After a few seconds of floating in the air sets of jewelry appeared on them. After the jewelry appeared Twilight’s eyes began to glow a bright white, as a spectrum of rainbow light emanated from the group of floating mares. This spectrum of light then shot out of them and collided with Nightmare Moon. “NOOOOOO!!!!!” She screamed as she was engulfed by the rainbow. “Whoa now that’s what I call one hell of an ad for skittles.” Alpha said as the rainbow beam began to die down and disappear back into Twilight and her friends. Once the rainbow disappeared back into Twilight and the others they dropped back down onto the floor. In place of where Nightmare was standing the rainbow beam had managed to leave a ball of white light. As the ponies began picking themselves up off the ground another white light filled the room. As the white light dissipated Princess Celestia appeared in the throne room. “Princess Celestia!” Twilight exclaimed as she saw her mentor appear in the room as she ran up to give her a hug. “Hello Twilight.” Celestia said as Twilight ended the hug. “Who are your friends?” “Oh well I would like you to meet Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy.” She said gesturing to each pony. After they each gave their hellos to the Princess, Celestia then turned to the white orb. “Paladin you don’t mind giving me a rundown on what happened.” “Of course not.” Anon said before proceeding to give Celestia a run down of the evenings events. Whilst he was doing this Twilight’s new found friends gathered around her. “Yo Twilight who’s that talking to Princess Celestia?” Rainbow Dash asked. “Oh that’s Paladin Anon. He’s the Captain of Princess Celestia’s Personal Guard.” She explained. “I think what Dash wants to know is what is he?” Applejack asked. “He looks like a bit like a Minotaur.” Fluttershy said. “Well he isn’t. He’s a human, he comes from a different world.” Before anypony could say anything else Celestia fired off a beam of bright light into the ball of white light. After a few seconds Celestia lowered her horn as the beam died out. “Any reason why you just shot magic into something that’s made of pure magic?” Anon asked her. His answer came as the white orb of magic dissipated and from the orb Princess Luna appeared. As she lifted her head up her eyes immediately focused on Celestia. In the next moment Celestia found Luna wrapped around her chest. “I-I’m so sorry Tia.” Luna said between her tears. “It’s alright Luna. I forgive you.” Celestia said as tears began to fill her eyes as well. At the sight of Luna, Anon dropped his sword and fell onto his rear in disbelief. This action didn’t go unnoticed by Celestia. “Luna I’m not the only one here who is happy to see you y’know.” Celestia said as she gestured behind herself. “What do you…” Luna began before she saw Anon. “Anon.” Was all she said before she rushed forward and wrapped Anon in a hug. “Luna is it really you?” Anon said as he ran a hand through her mane. “Of course it is who else would it be?” As the duo reunited Celestia moved behind them to whisper something into Twilight’s ear. Once she finished Twilight and her friends had taken off their individual Elements of Harmony. After she had collected the Elements she turned back to Anon and Luna. Whilst Celestia had been collecting the Elements Anon had reintroduced Luna to Alpha. “As much as I hate to interrupt this reunion but we must be off as I may of left without notifying anypony.” Celestia said. “That is quite irresponsible of you sister.” Luna said jokingly. “Yes it is Luna.” Celestia said as her horn began to glow slightly. “Twilight I shall save you and your friends the trouble and teleport you back to Ponyville.” “Thank you Princess.” Twilight said before her and her friends were gone in a flash of yellow. “Now for us.” Celestia said before Anon and Luna’s vision was filled with a yellow light. As their vision cleared Anon and Luna found themselves in the Throne Room of Canterlot Castle. “So this is it sister, your pet project.” Luna asked as she recovered from the teleportation. “Yes it is Luna.” Celestia said as she moved over to her sister and Anon. “Anon you don’t mind taking my sister to her room do you?” “Not at all Princess Celestia.” Anon said giving a small bow. “Good well I’ll go and find and place the Elements in the vault.” Celestia said as she left the Throne Room with Alpha following close behind to keep an eye on her. “If you’ll please follow me Princess Luna.” Anon said as Luna followed close behind him as they left the Throne Room. After a few minutes of walking the duo found themselves entering the Lunar Wing of Canterlot Castle. “So my sister devoted a whole wing to myself?” Luna asked as they made their way through the halls. “Yes she did.” Anon responded. Before anymore conversation could be made a shadow dropped down from the ceiling in front of them. “Good evening Paladin.” The shadow said before stepping into a ray of moonlight to reveal the shadow to be Captain Moonlight. “Good evening Captain Moonlight. Any reason for this little interruption?” “Just merely wondering who your guest is.” At this Luna stepped forward towards Moonlight. “Have I really been gone so long that the Lunar guard doesn’t even remember who exactly they protect?” “Lady Noctis?” Moonlight said disbelief lacing her voice as she quickly dived into a bow. “Forgive me for not noticing it was you Lady Noctis.” “You may rise Captain, you are also forgiven.” Luna said as Moonlight rose from her bow. “Now are we aloud to proceed with our current course?” Anon asked her. “Of course sir.” Moonlight said as she stepped out of their way. As the duo made their way down the hall Moonlight quickly caught up to them with a few flaps of her wings. “Lady Noctis if I may trouble you for a mere moment.” “You may Captain.” “I just wanted to say it’s an honor to have you back ma’am.” She said giving a salute before letting them continue on their journey. “I like her a lot.” Luna said as her and Anon found themselves outside of her room. “She is quite likeable.” Anon said as he showed Luna into her room. “Well then I shall leave you for the night Princess.” He said turning to the door. “Anon can you please stay with me for the night?” Luna asked as she let out a small yawn. “If you wish it I shall.” Anon said before taking a place next to the door. “Anon I meant could you please join me in bed for the night as I wish not to be alone for the night.” “Of course Princess.” Anon said as he removed his armor and joined her in bed. “Anon I must say that I’m sorry for what happened a thousand years ago.” Luna said as she nuzzled Anon’s side. “Princess it isn’t your fault for what happened all those years ago. If anything it was my fault as Captain of your personal guard, I should have helped you.” Anon said before he found a hoof on his lips. “Tis not your fault Anon. I am the one that listened to those words of temptation and darkness. But if you wish to take the blame I will not deny you.” She said with a small laugh. “Goodnight Anon.” She said as she slowly fell asleep with her head on his chest. “Goodnight Luna.” Anon said with a warm smile on his face as he ran his fingers through her mane. “It’s good to have you back.” And with that he fell asleep. h that he fell asleep.