Operation Luna

by Cheezy805

Chapter 1

Operation Luna – Chapter 1

Two days had passed since Zedd and Bazz had left their homes. Zedd wasn’t walking much. He seemed depressed and Bazz knew better than to talk to him. Zedd’s heart was sore from leaving his love; if Bazz tried to talk to him, he’d better be holding some form of shield.

They had followed the river from Ponyville through the forest and out through a valley in the Drackenridge Mountains. The river had left them behind with the forest and supplies while tempers were running high, supplies were running low. Bazz had insisted they travel by night. ‘It’s cooler and we won’t need as much water. With any luck we’ll even get to Manehattan before running out at all.’ Zedd agreed grudgingly. The sky’s beauty was little comfort against how tired he felt from changing his sleeping pattern, not to mention how much he missed being warm.

‘You’ll have time to be warm while we sleep. That’s another good point, though. We don’t have sleeping gear. I dunno if you’ve ever gone camping, but if you sleep during nights like these, believe me, you will freeze to death. It’s not as fun as it sounds.’

‘But that doesn’t sound fun at all!’

‘My point exactly.’

Bazz was content to march in silence through the night. The nights were dead silent except for the wind and the occasional screech when a nocturnal animal found its breakfast. The land was barren and bleak. It seemed to almost be like a wasteland or a desert. Occasionally they would pass a tree, though more often than not the trees were dead. How any animals could survive out here was a wonder, though they continually passed reptiles and buzzards. Bazz rechecked his supplies. They were almost out of water; one single litre left for both of them. That would last them half a day in this climate. They had to find a waterhole. Yeah, that’ll be the day. Bugger it; we’re in for a difficult trek. This is just insane that Manehattan is in between the Known World’s biggest inland lake and a bloody desert. Bazz sighed to himself, drawing a quick glance from Zedd.

The moon was floating above them, a face of sadness eternally etched upon it. The sand was getting under his horseshoes and he was about ready to call a break to relieve the problem when he felt a change in the sand density.

‘Hold up, Zedd.’

‘What is it now?’ Zedd asked irritably.

‘With any luck, water. You want to learn about magic, right? Well, check this out.’

Bazz focused his magic on the ground in front of him. The dry sand was lifted up and pushed away to reveal a damp mud.

‘Delicious,’ noted Zedd.

‘Yeah, d’you want mud pancakes for dinner?’ Bazz rolled his eyes at the joke. ‘Come on, pay attention. I’ll show you how to do it, then you have a go. Mud is just water and dirt- or sand in this case- so you can extract the water from it. Well, it must have rained here recently. Think of nothing but the water and mentally separate it from the dirt, then…’ Bazz’s eyes closed in concentration and the mud shifted. Clear, sparkling water rose up from the mud leaving the patch of ground dry.

Zedd looked in distaste at the mud-water. ‘You really expect me to drink that?’

‘Hey, you need to drink something and we’re almost out of water. Besides, I reckon I did a passable job. Not too much sand in it, at least.’

‘But there’s so little of it!’

There would be at most twenty millilitres of water floating between the two. Bazz sighed before responding.

‘Yeah, that may be, but this spell doesn’t take too much energy, just concentration.’ He levitated the water towards himself and awkwardly bit it out of the air, swallowing all of it in one mouthful.

‘Hey, I can’t eat or drink when ponies are watching me, okay? Go on, even if you don’t want to drink it, have a go at the spell.’

Zedd walked a few metres and kicked at the ground. He kept up with his pouting, though under the mask he was excited. He wanted to learn more about a magic, and he was glad Bazz was willing to teach him.

After he had dug a sufficiently deep hole and saw damp sand, he stopped his digging and focused his magic. In his mind, the spell was somewhat like simple levitation; he just needed to separate the sand from the water. Concentration. Come on, Zedd, you can do this!

He watched as water began to rise from the ground, leaving most of the sand behind. Soon enough Zedd had a small ball of water floating in front of him, somewhat clouded by speckles of sand.

‘Looks delicious. You up for a mud slushie?’

Zedd spun to glare at Bazz and heard a splash. His mouth fell open in shock when he realised the water was no longer floating in the air.

‘Ah, made a foal by gravity, I see!’ Bazz couldn’t help but laugh a little at Zedd’s expression.

‘Yeah? Well let’s see you try and-’ Zedd stopped talking. He was only making it worse.

‘Do better? But you already have, mate! Look, you had that perfectly. Gravity is actually how I like to manipulate this trick.’ More water began to rise from the ground as Bazz spoke. ‘Now, most ponies like to concentrate on separating the sand from the water. That can be a bit of a pain considering how small sand particles are, y’know? Well, I use gravity.’ Zedd watched the trail of water form itself into a clouded ball. The cloud of sand condensed into a single clump in the middle and fell through the water to the ground.

‘Sand is heavier than water!’

‘You got it. I normally show off by doing that while it’s rising from the ground; that way you don’t even see the sand in the water. Want to try again?’

Zedd nodded his affirmation as Bazz filed the water ball into a spare canteen. He concentrated on lifting the water from the desert floor, though this time wasn’t surprised to see how dirty it was.

‘Perfect, now you just need to concentrate on the centre of the ball of water. Focus the gravity of the ball to that point and the sand’ll move on its own.’

Zedd nodded slightly as he allowed the force of gravity to shift. Some of the water dripped from the ball and was reclaimed to the desert, though most of it stayed standing as the sand condensed. When he had sufficiently collected the sand particles, he let go of the sand and only held onto the water. As Bazz had shown, the sand clump fell back to the ground.

Zedd looked back up to the water ball and was disappointed to see a few bits of sand still floating in it.

‘Hey, that was bloody good for a first try, mate! The first time I tried that, I immediately dropped most of the water back to the ground and held onto the sand! I think you might be a born telekinetic.’

‘Wait, really?’

‘Really what? Yes, I think you have some serious skill, and yes I was much worse.’

‘…Thanks.’ Zedd always liked that about Bazz. If he wasn’t sure what a question was aimed at, he’d explain multiple things in a straight-forward manner.

‘Come on, we’re getting close. We were probably just lucky here, though. A stray cloud from Cloudsdale would be my guess; they really need to get a new weathermare. We also need to be out of this desert by sun-up.’

Bazz lifted his metal device from his saddlebags and kicked at it. The device split in two, revealing a small piece of glass. Bazz peered through it for a few moments before saying ‘I think we’ll be out of here in two or so hours. Manehattan is three hours away.’

Zedd looked disbelievingly at the small device. ‘As though you can see that far through such a small telescope-thing.’

‘Magic,’ Bazz mocked before floating it back to his saddlebag. ‘That thing’s good for more than just music and audio surveillance. Aside from that, I can sort of tell by the stars. Neither method is perfectly accurate, but together you can get a fair idea of distance.’

Zedd looked up at the sky. The Mare in the Moon seemed to be watching them, sadness eternally masking her face. Almost to exaggerate this, a small flame burnt across the sky in front of her eyes, mocking a fiery tear.

‘Bazz?’

‘Yeah?’

‘There’s a couple of things I want to know now. I’ve been wondering for a while what your real name is, and I also now kinda want to know how to navigate by stars.’

Bazz sighed. ‘Well… I’m sorry, but the name will have to wait. You are a bloody sharp one, though. Don’t go asking the real names of members of… just don’t question names. Some people don’t appreciate it. There’ll be a time for me to tell you, but I can’t yet. As for the stars, I can teach you as we walk.’

He quickly dropped the canteen back into a saddlebag before beginning walking again in the direction of Manehattan. As they walked, Zedd listened raptly as Bazz described each constellation, told the story behind each one, and explained how they can be used in navigation. He told great tales of Gods and Titans, along with several mythological creatures, such as cockatrices, manticores, and the three Fates.

---

Zedd looked to the east, then back to the west, comparing the gradient of colour visible in the sky. There wasn’t a single cloud to be seen, leaving nought but the black night sky contrasting the red morning light. Celestia sure puts time and effort into the transition between her night and day…

‘It’s incredible,’ he noted aloud.

‘It’s a lie.’ Bazz continued walking, sparing a glance for the setting moon and nothing else.

‘Wait… how can a sunrise be a lie?’

‘It’s not Celestia’s moon. I know what you were thinking. Everypony thinks the same way. Something went down almost a millennium ago. I’ll tell you eventually, but right now you wouldn’t believe me. Trust me on this. Now come on, we’re almost to Manehattan.’

Zedd looked back across the sky once more before following Bazz. Yeah right.

The skyscrapers were the first parts of the city to come into full view. In the light given by the sun, Zedd was shocked to see how high they truly rose. The tallest building in Ponyville was a toss-up between the town hall and Sugarcube Corner, but these buildings… Now I see why they call them “Skyscrapers”.

The desert ended and was replaced by dry dirt. Only when they came within a league of the city did live reassert itself in the form of grass. The stallion and the buck continued walking to the city, passing cottages and agricultural land as they went. Farmers paused in their tilling to wave and bid the travellers a good morning, which was responded to with much less enthusiasm by Bazz.

‘So Zedd, what do you think so far? It’s bloody different from Ponyville, isn’t it?’

‘Yeah… are they sure those buildings won’t just fall over? They don’t look very safe…’

Bazz laughed before he answered. ‘Nah, mate. They’ve taken every precaution to make sure they don’t fall. They’re lined with metal and cement; stuff you don’t get in small towns like Ponyville. It’d take more than a tornado to knock one of them down.’

There were no gates or walls around the town, the houses just became more frequent. They made their way onto the main street of the city and walked to the business district.

‘This place is set up a lot like Canterlot, with the exception of not being built into a mountain. You’ve got agricultural land on the edge of its borders, housing on this side of the city, a business district making a ring around the city centre, the city centre is for nobles and rich ponies, and then there are the docks. The docks are where Manehattan gets a lot of its money. I mean, someone has to keep those nobles rolling in bits, right? We’re actually headed for a bar down there, but we may as well do some sightseeing, too. If anything catches your eye, just say so, but I want to be down at the docks by midday.’

The business district held several interesting shops. Zedd wanted to try some sushi from one of the numerous cafes around, despite Bazz’s reaction (Augh, seaweed! It tastes like salty lettuce with fish poop on it.) It wasn’t as bad as Bazz made it seem, but he decided not to go out of his way to eat it again. There were boutiques spread around on almost every street, and there were shops for nearly everything in between, from maps and survival gear to books and music. As they passed one of the local clubs, a familiar voice floated through the front doors.

‘Good morning, everyone, and welcome to WR3K! The manager tells me that drinks are half-price for the next ten minutes, so go and get some before it’s too late! I’m DJ PON-3, signing off with one of my original mixes.’ Music flooded the club again as Zedd spoke up.

‘Bazz, come on, that’s one of my friends from Ponyville!’

‘Wait, you know Vinyl? Nice, mate. We’ve got about an hour before I want to be by the docks, so we can spare a few minutes.’ They walked to the club doors and were stopped by the bouncer; a large, dark green earth pony wearing sunglasses and holding a clipboard. A suit was covering his cutie mark.

‘Are you on the list?’

‘There’s a list?’ Zedd frowned in confusion.

‘If you ain’t on the list, I can’t let you in. Simple as that.’

‘Zedd, this isn’t Ponyville.’

‘No, but that’s not fair! I just want to see Vinyl.’

‘Yeah, you and every other young electro-loving chump out there. You’re either on the list or you ain’t. Take a hike, kid.’ The bouncer was obviously glaring at Zedd through his sunglasses.

‘Come on, she told me to look her up if I ever came to Manehattan!’

An idea came to Bazz. ‘Yeah, she actually did. We don’t have the letter any more, but his name might be on the list. Got anyone called Zedd?’

The bouncer sighed loudly. As much as he wanted these two to just leave, if one was on the list he could lose his job. Bazz took his metal device from his saddlebag and pointed it at the stallion from behind his clipboard. If he had to use it, a memory modification spell would work well.

‘BRAVO, WHAT IN THE NAME OF LUNA D’YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING?!’ Bazz flinched and dropped his device to the ground, then hastily flicked it back into a saddlebag with magic.

A middle-aged mare appeared in the doorway, an absolutely livid look on her face.

‘Ma’am, do you know this pony?’ The bouncer stooped a bit to show respect for the shorter mare.

‘I used to. Let him in, he has some serious explaining to do. And if anyone asks, you never saw him. Or his friend, for that matter.’

The bouncer nodded his assent and grunted, stepping over to let Zedd and Bazz pass, albeit begrudgingly. After being led through a second doorway, the three entered the main part of the club. It was a lot darker than Zedd had expected. As dark as it was, there were black neon lights spread around, causing all light-coloured objects to seem to glow. Bazz looked like a ghost with a black mane. A few laser lights were flashing around in time with the music and a smoke machine was puffing out a cloud near the stage. The stage itself held a pony-sized mixing board and speakers on either side that were easily twice the size of a pony.

The mare leading them through the club stopped in front of a door near the stage.

‘Does he know?’

‘Not yet,’ Bazz responded.

‘Very well. I’ll have to ask you to stay out here for the time being. Bravo, come with me.’

‘Yes, ma’am. Also, I go by the name “Bazz” now.’

‘In my presence you will remain Bravo.’ Bazz looked a bit exasperated at the older mare, but held his tongue.

‘Zedd, go find your friend. This might take a while. Here, this should be enough bits for a drink or two.’ He levitated a small coin purse from his saddlebag and passed it to Zedd before following the mare through the doorway. Zedd watched the door close and turned back to the club.

‘Boo!’

Zedd gave a startled gasp. Vinyl had snuck up on him while he was facing the other way. Having a pure white coat, she looked less like a ghost and more like she was purely glowing.

‘What, do I really look that bad tonight?’

‘No, you just surprised me; you kinda look like you’re glowing. And it’s morning.’

‘Wait, seriously? Oh, that’s awesome!’ She held up a hoof and admired the way it seemed to glow. ‘I forgot those lights do that, haha! Wait, it’s morning? Oh man, I’ve gone nocturnal. Anyway, what brings you to Manehattan? I’d guess you were here just to see me, but what’s Mister Quill doing here, too?’

‘Ah, yeah, about that, I should probably fill you in. Here’s the fast version: he’s promised to help me find my dad who he seems to think is still alive, he’s quit teaching, we’re headed down to the docks, and I’m bloody thirsty; let’s get a drink.’ Vinyl’s jaw dropped slightly and she burst out with more laughter.

‘What? What is it?’

‘Did you seriously just say that? I think he’s getting to you!’ She laughed harder.

‘What did I say?’ He thought about what he had just said. Oh. “Bloody”.

‘I guess you’re picking up on some of his slang! What, are you going to start saying “eh?” after every other sentence?’

‘No, it was just a slip of the tongue. Come on, Vinyl.’ I honestly don’t see why she thinks that’s so funny…

When she finally caught her breath, Vinyl had to apologise. ‘Yeah, sorry, I just find his accent funny. It’s so different to ours, and he has so many strange sayings.’ Zedd immediately thought of the few times Bazz had said things like “Buckets of blood” or “I guess you’re up the creek” and laughed, too.

Vinyl directed him to a booth over at the far side of the room and went to get their drinks. She returned with two glasses of something that smelled strongly bitter.

‘What’s the matter? Never had alcohol before?’

‘Well… no. Don’t you remember Ponyville? No matter how old you looked, nopony would serve me anything. They all knew me.’

‘Yeah, true enough. Go on and drink, just take it slowly. The first time drinking is always the one you should be careful with. Also, if this is your first time, maybe take my drink and I’ll have yours.’

‘Yeah, sure.’ She used her magic to take his glass and push hers over and immediately lifted the glass up, turning it almost horizontal.

Zedd smelled the drink. It smelled a lot less bitter than the other one; almost chocolaty. He tentatively took a sip and discovered it did taste a lot like chocolate, though with a bit of a kick to it that left a strange warmth in his throat as it went.

‘You like?’

‘Yeah, it’s good; almost like liquid candy!’

‘It’s a lot weaker than normal alcohol.’

‘Why’s that?’

‘Because it’s a mare’s drink.’ She paused for a moment and watched his face fall before laughing again. ‘Don’t worry! A lot of bucks like drinking them just because they taste better. There’s nothing feminine about it.’

‘Yeah, sure. Could I have a try of the other drink anyway?’

‘Sure thing, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.’

She passed the drink across the table for him to try. He wiped the edge of the glass with a napkin (“Just drink it, you wuss!”) and took a sip. This one was unbelievably stronger. He felt it burn his throat on the way down and leave a stinging taste in his mouth. He dropped the glass back to the table and coughed.

‘Yeah, that was pretty much my reaction the first time. You wanna go back to the mares drink?’

He glared at her for a moment at the way she had said it and pushed her glass back across the table, taking a swig of his own to alleviate the taste left in his mouth.

‘Now, this here is rum. It’s not mixed in with anything, so yeah, it’s pretty strong. That drink you have is called a mudslide. It’s vodka- fermented potato- with some cocoa and other stuff mixed in. I love mudslides, but it takes forever to get drunk off ‘em. So anyway, what else have I missed? Gimme the long version, Mister Quill might be in the back room for a while.’

‘Old habits never change, I guess, Miss Scratch?’ She realised she had called Bazz by his last name again and facehoofed. The next DJ came on over the club microphone before he started.

‘Hey, hey, hey, all! Welcome to WR3K, the club that’ll leave you a complete- y’know…. That was DJ Pon-3 from a little place called Ponyville, but now I’m here for your musical pleasure. This is a new mix by me: your very own DJ Kit-Kat!’ He had painted his muzzle white to glow in the neon lights. It was making the pattern of a cat’s jowls and whiskers. As silly as it seemed, it had effect.

As the bass-filled music flooded the club, several ponies moved from the dance floor to back to the booths and bar, just as several others moved out to the floor. Zedd recounted everything major that had happened in and out of school since she left. She had very few questions, instead just drinking as he spoke. By the time he got to the Manehattan part of the story, she was half way through her third glass; though she had switched to a lighter drink- a type of whiskey mixed with milk.

Bazz made his way out of the back room. He looked around for a bit before noticing the glowing figure of Vinyl next to Zedd and walking over.

‘Have fun with Madame Fussy-britches?’ asked Vinyl as soon as Bazz was in earshot (which, in the music-filled club, wasn’t that far).

‘Yeah, much. She yelled at me for a bit, then I had to tell her what I’ve been doing for the last few years. I used to know her. Anyway, Zedd, I have a better idea of what we’re doing now. I know exactly where we’re headed, and we don’t need to be down at the docks until two.’

‘Wait, you didn’t even know where we were going?’

‘N- I… had a vague idea!’

Vinyl suddenly piped up. ‘Where would you be going to at the docks? It’s not like there’s a club down there or anything…’

‘No, but there’s information. Information is a valuable commodity. Never forget that.’

‘Oh come on, old buck! I thought Zedd said you gave up teaching!’

‘Hey, firstly: I’m only ten years older than you, and secondly… I’ll always be a teacher.’ His voice dropped after he said “secondly” and he looked down to the floor. Zedd looked confused at his reaction and Vinyl took off her goggles to look him in the eyes. The result was horrifying; her stunningly red eyes seemed to glow brighter than her white body in the neon lights of the club.

‘Hey, sorry buck, I just…’

‘No, it’s fine. I’m going to get something to drink.’ He stood up and walked straight to the bar.

‘What’s up with him?’

‘I’ve got no idea. He’s… different than I thought he was. He seems… more and less mature than he ever let on at school. Like, he always knows what he’s doing, but he treats life in general as a joke. I’ve never seen him react to anything like this, though.’

‘Give him some space. Anyway, I see you got your cutie mark! You just casually left that bit out of the story. Go on, tell me all about it.’

Zedd took note that Bazz was ordering two drinks- a glass of wine and a double shot of whiskey- before he recounted how he got his mark to Vinyl.

---

They had been walking in silence since they left the club. Zedd had asked what was wrong as they were leaving the club, but Bazz just shook his head and kept walking with an impassive look on his face.

‘I’m sorry.’

Zedd looked at Bazz for a moment, confused about the random apology.

‘What for?’

‘I sort of killed the atmosphere in the club with my little episode.’

‘Episode? I don’t know what you think you did, but all I saw was you walking to be by yourself. Everypony does that from time to time.’

‘Yeah, but still… you deserve to at least know why.' He took a deep breath, bracing himself to reveal part of his past to Zedd.

‘I’ve been in love before, Zedd. She was beautiful, smart, funny… and she was taken from me. She’s the only reason I’m alive today, but it was at the cost of her own life. Four years ago the damn Solar Empire did a raid on… a raid on a place I used to live. So many died… so many killed. I saw some of my best friends go down, and I saw others… break.’ His eyes glazed over. ‘I’ve tried to live the best life I can, but even that is wrong in the eyes of some. The truth, Zedd, is that there is something very wrong with Equestria. Innocent ponies are every day being killed needlessly. I’m fighting to change that. All I want to do is make a difference… even if it costs me my life.’ He glanced to the sky before levitating his blue-tinted sunglasses out of his saddlebags and putting them on.

‘This is where we’re headed.’ They were walking down a boardwalk in the dock. Bazz turned toward the door of a shady-looking bar. Zedd followed cautiously.

‘Be on your guard in here. I’d trust some of these ponies with my life, but not everyone’s as trusting as me; and honestly, some of them just don’t like me, and, by extension, you.’

‘That’s a lot of information to take in, you know.’

‘Fine, putting it bluntly, keep your mouth shut or they’ll shut it for you.’

‘Erm… got it.’

Bazz pushed the door open and walked in. Zedd followed stiffly, forcing his mouth shut tighter than normal. The room’s shutters were drawn and it was lit by a candle. The place was set up like your average seaside bar, despite being next to a lake. It had cobblestone walls, wooden stanchions supporting the roof beams, wooden tables, and candles in glass holders. Several shady bar patrons were visible, but in the low light their features couldn’t be made out clearly.

‘Bravo! Where in Tartarus have you been?!’ A violently fluorescent yellow-green coated pony launched themselves onto Zedd’s back.

‘Delta! Mate, I haven’t seen you in years! It’s kinda crud being the only Austallion in Ponyville.’

‘Well, I’ve been right here. Again, where have you been? Off with the ladies?’

‘Ah, no.’

Delta laughed at Bazz’s expression before saying ‘Only joking, man! Ahh, bloody hell, it must’ve been three years ago that I last saw you?’

‘Seems about right. Oh yeah, this is Zedd. We’re looking for Foxtrot, and Madame Tightwad wasn’t much help.’

‘Wait, you were up at WR3K? You got in to WR3K?!’

‘Yeah, what of it?’

‘Today?’

‘Yes…’

‘Man, as if! They wouldn’t let me anywhere near the place! They’ve got some of the best DJs in from all over Equestria for the next few days, oh man, how did you get in?!’

‘I… might have pointed my Thing at the bouncer.’

‘Oh yeah, that’ll do it. Memory modification?’

‘Nope, Madame Tightwad caught me. Not fun. So, do you have any info about Foxtrot?’

‘Foxtrot? Last I saw he was on the run from the Solar Empire. Had to leave his little foal in some… oh, no way.’

‘What is it?’ asked Zedd, slamming a hoof to his lips to keep his mouth shut.

‘You’re his son, aren’t you? As if I didn’t notice it before! Same eyes, same… “untameable” hairdo. So you’re little Zedd…’

Zedd shot a warning glance at Delta. ‘Look, if you don’t have any information on Foxtrot, maybe we could get some help from Sierra.’

‘Sierra? You’d have to be a one mad stallion to look for him.’

‘I was never a fan of sanity. Zedd, you can breathe, you know.’ He moved to take a seat near the bar and motioned Delta and Zedd to join him.

‘Who are all these ponies? Why do they have codenames? At least… I think they’re codenames. I mean, your name’s Bazz, not Bravo.’

‘Bazz? Hah, you dropped into that old name again! What happened to “Sunrise”?’

‘My hoof lodged itself in your left nostril is what happened. I dropped that name the second I joined. Anyway, Zedd, we all have codenames to protect our identities. This here is Delta. His name starts with a D. I go by Bazz, so I’m Bravo. They wanted to call me Sierra, but that title went to Spectrum.’

‘Spectrum?’

‘Old friend of mine. A good friend. Hopefully. The last time I saw him… it wasn’t nice. We need to find him, though. He’s one of our best bets for finding your dad.’

‘What about-’

‘Information is valuable, Zedd, but it’s also dangerous. Don’t ask more than you can handle.’

‘Well… you keep talking about keeping identities secret and constantly being in danger… why? Why are you in danger?’

‘That, Zedd, is a dangerous question. It’s one I’ll answer, just not yet.’

Zedd contented himself to hearing the other two swap stories of what had happened to the other during the past three years. Zedd missed half the terms they were using; not understanding the unusual terms and slang the foreign ponies were using.

As the day wore on, Zedd became more comfortable with speaking and was gladly asking questions about some of their stories, and telling tales of his own. Zedd was beginning to run out of energy before long.

‘Zedd, if your head drops any lower you’ll be licking the table. Be sure to tell me how it tastes.’

Zedd grunted. ‘Don’t blame me; I haven’t slept in almost a day…’

‘He’s got a point. Delta, d’you have a place we can stay for the night? We’re going to need to get going in the morning, though.’

‘Yeah, you can stay in my room. It’s upstairs and on the left.’

‘Awesome. I should probably get some sleep, too.’

‘Weak.’

‘Rude.’

‘Go on, I’ll lead you to my room.’ The three stood together and Delta led them up a staircase near the bar. At the top of the stairs, Delta pointed to one of the doors and said ‘Dream of me,’ before walking back down. Bazz and Zedd entered the room together. The place wasn’t big; one bedroom, a small bathroom, and a walk in robe. Bazz insisted that Zedd take the bed. He moved to the wardrobe and levitated a blanket down to spread on the floor.

At least this place has floorboards. Cement wouldn’t be too fun to sleep on. Zedd was more than glad to finally be back in a real bed, lying down on it and stretching as though it was the most comfortable bed ever made.

‘Night, Zedd.’

He was already asleep.

---

She smiles at me sweetly. I look into the face of the mare I loved and feel a smile appearing across my own face. There’s something magical about her. Her long, brown mane… her bright, golden eyes… her soft, green coat; she is perfect. She says something to me and I responded in kind, both of us laughing.

The world was filled with eerie silence in its own perfection. I see friends of mine alongside me in the room. My best stallion, Sierra, stands at my right; her best mare, Requiem, at her left. A wall blows apart off to our right. The room is filled with fire and shrapnel. The sound of screaming fills my ears. The screams of the dying; the cries of the dead. White manes, white coats, all gilded in thick armour, they swarm the room quickly, cutting down close friends of mine in a flash.

I look over and see my best friend, Sierra, bearing a knife in his teeth. His normally blue eyes are filled with hatred, rage, and all manner of emotions that drive one to kill. Faster than a flash, he drives the knife into a Solar Guard’s neck, quickly pulling back out and running into the battle.

I look back at her. She is no longer smiling. Fear glazes her eyes over as we both take in the scene around us. She opens her mouth to speak, words drifting to my ears half a second later.

‘Go… please, go!’

‘I can’t leave you, I won’t!’

‘Bravo, run. Run now!’

I continue to say that I won’t, but she turns and runs into the battle. I try to follow and take her back with me, but I’m rooted in place. I’m forced to watch as, almost in slow motion, a Solar Empire guard rushes in from the side and knocks her to the ground. She sprawls for a moment, trying to get upright, and he places a hoof to her neck. Raising a wing with metal blades along its fore, the guard cuts straight down by his hoof.

I scream her name as my vision swirls. She’s gone.

---

‘Bazz! Bazz, wake up!’

‘She’s gone…’

‘Who’s gone? Bazz, everything’s fine!’

Bazz paused for a moment, taking in his surroundings. Light was fading in the windowsill; it was nearly night. He was lying on the floor next to a bed, Zedd standing above him.

‘Nothing’s fine, Zedd. Come on, the sooner we leave Manehattan the better. We have to get to Trottingham and find somepony.’

‘Who?’

‘If the mare from WR3K can be trusted, it’ll be one of my old friends. She refused to give a name, but I think I know who it might be.’ The image of a knife in bared teeth came back to him and he gave an involuntary shiver. ‘What’s the time?’

‘Just after midnight.’

‘Come on, let’s go.’

‘Wait, what? We’re not waiting until morning?’

‘Not unless you want to be shot out the sky by a solar flare. Come on, they’re probably waiting for us anyway.’

‘Who?’

‘Look, I promise I’ll explain everything soon.’

‘Pinkie Pie promise?’

‘What?’

‘Pinkie Pie promise! You can’t break a Pinkie promise!’

‘Err… right. I Pinkie Pie promise.’

‘You have to say it right and do the movements!’

‘”Movements”?’

Zedd went through the movements of a Pinkie Pie Promise, reciting the lyrics to the rhyme as he went. Bazz begrudgingly followed along.

‘Now, if you ever tell anyone I did something like that, you’ll end up with your tongue tied into four different knots.’

‘Fine, but I’m not Pinkie Pie promising anything.’

‘Bugger ya.’ Zedd couldn’t contain his laughter as he and Bazz walked back through the bar (which now had more patrons) and exited the building.

‘Bravo, this way!’ Delta frantically whispered off to their left. ‘Code… uhh… oh bugger, what was the code again? Um…’

‘What’s happened?’

‘The Solar Guard, they know you’re here. I mean, they know we’re all here, but they couldn’t prove anything against us, but you? You need to get out of here now. They could be anywhere, mate.’

‘And let me guess: because of your coat colour, you’re not coming with?’

‘Nah, I can’t. You know how bad I am with stealth, not to mention that I’m a “civilian”. If I’m caught, I’ll be released immediately, but you… please, I haven’t seen you in years, but I don’t want to lose another friend.’ Zedd saw a deep-seated sadness in his eyes.

Bazz remembered his wedding day. Delta, Sierra, and I were some of the very few who got away… and I don’t want to lose any more friends either. He glanced at Zedd for a moment before nodding.

‘Where are we going?’

‘We have Luna’s Moon on our side, so She can’t see us. I think there’s a platoon scouting the west side of town. You’re headed out to the south. Be careful, they’re trying to catch the town in a net.’

‘Who are “they”?’

‘Not now, Zedd. Trust me.’

‘You keep saying that! How can I trust you if I never get told anything? You need to trust me from time to time!’

Bazz’s expression could not be more sad and sincere. ‘Please, Zedd. Everything will be explained soon. If we make it to Trottingham and find my friend, I promise I’ll answer any questions you have, absolutely any, but right now we have to leave.’

Zedd was getting ready to just stop following Bazz and return to Ponyville. I’d be willing to bet he’s never even met my dad… I’ll go with him to Manehattan, but if I don’t get any answers soon, I’m leaving.

‘Go!’ whispered Delta frantically, turning and rushing back to the bar. Bazz led Zedd through the back streets of the business district, avoiding the upper district entirely. As the green grass outside the city came into view, so too did a small carriage connected to two Pegasi.

‘Bravo, come on! They’re nearly here!’

Bazz and Zedd quickly piled into the back of the carriage and the Pegasi took to the skies. Not half a minute later, guards in white armour began to take places every forty feet around the perimeter of the city. None noticed the carriage, already but a speck flying away in the sky.

‘We were bloody lucky tonight, Zedd. Just think… if you hadn’t woken me up, we’d have been caught in there. Pay attention to the newspapers, Zedd. You’re going to see a lot of propaganda soon, even in Trottingham.’

‘Propaganda?’

‘Alright, I’ll give you one thing to think about, but I’m not allowed to tell you anything more. Have you ever heard of the Lunar Republic?’

---

The trip went slower than he thought it would. The flight from Manehattan to Trottingham had taken a whole three and a half days. He was more than grateful to Storm Cloak and Black Dawn for flying Zedd and himself half way across Equestria, but he was still eager to be out of the sky. The sky was no place for a horse without wings.

They stepped out of the carriage and the other two Pegasi went to park it and rest. Zedd was struck with how different this city was from Manehattan, but was so different from Ponyville, as well. The buildings didn’t touch the sky as they did in Manehattan, nor was the town as large, but it was still advanced. A small amount of smoke was visible on the horizon where a steel mill was working, presumably supplying Trottingham with supplies for the piping system linking most of the buildings together.

‘The city of opportunity. It’s not big, but if you have the aptitude, you can go far here. Some of the biggest advances in technology are made here. The biggest arcane advances go to the Canterlot scholars, but Celestia’s personal engineers hold no par with the underground society of Trottingham.’

‘Underground?’

‘Alright, time for some answers. But… not in public. Come on.’ Zedd groaned but followed Bazz through the town. The ponies here all seemed to be either in perfect health, or incredibly sick. For every strong, healthy stallion, there was a frail, dirty old stallion or mare on the road side.

The layout of the city seemed to be similar to Manehattan; a business district surrounded by urban housing. Instead of a whole upper-class district, though, this town only had one large town hall adorned with a larger-than-life stone statue of Celestia, wings spread wide and her horn aligned perfectly with the rising sun.

‘Y’know what separates this torn from the rest of Equestria, Zedd?’

‘Would it be something to do with whatever that thing is out there?’ He pointed to the steel mill in the distance.

‘That it would. This is the only city in Equestria to have a working steel mill.’ He pointed a hoof to the south where a large mountain was visible. The mountain had a few small buildings on it, and there was a Pegasus flying a cart from the quarry to the mill. ‘There’s a quarry off yonder where they mine the steel, then they melt it down at the mill. Once it’s resolidified into ingots, they bring it into down and hand ‘em over to the blacksmith- for a few bits, of course.

‘This place is more advanced than anywhere else in Equestria. Celestia would brag about it being her personal engineers, but it’s actually because of…’ He warily glanced at a guard who seemed to be leaning slightly toward them, presumably listening in. ‘Because of her scholars. Without the scholars, the engineers wouldn’t know what to do.’ The guard seemed satisfied and leaned back into a normal standing position.

Bazz quickly leaned in close to Zedd. ‘We can’t talk out here. There’s one place… Celestia doesn’t know about it, but we have an engineer of our own. That’s Sierra. If he’s here, he’ll be underground.’ He started walking suddenly, leading Zedd along behind.

‘You don’t actually mean “underground,” do you?’

The guard completely looked over in there direction.

‘Uh, yeah, I do! They, uh, the- the iron is only found underground, so they need to send in ponies to mine it out. Mostly earth ponies, y’know? Unicorns aren’t too good at manual labour, and the Pegasi ferry the ore from the caves to the mill.’ The guard warily returned to observing the few other ponies walking around town.

‘Will you shut up in public? You say the wrong things and… bad things happen. Trust me.’

Again with the “trust me”! Seriously, how does he expect me to trust him? He took me away from home to find my dad, and now he’s leading me off to find some Sierra pony…. At least I’m getting to see Equestria. But… oh, I miss her…

His mood immediately dropped to critical lows when he thought of Ditzy.

‘Hey, Bazz, do you think I’d be able to send a letter home?’

Bazz thought about it for a moment. ‘Yeah, you should be able to. I’ll take you to the post office later today. Come on, we’re headed… uhh…’

They stopped and looked around. While talking, they had left the centre of town and were over on the western edge. There were far less shops here; this area was focusing more on trade businesses. ‘Over here.’ Bazz led Zedd into a run-down building, fittingly labelled “Condemned” by several yards of yellow tape.

The inside of the building looked no better than the outside. There was furniture in varying states of disrepair and decay strewn all over the floor, and somepony had gone to the trouble writing on the walls in black paint.

‘In Umbra Luna Est,’ remarked Bazz.

‘English, please?’

‘The Moon is in Shadow. This may not look like much, but that’s what we were aiming for. Go ahead and take a half-step to your right.’

Zedd complied and found a loose floorboard. He looked up at Bazz, who nodded, and lifted the floorboard out, revealing a small metal tube rising from the ground.

‘So… they had a broken kitchen sink before their house blew up?’

‘Not quite.’ Bazz trotted over and floated his small metal device from his saddlebag. He pointed it down the pipe and a red light shone out the end of it. He heard a few beeps followed by a click and an entire elevator shaft rose from the floor.

‘After you, Zedd.’ He held out a hoof and mock-bowed over the wreckage of the house. After following Zedd into the elevator, the door automatically closed. A robotic voice reverberated around them.

‘Voice authentication required.’

‘Bravo of Austalliona.’

‘Accepted.’

The elevator began to descend with a small jolt. After a few moments, the lift slowed and stopped, doors opening slowly.

Zedd’s eyes widened in horror. He looked away immediately and saw Bazz looking more shocked than ever before… and… scared?

The room was huge; easily four times the size of the building above it. The walls were once white, now covered with soot, dust, and the occasional fleck of blood. The floor was scattered with broken furniture and death.

‘Luna help us…’

Comments

[Allonsbro]

Quite an air of mystery you have going here. I would suggest you be a little more detailed about who says what, though. Some parts were a little confusing because of that.

[Cheezy805]

436258
Which parts?

[Allonsbro]

437455
‘I’m sorry.’
They had been walking in silence since they left the club. Zedd had asked what was wrong as they were leaving the club, but Bazz just shook his head and kept walking with an impassive look on his face.
‘What for?’
‘I sort of killed the atmosphere in the club with my little episode.’
‘Episode? I don’t know what you think you did, but all I saw was you walking to be by yourself. Everypony does that from time to time.’
‘Yeah, but still… you deserve to at least know why.
‘I’ve been in love before, Zedd. ...
I thought the speakers were the other way around until that last line.
I guess that was the only one.
Also, you could be a little more descriptive as they say things. Describe their tone, facial expressions and body language. It is rather tedious, but it paints a better picture of the story you want to portray.
Finally, I don't know if this is just an Australian thing and I'm being an ignorant American or what, but instead of using the word 'buck' so much, you might try 'stallion' or 'colt'

[Cheezy805]

437713
Hmm... right... I'll move that around.
I try to mention who's saying every five lines at most, but sometimes I forget. I mean, if it's a conversation between two people... whatever, changing it. Thanks for pointing that out :3
I was also only using buck because I see it like this:
Colt = horse that's younger than three years old
Buck = horse equivalent of "Boy" or "Guy"
"Don’t worry! A lot of bucks like drinking them..." = "A lot of guys like drinking them..."
Stallion = Horse older than three
...And because I only just learned the word...
I have a habit of overusing new words xD