ASMD

by Rokas

Part 3 – December

The first sensation she had was of the rough surface she lied upon, as it dug through her regal coat to irritate the skin along her back. This bed is substandard, was the first cognizant thought she had, though it was quickly joined by: Oh dear heavens why does my face hurt so much? Wait, is somepony talking to me?

Her mind stirred more as her brain finally started to process sound impulses relayed from her ears. The noises were muffled, to be sure, though Celestia—right, that's my name, part of her remembered—could recognize the distinctive tones of someone shouting or yelling over some sort of noise that remained unidentified even with her memory returning.

“'Tia! Oh for heavens' sake, wake up!” Celestia recognized the words now, though the voice was still a bit muffled. Strange, nopony calls me that, the white alicorn thought as she started to stir. Only Luna does. Wait, that does sound like her. That thought set loose her memory, and Celestia snapped her eyes wide open as the last image she saw rolled through her mind. Luna?

Standing above her was indeed Luna, though it took the white alicorn a moment to recognize her strange appearance. Her mane did not flow with the ethereal currents as it had done since she regained her power, but instead consisted of the light blue strands that the dark alicorn had been born with. The ornate yet functional green armor Luna wore also served to interfere with Celestia's recognition, but a look into the younger mare's eyes convinced the white alicorn that this was indeed her sister.

Yet even as she realized this, Celestia saw a disturbing nervous tic twitch the corner of Luna's eye, which itself was rather wide open with the pupil narrower than it should have been. “Heavens, 'Tia, you scared the living wits out of me,” the younger alicorn said, as she saw her sister awake. “I'm so sorry, so so very sorry I shot you,” she continued, speaking fast and with a strong undercurrent of urgency. “I thought you were a Juggernaut trying to be clever for once with a translocator.”

“What?” Celestia asked, befuddled as she was in the presence of her sister's odd language and the headache that still hadn't left her. “Luna, what is going on? What are you talking about?”

“I can't talk now, I'm in the middle of a flag run,” Luna replied, and then glanced behind her. “Can you walk? Better yet, can you run?” She asked, while turning her head back to face her sister.

“I—” Celestia began, but the look in Luna's eyes and the memory of the weapon strike to her face told the elder sister that some sort of battle must be in progress. “Yes, I believe I can,” Celestia said, and then slowly got to her hooves. She almost lost her balance, though, when the sounds of explosions startled her. “What was that?”

“Aryss just got fragged,” Luna replied, her tone darkening even as she turned around and leveled the strange object—no, not just any object, a weapon, Celestia realized—and faced back the way she had come only a short time before. “Which means I should fire... now,” the younger alicorn said to herself. Her telekinetic aura over the weapon brightened a bit as the weapon launched a glowing, semi-transparent blue-white orb to sail down the corridor.

Even as she watched this in confusion, Celestia found her attention drawn further down by the arrival of three large bipeds, who all seemed to have jumped down the same way Luna had taken, albeit in a much less graceful manner. Each of them carried some strange weapon in their hands, though their leader was already raising his hand to point down the corridor. “There sheee-IT!” He said, changing his alert to a curse as he saw Luna's blue-white orb sailing towards them, just over their heads.

It was at this moment that Luna fired her weapon again, this time sending out a brilliant lance of purple-tinged energy that raised Celestia's hackles as she recognized it from firsthoof experience. She had no time to mull on this, however, as the beam reached out at the speed of light itself and, with Luna's true aim, lanced into the orb just as the latter was right over the trio of bipeds. In a time too short to measure but too long to be ignored, the orb detonated in a furious explosion that quite literally ripped the bipeds apart in a manner that bespoke of an impersonal, almost eldritch fury, and Celestia winced as the thunderclap of the eruption pounded her ears.

“My house!” Luna boomed, her infamous Royal Canterlot Voice echoing off of the various walls. She turned back around then, and Celestia felt another wave of shock as she saw an eminent look of satisfaction, and even enjoyment upon her sister's face. “Come now,” the dark alicorn said, as she trotted past her elder sibling. “We must get you to safety, and finish my run, of course.”

“Luna!” Celestia said, and then gaped at the armored alicorn as she turned her head back at the exclamation. “You just killed sapient beings!”

“I assure you, 'Tia, that Juggernauts barely qualify as such,” Luna replied with a roll of her eyes as she turned back to face her sister. “Now let us move before they respawn and I have to do it again. As enjoyable as it is, fragging doesn't win CTF matches.”

“How can you say that?” Celestia asked, incredulous at Luna's insensitive dismissal. “How can you be so callous?”

“You get fragged by them a few dozen times and then we'll see how you feel,” Luna retorted, and then turned around again, before she shot a backwards glance at the white alicorn. “Now are you coming, or will I have to drag you with my TK? This is not a safe place to talk.”

Celestia couldn't help but stare at her sister for a long moment in shock and confusion. “Luna, what—”

“LUNA!” A shout came from deeper in the building, and both alicorns turned to see another biped, this one armored like the princess of the night, rushing out from behind a corner. “What the Hell are you doing? Run the flag in, now!”

Luna sighed at that, and as she did so the weapon she carried disappeared in a flash and was replaced by another, similarly-shaped, yet different weapon. “I assure you, Riker,” she said, and then turned the weapon in her telekinetic grip to point to her left, back towards the open air. Celestia followed the movement and looked out just in time to see another immense biped land where its mates had died. Then it, too, was slain, as Luna's weapon bucked and spat out a lead slug that immediately flew out and exploded the incoming enemy's head. “That I have everything under control,” Luna added, once the report of her weapon died away.

“Showoff,” Riker grumbled, and then looked over to Celestia. He stared for a moment, and then reached up with a hand to pull down the mirrored sunglasses he habitually wore. “What the Hell? You bringing your friends along now?”

“'Tis my sister,” Luna replied, and then looked back to Celestia. “Who is asking to get her head shot off by the red team because she refuses to move.”

Celestia opened her mouth to respond to the vaguely patronizing tone of Luna's voice, but Riker spoke first. “She ain't as swift as you then, is she?” He asked, and then looked over at Celestia again. “She's got a nicer ass, though.”

“What!” Celestia exclaimed, taken aback by such comments.

“I'm not surprised,” Luna replied. “She does love her cake. But we can talk about your perversions later, Riker; for now, cover the entrance,” the dark alicorn added, and then used her magic to nudge Celestia forward. “Come on, 'Tia,” she said, and then started to canter off.

Confused and flabbergasted as she was, Celestia hesitated for a moment. The sounds of more explosions in the distance, however, made her realize that stubbornness was not appropriate at the moment, and she cantered off after her sister. “Luna, what in heavens is going on?” The white alicorn asked as the two ran through the somewhat large antechamber, and then ducked into a narrow corridor.

“We're in the middle of a capture the flag match,” Luna replied without looking back, as she led her sister around a narrow bend in the corridor. “Why else do you think I have this banner affixed to my back?”

Celestia glanced at the indicated object just before Luna ducked to the right and through a door that opened by itself. Although distracted by the strange door, Celestia did see that there was indeed a symbol-bearing cloth banner hanging from a pole that somehow stayed attached to Luna's armored back through means the elder princess could not fathom at the moment. She put such musings out of her head, however, as she followed Luna through the door and promptly into a small outdoor courtyard.

The sky above was bleak and gray, but Celestia paid it little attention as she followed her sister up a grated ramp that led up, and then bent around one of two massive concrete anchors for buttresses that supported the building they had just left. Scarcely had Celestia followed her sister around the bend when she had to skitter to a halt as Luna abruptly slowed down, and then stopped next to another banner, this one blue and adorned with a different symbol. As soon as the dark alicorn stopped next to it, the flag on her back disappeared in a brief flash, and Celestia startled when a brief fanfare erupted seemingly from thin air around her, and an excited voice shouted forth: “Blue team increases their lead!”

“There,” Luna said, an air of smug satisfaction falling about her as she turned to fully face her sister. “Now we may have a moment to speak,” the dark alicorn said, even as she glanced about, the weapon she continually levitated sweeping around with her gaze.

Celestia just stared in mute shock for several moments as her mind desperately tried to process all that had occurred since she had arrived in this reality. She found, much to her surprise, that it wasn't the senselessly over the top violence that most confounded her, but rather Luna's calm acceptance of it. Or even, dare I think it? Eagerness, the elder mare thought, and then blinked her eyes to help clear her mind. “Luna...” she began, and then shook her head as her thoughts once again tripped over themselves. “I don't understand what's happening. I came looking for you because you went missing and there were signs of a struggle and I find you here running around shooting bipeds like they don't deserve to live and your compatriot hit on me and why are you grinning?”

Indeed, Luna's face had split in amusement, and the smile on her muzzle was soon joined by a soft, friendly shake of the midnight blue head. “'Tia, I'm just happy to see you again,” she warmly said. “It's been over ten years and I was beginning to think you had abandoned me,” she added. The warm smile died then, and Celestia felt a chill run down her spine as Luna's eyes narrowed so slightly. “But that begs the question of why did it take you so long?”

Celestia bristled at that, and she let her wings ruffle to show her emotion. “It was only a week from my perspective,” she curtly replied. “The runes in your spell for linking the temporal frames were damaged when you came here.”

Luna blinked at that, and a chagrined look came over her features. “I... I did not think of that,” she said, meekly. “'Tia, I—”

The sound of a nearby explosion broke into their conversation then, and Luna spun about and ran for the opposite ramp of the raised walkway they stood upon. “Perhaps we should finish this conversation after the match,” the dark alicorn said, all traces of her recalcitrance gone as she turned to look down the ramp, her weapon pointing to wherever her eyes moved. “It won't be long, we only need one more flag capture to win the game.”

“Game?” Celestia asked, utterly flabbergasted. “Luna, you've been killing sapients! How could you possibly call it a game?”

“They're not really dead,” Luna said, as she turned her head to look to her sister. “The respawners—”

She did not get to finish that sentence, unfortunately, as a whooshing sound was heard. Celestia watched her sister snap her head back around, and then start to move backwards, but seldom had this even registered in the alicorn's mind when a trio of twisting projectiles raced through the air and up the ramp to impact upon Luna's chest, and then explode in a blinding display of pyrotechnics. Celestia could only watch in horror as the blasts ripped into and through Luna's body, tearing it apart in a riot of raw, elemental carnage.

“LUNA!” Celestia screamed, as her eyes widened, her pupils shrank, and her mind blanked at witnessing the unthinkable. So shocked was the princess that she hadn't even noticed the faint shimmer around Luna a fraction of a second before her apparent dissolution, nor did she notice the brief glow that appeared below the catwalk she stood upon. What she did notice, however, was the heavy pounding of feet, and the sudden appearance of a massive, armored figure around the far corner. As it turned to face her, Celestia could only feel her horror start to transmute into rage. “You...” she quietly said, menace lacing her voice.

“What the Hell?” The female biped—sweet heavens, how is that thing female—said, and then paused in surprise. “They got another talking horse?”

If the murder of her sister hadn't already put Celestia over the edge, the insult would have been a good start. Already the alicorn was gathering her energy, despite the intense resistance she was encountering from the firmament, and the sun princess fully intended to incinerate the ugly creature where it stood.

She never got the chance, though, as a voice rang out from below. “Rocket whore!” Luna's voice boomed, as she raced out from underneath the catwalk, towards one of the courtyard's inner walls.

The strange biped spun around upon hearing the voice, and then fired another one of the airborne projectiles down towards the moon princess. Luna, however, jumped up at the last second, which let her avoid the blast that cratered the pavement. Her momentum carried her forward, and the dark alicorn used her wings to change her body's orientation in mid-air so that she could simultaneously set all four of her hooves against the wall she had jumped towards, and then bent her legs as the motion from her jump bled away. The alicorn jumped off a microsecond later, and again used her wings to reorient her body, this time to face along her flight path, which happened to intersect with the large biped that had apparently slain her.

Merely crashing into the beast was not Luna's intention, Celestia noted, as a large, lumpy object she held in her telekinetic grip bucked and spat out a glowing mass that sailed straight into the surprised face of the biped. Once there, it promptly exploded and ripped the top half of the being apart in a shower of blood and burning hot metal fragments.

Luna landed a half second later amidst the carnage. Her hooves shook the catwalk, and the moon princess sneered down at the remains of the biped. “And stay down, you befouled issue of a griffin's loin!” she bellowed out in rage.

Celestia felt her jaw drop open as she watched the scene unfold, her gathered power slipping away like embers in a wind. “L—Luna?” The white alicorn asked, dumbfounded and stuttering for the first time in centuries. “Wha—I...”

The dark alicorn sighed briefly, and then walked over to tap her sister on the shoulder with a booted hoof. “Are you alright, 'Tia?” She asked. “Did that gene-boosted monstrosity hurt you?”

Celestia felt something in her mind snap, and she gave a brief laugh. “Luna, that thing looked like it killed you, and you ask me if I'm alright?” She laughed again, and then shook her head. “I've gone mad, haven't I? The strain of losing you again drove me into catatonia, didn't it? I'm just imagining this utter insanity.”

Pain shot through Luna's eyes at that, and the brief flash brought the elder princess' thoughts to a stop. “Luna...” Celestia began, in a sad tone.

“It can wait,” the younger alicorn replied, her voice even but laced with iron that would brook no argument. “Here,” she said, and then turned and looked to a cloth pouch attached to a pauldron of her armor. The aura around her horn brightened a bit as her magic reached out and pulled open the flap, and then levitated out a strange device. “Take this, it's an emergency beacon used for competitors who wish to forfeit the match; I shan't be needing it.” Luna added this last bit with a confident smirk, and then nodded to her sister, who took the strange device up in her golden aura. “You have to input a code of three short presses, three long presses, and then three short ones again on the red button while holding down the yellow one. This is so it won't accidentally trigger if someone falls on it.”

“I... see,” Celestia replied, as she brought the small piece of plastic up so she could study it. It was barely the size of a pony's hoof, or rather, the size of a normal pony's hoof; it barely covered half of her own as she set it down and then released her magical grip. Then she looked back up at her sister. “Luna, please tell me what's going on?”

“Later,” Luna responded, an intent look upon her face. “I promise. Just please, 'Tia, use the beacon and get to safety.” She smiled at that. “Trust me, I'll be fine.”

Celestia gave her younger sister a long, hard look, but finally sighed. I do trust her, the elder pony thought, and then nodded to her sibling. “Alright, but I expect all of this to be explained to me soon,” she said, and then used her magic to press the indicated buttons as Luna had explained.

“I'm sure you won't even have to wait for me,” Luna replied, just before the elder princess disappeared in a flash.

* * * *

Celestia blinked as the strange effect washed over her. It felt like a teleport spell, yet not, the alicorn silently reflected as she blinked her eyes clear and looked around the room she had appeared in. Unlike the strange dockyard, it was clean and well-maintained, and was decorated in a sparse yet tasteful manner with several potted plants and comfortable-looking, upholstered seats.

Sitting on one of these was another biped, dark of skin and wearing sunglasses. “Well, this is interesting,” he said, and then stood up to regard the alicorn. “Celestia, I presume?”

The princess blinked at that, and then tentatively raised her right forehoof and brought it close to her body. “I am,” she replied, slowly. “I... seem to be at a rather immense disadvantage here, mister...?”

“Just call me Malcolm,” the biped said, and then waved Celestia over to a seat near him. “C'mon and sit down, and I'll try to explain a bit while we watch the rest of the match.”

“Watch?” Celestia asked, confused.

Malcolm only gestured with a hand towards something behind her, and Celestia turned her head around to see moving images produced by a large panel on the wall. The images clearly revealed the dockyard she had just left, and the alicorn blinked in surprise as she saw multiple creatures and her sister, all bipedal save for Luna, running through the various corridors and shooting each other with weapons of unimaginable destructive power. “This is madness,” Celestia muttered.

“That's about the size of it,” Malcolm casually agreed, and his surprisingly ready acceptance brought Celestia's head back around to face him. “Luna's been pretty talkative about where she's from, so I can see how you'd be a bit overwhelmed,” the strange biped added, as he took his seat again. He repeated his wave towards a long couch to the side, and then resumed speaking once Celestia started to slowly walk to the indicated seat. “And I'm guessing you weren't exactly ready to see the business end of the Tournament first-hand.”

“Tournament?” Celestia bemusedly asked, as she reached the backless couch and then carefully laid down upon it in the usual pony manner. The seat was arranged perpendicular to an imaginary line between the image panel and the biped's position, and Celestia had a sudden, small realization that she was sitting upon something made for a being like herself.

The biped either did not seem to notice, or perhaps didn't care about the princess' sudden insight, and so he continued to speak. “Yeah, the Liandri Grand Tournament, to be specific,” he said. “It's the most popular spectator sport in the known galaxy.”

“Spectator sport?” The alicorn blurted in surprise. “This is entertainment?”

“More or less,” Malcolm replied, with a shrug. Something on the wall panel seemed to catch his eye, and he gestured towards it as his hand reached for a small device sitting on the arm of his chair. “Here, why don't you watch the coverage of the rest of the match?” He asked, and then smirked a bit. “You might learn a thing or two,” the biped added, and then pressed a button of the device.

Instantly, sound came from the wall panel, and Celestia turned her head to watch as the main image switched to a view of two beings sitting behind a desk. “And Aryss takes another blast of plasma to the face,” a biped of Malcolm's species was saying. His visage seemed to be pleasant at first glance, but as she watched Celestia could tell that he seemed to be straining to hold his emotions in check. “It certainly seems that red team has their base bottled up and continues to stymie the blues.”

“Yes,” a large, mechanical-appearing biped sitting next to the first creature spoke up. Its face the bland, featureless mask of a machine, save for the flickering of odd lights that looked to Celestia like they should be eyes. “The Juggernauts' resistance will only make ThunderCrash push harder, and the inevitable penetration of the base and climax to the match will be that much more enjoyable.”

The first biped grimaced, and then shot the mechanical being a look of pained astonishment. “Gryph!” he half-shouted.

“What?” the machine creature innocently asked. A moment of silence passed, and then it spoke again. “Oh, did I reference one of those fluid-exchanging rituals you meatbags are so fond of?” it asked.

The first being covered his face with a hand, and then waved the other towards the viewers. “Just cut to the match,” he muttered.

Someone seemed to be listening, as the main image immediately switched back to a view of the dockyard from above an entrance that looked identical to the one Celestia had appeared in just in front of Luna. This one, however, had red replace blue in painted colors and lighting accents, and a series of beings were maneuvering about, exchanging weapons fire and dodging in and out of cover. Several on either side were slain, and others were tossed about by the fierce, vindictive force of their armament.

“What kind of being thinks this entertaining?” Celestia asked, horrified.

“Humans, mainly,” Malcolm replied. When the alicorn turned her head to look at him in confusion, he shrugged again. “My species, I mean. Others like it too, though; Gen'Mokai find it an acceptable learning aid for their children.”

“Madness,” Celestia muttered, and then turned her head back to watch it. And yet, I find myself unable to look away from it, she shamefully admitted to herself. Indeed, her eyes were riveted to the images playing out on the wall, hear ears perked to catch the various sounds of battle, of carnage, and of the oddly excited announcer belting out names for various methods of slaughter. Celestia could only stare in morbid curiosity as she watched the two teams blast into each other with strange, alien weaponry the likes of which defied her imagination, and she shivered.

Then one of the smaller images along the bottom of the screen showed a flash of blue, and Celestia's eyes quickly snapped down to see another view of the arena, this one a dark, cramped service tunnel. Rushing down this tunnel was Luna, and the white alicorn felt her breath catch as the image panned to follow her sister as she ran forward with a look of determination on her face.

“The lower approach,” Malcolm muttered, which caused Celestia to flick an ear towards the biped. “A bit risky.”

“Why is that?” the alicorn pony asked, with a glance back to the human.

“Because she isn't built like a human,” he replied, and then pointed to the screen. “The only way up into red base from that tunnel are a pair of elevators barely large enough for a man to stand on. She's a quadruped, so she should be too laterally large to use them.

“Of course, Luna's run this arena before,” Malcolm continued, and Celestia returned her vision to the wall panel to watch as her younger sister reached the end of the tunnel and approach a small, square platform sitting in a recess in the wall. “She knows to stand on her back legs so she can fit. And before you ask,” the human added in anticipation of the next question. “It's risky because if she doesn't position herself just right her horn or wings will catch on the shaft as it goes up and it'll result in a long, painful death; it's happened before.”

Celestia glanced back again to make sure the biped wasn't lying to her, but Malcolm's sunglasses kept her from fully reading his expression. What she did see, however, showed no hint of falsehood, and the alicorn shuddered as she turned her head back around to watch as Luna reared up on her hind legs, and then stepped forward. Fortunately, her balance and kinesthetic sense proved true, and a bare second after she had stepped onto the recessed panel it rose at a high rate of speed, carrying the dark alicorn with it.

“Nice,” Malcolm interjected. “If she had died there, she'd have to respawn back at the blue base, and that would take time.”

“That is your only concern?” Celestia couldn't help but ask in a scornful tone as she glanced back to the human. “That it would cost time?”

Malcolm shrugged. “This is the Tournament,” he replied. “Life was cheap even before they invented respawners, and the meek don't win matches.” His tone dropped a bit, and Celestia noted a tightening of the parts of his face she could make out. “And in the old days, you didn't survive period unless you took risks and had a thirst for blood. That whole attitude still carries over today, and as Luna is about to show, it's the only way to win.”

The sun princess turned back at the screen at that, and then watched as Luna's elevator brought her to a small space under a set of stairs. Barely had the lift stopped moving when the dark alicorn dropped back to all fours and then ran out from under the stairwell, one of the alien weapons levitating at her side. The device spoke a moment later when Luna ran into one of the opposing team's members, and the armored pony fired in a split second, spitting the biped on a shaft of purplish light that made Celestia wince as she remembered it rather personally.

Luna's target flew backwards from the blast and then fell to the floor, a smoking gap blasted in his armor. The moon princess didn't even wait for him to stand before she shot him again, and then again, and then a fourth time, each blast tearing away more of the creature's armor and flesh. The final shot seemed enough to finally slay the poor being, and his vain attempts to stand ceased.

Scarcely had the biped stopped twitching before Luna ran forward again, seemingly heedless of the actions she took. “How can she do such things?” Celestia asked, half to herself, half towards the strange “human” sitting in the room with her. “How can she kill so readily? So terribly?”

“Because it's the only way to win,” Malcolm replied, and then waved his hand in a dismissive gesture when the princess glanced back at him. “And like I said, we have machines called 'respawners' that detect an incoming lethal attack, and then withdraw the being and repair the damage while replacing them with a simplistic organic recreation to preserve the illusion. So while they feel the pain of being killed, they're not actually killed... often.”

The last addition again made Celestia shoot the human a glance, and as such she was mildly startled when the announcer spoke from the wall screen. “And Luna has taken the red flag!” the voice spoke, and brought the pony's head around to watch as her sister, now with another banner affixed to her back, ran out of a small courtyard that seemed an identical twin to the one Celestia had been in earlier.

The announcement seemed to have been made across the entire arena, as various sub-screens showed both sides of the fight at the main entrance turn and rush into the red base. The combat didn't stop, of course, but instead the fight became a running battle where both sides attempted to maneuver and engage each other whilst they ran into and through the corridors of the facility. The motive for this became clear to Celestia as whenever the large, bulky-looking bipeds encountered Luna, they would exchange attacks, the former seeming to be in a berserker rage, while the latter simply dispatched her opponents with skilled haste. The dark alicorn, however, seemed less interested in fighting and more interested in maneuvering and running, and soon enough met up with some of her teammates. They quickly and almost automatically cooperated to fight their way back out, across the dockyard, and then into their own base, while Luna's bipedal allies constantly interposed themselves between the pony and her pursuers.

Finally, the screen showed Luna enter into the blood-stained courtyard she and Celestia had spoken in, and the moon princess reached the blue team's flag in but a moment. The red banner on her back disappeared with a flash, and a long horn blared out. “Blue team wins the match!” the excited voice of the bodiless announcer sounded. “And that concludes the Capture the Flag ladder of the Grand Tournament! Ladies and gentlemen, we have witnessed here a spectacular—”

The wall panel abruptly went blank and silenced, and Celestia looked back to Malcolm to see the human holding the control device in his hand. “I'm sure we don't need to hear the color commentary from mister excitement in the studio,” the dark-skinned man wryly said, and then stood. Celestia did likewise as the biped continued. “Now that the match is over we can go meet with the team. Or with your sister, in your case,” he added.

“Indeed,” Celestia replied in a subdued tone. “We have much to discuss, it seems.”

“Yeah,” Malcolm said, warily. “I'm not touching that with a three-meter pole. C'mon,” he added, with a wave, and then led Celestia off down a hall. “We'll take the elevator down to the transit floor and wait for the team to teleport in.”

Celestia raised an eyebrow at that, but the expression was lost as the human hadn't even looked back when he spoke. Will the strangeness ever stop? the alicorn asked herself, as she fought to reel in the many questions and thoughts that wandered through her head. I have been here less than an hour, and already I have been attacked, teleported, and had to deal with flippant irreverence about the morbid matters of mortality. If there are any more shocks I just might scream.

Fortunately for Celestia, no more grand surprises were waiting just then, and she continued to follow the odd biped—human, he called himself, she remembered—through sparse but softly decorated corridors that bespoke of the power and wealth of whomever owned the building. Not too dissimilar to the Royal Palace, Celestia mused. Entirely different styles, of course, but similar goals. A place of power? “Where are we, if I may ask?”

Malcolm glanced back at her, and then smirked slightly. “We're in the headquarters building for Liandri's Grand Tournament, in the city of New Santiago on the planet Talos. Also, from what Luna's told me, we're also in another reality from what you're used to.”

Celestia felt herself bristle a bit at the smugness in the human's voice. “Of course this is another reality; one does not just hop between them by accident,” she replied, letting only a trace of haughtiness inflect her tone.

The human chuckled at that as he led her into a new room: a widening of the corridor where several sets of double-doors were set into the walls. Curiously, they had no handles, though a set of buttons were placed on either side of the hall. “You two are sisters, alright,” Malcolm said, as he reached out to press one of the odd controls on the wall. “Anyway, point is that here we've developed interstellar travel. We're actually about three-hundred light-years away from the planet my people originally come from.”

The pony princess pondered this for a moment as she sought to understand what she had just been told. Soon enough she realized that “light-year” was a measure of distance, and her eyes widened a bit upon comprehending Malcolm's words. “That is... astounding,” Celestia said, in quiet awe. “How do your people do it?”

“Beats me,” Malcolm replied with a shrug, as a set of doors on the wall slid open on their own accord. He continued to speak as he walked over to the tiny room revealed within. “I'm a soldier, I shoot things. You want to know how a hyperdrive works, you're gonna have to talk to an egghead.”

Celestia frowned at the human, even as she followed him into what she recognized was an elevator. “Funny, we have that term in our world, as well,” she said, as the doors shut and the sealed room began to descend.

“Luna mentioned there's a lot of similarities,” Malcolm agreed. “I don't really know more than that, but she's been kind of obsessed over it at times. Does a lot of historical research in her off time.”

At that, he fell silent, and Celestia likewise held her tongue as she finally cast a scrutinizing eye over the biped. As an alicorn, Celestia was tall for a pony, though this human easily was as tall as she was, albeit much shorter in length. All in all, he would be imposing to most of her subjects, and even Luna would be on the short side when compared to the biped. “Are all your people so tall?” The white alicorn found herself asking.

“I'm a bit taller than normal,” Malcolm replied, and then gave Celestia a brief smirk and a sideways glance. “Luna asked about that, too. To answer the rest of your questions, yes we eat meat. No, we don't eat sapient beings, we find that repugnant. We do have ponies and horses here, but they're not intelligent. No, we don't eat them, we value them too much as companions. Yes, we are very warlike, often to a fault. No, we don't all look the same.” He paused after finishing his litany, and then glanced over at Celestia again. “Anything I missed?”

The sun princess gave Malcolm a petulant look. “How often have you done this?” she asked.

“Only about every other day for a month with Luna,” the dark-skinned human replied, with a shake of his head. “I think it was her way of dealing with everything, to keep hearing the same answers over and over. Ah well, we're here.”

Celestia shifted on her legs as the elevator drew to a full stop, and she turned her head back forward as the doors slid open to reveal a simple lobby, done in earth tones rather than the simple grays of the higher floor the two beings had departed. The floor was some kind of pale granite, polished to a shine, and warm red carpets led from the various elevator doors and off to the right.

Malcolm moved off without a word, and Celestia followed after a moment's hesitation. He hasn't been aggressive, and I don't believe he is duplicitous, the mare pondered, as she trailed the human through unmarked corridors. And he seems to know Luna, or at least knows her well enough to be familiar with her quirks. She stifled a sigh as she made to follow Malcolm around a corner. And Luna did ask for me to trust her. I suppose following this strange biped must be part of—

“'Tia!” The familiar voice of Luna interrupted Celestia's train of thought, and she halted briefly as she saw her sister—still armored—walking down the wide corridor Malcolm and herself had just entered via a T-junction. Behind the dark mare were several other beings, all armored like the moon princess, and all moved with the arrogant airs of a hard-won victory.

Luna, though, simply dashed ahead of them all and ran towards Celestia. The elder alicorn stopped again and then blinked as she realized that her sister was moving a bit too fast, though that thought was all she had time for as Luna slammed into her and sent the two sprawling on the floor.

“Oh 'Tia!” Luna exclaimed in her characteristically loud voice as she wrapped her forelegs around her sister's midsection and pulled the elder pony into a tight hug. “I'm so sorry I shot you and was so short with you but I didn't want you killed and I hate getting fragged and please don't be mad!”

“Luna,” Celestia choked out. “Can't. Breathe.”

The moon princess blinked, and then looked up to see that her sister's face had taken on a bluish tinge. Blushing, the dark alicorn snapped her forelegs back and then stood. “Oh, I'm so sorry!” Luna said, as her sister regained her breath and then began to stand herself. “I'm just—I mean—”

“It's okay,” Celestia said, somewhat hoarsely, as she regained her hoofing. “I'm alright, nothing a little rest and some warm tea can't help.” She added a smile at the last, hoping to show Luna that there was no ill will.

A cleared throat brought the attentions of both ponies back towards Malcolm and the other humans, and the princesses blushed slightly when they saw the group of hominids giving them a variety of looks ranging from annoyance, to indifference, and one or two smiles. Malcolm, though, simply looked on impassively, and lowered his hand from where he'd covered his mouth. “Ladies, I appreciate that the moment is a strong one for you two, but we still have the media to deal with before we can get out of here.”

“Of course,” Luna quickly said, and then looked back to her sister. “Don't worry 'Tia, this won't be any worse than the press back home, albeit a bit more crude of tone.”

Celestia raised an eyebrow at that. “Press?” she asked, unsure.

“They like to get post-game interviews,” Luna explained, as she and the humans began to walk forward, which prompted Celestia to match pace with her sister. “Sort of how our press back home loves to talk to the winner of a derby.”

“I see,” said Celestia, as the group turned another corner and entered another, larger lobby. This one was bedecked in a variety of furnishings made for bipedal forms, and several panels on the walls showed moving images that seemed to be on some kind of a loop; they would show a scene of battle, similar to what Celestia had just witnessed, but in brief, before starting the show over again in silence.

“Yes, you will,” Luna replied, as the group reached the front of the lobby. The whole wall seemed to have been made of glass windows, yet they were all grayed out as if by some magic privacy spell. “And I'm sorry for that, my sister.”

“Why do you—” Celestia began to ask, but was cut off as one of Luna's teammates reached the doors set along the windowed wall and pushed them open. A wave of light and sound assaulted the sun princess' senses, and she felt her ears fold back automatically to try and blot out the noise even as she squinted her eyes at the glare. Soon enough they adjusted, and Celestia could only stare at the scene before her.

Stretching from the building's entrance was a large plaza, and it was filled to the brim with cheering bipeds, mainly humans. A small space in front of the actual entrance had been cleared by several large machines like the one Celestia had seen on the broadcast, but these were larger and had an imposing air around them. They and a series of human guards kept back the raucous throngs, though a number of beings were behind them, waiting patiently. The sun princess recognized them instantly as belonging to the press, as she had her fair share of dealing with them. Even across dimensions, their eager, ravenous eyes twinkle with the dark light of a predator searching for prey, Celestia darkly mused, as she followed Luna and her teammates out towards the waiting humans. The only things she didn't recognize about them were the strange devices that hovered near the bipeds, all seeming to follow one person or another while still pointing a dark circle towards the approaching party.

“Malcolm!” One of the press members yelled as the group drew close. “James McCraggie, Talos Hum! Who is the new addition to your team?”

“I'm afraid you're a bit mistaken, Jim,” Malcolm called back, raising his voice to be heard over the background cacophony. “ThunderCrash isn't adding any new team members right now.”

“Then who's that?” McCraggie asked, while pointing towards Celestia.

“She is my sister,” Luna spoke up, instantly garnering the attention of the media pool. “She was worried about my safety and came here the same way I did. She simply had a rather poor sense of timing,” the younger alicorn added, with a smile.

The joke seemed to work, and the various media members chuckled before they threw out more questions. Most were for Malcolm, though Celestia was surprised to see a large number directed at her sister, and even herself. She answered what she could without saying anything at all; a talent she hated using but was utterly necessary in politics. Fortunately, Luna quickly jumped in whenever someone asked the elder alicorn a difficult question, and soon enough the press seemed satisfied.

Barely ten minutes had passed, yet Celestia felt more tired than ever before as the media members started to move on. A glance behind her showed the alicorn why; the team Luna and her allies had been fighting were now emerging from the building, and Celestia's hackles rose as she saw a solid wave of hate directed towards her sister.

“You!” the bulky biped in the lead shouted, while raising a hand to point a meaty finger towards Malcolm. He then stomped ahead of his peers, and ignored the questions the press shouted at him as he stomped right up to ThunderCrash's leader. “You cheated!” The immense man shouted, straight into Malcolm's face, and much to Celestia's surprise, the square full of aliens went quiet.

“Bullshit,” Malcolm spat back. “You were always a sore loser, Gorge. Why don't you go home with your tail between your legs like a good little bitch?”

Such language! Celestia thought in shock.

Meanwhile, the large human's face contorted in pure rage and hatred, and Celestia could only look on in surprise as the dense armor he wore shifted audibly as his muscles tensed all over. “Your little horse's friend disrupted the match,” Gorge ground out. “It should have been called for a do-over!”

“The refs found that she actually hindered ThunderCrash,” Malcolm calmly retorted. “If anything, we're the ones who should be demanding a rematch.” He then smiled at that, and even with the sunglasses on his face, Celestia could see he was taking great pleasure in twisting Gorge's demands back. “Although I think we'll pass. Wouldn't want you to embarrass yourselves again, as fun as it is to watch.”

Gorge fairly trembled in anger, and for a moment it seemed as if he would physically lash out. Yet he drew upon some hidden reserve of control, and then snarled at the smaller human. “One day, Malcolm,” he darkly spoke in an eerily quiet voice. “You're going to get yours.”

“We'll see,” Malcolm calmly replied, and then turned and started to walk away.

“Don't you turn your back on me!” Gorge shouted at the dark-skinned human.

It was then a new voice spoke up. “Hey, Gorge!” Luna shouted, and then pulled something small and plastic from a pocket on her armor with her magic. She flicked it in mid-air as everyone turned their eyes to her, and two prongs snapped out. “Deal with it,” Luna added, in a smarmy tone, as she placed the sunglasses over her eyes and muzzle, and then turned to follow Malcolm.

The quiet square erupted in a massive cheer then, one that shook the ground for a moment. Celestia could barely keep her wits in just enough order to follow her sister as she and her teammates moved to join Malcolm near a large, bulky device that the sun princess—again—did not recognize. Soon enough, however, the machine's purpose became clear, as Malcolm opened a door on the side of the machine, and Celestia could make out plush seating just inside.

Chants broke out as the team began to pile into the vehicle, and Celestia had to pause. Amongst several groups chanting “ThunderCrash” and “Malcolm” was a very large number of people chanting “Luna.”

“'Tia!” Her sister's voice broke into Celestia's brief rumination, and Celestia looked around to see that only she and Luna were left outside the vehicle. “I assure you, it's safe,” the younger alicorn added, and then gestured towards the door with a wing.

Celestia could only nod, and then walk forward to board the odd craft. She paused next to her sister, however, and then gave Luna a look. “We need to talk,” she said.

“I know,” Luna replied, with a wry smirk on her muzzle. The sunglasses she wore gave the dark mare an odd quality, and for a moment Celestia felt as if she was looking at a stranger. Soon enough the smirk disappeared, and was replaced by a genuine smile. “But first, dinner!”

Comments

[Rokas]

This is a bit more rough than I usually like to put out, but I've been sitting on this for a while now and I figured the few people who follow my stuff deserve something new for being so patient. Plus I've had like 80% of this chapter written out for months now, figured I should finally just bite the bullet and finish it.

Some of it might not be all that great, really. Certainly this is not my greatest work. But I needed to put something new out, and try to break from my funk. Hope y'all enjoy.

And yes, Luna is speaking more modernly. I'll try to keep her language more floral and formal, though.

[Obsidian]

10 Years of Unreal Tournament will do that. At least she's not speaking L33t. That would force me to kill you. I don't want to have to kill you, I like your stories.

The triple kill with the Shock Rifle Combo was funny though. Shooting Celestia in the face with it even more so...Good Times, Good Times...

[Material Defender]

Yes, finally, another chapter. And a great one, I might add.

[justwannaread]

I still very much enjoy this Story. Remembering something from the old Days of UT and mixing it with Pony is brilliant.

[Rokas]

1357756
You should read my journal.

[Amneiger]

Yes, new chapter! Can't wait to read Celestia's reaction to pretty much everything and hear about what Luna's been up to.

[Zervziel]

This has been marked as canceled. I have just returned and am checking story updates so I don't know what's up. Please rectify this, this is too good a story to just let go!

[J0HNS0N]

Awwww yeeeeaaaa!

[Rakdar]

this i will read though, right now... maybe perhaps yes i will read it

[Rakdar]

wow.. you amaze me so. methinks that because this is new concept that it is not featured. no one pays attention to me though. oh and 2 complaints. one why did have to be 10 years? if it has been ten yers then she would have already amassed enough wealth to get the neccessary ingrediants to go home,and why 10 years? its just so cliche. two CLLLLLLLLIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1111111111111111111111111!!!!!ONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Zephyrion]

Crap, now I'm out of fic to read.

[LtCWest]

OKE!
That was AWESOME! "Gamer" Luna bucking some serious flank!
Proceed when you see it fit.

Also, here have a headshot:
nobodyputsbabyinahorner.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/1238157980_scanners_-_head_explosion.gif?w=426

[Gordon_Freemane]

T-t-TEN YEARS?? Tia better hurry up! D:!!!

[Beyond the Horizon]

Wait wat. TEN YEARS?!

-Waves fist at the sky in anger-

TEMPORAL DIFFERENCESSSS!!!!

[Miles Kay]

my TK?

Someone been reading Stephen King, I see.