Chapter 1 - The Survivor (Edited 12.01.2016 by JBL)
It was the middle of the day off the eastern coast of Equestria. The late summer air a thousand meters above ground felt pleasant as it caressed Princess Luna’s fur, mane, and feathers. She stood at the bow of her private airship, The Eclipsed Eye, a marvel of Equestrian engineering and a gift to her from her sister. From the deck, she enjoyed the view. The Eclipsed Eye was decorated to her taste: its hull was dark blue, with the twin oval balloons that held them aloft an inky black. Many of the ship's details were silver or painted to look like silver. Crewed by the Royal Guard, many of them were her loyal bat ponies known as the nocturnals. She held them in high regard, as much as any citizen of Equestria. As their name implied, they were mostly nocturnal and very fond of her night, something the princess was grateful for.
The reason for her being on her airship was due to her first diplomatic mission since her return from banishment. She had spent two days in the griffon kingdom of Griffonia, visiting the new king, Auron Goldwing. He had only been king for a year and had been plagued by nightmares lately, grappling with his perceived inability to lead his people whilst battling his own personal demons. Centuries of history marked by Griffonian leaders known for their wisdom and justice had loomed over his every decision, Auron keenly aware of the metaphorical size of the throne he had to fill. During Luna’s state visit, she had taken the opportunity to impart her own counsel to the young king and had even entered his dreams to assure him that he would do an excellent job in leading his subjects and safeguarding his lands.
“Do the very best you can, and nopony can ask for more,” was the advice she had given him. It delighted her that he had seemed to take it to heart.
Now she was on her way home to Equestria and Canterlot. While visiting other countries was always nice, witnessing the way the world had changed in ways both obvious and subtle, there was no place like home. Now she could smell her homeland in the air and feel it as the wind played with her mane. Equestria would soon be in sight.
“Enjoying the view, Highness?” Luna looked to her right to see a nocturnal clad in the traditional armour that the members of the night guard wore. His leathery wings were tucked to his sides as he trotted up to her, a slight smile on his muzzle and his green-slit eyes gazing upon her.
“Just Luna, Night Flight. And yes, the view is very pleasant. These airships made me feel uneasy at first, but when my sister told me they were perfectly safe, I managed to stay on one for more than ten minutes,” she recounted with an easy smile.
“They’ve been around for some time now. If it’s one thing the griffons are good at, then it’s airships. To be honest, though, I prefer my wings instead of a balloon and propellers,” the bat pony replied with a chuckle.
“I understand,” Luna replied, the feeling behind her words momentarily surprising her. “While these modern contraptions are good for long distance flights, the feeling of the wind ruffling one’s feathers cannot be beaten by any modern machinery.”
“And I can avoid being seasick. I can’t stand ships.” Night Flight grimaced, probably at the recollection of his past misadventures on the seas.
Luna chuckled lightly at the face the bat pony made. “Humour aside, do we have an estimated time before we reach Equestria?”
“It shouldn’t be more than two hours before we reach Fillydelphia, Highness.”
“Luna.”
“Pardon?”
“I said Luna, not princess.” She preferred to keep an informal tone with her most trusted guards. The nocturnals had served as night guards for over a thousand years, and since they were the ponies Luna spent the most time with, she had decided to keep with the tradition in order to fit in with the modern age.
“My apologies, but I forget at times.” The nocturnal smiled sheepishly.
“Worry not, Night Flight. We can all—” Luna was interrupted by a loud voice.
“Shipwreck ahoy! Two kilotrots ahead!”
Turning her attention towards the sea below, Luna’s eyes carefully began searching the cerulean expanse for the shipwreck. A slight puff of clouds obscured her visibility, but after a few seconds, her eyes saw a scattered mass of grey debris on the water’s surface.
Several crewmembers came rushing to the bow of the ship, many of them carrying binoculars which were promptly set to use as they began to observe the wreckage, urgency evident in their movements.
“Anypony see anything?”
“I can’t see any survivors!”
“Is that a pony?”
“No, looks like a piece of wood shaped like one!”
Luna stepped away from the bow with Night Flight in tow. “What was the weather report for this area last night?”
“As it extends into international waters, this area is not under the jurisdiction of the Equestrian Weather Patrol. However, according to my reports, last night should have been a clear evening with only a slight amount of cloudiness and barely a breeze,” he promptly replied, all joviality dismissed.
Luna lifted her hoof to her chin for a second as she pondered what could have happened. Her mind touched upon a possibility that had been a strong suspect centuries ago, though she was uncertain as to its prevalence in the modern world. “There haven’t been any reports of pirates, I assume?”
Night Flight shook his head. “No, pirates wouldn’t dare approach Equestria these days. They keep to the southern seas mostly.”
“Modern times indeed. Nevertheless, we should—”
“There! I see somepony! That's a flotation device! Bright orange, to the right!" a crewmember yelled out.
Luna and Night Flight galloped to the bow and looked down. Indeed, a bright orange blur was visible on the outskirts of the wreckage. Due to the distance, it was difficult to ascertain who or what was in the water, but the bright shade of the flotation device could not be mistaken.
Luna nodded to Night Flight, and he saluted before galloping to the middle of the deck. “Captain, prepare for an emergency descent! Everypony on deck! Prepare the sickbay! Rescue stations!”
“Understood! Taking us down to sea level!” the captain of the ship, an earth pony in the armour of the royal guard, shouted back, standing behind the ship’s wheel. He pulled some levers, and the ship began to descend rapidly in response.
“All nocturnals and pegasi not operating the ship are to disembark immediately and commence search and rescue! Search everywhere; leave no piece of debris untouched!” Night Flight shouted over the deck. In response, a large group of winged ponies jumped off the side of the ship. After a few seconds of freefall, their wings snapped out and they began to glide down to the water’s surface.
The ship descended at nearly full speed, making a few of the fresher crewmembers look rather queasy. After a few seconds, the ship slowed and levelled out before the electric engines powering the propellers roared like angry beasts, bringing the ship to a complete halt, hovering just above the surface.
Luna looked to the pieces in the water and began to wonder what force could have destroyed the ship so completely. All that remained of the vessel was bits and pieces, as if the vessel had been in a powerful storm or even a hurricane, yet according to Captain Night Flight, no storm had been reported. She briefly wondered if a creature of the sea had destroyed it, but that theory was also unlikely since most large sea creatures were fairly docile.
As she continued to observe the wreckage, it parted with some hints. From the pieces, she deduced that the vessel must have been quite small, perhaps no larger than a common rowing boat. It might have been a griffon’s fishing boat, but what was it doing so close to Equestria then? It could also have been a griffon’s fishing vessel working from Fillydelphia. The city had quite a number of griffons living there, thus making it a better theory.
Several bat ponies and pegasi flew over the water’s surface, searching for survivors, yet none had been brought on board so far. A commotion from the side made Luna turn to the sound. Two bat ponies had dragged a body across the water, struggling slightly. From what she could see, the body was rather large, reminding her of a minotaur, yet the distance was too great to see any details. Only when a third nocturnal came to aid of the previous two did they manage to lift the body out of the water, water dripping from its legs and clothing. Luna hoped the poor creature was still alive.
“Out of my way! Give me some space!” a unicorn called out as he came galloping from below deck, pushing aside some of the gawking crewmembers. He wore a physician’s lab coat and carried a doctor’s bag in his magic, with two other ponies, who Luna assumed were his assistants, following him.
A few moments later, the three ponies flew up to the deck, carrying the lifeless body between them and hovering for a second before gently lowering it to the wooden deck. Immediately, the crew surrounded the lifeless body and once more the crowd was heard whispering amongst themselves.
“What… the… hay?”
“What is that thing?”
“That can’t be a minotaur, can it?”
“No, they have a lot more muscle and mass than that thing.”
“But it has hooves!”
“Minotaurs have cloven hooves.”
“And a horn? Could it be a minotaur with some kind of illness, or did it break off one of his horns in a fight?”
“It doesn’t even look like a minotaur!”
“HEY! Give me some room to work!" the doctor shouted, irritated at the crowd. They immediately backed away.
Luna had been watching the water, wondering at the fate of the destroyed vessel’s crew, and the rescue effort of the guards that had unearthed only a single body found so far, when she heard the doctor shout. Wondering what the ruckus was about, she decided to see what was going on. Approaching the group, they parted, allowing her to see the strange being with her own eyes. As her eyes fell on the creature, she stopped and her mouth opened slightly as though she intended to speak. Whatever words that were about to be given voice died in her throat.
On deck before her lay a peculiar creature, soaking wet and lifeless, a being like nothing she had ever previously encountered. Starting from its head, it had what looked like diminutive eyes that were closed. A dark brown mane that had been cut short lay on top of its head that housed a fairly flat face with a rather squat nose and mouth. It had similarly proportioned but pointed flat ears, looking somewhat similar to those of a pony but was placed on the side of its head. Just below its hairline was a unicorn’s horn that jutted out at an angle from his forehead, white as bone with spiralling grooves twisting its way upwards from the root to the tip of the horn itself. It was roughly thirty centimetres in length and possessed the same thickness as a normal unicorn’s horn. Its facial structure looked masculine, and very short, dark brown fur that was almost black covered its lower jaw and upper lip, furthering enhancing its masculine features, indicating that this creature could be a male of its kind. As she had initially assumed, the creature’s features did not resemble that of a pony or any other creature known to her, but if one was willing to use some imagination, there were slight similarities.
The creature had two arms which were thinner and obviously possessed less muscle mass than a minotaur, and at the end of each appendage was a hand with five fingers. Each finger looked similar to those of a minotaur, only that this creature had ten fingers to a minotaur’s eight. The colour of the skin was also light in hue.
As with the rest of its body, the creature’s legs were peculiar, resembling the legs of a primate such as the few spider monkeys found at Canterlot Castle’s garden, but instead of short stubby digits, there was a hoof at the end of each leg. The hooves were akin to those of a pony, only that these were larger in size. From its unshorn fetlocks dangled copper-coloured fur the same shade as its hooves. Shreds of some type of fabric were wrapped around its hooves, as if it had worn a garment that had been ripped apart by some unseen force.
That wasn’t the only garment the creature had donned. It wore a thick blue jacket over its torso that might have once been loose-fitting, but was now water-drenched and heavy. From its waist down to its hooves, it wore a vestment which was dark blue and seemed well worn, if the holes were any indicator. If she remembered correctly, it was called ‘pants’ and was favoured by certain races, especially during the cold winter months. Wrapped around the waist of the pants was a black belt with a dull metal buckle.
Throughout her perusal of the creature, Luna had remained silent, watching as it was now laid out on the deck, water seeping out of its clothing and pooling around it. She felt a strange wave of curiosity wash over her, curiosity mixed with confusion and a decent amount of surprise.
“Is… Is it alive?” she finally asked the doctor.
The doctor had received assistance to remove the life vest and the blue jacket from the creature’s torso, pressing a stethoscope onto its chest and listening before moving the instrument to a new area. After a few seconds, he turned to the princess.
“It is alive, barely. To be honest, I’ve never seen anything like this before. I mean, the heartbeat is a bit slow, but that can be explained by it being in cold water for too long. Its respiration is irregular as well, which could also be because of the water.” Looping his stethoscope around his neck, the doctor opened his bag, retrieving a rubber mask and an oxygen tank. “However, other than that, I have no idea. This being, whatever it is, is unique to me! I have absolutely no idea what its vitals should be!” the doctor said with a sigh of frustration.
“However, these injuries I can do something about.” The doctor pointed a hoof at one of the creature’s arms and forehead. Luna hadn’t noticed before, but there was a sizeable wooden splinter jutting out of its left arm, and the deck was slowly being stained red. Its forehead had a nasty gash just above its left eye, with blood slowly trickling from it.
“Do what you can to help it, doctor. We must help this creature, whatever it is.”
The doctor nodded and placed the oxygen mask over the creature’s face, securing it with a rubber band over its head. “Let’s get it stabilized before we move it onto a gurney.” His two assistants had already begun cutting the jacket and various articles of clothing from the body in order to better assess the injuries, and also to scan for other unseen damage.
It didn’t take long before the unconscious being was placed onto the gurney and, with the help of the guards, was carried below deck to the sickbay. Watching the creature carried below, Luna trotted back to the bow of the ship to observe the rescue effort. However, it didn’t seem that any other survivors were found as the fliers were sweeping the area for debris, storing the remains of the vessel in the cargo hold.
“What in Equestria was that, Princess?” Night Flight asked her, a certain hint of confusion in his voice.
“I don’t know,” Luna admitted. “It seems... It had hooves and a horn, hands like a minotaur, but the face resembled a… Perhaps a diamond dog? No, it was nothing like one.” She sighed. “Truly, I have no answer at this moment, but we will find out. Did the guards find anypony else in the water?”
Night Flight shook his head. “No, there were no other survivors, if there were even anypony else on board. I ordered a wide perimeter sweep. The guards are sanitizing the area and storing the wreckage for examination. Perhaps we can find out where it came from?”
“Good. When we are ready, set our course for Fillydelphia. The creature must receive medical care as soon as possible. Hospitals are better equipped for long term treatment,” Luna commanded, her eyes watching the fliers as they returned to the ship. Night Flight saluted and left Luna in order to relay her orders to the ship’s captain.
A few minutes later, The Eclipsed Eye soared into the sky, ploughing through the wind and wild clouds. The crew had settled back into their routine, and whilst their activities seemed mundane on the surface, the undercurrent in their whispered conversations was anything but. The reason was obvious. Not a single pony had ever seen a creature such as the one they had rescued, with a few even believing the creature would pose a threat to Equestria. With Tirek’s actions fresh in the minds of everypony, having occurred only a month ago, it was safe to assume that more than a few of the crew were rather uncertain as to the creature’s intentions.
This was not an issue for Princess Luna. She and Celestia had faced off against mighty adversaries in the past, some who were known to history books and some so cruel that the records of them ever existing had been erased, forever banished from history. To its credit, the creature in the sickbay had not invoked any hint of malice or corruption.
What mostly troubled her was the fact that, despite it being a bizarre amalgamation of body parts, there were shared similarities between it and ponykind, such as its hooves and horn. Even its ears somewhat resembled those of a pony.
Eventually, these shared features led her towards the sickbay to check on its condition and hear what the doctor had discovered. The first thing that struck her upon entering was the cloying scent of disinfectant, followed by the sight of the creature lying on two beds pushed together end to end, for this was the only way that the creature could be made comfortable due to its size. Its nose and mouth was covered by a transparent rubber mask, feeding it precious oxygen. A monitor next to the beds provided audible clues as to the creature’s heartbeat.
The ship’s doctor, Sterile Dressing, sat on a chair, working on the creature’s left arm which was resting on a metal table. One of his assistants operated on the wound on the head, sewing it together while the second performed a magical scan on its chest.
“Am I interrupting?” Luna asked with a hushed voice, wanting to avoid disturbing the medical team.
“Hmm? Oh, no, not at all,” the doctor replied with a glance at the princess. “The injuries are mostly shallow—just need to clean the wound and sew them shut. This one’s a bit deep though.” The curved needle pierced the skin, and with a slight tug, the wound closed fully. Tying a knot sealed the wound that would surely leave a scar.
“Internal scan is complete,” one of the assistants declared as his magical aura subsided. “No injuries; everything seems normal as far as I can tell.”
“Good.” Sterile Dressing dabbed a cotton ball soaked in disinfectant and applied it to the wound. “Since we have no idea what his vitals should be, we can only hope that they are within normal parameters. Still, keep an eye on respiration, heartbeat, and blood pressure.”
Luna moved closer to the bed, deciding on gaining a better view of the creature. Now that its clothes had been removed, the only thing that covered its body was a blanket. As a result, she gained a clearer insight of the size of the creature. She estimated that if it was bipedal, it would be very tall, perhaps taller than her sister.
“Have you found any other injuries?” she asked Sterile.
“There’s one wound to his hand caused by a wooden splinter,” Sterile recited and began covering the arm in bandages. “One gash to the forehead, over its left eye, probably caused by a wooden object. We found small splinters there as well. A mild concussion, a few minor bruises, and assorted scratches. Nothing serious so far.”
“Good. Anything else?”
“If the anatomy is anything similar to ours, then this creature is male. I’m not sure about the age, but he looks young. Almost looks a bit pony-like, wouldn’t you say?” Sterile said with a wry smile and secured the bandages with a clip, ensuring they wouldn’t come loose. “I’m afraid that’s about all I know at the moment.”
Luna nodded. She felt drawn towards the creature, his torso imperceptibly rising with each breath he took. Her closer proximity allowed her to note that while the hooves of the creature had fur, his face barely possessed any. She walked to the foot of the bed and rolled up the blanket to further uncover his legs. The large hooves, with their russet-tinted fetlocks, came into view, but just above his ankles, the fur was of normal length. Just above the knees, however, the fur was gone, revealing a light skin color. The border between fur and skin was perhaps five centimetres in length, the fur becoming thinner before vanishing completely.
Rolling the blanket back to its previous position, Luna walked up to the creature’s right arm which rested underneath the blanket. Removing the blanket uncovered the arm, and another surprise. The arm itself seemed rather thin from the shoulder socket down to the elbow. From the elbow down to his wrist was copper-coloured fur, the same as his legs. The creature’s hands did not have fur.
Sliding down the blanket further uncovered his chest. There was a thin layer of hair there, though not enough to provide heat. Though the hair was black, there was a tawny tint to them.
After placing the blanket back, Luna took a moment to inspect the horn on his head. It resembled a unicorn’s horn, but did not have the same tint as his skin, something which usually occurred in unicorns, almost seeming to lack the pigmentation. However, she reasoned that his horn might be normal for his kind.
A short conversation with the doctor confirmed his assertions. While everything seemed to be fine with the creature, but it was best that he was taken to a hospital where medical experts could deduce what he was and the best way to treat him. Luna had faith in Sterile Dressing and his medical skills, yet the doctor insisted that he was not the best one to treat the creature due to its unknown physiology. It made sense since he was a general physician, specializing in ponies.
After leaving the sickbay, Luna decided to investigate the wreckage her guards had brought on board, hoping to find a clue to the creature’s origins. Entering the cargo hold, she saw the rubble scattered over the floor, various pieces of differing sizes. Two guards kept watch while another pair tried to sort them out and deduce what kind of vessel it was.
Walking around the numerous fragments, she occasionally levitated a piece, studying it before placing it back where she found it. Most of it was wood, layered together and painted with a flaking grey colour that perhaps once long ago had been blue. All the pieces were splintered and cracked, indicating that some type of tremendous impact had torn the vessel apart. That the creature had survived must have been a colossal stroke of luck.
Next to the wall was a pile of larger items, some of which attracted Luna’s attention. Picking up pieces from the pile, she began studying them as well. One of the items was a red metal canister of some type. It had an X engraved into the metal on both sides. The top of the canister had its lid open. Wondering if it contained water, Luna took a quick sniff of the lid and subsequently tore her sensitive muzzle away from it. There was nothing inside, but what the canister had once held had left such a horrible stench that she could barely stomach it.
With her interest of the canister swiftly lost, she placed it back into the pile and levitated some other items. There were more pieces of wood which didn’t attract her interest, a fishing net, a fishing pole, and a tackle box. It seems this vessel was a fishing boat of some kind, which also meant that the creature might be carnivorous, or perhaps omnivore. There were species in Equestria, most of them griffons, that required meat as a staple of their diet, and they would usually buy or go fishing for the sustenance they required since Equestria had very strict rules when it came to meat.
A large green cloth bag caught her eye, the cobalt glow of her magic enclosing around it and levitating it to her. The bag had straps fastened to it, along with compartments on the sides and to the top. A backpack, she recalled, similar to those one would see minotaurs wearing on their backs. However, the backpack was made of a distinct sort of material Luna could not identify. The green material looked like cloth, but its texture was not quite what she expected. However, the backpack was a hint that perhaps the creature did indeed hail from the minotaur kingdom of Minoa. Something didn’t fit, however, and that was the strange square label sewn onto the backpack. There was a depiction of a mountain on it, but while it also contained a written script under this picture, Luna could not recognize the letters at all. She knew many languages and alphabets, some long forgotten by time, yet these letters eluded her. Strange forms, squares, rounded shapes, and simple lines—none were familiar to her.
With a huff of frustration, Luna placed the backpack down on the floor. She was tempted to open the backpack in order to collect any evidence as to who their mysterious survivor was, but abstained from doing so. Rummaging through somepony’s belongings was hardly seemly; who knew what the backpack contained. They would find out in due time.
Delving through the pile produced nothing of interest. That was until Luna reached to the very bottom. Levitating a large flat piece of grey plywood revealed it to be relatively intact, but what caught Luna’s attention was not the plywood itself but what protruded from it. It was also a piece of wood, smooth, roughly one meter in length, and embedded into the plywood. Bringing the piece before her, she noticed that the visible length of the staff was lodged into the wood. Turning it around, she saw that the staff had split the plywood apart, the other end of the staff buried within.
Flipping it over again, Luna used her magic to grab a firm hold of the end of the staff, and even though it was firmly embedded, it practically flew out with barely any effort on her part. Placing the piece of plywood back into the pile, Luna puzzled over the peculiar piece of wood, unsure as to what it was at first. When she finally saw it, she nearly dropped the thing in horror.
Held in her magic was a wooden staff, reddish-brown in colour, with carvings decorating its surface. It was what lay attached to the top of the staff that elicited a shocked gasp from Luna. The staff was crowned by a horn… a unicorn’s horn. A bleached unicorn’s horn, a horn that once been attached to the forehead of a pony, of a sapient, rational being!
Her stomach twisted and the bitter taste of bile surged into her mouth but was suppressed for the sake of dignity and the unbridled wrath that overcame the Princess of the Night.
“Princess Luna, what—” she heard one of the guards ask her, but the query was interrupted as another repelled gasp was heard.
Wheeling around, Luna saw the four guards gawking at her with stunned and disgusted expressions. No, not at her, but at the object she held in her magic. One of the guards immediately galloped to a corner and emptied his stomach of its contents out of pure abhorrence of the staff and its morbid decoration. He was soon joined by another guard, the other two managing to restrain themselves, but by the looks of their faces, they were clearly contemplating joining their comrades.
Thinking quickly, Luna looked around for something suitable and found a bundle of cloth on a shelf. Tearing off a sufficient length, she shoved the staff into the cloth, hiding it from view. Just to be sure, she spotted a rectangular box which she placed the bundle within and locked it. Using her magic, she engraved runes on its surface that would completely seal its contents, guaranteeing that nopony could open it but her and her sister.
With the defiled horn locked away, she turned to the guards. “What you have all seen is not to be spoken of on mine ship. Do you understand?”
“Yes, your Highness!” they all replied in unison, some voices shakier than others.
Luna turned to the closest guard and addressed him. “Thou, what art thine name?” she asked, her voice so cold that it was as if winter itself spoke. All thoughts of maintaining the modern dialect were forgotten.
“M-My name i-is Forest Song,” the shivering bat pony replied, still unnerved by the sight of the staff and the menace in Luna’s voice.
“Forest Song, We entrust thee with a mission.” She levitated the box over to the guard. “Take this box to mine quarters, place it on mine desk, leave mine quarters, and take up position outside. Allow none inside!”
“Y-Yes, at once, your Highness!” He saluted as Luna placed the box on his back.
Luna then turned to the second closest guard. “You, find Captain Night Flight and bring him to me at once. We shall be in the sickbay.”
The second guard saluted and galloped away. Luna turned to address the remaining two. “Come with me. We shall go to the sickbay at once!”
Leaving the cargo hold, Luna and the two guards made haste to the sickbay. Luna almost tore the door off its hinges in her fury, revealing a surprised doctor, two assistants, and one unconscious creature.
“Princess?” the doctor inquired, visibly taken aback as he stood from behind his desk. “What is the meaning of this?”
Luna walked up to the unconscious creature and eyed him warily before addressing the stallion. “Doctor, dost thou have at thine disposal potions or elixirs that can make the imbiber sleep for an extended period of time?”
The doctor almost flinched at the raw anger in her voice that she did little to mask. “Uh, yes, of course I do.”
“Good. Give it to this creature. It shall remain unconscious until we reach Canterlot. Not once shall it be awake during the remaining time of our voyage,” she commanded. “Furthermore, two guards shall keep watch over it. This is not open for discussion.”
The doctor wisely did not reply. He had never seen nor heard the princess in such a fit of pique, so he merely nodded his agreement.
Luna left the sickbay and brought the two guards with her. Stepping into the hallway, she was greeted by Captain Night Flight and three guards. “Princess, you asked for me?” the captain asked with a small bow.
“We did. Station two guards inside the sickbay. They are to guard the creature at all times. Should it awaken, they have my permission to restrain it using any and all means possible.” Luna glanced over her shoulder at the closed door. “However, if restraining it is not possible, they have my permission to subdue it,” Luna looked back to her captain and leaned closer to him, “permanently.”
“Of course, your Highness.” Night Flight saluted again before motioning two guards to go inside the sickbay.
Luna watched as the two guards walked inside. Now the creature could do no harm at all. The morbid staff was locked away, a limited number of ponies was aware of its existence, and the creature was under constant guard. Damage control had been successful. Now it was only a matter of reaching Canterlot.
“Captain, how long will it take to get to Canterlot from our current position?”
Night Flight scratched his chin for a second. “Hmm, a day and a half perhaps. In the case of an emergency, we can reach Canterlot by tomorrow morning.”
“Consider this an emergency, Captain. We must make haste to Canterlot.”
“Yes, of course. I’ll notify the ship’s captain.” Night Flight saluted and left to relay Luna’s new orders.
With everything under control, Luna decided to calm herself. Walking up to the deck, she took up position on the bow of the ship, allowing the cool wind to play with her mane, tail, and feathers once more. However, her anger still boiled under the surface. The mere sight of the staff caused the lust for violence to bubble within her.
“Bring us some clay disks,” Luna commanded a nearby crew member. “We wish to practise our accuracy!”
“And perhaps see just how much we can destroy the disks.”
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i quite like the story so far, i may not have read many stories on here but its defiantly a new twist on HiE for me an i like it lol
Glad you like it, this story's been on my mind for over a year now and it took a long time figuring it all out.
Oh, you're also the first commenter on my story and according to the ancient rules set in stone by the members of Fimfiction, it's customary to give gifts. Please accept this moustache
Interesting take on things. Can't wait to see where the "Native American" parts of the story will fit in...
I am really Impressed wIth your story so far. Uaually I am not a fan of human turns into something, however in this case he still is mostly human. I was surprised when the staff still existed, i had thought he merged with it at first. Really lookingt forward to more, this needs more attention.
So, human to male Chimera?
Pretty decent so far. There's no need to increase the font size when someone is shouting though. That's somewhat irritating.
This is after Tirek, so Twilight should know this is a human (or with the alterations, she would compare him to human). However, this doesn't automatically mean that Luna would know what one was. Kudos for that!
Also liking how Luna's become a simmering volcano about to blow
6272738 Heh!
Love your avatar picture! But Spike better have her fitted with one of those magic-suppression horn rings if he knows what's good for him 
Soooo this is an anthro fic then? You should put the tag on it then
Why didn't they use healing magic?
I'm sorry but Luna fails here. She compares the horn on his forehead and sees that it essentially looks like a unicorn's horn and then seems to assume the one on the staff is from a unicorn. She's making a lot of assumptions here when it isn't the logical assumption.
This is a creature that is seemingly unknown to all races, as I assume some amount of communication between the races. Which means that it probably hasn't interacted with the other races. Which means that the horn is most likely from its own species. Now we have the staff itself. The staff should look and feel old. Old wood has a much different look and feel to newer wood that have been made into canes and staffs. That age should indicate the object is from before his time which could indicate that the horn on the staff is a possible way to venerate the dead or some other meaning than "this guy murdered someone." The age itself should give some hint that this might not be from him if he ages like most species on the planet.
The fact that Luna has endorsed killing him because of something she found that might be from his own race and might have a positive cultural meaning different from ponies, indicates that either she is a horrible diplomat or the world has some type of weird monoculture, which wouldn't make any sense.
Edit: Clarification of why I say she's a horrible diplomat. She is unable to understand and think in terms of another cultural belief as a base understanding. If she can't do that, she is liable to give insult and thus hurt the reputation and standing of both herself, her sister, and her country.
A simple example is the difference in some cultures where you look a person in the eyes to show respect vs. not looking them in the eyes to show respect. Another is the difference between shaking with the left or right hand. In some cultures, shaking with the left hand is a grave insult, while others it's the same as a typical western hand shake but based off a different underlying belief. We shake with our right hand because we want to show that we have no weapons. An explanation I read for shaking with the left hand was to indicate my shield was open and I do not need to protect myself in your presence, essentially.
5733718 so the human turned into some sort of unicorn sayter? and the ponies look like regular ponies right?
orig05.deviantart.net/4bc8/f/2008/083/9/e/satyr_by_artbytravis.jpg
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Seems like it, except instead of part goat, part unicorn with only 1/4 of his lower body furred.
Well seeing as Luna is the more emotional of the two sisters (or at least that's the most popular Fanon) it sort of makes sense that she would leap to such conclusions, but I do feel that she went a little OOC and overboard here.
Logically speaking, she doesn't know a thing about that creature, for all she knows its traditions dictate t takes the horn of its father or mother if and when one dies like the Cubones of Pokemon. Granted sure logic wouldn't necessarily dictate how Luna would react to what it seems like, but I think she would still at least think about it for more than a second before she stole something from an unknown creature and then greenlighted lethal force for her gaurds.
I'm not happy with the doctor. He at least should know that drugs can have wildly different effects, depending on the creature. In theory, the sleep medication could be poisonous. So he should have denied applying it.
7793747 Agreed
6447274 Thank you
is this anthro? or just a mutated human and the ponies are still ponies (quadrupeds?)
8370303
Ponies are normal quadrupeds and the human has pony ancestry. His visible pony parts are the following: pony legs from his knees and down, unguligrade legs (makes him tall and somewhat gangly looking) furry legs, thicker and furry forearms, larger hands, pointy ears but not completely ponyshaped and a horn on forehead. His furcolor is copper, by the way, and his horn is bare a.e. white.
Honestly very well-written, I'm intrigued by the flow of the words alone. Will be reading more of this... long story.
Don't you just love it when the sisters aren't omnipotent? So the sense of wonder discovery and perhaps even some awe here and there aren't cut out of them leaving fish-eyed husks behind?
At least The Blue one was spared.
Enough anthro to be interesting but not enough to cause butthurt over it. No ponification excuses and shortcuts.
Damn good start.
10784199
From the show we know that Celestia and Luna aren't goddesses or omnipotent, but I kinda like the idea of them holding back and not revealing the true extent of their powers; it makes stories about them intriguing and makes the reader think.