• ...
13
 126
 4,898

Chapter Two

The whole of the throne room was silent. Everypony was looking at the three people standing in front of Celestia, who was silent for what seemed an eternity. She looked upon the three with an even stare.

Finally, she spoke. "Very well then. You are kind enough to give us your names, it is only polite we do the same. I am Princess Celestia. I govern the day and rule alongside my sister, Princess Luna. But I must warn you," she closed her eyes. There was a flash of bright light, and when they could see again they saw that Celestia had teleported down from her throne to face the three. When she opened her eyes, the even stare was replaced with a fiery glare, "If you dare make any kind of threat towards my ponies once more, I will make sure you never see day or night ever again."

The room fell silent once again, before being broken by a short laugh from the one that called herself Shepard. "Good, we needed to see how you'd react." She stopped glowing.

Celestia was bemused. "Excuse me?!"

The one named Zia spoke this time. "I believe that the three of us share the same opinion: If a ruler doesn't care for their subjects, they aren't fit to rule. I control a city, but I make sure to treat everyone with respect and dignity. Even those who see to take it away from me. You care about your people, er, ponies. And I am sure your sister does too. In that case, we have no quarrel with you or any of your people."

Celestia fixed her a look that demanded explanations. "Then why exactly did you engage in a fight with those two that resulted in damage to these ponies village?"

The man, Darvish, spoke. "I believe the purple unicorn put it best. We didn't exactly have all our bearings, so it went a bit like this: We wake up in an unfamiliar land."

"Not exactly uncommon for me, but whenever I wake up I'm usually in the same world," commented Zia.

"Indeed. As I was saying, unfamiliar world. So, we see two other humans-"

"Ah, so that's what your species is called" interjected Twilight.

"Yes," answered Shepard, "but where I come from there are many different species which are sapient."

"Same as my homeland, Tamriel. I believe there are at least eight other intelligent species. Well, eleven, but I'll talk about that later" remarked Darvish

"And so it seems that only my Earth is normal. Oh wait, it isn't, but that's for another time." Zia had a dark look on her face as she said this.

"Anyway," continued the man, "We see two other humans and start to talk. Then we finally look around to see where we were. And realise that we are surrounded by horses."

"Ponies" Twilight corrects him.

"Wait, so these are ponies? How do you two know so much about them?" Asked Zia.

Shepard was confused. "But... you said you're from Earth. Aren't there ponies or horses in your world?"

Zia was nonchalant as she spoke. "There could be, but I've never seen any. It's most likely that they've all died out."

You could have heard a speck of dust hit the floor in the silence that came. Everyone, from the two other humans, to Celestia, to the crowd, even the guards-ponies were all staring at the Courier in shock, mouths wide open.

It was Celestia who broke the silence. "Would... would you care to explain what happened to your world that could result in that?" Everyone was horrified, and a few ponies even had tears in their eyes.

The Courier sighed, taking off her glasses and rubbing the bridge of her nose. She turned to Shepard. "I think it's obvious you are from a more advanced time-line than mine. What year is it there?"

Shepard was startled slightly at the abrupt question. "Erm, I come from the twenty-second century, the year... 2185 I believe."

Zia spoke again. "I'm not completely sure what year it is, but I do know that it's the twenty-third century, and that two hundred years ago, there was a nuclear war that devastated the earth." Shepard was the only one looking horrified now. The others just looked confused.

"Excuse my ignorance if you will, but, what exactly is 'nuclear'?" asked the Princess.

"A nuclear missile, to be more precise," answered the Courier, "Is... well... think of it this way: The result is a rapidly expanding fireball that vaporises everything within at least a few kilometres of the blast zone." There were cries of horror from the crowd, coupled with looks of disbelief. "But that's not the worst part!" She shouted above the yells. The congregation of ponies fell silent again.

"No," said Shepard, "The worst part is the aftermath. The radiation." Her voice was low.

"Yeah, radiation," sighed Zia, "The explosion is bad, yes, but all you would have to do for a normal one is just wait for the smoke and fire to clear to rebuild and re-settle. Not with nuclear missiles, not with radiation. If you're lucky, you were either caught in the blast and instantly killed, or absorbed so many rads so quickly that your death was quick and painless. Radiation would taint an area for centuries, slowly killing or mutating anyone living near it. It was effectively a 'salting the earth' type of weapon. If anything grew, it grew wrong."

Silence once again fell on the entire room. This time, it was Rarity who shattered the oppressive silence, tears staining her alabaster coat, voice trembling as she spoke. "I-If you d-don't mind me as-asking, how l-long have you lived in s-such a ter-terrible place?"

Zia gave a small smile. "Thirty three years. Damnedest thing is, as bad as it sounds, it's actually a lot better."

Now, the room was filled with puzzled expressions. Twilight spoke next. "But, everything you just said sounds horrible. How could it be better?"

The Courier gave a tiny laugh. "Heh, you know the old saying 'a pessimist see's half a glass of water as half empty, and an optimist see's it half full'? Well, that's how I see the place. A world half-full, because civilisation is getting back on its feet. New Vegas is just one beacon of hope in the world. Besides, I'm not gonna be leaving it behind until I see good progress."

It was then that Celestia remembered what this whole thing had originally been about. "You have obviously had a harsh life, and I wish you no more hardships. However, we managed to go off on a massive tangent. Please tell me I'm not the only one who remembers the reason we started discussing these three."

The crowd looked slightly embarrassed, though still felt sympathy for the Courier.

"Yeah," said Zia, "Our punishment. You said you were going to compensate these ponies. May I ask how much that would cost?"

"Okay then." Celestia looked back to the damage report. "The combined total would be... 10,000 Bits."

The three looked at each other, then Darvish spoke. "We did a lot more damage than I had thought."

Shepard glanced at him. "Were any of us actually paying attention to the damage we did?"

The other two looked sheepish, but then Zia spoke up. "Well, if you would give me a moment, I might have something to help with that."

She started rummaging around the various pockets and carry bags on her person. What she pulled out made everyone gasp in amazement.

There were murmurs in the crowd of 'No way' and 'Unbelievable'.

"Is that really what I think it is?" asked Twilight.

Zia couldn't help but grin. "Yep," she said, "Thirty-five pounds of pure gold."

Darvish could only stare in awe. "By the Nine."

Shepard just whistled in admiration.

Celestia just stared, mouth wide open, for a few moments before shaking her head to regain some composure. "You... are you really willing to just give that to us? Most people would guard that much money with their lives!"

The Courier gave a small smile. "A friend once told me that, sometimes, you just have to let go. Even then it doesn't really matter when I have about thirty of them lying around. Though that was the only one on me."

"This will certainly pay for that compensation, and there'll still be enough left over for repairs. Even still, I can't just let you go. If I did that, then any criminal would get it into their heads that all they have to do is pay off their crimes. I have to find some way to reprimand you."

Darvish spoke up. "Well, during our fight, I couldn't help but notice that some ponies looked very amused. How about we give you a show?"

He could feel the entire room staring at him, though the other two were in thought. It HAD been a while since they last met anyone their match. It would be a challenge, which all of them would welcome, and it could be fun.

The man gave his neck an awkward rub. "I mean, one without breaking any more buildings. This castle is big, surely there has to be an arena of some kind?"

The Princess thought about it for a moment. "Very well. I would like to see exactly just how you three managed to cause so much damage. The guards sparring arena is big enough."

She then addressed the crowd. "Those who would like to see the fight, follow me. If you would like to claim your compensation, please talk to one of the ponies in the main hall, they will be able to help you." She started walking through the crowd, which parted for her, the three following close behind.