Equestrian Landings

by qwefg

Train Ride

Swift Wing

Swift woke up as he scanned his surroundings looking for his captor. To his surprise he saw a rather tired looking griffin who was leaning up against a tree. He didn’t seem to have any real weapons or armor on him as he was currently taking a sip from his canteen muttering “I never should have left Canterlot much less try doing this insane task.”

Swift Wing moved his talons to his side and was surprised as he quickly found his old sword nearby next to the rest of his belongings. Swift quickly retrieved his sword before grabbing his would be captor by the back of his head and pressing his blade against the unknown griffin’s neck.

“Please don’t kill me!” the unknown griffin shouted in panic.

Swift spoke in a threatening tone “What is going on?”

The griffin chuckled nervously as he replied “Oh Swift? Oh thank goodness you’re not a changeling.”

Swift applied more pressure as the blade cut through one of the griffin’s feathers as he repeated “What is going on.”

The last thing he could remember was being drugged by a griffin client who actually wasn’t a griffin. Waking up in the middle of a forest with no idea how he got here made him a bit paranoid at the moment.

The other griffin tried to shrug “You went missing. Brass was angry and Luke gave the order to abandon you as he prepared to move on with the original plan.”

Swift slowly nodded as he heard something rustle in the bushes “What happened to me?”

The other griffin chuckled nervously “Changelings got you. Apparently Gaichu decided that she should be the one being given the Elements of Harmony… and you were held hostage.”

Swift turned behind him as two feral changelings lunged out of the woods getting ready to attack. He quickly moved in step ducking beneath their heads and swinging the sword cleaving their heads off in one swift movement.

The other griffin stared in shock for a moment before saying “Oh Fudgemuppet.”

More branches started to break as the feral changelings were moving in. The other griffin quickly grabbed the bag full of supplies before motioning for Swift to follow. Both of them ran through the forest trying to not make any noise as the ferals continued to chase them.

All questions from Swift’s mind were discarded as he focused on his current threat. After a couple of minutes of running the other griffin leaned against a tree taking another big sip from his canteen before pulling out what looked like a piece of rock candy and popped it into his mouth.

The griffin glanced at him before replying “Thirsty?”

Swift took the water canteen before taking a small sip. He swished it around in his mouth a little trying to make sure it didn’t have any funny tastes considering the last thing he remembered was a tainted mug of ale.

Only after confirming it was just plain water he gulped some of it down and replied “So who are you?”

The griffin hung his head as he muttered “Of course you don’t know. I mean I just figured you would, but I guess I’m not important enough.”

Swift studied the new griffin as he looked like a standard griffin. The back end of his body was more of a dark gray as his upper half was covered in gray feathers. The highlighted feathers around his eyes were green.

The griffin rolled his eyes as he replied “It’s William… the guy with the supplies? You still have no freaking clue who I am. Do you?”

Swift tried to remember if he had ever seen this griffin before, but he didn’t look familiar. Still the odd name must have meant he was an adventure... or flat out lying.

William sighed “Okay then… how do I tell if you’re a changeling?”

Swift hissed loudly “I’m not a changeling!” he was not falling for this trick again.

William hissed back “And I just grabbed the first griffin in a pod and ran as fast as I could! I just help deliver supplies… not some sort of Secret Service Rescue Squad or something.”

Swift took a deep breath as he had to check if this was another trap “How do I know that you’re not a changeling?”

William raised one of his eyebrows as he deadpanned “Really? How about the fact you’re not in a stick green pod.” Swift continued to stare at him before he sighed “Fine… Brass’s menu is broken. How many other people know that little detail?”

Swift shook his head “What are you…”

William groaned “Brass told me to tell you that her menu was broken and that was because Remedy Cross introduced a bit of chaos magic messing up the entire system and making him have a gender swap to her new current form. If you don’t trust where I lead than then how about I follow you and just let you take us to wherever it is you want to go to?”

Swift stared at the other griffin “Just like that?”

William sighed as he face palmed “Or I go back to base empty handed and have Brass demanding what happened which will properly end poorly for me. Besides if you really are changeling than you would have no idea where how to go back to base and that I should ditch you in the middle of the night just to ensure you don’t try to stuff me in a pod.”

Swift felt one of his eyes twitch as he said “That’s your reason?”

“That or Luke gets angry at me for following Brass’s orders only to top everything off with the fact I didn’t bring you back to ensure that nobody knows how to get back to the base.” William retorted back to him “So where shall we go crazy paranoid one?”

Swift glanced back at the forest as he could hear the feral changelings trying to find them again. He didn’t trust William right now, but he had lost an uncertain amount of time… was drugged in the middle of a bar… and now feral changelings were after him as Gaichu wanted the remaining Elements of Harmony all for herself.

Swift closed his eyes as he knew of one place he could safely go to without compromising anyone. He was still a little bit paranoid right now, but he couldn’t let it interfere with his job. If he went to his uncle that he could inform him about the new time table. If William was lying then let’s see how he would deal with an entire city full of griffins.

Besides this was his best chance to get to someplace safe if his new griffin ally was just another changeling in disguise who just had freed him from nearly being stuffed in a green cocoon by feral changelings. It was for this very reason that Swift really hated psychological mind games.

At least as a sell sword his objectives were simple. There's the enemy. Take care of them.

“Follow me.” Swift replied as he made sure he was the one carrying the only weapon they had.

William nodded “Alright Mr. Swift!”

Hopefully he would be able to figure out the truth before they arrived in Iron Claw… or figure out a way to lose his escort.

******

Steel Halberd

Steel glanced at Valkyrie as he didn’t know what to say. Back at the hospitable it had been easy. She was injured… the where other people always nearby and he just tried to bring her back up to date on what she had missed.

Now she had just gotten out of the hospitable as various bandages covered her body. She could walk just fine, but the doctors insisted that the bandages stay for a few more days and that she didn’t wear her armor while they were on.

Now it was just kept to him, Valkyrie and Lily…

“Get a hold of yourself Steel.” He muttered in the back of his mind “You went to Lily for advice as you tried to understand Valkyrie’s past. They were friends and if Valkyrie’s roommate was able to figure out that you had a crush on Valkyrie…”

He sighed as he had mixed feelings about that. On one hoof he was told by a race that feed on love that he cared for Valkyrie more than a normal friend or comrade. The only problem was that he didn’t know what to say to Valkyrie right now.

A bell rang above Steel forcing him to return to reality as they entered his sister’s shop. He also suddenly realized that Valkyrie had already been whisked away by his sister without his knowledge. Lily was currently sitting in one of the nearby seats as she was staring at a few of the dresses in curiosity.

Steel took a deep breath as he tried to keep it simple. All he had to do was simply ask a simple question. If she said yes then he could simply let Valkyrie get transferred over to another division or group and try to take her out on a date. If she said no then hopefully they could still be friends… easy right?

Steel started to pace as he thought about it some more. Was asking her how she felt about him too soon? He had time to figure out the emotions he had towards her and she been stuck as a statue during that entire period of time. Should he wait a week or two to ask… did she like some other stallion? How did she feel about Lockheart? Maybe he should…

The curtains flew open as Jade spoke out loud “I told you I could get a dress right for you!”

Valkyrie was blushing like mad as Steel felt his face burn up a little. It was a simple sundress… cut to look very nice to emphasize the curves on her body. Jade Pin also managed to keep the fabric away from her legs so she could run freely. To finish it off a pair of saddlebags with a sunflower design etched into them rested right where her cutie mark should have been giving her a very innocent look.

Sure Valkyrie wasn’t wearing her armor when she left the hospitable… but the bandages kind of stood out in the same way her armor covered up her body. The dress covered up the bandages revealing a rather attractive and nervous young mare instead of a pony that just got out of a fight with a manticore.

Jade looked at Steel for only a moment before for a sadistic grin to appear on her face “I’m glad that you also think that it looks good on her.”
Steel suddenly realized he was standing instead of sitting down or with his back against something as his wings were stretched out. He felt his face burn up as Valkyrie kind of caught him by surprise. He quickly prayed to Princess Celestia lower the sun or somehow make it dark before…

He promptly face hoofed as Valkyrie blushed as she looked away from him. Of all the things she had to know about Equestrian culture… she had to know that. Steel had his wings return to his sides as he felt embarrassed like burring his head like an ostrich.

Jade spoke up as she loved every single second of this disaster as she continued “Let’s check out the other dresses and see how they fit!”

Valkyrie tried to speak up “I’m good with just the…” she never got to finish her sentence as Jade pulled her into the changing room as a rack full of dresses suddenly flew towards the changing room.

Steel shook his head as he promptly replied “Valkyrie… I knew thee well.”

His sister had that sparkle in her eyes and Valkyrie wouldn’t escape her sights until all the dresses have been used. It was going to take a while.

Time slowly passed by in slow and unique way that could only be seen or experienced by those who waited for those last few minutes on the clock to end so that they would be done with work… or by any male gender of a species that was stuck waiting in a seat as two females continued to talk about things not meant for male ears while various dresses would be put through the test.

The door opened up as Steel sighed wishing something would come to break up the dull moment and help him focus on something other than trying to figure out how to ask Valkyrie how she felt about him… or some crazy plan to try to invite her on a date just too simply test the waters.

Currently his plan somehow involved a group meeting where most of the ponies would suddenly not arrive or call in sick leaving them both together to… do water polka. He groaned as he tried to think of something else. Going to the tavern run by Maxwell would be a good idea… but as just two friends. Of course the 'sort of date’ would turn into a group outing.

There was the beach… but how would he come up with a reason for why nopony else came? He needed something to help easily test the waters before simply asking…

“How are you Steel Halberd?” a voice spoke right beside him.

Steel turned his head muttering “I…”

He stared as he just realized that either life had a funny sense of humor… or Discord had decided to take up request as Princess Celestia stood right beside him. His eyes shrunk to the size of pin pricks as surely enough there were two Solar Guard ponies standing watch outside the shop as Princess Celestia had decided to visit.

******

Valkyrie

Dress after dress was shoved on me as I felt like I was stuck in the department store as a little kid with my mom again. Don’t get me wrong I did like some of the dresses, but I had learned a long time ago that I was on the average side of cute.

Jade pulled out what looked like a red slinky dress and smiled “So what do you think of my brother?”

I felt my face light up as I shook my head “Why are you asking me that?”

Jade shrugged as she checked on a white version of the same dress “Because he is my brother?”

I took a deep breath as I tried to explain myself “He’s a nice guy… I just screwed up.”

There was a pause for a few seconds before she replied “In what way?”

I hung my head as I tried to figure out the right words for it. I could feel my body starting to ache as the pain killers subsided, but I didn’t want to take another pill and act a little bit loopy… or have less control over my own emotions.

I sat down on the on the seat and sighed “I underestimated the pony who apparently… turned me into a lawn ornament for a couple of weeks. Steel Halberd sent me away from fighting the giant crazy fire gecko monster as he played the role of bait.”

She stared at me in confusion asks she asked “That’s what you’re talking about?”

I shook my head “I’m faster, stronger, I can even take more blows than he can. He would have died if Celestia hadn’t come in at the last second to save him! Why didn’t he just send me to play the role of bait? Did he think I was too arrogant… that I had let my strength go to my head or…”

Jade placed a hoof on my shoulder and sighed “My brother has the most experience in playing the role of ‘bait’ as you call it. He sent you down to the tunnels because he believed you were the best pony to send down there if anything happened.”

I glanced at the curtains as I felt myself start to feel nervous “It’s just… whenever something big happens it just seems like… I’m in the way.”

Jade gave me a hug as she softly replied “You’re scared… nervous. You had a possible brush with death and only now are you letting the stress of the traumatic moment affect you. You should have seen Steel after the mission…”

I bit my lip a part of me just felt awful… The Everfree Forest? Remedy was a bigger help to the party than me. Lockheart saved us from the trap and Maxwell managed to stop the crazy bug queen. Coming to Canterlot… I wasn’t of any use. Now Lockheart has suddenly gone missing and I’m being placed on the sidelines because of my injuries from my latest screw up.

Jade sat right down next to me as she continued “He talked about your strength… how you never seemed to falter in the Everfree Castle despite all the horrors around you.”

“That’s different.” I slowly muttered back “Stardust was in trouble and we needed to save her.”

Jade smiled as she softly replied “But not any pony would have jumped onto that stage just to save somepony they didn’t know from being turned into a puppet.”

I shook my head as I tried to argue “I was foolish… If I was a bit more level headed or…”

Jade had promptly placed a hoof in my mouth as she groaned “You’re a good mare. You are brave… the others look up to you for courage when things get rough. If you want to talk about reckless actions than you should be complaining to Steel as he should have just waited for Celestia to deal with Emberess. He should have evacuated the nearby areas instead of trying to lead the ancient villain into a massive trap.”

Jade’s magic wrapped itself around me forcing me to stand as she continued “As for Brass? She tricked you with an underhoof trick. Next time you run into her you will know she fights dirty and you’ll be prepared for her to try some other type of nasty trick.”

I shook my head as a small smile came to my face “Thanks Jade.”

She nodded apparently happy with her work “Just remember that you have friends who care about you Valkyrie.” She grinned as she grabbed the curtains with her magic “Now let’s see how they like this dress!”

Jade opened up the curtains with a large smile on her face only for her to stand there as a slight… squeak left her mouth. I opened up the curtains a little bit more to see what was going on as I saw Celestia standing in the room with two royal guards standing outside.

I glanced at Jade in confusion “Why is Celestia standing inside your shop?”

Jade blinked as she slowly whispered back “Why is Celestia standing inside my shop?”

Celestia tilted her head as she spoke out loud “Am I not allowed to visit?”

“No! I mean yes… I mean no to the question and yes to the visit…I mean” Jade spoke in a flustered panic before throwing up her hooves in the air and begging for mercy “I don’t know what to say!”

Celestia smirked as she wasn’t bothered by Jade’s sudden panic from realizing that Celestia was standing inside her shop… and I think the Solar Princess was enjoying the shocked reactions by everyone in the room. Steel looked as if he was about to have a heart attack as Lily was doing her best to stay calm.

Celestia looked over to me as she said “I need to talk to you Valkyrie.”

And that’s when the shock of Celestia visiting finally hit me. Oh dear god what did I do? Were there some questions about what I knew about Lockheart or anything that I might have know about his sudden disappearance? Did somebody finally tell everyone we’re actually human?

I mean I felt like say something… but there never seemed to be a good time to say it… not to mention Discord wanted me to say it which was probably a bad idea. Wait was it the fact that he told me to tell Celestia in an attempt to make me not tell Celestia about it or was it…

“Valkyrie calm down and take a few deep breaths.” Celestia spoke out loud “You are not in trouble as I just needed to ask a favor of you.”

I tried to stand tall as I waited to see what she wanted. Celestia stared at me for a few moment either figuring out how to phrase her request… or making sure I had calmed down long enough to actually listen to her request.

Celestia took a deep breath as she said “I need you, Steel Halberd, Remedy Cross and Midnight Vixen to go to New Terra.”

I think my brain broke as I must have heard that wrong “Where?”

Celestia spoke in a calming tone “A large group of ponies and races that suddenly found themselves lost in Equestria like you have set up a town in the badlands.”

I coughed as I didn’t know what to say.

Celestia continued “I had plans to send Lockheart to help… open a dialog, but as you know he has suddenly gone missing.”

I feel back on my rump as I said “Shouldn’t you send a diplomat… or a…”

Celestia placed a hoof on my shoulder “I know it’s a big task but there have been strange reports in the area. They do not want a pony to talk out terms of trade or opening a dialog. They want somepony who understands what they’re going through and to see if they can figure out what is causing the odd disturbances in the place they have set up.”

Celestia looked a little bit sad as she said “I would go there myself… but I want to be ready in case something happens here or if any news of Lockheart comes. I know it sounds a little bit selfish asking you as soon as you got out especially on short notice…”

“I’ll go.” I quickly replied “I mean all I’m going to be doing is just simply taking a train down there and then walking the rest of the way by hoof.”

Celestia shook her head “You will be trying to help deal with any panic the town might be dealing with. If things look like they are getting out of control that let me know right away.”

Celestia left the room as she flew back to her castle just as my legs gave out leaving me a sprawled out on the floor. I wasn’t even out of the hospitable for an entire day and I was being shipped off to a human run town to figure out what was going bump in the middle of the night.
Should I be worried that I’m not surprised at these turn of events?

******

Remedy Cross

Remedy Cross stood by the train station in frustration as the letter Lockheart had left her still burned in the back of her mind. It was your standard goodbye letter as he thanked her for her services and gave her a small piece of advice before trying to leave a note ensuring she would keep her new status… or an apology if she was punished or demoted when he left Canterlot.

At first she was enraged as a few pieces of furniture had not survived her initial outburst… Did he really think that she only got close to him or was even nice to him because he might have been an alicorn? That she was trying to use him in some crazy stupid politic scheme?

After she calmed down she read it again as he didn’t want his departure from Canterlot to harm anypony he cared about. That made things a little bit easier on her, but it still didn’t excuse the fact he still thought so… so little about them. Once Lockheart left Canterlot they were supposed to simply shrug and forgot about him? Move on with their lives?

She gritted her teeth as she bitterly muttered “Oh keeping up with us would be too much… we’re not allowed to send you letters or keep in contact with you simply because you got fed up with a bunch of idiots?”

The rags throwing out insults enraged her. Oh Celestia did her best to disband them… but she thought Remedy’s method was too extreme as she simply wanted it to make it illegal to print slander against Lockheart until he returned. Not this simple break up where official companies couldn’t print these worthless rags. She wanted to have the culprits that were caught to be thrown in jail for even attempting to sell those papers. That would certainly get the message across to the general public and stop any other idiots from trying to do the same!

Remedy Cross wanted Celestia to make it crystal clear that no one was allowed to continue this bad press against him! Maybe then Lockheart would finally get over his… extremely low expectations of Equestria and simply see that this country wasn’t like all the backwater rejects that couldn’t pull their own muzzles out of their…

“Remedy is that you?” a voice called out.

Remedy sighed as she turned to face the mare her interrupted her train of thought “Vixen… What are you doing here?”

The night guard pony rubbed the back of her head as she replied “I could ask you the same thing.”

The unicorn groaned as she pulled her bags together “I angered the Solar Princess so now my talents are being needed elsewhere.”

Midnight tilted her head to the side “You mean you were also assigned to helping check on the situation in New Terra?”

Remedy rolled her eyes “I’d say it’s more likely I was assigned to stop being so vocal about my opinions in Canterlot.”

The bat pony chuckled “Well you did nearly bite somepony’s head off when they tried searching for any clues on where Lockheart might have went to.”

Remedy shook her head “No I was against rummaging through his belongs and nearly packing up everything he owned. Celestia says he went missing. I say something happened and Celestia is trying to keep quiet about the whole affair.”

Midnight looked at her in disbelief as Remedy continued “First we have the unknown monster that attacked during the first few days Equestria had all of these travelers suddenly appear. The creature was after a locked box on a train. The second creature that appears suddenly tries to steal something from Canterlot Castle. Now a third creature appears and Lockheart goes missing.”

Midnight hung her head “Do you think Lockheart actually had something to do with it?”

Remedy Cross snorted “That’s baseless rumors created from uneducated self entitled idiots who would still think the world was flat if Celestia didn’t constantly remind them that the world is round. No it’s more likely that Lockheart was the pony fillynapped when the monster attacked as Celestia was unable to catch up to it or he chased after the monster in an attempt to retrieve what had been stolen.”

Remedy stomped her hoof on the ground “That makes a whole lot more sense than those idiotic rumors floating about. My concern is what happens when he comes back only to find out how stupid the rest of Equestria seemed to have become. Do you think he will even want to be here much less expect Equestria to be any better than all the other various nations he ran away from after hearing what they are claiming he did?”

The unicorn sighed as she was tired and a little bit cranky. She fell back against her various bags of luggage as she expected to be dumped in some backwater town they just “found” off in the middle of nowhere while the other grown brats of Canterlot continued throwing their hissy fit until Celestia found their pacifiers and shook something shiny in front of their faces. Then Remedy could return back to Canterlot and be forced to go with the new status quo.

“Did the letter that Lockheart left for you make any sense?” Midnight replied much to Remedy’s irritation.

Remedy grumbled “Did he send you one?”

Midnight pulled out her letter with one of her wings “Of course he sent me one…” She hesitated as she glanced at her “Did he not leave a letter behind for you?”

Remedy’s eye twitched as she snapped her head towards the other mare “Of course he sent one to me! He left a letter to me… but what was he even thinking when he wrote it.”

She slowly got back on her hooves as she eyed Midnight Vixen “What message did he leave for you?”

Yes Midnight Vixen was his flight instructor in the same way that Remedy Cross was his magic instructor for when Celestia was busy… which tended to happen a lot as she was tasked in helping Lockheart relearn the basics of unicorn magic.

There was a perfectly valid and reasonable response for just why he sent the Thestral a letter. It was probably an apology or an attempt to ensure that Midnight’s position wasn’t harmed if anything happened to him. That’s what she reminded herself as one of her hooves kept pawing against the ground like a bull getting ready to charge.

Midnight nodded her head “The usual… I mean he wanted to make sure that any funding he had left would continue to help the Night Guard. He also wanted to make sure I wouldn’t be demoted or for anything bad to happen to me as he tried to leave an apology to me if something did happen.”

Midnight slowed down as she looked at the ground “It was my job to protect him… to look out for him and… I don’t even know what happened to him. The night he went missing he was left with Emerald Spear and Sparrow watching over his quarters. I should have asked or make sure a patrol went past his window more often… or…”

She shook her head as she wiped tears from her eyes “It’s like he knew something bad would happen to him… that he was expecting it to happen and I… we wouldn’t be there to help him out… that none of us would even be able to help him.”

Remedy frowned as she felt horrible. Here she was getting angry at her own situation only to not realize that this… disaster was tearing up Midnight. The unicorn doctor placed a hoof around the bat pony as she tried to comfort her.

A part of her felt better as she wasn’t the only pony who wasn’t happy with Lockheart’s sudden disappearance… and yet a part of her didn’t like this. She didn’t like Midnight crying as she dug her face into Remedy’s shoulder as the bat pony felt guilty about Lockheart’s disappearance.

Remedy’s annoyance was probably the snot and tears being stuck in her mane… that was properly it.

Once Midnight removed her head and stopped crying she meekly apologized “Sorry about…”

“It’s okay…” Remedy Cross lied through her teeth “I’m just… I’m just happy you are not like those self entitled bone heads in the castle.”

Midnight covered her mouth as her eyes went as wide as dinner plates “You did not just say…”

Remedy rolled her eyes “I’m a unicorn so it doesn’t count as Tribalist. So any clue about who else is joining us on our exile cruse?”

Midnight turned her back as she pointed at the other two ponies who just came into view. The pegasus Valkyrie walked towards the station as she was still wrapped in bandages. She was properly being sent in an attempt to send her out on a harmless mission while she tried to recover from her injuries. Steel Halberd was also coming along to ensure that nothing bad happened to Valkyrie and so that he didn’t bring any personal grudges if they found Brass or any of the other criminals responsible for the Tartarus breakout incident.

Remedy got onto the train as she refused to listen to whatever half hearted speech Celestia had prepared on sending them out into the middle of nowhere for 'diplomatic purposes'. If that was the real reason for this ‘mission’ than she would have them escort a noble or some other pony gifted in the arts of politics.

Remedy walked onto the train cart as she prepared herself for the long trip ahead of her.

******

Valkyrie

The train ride was a little bit stressful as nothing seemed to happen to the train itself, but you could almost feel the pressure building up in the room. Remedy Cross looked like she was ready to bite someone’s head off. Midnight seemed to have a cloud of gloom around her that she was trying to recover from. Steel just seemed to keep twitching in his seat as he didn’t have anything to say.

Then after sitting around in silence for an entire day the train broke down mid way to our destination as the conductor apologized “Sorry for the delay, but we are currently trying to get the boiler to cool down.”

That just had a series of groans reside from the room as it was hot. I looked up at the skies as ponies were struggling to get things dealt with as they were trying to convince the earth ponies on their crew to help pull the train to the next refuel station.

I could hear a few of them grumbling about the heat as I think I understood why it took so long for Equestria to expand out in certain areas. Ponies had the mastery over weather which left them to be a little bit helpless against normal weather conditions.

I heard Steel muttered out loud “Ninety Eight degrees… why in Celestia’s name would anypony want to live in this type of heat?”

Remedy groaned “Just wait till we get to the badlands where you can have it one hundred and five degrees by mid-day and a chilling fifty or possibly twenty five degrees at night.”

Everyone shook their heads at the thought of it. I wasn’t happy about it either, but I also was kind of expecting it. Earth didn’t have any magical ponies setting up weather schedules as we were forced to make due with the current weather we got… and we also learned to make air-conditions systems.

I looked at Remedy as I couldn’t help but ask “Is there any reason why you can’t cast a cooling spell or something?”

Remedy stared at me as if I was an idiot “That’s like asking you three don’t make it cooling. Also my magic is focused more towards medical applications than weather spells.”

Midnight nodded “Also some of the ponies in Dodge Town might not like it.”

“Doge Town… not Dodge City?” I asked out loud as the comment took me off guard.

Midnight nodded “It’s just a starting settlement made up by a group of earth ponies. They are trying to use some of the weather from the Hayseed swamp to deal with the heat and slowly convert the place to be connected to the Equestrian Weather System, but some of their setbacks had caused the town to be abandoned before having new ponies move in.”

Steel pointed a hoof into the air “Humid swamp with monsters right rest near an arid climate. There are some ponies who just simply use the town to get to Hayseed Swamp and try to live 'going it alone' or something.”

I shook my head “That’s crazy…”

Midnight chuckled “Not really. The climate is stable for most of the year so you do not need any pegasi to regulate the weather. Nopony really owns any of the property and while there are dangerous creatures living out there all you really need is a sturdy wall to keep most of them out.”

I face hoofed as I couldn’t help but ask “Then why don’t we simply go through there instead of taking a train through the desert?”

Steel sighed “Because most of the 'settlements' are just small communities that don’t tend to last long. The ones that are made tend to be made by Tribalist jerks who are trying to claim or “show” that their race is the best. In the end most of them simply head back to Dodge Junction and return to Equestria trading their tribalist belief for an area not infested with wild animals, monsters, and bugs. The heat may suck, but you will not be bitten to death by thousands of tiny little bugs.”

I couldn’t help but smirk “So I take it you had a tour of duty there?”

Remedy chuckled as she pulled out a small paper fan “When the guard is sent to Hayseed Swamp it’s when something bad happens and while it may seem a bit out of the way having a train travel through this unpopulated area… Celestia does have meetings with the Buffalo tribes in the nearby areas as the rest stop ahead is where the buffalos inform Celestia of any problems they have when they feel like it.”

I caught the last part of that sentence “I take it they’ve caused some problems before?”

Steel grunted “If a group tries to set up a settlement near one of their Stampeding Grounds you may get a chieftain who simply decides to stampede through the settlement instead of simply warning them or letting Celestia know about the problem.”

I nodded as I saw the low demand for this part of Equestria. Natural and very hot weather combined with buffalo stampedes where certain chiefs may not simply tell ponies where their Stampeding grounds are as they simply plow straight through the town.

The train started moving again as the conductor came into the room “We are back on track now.”

Everyone nodded as he left the room as they were about to go back to their silent corners of the room. Maybe the heat was finally getting to me but I couldn’t take it anymore.

“So what’s wrong with everyone?” I asked out loud as they all stared at me as if I was insane. “Look everyone seemed to be cheering up when we were complaining and I am not going to simply just sit in this hot room while everyone goes back to secluding themselves in their own personal grumpy corners of the room so let’s continue talking!”

Everyone just averted their eyes as they were nervous. I sighed as despite popular belief ponies were not better at handling their emotions than humans were. Ponies simply had a different set of methods and flaws when dealing with their emotions where they could be just as idiotic if not worse than humans.

Remedy was the first to speak up “I’m kind of frustrated at Equestria in general. Lockheart goes missing and after trying to show that Equestria is different than all those places he fled from… they are still just as stupid as the ponies he ran from.”

Midnight sighed “I’m not even sure if I’m being sent on this mission to help protect everypony of if Celestia is upset at me. I was supposed to protect Lockheart and I have no idea what happened to him on the night he disappeared.”

I nodded my head “Alright what about you Steel and don’t say everything is fine as you look as if you're sitting on a bunch of splinters.”

Remedy chuckled as she bluntly replied “He has a crush on you and he doesn’t know if he should say anything.” Something in my brain just broke as I tried to comprehend what she just said. “He was really upset after you were turned to stone and now that you're better he’s been trying to think of the right moment to talk to you, but he can’t help but wonder if a relationship would even work.”

I stared at him in confusion “What?”

Steel’s feathers seemed to be puffed out a little as his face was red “I admit that I do like you… but…”

I shook my head “I’m to rash? I don’t think things through?”

Steel quickly shook his head as he blurted out “You still miss your home and I’m not exactly sure if you want to stay in Equestria. I mean Princess Celestia has been trying to figure out how all of you suddenly fell to Equestria and if she found some way to reverse whatever spell took place…”

I was left speechless as I didn’t even know that Celestia was trying to figure out the spell that sent us all here. I mean it makes sense and she properly hasn’t have had a lot of time due to all the other immediate problems, but just hearing about it somehow makes things different.

Steel looked down at the floor as he continued “I also thought it might be bad to suddenly ask you how you felt… right after you recovered. I tried asking Lilly for some advise…”

I planted my face into my seat and muttered out loud “Let’s go back to awkward silence while my brain reboots.”

I had a pony that was attracted to me who was a nice guy… and I didn’t know what counted as attractive to ponies as my tastes in dating were still geared more towards humans than ponies. I’m not even sure what dating would account to or… Why did you suddenly disappear Lockheart and leave me with this confusing mess?

If you didn’t disappear one night than I would be stuck on this train trying to figure out what just happened simply because you…

“Is the reason why you’re both upset because the two of you like Lockheart?” I asked the other two mares in the room. I saw their flustered reactions at my sudden comment.

Steel seemed a little bit disheartened as he replied “Do you like him?”

I shook my head as I wasn’t able to switch topics “I just see him as a friend I can talk to… honestly… I haven’t really dated or even thought about dating before I came to Equestria or even after I arrived. I mean I’m not really… attractive.”

All the ponies in the room stared at me as if I was insane as Midnight spoke up “Uh… just what counts as attractive from where you come from?”

I rolled my eyes “I’m average. I’m not one of the girls who wears a ton of makeup or likes dresses. I’m average in the sense that you could properly find a lot more attractive girls who actually put work in their image. As for dating while I had a few friends who were also guys… and that was it. I mean they were nice guys, but not exactly people you would want to spend every day with.”

Remedy held up a hoof as she replied in shock “Hold up… so let me get this straight. You see yourself as average and most of the guys you ran into were alright… but not somepony you could talk with normally.”

I rubbed the back of my head “Besides no one really has… asked me out on a date before.” I heard something fall as I looked at Steel in confusion “What happened to him?”

Midnight shook her head “Just realizing how odd the world works sometimes… but seriously not one pony or maybe a griffin?”

I felt my wings moving to cover my face as I meekly replied “None.”

******

Steel Halberd

Steel groaned as he slowly woke up. The room was almost empty as Remedy was sitting in her corner of the room reading a book. Valkyrie and Midnight had temporarily disappeared for the moment.

Steel glanced at Remedy as he spoke out loud “What did I miss?”

He had the craziest dream that he…

“Valkyrie found out you were attracted to her. She was surprised as she had never been asked out on a date.” Remedy Cross replied as she turned a page in her book “Also she thought she was average or below average as what you said kind of threw her off balance.”

Steel was about to argue about Remedy simply blurting out her he felt until what she said reached his brain “Below average… she thinks she’s…”

“She was never asked out on a date before as you are the first pony who let her know that you were interested in her.” Remedy replied with ease “Maybe she has self-esteem issues, but she didn’t know how to react as she left in a nervous fluster as Midnight tried to give her some advice.”

Steel sat back down in his seat as he felt odd. Technically Valkyrie didn’t say no as she is trying to figure out if she wants to try having a relationship. While the timing could have been a lot better this was not the worst case scenario.

Steel glanced at Remedy as he replied with a hint of unease “So she’s talking to Midnight Vixen?”

Remedy shrugged “She wanted somepony to talk to and considering you passed out that left me or Midnight since her usual mare friends are not here.”

Steel slowly nodded as he couldn’t help but groan “And now things are going to be awkward between us during this entire mission.”

Remedy snorted as she shook her head “We are just being sent out here to be out of Celestia’s mane. If there really was something important going on she would have…”

The train shook for a moment as they looked outside. The ponies had stopped pulling the train cart as they had reached the refuel station, but the force that shook the train had landed right in front of them. Steel had dealt with dragons before as they varied from dragon to dragon. Some were friendly and easy to talk to. Some were thick headed and refused to budge an inch and of course some were colossal plot holes.

The large brass colored dragon stared at the train as he could easily take one of the train carts and fly off adding it to his horde. Hopefully this wasn’t a dragon in a hoarding mode as you needed an entire squadron to deal with them. The ponies on the train were in a slight panic at seeing the dragon land in front of them either fearing for their lives or more likely their valuables.

Steel grabbed his weapons as he left the train cart and prepared to see what was going on.

To his surprise the dragon noticed him and said “Can you let the group from Canterlot who’s going to the badlands know their transportation has arrived?”

Steel slowly down as he stared at the dragon in confusion and said “What?”

Valkyrie and Midnight Vixen both made it outside the train as they stared at the dragon trying to figure out what to do. To their surprise the dragon scratched the back of his head as he said “The train was supposed to stop somewhere near here or near Doge town and I’m supposed to pick them up and fly them over to New Terra.”

Valkyrie was the first to recover as she spoke up in disbelief “You’re an adventure?”

To their shock the dragon tapped his chest with a fist as he cheerfully replied “You can call me Peter.”

Steel stared at the dragon as… Peter didn’t sound like a normal dragon name. In fact this entire situation seemed abnormal. There had been adventure diamond dogs, griffins, sirens, and bug ponies, but apparently there was a dragon added to the mix? I mean sure there were rumors as one claimed there was a penguin in a tuxedo that was an adventure... but no one actually believed those stories.

Peter rolled his eyes as he stepped away from the train “Sorry about the rough landing… so is this the train or did I arrive early… or late?”

Steel shook his head as I replied “Just wait one moment while we… get our items.”

Peter nodded as he stood off to the side nearby what looked like a small train cart… only without any wheels. Steel headed back into the train cart as Remedy Cross stared at the dragon outside also apparently confused at what just happened.

Steel glanced over to Valkyrie as he replied “So… should we continue on course or take the dragon express?”

Valkyrie shrugged “I’d say take the dragon express… unless dragons have made it a habit of asking ponies to follow them before locking them away in their caves to count the dragon’s horde or something.”

Midnight rubbed one of her forelegs “It’s a choice between having a dragon fly us to New Terra or renting a cart and going there by hoof.”

Remedy just continued to stare at the dragon outside “They sent a dragon to meet us?”

Steel sighed as he bluntly stated out loud “Apparently this isn’t going to be an easy mission if a dragon was picked to be our escort.”

Remedy closed her eyes as she knew what Steel Halberd meant by that. Steel also began to wonder just what exactly they were getting into. While he didn’t like simply trusting a random dragon that suddenly appeared to take them to their destination… he did have to admit that it was properly the best course of action.

If the dragon was sent to stop them then all he would have to do is simply break the train tracks. If he wanted to capture them then he could simply follow them and grab their train cart or wait until they were traveling by hoof towards the badlands.

On the bright side this meant they wouldn’t have to walk by hoof across the baking sun while they shivered during the freezing cold nights.
Steel nodded to himself as he spoke up “Okay then we just grab our supplies and see just what we got ourselves into.”

Comments

[Ocean Waves]

Peter the magic dragon lived by the sea...

[ThatOneGuyBehindYou]

Party has lost alicorn/changeling.

New dragon party member has been unlocked.

Also needs this song in the chapter!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7lmAc3LKWM

[erictheblue]

Jade opened up the curtains with a large smile on her face only for her to stand there as a slight… squeak left her mouth. I opened up the curtains a little bit more to see what was going on as I saw Celestia standing in the room with two royal guards standing outside.

I glanced at Jade in confusion “Why is Celestia standing inside your shop?”

Jade blinked as she slowly whispered back “Why is Celestia standing inside my shop?”

Celestia tilted her head as she spoke out loud “Am I not allowed to visit?”

“No! I mean yes… I mean no to the question and yes to the visit…I mean” Jade spoke in a flustered panic before throwing up her hooves in the air and begging for mercy “I don’t know what to say!”

Celestia smirked as she wasn’t bothered by Jade’s sudden panic from realizing that Celestia was standing inside her shop… and I think the Solar Princess was enjoying the shocked reactions by everyone in the room. Steel looked as if he was about to have a heart attack as Lily was doing her best to stay calm.

oh, that was great!