S3 CH 2: Smoooooth...
Twilight stared, her mouth open. She couldn’t believe it. She’d read up a little on it, but this was just…
“Why would anypony want to come here?” she whispered.
Despite the sun had long since gone down, the place still LOOKED as if it was sweltering. The ground was little more than sand and patches of dirt, the town itself was comprised of only a dozen or small buildings, as well as the large, walled off fort that housed the lunar guard out here. The sign ‘Honeymooner’s Creek’ had broken in half, removing the ‘s Creek’ entirely. The word ‘Honey’ had faded out almost entirely and been scraped out, leaving just barely the word ‘mooner’ legible.
Apparently the place had, a few decades back, been a special exclusive resort. There had been a beautiful river that had flowed out from the badlands. The outpost had been built then and, for a while, the town boomed as a special ‘Exotic and dangerous resort’. Ponies would come here to see the Badlands without actually being in danger FROM the Badlands.
When the river had shifted away, due to a Tatzlwurm migration altering the terrain and changing its course entirely, the town had as well. It was now no more than a simple, small town on the edge of the Badlands.
“Some ponies grew up here,” Moondancer said with a shrug. “That and, well, the fort means they’ll have a constant stream of customers. Decent business, I imagine. Ponies grow attached to each other, don’t want to leave. The fort’s here to stay, so they do, too. Besides, it’s less than an hour from the other villages, so there’s probably a lot of trips and communication between them.”
Twilight nodded, though she couldn’t help staring at the desolate place. It felt so empty and hollow. Lonely. She glanced back to Spike, who was sleeping on the seat besides her. It had been a long, long trip. First by train, then by carriage. Slowly, they came to a halt and she nudged the dragon. He didn’t move, just snored lightly. She sighed and motioned to Moondancer.
The mare nodded and got up, her horn glowing before she scooped up the dragon and gently rested him on her back. “You know, he is kind of adorable when he sleeps.”
Twilight nodded. “He really is the best assistant. Err, you haven’t minded that he’s been helping me, have you? I know he was--”
“No, it’s fine. He’s great, but I know he likes helping you more,” Moondancer said with a laugh. “Besides, he still swings by and helps when he can.”
The earth pony chuckled, giving him a fond look. He really was the best assistant. She didn’t know how he managed to run around all the time, helping her, Rarity and now Moondancer. She was truly thankful that he’d been put into her life. If he was a facet of her life that remained true across all dimensions, she knew he was one of the positive ones.
She then trotted out of the carriage before she glanced around the area and sighed. She didn’t know why anypony would want to--
“Well, aren’t YOU just the sight for sore eyes?” a voice called, making her stop and turn around. There was a blue coated pegasus with a white mane, grinning at her. The mare was, sort-of, in the uniform of the lunar guard. Except she wasn’t wearing the helmet and the chest piece was… modified. With stickers. Lots of lightning bolt stickers. Judging by the appearance of the mare wearing the armor, all of the enchantments had been removed. She didn’t think she’d EVER seen a guard with MESSY hair.
The earth pony just stared, her mouth falling open. Moondancer joined her, staring at the mare, though she managed to keep her mouth closed. Finally, Twilight spoke up. “Your… uniform. It’s… it’s very...”
“You like it? The lightning bolts make me go faster,” she said, before she turned and started trotting towards the fort. “Come on, now. You all have a nice trip?”
“U-uh… yes,” Twilight said, following after the mare. “You’re… Lieutenant… Smooth Tongue, I take it?”
“Mmmmm hm. Yes ma’am. I’d ask who you were, but it’s not like anypony else would come down here. Usually ponies are on their way out, not the other way around,” she said with a light chuckle. “So, I hear you’re here for a bunch of snails, right?”
“Err, slugs, but yes,” Twilight said softly, staring at the mare. She’d expected someone a lot more… military. Had this pony REALLY been one of the ones who had marched deep into the heart of the changeling hive? She looked like a goofball.
“I’ll be honest, not sure why you’d come here for that. Here at Mooner, we’ve got three things. Sand, dirt and rashes. I don’t think slugs are generally the biggest draw. So...” She then whipped around, suddenly in front of Twilight, face inches from her. “Dish. What’s the REAL reason you’re here?”
“W-what?” Twilight asked.
“Come on. I’m not stupid. The personal student of Nightmare Moon? The personal bard? There’s got to be SOME big reason you’re here. Come on. Just between us mares, what’s the real reason? It’s not Glimmer, is it? Cause I can tell you now, you can do better.”
“What? Who? What? Ummm… well… the real reason is, err...” she mumbled, taking a small step back from the inquisitive mare. “I actually wanted to speak with you and your captain, as well as a few others. You see, err, it’s about the mission to the changeling lands.”
Instantly she saw the mare shift back, just a little bit. She saw this small glimmer of worry in her eyes. “Huh? What? Everything was in our reports,” she said before quickly turning around and starting to trot again. “We got in, did the job and then we came back.”
Twilight frowned. “Yes, you came back. Quickly, I might add. You all earned a nice rest after that, but you never even stopped by Canterlot. I’d actually like to know why you got that duty to begin with. This outpost is fairly far from… well...”
“You could say we got voluntold, more or less,” the mare said with a snicker. “It was the captain’s decision, though. Duty of Equestria, all that. Should have heard her, it was a thing of glory.”
“Oh? She give a speech?” Twilight asked.
“Truly the most magnificent of speeches. She stood on top of the wall, called out for all of her soldiers that, on this fine day there will be--”
“Oh for the love… Smooth, are you bucking with the newbies again?” a voice called out.
Twilight glanced up and her mouth fell open. On top of the wall, lounging, was a blue and red coated zebra. She looked annoyed, staring at the three of them.
“You’re… a zebra,” Moondancer finally said.
“And you’re a unicorn,” she said back. “But I won’t hold it against you.”
Smooth shook her head before calling out. “Oy, stripe butt! Open the gate, we’ve got visitors. Special ones, from Nightmare Moon herself.”
Twilight and Moondancer turned to stare at the mare. “You… can’t call her that,” the earth pony finally said. After a few moments, the wooden door swung open.
“Here you go, frog tongue!” a voice called back from inside.
“That’s Corporal Nadra. She’s cool. Oh. AND SHE LOVES TALKING IN RIDDLES AND RHYMES!”
“SMOOTH I WILL END YOU!”
“See? She loves it,” the pegasus said before trotting in.
“She’s a… a member of the lunar guard?” Twilight finally asked. How could ANY of these ponies be guards. She’d never seen such… Her brother would have thrown a fit. The inside of the fort, at least, seemed simple enough. A few wooden buildings and half a dozen rather large tents.
“Yup. She’s pretty cool, too. Not a lot of zebras in the forces.”
“How’d she end up here?” Moondancer asked.
“Punched out some noble pony. She really, really hates the whole rhyme thing.”
Once again, Twilight and Moondancer shared looks. Finally, the earth pony spoke up. “I… s-see. That’s… wow. How did you… end up here?”
“Retirement,” the pegasus said quickly. “Nopony wants the Badland jobs. It’s dangerous, miserable and the only ponies we ever get are ponies like me or who pissed off somepony above our pay grade,” she said with a snicker. “So we rack up bonuses and incentives like you wouldn’t believe. The time we’re here, sucks. But other than that, it’s pretty cool. And hey, most the ponies who can’t handle it, either get kicked out, killed or go AWOL.”
Twilight’s eyes widened. “W-what?! I… I had no idea it was so dangerous… wait. Are you messing with us… again?”
“Heh heh heh.”
“… How much of what you say can we actually believe?”
“Ehhhhh. I’d say forty to sixty percent. Come on, you wanted to meet the captain, right?”
Twilight nodded. Slowly they traveled to the back, to one of the larger tents. The pegasus reached out and stepped inside, not even knocking. The earth pony braced herself. Time for her to meet Captain Lavender. She couldn’t imagine what kind of strange pony would be in charge of this place. Slowly, they stepped inside.
She froze, staring around the small tent. There was a cot near the back, a small, makeshift desk. Lots of paperwork, a few chairs. Everything was perfectly organized. All of the paperwork neatly stacked, pens in order. The unicorn behind the desk was in full, polished uniform. She could have easily been in Canterlot on guard duty. She lacked the enchantments as well, though. Her coat was black, her mane purple and white striped. She didn’t even bat an eye when they entered. After a few moments of awkward silence, however, she glanced up from her work and narrowed her eyes on Twilight, with a look that made her instantly stand at attention. She couldn’t help noticing that Moondancer did the same.
“Twilight Glow, I take it? And you must be Moondancer.” It wasn’t a question, it was almost a command. Her eyes then flickered to Smooth. “You’re out of uniform.”
“Yes ma’am.”
“...”
“Eh heh...”
“...”
“I’ll, err, g-go get into uniform.”
“You do that.” Once they were alone, she looked to Twilight. “Now then. You wished to… examine… slugs. Correct?”
“Well, err, yes. I actually, however, wanted to ask some questions, as well.”
“… Questions.”
“Y-yes ma’am,” Twilight said softly. She couldn’t help it. Something about this mare reminded her of the old drill sergeants her brother used to complain about.
“… About?”
“Oh! Right! Your mission to the changeling lands. Also, err, there’s a… griffon in your team, I believe. Gilda? I was hoping to speak with her.”
The mare just stared at her, eyes narrowing just a hint. “Gilda is a fine soldier. We couldn’t have done the mission without her.”
“Oh, I’m sure. The reports were quite detailed. But, uhhh...” She gulped. What was it? There was something off. Something just not quite right about the mare.
“We’d like to know more about the changelings. As you ponies were the primary ones to come into contact with them, we’d like whatever information we could get on them,” Moondancer offered.
“I see. Well then, that should be simple enough,” the mare said, her eyes lowering.
Just like that, the effect was gone. That uneasy feeling, that worry. It was gone. Twilight stared, slowly relaxing.
“I will have all of the soldiers present for that mission meet with us tomorrow after breakfast. In the meantime, please enjoy yourselves. I have had quarters prepared for you. Smooth will escort you.”
“T-thank you, ma’am,” Twilight said and, taking a nod from the mare as dismissal, she quickly stepped outside the tent.
“Whew,” Moondancer whispered once they were outside. “I didn’t expect to find a shadow weaver here.”
“A what?” Twilight asked, glancing over.
“A shadow weaver. You know, the--” The unicorn froze in place. Slowly, her eyes narrowed on Twilight. “Oh… oh my gosh. Do… do you not know?”
“… Err… should I?”
“I mean, no. But I mean, you don’t know? Really? Really?”
Spike groggily opened his eyes. “Nggg…?” he asked, before giving a yawn. “What’s going on?”
“Twilight doesn’t know something!” Moondancer said with an almost giddy squeal.
The dragon yelped and fell off her back. “W-what? WHAT? She doesn’t?! I mean, what is it?”
“Shadow magic! A shadow weaver!” Moondancer said excitedly.
“And she doesn’t have a major in it? Or a minor? Anything?” Spike asked.
“Well, technically it doesn’t HAVE a minor yet, it’s fairly new. I mean--”
“AHEM!” Twilight said, glaring at the two with annoyance. “Do you mind explaining?”
“Err, right. Yes. Okay. So, you are familiar with the Shadowbolts, correct? How they took over for the Wonderbolts? A shadow weaver is similar to that. Namely, they are select ponies that Nightmare Moon has selected to learn special magic that, err, until recently was considered… I wouldn’t quite say forbidden. But, primarily, they have access to the dark arts.”
Twilight sighed. “There are well over a dozen different ‘dark arts’. I’d need you to be a bit more specific.”
“You know… THOSE dark arts. The kind of dark arts like… the umbrum. You know… the shades? THAT kind of dark art.”
The earth pony blinked a few times. Then glanced back towards the tent. “W-wait, Nightmare Moon is… letting ponies use those magics? But…. But they’re...”
“Exactly. Now, most ponies can’t learn them. They have to be not only good with shadow magic, but willing to...” She trailed off. “Aaaaaanyway. I know a little of it myself, but they’re usually kept closer to the princess. There’s a whole team of them trying to find a way to break the spell over the shades. That glare we felt? When she was looking at us? THAT was that magic. It changes a pony. It taps into the powers of the umbrum themselves… I can’t imagine why she’d be out here. These ponies can get a lot, there’s no reason for her to be near the Badlands.”
“Oh, that’s easy. She chose to be,” a voice said, making the two jump. They whipped around and saw Smooth staring at them, with a grin on her face. She was still out of uniform.
“Didn’t she tell you to get into uniform?” Twilight asked flatly.
“Ehhhh, she says a lot of things. But if you’re realllllly curious about why she’s here? That’s aaaaaaactually something we’d like to know. We have a running tally. If anypony could find out why, I’m sure it’s you two. There have to be some documents that you two have access to?” she asked with an innocent smile.
Moondancer sighed, shaking her head. “Point taken. Frankly, why she wants to be here is anyone’s guess. Not our business.”
“What, come on! You’ve got to be wondering, right?” Smooth asked, making a pouty face. “She’s got that whole shadow magic thing going on, right? I bet she has some deep, dark history. Like she killed somepony or something.”
Twilight’s eyes widened, covering her mouth with a hoof. “W-wait, you can’t be serious.”
“Incredibly unlikely,” Moondancer said firmly. “Were she a known murderer, I would have heard of it. There are not a lot of shadow weavers, it would have passed like wildfire.”
Smooth rolled her eyes. “Come ooooon. Let me just have this one, please? Ugh. Fine, fine. She probably got caught peaking into the showers or something. Maybe she flirted with Nightmare Moon. I don’t know,” she said with a shrug. “Can’t blame a girl for wanting to lighten things up a bit here with a little excitement. So, you are all going to be here for a bit, right? I’m supposed to escort you to your tents and all that.”
Twilight nodded, motioning for the other mare to lead them. “If you don’t mind, could you answer a few questions about your mission into the changeling lands?”
“Err, I can try. I’ll be honest, it was a bit ago. I can’t remember everything in perfect detail. What do you want to know?”
“So, it was just the six of you, right?” she asked.
“Of course.”
“That’s actually what I wanted to ask about. There’s only eleven ponies stationed out here, correct? Why did you six go? Was it really okay to leave five ponies here alone? On top of that, weren’t you the second highest ranked, if anypony was going to stay behind, shouldn’t it have been you?”
Smooth gave a nervous chuckle. “W-well, you see, you know how it is. This fort is pretty easy to keep going, six ponies is more than enough to keep it working. Besides, I had, we had a good team here.”
“… Wait, six ponies?”
Smooth blinked and shook her head. “Well. I mean, five plus Legendary’s ego,” she joked.
“Oh… okay, then. What was the mission like, if you don’t mind me asking?”
“… Rough. It was very rough.”
“What about the changeling lands? What would you say they were like? You’re one of the few ponies to have ever seen them first hoof, after all.”
“I, err, can honestly say I have no way to describe them. Hee hee. They’re really something else, though, let me tell you.”
“Okay then...” Twilight mumbled, eyeing the mare. “So, the captain has agreed to gather everypony who was there to talk with us. You’ll be coming as well, I take it?”
“Of course. I’ll be there. Just try to keep me away. Well, here you go!” she said, motioning to one of the large tents. “Guest quarters. If you need anything, don’t hesitate to ask. Bye!” she said before quickly turning and galloping away.
Twilight eyed the mare, before glancing to Moondancer. “Something is definitely going on here, right?”
“Definitely,” the unicorn said quickly.
“Even I can tell, and I’m a dragon,” Spike said quickly.
Twilight nodded and trotted into the tent. Hopefully, after speaking with Gilda, things would become a lot clearer.
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5 bucks says a Changeling or more are disguised as guards or there's a trailor among them...
Looks like a full on Omega Squad, those are always fun!
Beautiful. Loving their friendship. And Twilight not having a minor in something is definitely cause to be excited.
So much <3 on Twilight and Moondancer being a couple and Spike as their kid. Which yes I know they aren’t but still.
Somehow it had never crossed my mind that we can have multicolored zebras, not just black and white. Chromelanin strikes again! Since zebra stripes are initially a disruptive pattern trick I wonder if Zebras literally go (black and) white from shock. Which raises questions of just what Zecora knows.
The Shadow Weaver is there as a political officer, because Nightmare Moon knows a ragtag band of misfits when she sees one :p
No. I’m actually getting an impression of the commander in the TNG episode Face of the Enemy. Where the Romulan commander had an enormous quantity of sheer nerve to constantly call out the Tal Shiar political officer assigned to her because she wanted to protect her crew.
Six ponies. They found Thorax, and they’re harboring him. Maybe other more pleasant changelings as well.
Dude your hand tickles with writing everything, why not create a multiversal collosal fic like Song of Spheres to clench it XD, Twilight Glow is not a fic you could write secondary stuff for world building, anyway, I am waiting what will Gilda have to add to the story, there is certainly a lot of things that are kept secret about the changeling, perhaps some of the guards are changeling that got replaced willingly before dying? or changeling that secretly joined the guards and helped? Oh the suspense 0.0.
9739534
Nooooo... Maybe.
9739537
Omega squad? Not familiar with the term?
9739604
I know, right?! Most excitement they've had all week!
9739645
Hee hee. You're probably right on the latter one. The captain is one of my favorite characters to write. Kind of a hard flank, but she's generally somepony you can depend on. Which is useful in the Badlands. And you don't want to know the things Zecora knows...
9739827
Oh my gosh. I'm already floundering over all the other stuff I'm writing. XD Though, ironically, I did start a multi-verse original work at one point, though never finished it. But there are so many different things I could do with this verse. After all, Twilight being Glow instead of Sparkle isn't the only difference in this universe compared to other MLP-verses. ^^
9739863
Maybe, huh? I'm onto something....
9739863
Every military trouble makers, people who are to lazy, or troublesome or just caustic enough to be a problem, but still walk that line to keep from being thrown to the curb. Those people usually get reassigned to a dead end posting in the middle of nowhere, that way they are Someone Else's Problem.
Of course if they all get reassigned to the same posting, well now your whole squad is made up of these types. This is an Omega Squad (or Company if it's large enough). The term comes from the Phule's Company books by Robert Asprin.
I wonder how many of them are actually changelings.
9739889
all minus Glida
9739645
Yeah, one of them being thorax seems likely to me too now that you mention it.
Really, the question is how MANY of them are actually changelings, not IF one of them is a changeling.
9739877
... Sounds like them alright. XD
9741155
Definitely. All of them. And the buildings. And the tents. ESPECIALLY the tents. Evil tents...
9746074
Tents my one weakness....can never get those poles in their holes
9749769
ahhhh
Glorious
Like fine wine
So I'm not the only reader that thinks this is a changeling outpost. Ok.
Hmm ...
I'm going to be caught upThe "next" button is going to break real soon now at this rate.Definitely an outpost that talked with the changelings beforehand and decided to collaborate.