Nebula Stepper: A New Beginning

by WanderingDuplighost

Everything’s going to be just fine... I hope...

“E-erm... My name?” I look around at the ponies around me, gulping as I quickly struggle for an answer.

“Uh, Duh.” Rainbow Dash flew over and hovered on the bed above me, getting uncomfortably close. “Everyponies got a name around these parts. Now spill it, if you even have one.”

My mind flooded full of far-fetched names, scrambling to try to pick one to blend in like if It didn't just pop out of thin air. Come on, think! Something they would believe... Aha, Got it! I quickly cleared my thoughts before I announce my hopefully convincing name, “Just call me Nebula. Nebula Stepper!”

As everyone else seemed to slowly accept my curious nickname, Twilight's eyes lit up at the mention of it, scurrying over to me and shooing Dash out of the way, “Nebula? Like as in cloud? Is that why your cutie mark is what it is? Wow, this might be the first ever reported case of an earth pony with pegasi abilities! Can you show me sometime? I would love to have the opportunity to study, I mean, socialize with a stallion like-”

She was interrupted by Rarity grabbing her, pulling her into a group huddle at the corner of the room. They seemed to buy it as they muttered amongst themselves, Twilight and AJ arguing softly against Dash and Rarity as Fluttershy mumbled almost inaudibly for everyone to calm down. I turned back to the end of the bed, only to see Pinkie trying her best to stay out of the situation. She slowly leaned over to me and whispered, “I honestly don't find ya all that bad, but I tend to stay out of sticky situations like these. I'm sorry if you have to go so soon, but I Pinkie Promise I'll make it up to you with a goodbye cake!”

After what seemed like hours, the group separated, Rarity and Rainbow Dash's faces showing disgust and concern as Applejack roped her hoof around me and gave me a less-than-comfortable squeeze. “Welcome ta the group, pardner! We’re mighty glad to have you here with us and not you attackin’ or plottin’ against us.”

I began nodding my head furiously as I pointed at my neck, my face becoming slightly tinted blue before being let go, AJ grinning sheepishly as we all walked downstairs for some tea. I gulped nervously as I’m stared down by the fashionista and athlete, both of them sitting opposite me as a familiar young drake walked in with a tray of cups for each mare. “Here ya go girls, your favorites!”, he seemed to blush a bit as he handed Rarity her drink, before making his way over to me, “And as for you, I just gotcha Chamomile. Hope you don't mind.”

I nodded before taking a small sip, “Oh, not at all, Spike. At least I'm finally gonna drink something. Man, it feels like I've gone days without water...” He suddenly froze, his eyes narrowing and eyebrows furrowing in confusion before I was once again face to face with Rainbow Dash.

“Dude, how do you know every single one of our names!?” She practically spat in my face, “We've never seen you in our lives, so how do you know ours so well?” I froze for a bit but quickly cleared my throat before answering.

“Well, it's kind of hard to not know the six new heroes that saved Equestria from darkness, am I right?” I mentally sighed in relief as they all agreed, before continuing to ask where I was from. We spent some time asking each other basic questions, me saying random facts I vaguely recalled from the world I was now in and telling them I was a roamer, used to going town to town and generally being where I was needed. I told them I didn't really have that many possessions, so I was lucky I ended up here after a small explosive incident back home to explore a new town and meet new folks.

After a while of them not catching any errors in my fib, they slowly opened up more, telling me the tales of the things they had done since Twilight first arrived. I nodded and smiled at all of the tales I had seen before, but still acted as if I was enthralled. I listened on the edge of my seat at Rarity being kidnapped by diamond dogs and the group's quest to save her, laughed at the antics of their past rivals, and cheered at the retelling of how the wicked Nightmare Moon was turned back into the fair Luna.

“And... that's pretty much it!” Twilight chirped, seemingly happy to have found a chance to detail her previous feats. “Well, although there have been some weird geographical anomalies that have been…” She stopped as Spike whispered something in her ear, “What's that, Spike? Oh, really? I didn't realize we had been talking for so long.” The six began to stretch from sitting for so long, me doing the same, as the visiting five said their goodbyes.

“G’Night, Sugarcubes!”

“G-goodnight everypony, sleep well.”

“Bon voyage, darlings!”

“Night-night everypony!”

“See ya guys tomorrow!”

I waved and was about to leave before I felt a hoof on my shoulder. “Oh, you don't have to go, I have a spare mattress if you'd like!” Twilight seemed excited for some extra time to talk to me, so I smiled and nodded as she squealed and rushed to the closet.

After a bit of waiting, she came back and handed me a thick leather book as she set up the mattress near the wooden table in the center of the library. I skimmed through it to find it was empty before speaking, “Um, Twilight? Any reason you just handed me a blank book?” She laughed a bit as she picked it up with her magic, flipping back to the first page and writing something in it.

“Oh, this is a notebook, but not just ANY notebook mind you. This is your brand new journal, in which you can document whatever you want to in here, whether it be inner thoughts or questions.” She turned it over to me, showing off the text ‘Property of Nebula’. I opened my mouth to speak, but was quickly muted as she held up her hoof, “You can mark anything you don't want anypony to read with a small note, but I do need your permission to send this journal regularly to Princess Celestia, so she can see that your not a threat and possibly even a new student of hers!”

I nodded, and with that, she quickly hugged me, muttering a quick thank you before she turned and called Spike. I smiled and began to panic as I felt my face becoming red, quickly turning away to hide my face as she thankfully didn't notice while walking up the stairs to her bedroom. She and Spike said goodnight as I tucked myself in, answering while getting comfy and putting the book next to me on the floor.

I was beginning to fall asleep before an idea struck me, slowly sitting up and grabbing a pen off the desk near me. I paused for a second and stared at my hoof, wondering how I was even holding the writing utensil before shrugging and beginning writing on the first available page. After a half-hour, I decided to stop and rest, placing the book back next to me and laying down, a smile on my face as I departed to Luna’s realm.

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Dear Princess Celestia,

Hello there! I guess I should introduce myself after the weird way we meet, well, you met me. I'm Nebula, the figure you saw crash down in Everfree Forest. I'm sorry I wasted you and the others’ time in going on checking who or what I was, but I'm glad I do finally have the chance to meet six heroes and even the honor to have the princess of the land read my letter. I hope I have the chance to get to know and even tag along with the elements, and hopefully even have a chance to exchange letters with you and learn more about this new place. The girls and townsfolk seem friendly, so I'm certain I'll enjoy and stay in this pretty cool town longer than others I've visited.

Your New Acquaintance and Possible Student,

Nebula

Do Not Read Further

Well, seems like one of my lifelong dreams has come true! I'm still not sure how I got here though, and I'm still getting used to being a pony. But, even if it is was the result of some sort of freak accident and I'm in a coma somewhere, I'm gonna finally see what it's like to be a part of the show. It's gonna be pretty entertaining to test and see what different events I can change or even avoid altogether. Hm, I might help out somewhat, but I finally have the chance to experiment and see what these girls and the others are made of. Now, since they did say the Gala was recent, I gotta start preparing for Discord. Somehow I gotta make a plan to get on his good side somewhat, but still be ready to jump ship and imprison him at any moment, and finally be able to trick the trickster himself. It won't be easy, but, as long as everything ends the way it should, I should hopefully be okay… right?

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Comments

[chikunbot]

You had my curiosity but now you have my attention

[Sunny Starscout]

Eat my ass for tryna ship sunset