Graveyard Shift
Princess Luna shifted in her chair, her wings rustling slightly. A soft sigh escaped her muzzle as she looked out over her balcony down at the city of Canterlot lit up before her. It was far later in the night than she had expected her little ponies to still be awake.
It had only been a little over two months since she had been freed of the nightmare. She still felt weak and her body was having difficulties keeping up with a thousand years of cold seasons and viruses attacking her all at once. She had not enjoyed the mass of vaccinations she had received to bolster her alicorn immune system, and the weak strains that had been put in her were the likely cause of her sniffles.
Granted dinner was currently what ailed her stomach. The refinement of food and drink was far richer than she was used to. And the portions, one could feed an entire village in her time on what a pony in this age considered a meal.
It had taken Tia at least three of such meals to realize that Luna was not eating the food because she was famished, but because there was so much of it and her instincts screamed at her to not waste a bite.
To say Luna was in shock when told what she didn't want would be disposed of was an understatement. While such was a common practice now, it would have been considered a jailing offense in the past. Famine was always a near enough threat that the very thought of some one wasting a meal would earn ire of many and oft retribution as was shown by the inglorious ends of a number of nobles of her time.
Still.
That many diseases had been destroyed and hunger was barely a worry for any save the most destitute or lost was a great weight off her shoulders. The future was a wondrous thing, electric lights, nightclubs, more food and leisure time than was thought possible in the past. This future was indeed more glorious than she could have ever imagined.
So much had changed that Luna wondered if she would ever understand it all.
But there were somethings that had remained the same.
There was still crime, still monsters that preyed upon ponies. Threats that were too much or two far for the Guard to sort out. Things that could well spiral out of control if not nipped in the bud before they were allowed to grow.
Tia expected that if anything too bad happened, she could just send her student and her friends to deal with it.
Luna was not happy with that.
A seamstress, a farmer, a weather pegasus, a student, a baker, and what ever the yellow one was. Six 'normal' ponies. Despite her training, Twilight was not a combat mage, Rainbow Dash was not a Wonderbolt, and the others were not soldiers. There was barely an ounce of combat skill or training among them all put together.
It was little more than luck that allowed them to defeat Nightmare Moon. If Twilight had not been clever in figuring out the last riddle of the Elements, the six would be dead and the rest of Equestria and Equss would have followed as eternal night froze everything.
As it stood Applejack was still in the hospital from her injuries, Twilight Sparkle had lost an eye, Fluttershy would never fly again, and the others would have scars that would be with them until their final days.
That was not to say things had gone horribly. They had succeeded and Twilight had wised up and was no longer associating with Celestia save by royal order. Whatever connection they had was broken when Twilight found out Celestia machinations were what put her and her new friends into that position to stop the Nightmare.
That discussion had been heated and had brought far more attention to them at the hospital than Celestia probably had wanted.
The conversation had also come to an abrupt end as purple hoof connected to white muzzle.
Luna was quite surprised at the resulting rant that followed, evidently Twilight had been bottling up some of her issues for a long time and the dam had finally broken when Applejack had nearly been killed, only the farm ponies ridiculous toughness had saved her life and kept her going long enough to activate the Elements.
Despite Twilight's desire to stay in Ponyville, and have nothing to do with her former mentor, Tia was already making plans and tests for her former student, likely out of habit more than anything else.
Still the defense of Equestria had been under Luna's purview in the past and with what she felt she owed the current bearers, she wished to ensure that they did not have to deal with every little threat as Celestia wished.
This had led to... sort of an argument between the two Princesses.
It was a heated discussion at best, one that both backed down from constantly, after so long apart neither was willing to fully argue with the other.
Still the discussion continued and in the end a compromise was reached.
Celestia knew Luna did not like to sit idly by even while she was still recovering her magic and her former stature. And Luna knew Celestia preferred to have everything orderly and organized.
So the deal was made that Luna could set up her own group to deal with threats and dangers. And if this group managed to do what was expected of them, then Luna could expand it and the Element Bearers would only be called in for things that her team could not deal with. Luna would simply need to recruit the ponies for the team herself. A retired Guard and a noble were brought in to advise Luna on her choices and what would be needed and what was and was not allowed any more.
After meeting with Ambassador Prince Blueblood, and retired General Jer'rahd Kaisur Luna felt she could trust their opinions on matters despite their clear dislike of each other.
The first and largest hurdle had been every ponies reluctance to have anything to do with her. Guards were nervous, servants fled, the common pony bowed out of fear more than respect. The few she found that she would want refused outright, or made up excuses to refuse her.
Disheartened by the waking world, and how she was viewed there, Luna turned her search to the slumbering world, seeking out those of interest there.
Those results came back much more favorable, and after a few nights she had found her seven founding members.
Now all she needed to do was collect them, convince them... and think of a name for the team.
Simple right?
TDR presents.....
A story neither in stone, nor about puppies....
Graveyard Shift
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Oohh, interesting. Gonna read this, as my "tracking library" has been empty for more than a week now. None of the 200+ on-going stories that I read has updated in a while.
so, no familiar names will be dropped or mentioned?
Nice. Looking forward to more.
Also, do you already have every character you need or do you accept OC submissions?
"Let me tell you the story of... the hash slinging slasher!"
I assume you meant "Celestia's machinations"?
Looking forward to this.
Damn what the hell happen
This is going to be hilarious, I can already see it
Their suffered damages were unexpected though. This Celestia is way more callous if she thinks that sending untrained civilians to face similar threats will be a good idea.
Let's hope Luna can take up the slack
9501651
i already failed with that by naming 'Prince' Blueblood and Jer'rahd. It's just not part of those worlds.
9501689
one or two are being fiddled with still but most are set.
9501781
spell check missed that one.
9501784
It was a much more violent fight.
9501786
It's what Celestia did in the show, only this isn't a foals cartoon.
9502643
I know that but I was shock that is the more realistic on what happen. But now I want know on what to the other three?
9502643
Shouldn't Luna and Shining Armor worry about giving them military training and gear, then? If it isn't a cartoon show I doubt the captain of the guard would even consider letting his now half blind sister stay nearly defenseless against mundane threats, and at least give a fighting chance against the things the elements must be wielded against.
If that is a future plot point do few free to disregard this, though.
Interesting...
Ok I'm on board, this alt universe seems very plausible.
I am interested, but, I want to know one thing.
Where did you find that cover art?
9503285
Google search
9503302
Probably should have guessed that
9503310
Horse with fangs specifically
9501784
All in just two months, too.
Is me or are The Beasts of the Moon being used a little too much?
Twilight Velvet (Twilight Sparkle's mother): "She can be lucky my daughter was faster than me. Otherwise..."
9503285
9503302
I did my own search, and everything I found leads back to an character/user named "ponywolf".
There are accounts of him with this logo on FB, Twitter and Steam; he even has his own website "ponywolf.com".
References!
Orrrrr Tia wouldn't have been hiding anymore and would have ordered Agent Sweetie Drops to attack.
Or perhaps... used the GOD-ENDER BLADE to destroy her corrupted sister once and for all!!
*twiddles thumbs* IT'S IN REVELATIONS, PEOPLE!!
But really, to this day people don't seem to realize Tia's plan was only 'The Plan' because IT'S A GOD-DAMNED KIDS' SHOW that was severely influenced by corporate meddling!! Of course it makes no sense! Sheesh, if you're going to make a story where everything's dark and serious, then EVERYTHING ELSE would change as well.
It's like asking the stupid question of why No Heart in the Care Bears never just killed them when he captures some of them or why Mr. Crabs doesn't let Pearl eat Plankton once and for all.
I must also remind you all that Lauren Faust's initial plan for the entirety of Season 1 would have been Celestia holding off NMM until the Mane 6 could have left to find the EoH, they wold have had to endure many trials and meet many of the other species in Equestria, and the final showdown would have come at the end of the season. I wish we'd gotten that rather than a heavily sanitized fairy tale with less stakes and menace than the very first MLP televised show "Escape from Midnight Castle".
(Sidenote) Direct evidence kids' shows can feature dark elements, complex characters with myriad doubts and problems, and serious villains and be immensely successful: "Gravity Falls". Nuff said.
To my knowledge, either no one has ever written a story like that, or the stories that were written didn't make it long enough into the Feature Box or Popular Stories list for me to notice.
Not gonna lie, this setup looks a tad Celestia bash~y to me.
no offense but
"As it stood Applejack was still in the hospital from her injuries, Twilight Sparkle had lost an eye, Fluttershy would never fly again, and the others would have scars that would be with them until their final days."
Totally took me out of it and made me stop. Nothing against you or your story, but opening a "comedy" with random grimdark AU elements is pretty off putting to new readers who weren't expecting things to get that dark that soon
11360294
This isn't exactly a comedy, there's comedy elements[ Mostly Mesa and Ginger] but as a whole this is a serious story. it lightens up a bit later one, but then there's Millstone's part and the overall plot and later plots planned.
Sorry you are not interested, but i do need something to balance out some of my lighter fics, which seem to be more popular.