Why does this always happen to me? One moment I'm just walking along, doing the small errand I volunteered for before going back to work at the S.P.P tower, and the next thing I know, I'm in an oddly cleaner looking Everfree forest? What happened!!!
(Before you say anything, yes I know the cover art needs to be fixed, I'm working on it.)
It was just another normal for our favorite toaster repair pony. She had recently been given a few days off a whole year of work. She got to check out what's knew, talk to ponies new and old, and even got to spend quality time with Homage! However, just as she was about to complete an errand to transport some blueprints to an NCR lab, gunfire and explosions and a bright light happen. Next thing she knew, she was lying confused and dazed in the Everfree forest. But after seeing what's outside, she might want to go back in.
'Sex' tag is only there for suggestive themes or talk, none of the actual stuff.
My little Pony is owned by Hasbro
Fallout: Equestria is owned by Kkat
Fallout: Equestria Project Horizons owned by Somber
No/few characters in this story are owned by me. Those rights belong to either Kkat, Hasbro, or both.
“Well, I’ll see you later Homage.” I said as I started to pack my things, already missing her. Seeing this, Homage troted up and gave me a hug and kiss.
“Don’t worry pip, I’ll make sure to visit you next month during one of my breaks. Now get going on that little errand of your’s before you’re late for work at the S.P.P.” She said, smirking as she pointed at an old clock on the nearby wall.”
“Shit, thanks again Homage.” I yell as I gallop out of the room.
‘I better hurry before I’m late, those NCR ponies are quite strict after all.’
I rush past various ponies as I run through the many different halls of Tenpony tower, trying to get to my ride. After a few minutes of this, I finally reach the large balcony where the vertibuck sat, guarded by half a dozen tired yet alert NCR soldiers. On my arrival, they immediately stood at attention, with the officer among the group trotting forward.
“Hello miss pip, I am captain Loud Shot, commander of your escort, I believe that you wish to make a quick stop at Shattered Hoof before going to the S.P.P, is that correct?”
“Yes it is Captain, let’s get going.”
After a yes ma’am and a scramble of movement, we all loaded into the vertibuck as it’s propellers start spinning, the fusion of technology, arcane magic, and pegasi thunderclouds lifting the heavy craft into the sky as it started to move across the sky.
As we moved farther away from Tenpony tower, I looked down at the Manehattan ruins below us, although ‘ruins’ was starting to lose it’s meaning. Many sections of the city were active, either with new or old settlements, ponies moving between them, or fighting between pony search crews, the local mutated wildlife, and some of the last raider gangs in the city.
‘We’ve come a long way’
Later
‘There it is.’ I thought as I looked at Shattered hoof ridge. Before the war, it had served as a prison, holding many from both the war and local crimes. Before my arrival, it had served as the base for Mr. Topaz and his mercenaries. However, after the fight between Gawd’s Talons (with my help), Red Eye’s slavers, and Topaz’s mercs, the base had been cleared out and became the headquarters for the Talons. Now it was, well still the Talon’s base, but also an NCR military base and a growing town. There was a few hundred earth ponies and unicorns in the town proper, mixed with pegasi, griffons, ghouls, and the occasional alicorn or hellhound. In the converted prison itself, I could see dozens of griffons and NCR soldiers either training or guarding the facility. We soon descended and landed inside the facility, next to a couple of other vertibucks.
As I stepped out of the vertibuck, I also noticed that there were a decent amount of pegasi around too, either working on power armor, the vertibucks, or standing guard. I knew that a decent amount of the Enclave had joined the NCR, with the remaining either joining the ‘Enclave Remnants’ or part of a growing pegasi nation south of the Everfree forest, with its capital being the city of Thunderhead, which I heard had been moved from near Hoofington to somewhere near the badlands.
Going back to the pegasi who joined the NCR, I remember hearing that it was mostly infantry, along with countless civilians and some low-ranking officers. Even so, there were a lot of them that joined us, and they brought with them a lot of equipement, most notably a portion of their sky-tank and vertibuck fleet, along with a few raptors. I even heard that they were repairing the Thunderhead class cloudship ‘Glorious Dawn’ and a half dozen raptors near Fillydelphia.
I shook myself from my thoughts as I heard a voice that I knew all too well.
“Well, well, well, it’s the toaster repair pony.”
Looking up, I saw that this came from Gawd, the leader of the ‘Gawd’s Talons’ and an old friend.
“Hey Gawd, how’s it been.” I said, smiling all the while.
“Pretty good, although that war with the Enclave a few years ago was a bit of trouble. So, what are you here for? I know that you didn’t come here just to say hello.”
‘Was it really that obvious?’ I thought as I lifted up my left forearm, showing the pipbuck attached to it. “Got a job to deliver a bunch of machinery blueprints to the NCR base here, dunno why they didn’t just send it digitally.”
“Probably one of the blueprints on there.” Gawd said as she started walking next to me, heading towards the NCR section of the base.
“Well, I’m gonna go give the blueprints to the ponies in there, I’ll back in a few minutes and then we can fully catch up.”
Just before Gawd could respond however, the wall next to us blew up in a fiery explosion, knocking Gawd and I off our feet. I shouted in pain as I felt some of the shrapnel hit me. I sat there dazed for a moment before getting up and looking around for the attackers. I could see ponies running around and more explosions, but none of the attackers. Then I looked up.
Damn I wish I didn’t.
Above us were two Enclave raptors, firing lasers into the base and the nearby town, releasing dozens of armored pegasi and an occasional sky tank or vertibuck. I saw an almost equal amount of griffons, pegasi, and Alicorns fly up to meet them, resulting in a chaotic battle above us. Even so, I could see an occasional armored pegasus break through the battle and reach the ground, and off the to right I could see a sky-tank touchdown, managing to release a few pegasi before being brought down by a combination of machine gun fire and a rocket from a hellhound.
I soon joined the fighting, activating my battle harness and letting the two carbines attached to it deploy, soon firing at the nearby Enclave soldiers that have disembarked from the sky-tank. I also pulled out a sword and lil’ Macintosh to help.
Within a couple of minutes, the battle in the facility had gotten fierce as the surprised yet determined guards and soldiers fought against the Enclave pegasi.
“There’s the stable dweller! Get her!”
I turned around at this and saw a pegasus charge at me, with two more a distance behind her coming. As she charged me, I noticed an energy lance on the ground about ten yards away. Quickly coming up with a plan, I grabbed the lance with my telekinesis, throwing it at the incoming pony. I got more than I hopped for as I saw it bore into her neck, almost immediately killing her. I then proceeded to use her grenade launcher on the other two, killing one and wounding the other. Since I saw that the wounded one wouldn’t be able to do anything since one of his legs were gone and his armor heavily damaged, I left him to continue into the battle, fighting against any other pegasi I could find
*rumble*
‘What was that?’ I thought as I shot at an enclave pegasi with my carbine saddle, causing them to to fly to the left, which led then right into a hellhound.
As I turned away from what I knew would be a gory sight, I heard the noise getting louder, with no one else seeming to notice.
*rumble*
*rumble*
*rumble*
That last one was so loud that it caused me to fall to the ground, trying to cover my ears from it. Soon, a white light started to fill my vision, first appearing in the center and then started to expand. I tried to yell but I couldn’t hear anything. The last thing I saw was Gawd running toward me with a mixture of confusion and worry in her face. Then, my world exploded.
Almost everyone has some sort of experience that they consider ‘out of this world’. Some say it’s from a drug or alcohol, others from a crazy adventure or discovered secret. I thought that mine was discovering my true virtue and then meeting Celestia (or what was left of her) inside the S.P.P hub.
None of those could compare to what I’m seeing right now.
I’m being thrown around at high speeds as I rocket through what looks like a magical rainbow colored tunnel. I soon lost all count of time and most of logical thought and feeling. What I did feel though was...odd. None of it hurt, but it heavily disoriented me. At times I felt perfectly fine, and at others I felt like I was being stretched apart.
After what felt like an eternity, the tunnel starts to change. Instead of being wild and all over the place, it starts to become narrow and controlled. It also somehow seemed more cleaner and lively. The last thing I thought I saw was dirt and a few shrubs, before being enveloped in another bright light, somehow knocking me unconscious.
Meanwhile in Ponyville’s library
“Spike! Can you get me my book on ‘Strange magical occurrences and anomalies’ by Runic Blaze?” said a lavender unicorn.
After a moment of silence throughout the library, a younger, male voice responded. “Ok Twilight, but why do you need it, I thought we already got enough unusualness when Discord tried to take over a few days ago.”
Action: *sigh* “Because, I’m feeling an odd magic spike and I want to make sure it wasn’t anything left behind by Discord. While the elements may have cleaned up Ponyville, there’s no telling how far Discord’s powers went, so there still could be some traces of it left.”
“Alright Twilight, just don’t go overboard on all of the studying, ok?” Spike said as he arrived, carrying the fairly large book in his claws.
Twilight took hold of the book with her levitation, bringing it over to her after saying a quick ‘ok’ and ‘thank you’ to Spike.
Just as she was about to start working on her research, the energy signature suddenly dissipated, leaving not even a noticeable trace of it left.
‘Well, this got more harder. At least I took down enough notes on it to start. Let’s just hope this will be worth it.’
With that thought, Twilight plunged into her research, spending the rest of the day scribbling down notes and theories while reading her reference books on the subject.
Title:
Everfree forest
‘What was the plate on that skywagon.’
That was the first thought that entered my mind as I groggily woke up. Not something logical, like a ‘what happened’ or a ‘where am I’, but that.
As I slowly regained control of my senses, I became aware that I was in some sort of forest, lying on a patch of grass and dirt.
‘And there goes the theory that what just happened was a dream. Unless this is one too!’
…
‘OW! Ok, definitely not a dream.’
Just before I start berating over punching my foreleg, I suddenly realised that I recognize the forest. After all, even with the vegetation around the wasteland starting to grow back, there’s only one place in Equestria that had all of this plant life remaining. That, and the fact that it looked almost exactly the same as the forest my friends and I travelled through to reach Red Eye’s fortress.
‘The Everfree forest!’
I immediately get up, much to my head discomfort, and back myself up against a nearby tree, frantically scanning the forest in front of me. After about 10 minutes of no killing joke or wildlife attacking though, I start to calm down. By half an hour, I feel safe enough to focus more on what I could see instead of looking out for hostiles, although I definitely stayed alert for those.
I was in a small enclosed clearing, surrounded by vegetation on all sides and mostly above it as well. Besides a couple of logs and a small boulder, all that was inside of the clearing was grass and some shrubs. What got my attention the most though was the vegetation itself. It seemed...tame almost, as if it was more scary and ominous instead of deadly and dangerous.
I then noticed that a small area in the forest to my right had less vegetation than the rest. After trotting over and moving the plants to the side, I noticed a small dirt pathway leading away. As I was about to start walking down that path, I stopped myself
‘I better check my gear and get a little rest. Don’t want to run into a situation unprepared.’
I sat down on one of the nearby logs and took a look at my pipbuck, moving through it until I reached the ‘inventory management section’. I decided to check weapons and ammo first, followed by meds, food/water, armor, and anything else of value.
For my weapons, I currently had Lil’ Macintosh, as well as my sniper rifle and enchanted Zebra assault rifle. I also had my dual-carbine battle saddle, a sword, a IF-9 combat shotgun, a 10mm pistol, a sub-machine gun, a multi-gem magical energy shotgun, and a plasma pistol, along with ample ammunition for all of it. What confused me the most was that half of these weapons weren’t even mine. I also had five frag grenades, two combat knifes, and a dozen or so weapon repair kits.
‘Must’ve picked them up during the fight.’
I then went on to check my medical supplies. I had a decent amount of Healing potions, bandages, and medical creams, along with a few MedX, RadX, and Radaway. While the latter of the two weren’t needed due to no radiation, it was still a good idea to have some in case of an emergency. Food and water were okay, with about a week’s worth of water and a month of food if I rationed it.
For my armor, I wore my armored Stable 2 barding, with another two spares inside of my hardened saddlebags. I also had on a light kevlar vest underneath the barding. There was also my utility belt, which held all of the tools and equipment I used to pick locks, hack into terminals or other devices, and access pipbucks and most machinery. I also had on some shoes, my pipbuck, and some mechanic goggles that I had gotten a couple of years ago.
After double checking everything and making sure it’s secure, I go ahead and start trotting down the path.
Half an hour later
“Why did I have to go down this fucking path!” I nearly shouted as I continued walking down it.
While I had started down it in high spirits, those slowly wore away as the walk grew longer and longer with little variability. It didn’t help either that when I tried to turn on the radio, there weren’t any radio broadcasts! Considering all of the strange magical properties of the Everfree forest, that wouldn’t have been so bad if it was like that the first time I was here.
The only thing that kept my spirits from dropping even further was the fact that my pipbuck map was still working, and it showed that I was slowly making my way towards the northern border of the forest, although it was still a large distance away.
As I continued on through the path, I finally noticed a difference starting. At first, it was barely noticeable. But as I continued walking, it became more and more clear until I could finally understand it.
‘Someone’s...humming?’
Realising that this could very well be a bad pony as much as a good one, I started to slow my walk and instead use stealth. After another two minutes or so, I finally found the source of the humming. It was in a clearing quite similar to the one I landed in. However, instead of it just having grass and the occasional shrub, this one was filled with several different kinds of plants. The top of the clearing was also open, letting in more sunlight and giving the place a peaceful feeling.
But what got my attention the most was the zebra standing in the field, picking some of those plants. I couldn’t tell much about the zebra from a distance, except that it was a mare and she seemed quite calm. Just as I was about to back into the bushes behind me and come up with a plan, the zebra turned around and saw me. As soon as she did, I received the biggest shock since I’ve arrived in the damn forest.
It was fucking Zecora.
My mind raced at a mile a minute trying to comprehend the situation and say something. Before I could however, she talked.
“Who are you, little unicorn mare? That is, if you think saying my own name in exchange would be fair?”
This worsened my panic attack, and before I knew what was happening, everything turned black.
‘What’s going on?’ I thought as I woke up. I immediately recognized the place. It was the room in the S.P.P that I was put in when I managed the weather,
‘So wait, was that all a dream? If it was, then that was a really lucid dream. Oh well, I better ask Celestia when I got back.’
I got up out of the pod I was in and started walking towards the front door, content with asking Celestia what happened. As soon as I opened the door however, whatever question I had died before reaching my lips. The entire room was destroyed. Terminals and lights were smashed, loose wires and pieces of scrap, and the once pristine walls and floor were now covered in soot, marks, and craters.
“What the actual shit happened?!? Celestia? Celestia!!”
After getting no response, I galloped out towards one of the balconies, hoping to find something there.
I should’ve stayed inside.
The entire land around me was a scarred battlefield. It looked even worse than the original wasteland back when I had left Stable 2. Off in the distance, I could see Manehattan burning in flames while off to the west were several explosions, each lighting up the dark dusty horizon. I than heard the screeching of metal and explosions above me. Looking up, I saw a Raptor slowly descend towards the ground, smoke and fire billowing from the main windows or holes in the ship.
I saw what caused that damage almost immediately. The best I could describe it was some sort of shadow dragon, about a third the size of the raptor and looking at me with glowing red eyes. Before I could react, it flew over and landed a claw on me, pinning me against the floor. The last thing I saw was it screeching as it dived it’s head toward me.
I woke up again, this time inside some sort of cot. After making sure I wasn’t dreaming again, I took a look around the room and recognized where I was, Zecora’s hut. ‘So THAT wasn’t a dream...well shit.’ I thought, remembering all that happened before I fainted. As I was trying to sit up and think over what I was going to do, I heard a door open in one of the other rooms, followed by hoofsteps. Well, better late than never I suppose, let’s get this over with.
Before she entered, one other thing I noticed was that all of my equipment was placed off to the side of the room, except for my pipbuck of course.
Before I could get any of it however, Zecora entered the room, a look of slight surprise and happiness on her face. “I see that you are awake. Tell me, do you need anything before I begin, for your sake.”
After shaking my head, she then said her own name and asked my own.
“I’m Littlepip, it’s a pleasure to meet you, miss Zecora.”
“Well, now that introductions are out of the way, you probably want to know where you stay?”
I already knew the answer to that, by I decided to say yes anyway.
“Well we’re currently in my hut in the Everfree forest, to come in here willingly means that your knowledge of it’s dangers are poorest. If you are in a good situation, mind if I ask a few questions?”
I decided to ignore what felt like a slight insult and tried to work around answering her questions. I answered what I could truthfully, but improvised for other things, especially where I was from. I said that I was from an old cabin out at the edge to the frozen north. I never knew my dad, and my mom had an alcohol problem. When I was old enough, I struck out on my own and became a sort of travelling inventor/mechanic. When questioned about my weapons, I said that they were to defend myself in case I was attacked by some sort of creature, and demonstrated using the 10mm pistol I had. She asked why I was here in the forest, so I replied that I had heard about some interesting material that could be used for my inventions, but failed to find anything in the end.
Zecora was more observant than I thought because she noticed that something was odd with the skin around my pipbuck. I told her that I had once found some sort of fog that was very dangerous and had fused the pipbuck with my leg. After helping her get over the initial shock about it, I asked her a few questions of my own to try to learn about where and when I am. Apparently, Ponyville is a short distance away and the elements had defeated Discord just a couple of days ago.
“Well, thank you for helping me Zecora, but I better start heading to Ponyville before it gets dark.”
“Ah, of course, well I wish you luck on your trip there as the forest is quite dangerous, although with what you’ve shown me, any confrontation will be victorious.”
As Littlepip started trotting away, Zecora wondered what exactly was with Littlepip. While much of her story had been true, there were still parts that felt off, as if she was keeping something from her. That wouldn’t of bothered her so much if it weren’t for the look in her eyes. While they were filled with kindness and compassion, they also had wariness and experience that she’s never seen before. The closest she could even get are some of the more hostile zebra tribes back in Zebrica, and even then there wasn’t much to compare.
‘She may not be a problem now, but keeping an eye on her would be worthy of a vow.’
Title: Back to littlepip
I continue trotting down the path that Zecora had told me about and showed me on a map. As I started down it, I glanced at my pipbuck and stop dumbfounded for a second at the fact that the path was now shown. The fact that it updated wasn’t a problem, it was that it updated a path. Now that I looked closer, I could see that many other roads and paths were gone, along with most of the locations set onto my pipbuck. The only ones I even had was Ponyville, Zecora’s hut, the clearing that I woke up in, and the one that I found Zecora in.
I continued trotting on for a few minutes, trying to think of how the path was created on the pipbuck. After a bit, I concluded that it was probably some unknown feature, although what got me the most was that some of the roads and pathways on the digital map were still there.
‘Huh, so it only seems to show the ones that have been built. The others aren’t around because they were built in the futu-’
All of a sudden, all that’s happened within the last 6 hours or so caught up to me. I had gotten into yet another battle, travelled back in time and met Zecora, and am now wondering through an unirradiated forest to pre-war ponyville. What got me the most though was that I was stuck here for the foreseeable future. Celestia, my friends, everypony who looked up to or counted on me, Homage…
I sat down and let it all out for the next 10 minutes, crying out my pain and newly found sorrows. Once I was finished with my slight breakdown, I calmed myself down and tried to think about the positives. Thought: ‘Well, it is pre-war equestria after all, there’s still quite a bit of opportunity to experience. Plus, I get to meet ponies who are mostly now dead. Heh, I bet Velvet would be beaming with envy if she found out. There might even be a way to send me back, who knows?’ I then realised something very important.
Thought: 'I could stop the war before it even started.’
I didn’t know what that would do to the future, but if I could stop it from happening, then tens or even hundreds of millions of lives could be saved. I calmed myself down, telling myself that I’ll have plenty of time to stop it. ‘After all, it’s pre-war Equestria. What kind of deadly dangers could there be?’
The universe then decided that I’ve been lucky too much and that it was time to make a change.
I heard a scream up ahead in the forest, sounding like a young filly’s. I immediately stopped thinking and sitting and galloped towards where the scream came from. I wasn’t sure if I would be able to track it at first, but several shouts and large action: ‘thumps’ and action: ‘rustles’ helped guide me.
After a little bit of running through the brush and leaves, I finally come across yet another clearing not too far away from the edge of the forest. At the opposite end of the clearing were three little fillies backed up against a large rock. Advancing on them were half a dozen timberwolves, slowly sneaking towards them and relishing in the fear coming from their newly found prey. ‘Not if I have anything to say about it.’ I thought, levitating out my 10mm and firing into the air, causing both the fillies and wolves to yelp and look around at me.
“You leave those fillies alone. If you want to get to them, then you’ll have to deal with me first.” I yell, readying my carbine saddle and levitating out my sword, IF-9, and sub-machine gun, all aimed at the wolves. We stared at each other for a few moments before one of them decided to break the silence by leaping at me. This didn’t end well for it though, as it’s head was torn apart as the IF-9 fired two buckshot rounds into it’s face.
Shocked silence stayed for a few moments longer, then all hell broke loose. The remaining five wolves suddenly charged at me, hoping to overwhelm me before I could take anymore of them down. Lucky for me, I had positioned myself so no stray bullets could hit the fillies, so I went all out with my weaponry.
I primed and fired my carbines and 10mm pistol, hitting killing one of the wolves and hit the leg of another, causing it to shatter and send the yelping wolf down. I dodged right as one wolf dived at me and blocked the swing of another with my sword, pelting the latter one with my sub-machine gun and literally destroying it. In then backed up slightly as the two remaining timberwolves regrouped and ran at me from opposite directions, thinking that by doing this, they’ll confuse me and focus on one of them. What they didn’t expect however was for me to jump up at the last second, causing them to crash into each other. I used my magic to give me a slight boost as I aimed down my IF-9, firing half a dozen rounds into the two wolves, ending them.
After landing, I checked the remaining wolf and saw that it had shattered as well. After putting my weapons away, I trotted up to the fillies, who had been watching me this whole time in awe. However, when I got close, they screamed in fright and tried to back up even more. “Oh come on, I’m not THAT scary, am I?” I ask, looking at them with a confused and slightly annoyed look. If I was covered in blood I would understand, but all I got was a little tree sap on one of my forelegs.
“Behind you!” One of them, an earth pony, suddenly shouted at the same time as a heavy crash happened behind me.
‘Wha-’
*smash*
Before I could finish my thought, I was hit in the back, sending me flying about 60 feet until I crashed into a nearby tree. Luckily I had slowed myself down at the last minute, otherwise I’d have broken my back. As it was, I’m pretty sure I got a couple of broken ribs from the crash. Looking up, I saw a timberwolf, bigger than a vertibuck, approach me. I then remembered something that Fluttershy and Velvet had mentioned a couple of years ago during one of their discussions. Apparently, If enough of them had fallen, all of the remaining wood scraps could form up into a much larger timberwolf.
‘Can’t believe I forgot about that.’ I thought as I narrowly dodged a strike from one of the timberwolf’s massive claw. I then pulled back out my sword, as well as my energy shotgun and plasma pistol as a plan started to come into my mind. “Come at me you deformed tree!” That got it’s full attention and anger as it started to charge at me again, howling all the while.
‘Aaaaaaand now!’
I used some of the last of my magic to send myself high into the air, aiming to landing on it’s back. The wolf was quicker than I thought though, as it jumped up slightly and hit me with it’s claw, searing deep scratches into my chest. Yelling in pain, I collapse back onto the ground. I try to get back up, only to be pinned down by the massive, beast, staring close at me with it’s green, magic eyes, looking slightly confused as I gave a big grin.
‘Bullseye!’
I levitate over my magical shotgun and plasma pistol, shooting each into one of it’s eyes while I used my sword to cut the claw pinning me down off. All of this caused the timberwolf to jump back a bit in pain as it held it’s face with it’s one remaining front claw. Taking advantage of this, I fired multiple shots from my plasma pistol at the beast while throwing two grenades. Due to the timberwolf holding it’s eyes and trying to block the plasma shots, it didn’t notice the grenades until I used my magic to force it’s mouth to open, taking the opportunity to throw the grenades down it’s throat. A few seconds passed and then a suppressed ‘boom’ was heard, followed by the timber wolf exploding into pieces.
Silence reigned over the area for a full minutes until
“That was awesome!”
Starting to shake, I noticed the three fillies run over to me as I put away my weapons, securing them in my saddlebags before trying to focus on the kids.
“I can’t believe that you did that! One moment, the timberwolf was holding you down and ready to eat you, but then 'bang' and 'bam' and 'boom' and you took it do-” the filly who was talking, who I noticed was a pegasus, was interrupted by the earth pony that had tried to warn me earlier
“Are ya ok miss? You seem pretty banged up.”
I tried to stay up but I couldn’t any longer. I fell over and hit the ground, quickly losing conscious. A sudden thought hit me though.
‘Wait, aren’t those filli…’ I couldn’t finish it as I fully fell asleep, not even hearing the shouts of ‘get up’ or cries for help as I yet again blacked out.
The Ponyville hospital was often a busy place. Due to many of the accidents or incidents that happen in Ponyville, the hospital is often kept busy, and soon became one of the most well equipped hospitals in the region besides the ones in Canterlot. Even so, most of these injuries weren’t too bad and at the most were a broken bone or something similar.
So why much of the staff were in a frenzy when I arrived worried me greatly. Looking around the waiting lobby, I spotted Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy and quickly rushed over to them. “Girls, Rainbow Dash said something happened with the CMC, is everypony alright?” When Rainbow Dash had rushed into the library, she hadn’t said much, just that somepony was in the hospital and that the CMC were involved. Panicked and worried, I had rushed over here to see what was happening.
“They’re alright sugarcube. Apple Bloom and her friends had come running to me telling me that they had been attacked by timber wolves and that somepony had saved them. Well, the pony is now in urgent care, and she’s quite banged up. I sent the girls back to the farm so big mac could watch over them. Still can’t believe they would go into that darn forest, especially after that cockatrice problem that happened a month ago.” Rarity then entered, quickly followed by an exhausted looking Rainbow Dash. Applejack told them what she told me as I processed what she had said.
After getting my thoughts together, I asked about the pony that saved the CMC. Before Applejack could respond, a doctor burst into the room, levitating a clipboard. After looking around for a moment, he spotted us and trotted over, asking if we were here to see the pony that Applejack and Rainbow Dash had brought in. After nodding, the stallion told us to follow him to the room. While walking, I asked for information about the pony and their injuries. Nodding, he gave me the clipboard, which conveniently contained all of the information I asked for. I started reading out the information about the pony, telling it to everypony else as we trotted along.
“Small unicorn mare, mid twenties, gray coat with a brown mane, green eyes, ‘odd device’ for a cutie mark. Injuries are 3 broken ribs, broken bone in right foreleg, 3 large gashes on chest, minor internal bleeding, concussion, multiple cuts and bruises.” I took a step back after finishing reading. This mare was more injured than I had thought. I then noticed some special notes at the bottom and decided to read them out loud too.
“Special note number 1: This mare a few scars, with the most notable one being from on her neck, likely from a magical strike. Special note number 2: She has an odd anatomy, with multiple minor and barely noticeable changes and mutations due to unknown substances. Special note number 3: Somehow the device on her left forearm is fused to her skin. It is unknown how this happened or how to cure it, so it has been left alone for now.” This nearly brought me to a halt.
‘Just what had this mare been through?’
After another 6 minutes of trotting, we finally reached the room. We followed the doctor as he opened the door and entered the room. Inside, we saw the mare lying on a bed, a ventilator helping her breath, along with multiple other machines nearby showing her vitals and contributing to either monitoring or helping her health. She had thick gauze wrapped around her stomach and chest, along with normal bandages on at least a half dozen spots visible on her body. The only audible responses I heard was a gasp from Fluttershy and a ‘wow’ from Dash. “She’ll hopefully be awake by tomorrow. Spells and medication have luckily healed most of the injuries, and her concussion should hopefully be gone within five days at most.” The doctor said, eyeing the ‘get well’ cupcake on the nearby desk that wasn’t there a moment ago. “I’ll give you girls a few minutes alone.”
“Thank you doctor” I said as he left the room. “Well girls, what do you think?” The room was silent for a few moments before Rainbow dash commented. “She seems pretty cool to me.” That released a flood of other statements from the girls.
“OOOH! I hope she’ll like her ‘get well party’! *GASP* She needs a ‘Welcome to Ponyville’ party too!”
“Well, I hope she’ll be okay.”
“I can’t wait to try a few new dresses with the darling. After all, it’s not so often that you get a mare with colors like that. The possibilities are endless!”
“Ah can’t wait ta thank her for saving Apple Bloom back in the forest.”
Smiling at the girls antics, I look at the mare again. ‘I hope that she's alright?’ I thought, noting that her face was slightly grimacing and had a couple drops of sweat on it.
Littlepip's pov
“Get away from me!” I yelled as I shot a charging shadow pony in the head with the 10mm pistol, killing it.
I had appeared yet again in the S.P.P hub, only this time it was filled with shadow creatures like the dragon from the previous nightmare. I had managed to fight my way through them to the elevators and had just now excited the front entrance of the hub to the town below. It had been one of the new towns to be created after the day of ‘sunshine and rainbows’. It was also one of the biggest, due to a combination of pegasi refugees and being near some major trade routes and resource areas.
Now I was fighting my way through the ruined town, trying to escape to some unknown exit. As I ran into an alleyway I ran into a couple of shadow earth ponies. I recovered from the shock quick enough to jump back from the swing of a sword from one of them. After a moment of quick thinking, I slammed both of them against the nearby wall before running past them further into the alley. Looking back, I saw them both get up and be joined by another dozen shadow creatures who then commenced to chase me.
After a few more minutes of running through the various alleys and staying away from the shadows, I reached a dead end. Panicked, I tried to turn back and go down a different path, only to see that the group that was chasing me was now blocking off the exit. Looking up, I saw that multiple shadow pegasi and griffons were either flying above me or perched on top of the roofs, eliminating the option of levitating myself over the wall. I tried to think of another way to escape, but i couldn’t think of a plan that wouldn’t involve me getting shredded to pieces.
Thought: ‘Guess the only option left is to fight.’
Grimacing, I levitated out my magical and combat shotguns, as well as my sword and SMG. Seeing me do this, the shadow creatures on the ground started closing in, equipped with swords and axes and an occasional spear. Glancing up, multiple airborne shadows pulled out crossbows or short swords for dive bombing attacks. I also looked at my ‘eyes forward sparkle’, taking note that there was a large mass of red ahead of me, with about another dozen red dots to around me, probably those that were above me. Accepting that this would be a very difficult battle, I charged at the approaching ranks of shadow creatures, giving out a battle cry as I fired off all of my weapons.
I woke up in a fright, sweat running down my face as I quickly scanned the room. Seeing that nopony was around, I took a moment to recollect my thoughts, remembering the nightmare that I had just woken up from. Now wishing that I didn’t remember my dream, I looked around the room. It looked like a simple hospital room. Besides the bed I was laying in, there was a door in front of me, as well as a few medical machines to my left, a window to my right, and a desk below it.
On the desk itself were a couple of cupcakes, along with my saddlebags, carbine harness, utility belt, and Stable-Tec suit. Surprised at this, I looked down at myself, not noticing the lack of apparel until now. All I had left on me was the pipbuck and a bunch of bandages that I didn’t remember being there. I tried to sit up to get a better look at my apparent injuries, only to fall back onto the bed as pain lanced through my chest and right foreleg.
‘Guess I’ll have to wait for the doctor to come back’.
So I waited…
...and waited…
...and waited…
…
‘OH FOR THE LOVE OF CELESTIA’S VIRGINITY COME IN ALREADY!’
20 minutes later
‘Finally!’ I thought as I heard the door start to open. Looking up from messing with my pipbuck, I saw a nurse walk in. She was an earth pony, with a white coat, blue eyes, pink mane, and a nurse’s cap on her head. Her cutie mark was a red medical cross with 4 small, pink hearts surrounding it.
When she saw that I was awake, she had a look of slight surprise and delight on her face before moving over to me. “Hello there, my name is nurse Redheart and I will be taking care of you for the duration of your stay. If you feel up to it, I’d like to ask you a few questions.”
I contemplated whether or not to go ahead with it. On one hoof, I could gain their trust and avoid the possibility of explaining it later when they might catch on to any lies I might have to say. On the other hoof however, there are still some things I don’t have many excuses prepared to cover what I had. After a bit of thinking, I decided to go with it. After all, it’ll likely just be a few medical questions, so I’ll probably have a while after this to think up of excuses and small lies to cover anything that needs to be covered.
After saying yes to Redheart, she gave a soft smile before proceeding to ask me several questions. Most were things like ‘does this part hurt?’ or ‘what is your name?’. In the end, there were only a couple of questions that I was slightly unprepared for. One was what happened to the skin around my pipbuck. Deciding to go closer to the truth on this answer, I told her that I was an adventurer for the most part and had gotten that condition after having to go through a poisonous fog. I couldn’t tell what exactly her reaction was, but I saw a look of sympathy flash across her face momentarily before she continued.
The other was the scar on my neck. I was confused about it for a second before remembering that it was there, the part of the battle of Shattered Hoof where I got it surfacing for a moment before being put back down as I prevented myself to have one of those ‘war flashback’ moments. This one I stretched a bit, telling her that I had fought against an experienced bandit unicorn. I said I couldn’t remember whether or not it had come from the unicorn’s magic itself or a weapon they carried. Taking this for an acceptable answer, nurse Redheart wrote down the answer before excusing herself, saying that she needed to get a doctor to help assess the injuries I had.
Something had been nagging at me for a bit, so I stopped her before she left. “How long was I asleep for.”
Redheart gave a sad smile and said “About three days now, we were starting to expect that you were going to slip into a coma.” With that being said, she turned back around and left, leaving me shocked that I was so close to slipping into a coma. Shaking the shock off of myself, I looked around for something to do before remembering that there were a couple of pipbuck gaming crystals inside of my saddlebag. Giving a big smile, I levitated over the saddlebags and rummaged through them for a minute before finding the crystals and returning the saddlebags to where they previously were. Smiling, I looked at the three games I had before choosing ‘Balefire command’. I picked up the game and put it into my pipbuck, levitating the other two back to the saddlebags.
Thought: 'Let’s do this.' I thought as I started up the game.
Meanwhile in Canterlot
I frowned as I levitated the teacup back onto the table. I just sensed the end of the horrible nightmare in Ponyville. For a few days now I had noticed a terrible and reoccurring nightmare happening to one of my subjects. Sticking to my duty as the ‘guardian of dreams’, I went ahead to find this nightmare and stop it so the victim could be at ease. I stumbled onto a problem however. Normally I would be able to locate a nightmare in the dreamscape and get to that pony’s dreams. However, I couldn’t find it after hours of searching, leaving me frustrated.
This kind of situation has happened before a couple times in the past before I became Nightmare moon, but it was very uncommon. So accepting this as a challenge, I spent the next few days looking for the nightmare. Usually it would take weeks or even a month to locate it, but for some reason the victim had been sleeping straight through the last few days, letting the nightmare broadcast it’s evil aurora constantly. Just last night, I had managed to pinpoint who exactly was suffering from this. Some unicorn mare in Ponyville apparently.
I had tried to enter her dreams and see what was happening, but this pony had a thick mental barrier, something that I’ve only encountered in myself, my sister, some changelings, and a few ponies who have devoted much of their time to mental focus and defense. With these defenses in place, I didn’t want to risk harming the pony’s mind, so I had to leave. However, I did cast a spell to help wake her up, since I figured that it was the least I could do to help. That spell had only succeeded now, which concerned me even more. Usually it would only take an hour or so to wake the pony up, but this one had taken about five.
‘I hope it was just because of the mental barrier.’ I noted, levitating up a piece of toast and taking a bit out of it.
“Are you alright Luna?”
I turned around and saw my sister, Celestia, walk into the room, levitating a cup of tea and a small slice of cake with her, bringing a small smile to my face. She always had an obsession over the pastry, even before my banishment. Only habits die hard I guess.
“I’m alright, dear sister. I’m just a little concerned about a pony in Ponyville. From what we can tell, the poor mare is having the worst nightmare I’ve seen since I’ve returned.” I then proceed to tell Celestia about all that has happened about that nightmare, from me first discovering it to finally pinpointing the location. She looked particularly interested about the mental defenses she had.
As I finish up, I see a look in Celestia’s eyes. One that could be either very good or very bad, given the circumstances. “Sister, what has’t- I mean have you thought of this time?” Celestia then gives me a small smile, teleporting over a calendar. “Do you know what happens in a couple of days Luna?” After shaking my head, she points to October 31st, just a couple of days away. “Nightmare night will be soon, and I had been thinking about suggesting the idea of you visiting Ponyville during the festivities. Not only could it help you reintegrate yourself with the ponies and gain more trust, but you can meet this pony that you’ve been talking of.”
I was just about to argue against it, but paused as what she said fully hit me. There wasn’t much in the way of negatives except for maybe a little nervousness and such from the ponies when I first arrive. Damn you, Tia. “Very well, I suppose that would be a good idea. After all, two birds with one arrow is a good conviction.”
“Good. Well, I better head back to the throne room and prepare for day court, I’ll see you at dinner Luna.” Celestia started to walk out the door, before pausing and saying “Stone Luna, not arrow.” With that, she teleported out, leaving me to finish up breakfast before heading back to my quarters to sleep for the rest of the day.
‘Well, this is fun.’ I thought to myself as I watched some foals run up to one of the houses, holding candy bags and wearing costumes all the while. I sighed in happiness as I watched them be greeted by the owner of the house they ran up to. After a few moments of talking, the mare dropped a couple of pieces into each bag, smiling as the colts and fillies galloped to the next house.
I had been released out of the hospital just six hours ago after having a few final checkups and a reminder from the doctor checking me to not do any serious for the next week. I was surprised that they let me out so quickly, since they didn’t have access to things like the advanced healing potions I had. I had actually contemplated giving them a couple as a thanks, but decided against it. After all, messing with the past would badly affect the future. At least, it should be the past.
I shuddered at the thought of what it would mean if this wasn’t the past. That would likely make getting back home much more harder.
Clearing my head, I look down at my own costume for nightmare night, a lunar guard. After I had left the hospital and finally got managed to finish a conversation with Pinkie pie after she found me, I had spotted a costume shop that had been set up. While I didn’t have too many bits left after paying the medical bill, I figured that I still had enough to spare for a costume, and decided to check it out. While most of the good ones were either too large or small for me or were already bought, there were still a few good ones left, including three sets of the armor, one for a unicorn and two for thestrals. I had asked the stallion why no one else had taken it, and he said it was because most people either associated it immediately with Nightmare Moon (who most residents had an encounter with at the Summer Sun celebration) or wouldn’t take it because it wasn’t just a costume. I inquired about what he meant, and his response shocked me.
“It’s actual Lunar armor from back before Nightmare moon was banished. Most of the time after Nightmare Moon’s banishment, it had been stored in a few museums across the country, with the most recent one in Baltimare. However, about 15 years ago, the museum nearly went bankrupt, so they sold a lot of their collection, including the armor. I’m a historic collector and seller, so I bought it and tended to it up until now, even adding some of the enchantments that had worn off back. I decided to leave the armor up during nightmare night to see if anyone would want to buy it. Even with the lowered price though, they still wouldn’t buy it.
After that, I had inspected the armor more thoroughly myself. It was in excellent condition, and I saw the faint markings of several magical runes and enchantments on the armor. There was even a small card right next to it that explained what kinds of runes the armor had. It had a few enchantments that helped with endurance and minor repair and maintenance, as well as increased agility, speed, and slight improvement in physical and magical strength. There were also a few enhancements that were more ancient, however these ones were surprisingly unknown. I spent a few minutes thinking about it before deciding to buy it. While it costed 850 bits, which was more than half of the amount I had, I figured that it was worth it. Not only was it a cool costume for nightmare night and had badass enchantments on it, it could also be used as more permanent armor in case I got into any fights. It was even my size!
So after buying the armor, along with some maintenance kits and a lunar themed scabbard for my sword, I bought a camping tent and took it to the plains outside of town, where I pitched it up and took a quick nap.
I had slept for a few hours before being woken up by my pipbuck’s alarm clock. Checking outside, I saw that nightmare night was about to start, so I had quickly put on my lunar armor over my Stable-tec barding and saddlebags.
So far nightmare night had been pretty good, I got to talk to some ponies, played a couple of games, and even got to do an intimidation of a guard for a group of foals. Needless to say, this was amazing. Nothing could ruin it!
*ZAP*
I yelped as I felt a shocking sensation go through my back as a loud crack of thunder roared just above me, followed by familiar laughter. Looking up, I was surprised to see Rainbow Dash in a shadowbolt uniform, laughing herself off on a thunder cloud.
“Haha! Priceless!” She said, before taking her cloud and zooming off.
Sighing in annoyance, I checked my armor, hoping that there wasn’t any damage. Rainbow Dash must have made the lightning bolt stay above me instead of hitting me, since I didn’t see any burns or damage.
Determined to not make that stain my view of the night, I trotted off to a commotion that was happening nearby. When I got there, I saw that it was a sort of act/speech by the mayor, who had decided to wear an odd clown outfit. As I was listening to her speak, I looked off to the side and that drew all of my attention.
Twilight Sparkle.
I knew I was going to meet her at some point, but it still didn’t stop all of the thoughts and emotions I had about her flashing up before my eyes. I quickly dashed them away before refocusing on the mayor, who had been replaced by Zecora. The zebra mare was just now leading a bunch of kids, and Pinkie Pie, away on some path. Curious about what was happening and seeing that Twilight went with them too, I decided to follow.
After a couple minutes of walking, we were nearing a slightly less creepier area of the Everfree forest. I started to look around, but was interrupted by a voice.
“Oh hey, I remember you. You were that mare in the hospital.”
Surprised at this, I looked to the side and saw Twilight trotting beside me, clad in a mage’s cloak and hat, along with a fake beard. As I finished this observation, Twilight continues speaking.
“I wanted to say thank you for protecting the girls you saved from the timberwolves, and sorry about that putting you in the hospital.” She had a slightly guilty look to her face as she finished. Deciding to put her worries at ease, I respond with a kind and forgiving tone that Fluttershy would be proud of.
“It’s alright, I’ve definitely suffered much worse. Besides, it turned out well in the end, and I got released in time for nightmare night, so that’s a plus.”
Hearing this brought a happy and relieved look to her face. “Great, I’m glad it wasn’t much of a trouble. Although, what about your medical bills? I had heard that the doctors had to use some heavy-duty magic to heal you and keep you stable.”
‘It was that bad!?! Huh, no wonder the medical bill was 2,000 bits.’ I mentally thought, keeping it within my head as I responded in a more appropriate way. “It’s alright, I managed to pay for it, so no need to worry.” With that, most of her guilt was washed away, replaced by a more happy face.
“Well that’s great! I’m Twilight Sparkle by the way, what’s your name.” She asked, holding out a hoof as she stopped trotting
“I’m Littlepip.” I said with a growing smile as I shook her own hoof, marking the start of a good friendship.
A few minutes later
‘I got to admit, that is quite scary.’ I thought as I watched the little scene play out before me. Zecora was using a combination of magical green powder (don’t you dare make any kind of rude connection), the general spookiness of the area, and her own rhyming abilities to scare the children and couple of adults that came with.
It was especially interesting that Pinkie Pie decided to stick her head in the ground like an ostrich, even though she was a chicken. I watched as one of the colts backed away from the performance being shown in fright, only to bump into Pinkie Pie. This sent both of them screaming and running away, with Pinkie yelling to give into the demands of sacrificing her candy. Not surprisingly, she and the foals dumped all of their candy at the base of the nightmare moon statue that stood in the center of the clearing we were in.
What did surprise me was the rapidly closing and shifting thunder clouds overhead that answered Pinkie’s yells, with arcs of lightning spreading throughout it. At a hole in the stormy weather, a dark chariot approached, being flown by two armored ponies and flanked by about four more. As the chariot drew closer, I realized that the ponies were thestrals that were wearing modern Lunar guard armor. As they hovered over us momentarily, I realized who must’ve been the passenger.
‘There’s lunar guards and it’s nightmare night, so this must be Pri-’ my thoughts were interrupted when almost everypony present ran in terror towards Ponyville, screaming like they were being chased by the devil. Shortly after leaving, the chariot followed them.
“We should go follow them.” Twilight said. Without waiting for a response, she galloped after them, with me following behind her.
After a few minutes of constant galloping and a couple of short teleports from Twilight, we reached the town center just as the chariot paused in the air yet again. This time, the chariot landed on the street, letting the tall passenger walk out. After looking around at the scared and confused ponies for a moment, the pony threw back the hood of the cloak they had on, revealing their identity.
Princess Luna, princess of the night and guardian of dreams has arrived.
‘So this is what Princess Luna looks like.’ I thought as I saw her start walking into the rapidly bowing crowd. I had seen her before on art, pictures, and an occasional memory orb or video, but never in person like this. I also had mixed feelings about this. On one hoof, she seemed to be kind and caring enough, and I also felt sympathy for her, since we both had rough periods of our lives, with Luna’s being her banishment and mine being the more bad parts of my adventures in the wasteland. On the other hoof however, I was staring at the pony who would bring Equestria further into war in the future, turning it into something similar to a military dictatorship.
I banish these thoughts as she comes closer, her cape somehow dissipating into a swarm of bats, revealing her royal jewelry the the rest of her body. She then stops in the center of the crowd, looking around us one final time before talking.
“CITIZENS OF PONYVILLE!”
‘CELESTIA TEATS! MY EARS ARE ON FIRE’! I could barely hear myself think as Luna continues speaking in the Royal Canterlot Voice.
“WE HAVE GRACED YOUR TINY VILLAGE WITH OUR PRESENCE, SO THAT YOU MAY BEHOLD THE REAL PRINCESS OF THE NIGHT! YOU SHALL HAVE NIGHTMARES NO LONGER, BUT INSTEAD A PONY WHO DESIRES YOUR LOVE AND APPRECIATION. TOGETHER WE SHALL CHANGE THIS DREADFUL CELEBRATION INTO A BRIGHT AND GLORIOUS FEAST!!!”
It was then however when Pinkie pie decided to interrupt and misinterpret this. “Did you hear that everypony! Nightmare moon says she’s going to feast on us all!” With this she and the kids around her ran off screaming in fright.
‘Wait a second. Nightmare moon? Luna isn’t nightmare moon, at least not anymore! Although I guess it’s been less than a year since her release, so the fears going to still be there I suppose.’
Luna looked at the fleeing ponies, shock and worry on her face. “What! No children, no! You don’t have any reason to fear us! Screams of delight is what your princess desires, not screams of fear!” With that she brings her hoof down, cracking the road and making a nearby mare squeal like the mouse she’s dressed. Looking around, she spots the mayor in her rainbow afro clown costume. With determination visible on her face, she walks over to Mayor Mare until she stands directly above her and proclaims “Madame Mare, thy princess of the night, hath arrived!”, pointing her hoof at the mayor, which caused her to cower in fear.
“What is the matter with you?” She asks, confusion on her face as she points at several other ponies, all of them resulting in cowering away from nigh- I mean the princess. Dammit, now I’m starting to think of her as nightmare moon. She immediately became frustrated with this. “Very well then, be that way! We won’t even bother with the traditional royal farewell!” She said as she walked away, heading back in the direction of the statue.
I glance over and spot the half dozen guards that escorted her staring at her and us, faces of sadness or anger stretched across their faces while some of them face hoofed or shook their head. I myself felt a twinge of anger go through me. Didn’t these ponies understand that it was just Luna?
I was awoken from my thoughts when I see Twilight worriedly trot off after Luna. Seeing this and the fact that no one else was going to help her, I ran up to Twilight and followed her. When she saw me coming, she gave me a questioning look.
“You’re not the only one who knows that she isn’t Nightmare moon and that she could use some comfort. Heck, maybe me being dressed as an old Lunar guard will help.”
She gave me a warm smile and a quick thank you before continuing to go back to the statue, with me right next to her. Unknown to anyone however, a pair of wary and cautious eyes were watching us, or more specifically me, as we walked out of sight.
After another walk to the statue
“Princess Luna!” Twilight called out as we entered the clearing with the statue, seeing Luna sitting near the base of it. “Hi, my name is-”
“Starswirl the bearded, commendable costume, you even got the bells right.” Luna complimented, receiving a huge grin from Twilight. So that’s who Twilight’s costume was based off of.
“Finally! Somepony who gets my costume.” She then noticed Luna looking at her with a bit of uncertainty and apparently decided to try introducing herself again. “Uh, I just came to welcome you to our celebration, my actual name is-”
“Twilight Sparkle” Luna interrupted again, bringing a worried face to both Twilight and I. “IT WAS THOU THAT UNLEASHED THE POWERS OF HARMONY UPON US, AND TOOK AWAY OUR DARK POWERS!” She proclaimed as she slowly rose into the air, dark clouds circling behind her like she did when she arrived.
“And that was a good thing right?” Twilight asked.
“But of course! We could not be happier! Is that not clear?”
“Well it kind of sounds like you’re yelling at me.”
Before Luna was able to respond, I decided to make myself known. “I think that’s the ‘royal canterlot voice’, wasn’t it traditional back before Luna was banished.”
“It is, my little pony, it’s tradition to use that much volume when addressing our subjects.” Luna exclaimed, before taking a closer look at my costume and frowning. “Are you one of our guard, I don’t think I’ve seen you before, and I know that no unicorns were in the escort I had.”
I shook my head. “No I’m not princess. I’m just dressed as an old lunar guard. Although I was told this was actual lunar guard armor.”
“Minus a couple of missing enchantments, but still a greatly maintained set. Thank you for dressing up as one. Tell me, what is your name my little pony.”
“My name is Littlepip, princess Luna.”
“Then thank thee Twilight and Littlepip for supporting and believing in me.”
“It’s no problem princess. In fact, why don’t I help you try to fit in more. Littlepip, can you head back to town and try to calm everypony down?”
“Sure Twilight.” I responded, feeling slightly left out but still ready to help.
“Alright then, I’ll see you later Littlepip.” Twilight says before turning back around to talk to Luna. After saying a quick goodbye to them, I go ahead and walk back to town, thinking of how I could calm everypony down.
One hour later
‘Well, hopefully this works.’ I thought as I trotted through the crowd. When I had arrived back in Ponyville, everypony was nearly ready to start a panicky riot. Luckily, I had managed to calm them down and told them about Twilight and I talking to her. While this seemed to calm everypony down somewhat, they were still scared of her, I could see it in their eyes. What made it worse was that I couldn’t find Pinkie pie and the kids with her, which meant that they would still likely run away screaming, bringing others into it.
I wipe my forehead with my hoof as I sit down on one of the park benches, listening to the music coming from a nearby stage. Leaning back, I sighed in relief as I relaxed into a comfortable position. Thought: ‘I might just lie here for half an hour or-’
“HEY YOU!!!”
I was jarred from my relaxation when somepony yelled right next to me and slammed their hoofs onto the bench. Looking over in annoyance, I saw that one of the lunar guards was glaring at me. “What do you think you’re doing wearing that armor!”
“What do you mean?”
“What do I- WHAT DO I MEAN!?! That armor belongs to the lunar guard of old! They were great and skillful warriors of the night, and the fact that an inexperienced civilian like you decides to wear it is disgraceful! It wouldn’t be bad if it was fake and a costume, but that armor is definitely real! So undress from that armor or else I’ll-”
“Corporal Quick Strike! What in the name of Tartarus are you doing!” We both turned and looked at the direction that the yell came from. What was there were the remaining five lunar guards that I saw with the escort. At the front of the group was a very pissed off thestral wearing a set of armor different from the others, which made me assume that this was the commander. This was confirmed shortly after when he started speaking again.
“Why are you harassing this pony here girl, we’re on an escort mission, not a ‘terrorize the populace’ mission.”
Quick Strike hastily stood at attention and responded. “Sir! I-I sorry sir, but this pony here is wearing pre-nightmare lunar guard armor, and seeing an inexperienced civilian wearing it made me snap sir!”
The commander glanced at me for a moment before looking back at Quick Strike. “This better not happen again Corporal. Now, return to the chariot.”
“But sir, what about the traditional fight for the ho-”
“Now Strike!”
“Yes sir.”
With that, Quick Strike casted one final glare at me before stalking off to the nearby chariot, mumbling all the while. The commander then turned his attention to me. “Sorry about that miss. Quick tends to be hot tempered when something annoys her or pisses her off, so she doesn’t think rationally and just charges in. Her name isn’t just for her quick attack moves after all.”
Seeing that he was alright, I gave him a quick smile and responded. “It’s alright, we all have mistakes from time to time. My name’s Littlepip by the way.”
“Nice to meet you Littlepip. I’m Commander Glancing Shadow, leader of the therestal squad of Princess Luna’s elite task force, the Night’s watch. With me is Sergeant Sharp Quill, Corporals Fast and Iron Hoof, and Private Nightingale.” He said, pointing to each of them as he said their names. When he stopped, he looked at my armor. “I’m surprised that people still have these around. Most of them would’ve rusted up or at least shown signs of falling apart by now.”
“Well I actually bought this from a collector recently, who had bought it several years ago from a museum, so that would explain why it’s in good condition. By the way, I have a question. What was Quick talking about involving a traditional fight.” At that, the commander looked a bit sheepish, putting his hoof on the back of his head as he looked slightly away. “Whenever something serious comes up between two therestals, one of them can duel the other to solve the issue. It’s usually over something serious or honor bound. She probably just did it because she wasn’t thinking about it, damn I am going to give her a serious talk once we’re do-”
“I’ll do it.” The entire squad looked at me in disbelief, with Fast Hoof doing a spit take with the water he was drinking. Sharp Quill and Nightgale gave me looks of uncertainty, Iron hoof a neutral stare, and Glancing a concerned look.
“Littlepip, I don’t think you should do that. Usually those fights are between warriors, and while Quick was being irrational, she did have a point. You are a civilian, if we were to fight like that it would be bad either way. You win and people will lose faith in the Night’s watch and the lunar guard as a whole. You loose and we’ll be ridiculed for picking a fight with a civilian and we’ll lose trust. Do you even have any combat experience?”
“Too much commander. Also, we’ll fight in a secluded area, so the results won’t be public. Just let me grab some gear from my tent and I’ll meet you all back here for the fight, alright.”
He looked conflicted for a moment before sighing and agreeing, letting me run off to grab my gear.
30 minutes later
We were in a plains a couple miles out of town. We had cleared out a little area and set up for the fight. I was now facing against a preparing Quick Strike, who was equipping two short swords. I myself had brought with me my zebra sword and combat knifes, with the former being in my Lunar scabbard and the latter being in hidden sheaths on each of my fore hoofs.
“Alright, I’m ready.” Quick called out as she stood opposite of me, looking at me as if she was evaluating me. While she had calmed down considerably and even apologized, we all decided to do the fight anyway.
Glancing Shadow stepped up between the two of us, giving each of us a calm look before he started setting the rules.
“Alright, here’s how we’re going to do this. You can use anything you have at your disposal unless it’s very harmful or lethal. No attacks that will cause serious or fatal injury. Stay away from the town. Finally, no teleporting or flying up to over a few hundred feet.
If Littlepip wins, then she gets to keep the armor on and do as she wishes with it. If Quick Strike wins, then Littlepip has to take off the armor and never wear it again, although what else she does with it is up to her. Are you two ready?” We both immediately nodded.
“Alright then. Three. Two. One. Fight!” He yelled as he stepped out of the way.
Quick wasted no time as she lunged at me, trying to get the first strike. I barely reacted in time, avoiding her lunge and grabbing her in my telekinesis before she could turn around, throwing her away. She flew twenty feet before stopping herself, giving me a glare as she took out one of her short swords. Seeing this, I drew my own sword and held it before me in my magical grasp as she started to charge again.
Instead of dodging, this time I held my ground, my blade meeting hers she she nearly slammed into me, only stopped by the force of our swords clashing and her stabilizing herself. I then levitated out one of my knifes and made a stab at her with it, causing her to throw herself back. She did a backflip in the air before landing herself on the ground before me and immediately lunging forward again with both swords out. Grunting, I intercepted one of her swords with my own, dodging the other before using my knife to block it.
For the next few minutes we clashed like this, with Quick charging me and me blocking her, then sending an attack of sorts against her and causing her to fall back, where the cycle starts over again. However, as she charged me this time, I had a plan to break it. She flew downwards at me, both swords above her as she started to bring them down in an arc. Instead of blocking, I dodged to the side, causing her to overstretch and bury her swords into the tough ground. Seeing an opportunity, I slashed with my knife, creating a deep cut within her right shoulder before she flew away, only one of the swords in her grasp.
As we paused there looking at each other, I saw the gears working in her head as she stared at me them at the cut I made. Before long, she exploded into anger as she charged me, releasing a battle cry in the process. This sudden move surprised me, and I wasn’t able to get out of the way in time as one of the swords cut across the side below the armor in a thin cut, letting the blood slowly pour out of it.
Grunting, I turned to face her and barely managed to block her thrust with her short sword before magically throwing her away again, throwing her into her other sword, which was still in the ground. She quickly got up, taking the second sword out of the ground and holding it before her. I then realized that this fight wasn’t going to end soon.
45 minutes later
“HHHHHHYYYYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!” I yelled as I threw Quick into the ground, waiting for her to get up. I waited for a couple of minutes until moving up, checking her. She was still breathing normally, and even though she had multiple cuts, bruises, a couple of slightly bigger injuries, and was knocked out, she was alright.
“Littlepip wins!” At that a few of the guards cheered as Fast hoof walked over to Quick to check her while Glancing made his way to me. “Well you won. Guess you get to keep the armor. Where did you even learn to fight like that by the way. That was enough to earn you a higher position in the army or guard, maybe even become one of the Night watch or the Solar Sentinels if you work hard enough.”
“Thanks, I mostly taught myself through training and experience in combat. I’m an… avid explorer I suppose, so I get into quite a few situations.” Glancing nodded and looked like he was about to say something else before Fast Hoof spoke up.
“Well damn, teaching yourself how to fight is better than I thought. It looks like Quick will have to take it easy for a week to heal up. Heck, if you had beaten her up any more, she might’ve needed medical attention at an infirmary.” He finished as he wrapped some bandages around one of her cuts.
“Hold on.” I say as I run to a small bag a had left a little ways away, remembering something I had brought. Opening it up, I rummaged through it for a few moments before finding what I was looking for. With a triumphant look on my face, I levitated over two healing potions, levitating one to Fast as I uncorked the top of the other. “Get her to drink it.” I told him as I started drinking mine. Before I was even finished, I could see the cuts starting to seal up and the bruises begin disappearing. After getting over his initial shock, Fast lifted the other potion up to Quick’s muzzle, slowly getting her to down the potion. Her face grimaced in pain before relaxing as the potion did it’s job.
“After everything I’ve seen from you so far, I’m not gonna question that.” Glancing mumbled as we started walking back to Ponyville, Quick being carried by the Hoof brothers.
The rest of the night was a blast! When we got back to town, Princess Luna was actively participating with the other ponies, playing games and even scaring a couple of them. The rest of us meanwhile settled down and enjoyed the night, sharing food and drinks and telling stories. Of course, since I wasn’t from this time period, I had to change my stories to some degree and leave out some of them completely. Luckily, while I was talking to the guards, I found out about the perfect cover. The undiscovered west.
It was perfect for my cover stories. A place filled with local tribes, some isolated Equestrian settlements, and tons of ancient ruins, filled in between with bandits and monsters both known and not. The best part was that ponies rarely went there, and the part of it I chose has never been explored by Equestrian ponies.
Even so, I told as few stories as possible. I didn’t want them to doubt or question anything. Not only that, but I felt bad for lying to them.
I was listening to Glancing talk about one time where his squad took out a hydra, when we were interrupted.
“Excuse me Littlepip, can I talk to you for a minute?”
“Um, sure?”
With that, Luna led me away from the confused guards and past the crowds, heading back towards the nightmare moon statue.
Luna’s pov
‘So it is her.’ I thought as I finished my spell. I had been searching the entire night for the pony who was having the nightmares, secretly casting the searching spell on various ponies as the party went on.
That didn’t mean I wasn’t having fun of course. Once the ponies accepted me, I had tons of fun. I even managed to prank the element of loyalty for pranking me earlier. Even so, I kept a careful watch, scanning ponies that I hadn’t yet.
Eventually, I saw Littlepip, who was surprisingly talking to my commander and the escorts I brought with me. Seeing this brought a small smile to my face. Thestrals often had an even harder time associating with other ponies and becoming friends, mostly due to the fact that many connect them with Nightmare Moon. So seeing this, I had asked her to follow me. I had originally wanted to thank her for helping me and the guards, but then a thought came to mind. When she was distracted, I cast the spell on her and was surprised to see it come back positive. I hadn’t thought that she would be the one afflicted with nightmares, but as I looked closer I could see something.
Even though she was a happy pony and quite lively, I could see a look in her eyes, one that came with seeing something that no mortal should ever see. She actually reminded me of some of the soldiers from the Griffin wars from before I was banished. Not only that, but there was some odd magical aurora around her, one that felt like it shouldn’t be here. I was confused by this and intended to investigate further. By the time we arrived at the statue, I knew that I could help.
Littlepip’s pov
“Hey Princess Luna, what did you want to talk to me about?” I ask as we arrive at the statue.
“I wanted to talk to you about a few things, one of which is to thank you. Not only did you accept me and my guards, but supported us where most were hesitate, even wearing the armor of the old guard.”
I was both surprised and happy at this. “It’s no problem princess.”
“Thank you, now I wanted to talk to you about why I came here tonight. While I did come here to help situate myself into more modern society and make ponies fear me less, those were only some of my reasons. In addition to being the princess of the night and co-leader of Equestria, I am also the guardian of the dream realm. This means that it is my duty to help any slumbering ponies with nightmares, whether it’s dealing with the problem directly or guide them.
Recently, I have discovered a nightmare that I have rarely seen, one that took me days to find instead of the normal timeframe of a few minutes. Even so, their mental defense kept me from entering their dreams and helping them, forcing me to come here and search myself. That mare is you Littlepip, isn’t it?”
I remain frozen for a couple of minutes, my mind processing what she just said. I soon start to panic as the gravity of the situation finally shows. How much does she know? What will her reaction be when she finds out!?! As I internally panic, I catch her looking at me out of the corner of my eye, a concerned expression on her face. Finally, I calm and compose myself enough to respond.
“Yes.”
I catch a glimpse of surprise on her face before it disappears.
“Would you like to talk about it?”
“I’m not sure…”
“If that’s the case, then what about a dream spell? I can temporarily put both of us to sleep and enter your mind, then we can work on the problem from there.”
“Are you sure? This will scare you for life.”
A moment of hesitation appears on her face, likely due to how certain I was. None the less, she insists.
“Ok then, your choice. So, how does the spell work?”
“Normally I’d just cast a sleeping spell on you and then enter your dreams from the dream realm, but your mind acts differently. It has a very strong mental defense, a fortress of sorts. It’s why I didn’t originally enter and instead talked to you about it in person.”
“Going into ponies’ dreams unannounced? Nice Luna.” I say with a smirk as she slightly blushes and stammers a bit.
“A-anyway, since the mental defense is there, I need to cast a spell in person. It will basically ask for access past your defense. When it happens, you can accept or deny the request. Once this is all done, we shall commence the discussion further in your dreams. Are you ready, dear Littlepip?”
“As ready as I’ll ever be.”
“Excellent! I’ll cast the spell now.” With that, Luna started concentrating, a glow starting to develope from her horn. Instead of shining brighter like other spells however, as aurora itself started expanding. Then, part of it reached out toward me, connecting to my own horn. As it did, I felt a presence in my mind, almost asking me something. Chuckling, I mentally say ‘access granted’. Suddenly, Luna’s horn glows slightly brighter as the aurora size returned to normal, signalling a switch between spells.
Before I knew what was happening, I felt greatly tired and almost fell asleep standing, darkness consuming my vision like a blanket.
Luna’s pov
‘So this is Littlepip’s mind? Interesting.’ I thought after I enter her mind. Before me was a giant metal wall, hundreds if not thousands of filing cabinets all along the wall. Here and there, I could see symbols or contraptions I couldn’t understand, but I paid them little mind as I continued towards my destination. Soon I reach the entrance to her dreams, a giant metal door with the number 2 on it. Undaunted, I use my magic on the door. Instead of normally opening however, several previously unseen mechanisms on the door went to work, slowly separating the door into two halves as they slide apparent.
I took a step back as I felt the presence of Littlepip’s nightmare flow out the door, a feeling that would make most ponies run making itself known. Steeling myself, I gallop through the door...
...right into a battlefield.
I was in some sort of town, the buildings around me rough looking and burning. All around me, the all familiar cries of battle rang around me, along with the not so familiar *bangs* and *booms*. I quickly reminded myself that this was just a dream and gathered my magic, teleporting to where Littlepip was. When I saw her, my jaw dropped.
She was cornered against a building, surrounded by dozens of shadow creatures as they marched towards her, shrieks of darkness echoing from them as they stepped over the corpses of ponies in an unidentifiable uniform. Even so, Littlepip appeared to be winning, striking down one with her sword only to fell three more with some sort of ‘boom stick’ attached to a saddle. While ponies can manipulate their dreams and do things they normally couldn’t do, they were usually stuck to their real life limitations in most dreams, unless they found out where they actually were. When I cast a quick spell, I saw that while Littlepip was aware that this was a dream, she wasn’t boosting herself in anyway.
Noticing a group that was approaching her undetected, I decided to let myself into the fight. Magically donning my armor and conjuring my Lunar katanas, I sent a blast of magic at the group, incinerating them instantly while drawing the attention of several more. Landing on the ground, I dodged a lunge from one of them while slashing at another, causing it to dissipate. I then whipped around and impaled the previous creature on one of my katanas. Hearing the beat of multiple hoofs, I turn to the left and see a group of five shadows heading toward me. Smirking, I fire off a series of energy bolts at the group before charging. The bolts themselves hit two of them, while two others parried my katanas with their own blades. Quickly thinking, I jumped back, dodging a downwards strike from one of the shadows before lunging forward with both of my katanas stretched outward, hitting both the shadow and the one behind it. As they died, I then turned my attention to the final one, only to notice that it already died.
“Thanks for the help, princess.” Hearing this, I turn and see Littlepip approach me, a smile on her face. I reveal my own small smile and was about to respond before I hear a loud boom. Looking in shock, I see a burst of blood come out of the right side of her. Two more booms sounded, and Littlepip dropped, the body and blood becoming one of a shadow’s before disappearing.
Thought: ‘H-how was I not able to tell the difference!?!’
Looking at where the booms came from, I saw another Littlepip walking forward, glaring at the spot where the previous one had been, a small frown on her face. As I watched her, I barely heard her mumble something. “Didn’t know that they could do that.”
“Littlepip?”
When I say her name, she turns toward me, her concern replaced by relief. “Princess Luna, sorry you had to see that.”
“It’s alright Littlepip. I’ve seen my fair share of death and conflict, although I must ask. What were those? More so, where are we?”
“I’m actually not too sure what those were. I’ve never seen them before. As for where we are, I think we’re in the Hub.”
“I’m sorry Littlepip, but I’ve never heard of this ‘Hub’. Mind telling me where it is.”
“It’s to complicated to explain, and we probably I probably don’t have enough time to tell you all of it in this dream.”
“If that’s the case, then I can cast a memory spell here and see the story instead of hear it.”
Littlepip looked shocked at this. “Are you sure? I mean, it’s much worse than this, and I’m not sure that you can take it.”
I only smirk at this. “Trust me Littlepip, I think that I can ‘take it’ as you say.”
This response made Littlepip sigh and rub her face. “Very well, don’t say I didn’t warn you.” With that, I started the spell and put my subconscious into Littlepip’s memories. At first it was dark, but then memories soon started coming forth from her childhood. I was confused as to why it was all in a metal bunker of sorts and never showed the outside, as well as these mentions of ‘the great war’, ‘stable-tec’, and ‘the ministry mares’.
As the memories continued flashing by, Littlepip grew older and older, earning her cutie mark and working in some sort of mechanic’s room. Then, the memories shifted and soon...went...outside.
The surface was a desolate wasteland, radiation scorching the earth as the world laid in ruins. Ponyville itself was a bloody mess, profanity and corpses displayed everywhere as bandits fought against Littlepip. I tried to exit out of the spell, but it kept me locked in, making me watch everything.
Ponykind reduced to banditry and scrap houses.
The horrible nature behind the bunkers similar to Littlepip’s.
Slavery now running abundant throughout the wasteland
Mutated creatures abundantly killing ponies, both good and bad.
Some sort of Alicorn, soldier of a goddess, killing ponies left and right.
Entire cities now skeletons of their former selves, the bones of millions in the streets and homes.
Former remnants of the military fighting against a slaver empire while they themselves prey on the innocents.
Canterlot covered in some horrible mist, everypony dead or some sort of hellish abomination.
My own bones being worn by one of the alicorns, fighting against Littlepip for some sort of ‘black book.’
Great metal airships and legions of pegasi warriors, descending from the sky.
Twilight’s dragon, spike, all grown up and guarding a bearerless elements of harmony.
A final war.
Celestia, dead and trapped in some mechanical abomination.
Peace.
As the memories stopped flowing and the spell ended, I collapsed onto the ground, shaking with shock and horror. Is this Equestria’s future? To have friendship and harmony descend into war and chaos. All at the hooves of me!
“Princess Luna?”
What am I going to do? Should I dare tell tia of this. Can I tell her?
“Luna!”
The world’s going to end, and I can’t d-
“LUNA!”
The shout startled me from my thoughts, causing me to yelp and fly back a ways, only to look back and see Littlepip watching me, a concerned and sympathetic expression on her face.
“Are you alright Luna?”
“N-no Littlepip. I a-am very scared and confused. If what your memories show are true, then the world will soon descend into an apocalypse.”
“Don’t worry Luna. Maybe with this knowledge, we can prevent this from happening.”
This caused me to pause in my thoughts. We still had plenty of time, we can stop this from happening. “Yes. Yes, yes, YES! We can keep Equestria safe!” I practically shouted with glee for the next few minutes, thinking of how I could stop this. Littlepip also got caught up in the positive mood and had a big smile on her face. This continued until a certain thought and magical aurora put a halt to that.
“Wait a second. Littlepip, do you mind if I can cast a spell on you?”
Littlepip’s happy demeanor drops a little as she looks at me, confused and slightly surprised at the request and the sudden change of attitude. “Um, sure?” With permission granted, I cast the scanning spell as I look for a specific magical trace. After a few minutes, I find it much to my surprise. It was a magic that I had only sensed a few times before, and they usually involved Discord or the magic mirror. Dimension magic.
“It looks like Equestria is safe after all.” At the questioning look from Littlepip, I explain further. “I’ve discovered a magical trace on you that can only be found outside of this universe, dimensional magic. It naturally fills the void between universes and helps form the barriers between that void and a universe. When something travels through the void, it leaves a magical trace on them for up to weeks after they enter a new dimension.
This means that the Equestria you came from wasn’t a future one, but an alternate one. I can’t tell where or when it deviated from this one, but let me assure you that this one is safe.”
This seemed to be a massive relief for Littlepip, as she proceeds to sit down with a smile on her face.
‘Our time here is done.’ I thought as I used my magic to bring us out of the dream realm and wake us up.
Littlepip’s pov
“Well that was certainly something.” I say as we get ready to leave. I was just woken back up after showing Luna my nightmares and memories, then learning myself that I wasn’t from the future, but from an alternate reality. I didn’t even know what to think of that, but at least this Equestria is likely safe from that threat. I just hope that it won’t complicate getting home.
“It shouldn’t.” Luna says as we start walking, making me realize that I said the last bit out loud. However, I didn’t dwell on it long as Luna continues talking. “The difficult part would’ve been finding your home dimension, but seeing as how I managed to analyze the dimensional magic on you and store some, getting home should be much easier. Chances are that it shall take a few months at most, barring any problems we come across of course. Also, when you return I’d like to establish a connection between our worlds so that we may be able to provide some supplies to help, things like water, food, seeds, materials, medicine and such. We can work out the details in the future.”
This brings my hopes up tremendously. I could actually go home! It’ll be a couple of months but it is possible. Not only that, but more supplies will tremendously help the NCR and other ponies back home, since we lacked the samples or infrastructure to have many of these resources.
“On another note, I’d like to make a proposition to you.” She then stops, with me following shortly as she explains. “I have seen that you are a pretty good fighter and keep your morals straight and pure, which is a feat that many find hard to do, especially with experience so intense as your own. It just so happens that their is an opening in the Night’s watch, and I’d like to invite you to be a temporary member of it. Of course, you’ll have to be tested and trained before you fully join, but I believe that you can be a member within a month. It will offer you housing, food, water, and care, and the pay is twelve bits an hour, plus certain bonuses. The option is yours of course, and I won’t push it if you decline.”
I thought long and hard about this. On one hoof, it would likely bring me back into fighting and possibly lead to more knowing about my story. Plus, I’m not sure how the NCR congress will react once I return home.
On the other hoof however, it could greatly help me improve my skills and condition, something that had been slightly decreasing since I was usually cooped up in the S.P.P pod. I’d also have a secure home and income during my stay, and I’d get to help Equestria stay safe. Finally, I’d get to see the friends I made more often.
“Princess Luna.” I say, stretching out my hoof. “You have a deal.”
After saying goodbye to Twilight and gathering my gear, I joined Luna and her guards on the ride back to Canterlot. To say that they were ecstatic was an understatement. Fast Hoof and Sharp Quill congratulated me, Nightingale was ready to throw a party, Iron Hoof just offered a nod, and Glancing was evaluating and praising me. The only one who wasn’t happy was Quick Strike, who just gave me a glare before ignoring me and flying the chariot with Iron. Despite the lack of discussion, it was obvious that Quick was probably going to hold a grudge against me. Luckily, Luna didn’t seem to notice.
As we flew, I was telling them about my life. My real life this time. When Luna and I had explained the circumstances, they all seemed to accept it, especially after I started telling them some of the… lesser details. I kept out much of the really bad and gory details, but I definitely told them more than I normally would. To say they were shocked was an understatement. It took a full half hour to get them to calm down.
Now, I was just answering some of the many questions that they were sending my way.
“So let me get this straight, the main weapon in your universe is a stick that basically goes boom?” Quick asked from up front.
“It’s not a stick, but essentially yes.”
“That’s ridiculous, there’s no way that could happen. I bet the closest thing would be some staff or something some unicorn mage enchanted the shit out of.”
“Language corporal!” Glancing shouted as I responded.
“It’s not even that different from a crossbow! I’ll show you when I can.”
“20 bits says that it doesn’t even work when you ‘show’ me at the castle.”
“Oh you’re on! Get ready to-”
“No.”
Luna’s shoot down of our bet surprised us, and Quick even forgot to fly for a second, causing the chariot to tilt slightly before she realized and corrected her mistake.
“If thou prove your weapon at the castle, it’ll bring too much unwanted attention from the other guards and any citizens. As it is, I’d prefer to keep your secrets known to only the Night’s watch, myself, and my sister, at least until we set up a secure location for you to use it.”
“That being said.” Luna continued before any of us could respond. “That doesn’t mean we can make a quick stop for the bet.”
5 minutes later
“Alright, they’re all set.” Fast shouted as he finished setting up the targets, galloping back to us as quick as possible. A couple hundred or so yards from us was a target, a small piece of wood on top of a smooth surface of rock. When we landed, we decided to double the bet as an accuracy test, increasing the amount of bits to 50. The others themselves were betting, with Luna and Glancing betting on me, while Nightingale, Sharp, and Fast bet on Quick. Meanwhile, Iron was sitting to the side, staying out of the betting while enjoying a small glass of cider he had apparently stored beforehoof, much to the frustration of Glancing.
After we had agreed on the bet, we had spent a minute longer before choosing a proper site to land and shoot. It was a small clearing barely into the everfree forest, with dense woods on two sides, a river on another, and a small cluster of smaller trees and plants on the last, with a mixture of smooth and slightly bumpy ground in the center. After landing, Luna assigned Fast to get the necessary target needed. With my supervision and Fasts good eyesight, we quickly found the piece of wood suitable for a target.
Due to the range, for this I chose my sniper rifle. I had already checked and cleaned the rifle, looking through it to make sure it was ready. Now I was adjusting the rifle’s scope, making sure it was zeroed in. Luckily there was little wind out, and even that had been temporarily blocked by Luna at my request. Seeing no reason to refuse, Quick foolishly gave permission to do it.
“Alright then Littlepip, fire when ready.” Luna told me, giving me a wink as she folded her ears down. Seeing this, I couldn’t help but grin as I did the same. While not having personally heard it before, she had heard it when she visited my dreams, so she knew roughly what to expect. I myself had heard the boom of a gun and much louder countless times, so I didn’t even need to fold my ears. The rest however, would be caught unaware. The fact that they had more sharp hearing would make the shot all the more loud.
Going prone, I levitated the sniper rifle over to me. Deploying the sniper’s bipod on the ground, I did one final check. The gun was loaded, the sights locked, the talisman I had installed in it a year ago primed and charged, and the butt was firmly planted against my shoulder. I ignored Quick remarking about an easy 50 bits as I got comfortable in my position. Taking a deep breath, I looked down the scope and waited just a second longer before pulling the trigger.
BOOM!!!
The sound tore through the clearing, sending birds scattering and the few small animals in the clearing frightened and awake as they bolted away in a fearful and confused frenzy. Everypony was covering their ears in shock and slight pain as they winced, with Nightingale tripping onto the ground. Luna was better off, only wincing for a few seconds before recovering. They were all so distracted, that besides Luna and Sharp, no one saw the wooden piece explode into a thousand pieces.
After a minute, everypony recovered and was muttering about the loud boom when Fast noticed the target. “Holy shit, she wasn’t lying.”
Hearing this, everypony turned and stared at where the object formerly was, now just a few small shards of woods. It got even better when Sharp noted the deep hole in the thick tree another 20 yards behind it, indicating that the bullet went even farther.
Still shocked, Quick grudgingly opened a saddle bag and took out 50 bits, hoofing to me with a sour expression.
Satisfied, I turned and went back to the chariot, followed by the others soon after.
To say that I was amazed would be an understatement. I had seen Canterlot before, but even when being preserved by the cloud, it could not hold up to this. While it being nighttime hid some of the beauty, it just made it all the more mystical. We slow our approach as we dip down below the castle, skirting the mountainside for a bit before approaching a hanger.
As we descend, I put on my saddlebags while looking around and analyzing the hanger. While it was in no way modern or capable of servicing the vertibucks and some of the other aerial war vehicles during the great war, it was still very organized and large, holding about a dozen patrol and transport chariots. Most of the ponies in here were thestrals, with a few unicorns and earth ponies who were mostly working on the chariots or some other job.
As soon as we touch down, Luna dismisses the rest of the squad, having me follow her through the twisting halls of what must've been a very large complex. As if knowing my question, Luna starts talking to me.
“My sister told me that the hanger had been built about a few centuries before my return. Originally, it was meant to be a dock of sorts for some of the more important airships, such as higher military or foreign dignitaries. However, as time went on airships became bigger and bigger, until this hanger was put out of commision. A few decades later, it was converted into the main hanger for chariot patrols in the Canterlot area, as well as a docking location for supply ships for the base built around it.
The base itself wasn’t here until 50 years ago, when Celestia had decided to use the underground tunnel and cave system located nearby to her advantage. Soon, a full barracks, logistics, training, and storage area for much of the Equestrian army reservists, along with the special forces, was built. Part of the military research wing of Equestria has also been built here.”
As she sums up the history of this place, we arrive at an office door, with the entrance being guarded by two ponies in standard Lunar guard armor. Seeing us, they both bow.
“Rise my little ponies. We wish to enter Commander Arcane’s office to talk to her.”
“Very well my princess.” Says one of the guards, nodding to the other. At that, he opens the door and talks for a few seconds with whoever’s inside before he turns back to us and motions us in. Nodding, Luna opens the door fully and walks in. As I enter, the guard who talked with the commander closes the door behind us, letting me pull my full attention to the room we’re in.
The room was fairly large, about the size of a bedroom. It was definitely Lunar themed, with dark purple walls with blues and blacks swirling around half moons. On the ceiling was a lit chandelier, providing a decent amount of light for the room.
The left wall had a few paintings and pictures on it. Among them were scenes of battle, portraits of the commander’s family, and times with friends. The bottom third of the wall itself was covered by a hefty dark oak dresser, with several drawers and what looks similar to a filing cabinet in the design.
Meanwhile, the right wall was much more formal. There was a map of Equestria, along with a hung sword, a certificate or document of some kind, several medals and battle trophies. In front of us was a large desk made of the same wood as the dresser with one chair on each side. Beyond that lied several more filing cabinet type objects, with two large flags hung above them. One of them was the flag of Equestria, while the other one was probably the flag for either the Lunar guard or the Night’s Watch. The flag had a dark purple color with a white half moon in the center. Below it were two white katana-like swords facing separate ways.
All of these observations took me about five seconds before I focused on the mare behind the desk. Dressed in armor similar to the suits Glancing and the others wore, she had a light blue coat, with a dark grey mane and piercing brown eyes. Wearing a thin smile, she quickly looks at me, before turning her attention to Luna after glancing at my armor. Upon recognizing Luna, her smile becoming wider and genuine.
“It’s good to see you Luna. It’s been a couple weeks.”
“You know me Arc, paperwork and nobles tend to do that. Plus, at my sister’s insistence, I went to Ponyville for tonight’s celebrations.” Luna respondes, chuckling.
“Ah, that does take up quite a bit of time. The commander then turns her attention back to me. “Who’s this mare you brought with by the way, a new friend? I know that Celestia’s been bugging you to make some more.”
“Yes, Littlepip here is one of my new friends from Ponyville. That isn’t the main reason why I brought her here however. I believe that she may have the potential to fill in the missing spot on the unicorn squad.” As she says that, Luna walks over to Arcana and starts having a hushed discussion. I can’t tell what exactly they’re saying, but I hear them mention me quite a bit, as well as words such as ‘survive’ and ‘wasteland’, so I’m guessing that Luna is telling her where I’m from.
As the discussion goes on, the commander straightens up a bit, as well as puts on an analytic look. When Luna finishes, the commander immediately says“I’ll be the judge of that. Take a seat Littlepip.” Surprised by this, I quickly move forward and sit down on the chair.
‘I guess we’re doing the interview here and now.’
She stared at me for a few moments before she started the interview/questioning.
(Brown is Littlepip, Blue is Arcana)
“I am Commander Arcana, commander Unicorn squad of the Night’s Watch. What is your name?”
“Littlepip, ma’am.”
“How old are you?”
“26 years old ma’am.”
“Where were you born.”
“Stable 2 ma’am.”
“What is your job.”
“Manager of the Single Pegasus Project ma’am.”
“What are your skills.”
“Machinery and maintenance, primarily of the pipbuck device I have, but also of other types of machinery as well. I’m pretty decent at combat, with ranged weapons being better suited for me, although I can still fight close quarters ma’am. Also, I’m not too good with magic, but I am very good at advanced levitation, as well as a small bit of blood magic from an encounter with a dark magic book ma’am.”
“...any others?”
“Well, I can also hack a terminal and pick a lock, assuming I have a bobby pin and screwdriver for the latter ma’am.”
“How much combat experience have you had?”
“Several months of moderate to heavy combat ma’am, along with the occasional bit of fighting in the few years between then and now ma’am.”
“Have you killed somepony?”
“Yes ma’am.”
These sorts of questions continued for the next ten or so minutes.
“Last question, why do you want to join the Night's Watch?”
“Ma’am, eventually I’d like to be able to find myself a way home, but no matter what I still want to help ponies. My other skills, while useful at times, wouldn’t be needed as much here. As is, my fighting skills would be the same. However, they are the best thing I have to use here, so I figured I should join up with the ones protecting everyone.”
“If that’s the case Littlepip, then why not join the regular Royal or Lunar guard? I’m sure you could’ve help ponies there.”
“I’m sure that’s true ma’am, but I want to use my skills to the best of my ability for ponykind, and being in the normal guards are more, well, guarding. Sure they help ponies and solve disputes, but for the most part they’re reduced to standing around or patrolling aimlessly. That’s why I want to join the Night’s Watch, ma’am.”
“I see, and why not the Sentinels?”
“Not my style.”
“Heh, I see.”
Arcana stands up and walks to one of the pictures on the wall, staring at it for a few seconds before looking back at me. “Are you sure you want to do this Littlepip? While you may have enough skills and experience to skip the basics and starting courses, you’ll still have to prove yourself through the tougher and final courses, which will last up to a month.”
“I’m sure, ma’am.”
“Very well then.” Commander Arcana fully turns toward me, extending her hoof. “Advanced Initiate Littlepip, welcome to the Night’s Watch.”
I felt a grin grow on my face as I extended my hoof out, shaking her own. “Thank you, ma’am. You won’t be disappointed!"
