Chapter 17: A Party to Survive

*4 DAYS REMAINING UNTIL THE FALL OF EARTH*

My vision was covered with colors once again as I blinked rapidly, trying to remove the spots from my sight. After a few seconds my vision finally cleared as I noticed I was in a pitch black room, the only light coming from a bit of sun leaking in through an open balcony. Before I had a chance to even open my mouth and ask what was going on, the room became illuminated.

"SURPRISE!" Shouted many ponies who suddenly became visible.

On instinct I pulled my rifle off my back and jumped out of the balcony, putting myself up against the doorway and aiming inside at the stunned crowd.

"Holy cow! Did you see how fast he reacted!" Shouted a familiar cyan pegasus.

Rolling my eyes I holstered my weapon and slowly walked back in. "I should have mentioned I don't like surprises. At all." I said as I looked around the room.

"Why not?" Pinkie Pie asked innocently.

"Because they make me jumpy. you know, my nerves are hardwired for the battlefield and whatnot. Just... please don't do it anymore." I asked waving the pony off.

Looking around I could tell we were in a ballroom of some sort that has streamers and confetti littered everywhere. Occupying the room was all six ponies I had met when I first arrived along with Celestia and Luna. I looked up to see a rather large banner hanging from the roof, wall to wall.

"HAPPY 'WELCOME TO PONYVILLE/CANTERLOT AND THANK YOU FOR SAVING A TOWN' PARTY!"

I looked back at them confused, pointing at the banner.

Pinkie quickly answered. "Oh well because I never got to give you a welcome to Ponyville party AND you came to Canterlot before I gave you it AND you helped save a town I decided to just mush all them together for one big party!"

Slowly nodding, I turned to the Princesses and motioned for them to follow me out to the balcony. They nodded and made their way towards me.

"Thanks for the uh... party. But I have some matters to deal with." I said as Pinkie immediately lost her smile and her eyes became as big as saucers. "Ugh... alright fine I'll be back after I'm done talking with the Princesses." I said causing her to immediately perk up and bounce off.

The Princesses and I made it onto the balcony where I quickly shut the two doors leading to the ballroom.

"Alright now... while I was there I had found out this has been going on for at least a month.... and you just found out about it?" I said looking at the two.

Celestia's ears fell as she gave a small nod.

"Sadly yes... since there were no unicorns living there at the time there was no way to contact us..."

I shook my head as I walked to the edge of the balcony, leaning over it. As I did so I had my helmet retract to let the wind blow through my hair.

"So your telling me, a town completely stops making contact... and you just ignore it?" I said without turning around.

"No! Everything continued to go through the town! Like trading and things of that sort. I guess the Griffons were laying low for a while, not wanting to show what they had done until they hit more towns." Celestia countered as I turned around.

"You should, from now on, have a small team of guards going to EVERY town on a weekly schedule at the very least and report in whats going on. And if you don't hear from them then you know what that means." I said nodding to the Princesses. "Like come on... this should be the basics of running a country!"

Celestia's face darkened at that as she went to reply, before being stopped by Luna. Celestia looked at her sister for a few moments before sighing and taking to the air.

I watched her go for a few seconds before turning to Luna. "What got into her?"

"Something I would rather not bring up at this time. Anyway, come here, I'll bring you to your ship so you can check on repairs." Luna said as her horn began glowing.

"Alright bu- Oh wait!" I yelled getting her to stop and look at me. "I promised all the ponies inside I would be back remember? Either way I'm sure Lucy has it all under control. I'd probably just get in her way of repairs anyway." I finished.

Nodding she agreed. "Ah yes... I forgot about that. Well I hope you have a good day, I'll be in my quarters when you are ready." She said with a sigh as she began to take off.

I quickly placed my hand on her side, getting her to look at me curiously. "Hey uh... why don't you stay for the party? I'm sure there is enough room for ya." I said with a smile.

"Enough room? ARE YOU IMPLYING I'M FAT?!" She yelled offended as her head reeled back.

My eyes bulged open as I waved my hands in front of me. "OH NONONONO THAT'S NOT WHAT I MEANT! YOU'RE NOT FAT YOUR ACTUALLY REALLY THIN! NOT SUPER THIN I MEANT LIKE... NICE! NO NOT NICE LOOKING I MEAN-" I tried explaining but stopped when I noticed she was on the verge of giggling. "Oh that wasn't cool."

She giggled loudly as she motioned inside. "Perhaps not. But it was funny! Now come on let's go have... FUN." She said with excitement.

'Sheesh she says the word like she barely gets to in the first place.'

Nevertheless I shrugged my shoulders and walked in with her and noticed a few things. One, it was dead silent in here, two all the ponies seemed to be staring at us. After a few moments of silence and the six of them looking between Luna and I, I spoke up.

"So... why are ya'll staring at us like that?" I asked looking them all over.

They blinked once and started going about their own business. Luna and I looked at each other and shrugged.

"I'll be over at the snack table if you need me." Luna said as she made her way over to a large table covered with sweets, cakes and a bowl of punch.

Taking my eyes elsewhere I noticed Twilight was making her way over to me and looked like she had something she wanted to say. When she got to me she gave me a smile.

"I think it's nice what you're doing." She said motioning to Luna.

I gave Luna a quick look before looking back at Twilight. "Uh... what do you mean?"

"Well... you see she doesn't have many friends. And while you may think being a Princess may come with it's privileges... you can't force ponies to like you. So she's been rather lonely since she came back." Twilight explained as I shot her a questioning gaze.

"Came back... what does that mean?" I asked getting Twilight to snap her attention to me.

"Oh uh... I think it would be best is she told you herself. But be careful... it's not a topic she likes to talk about." She said as I looked Luna over.

"I don't think she'd mind..." I asked again getting Twilight to sigh.

Nodding, Twilight huffed. "Alright... but I'll tell you later in the party." She said as she stole a glance back to Luna.

"You also said she doesn't have many friends... but aren't you all her friends?" I questioned Twilight as she looked back to Luna.

"Well yes but... we never get to come and see the Princesses very often and when we do it's usually official business... this is one of the first few times we could ever really just... talk." Twilight explained as I nodded before she looked back to me. "Anyways... enjoy the party!" She said as she trotted off, smiling.

I walked over to the table Luna was at to see what she was up to. She currently had a giant plate that was filled with different sweets and cakes.

"Hey Lu- Whoa... that's a lot of sweets." I said pointing to the plate she currently has suspended in the air.

She looked at me for a second before looking back at the plate and sighing. "Don't tell my sister alright? I'm kind of on a diet..." Luna trailed off as her ears folded down.

"Sorry what?" I asked.

"I said I'm on a diet!" She said loudly before looking around checking if anypony heard. "Look... I promised my sister I would try and cut back on sweets. I apparently eat too many of them." She said as she popped a piece of candy into her mouth.

I took a look at the plate before chuckling. "Oh really? I hadn't noticed." I said getting her to blush and push me a bit. "Nah but in all reality I don't know why, you look fine to me." I said as her blush deepened but went unnoticed by me.

I walked down the table looking at the various items before arriving at the punch bowl. I got a cup and poured myself and Luna a drink before bringing the cup to her. She happily took the cup before taking a sip. Her eyes shot open as she brought the cup down and gave me a sideways look.

"A little warning next time would be nice." She said with a small smile before taking a smaller sip of the drink.

"Huh?" I asked as I took a smell of the punch.

The punch smelled of fruits with an obvious alcohol scent mixed in.

"Oh jeez! I'm sorry I didn't even know! Plus... Isn't it a bit early to be drinking?" I asked.

"Well... you and I have been up for quite a while and it is YOUR party. I think she kept that in mind." Luna said with a smile.

Luna motioned for me to follow her over to a nearby couch that had confetti and streamers covering it. She swept off a spot before sitting down. I walked over with my cup and sat down next to her, throwing up some streamers as I went.

"So..." I began looking at the cup in my hands. "How old do you have to be in Equestria to drink anyway?"

"The law says you must be at least 19." Luna said as she looked to my direction. "Why?"

I took a quick sip of the drink before wrinkling up my face a bit at the aftertaste. "I was just curious. It seems your alcohol law follows the Canadian branch of planets. I came from an American branch that didn't allow drinking until the age of 21. I'm sure other branches allowed drinking at 19... or maybe not. That's just what I can remember from the few big 'Super power' branches."

Nodding to what I was saying, Luna took another drink which looked to have zero effect on her. "I see. I still couldn't fathom a race living on multiple planets like that. So how old are you anyways?" She asked curiously.

Taking another drink, once again scrunching my face up, I replied. "Oh I'm 20. This is actually my first drink. Well... LEGAL drink... but I didn't drink very much to begin with. just a few beers here and there..." I said as I waited for her reply.

After a few moments of silence I turned to Luna to see her jaw hanging open.

"What?" I asked in confusion.

"Your 20... 20 years old?" She asked in a bewildered state.

"Yeeeeaaaaah?" I said motioning to continue. "And this matters.... why?"

Shaking her head a bit she blinked a few times before answering. "I... I just can't imagine someone as young as you fighting in a war!"

I sighed and looked down at the cup in my hands. "Yeah well... when things got hairy the military sometimes... looked the other way when under aged fighters signed up."

"What!? What about you parents? Were they not furious!?" She asked sounding a bit angry.

"No... they... you know what I don't really want to talk about them... or this... just..." I said holding back a tear as I looked down at my nearly full cup. "I'm gonna go get a refill..." I said as I stood up and walked off.

I could feel Luna's eyes on me as I walked off, wanting to know more.

'But I don't want to go through that conversation again...'

Shaking my head I downed the drink in my hands and went to the punch bowl.

'Let's just try and survive this party...'

Author's Note

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