Sand in the Wind

Sand in the Wind

Chapter One: Moonlight Serenade

By: Jace Arveduin

A/N: I don't own anything, especially not the MLP universe.

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Jesse had been living fairly peacefully since his trip to that magical land of Equestria, roughly forty years ago. Contrary to what he believed would happen, he didn’t gain weight as he got older, instead, he became more gaunt looking. His hair had also turned completely grey by now, and he’d finally decided to let his hair and beard grow out, so now he was almost like a shorter version of Gandalf.

He still lived in that same house, never really wanting for anything, because anything he needed could be acquired one way or the other. The Time Twister was a powerful artifact, after all. So when the world super powers started to flex their muscles, he acquired the equipment to build a bunker deep underground. Normally it wouldn’t have been possible, but a few toys from other worlds made it relatively easy endeavor. So now all he had to do was wait.

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Awakening to the sounds of sirens in the early stretch of the morning, he turned on his tv to see if it was a drill or not. The words “WARNING: THIS IS NOT A DRILL” scrolled across the bottom to clear up any doubts he had. He rushed to his dresser and pulled out the Time Twister, losing himself in its beauty, he regained his train of thought when found himself in his bunker.  Across the world, as he settled into his bunker, bombs fell like symphonies of doom.

Later the next day, he went over to the special radio he had rigged and tested it to see if he could get any official news on the world above. He became slightly worried when all he could pick up was static, because when he tested the system, he was able to pick up stations from almost anywhere in world he chose. With a sigh, he adjusted the frequency for the public bunker that one of his few friends should be in. Once again, all he got was static.

“Well, fuck, I knew we were all going to die soon, but I figured it’d be old age or some crazy stunt..” He muttered to himself. He didn’t cry, he hadn’t cried in decades, but he still felt grief for the passing of his lifelong friends. He just knew that if he hadn’t have built his bunker so deep, he’d probably be dead too.

“Well, there’s nothing left for me here...” He silently thought about his situation, and shrugged. “I guess I’ll let the wind take me where it will...” Pulling out the Time Twister, he looked into it, and for the first time, didn’t think of a destination. The room filled with soft lights as the Time Twister teleported him... somewhere.

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Captain Stormcruiser of the Royal Guard was doing a patrol of the surrounding countryside when he spotted an odd figure against a tree. Silently gliding towards it, he went for a closer inspection. It seemed long, and it’s limbs were wrong, more like a dragon than a pony, albeit a very small dragon. He also noticed it appeared to be either asleep or unconscious. He wondered what he should do, and decided he’d need back up. He went off to retrieve more guards, hoping the creature wouldn’t move. Ten minutes later, he arrived with more guards to see the creature exactly where it had been when he left. The others had brought a covered wagon so that they could transport it back to the castle without alerting the general public to the weird creature they’d found. They weren’t sure if it was dangerous or not, but the Princesses would, and there was no point in scaring the citizens.

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Jesse finally returned to consciousness while laying on a some sort of big pillow. He wasn’t sure exactly what happened, but he guessed he fell and hit his head, which was aching. Speaking of his head aching, there were people talking and making it ache even more.

“Hey, my head’s pounding, can we keep it quiet, or give me an aspirin or something?” He grumbled as he got around to looking around the room. The room in question was filled with brightly colored ponies in armor and another pony that was pure white. That pony also happened to be very large and wearing a crown.

“Hello, human, what is your name and why are you here?” The Princess asked, she wasn’t being threatening, but she wasn’t exactly being warm either.

“Princess... I know it had something to do with space... Anyway, I’m Jesse. I’m here because Earth is probably obliterated, so I let the Twister send me somewhere.”

“Jesse? Are you the same human that was transported here 5 years ago? I was told you were younger, do humans age quickly?”

“Indeed, I am the same one. As for quickly aging, no, not really. Without any real scientific proof, I’d say humans live roughly seventy-five years, give or take some depending on health. The thing is, I’ve lived roughly forty years since that little incident.”

“Just to make sure you are the same human, I have one question: What is my sister’s name? Guards, if he answers correctly, take him to one of the guest rooms and make sure he’s not bothered. Otherwise, imprison him until my sister and I come up with a plan.”

Jesse leaned back in thought, his old brain was fuzzy at the best of times, let alone after recovering from a knock on the head. “Oh joy... I’m fairly sure it was Luna... Smaller than you, but darkly colored. Or something like that.”

Celestia nodded towards the guards, and spoke in a warmer tone. “Good then, I shall see you soon. If you need anything, just ask one of the guards and they will fetch it for you.”

Jesse followed the guards out of the room, which was apparently the throne room, and made his way to the guest quarters. He went inside as the two guards stood outside of the doors. A look around showed a rather comfortable looking bed, a chest, a bathroom, and a small bookshelf with some books on it. It was all rather more grand than what he’d been living in these past years.

“Something to read, that’ll be nice. Let’s see...” He raised an eyebrow as he read the title of one, then pulled it out to check out the cover and chuckled. “I’ll be damned, looks like they have their own version of Indianna Jones, it’s amazing how things like that happen.”

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It was several hours, and a few Daring Do books, later when the Princesses made their arrival. Jesse had been laying on the bed reading through yet another book.

“Evening Princesses.” He said as righted himself, several loud cracks as he twisted.

“Good evening Jesse, and are you okay? That didn’t sound healthy.” Celestia asked him.

“No worries, I’ve just been laying there for some time. These old bones are getting cranky with me.”

“My sister told me you were older, but I didn’t expect you to look this much older.” Luna told him with a shake of her head.

Jesse laughed at that. “Hey, not everyone can be immortal princesses, most of us are inflicted with a curse commonly called ‘getting old’.”

“Either way, you still have a choice to make. When you last left, we said that to stay here, you would have to become a pony. As much as we would hate to turn you out, we have to stand by our ruling.” Celestia told him while Luna was silent.

He sat still for awhile, then opened his eyes and looked at them with an almost maniacal grin. “Hell, why not, ain’t like I haven’t done practically everything else. The only other thing I can think of is maybe to do some time hopping. While going back and playing The Battle for Middle-Earth II again on the official servers sounds like a load of fun, I could probably use something new.”

The sisters smiled, glad they wouldn’t have to turn him out, though neither had any idea of what a Battle for Midde-Earth II was. They had, however, seen something close to despair in his eyes, even if it was expertly concealed.

“Well that’s covered, though I’m afraid I must take my leave. Good night.” The white alicorn said softly.

“I, too, have duties to uphold. Sleep well.” Luna told both of them as she made her way out.

“Guess I’ll see you both in the morning, and probably end up faceplanting as I leave this rather comfy bed.” Jesse told them, shutting the door to their small amount of laughter. He went back to his bed and kept reading, he didn’t feel like giving his mind the time go off on it’s own trails.

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Jesse awoke the next morning, yawning and getting up to go to the bathroom. Or at least that’s what he meant to do. Instead, he ended up faceplanting into the floor.

“Ouch, I knew that was going to happen.” He muttered to himself. Then he looked down at his arm, which was now a leg, which was covered in a dark grey fur. “Guess that would explain why my dreams were crazier than usual, though with less explosions.”

He finally got around to messing with his new body, this walking on four legs thing was weird, when he made a second important discovery: He didn’t ache anywhere. usually his wrists and lower back would be aching, they’d been aching for so long he’d mentally shoved it aside, but now they didn’t ache at all.

“Okay, that feels great, I’d forgotten how great it feels to not hurt. I’ll have to remember to thank the Princesses.” He went over to give himself a good look over. He was a dark grey pegasus, he wasn’t expecting that, with a silver mane and tail. A quick look also confirmed he had one of those tattoos on his ass. A cutie mark, or something like that. His was a pair of swords in behind of a chess piece. A knight, to be exact.”

“Ha, I always told mom all those games would do me some good” He said to himself with a chuckle, then went to the door and poked his head out. “First off, is it captain or sergeant?”

The Captain turned around and looked at the guest, and only his strict training kept his face clear. Where before there had been a ‘human’ inside, there was now a dark grey pegasus. “It’s Captain Stormcruiser, is there anything I can get you?”

“Yes there is Captain, any chance I could have some breakfast? I’m not sure if I’ve been given permission to roam yet, but I’d rather not find out the hard way. That and I’m having enough trouble getting around my room, I think the stairs are beyond me.”

“Not a problem. Thunder Struck, go to the kitchens and bring him back some breakfast.” Thunder Struck gave a quick salute and left.

Thunder Struck returned shortly after with a stack of pancakes covered in syrup, which Jesse gladly accepted. He gave them his thanks and went back into the room. Inhaling the delicious smell, he went to pick up the fork and dig in. Or, at least tried to, he then realized another important fact for the day, he had no hands. Grumbling a few choice words he’d picked up over his lifetime, he dove face first into the pancakes. They were actually quite delicious, and it was real maple syrup, he hadn’t had real maple syrup in... Well, he probably had never had real maple syrup. After finishing up the delicious breakfast, he decided to go back to reading until one of the Princesses showed back up and told him how this was all going to work.

He’d just finished up another Daring Do book, this one reminding him of ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark,’ when Luna showed up.

“Evening Luna, been having fun?”

“About as much fun as I can. Though my sister said we should probably get you situated into our world a little better, now that you’re a pony.”

“Yeah, about that, why am I pegasus? I kind of figured I’d end up a unicorn.”

“We just worked the magic, we didn’t pick what race you would be. Come to think of it, I don’t think we actually specified a gender either.” Luna said with a chuckle.

Eye twitching slightly, he responded, “I’m so glad you two care so much for the little details.”

“But come now, we have to think of a new name for you, what sort of name is “Jesse” when it comes to ponies? How about Rainy Daze?”

“No, that just sounds... off, and feminine.”

“How about Grey Skies?”

“Meh.” After a moment of thought, and idea popped up. Chuckling as he checked his cutie-mark again, he added. “I think I’ll go with Blade Knight.”

“Blade Knight?” Came her confused reply.

“Eh, sure, why not? My cutie mark is a pair of blades behind a knight, and it’s something I’m actually used to being called.”

“What does your mark mean anyway? And why would you be called Blade Knight in your world?”

“If I were to hazard a guess, I’d say it has to do with all of the games I play, and the fact they tend to be fantasy or strategy games. As for the Blade Knight part, let’s just say I got that name when I joined a rather tight-knight group. I’ve known those guys most of my life.”

“Oh.. Well in that case, I think Blade Knight is a good name. So, Blade Knight, do you have any plans?”

“Nope, not a single one. I’ll admit I’m just a tiny bit scatterbrained at the moment. Oh, and thanks for fixing all of the aches, it felt great getting up this morning.”

Giggling at him, she asked, “How old do you think you are here Blade Knight?”

“Um.... sixty-five?”

“You may have lived that many years, but do you really think we would allow you to have a new body that was in the condition you’re old one was in? No, now you’re about the same age as your friends here.”

“Ah, Emerald and Frostfire, I presume, or did you make me Steel’s age?” Blade said with a chuckle. “Speaking of them, how are they doing?”

“They’re doing fine, you’ll see for yourself. We’ve decided to send you to Broken Bit.

“Really now? That’s rather nice. So when do I leave?”

“As soon as you want, I’ll have Captain Stormcruiser and a guard of his choice take you. I doubt you’ve learned how to fly in less than a day.” She said with a laugh.

“Nope, too busy reading your books! So, have you contacted them yet? If you haven’t, keep it a secret please, I could have some fun with this!” He said, a mischievous grin on his face.

“No, we haven’t, just don’t scare them too badly. Now, I have work to do, good bye Blade Knight, and my sister told me to tell you farewell, too.” The Princess added as she left the room.

“Later Princess.” Blade called back, then looked over at Captain Stormcruiser. “Feel like going on a little trip right now?”

“I’m sure me and Thunder Struck could make some time in our busy schedules.”

Blade smiled at the response, he found it funny that it came from a pony who looked as if he was actually a statue.

“Well then, go get some food and pick me up when you’re done. I can’t have you guys passing out on me!” Was his laughing reply.

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His first good look at Canterlot had him laughing. It looked like someone took Minas Tirith, enlarged Mount Mindolluin, and pulled it up the cliff side, then added a waterfall for the hell of it. Sadly, much of what followed after was just a ride above idealistic countryside. No Orthancs, no Helm's Deep, not even an Edoras, just idealistic countryside. After a little while of contemplating how his life was changing, he called out to Stormcruiser.

“Hey Captain, mind if you set me down and let me walk the last leg of the journey to Broken Bit? I don’t feel like entering with the fanfare, you guys are guards, after all.”

“If that is your wish, then I’m not going to deprive you of it.” The captain responded as the two started to lower the chariot. “You asked in good time, we were almost there.”

“Thanks gentlemen, I can make my way from here, have a nice trip back.”

“And the same to you.” The two guards responded, flying off back to Canterlot.

“Now, time to go pay some old friends a visit.” Blade told himself as he started walking towards town.