New friends and a forgotten feeling

New Friends and a Forgotten Feeling

August 28, 2552

Nightmare Moon P.O.V

It's been three days since 'Viper' brought me to their base. I was greeted with hostility until Viper told them to stand down, which they obeyed his orders. We walked into the base and went to the command center. As we walked there, I can't help but to look at him from time to time, thinking how a handsome man can be a soldier. I kept to myself for fearing if I talked, I would get thrown out or worse, killed.

Viper turned around and said, "Right now what I am doing is breaking a lot of protocols. I am going to ask the Captain of the Summer Solstice to see if you could live here. Don't say anything that could get you or us into trouble, okay?" I just nodded and after 10 seconds, we entered the control room and I sat in a chair near Viper. After 15 minutes of arguing and some profanity tossed at each other, I was allowed to stay under one condition, if Viper acted as a liaison for me, in which he agreed.

When the meeting was over, he decided to sleep first which I agreed to. Since I didn't have a bed, Viper and I went to an empty room with two beds. After taking his armor off, he turned off the lights and we went to sleep. The next morning, Viper took me to see his team. As we headed to the sleeping quarters, I saw some colts and fillies playing a game of tag, unfortunately some of their parents saw me look at them and glared at me. I looked away from the foals as we neared the intended destination. As we neared the room Viper and his team was assigned, I looked around and saw different decorations in each room. Some with flowers or pictures made by the foals or with different cultures.

I was fascinated by how much culture they had. When he pulled out a piece of plastic and put it through a block with a slit in it, the doors opened and I saw more armored figures. 9 of them were wearing different types of armor and colors, while 8 had the same armor. Viper introduced me to the group. The 8 armored soldiers are called 'Centurion' as they are regular soldiers given some augmentation, which Brandon told me is a way to enhance a person’s strength and speed, and had armor that increase their speed. The rest were called 'Spartans', men and women who volunteered to have a stronger augmentation to increase their bones, strength, and speed, which were given shielded armor and armor abilities. I thought they were going to resent me for being different until Callie, a female Spartan, reached for my hand to shake, which I shook.

After the whole greeting, I made friends with them. After a couple of minutes, they decided to head to the mess hall, I believe that’s what they called it. Before we left, Samantha grabbed my shoulder and said she wanted to talk to me alone. After going back to the room she turned around and said, "Look, I don't know how you got Viper to trust you so easily, it’s taken a lot of people a long time to earn his trust, including his own team, but get one thing straight. You hurt him in any way and I will kill you. Got that?” Normally I would brush that off like nothing, but for some reason, she is being serious, so I nodded and after that, Samantha escorted me to the mess hall where there was a pleasant smell of food in the air.

I heard my name being called and I looked for the source until I saw Viper's eyes looking at me, making my heart flutter and blood to rush to my cheeks. As we sat down with the group, I saw what they were eating. It was some tiny white things called rice, by Brandon, covered in vegetables, chicken, and some black liquid on the white stuff. Apparently it's called teriyaki chicken, as Marcus said. They got me a plate without the chicken. I took a bite to taste it, it was really. I cleaned my plate in two minutes. I was being looked at by everypony at the table, making me blush very hard. Viper grabbed a napkin and wiped my face, cleaning the sauce on my face. Afterwards I rewarded him by giving him a kiss on his cheek. He blushed really hard and walked out the mess hall.

His team and the others looked at me with unreadable expressions. Apparently this is the first time he got a kiss from another mare. Marcus told me that he never dated anyone before so this was his first time getting a kiss. After 15 minutes everyone left, except for Samantha. She asked me to follow her. I listened and followed her outside of the base and saw Celestia’s sun heading down and Luna’s moon coming up. I saw Viper sitting on the top of the base. I flew up there using my wings. As I landed I sat by him, letting my hind legs hang off the edge. We both sat in silence until I broke it.

"Look, I’m sorry for what hap..." he didn't let me finish talking.

"I know that you're going to say, ‘I should haven't done that', but don't say anything negative about yourself, okay." Viper said.

I was shocked at him for saying that. Normally, stallions would take the opportunity to bed a princess or a noble, but he's different from the rest. Forgetting that he talked to me I nodded. After that he started smiling.

"You know you look cute when you blushed in the mess hall earlier," he teased, making me blush again.

"Also, I know you have a crush on me and don't ask how I know. I just do," this made me blush harder.

"I know that you want to get intimate with me, but maybe we should start slow and don't rush, all right?" He was asking me to be his mare friend. It felt like butterflies were in my stomach. It felt weird, but it felt right, so I accepted and he smiled.

We watched as the sun was setting. I put my head on his shoulder and for the first time in a thousand years, I finally got what I’ve been wanting to have. To be loved by somepony who appreciated me and not shunned me for doing something terrible all those years ago. I eventually went to sleep on his shoulder and woke up in his bed in the afternoon. He left a note saying he had a meeting and won't come back till 10 at night. So I decided to sleep on his bed, waiting for him to come back to me.

Meanwhile

"Okay everyone, in about 10 minutes we're going to board the train, rescue any slaves and kill all slavers, everyone get me?" asked Viper

Everyone nodded or said yes.

"Alright, okay everyone, let's get ready to board the train, Viper out" and with that, they cut off any radio contact.