Chapters Of Mares and Men - Volume 1: Rise
Chapter 1: The Return
Arc I: Purge
Chapter 1: The Return
Perspective: Galen Marek/Starkiller
I stand on the deck of the Rogue Shadow, looking out into deep space, wondering if there are planets out there other than those in our galaxy.
“You remember what we have to do, right, sir?” I turn to find one of the Rebel generals walking toward me.
“Of course. We have to go to the planet Albion, far out of the normal boundaries of the galaxy, and we’ve been tasked with negotiating trade agreements with the rulers of the country Equestria. Am I to assume Kota already made contact?”
“Yes, sir. He is staying in their capital city of Canterlot, and is currently working on a draft for future negotiations.”
“Good. At least I know we won’t be flying in blind. Dismissed, General.” I salute him, a gesture which he reciprocates, before he turns and walks out of the upper deck. “All hands on deck!” I call attention to myself. Everyone on this deck, including the General I had just dismissed, turns to me. “Alright, General Louzmin here,” I point to him, “has just informed me that fellow General Rahm Kota is already onsite and is preparing the capital city of Equestria, Canterlot, for our arrival. Be warned: this is not our species we are dealing with. I do not want any violence while we are on Albion; am I understood?”
“YES SIR!”
“Good. Next order of business; effective immediately and for the duration of our stay on Albion, I am promoting General Arm’am Louzmin to Acting Captain. Captain, you are now in charge of everything on the Shadow, and you are directly tasked with the overwatch of Asset Alpha.”
Louzmin snaps to attention. “Sir, yes, sir!”
I turn to the coordinate plane built into the space monitor, and read it to find we are close enough to the Dannaem system to perform a hyperspace jump and land next to Albion. “Alright, engineers, we’re officially in the Dannaem system. Set coordinates for Albion and speed up the hyperdrive core.”
I turn to the monitor and start running checks to confirm the data from Kota’s first unexpected trip to the planet. Let’s see… “Approximately forty sentient species, only two of which have similarities to human anatomy and physiology. All have developed their own forms of government, and have built societies with varying levels of technology, much of which has striking resemblance to ancient human technology. Rumors speculate that humans once lived on the planet, both wielding magic and otherwise, but were wiped out in a magical catastrophe approximately fifteen thousand years ago. Other speculation says this is linked to the deaths of the first King and Queen of Equestria and second Monarch of Griffonstone, identities unknown, but no evidence lends credence to these theories. Only species incapable of wielding magic are the Camels of Saddle Arabia and the Cats of Egypt. All others access magic, either as an intrinsic part of their being, or, as is the case with dragons, unicorn and alicorn ponies, and centaurs, as an ability to and usually directly use it. Data suggests planet’s main structure is composed of the same elements found on Naboo, other than a superheated carbon alloy inner core, which allows for radioactive activity at the crust level, or what these species call ‘magic.’ Primitive weapons of war, basic swords and axes for defense and guard, magic in all other cases. Speculation says pegasus and alicorn ponies, female griffons and dragons capable of flight can manipulate cloud formations and other weather phenomena, though data collected lends credence to natural weather behavior. Reasons for manipulating weather other than water for crops unknown.” Well, that was a lot of information. But it wasn’t nearly as much as what I would see if I were to go into the database for just about any planet in our galaxy, say, Geonosis.
I look up to find space beginning to distort as the hyperdrive engine kicks on and starts powering up. It quickly devolves into the speeding multicolored lines that represents all the stars we pass while using hyperspeed on our way to Albion. Usually, it gives me a headache, but this time, I just feel serenity.
I start moving around the ship, doing various exercises, checking data, making sure everything's running smoothly, that sort of thing. About twenty minutes later, I find myself in the back chamber, where only one person calls home: Vader.
It’s been about a month and a half since the battle on Kamino in which I defeated him and secured victory for the Rebel fleet. Ever since then, the morale of the Stormtroopers has dropped drastically, and where they didn’t immediately surrender, they were systematically destroyed by the superior weapons and battle tactics of the New Republic. We now have control over every natural planet in the galaxy, and the only area we have left to conquer is the Death Star, which is where the Emperor resides.
I move behind his restraining device to check for any discrepancies, and find that a screw has been knocked loose. Hmm, that’s going to need to be replaced. I walk over to the intercom and speak into it. “Engineer to Holding Cell Alpha. A fitting’s been knocked loose, and needs replaced. Get over here stat.” I release the intercom button and turn to Vader, who is looking down at the ground, his respirator making the same irritating wheezing noise.
I lean against the durasteel wall nearest the door and wait patiently for the engineer to come in. He does come in about five minutes later, but not without being dragged in by two other engineers who are basically the resident assholes on deck. One sprints off to get back to his console, but I Grip the other one and pull him back inside as the scared youth runs out. While holding him, I walk to the door and input the secret access code, which causes a metal bar to slide in front of the door and lock on the mechanism on the other side, a process which also happens on the other side of the door, locking the two of us in.
I finally release my Grip on him and he drops to the floor, an angry expression on his face. He storms over to me and tries to hit me, but I dodge the attack and Push him into the opposite wall. I then Grip him and keep him against the wall. “Do you know why you’re still here?” I wait for an answer, but it is very evident he does not intend on answering me. “The only reason I keep you and your pissy buddy on my ship is because you’ve got engineering skill that I can put to good use by helping to keep his ass locked up,” I yell at him, pointing to Vader. “But if you’re going to keep treating my other crew like crap, I’m going to throw both you and your buddy off for insubordination. Louzmin may be Captain now, but I still hold executive corporal punishment authority. I ought to have you thrown off the ship anyway, for attempted assault on a superior officer. Do you know what would happen had you done that while you were in training?” I wait for a few seconds before speaking up again, as he obviously intends on pissing me off by not answering my questions. “You would be summarily executed. I hope you’ll take the time to remember that I have the same authority as the drill sergeant who trained you. If you try something like this again, I will have you thrown off the ship on sheer principle. Remember that.”
I walk over to the engineer’s toolkit and take out the drill and screw box. I release my Grip on the asshole, walk over to him and force the items into his hands. “As punishment for your insubordination and attempted assault, you’re going to do a comprehensive check on every system that’s holding him in place. And if I hear otherwise, you will be forced to replace every nut, bolt and screw in the contraption and then I will subsequently throw you out of the airlock. Am I understood?” He just tersely nods. I promptly smack him across the face. “AM I UNDERSTOOD?!”
“...yes, sir.” He then turns around and begins work on the contraption. I turn to the door panel and unlock it.
I then move to the intercom, and press the button. The call notification sounds through the ship’s speakers. “Engineering supervisor to Holding Call Alpha, stat.” I release the button and wait by the door. Less than a minute later, the lead engineer and supervisor walks through the opening doors, an inscrutable expression on his face.
“You needed something?”
“Yes. Supervise him as he works. He is to perform a comprehensive exam on the entirety of the restraining device. If any detour from this is spotted, have him replace every nut, bolt and screw that holds that thing together, then bring him to me so I can flush his ass out of an airlock. In the meantime, I’m going to have some of your engineers relocate his console to the center front station.”
He nods and goes to stand against the wall. Just before I walk out, I turn to him. “I’m going to be locking the door, so if you need anything, use the intercom.” He nods again, then turns to watch the asshole as I walk out. I turn around on the other side of the door, wait for it to close, and input the access code, which causes the metal bars on both sides of the door to slide into place, securing it.
I walk through the small hallway that leads to the deck, and walk through the doors onto deck. “All hands on deck!” Everyone turns to me almost instantly. You know, I could get used to this kind of respect. “I need every spare engineer on this deck working on moving Breckett’s master console to my front podium. I’ll be commandeering it. Let’s get to work!” I turn to the front just as the ship exits hyperspace and idles next to low orbit in front of Albion.
“Sir!” An engineer who is not working on the relocation addresses me as I stand there. I turn around and look at him.
“What’s the problem?”
“We just got a call from the supervisor. The insubordinate tried to kill him.” I raise both my eyebrows. So it seems moving his console was a good idea. Now that he’s been stupid enough to attack one of my personnel, I’m going to make an example out of him.
I turn about and quickly walk through the bowels of the ship to the holding cell. I unlock the door, and Breckett runs out, taking a potshot at me with a laser pistol he had most likely stolen. I instantly take out my lightsaber and reflect the shot back at him, causing him to stumble and fall. I promptly Grip him and bring him on deck with me.
“Strakk, M’Darrda, get over here and hold him.” The two Tatooine natives rush over and grab his arms and legs, stretching him out in a quartering fashion. I then release him from my Grip and turn around, looking out at Albion. “All hands on deck!”
Everyone stands up and snaps to attention. I remain in my current position. “I may have given my position to General Luozmin for the duration of our stay on Albion, but that does not mean I still do not hold execute authority on this ship. And all of you have flown with me for the last six weeks, so you know how I work. Lemmin!”
“Sir!” One of the Rebels on the lower part of the deck salutes to me.
“What is my policy on insubordination?”
“First time offender, hard manual labor, sir.”
“Good. And what’s the punishment for a repeat offender?”
“Summary execution, sir.”
“Well done. At ease.” I then pull out my two blue lightsabers and activate them, twirling them in my hands to get my hands used to the feel again. I turn around and Dash to Breckett, shoving my lightsabers into his chest and stomach. He lets out a strangled scream, and then goes limp, his heart completely destroyed and the boiled acids in his stomach eating through the rest of his body.
I deactivate my lightsabers and place them back on my holster, then walk back to the front, taking in the view of Albion once more. “Let his insubordination be an example to all of you of what awaits if you attempt to go down this path. He has paid for his treachery. Hopefully by the time we touch down in Equestria, that will have sunk into your minds.” I turn to Zelmiern, the other resident asshole. “You’re already on my bad side. I don’t want to hear of any more insubordination from you, or else you’ll suffer the same fate as Breckett here. Am I understood?”
“SIR, YES, SIR!” He snaps quickly.
“At ease, soldiers.” Everyone drops their stances and goes back to work. “Strakk, M’Darrda, haul his body to the airlock and dispose of it.”
I turn back and walk to the holding cell, where I find the supervisor laying on the ground, trying to sleep, a small burn mark on his shoulder from where he was hit. I pick him up slowly, causing him to wake up. “Come on, I know you need rest, but I’ve got one more quick thing for you to do. Then I’ll let you use my chambers for the night.” He slowly nods, and we walk toward the deck.
I am pleasantly surprised to find my executive chair already implanted into the metal grill and the console set up and ready to go, its controls overridden to allow for full administrator access.
I turn and sit in the chair, then find the swivel button and swing around so I am facing my crew. I have the supervisor kneel next to me. “Alright, status report. What’s the condition of the hyperdrive?”
“Critical, sir. The journey was much longer than anticipated. It seems someone planted a bomb in it, but it failed to completely shut it down.”
“Shit. Turn off the hyperdrive completely and move to backup warp drives. Reroute tertiary and backup power supply to rear and side shielding, output seventy percent.”
“Affirmative.” The engineer in charge of the hyperdrive begins pressing some buttons on his console as I swivel around and press a few buttons on the console to enter the ship diagnostic. “Hyperdrive powering down, sir.” Just as he said, the diagnostic shows a slowly blackening area near the lower center core room which represents the hyperdrive powering down. “We have a successful shutoff, sir.” The console no longer displays the hyperdrive in the core room. “Request to send personnel to core room?”
“Request granted. I was just about to ask that. I need a free senior engineer down to Core right now to supervise the condition of engines and power supply and run a diagnostic to ensure nothing else was damaged in the blast.” I swivel around back to the console and bring up the power management system. “All engineers, take all other systems offline. Right now, I only want comms, engines and shielding. Reroute power as necessary to maintain full function of those systems on the ship.” I watch as most of the ship darkens and goes black. The various rooms with intercoms, Core, and the deck are the only rooms that are visible, though they are nearly black due to all other systems being shut down. “Okay, now I want comm signal strength increased to -22-24.” I watch as the area for the radar scanner lights up a bright blue. “Report.”
“Signal strength increased, sir. No power problems as of yet.”
“Good. Reroute necessary power to full-ship shielding, power output thirty percent.” I watch as the shield strengthens around the sides and rear, coming to full strength, while a thin shield manifests itself in the front of the ship. “Report.”
“Shields functioning correctly, sir. Power output reads close to critical level.”
“Okay. Leave shields and other systems as is. Kick the remaining power to warp drives. I want us on the ground in the Whitetail Woods in fifteen minutes, got it?”
“YES, SIR!” An affirmative nod later, and I am once more facing Albion, but now we are slowly moving toward the atmosphere.
“Final power report.”
“Power output is maxed out, sir. We can no longer spare power for any other resources.”
“Very well. Continue along allotted course.” I swivel around and stand up from my chair, then motion for the supervisor to follow me. We slowly walk out of the deck room and through the hallways, until we come to a stop at the door to my quarters. I input the access code and motion for him to enter with me. I turn to the left and input the code on a second panel to unlock the guest bedroom, which he gingerly walks into. “The input code to lock the code is 1B6FA772. Just come out when you’re done.”
He nods and walks in, turning around and locking the door behind him. I head back to the deck.
“Progress.”
“Sir, we have arrived in Equestria. Where are these woods you speak of?”
“Look for the forest that isn’t, then travel north. There should be an occupied village north of the woods, located at the fringe of Vanhoover Island.” With my instructions, we quickly pass over said forest and find the woods. We find a large clearing. “Touch down here. I came on orders. It’s going to be just me. Give me the emergency beacon. I’ll use it to get you back here if I need you.”
The lead scientist runs into the hallways. Five minutes later, he runs back with the beacon and a set of talk-speakers. Think of them as walkie talkies, but they provide more clear sound and work on more frequencies. They can also multi-communicate, meaning I can use it to communicate to a group, and have the ability to suppress the user’s voice when they are speaking into it, which makes it very effective for espoinage missions.
I promptly run to my compartment and grab my battle robes and four more blue crystals for my lightsabers. I then run out to the back area of the ship, grabbing my adventurer’s bag along the way. I then use the intercom to relay my instructions to the deck. “Captain, depressurize the airlock. Preparing for emergence.”
Three seconds later, I hear the air whizzing into the airlock. A short minute later, the front airlock door opens. I walk out and input the dock code into the nearby panel, allowing the ramp to lower itself to the ground. I wait until it touches on the ground before I walk down.
Upon exiting the ramp, I pull out my walkie talkie and speak into it. “I’m off the ship. Raise the ramp and depart back to Hoth. Send a distress signal out, make sure someone comes to get you once you exit orbit range. Good luck.”
“Good luck to you as well, sir. Send General Kota our salutations.”
“Will do. Take care now.”
I watch as the ramp is raised, the airlock is repressurized and the ship begins to take off. I continue standing there, watching as the ship enters atmospheric altitude, and then wait until I can no longer see it.
“What was that?”
I turn around to find the owner of the voice, and find a young man with striking golden blonde hair put up in messy spikes, holding a golden staff with what looks like a keychain hanging from a ring at the top of it. Nine golden orbs float in an ovular formation behind and above him. He wears a light gray robe with what looks like magatama ringing the cuffs and collar.
“That? That was the starship I used to arrive on this planet.”
“What’s a starship?” Hmm, this human must be from an underdeveloped civilization. The Rebels have found proof of planets beyond those in our galaxy that house human life, including that from which humans originated. Of course, that planet is completely destroyed, as it has been more than ten trillion years since then, and most of that galaxy’s old stars have died off, though the nebulae formed just as many, if not more. But I digress.
“An advanced piece of human technology that allows for intragalactic travel. We have used it to explore many planets and colonize them.” He just looks confused, so I guess my assumption was right. “It seems your civilization has not had very advanced technology. What was the technological marvel of your time?”
“Uh… the flatscreen TV.” OK… I didn’t expect his world’s technological prowess to be that far back. That sets his human civilization apart from ours hundreds of thousands, if not millions of years.
“Hmm… that’s a problem. Let me show you something I’ve got on my person.” I take out my lightsaber and activate it, causing the localized plasma projection to shoot out. “This is a refracted light plasma sword, or, as most of us call them, a lightsaber. It consists of a heat-proof shell that houses a special crystal imbued with the Force, a special form of energy manipulation that anyone can use. The crystal projects a localized plasma beam from a hole right here,” I tell the man, taking out my other lightsaber and showing him the hole in the top where the beam comes out. “The plasma is a superheated flame with the properties of a superfluid, at an approximate temperature of five million degrees Fahrenheit.”
The man nods, his facial expression showing his emotion. He is obviously very impressed. “If you don’t fight with technology, what do you use?”
The man summons a blue, translucent flame to his hands, then his hands move in a weird fashion before he… summons clones? Okay, that’s new. We have cloning facilities, but we certainly can’t use the Force to summon clones ourselves . “What you just saw was handseals. We use these to manipulate our chakra, the energy that allows us to manipulate the fourth and fifth dimensions, housed inside our cores, until we are ready to release it in the form of an attack. There are five main elements that chakra can conform to: fire, wind, lightning, water, and earth. With these, people gain Kekkei Genkai, or combinations of any two of these elements that makes their battle prowess much greater. Kekkei Tota, or combinations of any three of these elements, increase this battle prowess even further, and very few have ever had a Kekkei Tota. In fact, in the last eleven thousand years since we were granted the ability to use chakra, I think the number of people who have wielded Kekkei Tota aren’t even in the triple digits, and our continental population numbers in the ten millions.”
“So overall, you’re telling me that your branch of the human race doesn’t have much power.”
“Overall, yes. But that is not the case for me. I am the first of the two most powerful shinobi to ever exist.”
“That’s a big title. Care to back it up?”
“Of course. Well, I actually was one of the weakest when I started out. I couldn’t even create those clones, despite having more chakra than the leader of my village. It took unbelievable levels of hard work and determination to get where I am today. In fact, the second strongest in history; it’s been proven, if we were to fight, we’d both die.”
“That’s rather impressive. In fact, it’s the same here: I’m a prodigy of the Force, one of the minimal few to unlock my powers before age five, and the youngest armed forces commander in over a hundred thousand years.” He nods at this. I realize something that I had missed before. “I think we forgot formal introductions. People call me Starkiller.” I extend my hand out in a handshake.
The man takes it eagerly. “Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze.”
Author's Note
OK, I had planned on topping this chapter out at 1700 words, but after I figured out what I wanted Starkiller’s introduction to be, shit happened, people got killed, drama popped up, and the chapter basically wrote itself. The chapter topped at over four thousand words instead. But hey, I’m not complaining, especially if this results in more people being interested in the story, which is my comfortable little bonus for the unexpected effort.
Anyway, I’m going to get writing on Chapter 3, so you guys have fun, and I’ll see you next week!
Of Mares and Men - Volume 1: Rise
Chapter 2: The Reacquaintance
Arc I: Purge
Chapter 2: The Reacquaintance
Perspective: James, last name unknown
Are you kidding me? This can’t be happening. Okay, let me explain. Remember how I first came to Equestria? If not, then let me explain that. I was sitting on my chair in the bedroom of my two story house one day. I started nodding out… only to be violently woken up by my chair falling to the ground… only it wasn’t my chair. I had somehow fallen into an entirely unfamiliar world. And now that seems to have happened, but I’m not in another world this time… only I now find myself in a different region of the same world.
I take a quick look around before standing up, finding myself shirtless. Man, and that was a really good shirt. Rarity outdid herself on that one. Eh, I’ll just have to go back into town to…
Wait a minute… I just realized I’m nowhere near town. I remember this general area. This is the Whitetail Woods… this is where I originally found myself when I first came to Equestria. A quick look around confirms my suspicions. Then I realize that this is the exact spot where I came here the first time.
I start panicking. Am I stuck in some kind of temporal loop? That would make no sense… and now I’m looking around, trying to identify specific features that were such the first time around. I quickly snap out of it, hoping against hope it isn’t the case. But at least one thing comes of this: I found my way out once before, I can find my way out again. I look for the tree with the knife embedded into it… only to realize it wouldn’t be there in the first place. I had put it there myself, so why would it be here if I came back in time? It wouldn’t. That’s a problem.
I wrack my brain, trying to think of the direction I went in, but the trees are strangely arranged in such a way that trying to find the way I originally went causes me to quickly become disoriented. I take a knee and wait a second for the dizziness to stop, a second which wuickly turns into a minute, and so on, until I find myself on the ground. Huh, I didn’t know I… was tired…
I rub my eyes and wake up to find myself in the same area. I quickly notice the dizziness has stopped, but I can also tell by the fact that it is nighttime that I must have fallen asleep. I get up and start walking in a random direction. I also decide to check if my cutie mark is still emblazoned on my shoulders and collarbone. I look down at my chest… and yes, there it is. That’s a load off my chest.
I feel for my magic… well, it’s weak, but it’s there. At least I know I can get it back… wait, where even did it go? I could swear I… actually, did I do anything? I have flashes of what seems like violent memories… a black gem… a twisted face… and blood… lots of blood…
I am thrust away from my thoughts when I hear the growl of a timberwolf. I quickly backtrack and find a suitable tree to climb up. I send what little magic I can access to my legs and feet to lessen the coming impact, then I draw a knife, much to my own displeasure. I brace myself, and as the timberwolf starts searching under the tree for me, I drop from the branch I’m standing on and land with my knife in its throat area.
The timberwolf struggles for a moment before it collapses limply on the ground and its wood starts decaying to a grayish color. I try my best not to wince at witnessing its death firsthand, but it still come out what I see it changing colors and decaying so quickly. In fact, when its dead wood splits open to reveal a colony of termites eating away at the wood, I promptly turn around and lose last night’s dinner.
It takes me a few minutes to regain my composure, wiping away the remnants on a stray flat rock. I stand up and try to shake off the lingering nausea, but my body isn’t having it. I just try to walk it off, looking for anything that will tell me how to get out of here. I really don’t want to stay here any longer than I have to.
After another hour of walking, I find a small, worn path that leads out of the woods. Wait, why didn’t I find this last time around? Whatever. I decide not to dwell on it as I continue walking along the path.
Several hours later finds me resting near a tree, eating a couple apples. Man, all this walking made me hungry. The weird thing, though, is that I didn’t even notice it until I bit into the apple.
I get up, climg up the tree I’m resting on, and grab a couple more apples befor eclimbing back down. I’m on the path that connects Vanhoover to the ancient Old Canterlot castle. I’m also on the fringe of the Whitetail Woods, along the border to the Everfree. I am already stocked on food, because the way I’m getting to the castle, I’m going to need it.
I finish the walk to the Everfree, and then channel what little magic I can muster into my legs. Then I start running.
One Day Later
I’ve been slowly making progress toward the castle. Based on where I am now, the gorges around me and my constantly walking across unsteady bridges, I’d say I have about two miles left to go.
I take an apple out of my jean pocket and take a quick bite, savoring the crunching sound of my teeth sinking through the skin, savoring the sweet, crisp taste.
I continue to eat it as I walk the rugged, long-unused path to the Everfree Castle.
About twenty minutes later, I find myself standing in front of a long bridge that drops down into a foggy ravine. No doubt this will be the death of me if I’m not careful.
I eat one last apple before starting to cross the treacherous bridge. On the other side, there look to be some stable planks, but I’m going to have to move quickly to get past them, because the rope on that side is barely attached.
I grab the rope on the left side, the part that looks sturdy, and I’m glad I do, because I hear a snapping sound, and when I look back, I have to plant my feet on the side of the planks on the left as the entire right side of the bridge breaks and falls until it’s hanging below me.
I begin a more precarious trip across the left side of the bridge as I hear the entire bridge creak loudly. I start moving faster, but keep my pace relatively slow, so that I don’t make any mistakes and fall to my death.
About ten minutes later, I finally make it to the other side, but not without more rope breaking, and a few planks falling off. I run to a tree and collapse against it, breathing heavily. That was intense, even though it was just a bridge. I actually thought I was going to die back there.
A few minutes later, I slowly get up and continue along the path, munching on another apple from my bag. As I walking, I notice things I hadn’t before. I had been here before, but I’m pretty sure that cave wasn’t there before. And that tree was uprooted when the Elements fought Nightmare Moon… so I am in the past. Damn.
First things first, I need to make it back to Ponyville, or at least see if Nightmare Moon is back yet. If I have gone back in time, those two things are givens.
Suddenly, I find the forest around me getting much darker. Wait, I remember this. This is where Fluttershy and the others had to banish the darkness that hap seeped into the trees. Well, a little magic on the ground should flush out Nightmare Moon’s little ploy… I touch my hands to the ground and focus my minimal magic to the ground, spreading it in… And there we go. You though you could hide. Sorry, but all those late night study sessions with Twilight helped me access and focus my magic, even if only a little.
I walk in the direction of the retreating mist, only to find it crosses the bridge… whcih is just fine. Okay, what? It nearly killed me trying to cross it; how is it in such good condition? I get ready, eat an apple, and start sprinting across the bridge. I know it still isn’t sturdy, because I can hear the wood creaking under my feet.
I barely make it across before the bridge snaps on one side completely, and on one side on the other. Then I watch as the weight becomes too much for a simple piece of rope to hold, and the last piece of rope breaks, and the bridge tumbles into the ravine. I wince as I hear it grinding against the rocks, and then the splash of water as it lands in the river at the bottom.
I start walking on the path to the Castle, and I find it funny that it’s right next to the one I used to get here from the Whitetail Woods.
When I see a white flash of light, I become very worried and immediately start running down the path, grabbing yet another apple from my bag and biting down into it. If this is what I think it is, then I’m going to need every ounce of energy I can get.
Five minutes later, I’m finally at the castle, breathing heavily and eating the last apple in my bag. I throw the core away and slowly, cautiously walk inside.
Upon entering, I notice the castle is in the same decrepit state as it used to be… or will be? Agh… if this is a temporal loop, then it necessitates the need for a whole new set of grammatical rules and terms.
I walk through the first corridor and take the stone path to the top floor, noticing the various stonework designs with some respect. I wonder why the ponies never came back for any of this. It would make for some beautiful architecture in the big cities.
Upon reaching the top floor, I see the bright light again and run forward, across the old stone bridge, and break down the door that leads to the Elements. I fall into the hallway, but quickly recover and stand up, moving forward faster than before.
I quickly reach the hallway, and sure enough, I see the others paraded around the stonework, with no Elements in sight. I run past them. I need to get to Twilight before Nightmare Moon can do anything bad to her.
They start running after me, but I increase my speed with what little magic I have in my reserve so that I am putting distance between us.
I run forward and find the stone door less than fifty feet away. With barely a thought, I rush the door and hurl myself into a drop kick, the force barely being enough to open them, being made of stone and all.
I gingerly pick myself up and move into the room. I notice things are drastically different. First, the Elements are scattered around the room, not a single one having been damaged.
The next thing I notice, though I don’t know why I didn’t notice it first, is Twilight unconscious, her body leaning against the column next to me.
The most striking thing I notice is a human with short wavy brown hair flying about him as if in a strong gust. The air around his body is distorted due to his use of magic, which is a beautiful combination of sky blue and yellow. He is holding what looks like an ancient Sunsword in his left hand, and a slightly worn shield with Luna's secret corp symbol embedded into it on his right arm. Nightmare Moon, on the other hand, has her magic activated, but is hesitant to use it for whatever reason.
Suddenly, the man goes into action, using his magic to bolt towards her, bashing her with his Moon shield and disorienting her, allowing him to get two glancing blows in on her midsection with the sword before she forces him back. During this, he's trying to use his voice to get her to... change? "Please, I know you can overcome this. You were better before this; don't let it overwhelm you, Nightmare Moon!"
Since the two are occupied, I run to Twilight and pick her up. I slowly and gingerly move back to outside the door, and set her down as the five ponies from before come running in. They all immediately move to Twilight’s unconscious form as I promptly turn around and go inside, pushing the stone door shut so that they can’t interfere. According to what I remember from talking with Fluttershy, Twilight’s determination in the face of certain doom was the whole reason they had unlocked the power of the Elements to defeat Nightmare Moon with. Seeing as how Twilight is unconscious, that isn’t going to happen.
I take cover behind a worn pillar as I continue to watch the fight. Nightmare Moon seems to be on the offensive now, as she is launching blasts of purplish-black magic at the man, who blocks the first two, but misjudges on his timing and gets struck by the third, sliding back a couple feet. I can see his eyes now. They are an icy blue, and what looks like blue translucent magic is ringing the area around his eyes.
The man suddenly embeds his shield into the ground, runs forward and launches a punch at her. At first, it doesn’t look like it lands, but I see a translucent fist made of his magic hit her square in the chest and send her flying back near the window, where she skids to a stop. Then her eyes start glowing white, and I see the human turn and try to grab his shield, but he’s pulled to her in what looks like a gravity manipulation attack. He manages to avoid her horn trying to gut him like a trout, then he hits her square in the jaw and sends her flying, sending her into a pillar, which subsequently starts developing cracks in the bottom as she extricates herself from it.
She then launches a beam of purplish magic at the man, who puts his arms up in a cross formation, trying to block it primarily using the sword. He skids along the ground as he is pushed back from the sheer force of the beam. Just as he is about to hit the wall adjacent to me, he manages to redirect the beam with a flourish, sending the energy through the window behind Nightmare Moon and into the night sky.
“Dammit, come on, Nightmare Moon!” He suddenly roars out in a rather moderately pitched voice, trying to do whatever he can to gain the advantage. He extends his left arm and looks like he’s about to grab something, but I’m surprised when I am barely able to see his magic shooting out in a random direction almost faster than I can follow. It suddenly stops next to Nightmare Moon, who doesn’t even seem to notice. She doesn’t notice anything is amiss until the man pulls on that… line… and suddenly moves from his position to the end of the line - right next to her - in the time it would take me to blink.
She only registers his extremely fast movement when he spins around and plants a heavy steel-armored boot in her face, sending her into the column next to the window and nearly shattering it. She quickly extricates herself from the remnants of the column, a look of sheer rage on her face.
Suddenly, she teleports right behind his guard and shoves her horn towards him. He barely manages to react in time, grabbing it and using it as a means of flipping over her. Just as he lands, though, her back hooves lash out and send him flying clean through the column in front of me and causing me to back against the wall to avoid the debris.
The man gets up just in time to have his head smashed forcefully against the heavy stone wall next to me, sending him through it as well. He gets up in a daze, but I know something is wrong when she suddenly teleports to the broken window. Just as he’s going for another attack, she suddenly turns into a tacky blue mist which shoots out of the window at the speed of a bullet train.
The man, now alone, runs to the window and lets off a short string of curses before making another line with his magic and subsequently disappearing, just as the stone door behind me is kicked open by… three other humans? When did they get on this planet?
The three men walk toward me with a sense of urgency. The man on the left has short, spiky black hair and a rather soft-set face, with brown eyes and a sharp chin. He is wearing a set of what looks like robes meant for battle, like those kimonos many ancient Japanese warriors would wear, but it also looks like metal has been woven into the fabric, allowing for sufficient mobile protection.
The man in the middle has short, very spiky blonde hair and blue eyes set upon a rather square face and round chin. He is wearing a light gray open-tied haori with a magatama motif set upon the collar and arm and ankle cuffs. He also has a golden staff in his left hand with what looks like a spirit net set into the top. Nine golden orbs float in an ovular formation above and behind him, and are rotating slightly.
The man on the right has short, unkempt brown hair and blue eyes set upon a round face and smooth cleft chin. He is wearing an advanced kevlar mesh vest over a dark brown muscle shirt and metal elbow guards that seem to hang loosely to provide flexibility for movement. He is also wearing a pair of black carbon fiber pants with metal kneeguards and black combat boots. Strapped to his belt are pouches for two different types of grenades, a small weapons holster holding a .44 magnum silver plated pistol, and two other compartments whose purpose I cannot discern. This last guy kind of creeps me out. He seems like one of those ex-military blackwater rejects. I never really liked the military. Back on Earth, I basically thought of them as the leaders’ way of saying “screw you” to every other country and weakening them at the same time. Well, that, and the fact that I had a bad experience with someone like this when I was a teenager.
“Are you the only one here?” The man on the left speaks in a rather moderately pitched voice that has a little bit of a gravelly tone to it. “We saw the white light and came to figure out what it was.”
“Well… yes and no… I was watching a fight between some man who wielded magic and a sword… and this mare from legend called Nightmare Moon…” I almost immediately notice the man on the right chuckle to himself a little bit.
“Nightmare Moon, huh? Well, shit; that means I did come back in time.” He speaks in a rather high voice that sounds like it has a little bit of a southern accent to it. “Well, if that’s the case, guys, it looks like we’re going to have to stop her.”
The man in the middle, who, now that I think about it, is rather young, turns to him. When he speaks, his high-pitched tone of voice only further cements that belief. “Really? You told us that the Elements banished the darkness inside her heart. How could she be here?”
“For you two, this will be your first time seeing her. For me, though, the Elements told me about when they fought her. If we’re currently in the timeframe where Nightmare Moon escaped, then that means I’ve gone back in time; I don’t know how, so don’t ask.” The man seems to show an impressive amount of foresight; just as the young man prepares to ask another question, he raises a gnarled hand and basically answers his next question before he can even bring it up.
“Alright, so we’ve got a situation on our hands here, only you have any depth as to what you’ve been told, and said mare is gone. Which means we have to find her quickly, before she can cause any unforeseen damage.” The man on the left retorts in an exasperated tone, unwilling to let the conversation go on any further.
He steps toward me and looks at me with a hint of interest. “You said you saw the battle?” I nod nervously. “Then that means you’ve more experience with her firsthand than any of us here. Even his anecdote can only be construed as speculation. Can you come with us?”
“How long?” I nervously ask, dreading, yet expecting the answer to come.
“Not long. At least however long it takes to find and subdue this Nightmare Moon, anyways.” I figured as much. I slowly nod. “What’s your name?”
“Me? I’m… I’m James.”
He extends his hand for a handshake. I slowly take it. “Starkiller.”
“Umm, pardon… but that sounds more like a title than a name.”
“That’s because it is. My actual name is Galen. Come on, let’s get going.” He turns around and starts walking toward the open stone door, the other two turning to walk with him. I gingerly start to follow. Something tells me this is going to be a long week.
Author's Note
Well, there's your weekly chapter! Tell me what you thought, and don't forget to tell me how well I did writing James's character, because I'm kinda new to this whole outside OC usage. See you next week!
Of Mares and Men - Volume 1: Rise
Chapter 3: The Reassignment
Arc I: Purge
Chapter 3: The Reassignment
Perspective: Miles Eremita
...Huh? Where the hell am I? I was just taking a nice nap on my living room couch… and now I’m suddenly in the Whitetail Woods? What the hell?
I get up and flare my magic, sending the lines from the circles on my palms and feet to my wrists and ankles, then jump up into the air and above the trees to find where I am. It seems I am about one and a half kilometers from the Everfree Forest. I only know of the Whitetail Woods because I passed them on my way back from crossing the Divide with Luna. I put the in the back of my mind for now and try to focus on where I’m going.
I start using the trees as boosters for my magic-powered jumps so I can move faster. If I got sent into some area like this as a cheap parlor trick, some ponies is getting shit on...
Thirty minutes later, and I find myself standing before the twisted trees and dead or tall grass that signifies the Everfree Forest. I go to walk in, but pause when I feel something out of place. I can’t put my finger on it, but something just feels… wrong.
I hear… is that an engine? No, can’t be, too quiet… I look up anyway, and to my surprise, I see a large sophisticated metal aircraft flying away very quickly. How the hell did aircraft get up to the surface? As far as I remember, everything’s still buried under three kilometers of solid, packed earth.
I promptly turn around and start running in the opposite direction, towards where the craft was coming from. Looked like it was traveling from the woods. There has to be something over there.
I flare my magic, bringing the lines back to my ankles and wrists, before jumping into the air, looking around. Wait, what is that? I suddenly see a bright flash of light from over near the clearing I was in last night.
I land and start sprinting in that direction, but when I get there, I find nothing. I quickly look around to search for anything, and I am surprised to find footprints on the ground, which I quickly begin following.
I run along the footprints for about five minutes, before I come to a stop in front of a large river that leads into a ravine. I look around, wondering where the person went, seeing as how the footprints just abruptly stopped.
I see two other humans… I’m still not sure about that… standing about one hundred meters away, near the part of the river that drops into the ravine. An unsturdy wood and rope bridge precariously connects the land on either side.
I start to approach the two people, wondering who they are. They don’t seem to be much of a threat, unlike the last guy.
When I’m almost to the two, the blonde man instantly turns in my direction. Upon noticing that the blonds man has seen something, the man with the dark hair turns to me.
He strides forward and meets me halfway, extending a hand for a handshake. “Nice to meet you. People call me Starkiller.”
“Umm… yes, you as well. Miles Eremita. I have to say, that sounds more like a title than anything. Mind telling me how you got that?”
Before Starkiller can respond, the blonde haired man walks forward and extends his hand out for a handshake. “What’s up? Name’s Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze.”
“Miles Eremita, Captain of the Spartan Terradisian forces.” I shake hands with him, and notice that his grip is very strong. His calloused hands tell me he has some form of battle experience. That’s just not good, though; most people are supposed to be at least twenty before they can be drafted into any form of battle operation, while this Naruto only looks like seventeen or eighteen.
I turn back to Starkiller, who begins speaking as if that introduction had not happened. “Well, I didn’t actually kill a star. I just threw a starship into it. I also wrecked a starship the size of this country into a planet, and it punched through the crust. Two years later, glorified gigantic boomstick. Though the Republic wasn’t very happy about that.”
“Damn, dude. If you could do that, I don’t think anything stands in your way.”
“That’s where you’re wrong.” Much to my chagrin, I emit a squeak of surprise and turn to Starkiller in astonishment. “I’m just a clone. My progenitor was killed in battle with another of similar power, one they called the Emperor. He survived, though, and he’s been looking for me ever since I turned Light and told Vader to fuck off.” Vader? Eh, I’ll just set it aside, because he doesn’t even realize he said it, so it must not be very pertinent. “Once the Empire learns of Kota’s first venture here, they’ll come looking, and they’re going to bring the whole fucking armada down on me. No big deal, though. It isn’t like that stopped me the last time they tried to do something like that. I’m nowhere near his power level, though I could still beat the shit out of whatever tries to come after me.”
I notice it isn’t really arrogance in his voice, but something else I can’t identify. Naruto turns to me and asks a question. “You said you were a captain. Are you important?”
“Well, back on Terra, I would be.”
“The Spartans seem rather important, too. Who are they?” Starkiller interjects, looking at me quizzically.
“Okay, let me give you a rundown of how powerful we are. I lived in an underground city called Topaz Falls. Topaz Falls had seventeen million people call it home. Of those, one point two million were part of the Terradisian armed forces. Of those, four hundred thousand were in active duty, sent on the front lines to defend Topaz with all the power we could garner. Out of those four hundred thousand, only one hundred were able to call themselves Spartans. During my time on Terra, I was the Lieutenant of the Spartan forces, exceeded in rank by only one person: the Captain, who was actually someone I knew personally. So basically, I was the second highest military personnel in the Terradisian military, and I was the most powerful magic user of all Terra. Based on what you’ve told me, the two of us are at a similar power level.”
“Hey, don’t forget about me!” Naruto cuts across my little speech, and my eyebrow starts twitching, but I exert control and force myself to maintain a calm composure.
Starkiller turns to him. “Oh? And you would say you have our power, too?”
Naruto nods energetically, and quickly begins to explain. “Well, yeah. But it’s a lot more complicated than just ‘I have power because blank,’ and it’s too complicated to explain. Maybe once we get out of this mess, I’ll be able to tell you guys more. But I think the forest is trying to constrict our breathing, so we should probably get moving.”
I nod in agreement. For some reason, now that he’s mentioned it, it does seem to feel like the forest is constricting us. Maybe it’s the trees, with their gnarled and twisted trunks and sharp branches, or the stale, foggy air that I’ve been breathing in since getting back into the forest. Come to think of it, I don’t know how I didn’t notice this before. Maybe freaking the hell out during a pirate ambush put a little perspective on my life.
I just push that aside for now, noticing the other looking at me expectantly. “Well, Naruto’s right. We should probably get out of-”
I’m suddenly and violently cut off as the earth trembles beneath us, cracking and threatening to split open like a damaged sword. I leap to Starkiller and grab his arm, pulling him toward me just as the ground starts to cave toward the ravine. Chunks are torn out and fall into the river far below. Naruto jumps out of the way and grabs my arm, pulling the two of us back further, and it proves a good idea, as the ground beneath where I just was starts to develop massive cracks.
We run back, but we notice a path. What the others don’t see for some reason is the tacky blue mist that is flying away from a damaged castle that lies at the end of the path, along with yet another... human... flying after her, a blue shield with the mark of the crescent moon embedded on it and a sword with a sun as a cross guard, both traveling at nearly supersonic speeds.
They suddenly start running down the path, a sign to me that maybe they did notice. Starkiller is using his ‘Force’ to move his legs faster and get more propulsion, speeding along the ground. I don’t know how Naruto is attaining the same speed, but he’s doing it somehow. Following their lead, I power up my magic, sending the lines halfway up my forearms and halfway up the bottom halves of my legs, before taking off and catching up with them.
Whatever is going on out here, it seems the three of us are the only ones capable of figuring it out.
Author's Note
And they take off after the castle where Nightmare Moon and the unknown human did battle! Sorry if it seems like a bit of a cliffhanger to stop the chapter here, but the word count was getting ahead of me yet again. I intended to stop this as soon as I set up the introductions between Miles, Starkiller and Naruto, but then I realized that it would have left a huge plot hole that gave no explanation as to how they showed up at the site of the battle in the last chapter. Big plot hole means big fan base of pissed off readers, so I had to tie off some loose ends. The rest of that bit will be touched on in the next chapter.
Also, I'm currently working on a quick one-shot for a fellow reader and his author girlfriend, so I'll start working on Chapter 6 when I'm done with that, in about two days.
Of Mares and Men - Volume 1: Rise
1.4: Mystery of the Night
Chapter 4: Mystery of the Night
Arc I: Purge
Chapter 4: Mystery of the Night
Perspective: Starkiller
It seems all of us had the same idea as soon as I saw that blue mist. Something happened in that castle, and I intend to find out what.
We’re all sprinting toward the castle as fast as the weakest link can carry us, which I’m mollified to admit is me. As we go, we’re discussing what we saw. It’s mostly theory supplies with rumors, time jumping bullshit and thinly veiled conjecture, but it’s all we have to go on until we can figure out what’s going on.
“No, I don’t see how that would work.” Miles seems to be in an argument with Naruto.
“Well, it would make sense that this Nightmare Moon, or whatever she’s called, has the ability to shapeshift, or, failing that, possess, if she was able to nearly fool the Elements five times in a row. But now that she’s escaped, she could do just about anything, and we have no way of stopping her!”
“Oh, am I hearing a concession in that sentence?”
Apparently, Miles already figured Naruto’s personality out, because now he’s irritably snapping out a response. “I never said that! I never give up, and that’s my ninja way! Just because we can’t stop her doesn’t mean we shouldn’t at least try to slow her down!” Well, despite his attitude clouding his judgement, he has a point. We might not be able to beat her if what Miles had told us was true, but we can certainly distract her until Twilight and the others, the bearers of the Elements that Miles told us about, are able to harness their power to banish the darkness. Problem is, we’re so focused on getting to the castle, I don’t think any of us bothered to double-check the direction she went in. So now we have to go off a gut feeling to get us to her, unless she decides to rear her ugly head again and start destroying shit. That would only be too convenient.
I stop suddenly and grab the other two before they can run past me, almost falling into a chasm. That was close. “Are you guys done arguing now? We need to be focusing on the task at hand, not bickering like little children.” I’m starting to get tired of this, and I had patience beaten into my head during my Sith training. Training that I pointedly ignored when I came around, but the point still stands.
Naruto looks away indignantly, while Miles just smiles, knowing that he basically won the argument. “Now let’s go. I get the feeling we’re not alone out here.” I slowly push open the large, ornate stone door slowly, but it makes a lot of noise as I do so… and as soon as the three of us are in the decrepit building, the door’s hinges proceed to snap and break, promptly causing the door to fall toward us. I turn around and Grip it, slowly moving it out of the way before turning it and throwing it out of the new hole made by the lack of door. It goes hurtling off the cliff into the chasm.
We walk into the ancient, decrepit castle and look around. Many tapestries hang from the walls, though most are in tatters, except for two important-looking fixtures hanging over two royal thrones. The one on the left depicts the Sun rising in the sky, and a white alicorn pony is shown on it. On the other is a depiction of the night sky and stars, with the rising Moon and a dark blue alicorn pony depicted on it.
Naruto seems to be enraptured with the tapestries, until I tap him on the side of the head. He gives me a withering glare in response. “What?!”
“We still have a mission to complete. Come on,” I say bluntly as I walk toward the stone stairs leading to what seems to be the castle tower.
I pretty much have to do the same to Miles, who seems to like the art forms encountered in this castle even more so than Naruto. I basically have to drag him across the castle.
A flight of stairs later, I find myself standing in front of a large, ornate stone door that probably houses the castle tower interior. I gingerly push it open and take a look around.
Two pillars that support the structure have been partially or completely destroyed in places, leaving a severe lack of support that will probably cause a structure collapse. Various marks have been gouged out through the walls and ground of the structure, indicating the use of sharp weapons or laser beams to inflict lasting damage, another sign that the structure is soon to collapse.
Along the walls and ground are also scattered large burn marks, damaging the ornate stone walkways and walls and causing them to blacken slightly. There are also signs of brute force magic or archaic energy being used, such as the large crater on the inner wall to the left of me.
Only when I look at the wall next to me do I notice a young man standing there, looking shocked. He has brown hair tied back in a small ponytail, and his face is soft and curved. The baby fat is still present, which tells me he hasn’t worked a day in his life, really. Or at least he hasn’t done very much work.
I turn to him and approach him, clearing my throat while doing so. He turns to me. “Are you the only one here? We saw the white light and came to figure out what it was.”
“Well… yes and no.” The young man speaks in a rather low voice. “I was watching a fight between some man who wielded magic… and this mare from legend called Nightmare Moon…”
I turn to Miles when I hear him chuckle to himself. I raise an eyebrow in a questioning gesture.
“Nightmare Moon, huh? Well, shit; that means I did come back in time.” I cross my arms, waiting for further explanation. “Well, if that’s the case, guys, it looks like we’re going to have to stop her.”
Naruto suddenly turns to us. ‘Really? You told us that the Elements banished the darkness inside her heart. How could she be here?”
Miles turns to Naruto. “For you two, this will be your first time seeing her. For me, though, the Elements told me about when they fought her. If we’re currently in the timeframe where Nightmare Moon escaped, then that means I’ve gone back in time. I don’t know how, so don’t ask.”
I turn to Miles and the other man. “Alright, so we’ve got a situation on our hands here, only you,” I look at Miles pointedly, “have any depth as to what you’ve been told, and said mare is gone. Which means we have to find her quickly, before she can cause any unforeseen damage.” I realize the man we walked in on had said he watched the battle. That might be pertinent information. I turn to him, crossing my arms in a show of faux impatience. “You said you saw the battle?” The man nods nervously, as if prepared to be struck. “Then that means you have more experience with her firsthand than any of us here. Even his anecdote ca only be construed as speculation. Can you come with us?”
The man looks up in surprise, shock evident on his face. “How long?” He asks somewhat timidly.
“Not long. At least however long it takes to find and subdue this Nightmare Moon, anyways.” The man slowly nods. “What’s your name?”
The man stands there, perplexed for a scant moment, before he raises his head up with a little more confidence than before. “Me? I’m… I’m James.”
I move to make a handshake with him, one which he readily accepts. “Starkiller.”
The man, James, then proceeds to show more perception than I had believed he was capable of. “Umm, pardon… but that sounds more like a title than a name.”
“That’s because it is. My actual name is Galen. Come on, let’s get going.” I turn about and walk out the stone ornate door. Naruto and Miles immediately take up flanking on my sides, while James slowly moves to follow us from the back.
As we descend the stairs, James moves to walk beside me. “So… who are the other two?”
We finish descending the stairs before I respond. “Why don’t you ask them yourself? Especially the young one, he seems to have been ready to introduce himself practically since he saw you. He’s like that.”
I move to exit the building as James proceeds to exchange polite greetings with Miles and Naruto, at which point I notice he moves to walk on the side of Naruto opposite Miles. I just chalk it up to him not liking Miles for whatever reason and keep moving along the path that leads seemingly to nowhere.
Three Hours Later
The four of us continue to move along the path, wearily looking for any signs of trouble. Over the last three hours since we left the castle, we’ve been ambushed by a manticore (or at least that’s what James and Miles called it) that was under Nightmare Moon’s influence by way of a blue-grayish large thorn stuck in its paw, nearly fell off a cliff to the point where I had to Jump all the way up and Grip and pull the others back up, and James was nearly scared to death by trees manipulated by her magic to have faces, which I found very disturbing.
Miles is speaking with Naruto about something relating to his civilization. It seems he is not happy about something. It’s as if a part of him is missing. I can’t explain it.
As I’m walking, I notice the path slowly get a little more worn, as if people have been through this area before. I pull out my left lightsaber, but don’t activate it. I need to be ready for anything.
As we’re walking, I suddenly feel a gust of wind, and look back toward Naruto and Miles… except there is no Miles. Was that him that just caused that gust of wind? “Where did Miles go?”
Naruto starts fidgeting around, as if trying to hide something. “He… left. That’s it. No explanation, he just left. He was in the middle of telling me about his civilization, then he stopped, looked up, and just vanished.”
Dammit. Well, there goes our help. I suddenly feel a crushing presence coming from outside the woods. I think Naruto feels it as well, because he sends chakra to his feet, coating them in a yellow and black striped aura, and sprints off toward the end. I turn around. “Come on, James! That might be Nightmare Moon!” I turn around before he has a chance to respond, grab him and pick him up before Dashing off in the direction of the disturbance.
Three minutes of running at full speed later, I suddenly shoot out of the woods into a large area with rolling green hills. I gently set onto the ground a slightly disoriented James and continue toward the source of the disturbance. It seems to be located inside a small town built for Ewoks, though the colors don’t match their building style.
I continue until I’m inside the town, then look up to find Miles flying toward the disturbance. I look in the direction his head and body are turned, and my eyes widen in shock when I find the same tacky blue mist from before. That’s Nightmare Moon.
I power up and Jump onto a roof, preparing for a large-scale attack. I pull out my lightsabers and activate them, then Jump off with all my might and launch myself at Nightmare Moon. I don’t think she notices me.
I quickly find out the error of my ways as glowing white eyes suddenly form in the mist, staring right at me, and shine brightly. I feel an immense pressure that forces me to drop and slam hard onto the ground forty feet below, and am barely able to feel blood trickle down my face before I succumb to the darkness.
Perspective: Naruto
I sprint out of the forest and channel chakra to my eyes, looking for the source of the disturbance, and quickly identify it as Nightmare Moon, whose tacky blue mist seems to be terrorizing a small town about two miles away. I feel a discharge of power and look up to find Miles flying toward the mist. “Miles!” It’s evident he doesn’t hear me, because continues along his allotted path.
I jump forward and increase my speed toward the town, knowing instinctively that something bad will happen if we do not stop Nightmare Moon.
I delve into my mindscape. ‘Kurama, be ready for anything. I don’t know how powerful this Nightmare Moon is, but I may need your strength.’
“You do not need to worry, Naruto. The other bijuu and I stand beside you, ready to fight.” I breathe a sigh of relief.
‘Alright, thanks, Kurama.’ I cut the connection as I run through what looks like the town square, and jump up toward the blue mist that now resides directly above me.
I form a Rasengan in my right hand and feed it with chakra from the Mark of the Sun on my left hand, turning the sphere a glowing gold. “Hey bad dream! Take this!”
I see eyes suddenly form in the mist and shine brightly before I feel the gravity around me increase drastically. I almost instinctively push much of my chakra to my legs and prepare for a hard landing.
I land on the ground hard due to the increased gravity and reinforce my entire body with my chakra to help stave off the effects of the increased gravity. I look to my left upon hearing ground cracking and see Galen inside a small crater, unconscious. Damn. There goes half our firepower.
I reestablish the link to my mindscape. ‘Son, I’m going to need you to lend me your chakra! This gravity is draining my chakra, and I need to coserve my chakra so I can fight!’
I wait for a second before I hear a response. “It is done. If you leave now, you will find my hard shell protecting your body and lessening the effects of the increased gravity. Fight hard and triumph.”
‘Oh, I intend to, believe it!’ I cut the connection with a small laugh as I hear Son’s chuckle. I turn back up to suddenly find the mist much closer to me. I dash off into an alleyway as I notice the lessened effects of the gravity field due to Son’s shell protecting me.
I jump onto a building roof, but have to jump onto another as I see the blue mist shoot toward me, barely making it out of the way, and feeling glad I did so, because the second I see the blue mist hit the roof of the building I was on a scant moment ago, it cuts through it like a knife through scrib jelly.
“Shadow Clone Jutsu!” I create ten clones, each of which form a Rasenshuriken in their right hand. I use one of the clones to propel myself toward the blue mist as the clones throw their Rasenshuriken I create another clone wordlessly under the mist, and one next to me to propel me toward the mist. It grabs my right arm as I activate Sage Mode, causing the orange rings to appear around my now golden toad-like eyes, and coat my left arm in Sage chakra.
The clone flings me toward the mist just as the Rasenshuriken come into range. As expected, Nightmare Moon focuses on them, engulfing them in her tacky blue mist. I see the clone under her form a handseal and turn into four, just as I myself get ready.
“Special order of sucker punch, coming right up!” That gets her attention as I get ready to land the hit, reeling back my arm. As expected, though, she uses gravity manipulation to send me flying back as the clones coat themselves in transparent fire chakra and hurl themselves at her.
I form a handseal and smirk confidently at her staring at me. “You’re on fire! Clone Explosion!” I safely land on the ground just as Nightmare Moon looks under her. Just in time to receive four explosive blasts straight to the face. I see Miles drop from the sky, deactivating his energy and letting gravity do the rest, as while Nightmare Moon is trying to recover from my technique, he delivers what looks to be a very painful drop kick from high in the sky, turning the eyes to the right.
She manages to shake it off and her eyes shine again, but this time I feel an immense pressure in the air that forces me to the ground. I hit the ground so hard I almost pass out, but I barely manage to remain conscious. I slowly sit up, finding my wounds already healing thanks to Kurama and the other bijuu. I open my eyes to find the blue mist right in front of me. I get up and backpedal, ready for anything.
“You are an interesting one. Maybe I might take you as a consort when my conquest is finished.” What the hell? This chick is seriously fucked up.
“Hah, please. I wouldn’t even consider it if you don’t show your ugly face to me and stop hiding behind that mist you call a form!” I watch as the mist gets… darker? Denser? The eyes turn coal black and I hear a growl of rage, at which time I proceed to turn around and run off as fast as I can. OK, maybe that was the wrong thing to say.
This is bad. The mist is right on my heels, intent on bisecting me. I jump up and watch as the mist shoots ahead, stops, turns around and shoots at me, all within the span of a second. I raise my arms to block, but I know it won’t work. I saw what it could cut.
I close my eyes and wait, but open them back up when I don’t feel any pain. I see a man encased in yellow and blue energy wildly whipping all around him tangled up with the dark mist, throwing punches and putting his arms up to block her attacks, ignoring everything she throws at him.
“I'm never going to allow you to take over, Nightmare Moon!” The man all but screams at the mist as a rope of it flings him back. It doesn’t really do much, though, because the man uses his energy to correct himself in the air and start flying back toward her, a longsword with the sun as a cross guard now gripped in his left hand. The mist darts toward him, but he moves the weapon in front of him and slashes forward, and my jaw nearly falls slack as a massive beam of yellow and blue energy is slung out of the blade almost faster than I can follow, slamming into Nightmare Moon with a resonating boom and sending her hurtling back.
I watch as the mist once again shoots away, the man trying to chase after it, both shooting out of view. OK, so it seems whoever that man is, Nightmare Moon is afraid of his power. I guess that’s a good thing. It just depends on what happens, though. All I know is we need that man on our side.
I touch back down into the town and move over to the crater from earlier, where I find Galen slowly sitting up and looking around. I move to him and help him up. “Thanks, Naruto.” He brushes himself off before looking at me. ‘Man, I completely underestimated her. That was brutal.”
“Man, are you kidding? You got slammed into the ground like a javelin. Just boom.” He grumbles at that, but doesn’t deny it. I laugh at his expense… well, that is, until I get slapped really hard.
“Shut up…” He mumbles, just as I see James unsteadily walk into view. His face looks pale, as if he just got done throwing up.
“You alright, James?” I move toward him and ask him. He just gives me a half-hearted thumbs up. Yeah, I don’t believe you.
I remember the slap when I feel my cheek retort painfully to its movement, and a tick mark forms above my head. “Ow, why the hell did you hit me, asshole?” Now Galen’s the one laughing. “It’s not funny…” We take our time to find a tree to sit by and just pass the remaining time until we all fall asleep, myself being the last one, watching the stars.
Author's Note
There's Chapter 4, everypony! It had been ready weeks in advance, but I got too caught up in my college classes and almost forgot to post it. But better late than never, so tell me what you think.
I'm new to the whole "action" part of writing, so tell me how the action part of the story feels. I'm hoping I did pretty good. Anyway, I have to get to work finishing up Chapter 7, so I'll see you next week with Chapter 5!
Of Mares and Men - Volume 1: Rise
Chapter 5: The Reboot
Volume 1: Rise
Arc I: Purge
Chapter 5: The Reboot
Perspective: Blake Marshall
I sit up slowly, activating my aurasight so that I can get up, seeing as how I’m… where am I? This definitely isn’t my house in Ponyville Square. I look around and examine the area around me before I realize where I am. “Hmm? Why am I in Twilight’s library?” This is definitely her room. The tapestries depicting Princess Celestia, her pictures with Cadance and Shining Armor, her pictures with the others… it’s obvious I’m in her room at the top of the stairs.
I get up and look for my armor… to find no sign of it. What’s up with that? First a hundred bits disappears from my earnings chest, now this? You have to be kidding me. Wait, what am I doing? I completely forgot I can just summon it to me.
I walk down the stairs quickly, looking for Spike. I call out to him, but when he walks in, I can tell something’s wrong. “Hey, what’s- “
“Do you recognize me, Spike?”
“I’ve never seen you before? And how do you even know my name? What are you?” He drives me out the front door and slams it in my face. I just stand there for a minute, trying to comprehend what just happened. He acted as if he’d never met me. What’s going on?
I see ponies walking around me, but the second I dare to get close, they start to back away or sprint off altogether, acting the same way as when I first arrived. Alright, what’s going on? I know just about everybody… pony in Ponyville. Why are they avoiding me?
I spend the next ten minutes trying to ask what’s going on, but when I finally am able to get an answer, I am stunned by what I’m told. “I’m sorry… sir, but you’re referring to a date in the future.”
“What?! What day is it?”
“Today is the day of the Summer Sun Celebration.” I hold back a string of curses when I hear this. If that’s to be believed…
I suddenly feel dizzy, and fall, my aurasight deactivating of its own accord as I lose consciousness…
Two Hours Later
I get up slowly, having just woken from whatever knocked me out, and check to make sure I have everything with me, before I move forward, heading for the forest immediately. I check my body and notice that I still have both the amulet containing my enchanted armor and Falathiel, my sentient sword. With this in mind, I power up as I sprint into the Everfree Forest, using memory recall and past explanations by Twilight to figure out where I need to go to get to the old Canterlot castle.
I find the path that leads to Zecora’s… then decide I’m not going there. As cool as her rhyming is, it tends to get on my nerves, so I don’t want to deal with it right now. I also don’t want to deal with her questioning my existence, if my being in the past is to be believed. That said, I approach the path and run down it, hoping the other part of it will lead to the castle.
After twenty minutes of straight running, I make it to a large clearing… that gives me a perfect view of the castle and the path I need to take to get to it. Ha, could this day get any more convenient?
I sprint down the path and onto a rickety bridge. I can hear the wood barely holding my weight, so I sprint across as fast as my legs can carry me until I reach the other side, barely reaching it in time to avoid parts of the wood snapping off and falling into the ravine many hundreds of feet below.
I keep running toward the castle, running through my memories as I do so. If what Twilight and the Elements told me is correct, then they should be at the castle, fighting her right now. I need to get there and help her.
Luckily, assuming she’s preoccupied with the Elements… or soon-to-be Elements, nothing tries to trap or trick me like they told me she tried to do to them. This allows me quick, unhindered passage to the castle.
I bolt inside and look around. Two thrones sit at the far end, which means this is some sort of briefing room or courtroom. Outdated and tattered tapestries of the two Princesses hang above them, barely remaining on their flagpoles. A stone door exists on each side of the area, leading away from each throne and to what I assume is their personal bedchambers.
A flash of light on the far right of my aurasight temporarily blinds me and forces me to deactivate my magic for a short second. When I recover, I reactivate it and run to the right door, kicking it open with a blast of magic and sprinting up the spiraling stairway to the castle tower.
When I come through the doors leading to the tower storage, I break the door down with a precise application of magic to the center of the door, blowing it off its hinges, before I step into the room.
I have enough sense to shut off my aurasight as I sense a very powerful magical discharge… and can still see, but nothing blinded me. I blink a few times before I realize I can actually see! When did this… well, if the Text sent me back in time, it probably restored my condition from back then.
A quick check of my body shape confirms this, as I have about the same body shape as I did before I came to this world. At least now I don’t have to risk being overwhelmed by my own magic in the middle of a fight.
I take a breath and stop for a second before I push the doors to Luna’s ancient bedchambers open. As expected, Nightmare Moon is fighting Twilight… what’s not expected is Twilight’s unconscious body lying against a pillar. OK, then it seems I’ll have to deal with this myself.
I shout at Nightmare Moon to get her attention. “Hey, Nightmare Moon! You might have been able to take Twilight out, but you’re not getting me!” She turns to me, her eyes completely white, before she activates her magic and fires a beam of black-colored energy with small blue lines at me, intent on getting rid of me. Ha, it won’t be that easy.
I put my arms up in a cross and activate my magic, pouring it into my arms as the beam hits. My willpower allows me to hold up against the attack, and it slowly dissipates. I let the golden and blue threads dissipate around me.
I charge forward and move to punch her in the face, but am flung back by what I can only describe as gravity manipulation, smashing into a pillar hard . I quickly get back on my feet, just in time to be forced to dodge another black beam where the first came from.
I employ a little police training and run along the side. As expected, Nightmare Moon moves to the side, and the beam follows the same path, intent on cutting me into two pieces: Blake and Marshall.
I drop my legs from under me and into a baseball slide, and I end up right under her, which is exactly where I want to be. I put my hands on the ground below me for support and leverage, and then proceed to put my feet on her stomach, following up with a violent hurl that sends her flying into the air. I push off the ground with my hands, cracking the ground and appearing above her in a flash of blue and golden archaic power. I immediately bring my hands down just as she turns to look at me in a vicious vertical haymaker, sending her back down to earth.
I notice another human walk in, but stay focused on the fight, and it’s a good thing I decide to do so, because I’m barely able to avoid another beam, one that would have successfully bisected me had I not looked back to her sooner.
I move into a crouching position and take off at blinding speeds, appearing next to her and landing a wicked right hook that sends her barreling into a nearby pillar, causing it to crumble and fall right on top of her. She gets out, and her eyes increase in luminosity for a split second before she stomps the ground, causing the ground to crack as it approaches me.
Nope, not going to work. I take off before the cracks can reach me, appearing next to and latching onto a wall behind me ten feet in the air as the ground where I was just standing starts convulsing, until the stone is replaced by dirt from under it. That attack would have put me six feet under, quite literally. If she intends on doing that, then I’m going to get serious. That thought running through my head, I tap my amulet and call on my armor, feeling the familiar weight of my shield latch itself onto my right arm as I pull out my Starsteel sword and summon my golden wings.
I dodge the beam of energy sent at me, summon an energy hammer with my magic, dropping myself through the air, and hammer the ground, causing massive spikes of energy to burst out of the ground that Nightmare Moon barely avoids, flying into the air, where she proceeds to send wave after wave of magical bisector beams at me, all of which I fluidly dodge or block quickly enough to mitigate the majority of the damage.
As I take a moment to recover, I hear a pop and look to my right to find Nightmare Moon right next to me. I barely have any time to react before she turns on her forehooves and buck me hard , sending me flying into the next wall. As I slowly and painfully extricate myself from the nearly caved wall, I stretch my limbs, hearing satisfying pops ring out, echoing slightly across the stone and marble walls of the room.
I have to jump and propel myself into the air as a blast of black and blue magical energy strikes the ground where I just was two seconds ago. Nightmare Moon starts throwing out beam after beam of magical energy, trying to outright kill me, and manages to get lucky when one of the blunt beams strikes my left wing, causing me to cry out in pain and banish them back to the amulet, dropping back to the ground in a roll. That’s going to take a while to heal.
I dash forward using my magic and get in a few strikes with my sword before that cursed gravity manipulation comes down on me, sending me into the ground hard . I quickly recover, but I’m forced to dodge yet another bucking attempt as Nightmare Moon flashes right in front of me and charges her horn.
I dash forward using my magic and get in a few strikes with my sword before that cursed gravity manipulation comes down on me, sending me into the ground hard. I quickly recover, but I’m forced to dodge yet another bucking attempt as Nightmare Moon flashes right in front of me and charges her horn.
I appear to the right of her and prepare for a vicious punt kick, but I immediately turn to guard myself when I realize this was her plan all along: she’s facing me, her eyes glowing with a brighter luminosity than before, and before I have any time to react, a blunt magical beam strikes my chest, sending me barreling into the far wall.
I grunt and painfully struggle to extricate myself from the wall, and barely manage to do so in time to avoid another of Nightmare Moon’s beams. It’s evident the last one had more power, because a large hole has completely erased any trace of my being there a scant few seconds ago.
I’m quickly put on the defensive as Nightmare Moon continues attempting to kill me with her beams. I barely manage to dodge them, but the both of us suddenly stop when I feel a powerful presence in the air.
Nightmare Moon suddenly turns into tacky purple smoke and flies out of the hold made by her last attempt to kill me. “Oh no you don’t!” I dash out of the window after her, but my magic spontaneously shuts off the instant I leave the building, and I hit the ground hard.
A scant few seconds later, I know no more.
Author's Note
Well, there's Chapter 5, everypony! After reading, drop me a review telling me how well I introduced Blake's character, because I kind of had to write the chapter last-minute. Hopefully, once the arc is over, I'll be able to come back and edit out or change any discrepancies.
For now, I'm going to have to stop writing chapters, because the next three weeks of school are all preparations for finals week, so I'm going to have to put all my focus there. Chapters 6 and 7 will be posted sometime during Christmas Break, so I'll see everypony then!
Of Mares and Men - Volume 1: Rise
1.6: Running From Nothing
Chapter 6: Running From Nothing
Volume 1: Rise Arc I: Purge Chapter 6: Running from Nothing Perspective: Miles
Dammit, this can't be happening. I just realized the sword I inherited from the Eremita head is gone. Fuck, I don't even know how I could have lost it. All I remember is a green lightning bolt striking the ground, then nothing. I guess that's my next objective. I'll let the others deal with Nightmare Moon. In time, I will be back for Luna. But this sword is more important right now.
I'm running along the northern fringes of the Whitetail Woods, near Vanhoover Island, trying to look for anything that could tell me where my sword is. I really hope it didn't break like the last time I had to recover it. It cost ten fucking million credits to get it fixed because the materials were so rare, there was only enough for my sword.
I set my thoughts aside as I continue running, trying to look for anything that will tell me what I need to know. I stop momentarily to catch my breath about five minutes later, looking around. Hmm, what's that glow in the water?
I'm looking out over the water near Vanhoover Island, and I see a yellow glow about half a kilometer away from the southern edge of the island, in a dark area of water, which most likely means it is much deeper than the water around it. Damn, whatever it is, it's going to be hard to get to.
I flare my magic and jump over the cliff edge, moving into a diving position, my lips curling into a euphoric smile as I prepare to break the surface of the water.
As I enter the water, I hold my breath and use my magic to propel myself through the water toward the yellow glow. As I get closer, I find a green and black shard of what looks like an ancient sword. I can’t tell if it’s mine or someone else’s, but right now, what matters is that I get it and get out of the water before I drown.
I struggle to break free of what seems like an iron grip on my heel, and I know I’m running out of time, because I can feel my struggles becoming weaker due to the lack of oxygen in my body.
I continue to fight, though eventually it becomes meaningless. I stop moving and watch as what looks like a dolphin tail wrap around my waist just before I lose consciousness.
Seven Hours Later
I shoot up and look around frantically, then start checking my own body to confirm that I’m actually still alive. I thought I drowned. Who saved me?
I turn around quickly when I hear a splashing sound and see someone emerge from the water…a human? No… it’s definitely not human, it has what looks like a dolphin tail in place of human legs around its lower body. It looks like a female, due to its rather circular face structure, smooth jaw and cheek bones, and the rather slim upper body definition, as well as the petite pair of breasts residing on its chest.
My suspicion is confirmed when the creature speaks in what definitely sounds like a female voice. “Hello, human. I am Yaren, a water denizen, or, as your kind called them before they went underground, a mermaid. May I ask what you are doing here? If the accounts of the civilizations of my kind are accurate, you went extinct over fifteen thousand years ago.
“Oh. Well, one of the scientists of my time hit me with a time-traveling device that sent me here. I haven’t managed to find a way back.” Yaren nods and her face takes on a contemplative quality.
“That is rather unfortunate,” Yaren responds sorrowfully after a long minute of thought. I quickly dismiss the sentiment with a wave of my hand, not much caring about the past. “It seems to me you would rather not be here, so I will allow you to leave. But be warned, the item you seek is broken, split into many pieces and scattered across the world. In order to retrieve them, you must accompany the other humans on their journeys, for only they hold the key to re-forging it.”
The hell? How does she know about the sword… unless I was right and the glow, assuming she’s right, is a shard of the broken sword I need.
Yaren moves to go back into the water, and a couple minutes later, she comes out with what looks like an ornate gold helmet, a flawlessly cut jade embedded in a socket right above and between the eyeholes. The jade emits a soft green aura, and my magic is telling me that it is a magic storage gem. Yaren brings the helm before me, motioning for me to take it, which I do so reluctantly, my entire body tensed as if it were a venomous snake poised for the strike.
“Do not fret, human. This helm has special properties. The golden metal forming the helm is enchanted to allow telepathy, and the jade embedded in its grooves can store magic and hides an amethyst that allows for long-range communication. This helm will be very beneficial to you, but do not squander its power.” Yaren turns to the front of the cave. “It is time now for you to depart. Take your sword shard with you; you will need it in due time.”
I turn and leave the cave, finding myself on a small sandy beach next to the hole where I found the shard. I reluctantly move out, turning myself back towards Ponyville. If what Yaren said is to be believed, then this whole fiasco with Nightmare Moon’s escape might find me getting another shard. I’ll help the others… for now. Only time will tell, though, whether I stay or I leave once again.
Author's Note
Hello again, everypony! I hope you liked Chapter 6, as it took a lot of thought and overcoming three separate occasions of writer's block to put out, and even then, it's barely got over a thousand words, one of the shortest chapters I've ever written. Don't forget to comment on how you think I did with the chapter, as I live off reader review and it helps me further and more beneficially develop my story!
Now, before I go, I have to warn you about one thing: FINALS. That's right, it's that dreaded time once every school semester where I have to take a two-week break from EVERYTHING else to study for and hopefully ace my final exams. I'll keep writing as much and as well as I can until December 4th, but on midnight December 5th, consider this story temporarily on hiatus. If I happen to have a free period (like study hall or some such) anywhere in the next two weeks, I'll use it to keep working on the next chapter.
This can only be said for the first week (next week). The reason for that is next week is mainly REVIEWING for the final tests, and some periods I don't actually DO a final, so they're treated as study halls. After the end of next week, from December 12th to December 16th, all my time and energy are going into making sure these are the best damn finals I've ever done, considering I've already had to drop a class this semester. If I can write between now and December 5th, then I will. If I can't, then I'll see everyone on December 17th with a double update!
Anyways, that's all the news for today, so see you later, everypony!
Of Mares and Men - Volume 1: Rise
Chapter 7: Forming Bonds
Volume 1: Rise Arc I: Purge Chapter 7: Forming Bonds Perspective: Twilight Sparkle
I groan from a splitting headache as I slowly open my eyes and sit up, looking around me. I look out the window, and am disappointed to find that the moon is still out. I guess that means I failed.
I look around the room I’m in, duly noting it’s a room in the Ponyville Urgent Care unit of Ponyville Hospital. The whitewashed room is rather bland, nothing of note here other than some ‘get well’ cards sitting on the nightstand next to me.
I try to levitate them over to me using my magic, but I find that my magic fizzles out, meaning I suffered a burnout. That’s not good. I turn on the other side of the bed and reach for the cards, grabbing them with my hooves and opening the first, which has apples along the bottom.
The first one reads, “Get well soon now, ya hear? It’ll be no time at all ‘fore you’re better than apple cider at the Appleloosa rodeo! – Applejack.” It was nice of Applejack to send me one.
I set Applejack’s card aside and look at the second, which has floral patterns along the sides. It reads, “We all miss you. Please get better… F.” Heh, I guess Fluttershy was too shy to actually spell out her name on the card, so she just put her first letter instead.
I set Fluttershy’s card next to Applejack’s and move to pick up the next. It reads, “You’re a cool pony, and you make me look awesome, so get up and keep fighting! – RD.” Upon reading the card, I frown, then start laughing, finally noticing the cleverly inserted attempt at stroking her own ego.
I move to grab the fourth card, and open it to read the message inside. It reads, “Get well soon, then we may be able to let ourselves shine with the brightness of a thousand suns! – Rarity.” I smile when I finish. That was very well worded. I set the card down and open the last one, no doubt from Pinkie.
“Look to your left. – Pinkie.” I set the card down and look to my left, as the card said, perplexed by the request… and am promptly scared half to death by Pinkie, her muzzle right in my face, an ear-splitting grin on her face.
“How was your nap? Did you get enough rest? OOH! Any good dreams? Tell me you saw the bat pony! Any nightmares? I want to know-“ She starts asking a million questions, but I promptly interrupt.
“PINKIE! Enough! Sweet Celestia, you nearly scared the tail off my flank!” Pinkie stops in her tracks, before looking back to me with the same ear-splitting grin as before. “Thank you for the concern. Before I answer any of your questions, though, I need to know, where is everypony else?”
“Oh, that’s an easy one! Rarity and Applejack are still at the library! And Rainbow went off to do Celestia knows what! Hmm, I don’t know about Fluttershy, though. OH! She probably went back to her cottage!”
“What?! How did you get in here so fast?”
“Silly filly, I came over as soon as I knew you were reading the cards!”
“And how did you figure that out?”
“Oh, that was easy! My Pinkie Sense went off! Floppy right ear, stiff left ear, twitchy front left hoof, sudden loss of sight!” What? Pinkie Sense? Sudden loss of sight?!
“I didn’t understand a single word you said, Pinkie. And before you get any ideas, don’t try to explain any of it again! I already feel a headache coming on…” It’s true. Whatever Pinkie was talking about, it’s giving me a headache. “Can you just go get the others, since I’m stuck in this room?”
“Okie dokie lokie! Bebackinasecond!” She turns right around… and barrels through the door, except there’s no sign of it being damaged. There isn’t even a sign it was opened. Ugh, now the headache is turning into a migraine. I’m just going to ignore whatever that was, for the sake of my own sanity.
About three minutes later, Pinkie takes courtesy to use the laws of physics and enter the room the proper way, followed by Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and Applejack, all of whom have concerned, yet relieved expressions on their faces. They all trot to the foot of my bed and take seats next to me.
“Hi, girls.” I’m very happy at their arrival, but I reflexively take a cursory glance outside and wince when the day and the sun do not greet me. I heave out a heavy sigh and turn back to the girls. “Well, all I can say is we tried.”
“That we did, sugarcube. Now don’t ya worry anymore; others are taking care of the problem.” What? It was just us, that can’t be.
“What? How? Wasn’t it just us?”
Rainbow started hovering in the air on her wings as she took over the conversation. “Well, that’s just it. Right after you went in to knock Nightmare Moon up something good, we heard the commotion. We came to check and make sure you were beating the hay out of her, and you were doing fine. Then we heard you cry out, and then it went silent. But then this creature – I don’t know what it even is, I’ve never seen it before – came barreling through the door, with a huge sword and a shield in hoof, and started basically teleporting around and smacking the stuffing out of her! Then three more showed up, one took you and brought you here, and the other two battled her over the city! Though she did have to leave, one of the other two got knocked out cold, I don’t even know if they’re awake yet. It’s in the bed right next to you!”
“Ooooohhhhh! Pinkie Sense!” Pinkie just blurts out at random, interrupting the conversation. Not two seconds later, the curtain the separates my bed from the one on the left is flung open by an unseen force of magic, and the bed next to us revealed a… What is that thing? I’ve never seen it before! It must be some sort of magical anomaly! I have to study it!
“I’m awake, have been for a while,’ the creature stated in a matter-of-fact tone… then it registers in my mind that it spoke. This creature is sentient?! My train of thought is derailed when the creature speaks again. “Well, I honestly expected this. Guess it’s what happens when a sentient species presumed extinct suddenly comes knocking.”
“Wait, what? You’re supposed to be extinct?”
“On your planet, anyways.” The terse conversation is interrupted when the door opens, admitting Nurse Redheart… and several more creatures with similar body structure to the patient walk in, all having to duck under the door, being so tall, they almost touch the roof. They take a cursory glance to the six of us, then turn to the patient in the bed. “Hey, guys. How’d the fight go?”
The one on the left, a pale creature with a sandy brown… mane?... and an amulet of some sort hanging off what I can only conclude is its neck, a source of magical power emanating from it. “Well, I had fun smacking her around, up until she turned the tables. Then, right as I was about to get her, she slammed me into one of those stone pillars near the castle entrance and put me out long enough to escape
The one in the middle, another pale creature with a dark brown mane and holding what I can only assume is a helmet with a pulsing gem embedded into a socket near the front middle, speaks up next. “Well, it went along well enough until she tried to get out of the castle. I went to chase after her, but then I remembered there was a severely injured individual leaning against one of the stone pillars. In fact, I don’t know if you guys could see it, but that individual and the… I think they’re called ponies here… the patient in the bed next to yours are one and the same. I had to take a detour and let her escape to get the pony here.”
The one on the right finishes the summary. “Well, I was doing fine until the bitch whipped out some sort of gravity manipulation! Then next thing I know, she’s flying off and I can’t do a damn thing to stop her! In fact, Galen, that gravity manipulation is the reason you’re here in the first place! I saw that hit, and the force that sent you into the ground could have blown through both sides of a metal train like tissue paper. I’m surprised you’re even awake, let alone in such a good condition!”
The creature in the bed, apparently called Galen, turns its head to look out the window. A few seconds later, it turns back to the other three. “Well, at least we kept it from hurting anybody else. But I can tell that Nightmare Moon has more tricks up her sleeve. Help me up, guys, we need to go. And Naruto?”
“Yeah?” the one on the right answers.
“Go help the pony in the other bed. I don’t know it yet, but I get the feeling we’re going to need as much help as we can get, and apparently, it’s important if Nightmare Moon wanted to attack it personally.”
The creature on the right turns to and walks toward me, and then it begins making various motions with its… hooves? Those are shrouded in a green aura and placed on my torso, and I feel a wave of healing magic pass through me, repairing all the damage sustained in my fight with Nightmare Moon, leaving almost no trace except a small tingling sensation in my horn. I slowly sit up in my hospital bed, feeling for my magic, and move to get out of the bed, when Fluttershy flies over to me and puts a hoof under my stomach, supporting me as I attempt to get back on my hooves.
I turn my head over to the one who healed me. “Thank you, mister…?”
“Naruto. And you are…?”
I clear my throat. “Twilight Sparkle, personal student of Princess Celestia.” Naruto extends his… hoof?... for a shake, which I take nervously. “Now, may I ask how you came to be on this planet?”
Over to my left, Pinkie suddenly gasps, jumps into the air, and dashes off, leaving a cloud trail in her wake… and I’ll just shelve that thought; it’s already giving me a migraine. The other girls look at the door askew as it slams shut of its own accord.
They turn back to me as Fluttershy finally lets go of my midsection, trusting me to hold my own weight. I flex my legs, and upon finding the stretches do not cause any immediate cramps, I start doing some more complex maneuvers to limber my body up.
Perspective: Starkiller
Naruto turns to me after healing the pony who calls herself Twilight, and sets his hands on my chest. Chakra spews forth from his hands as he quickly heals my various wounds, allowing me to get out of my hospital bed and stretch. I stand in place and start performing the various flexibility exercises I learned training under Vader as Naruto starts a hushed conversation with Twilight.
As I’m performing my exercises, I let my mind go blank and draw upon the Force, sensing its ambient tension in the air around me, and slowly begin to pull on it. I elicit a response when my lightsabers start steadily floating in midair a short ways above the table they were placed on.
I exit my trance and open my eyes to find Naruto standing in front of me, tapping his foot impatiently. “Come on, dude. We have to check on the residents and figure out a way to keep the town safe!”
I nod in affirmation, and go to retrieve my gear. Upon equipping myself, I turn to Naruto as he runs out the door. Before I leave, though, I turn back to Twilight. “Keep safe.” That said, I turn and rush out the door after Naruto.
Perspective: Naruto
I run down the hallway as I use my chakra to get a feel for what I can’t see, finding a roof access hatch three levels above me. As I finish figuring out how to get there, Galen rounds a bend behind me and catches up, James in tow. “Alright, the other man is already on the roof, so we need to go meet up with him and see if he can help us figure out what to do.” I turn down a hallway on the left as James and Galen follow me, leading to a short flight of stairs.
A minute later, we reach our destination, a metal access hatch located above a small elevator platform. “Alright, one at a time. That elevator platform doesn’t seem safe. I’ll head up first.” I take the step onto the platform and find a lever next to me. I’m going to go ahead and assume this is what’s getting me up there.
I pull down on the lever, and with a rather disconcerting creak , the elevator starts moving. A minute later, I find myself below the hatch. I grab the wheel and turn it until I hear the familiar click of the lock being undone, allowing me to raise and move the hatch out of the way and grant unhindered access to the roof. Upon stepping on the roof, I find another lever that most likely drops the elevator back down. I pull the lever, and the creak noise sounds again.
My ascension complete, I turn to the far side of the narrow end of the roof, where the other man is standing, looking out over what I think is the north part of the town. I stride over to him, and he turns to acknowledge me as I come up behind him, coming to stand beside him.
“You are Naruto, right?”
“That’s me.”
The man extends his hand for a shake, and I waste no time in accepting it. “Blake Marshall, former Knight of Equestria. It seems I’ve been thrown back in time. All I know is that something bad is coming to this world, and it’s my job to stop it.”
I chuckle, before placing my free hand on his shoulder. “Well, I’m probably not the first or last to tell you this, but you can’t do that alone. I had a friend who only wanted revenge, and when he got it, he was determined to keep himself secluded from society for the rest of his life. Before I found myself here, I managed to convince him that life wasn’t all about hating others and breaking bonds.”
The man, Blake, nods appreciatively at the pearl of wisdom, before I sense Galen and James approaching, and we both turn around. “I’m not the only one, either. These are my friends, Galen,” I turn, gesturing to the tall, well-built brunette, who sharply nods and mutters a greeting, “and James.” I turn to James as he gives a polite yet shy smile and extends his hand. Blake takes his hand gingerly and slowly, taking care to not frighten James, who seems a bit squeamish. “Guys, this is Blake Marshall.”
Author's Note
Hello again, everypony! Now the gang (minus Miles for now) meets the Mane Six, though no words are had. Words later, action now. Glad to finally have this one done. Took a while to write, then Word deaded itself and I lost a whole page of what I had written. I only managed to not take even longer because Word somehow scrounged up an original copy of the document I had lost text from, so thank the heavens for that.
Well, review week of finals just wrapped up, and it was honestly a bit hectic. So I'm going to chill for the rest of the weekend and not do anything until next weekend or when finals are done. On that note, I bid you all a good day, so don't forget to comment on what you thought. Good thing Chapter 8 is already done, and Chapter 9 is in the works. See you later, everypony!
Of Mares and Men - Volume 1: Rise
1.8: Returning to the Front Lines
Chapter 8: Returning to the Front Lines
Volume 1: Rise Arc I: Purge Chapter 8: Returning to the Front Lines Perspective: Miles
Well, this certainly changes things. I did not expect some mystical being from my race's distant past to just drop a cryptic prophecy like a bombshell on top of my head.
I slowly emerge from the surface of the water, looking around and finding a small land mass near the west edge of the atoll, and focus on that land as I start swimming.
It takes little more than three minutes before I'm ashore on the small piece of land, using my magic to dry myself off and looking toward Vanhoover Island a half kilometer off. Without my sword, my magic is much stronger than before, so it stands to reason my earth manipulation should get me there without another dunk in the water; as enjoyable as it is, I still have to get back to Ponyville.
If a mythical being tells me that Nightmare Moon is going to lead me to another sword shard - the fact she even knew about the sword in the first place surprised the hell out of me and let me know just how serious the matter at hand was - then I'm not going to be the kind of guy who ignores advice just for the hell of it. I might have become the tiniest bit cold and cynical because of my time in Topaz Falls, but that doesn't mean I'll blatantly disregard anything I'm told just because I don't trust the person - or being - who's telling me.
That said, I channel my magic into the ground, and feel the earth under me pulse once, then twice, letting me know my connection to the earth is stable. I will my magic to push the earth up, and the earth quickly rises up under me, faster than I had intended. Before I can fully regain my bearings, I'm more than two hundred meters in the air, and quickly rising.
I ebb the flow of my magic and redirect my magic so that it pushes me forward, and the mainland proper shoots toward me at fifty meters a second. Barely five or six seconds later, I step off the makeshift bridge and onto Vanhoover Island once more, then turn around and use my magic to undo the changes. The earth forming the makeshift bridge begins to crack and split, until it all crumbles and falls into the water below in large chunks.
I turn around and try to remember where on the island I'm at, and when my memory does not serve up an answer, I use the earth to propel myself upward, stopping a kilometer into the air and looking around. I can faintly see to the southeast, on the far edge of my vision, the densely populated city of Saddlem. That means I'm about fifty or sixty kilometers from the edge of the Whitetail Woods, which puts me at about one hundred and ten kilometers from Ponyville. I have a lot of ground to cover, and I don't know how long I have, but I'm going to go on the safe side and get to Ponyville as fast as possible. Unfortunately, I can only run about forty or fifty kilometers before I need to stop and put nutrients in my gullet, so I'll need to stop in Boineigh, up to the north, along the way.
That in mind, I begin running directly east, intending on cruising along the border between Equestria and the neighboring country of Griffonstone.
Perspective: Blake, Ponyville Present Time
I am sitting at a large round table situated outside the local breakfast cafe. Naruto sits in the large chair to my left, Galen on my right, and James is on the opposite side of the table. Upon our arrival, we waved off the waiter by telling him we were waiting on others to arrive. That isn't a lie either; Twilight sent us to be here so we could all talk about how best to deal with Nightmare Moon.
Naruto waves down Twilight as she approaches, and she locks onto the table and walks over to us, her friends taking seats beside her. As they take their seats, the waiter once more comes out of the woodwork. Two more follow suit, due to the volume of customers, each taking their own. The first approaches me and pulls a small notepad and quill out of the crook of the small waiters' outfit he wears as he begins to ask what I wish to have for breakfast.
"I'll take a daisy and tulip sandwich and a glass of orange juice, please." The stallion nods as he goes to take Applejack's order. In short time, the orders are taken, and the three stallions return inside the restaurant to have the chefs prepare our meals. As we wait, I start the conversation we intended to have here off. "Okay, so now that we're all here, I need to ask you an important question. Did Twilight explain the purpose of the Elements of Harmony to the five of you?"
All the mares nod quickly. "Good, that makes things easier. Alright, since we all know what purpose the Elements of Harmony serve, here's the tough question: what do we do now that Nightmare Moon has fled? I'd like James to start us off, since he has the most experience with her."
James flinches at the sudden attention redirection to him, shying away before slowly clearing his throat. "Well... when we fought with her, she escaped after putting the girls under some sort of illusion that scared them away. We had to get rid of those, and we weren't ready to fight her again until a couple weeks later. When next we... fought her, she was intent on killing us, but I cleansed her by protecting her after Celestia escaped and tried to kill her herself."
"Thank you, James... Galen, can-"
"Wait... I'm not done, Blake." I nod and allow him to continue speaking. "A few months later, I was in the forest, gathering plants for an antidote to some sort of poison the residents of Ponyville contracted, and while I was there, I visited the castle. I expected it to be quiet and old, like it was when Naruto and the others rescued Twilight earlier. What I didn't expect was for Nightmare Moon to still be waiting for me." The mares' eyes comically widen and Naruto spits out the water he had just taken a drink of. "The thing is, she had been cleansed of the corruption, but she was an entirely separate entity from Luna." I nod along, understanding, but Naruto and the mares all look askew at him.
Naruto begins to ask a question that's bound to become heated, but Galen stops him and gestures him to sit back down with a hand. "Here, let me. This is what I've gathered from asking residents in and around Ponyville and reviewing the information I've heard." Galen stands up and takes a small object out of his pocket, a pyramid-shaped rough figure with buttons and switches, about five inches high. He presses a few of the buttons in what seems to everyone except Galen a random order, then touches his free hand to his head and sets the pyramid object down. A beam shoots up into the air from the vertex on top, and widens to show a small hologram projection. He moves around and reaches his hand inside, pressing ans swiping at the hologram until it comes to a stop on a picture of Luna. "This is Princess Luna. Over one thousand years ago, she ruled Equestria, which was then much smaller than it is now, alongside her sister, the mare you all know as Celestia. At some point, she became resentful of her sister's adoration by their subjects because they played and made through their daily lives in the daytime, while they all slept through and shunned the nighttime. Luna saw this as a slight against her authority, and thus began to change.
"The changes were gradual, a little attitude toward a particularly nasty subject in night court or a slight change in her manestyle at night when she needed to make a public appearance, and she started conserving power, but no one knew for what. Eventually the changes became more noticeable; she would walk into her sister's evening meal looking tired and disheveled, as if she had spent her sister's day up, unable to sleep, or she would forego her royal jewelry and horseshoes in favor of something more commanding and intimidating.
"At one point one thousand years ago yesterday, this plot came to a head. Luna waited until after her evening meal with Celestia concluded, then amassed the power she had been saving, such that the power changed her and altered her psychological state, such that the mare was transformed into an unrecognizable mirror of darkness to all but her own sister, a form the legends call Nightmare Moon.
"In the twilight of that day, the two sisters fought what would seem like an eternal battle, but the older sister recognized the power her younger sister had amassed, and, realizing she would be defeated, turned to her only remaining option. Thus, she unsealed and bound the Elements of Harmony to herself and unleashed them upon Luna in a final desperate assault, successfully sealing Nightmare Moon, along with her own sister, on the surface of the moon. The seal was broken precisely twenty-four hours ago, upon the morning twilight of the longest day of the thousandth year, at the climax of the Summer Sun Celebration, when three stars from key constellations in the night sky aligned perfectly, reflecting their light upon the moon and allowing Nightmare Moon to gather the energy to break the seal."
Galen starts pressing buttons inside the hologram again, and continues manipulating the digital projection until he allows it to stop on a picture of Luna as a filly. "Celestia was still trapped in the sun at the time, and thus unavailable to support her country in its time of need. Thus, the mares that sit at this table today gathered upon a tale of Nightmare Moon from the past, and set out to search for the fabled Elements of Harmony. They took them to the residence of Nightmare Moon, inside the old Castle of the Two Sisters in what is now the Everfree Forest, and united them to banish Nightmare Moon's power and corruption, releasing Luna from her torment and reversing the effects of time on her into the form you see here."
He presses a few more buttons, and the hologram powers down, the beam of conical light disappearing into the vertex, then takes the object and places it back into his pocket. "Now, according to my friends here, that point is where our own experiences with her diverge. So here and now, we need to figure out the best plan to deal with Nightmare Moon."
Galen then sits back down and allows James to continue his explanation. "Now, from what I remember..."
Perspective: Miles, Boineigh, Northern Equestria
I sit up from the massage and give the masseuse twenty bits for his efforts. "Thank you. Now, I wish I could stay a little longer, but I have a lot of ground to cover and little time to do it, so I have to take my leave. I might come back in the future."
"Of course, sir. Have a good day."
"Thank you." I gather the remainder of my items and leave quickly, exiting the building and moving to the outskirts of town. From there, I channel my magic and burrow underground and into a small cavern I had previously found. I sit down and think for a few minutes about my future expenses before getting up, collecting the items I've stored in this cavern, and using my magic to bring myself back up to the surface.
I start running as fast as I can, moving quickly through the underbrush and trees until arriving in a small pre-made clearing. I use my magic to raise the earth around me and get a vantage point to view the area around me. I break through the canopy quickly and settle down in an area about two hundred meters above the canopy.
I push my magic to my eyes, enhancing my vision momentarily and allowing me to see much farther out. About thirty kilometers out is Ponyville, and ten kilometers to the north, on its left side, is Canterlot, defying gravity in all its flamboyant beauty. It should take me about an hour to get to Ponyville from here.
That in mind, I turn around and stop for a quick breakfast before heading out.
Perspective: Blake, Central Ponyville, 55 Minutes Later
"...now why would we do that, sugarcube?" Applejack looks entirely confused as Galen and Naruto explain the best plan that we've been able to come up with. "Ain't she going to try to come straight after Twilight?"
"That's what we're counting on. Nightmare Moon thinks she's defeated, crippled or outright killed most of us, Twilight included. If we can lure her into a trap in Canterlot, we can blind her while Naruto and I subdue her. We both have more than our fair share of experience with ambushes and the like. Besides, I'm not really hearing any other good ideas."
"But... why can't we try to save her the way I did?" James is clearly upset about the current turn of events.
Galen turns to him, sighing into his hand. "James, you have to realize that this isn't the Equestria you're familiar with. You and Blake, as well as Miles, were sent back in time. Didn't you stop to think that our being here changed things? Were the four of us here, doing exactly this, in the timeline you come from?" James timidly shakes his head no. "Then it's highly unlikely that anything's going to stay the same. Our being here has altered everything you two and Miles were familiar with. Not only that, I'm pretty sure Blake comes from a timeline where Nightmare Moon was already defeated, so like myself and Naruto, this is entirely new to him. The only reason he's taking it so well is because like us, he comes from a world where his original occupation is a job where literally anything can happen, and usually does, so he's not entirely unprepared for things like this. In fact, of the five of us, I'm pretty sure I'm the only one where this was already my native timeline. I traveled to this planet from a distant galaxy and met you guys here. Everyone else here was brought back into this timeline by supernatural means. But we still take care of our own, so I'll see what we can do, James." His expression brightens, but Galen holds up a hand to stop him before he can say anything. "That's not a guarantee, though. Don't forget you're not in the Equestria you know. Anything can happen."
Twilight and the others gather the tableware from around us and pile it up in one corner for the waiters to pick up, while a mare comes up and drops the bill in front of us. I check the bill and leave the desired amount of bits, plus a fifteen bit tip, before I and the others get up and push our chairs in. "Well, if I'm not mistaken, that concludes our business here-"
"...guys... guys? Where are you?" A semi-familiar voice cuts Twilight off, floating in from a distance. We all look around for the source of the voice, and Naruto points out a figure slowly taking shape as it runs toward us. Halfway to the square, the figure resolves into Miles, running toward us. He looks slightly winded. "...glad I made it. What did I miss?" Naruto and Galen groan in frustration and I just settle for shaking my head.
"Well, guys, it looks like we have some more explaining to do..."
Author's Note
Yeah, I know this is coming a day late, and I'm sorry for that, but I just have one thing to say: writer's block doesn't hit me often, but when it does, it hits hard. I ended up blacking out on ideas until sometime this morning. But now the chapter is done, so don't forget to tell me what you think about it! In the meantime, I need to get working on Chapter 9, so I'll see you guys later!
Also, I'm still looking into video editors and filmmakers for those "teaser trailers" for future Arcs, so I need you guys to contact me if you want to help out.
Of Mares and Men - Volume 1: Rise
Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter. Of Mares and Men - Volume 1: Rise
Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter. Of Mares and Men - Volume 1: Rise
Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter. Of Mares and Men - Volume 1: Rise
Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter. 