Strange Land
“‘Go out for a walk.’ Celestia said. ‘It will do you some good.’ She said. ‘All that magical nonsense we’ve been dealing since the Ball is over now.’ She said! Uggghhh! Thanks, Celestia, for your wise advice. Now I’m a horse with wings floating around an empty space!” Luna Solaris, younger sister of Celestia Solaris and Vice-Principal of the prestigious Canterlot High, groaned as she floated around the empty, strangely luminous nebulous no-space she was currently trapped inside.
“How long have I’ve been here? Two, three hours maybe? I wonder what this place even is,” Luna pondered using a hoof to rub her chin. “I miss my hands, and legs, and my body! ARRRGGGGHHH!” She screamed at the emptiness around her before she crossed her arms… forelegs… whatever.
Before waking up in whatever place she currently was, she had been enjoying a walk through the local park. Just like Celestia said! Luna thought bitterly. In one moment she had picked some breadcrumbs to feed the ducks in the pond, and in the next she felt something wrap around her waist and pull at her. Next thing she knew, she had turned into a winged horse, a pegasus if she remembered correctly, floating aimlessly around a shadowy nothingness, and left without any means to free herself from her current predicament.
Suddenly, a portal opened mere meters in front of her. Catching her off by surprise, Luna barely had enough time to open her eyes wide before she passed through the portal.
Immediately after, the sense of gravity, angles, and direction once more reverberated throughout her body.
That, and the sense of falling quite rapidly.
“AAAAAHHHHHHH!” Luna screamed, panicked beyond belief and only capable of seeing the portal close up as quickly as it had appeared. Looking down, she saw a… oddly swampy green ocean!? “AAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!! HELP ME!” She hollered in desperation.
She began to twirl, swim, and huff; doing everything that came to mine in a vain attempt to save herself. As she fell closer and closer to the water, Luna glanced at her back. “I have wings!” She yelled, relieved. “Wait, I don’t know how to use them!” Her hope died. “Come, Luna, how hard can it be? Just spread your wings!” She grunted trying to spread her wings out, making them twitch as the slowly opened. “Yes! That’s it! Open up! Open up! Now, start flapping!” Luna cried as her wings flapped weakly.
It wasn’t enough to slow her fall, and it was certainly not enough to halt it.
“No, no, no, no, no, no!” She cried while flailing her legs randomly. But as she was about to hit the water, a sudden rush of wind hit her, forcing her wings to spread in full. Luna glided for a few seconds before she hit the surface of the water, she bounced once, and then she rolled across the surface of the water until she reached the beach and made impact with a wooden something.
“Ah ha ha ha HA HA HAiiiiiii~” Luna laughed/moaned while her eyes span around. A moment later, she shook her head and stood up to shaky hooves.
After several tries (and more than a few blunders of falling face-first on the sand), Luna managed to find her balance and even walk, albeit somewhat slowly.
“Walking around on four legs is a lot harder than it looks. How do dogs do it?” Luna sighed. “At least dogs have paws. I have hooves. Hooves! Not even half a day and I'm already planning twenty murder scenarios once I get back home,” Luna grumbled, then she sighed again. “That’s IF I can get back home.”
Looking around, Luna found she was on some sort of beach. She glanced at the water, endlessly thankful she was spared from diving inside that incredibly unhygienic concoction. In the opposite direction, she saw a… town?
“It’s like a kid stacked cardboard boxes on top of the other, glued them together, and called it a tower… half those buildings look like they are about to fall,” Luna lamented. “Well, it can’t be any worse than that emptiness I was stuck in before, right?” She chuckled while she started her trip into the alien town.
“Oh gosh, what is that stench?” Luna tried to cover her nose, but found it impossible. “Damn these fingerless extremities.”
“Hey, watch where you’re going, pony!”
Luna flinched from the tone alone as she moved to the side allowing the big… walking fish… thing to walk undisturbed. She sniffed again and her face turned green for a moment. “Well, at least I know what the source of the smell was.”
Luna continued to walk around the town, doing her best to stay out of the way of the plethora of creatures inhabiting it while at the same time trying to find something familiar that could help her.
“I’m telling you, Ms. Harshwhinny, Klugetown could be the perfect spot for the first Equestria Games celebrated outside Equestria!” A bubbly voice called near.
Ms. Harshwhinny? Luna smiled upon hearing a familiar name.
“I’m sorry to say this, Princess Skystar, but I’m afraid I see no potential in this backwater town that could possibly excuse making a stop through the Equestria games, much less host them.”
The firm, somewhat mellow, and slightly nasal voice of Mrs. Harhswhinny, the Economics teacher back in Canterlot High, followed the first bubbly voice. A moment later a duo of a pony and a hippogriff, if Luna remembered correctly, came into her field of view.
The pony, wearing a purple suit and a pink scarf, her blonde mane stylish and professional, and lacking any sort of wings or horns, was the living image of the woman she knew quite well, albeit in another body.
“Mrs. Harshwhinny, is that you?” Luna asked loud enough for the duo to hear her, as they stopped and looked her way.
“That’s Ms. Harshwhinny to you, young lady,” Ms. Harshwhinny replied wearing her usual serious, unamused expression.
“Hi!” Skystar waved a claw at her while she hovered alongside her pony companion. “Nice to meet you!”
“The pleasure is… mine?” Luna cleared her throat. “Sorry, I apologize, you remind me of someone I know.”
“Hmph,” Ms. Harshwhinny scoffed. “The only Mrs. Harshwhinny I know is my mother, and she isn’t the friendly kind to strangers.”
Their personalities are exactly the same. Is she really not the same Mrs. Harshwhinny I know? Luna asked herself.
“Oh, come on, Ms. Harshwhinny, she said she was sorryyyy,” Skystar pleaded. “Hey there, is this your first time here in Klugetown?”
“Klugetown? That’s the name of this town?” Luna tilted her head. “It’s certainly fitting, at least.”
“I couldn’t agree more,” Ms. Harshwhinny said.
“And yes, I’m new here… quite new,” Luna answered with a tiny smile.
“Then come with us! Klugetown isn’t as bad as it used to be, but it’s still unsafe for newcomers,” Skystar offered landing in front of the pegasus-turned-woman.
“Princess Skystar, may I remind you that we are here to evaluate the town as a possible candidate for the next Equestria Games?” Ms. Harshwhinny said with nothing but professionalism in her voice.
“Equestria Games?” Luna asked, confused. “Are those, like, the Olympics or Sports competitions or something?”
Both hippogriff and earth pony remained silent for a moment.
“Yeees?” Skystar was the first to reply lifting a claw in doubt.
“Where have you been living, young lady? On the Moon?” Ms. Harshwhinny said with a hint of humor in her tone.
“Let’s just say that I come from very, very far away,” Luna smiled nervously at them. “You wouldn’t believe me were I to tell you. But could you please tell me what those Equestria Games are or whatever?”
“Young lady, the Equestria Games is the most prestigious gathering of all sorts of sportscreatures Equestria and its neighboring countries have to offer. They come together to take part in friendly competitions to showcase who is the best of the best; the strongest of the strong; to find the best athlete in each field,” Ms. Harshwhinny said with beaming pride.
“And Ms. Harshwhinny is in charge of organizing it all!” Skystar added.
Okay, so she is definitely not the Harshwhinny I know. Although her pride and professionalism are the same, Luna thought as she nodded in understanding.
Suddenly, a realization struck Luna. “Wait. If Ms. Harshwhinny is in charge of organizing it, what are you doing here? If I may be so bold to ask…”
“Of course! My name is Skystar, Princess of the Hippogriff Nation, nice to meet you…?” She introduced herself extending a claw at Luna.
“Luna,” the pegasus replied accepting Skystar’s claw. “Likewise, I’m glad to meet you two.”
“Weeeell, I’m trying to help Ms. Harshwhinny choose a location to host the next Equestria Games as the (not)official tourist guide of Hippofriffia, Seaquestria, and the allied nations! So far, it hasn’t gone too great,” Skystar scratched the back of her head as she gave an embarrassed smile.
“...And you chose to show Ms. Harshwhinny this town… because you thought it could be an acceptable place to host such an event?” Luna deadpanned.
“Of course! Shelly and Sheldon like Klugetown,” she said picking two shells with googly eyes glued to them. “It’s a big town, with ample spaces, and it has its own stadium!”
“Which is in ruins and filled with garbage, Princess Skystar. In truth, Klugetown has been the worst location we have visited in these past couple of days,” Harshwhinny lamented.
“I don’t know what other places you’ve visited, but this town isn’t that much better than a dumpster,” Luna agreed. “Hosting such a prestigious event, or any event for that matter, would be like insulting everyone interested in said event.”
Harshwhinny nodded. “My thoughts exactly. Although that’s the least of my worries. If I don’t find a proper town capable of hosting the Games I will be forced to seek a location in Equestria. Worse still, under heavy pressure of time and the Board,” Harshwhinny hummed thoughtfully, not once showing nervousness.
“...I might be able to help you,” Luna said before walking closer to the duo. “But I will need some help to find a way back home.”
“And how would you be able to help us, young lady?” Harshwhinny asked raising a brow.
“Do you have a schedule or a map of the places you planned to visit?”
*********************************************
“Mount Aris is too small and too far away to properly host the games. Seaquestria is underwater, duh. Klugetown is out of the question. And Saddle Arabia is far too hot,” Luna said reading through the notes made by Harshwhinny.
“The two remaining places are the Dragon Lands and the Changeling Hives. The Dragon Lands are not welcoming to anything but dragons, hence the name. That leaves the Changeling Hives as our only viable option,” Harshwhinny pointed out while Skystar sipped on a milkshake at her side.
“I see…,” Luna inspected the map, the locations, and the notes a few times over before speaking again. “So the main issue is finding enough space to fit the entire thing, it has to be pleasing to the eye, have good enough weather, and be close enough to be viable?”
“Yup, pretty much that’s it!” Skystar chanted before slurping on her milkshake some more.
“Then why not try this place here, Abyssinia?” Luna hit the map with a hoof.
“Abyssinia is still recovering from the assault and raid the Storm King caused. They aren’t financially stable enough yet,” Harshwhinny sighed.
“Wait, they have to pay to host the games?”
“Well, no. All they have to do is contribute with the terrain and the facilities to be able to host the games. Sadly, as I said, the Abyssinian economy is in shambles right now and much of their infrastructure is damaged or under reconstruction.”
Luna hummed. After a minute she smiled. “I got it! All you need to do is contact their rulers and form a compromise. If they are under reconstruction, then they should be able to prioritize all infrastructure needed for the Equestria Games. In exchange, once the Games start, the influx of money the visitors and tourists would pour into their pockets should more than compensate the expenses and give them a huge boost to continue with other projects. Of course, the prices, divide rates, the stalls, and the merchandise and products would still need to be discussed, but I think it could be done?”
Harshwhinny was stunned and Skystar was absolutely lost.
“It… it might work… yes. Yes. It would require a lot of paperwork and dealings, but I think it could be plausible!” Harshwhinny clapped her hooves together. “Thank you, Luna, you may have just solved my problem.”
“Glad I could be of help,” Luna said smugly, unable to hide how pleased she was with herself. “I have a knack and plenty of experience for hosting and organizing events, after all. Ah, the perks of being the Vice-Principal~” She breathed out, satisfied.
“That settles it, then. Princess Skystar, as the representative of Queen Novo, may you accompany me to Abyssinia?” Harshwhinny requested with a small smile on her face.
“Of course! Ohhh, I wanted to visit Capper for a while now!” Skystar blushed a little in excitement. “Hey, Luna, since you helped us out so much, you said you needed some help to return home?”
“Ah, yes, about that…” Luna pursed her lips. “Look, this is going to be hard to believe, okay? But I’m not actually a pony. I’m a human. I don’t know how I came here but---”
“Another one?” Skystar asked tilting her head.
“---Pardon?”
“Yeah, a few humans have been popping up around these days. Usually around Equestria,” Skystar scratched her neck as she smiled. “Last week a tall white unicorn that looked like Princess Celestia appeared near Hippogriffia! She almost broke my dad’s back when she fell on top of him, he he~”
Dammit, Celestia. You are so going to pay for this, Luna smiled feeling a blood vessel pop somewhere inside her head.
Harshwhinny nodded. “No wonder why you struggle to walk or balance your wings, young lady. And now that I think about it, you look a lot like Princess Luna,” the earth pony mare shrugged. “Lucky coincidence, I suppose, down to name-sharing.”
“Y-Yeah… coincidence,” Luna muttered shifting her gaze away.
“Hey, since we are going to Abyssinia, we can get you to Princess Twilight Sparkle’s castle! She’s the one that usually takes care of sending humans back to their dimension. And I can visit my cousin Silverstream while we are in Ponyville!”
Luna blinked. “Just like that?”
“Yeah! Is something wrong?” Skystar asked touching her beak with a single finger.
“For some reason I was expecting to embark on a wacky adventure with loads of perils and tricky situations,” Luna sighed in relief. “But if I can get home quickly, that’s all that matters.”
“It is decided then,” Harshwhinny stood up. “Shall we leave this forsaken town?”
“Lets!” Luna and Skystar cheered.
The end.
Author's Note
Special thanks to everyone that read this!
If you are feeling generous you can buy me a Ko-Fi!
