Chapters Tales of Zephyr Nimbus: Arrival
Disclaimer: MLP is owned by Hasbro. If I get better cover art, it’s probably not mine. I own nothing but my own ideas. Disclaimer 2: Many of the “scientific” measurements don’t make sense.
Part I: Royal Fumbles
In Canterlot, 11:25 p.m., Day Zero
Everything in Equestria was calm, despite the recent events. The wedding of Shining Armor and Princess Cadance was already old news. The only of interesting news was that Princess Luna had scheduled a meteor shower for the entirety of Greater Canterlot’s entertainment. As of the immediate moment, Celestia was taking her position to lower the sun, and Luna was resting in her quarters, saving her energy to kick apart some asteroids for the shower.
In her dream, it was so dark that Luna, even with her enhanced night vision, could not make out her own hoof in front of her face. Walking around, she found one beam of light. Suddenly, with a flash of bright yellow, she heard screaming, loud enough to drive a pony insane. The sound was quickly muffled to less than a whisper, and it was gone. The light disappeared, only to be replaced by another, brighter light that flared up for a few seconds, then flew off into the sky.
Luna jolted awake, panting, wondering why she would have such a weird and random dream. As she took her place to raise the moon, she had a strange feeling that her dream had to do with her meteor shower. Dismissing the thought, she effortlessly raised the moon, having had 2 years to get back into raising it. She then flew into the nearest asteroid field, picked the three largest ones, knowing full well that one kick per each would shatter them into pieces small enough to burn up in the atmosphere. She did promise her subjects more than one wave of meteorites, after all. The first kick went off smoothly, sending the fragments to burn in the upper layers of the atmosphere. The second was equal to the first in all aspects. Just as she was cocking her legs for the third and final kick, Celestia contacted her through their magical telepathy.
“Hey sis. Whatcha doin?”
Luna jumped (or as much as you can jump in space) and missed her kick, breaking the giant rock into many small pieces and one larger (about pony-size) piece.
“Oh no oh no oh no oh no!”Luna exclaimed. “'TIA! Why did you do that?!? I was in the middle of making a meteor shower, but now a meteoroid larger than the others is hurtling towards Equestria!”
“Oops.”
Tales of Zephyr Nimbus: Arrival
Part II: The Effect
Outside Ponyville, 11:32 p.m., Day Zero
Twilight Sparkle and her friends were gathered on a hill near Sweet Apple Acres and had seen the meteor shower.
“That was a big one!!” Pinkie Pie commented.
“Luna’s shows are always a sight to behold,” said Twilight.
“Uh, not to be a bother, but do ya think that one seems to be gettin’ brighter?” Applejack asked.
The other ponies turned to see what AJ was worrying about. Indeed, one of the meteors was getting brighter, seemingly headed straight for the hill they were standing on.
“HIT THE DECK!” yelled Rainbow Dash, as the meteor flew over their heads, shot over Ponyville, and crashed into the Everfree Forest, emitting a huge fireball. When the coast seemed clear, everypony got up and stared at the smoke rising from the forest.
“Wow! My Pinkie Sense couldn’t have even predicted that!”
Tales of Zephyr Nimbus: Arrival
Part III: Emergence
Somewhere in the Everfree Forest, around 8 a.m., Day One
The crater caused by the meteor was only 15 meters across and 4 meters deep, but there still was a huge, 5 meter rock in the center with 1 meter buried in the ground. The ash around the crater that used to be foliage started blowing around as a hissing noise emanated from the rock. A pack of timberwolves gathered at the rim. Seams appeared around one face of the meteor, steam pouring out when suddenly the bordered side forcibly flew off and landed on the rim of the crater, frightening off the timberwolves. Out of the pod stepped a medium-sized pegasus mare , with a dark gray coat and black mane with a yellow stripe down the center. Her eyes were bright yellow, like the stripe in her mane, and her Cutie Mark was a thundercloud, with three clouds and two lightning bolts. Her head hurt from the impact, and she could not remember anything except for one thought, which rang through her mind like a bell in an empty hallway:
Zephyr Nimbus
She figured, by the arrangement of the words and the echo they left in her, that it was her name. She was about to go explore her surroundings to find out where she was when she heard voices. Based on their increasing volume, Zephyr deduced that they were headed towards her. Panicking, she looked for a place to hide, finding the solution in a large tree’s roots.
Just as she scrambled in, the foliage on the far side of the crater broke to reveal six ponies, two of each subspecies. There was a lavender-coat unicorn, whose Mark was a six-point star surrounded by more: Zephyr guessed that it was for some sort of magic; a cyan pegasus with a rainbow colored mane and Cutie Mark; a light-pink Earth pony with a poofy bright-pink mane; a white unicorn with a Cutie Mark of Diamonds; a light-yellow pegasus who preferred to walk rather than fly; and an orange Earth pony with a trio of apples for a Mark. All of them were female, and most of them were chatting. The pink one was saying something about a “Meteor Crash Party” and oatmeal. Zephyr couldn’t understand a word of what the pink one was saying, so she focused on the magic-lavender one.
“Odd. The leading face of the meteor has been forcibly removed, only leaving an empty cavity slightly larger than a pony my size in the rock,” she said.
“This whole thing seems fishy,” the cyan one commented.
After hearing that, the pink one started going off on a tangent about fish. Zephyr facehoofed. She couldn’t believe what she was seeing. The instant she looked up, the pink one was right in her face.
The pink one barraged her with the longest run-on sentence Zephyr had ever heard, “HithereWhatsyournameIhaventeverseenyouaroundbeforeHeydidyoucomeoutofthatrockHowdidyougetinthere?”
And then the cyan one flew up on the other side of Zephyr.
“And why were you hiding in the trees? What do you have to hide? Are you a SPY?!?”
“Wha...?” Zephyr responded, her brain not making any sense of the scene. Suddenly, the intruders were surrounded by a violet mist, and pulled out of the way.
“Sorry for my friends’ behavior. They can be quite a handful sometimes,” the lavender one apologized as she approached Zephyr.
“No kidding...” Zephyr replied
“So shall we start over?” She cleared her throat. “My name is Twilight Sparkle. These are Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash,” she said, raising the ones in her magical grip. “The ponies back there are Rarity, Applejack, and Fluttershy.” They each waved their hoof as their name was called. “What’s your name?”
“I think it’s Zephyr Nimbus”
“What do you mean you think?”
“Well, during the crash, as it seems happened, I think I hit my head. I can’t remember anything from before, except the words ‘Zephyr Nimbus’.”
“I see. Well, do you want to go?” Twilight asked. “This forest is quite dangerous, and I don’t want to push our luck. There’s a town near here that my friends and I live in. We could go there”
“Sure. Better than being here, I guess.” Zephyr said.
Tales of Zephyr Nimbus: Arrival
Part IV: Introductions
Ponyville, 11:50 a.m., Day 1
At about noon, they returned to Ponyville. Pinkie Pie ran off at the first sight of the town without a word of what she was doing.
“Where is she going?” Zephyr asked
“Probably off to hold a party,” Twilight said as they approached a large tree.
“This is where we’re going?” Zephyr inquired, puzzled.
“Yes.”
“A tree?”
“Yes...” Twilight replied, getting annoyed.
“What’s the difference between this tree and all the others I’ve seen today except for the size?”
Twilight sighed. “This is the Ponyville Library and my personal residence here in Ponyville for about two years.”
“Ah.” Turning to the others, she asked, “So where do you girls live?”
“Ah live at Sweet Apple Acres, It’s the orchard outside of town,” replied Applejack.
“I, um, live in a cottage, um, nearer to the forest,” whispered Fluttershy.
“I live and work at my boutique in town,” said Rarity.
“I live at Sugarcube Corner! It’s the bestest bakery ever on this side of Canterlot!” said Pinkie, appearing out of nowhere, making Zephyr jump in surprise.
Dash held her tongue.
Noticing this, Zephyr said, “That accounts for everyone but you, Dash. Where do you live?”
“I still don’t trust you,” Rainbow said, “But if you can beat me in a race, maybe I will tell you.”
“A hoof race?” Zephyr asked, “Because I don’t think I’m that fast on foot...”
Dash groaned.
Seeing where Zephyr was stuck, Twilight interrupted, “No, Zephyr. Dash here is the fastest flier in Equestria. She wants you to race here in flight. I mean, you are a pegasus.”
“Oh. Alright Dash. You’re on!”