Pete Powell's Life as a Pony, and Beyond

“You sure about this?” Pete asked the mare formerly known as Applejack.

She nodded, “Yeah, I'm sure. It's … it's real hard to think about all my family, Pete. They're gone, no matter what you do, they're still gone.”

Pete nodded slightly, “I thought that's how you'd see things.”

“I'm sorry.”

“No, don't be. This is entirely up to you girls, I'm not the one making the choice. We'll miss you though.”

The mare looked up at him, and even through a different set of eyes Pete could see the sincerity in them. “I'll miss all of you too,” she said, before turning to the waiting Princess of Night by the garden's entrance. Luna would lead her off to a secluded room and put her “back to sleep” inside her current form. The host body would remember nothing.

That left only two, Rarity and Rainbow. Pete sighed and looked up at the tall tree he and Applejack had just talked in front of. His mind idled on many different things, possibilities, worries, and eventually he sighed again. With the gala over the other princesses should have returned to their homes. The earth princess had left as soon as she had recovered, but the pegasus and unicorn ones had stayed.

Pete had been much too distracted to care though. Pinkie and Luna were almost always about and had came up with some kind of romancing for each night the past week. While he admitted that moonlight picnics were sweet, and personal performances from the acclaimed Canterlot orchestra were incredible, it was getting distracting. Nothing he brought up could break his herdmate's stride though. Fluttershy was still only around in fits and starts, but Luna assured him that Discord would take care of the pegasus, and a mention that Pinkie should find a job, so that the mare could return to her casual life style of parties, brought about sudden employment from Luna in the royal kitchen.

Sighing again, Pete turned and entered the castle. His return to his room was met with a tackle hug from a poofy ball of pink, that he happily returned. He sat with her cuddled up on his lap in a chair, gently rubbing her mane and back, as he told her what had transpired with Applejack. The party pony looked at him with her deep blue eyes, shimmering with tears in the faint light, but a smile on her face. Their next hug was a somber one, a hug of comfort over a mutual loss. Pinkie didn't cry, but she squeezed Pete tighter and tighter with each passing second. Eventually her grip loosened but still the pink mare clung to Pete, who obliged his new love's need to be held. Something he'd learned over the last week, speaking to Pinkie about their past, was that she bottled things up more than anypony he'd ever met.

Not too long after Pinkie had settled Luna came in, the princess obviously drained. She nodded to her herd members and nearly collapsed on the bed. Pete carried Pinkie over to the bed and sat her down on one side of Luna, then climbed onto the other side. Flanking their princess, the pair hugged and nuzzled her, as if the physical proximity could aid her spiritual fatigue. Luna reached out and gently wrapped her arms around Pinkie, burying her face into the mare's fluffy chest. Pete responded by laying his head against her back, and Pinkie laid her muzzle atop the human princess' head. Some might have found the position awkward, but the group found themselves nodding off in short order.

The next day Pete was standing in the audience chamber, Luna atop the throne in one of her, apparently many, enchanted gowns. The captain had noticed something, and approached Luna during one of the various intermissions between hearings. He climbed the short set of steps to the throne and crouched off to the right, putting himself at ear level with Luna.

“You were right, Pete. This throne is quite uncomfortable for creatures of our size,” Luna said this with a hint of a blush.

Pete chuckled, “Yes, when half your height is lost when you sit down, a chair about half your height is a good idea. … by the way,” his tone shifted to seriousness, “Is it me, or are there a lot of unicorn guards? And I don't mean in Celestia gold, I mean, of the fake royal persuasion.”

Luna examined the room once more. At least half of the guards were wearing the golden armor of the royal guard, but an almost equal number were wearing the sterling silver armor of the “unicorn nation”. The princess casually tapped her fingers on her chin, then leaned closer to Pete.

“Now that you mention it, that is an odd number. Also, where, then, are the pegasus guards? Last I recall, Sunstreak was still inside palace walls as well. Would her guard not want to be privy to the royal conferences?”

“Maybe,” Pete looked around cautiously, “maybe not. I think something is going on, I don't know what, but it is.”

“What should we do?”

The captain paused for a moment, thinking over the options before him. “I think we should cut things short today. Feign exhaustion or something, then we can snoop around.”

“The two most recognizable beings in all of Canterlot, snooping around?” Luna chuckled, “Won't that be rather difficult?”

Pete turned slightly, “I talked with Shimmering Gale once. She's the kind of single minded, obsessed, power hungry combination that I don't feel right leaving you here without me. This might be as simple as her trying to look important, or maybe she wants to try and coerce some kind of decree out of you or Celestia. Either way, I'm not having it.”

Luna turned fully, attracting the attention of the room's occupants. Ever since she had met Pete, since his apartment, and even his arrival in Equestria, he had held her in one obvious position. She was the Princess of Night, a powerful goddess capable of raining destruction unheard of in modern times, and Pete had always treated her as such. If not as a goddess, then at least as a force of nature, yet here there was none of that. He didn't care that she could drop the moon on any fools that dared cross her, or seal them on it as Celestia had done to her. Things had changed. She was now one of his herd, a valued member of his family, and he was trying to keep her safe.

Part of her felt almost disgusted. She was a goddess after all. She'd dealt with far worse than a few measly armored unicorns. The thought then crossed her mind that he was acting this way due to her gender. It was known for humans to be more protective of what they considered the weaker sex. The idea that Pete would act like that quite nearly appalled her. The other part of her lavished the idea. Even a goddess swoons at the thought of a champion to protect her, even if she's far more capable than the hero. A sort of “it's the thought that counts” kind of idea. He wanted her safe, his reasons were his own, and since he hadn't acted like this prior to their herding, she believed that was the cause.

Then Pete, having realized any chance of a charade was over, made an obvious move. Turning so that he was facing Luna, he slowly reached his arm out and placed an open hand on her belly. For a moment the princess was confused, and then it dawned on her. She was still quite vulnerable indeed. No pony would know, which was both a blessing and a curse. If something violent occurred and she wasn't on her guard her unborn would be in danger. A wave of sickening sadness poured through Luna, mixed with a hint of joy. The thought of something happening to her children caused her grief and rage, yet Pete's display of protective instinct towards them made her elated.

Luna removed the crown from her head, taking Pete's hand in her free one, and rose from the ground, bringing her mate with her. She embraced him casually, and somewhat fiercely. His free arm wrapped around her waist, returning the affection, and the pair walked away without a word. There were important matters to attend to, and Luna could HARDLY leave her captain to oversee them himself. At least, that's what she said later when asked by the council about her sudden leave of absence.

The semi-royal couple started trekking across the castle, asking, probing, quietly for information from anyone that could know that wasn't one of the unicorn guards. The guards that the couple began to notice around nearly every corner. After a time Pete began to place tracing spells on them, to make sure they weren't being followed. What he concluded was worse. By his count there were at least 100 unicorn guards in the employ of Shimmering Gale in the castle. That fact alone was enough to convince Luna that the pair needed to seek aid from her sister.

“Hold up,” Pete said as they rounded a corner. Down the hall was yet another set of Shimmering Gale's guards, the set of stallions flanking either side of a doorway. Luna quickly checked her memory of the castle.

“There's nothing of importance in that room,” she whispered, slightly confused.

“Maybe not to us,” Pete responded, letting the idea linger for less than a moment before springing into action. In which he raised his right arm, a shade passing it for a moment as a spell slid off his fingers and reached the guards. The invaders stumbled for a second, confusion washing over them, before they toppled on the spot.

The captain and his princess moved hurriedly towards the door. They were in Celestia's end of the castle, yet no where near her room. Shimmering Gale's room was nearby, the arrogant princess demanding a room closest to that of the main monarch. Pete shook his head as he found the door locked. A gentle, magically enchanted, rap of his knuckles on the lock caused the mechanism to break and grant all entry.

Inside was a room, plain, unassuming. Except for the unicorn mare tied up on the bed. Several possible ideas filled the human's head, each one more catastrophic than the last. Catastrophic at least for those he intended to act his violence out on for his perception of this act anyway. Before Luna had even finished looking around Pete had freed the mare, undoing her ropes and gag. She coughed a few times and the discarded materials alluded to Luna what she had been freed from.

“I tried,” the mare croaked.

“Tried what?” Pete's voice soothing and even toned.

“I'm sorry, darling. I tried to warn Celestia, but this foal wouldn't let me.”

Pete wasted no time hugging the new form of Rarity. He and the fashionista had never been what one would call close, but it was good to hear another friendly voice. Luna did not intrude once again. These reunions could be very bitter sweet, as it had been the night before with Applejack. The unicorn slowly hugged back, eventually letting out a soft sigh of relief, at which point Pete let go.

“What did you try to tell Celestia?” Pete asked, going right back to business, but keeping his tone subdued.

“That wretched mare, Shimmering Gale, has been sneaking guards into the castle under the guise of 'servants' for the past four days. Who ever I am now knew about it, but she refused to speak up. I got fed up with it and went to tell the princess when she blurted the plan out in front of those ruffians. The next thing I know I'm being roped up faster than somepony trying to escape Applejack, and I'm tossed in here.”

Pete gave a weak chuckle, “I'm sure it was 'the worst thing ever,' huh?”

Rarity's expression went flat in her host's body, “There is a time for drama and a time for seriousness, Pete Powell. A proper lady knows when those are. And now is not the time for your jokes.”

“Okay, okay. What's their plan of attack?”

“Well, the coup was planned for today. They were going to force the crown off the head of who ever was on the throne. As I understand it though, Celestia is in her room and has been for days, and Luna is … over there in her new human form and she's the one with the crown. They've been rather simply bested, I think.”

“No,” Luna said, shaking her head, “The guards we saw on our way here, they know where we are. There could be an army marching through the halls right now waiting to intercept us.”

Pete raised an arm, which quickly coated in shadow and became clawed, as he gave Luna a dark smile. “Oh, I hope they're that stupid,” he spat. “There's two crowns though. They could easily be converging on Celestia.”

The Princess of Night paused and thought on that for a moment. “What should we do?” Her concern was palpable.

A minute later the trio were practically parading through the halls, passing a few of the silver armored guards and leaving them slack jawed. Pete had gone full Dread Captain and then some. Applying what was once a simple aura of magic into a physically altering form along his arms, which now both resembled claws. His face was stern as he led the way through the halls, Luna next and the rescued mare in the back. Luna was concerned about the claws, but she trusted Pete not to do something stupid. The group proceeded to the audience chamber and Luna took her place on the throne, her dark crown resting securely on her head.

Pete cracked his knuckles impatiently in the interluding moments. Despite reassurances Luna remained worried. They had left to prevent this exact scenario hours earlier. It felt like the opposite of a good plan to her. Once more, however, she trusted Pete. Their fears and doubts did not need long to manifest. Less than five minutes passed before the large double doors on the far side of the throne were thrust open, allowing in nearly 200 unicorns all dressed in the same silver armor, with a robed mare at the center.

“We've heard of your plan, Shimmering Gale,” Luna boomed, letting some of her own fury eek out.

“Oh, I can see that,” the unicorn replied, shooting a look of venom at the seamstress next to the throne.

“What do you hope to accomplish?” Pete asked, his voice loud, but low and steady. “You stand before Princess Luna, formerly Nightmare Moon, one of the greatest threats in Equestrian history. You think a few hundred soldiers can stop her?”

What followed was the most pathetic attempt at a speech Pete had ever heard. He tuned out as soon as the 'princess' mentioned that unicorns were, hooves down, the “superior race.” It made him sick, and worse was that a majority of it ended up being pretentious ego inflation. Several minutes of her talk about how unicorns should lead over all others was just her going on about how great she, herself, was. It was simply egotistical, foolish, and blatantly stupid. It completely disregarded the simple fact that an alicorn was all three races put together. In Shimmering Gale's fantasy world, that made them weak.

With her manifesto delivered, Shimmering seemed to wait for applause, and Pete gave it to her. Slowly clapping as he walked down the stairs to meet her army on their level. It was an ironic clap, the kind the villain gives the hero at the end of the movie after an impassioned speech.

“Shimmering Gale,” Pete said in a loud voice, “I here by place you and your group under arrest on charges of treason.” The group before him chuckled slightly. “Failure to comply will be met with extreme force. This is your one and only warning to surrender.”

“And you'll defend your princess to the bitter end then?”

Pete cocked his head. “Oh, it's beyond that. I'm a citizen of this land. While I may be sworn under the banner of the moon, I still serve this nation and everything that comes with it. I would be standing here if it were Celestia on that throne too. Because I swore to protect this land, and strive only to make it better. In your vision I see nothing but greed and ignorance, a path of destruction.”

“For the past few thousand years you've all been allowed to act as you pleased, and in ways it has helped and in others it has harmed. I not longer see the unity of this nation that I did once. I see fear mongering from petty powers, propaganda about superiority, and idol worship of beings that would frown upon the actions you've taken. So I'm making a double announcement here. As of right now, I, Captain Pete Powell, am disbanding the false houses of royalty.” Many gasps echoed in the room, including one from Luna. “It was something the alicorn princesses should have done years ago, but they looked the other way. As an officer of the law, I can not do that. Nothing in the Equestrian charter says that you may proclaim yourself royalty without a direct tie to the royal house. I've checked, none of you do. Not you, not Mud Hole, not Sunstreak. You're all technically traitors to the crown.”

“I'm willing to look the other way though, provided that these fictitious titles are abandoned. From there, appropriate actions will be taken to deal with whatever unlawful wealth has been accumulated, including property, etcetera.”

Shimmering Gale laughed, then ordered her soldiers to deal with the captain. It was short. Pete waved a single clawed hand and a gust of wind with the strength of a hurricane pushed from him. A few managed to stay standing, but those closest to him were blown backwards, and a few right out into the hall. Shimmering Gale herself looked up, having been smart enough to shield herself, just in time for a shroud of pure darkness to extinguish the light.

From Luna and Rarity's perspective it seemed as though a black fog had covered several feet off the ground, obscuring any pony that might be below them, and stretching as far back as the doors. A couple of minutes later the darkness faded, as Pete emerged from it. The Dread Captain brushed his shirt off of nonexistent dust, his hands once more normal, as the floor slowly uncovered behind him. In its wake were the bodies of the gathered opposing force, many groaning, more unconscious, and Shimmering Gale in the center of it.

“Pete,” Luna gaped at the sight.

“I told them, extreme force.” He shrugged, “None of them are seriously hurt, half of what I did was scare tactics, the actual 'damage' if you want to call it that was magically inflicted. It's also amazing the kinds of things a unicorn will fire off when they're trapped in the dark. More of them fell to friendly fire than my own.”

He paused for a moment when he reached the top of the dais, reading Luna's expression. “Equestria is a fantastic place. It's home to me, and I will do whatever it takes to defend it. I may not like what I do,” his face turned from Luna's gaze and hardened, “but I'll do it.” He then turned back, bent down slowly, and hugged Luna. “Especially if it threatens my family,” he whispered to her.

Before long the real guard was in and hauling unconscious traitors to either the dungeon or the medical ward. Luna stepped off with Rarity to complete that ritual once more, and Pete feared what Luna would be like that night. Of course, with fighting occurring inside the castle itself, it wasn't long before Celestia made an appearance. The alabaster alicorn pushing her way through a few of her own guards to the human watching from the dais steps. She looked Pete up and down with a look of anger on her face. Pete responded with a bland expression. As far as he was concerned, Celestia hated him now, and he could no longer care.

“Calling families that have long stood with the royal house traitors, fighting inside the throne room, disbanding the royalty that has stood for thousands of years now, essentially destabilizing a governmental system that has been in place as far as many can remember, am I missing anything?”

Pete negligently tossed his medal at the Princess and shrugged. “I dunno. I can't say I care. I did what I had to, that's all. No one is dead, a threat to the crown was put to rest, and a stupid continental division is over.”

Celestia sighed deeply, “What am I supposed to do with you?!”

“I honestly don't know. … I'm not proud of myself, Celestia. I didn't want this but when there's an army sitting inside the castle I don't have much choice.”

The Princess recoiled, her eyes wide. “You could have talked to me! You could have gathered the guard to back you up! Something else, anything!”

“WHY?!” Pete stood up, putting himself eye level with the alicorn. “Why risk getting others hurt when I was more than capable. No one on our side was hurt, and even few of the rebels were injured. You couldn't imagine a better victory than this.”

“You far overstepped your bounds as a captain.”

“No, you failed in your duties as a princess. The laws are clear, and my research was sound. These 'princesses' have no legal claim to the throne, and are, according to the laws that YOU set up, criminals.”

Celestia reached for a retort, but found nothing. She had known that she was skating thin ice when she allowed the political charade to continue. What burned her was that she had no say in the dismantlement of it all. The Princess of the Sun, hailed as the most powerful being in Equestria, suddenly felt powerless next to this one, mortal creature. Pete had always had that power in his later years, and it slowly dawned on the princess that what irked her was that he had returned. She was still stuck on that one thing. No matter what she did, he had a loophole, even in death.

She let out a defeated sigh and sat down. It was almost too much to take in. Celestia still remembered times when she and Pete were close, friends even. A monarch with absolute power had few of those, it was why she pushed all her students to find friendship. Guilt settled into the pit of her stomach, and her face simply deflated before Pete. When she opened her eyes, they were regretful. Pete looked at Celestia for a while, making sure she was serious, then placed a hand on her shoulder.

“It's hard,” he said softly, “I know it is. He's gone, and you don't know why he didn't come back.”

“What do you-”

“I know a lot,” Pete said, “I know about Star Swirl, your relationship, everything.” Pete pulled the small book he'd been carrying around out of his pocket and shown it to Celestia. It was Star Swirl's diary. The original. Celestia gasped, having long thought it lost. “Twilight had a very keen hiding spot in the library. She stashed a lot of rare books back there, and this was among them. She never got to read it, probably thought it was just another official copy, since they were basically cloned on the same red binding with his name on the front.”

Celestia grasped the ancient book with her magic and opened to a random page. It was her second date with Star Swirl. Celestia had insisted on disguising herself and the entire entry was the stallion berating himself for calling her Celestia, rather than her pseudonym, at least a dozen times. The princess bit her lower lip and chuckled weakly. Another random page, filled with the ramblings of a confused stallion as the estrus season came upon the nation. Ideas filtered through his mind on what that could possibly mean for an immortal goddess, but more often than not it was panicked worry over if he could provide properly in a sexual situation.

By this point Celestia was crying. Pete stepped forward and hugged the pony monarch. Celestia did not sob, she didn't make a noise, she cried silently into the human's shoulder for several minutes while a stern faced Pete kept any of the guards from thinking about glancing over. The storm passed and Celestia whispered her thanks to Pete.

“I know it's rough, but you'll pull through. Moving on does not mean forgetting.”

Pete escorted the emotionally drained Celestia back to her room, then made his way to the rooms of the pony bodies. He needed to check up on Rarity. Stepping into the room, he found the fashionista being informed of what had transpired, how she had gotten to where she was, and what could be done.

“I appreciate it, really, but I think my time has passed,” she said, sadly.

“It doesn't have to,” Pete said, closing the door behind him.

“For you, dear, maybe, but for me? I know nothing of the fashion in the future, and even though it sounds like most of the girls will be back, I'm afraid I would miss those that chose to stay gone too much. Besides, what possible reason could I have to stick around?” She gave a faint smile from her host form.

Pete's stomach churned, he had a reason, it was a low blow though. She deserved to know. “Rarity, Spike is still alive.”

Her breath caught in the back of her throat and a tear welled up. “Spikey is... … Oh, that is cruel, Pete Powell.”

Spike and Rarity had become a couple sometime during the dragon's teenaged years and they had lasted the whole of Rarity's life, according to the mare herself while they waited on Twilight at the gate of reincarnation. Luna had recently told Pete that the dragon had fled to a high mountain after the day of Rarity's death, and returned only once a month to speak with Celestia. He made no attempts to gather riches, citing that his most precious had already been taken from him. Pete told Rarity this and the proper pony lost herself in a fit of tears.

Luna shot Pete a look between confusion and disgust. She didn't agree with what he had done, but it was the same thing he was doing. Applejack's herd all had timely deaths, as did Twilight's. Fluttershy and Discord hadn't been an item, but the human had spoken to the draconequus many times, his feelings had been clear. Same with Spike and Rarity. Spike lived on, alone, he could reunite them, as he was doing with himself and Dash. Like he had accidentally done for Pinkie. The way he saw it, he was extending the happy times for the beings that lived well beyond normal years. They deserved it in his eyes.

“I'll do it,” Rarity said, wiping a final tear from her eye.

Luna sighed slightly and nodded, rushing Pete from the room and beginning to instruct Rarity on what to do.

With that out of the way, Pete made his own weary way back to his quarters. Pinkie was, as usual, already there. As soon as he stepped in the party pony pounced on him and hugged him tight, spewing forth whatever story had been going around about what happened only an hour ago in the throne room. He carried her over to the bed and laid down, her hooves still wrapped around him, and began to calm the excitable mare. Pete told her about what had happened, his suspicion, the discovery of the threat, finding Rarity inside the body of the seamstress that had helped Pinkie find him during the gala, and the fight in the audience chamber. With everything said the mare seemed to calm down and the pair waited for Luna to return.

The wait was a few hours in length, and it was noticeable in Luna when she entered. She seemed half dead, only giving a few short sentences before curling up on the bed and dozing. The other two followed suit, though it was still early in the day. Tensions had ran high, Pinkie with worry, Pete with a variety of emotions, and Luna with pure exhaustion. Before falling asleep, Pete raised an arm and cast a barrier on the door. He wanted not potential interruptions for this rest that his herd needed.

In the back of his mind his excitement built. With Rarity now found and returning to life there was only one. Rainbow Dash. The worry and excitement swelled and mixed together as he anticipated her return. It couldn't be long now. It had taken him no time at all to find the others. She was probably right around the corner, slowly stirring. She always did like to take her time getting up.