Escape To the Country
"So tell me again if I've got this all right because I'm still slightly confused" I said as I paced up and down one side of the fire in the cave I had gotten us too. "Your name is Princess Luna and you have been stripped of all your powers and form and were framed over a thousand years ago and locked in that room which didn't stop time but stopped aging and Clearwater is in your body with your powers and by the looks of it planning to take over all of Equestria" I said in one big breath.
"Yes, it is all true; we understand it is hard to comprehend but unfortunately we have had to live in full knowledge that our body was being used by that…that monster" said Luna in disgust. After some rest and some food which I'd been able to scavenge she was certainly far better than she was hours before.
"We believed that she had already taken over the Empire and we further believed this when her guards stopped checking up on us after a few hundred years" said Luna as she shimmied closer to the fire. She was still quite weak and I didn't even want to know her mental strength but right now I had more pressing issues on my mind.
"If you aren't Clearwater then that means you don't have the magical ability to bring ponies back to life" I asked her intently looking into her eyes in the hope she did know. She looked at me strangely and said in a ludicrous voice "What…nopony can bring back the dead when you die you stay down its simple and we should know for we trained under Starswirl himself".
I was angry to say the least and I desperately needed a drink, in fact if I didn't get some cider I believed I would explode. It must have been showing on my face just how upset I was about being lied to about the possible resurrection of my dear wife and the possibility of new life because Luna was looking at me with a slightly pitiful look on her face.
"Is something wrong because if you want you can talk to us about it" she offered. I looked up at Luna her form that of a Unicorn, not exactly a big one with her white coat and silvery mane that didn't belong to her along with all those scars and bite marks.
I could still get her to Manehatten in less than four days and claim my reward, enough booze to drink myself to death in some rich penthouse. They wouldn't know the difference and by the time they realized I'd probably be dead.
I looked at her face which despite the fact was still framed in youth looked old and battle scarred, that and the fact it wasn't hers made me pity her. I pulled my sword from my side sheath and began to sharpen it with a sharpening stone.
Luna looked on as I sat with my back against the wall and my face entirely focused on the steel of the blade. Luan kept looking at me with her intense blue eyes until she finally asked "So how did thou become the Captain of the Guard"?
I looked at Luna and stopped sharpening my sword. "Didn't you intrude into my head, you should like know everything about me or something" I said which when I put it that way made me cringe since I hadn't been a choir colt in my life. "No I simply have the power to watch over dreams which as you saw was faded and almost worthless now, all I saw was what was taking place in the dream and I saw you atop the tower watching the Twilight".
I chuckled a bit which puzzled Luna but I explained "No it's funny because Twilight is the name of a talented Unicorn which is also Celestia's student and whose brother replaced me as Captain in the guard" I ended bitterly.
"Why were thou replaced?" asked Luna but I avoided the topic by telling her how I became the Captain of the Guard. "Well I can't remember how I became the Captain in all the details but basically after climbing the tower and watching the Twilight I was startled by the Captain which at the time was called Steel who believed I was after his job and despised me for it.
He attempted to push me off the tower but instead he fell about thirty feet into the royal glass room where his body was scarred and his bones twisted. I explained what had occurred to Celestia and Steel was fired and I was promoted to the Captain of the Royal Guard" I finished, remembering good times.
There was a small silence followed by my story and Luna then asked "Is that it"? I was surprised to say the least but it quickly turned to anger and I said sarcastically "Yes did you want something else maybe a few explosions or a fight with an ancient mummy"?
"Oh no Captain we did not mean to offend thee, it's just that if something were to happen like this in the castle with the Captain of the guard the general procedure would be to sentence the Captain to death and the next day cut his head off with a heavy war axe" she simply stated as if that were common knowledge.
I blinked once or twice before clearly explaining "Yeah well in the modern world we don't cut ponies heads off, hay there is barely any death that's noticeable any more". "Really" said Luna in a fascinated tone of voice.
"Please do tell us about this new world and what else has changed?" she asked leaning forwards. I looked at her and asked "You want me to fill in a thousand years of knowledge like right now"? Luna thought for a moment before she said "No we command it now tell" in her very loud and old pony speaking voice.
"Well for a start nopony talks like you anymore" I told her to which she responded "Oh no this is just the Canterlot Voice used only by Celestia and we" she explained. "Well no you're wrong, Celestia doesn't use that kind of voice anymore in fact she is usually quite calm and collective but with a dangerous undertone" I described.
"Well that's Tia, forever the one to embrace modern social life but never the wonderful technologies it brings with it" said Luna. "Oh you want some technology well get this…they created a form of light which used a thing called electricity" I said to see what her reaction would be.
"What does thou mean the kind which can be generated from storms?" asked Luna but I shook my head and explained "No, they use coal to obtain the energy through heating steam, they also use coal to power machines and more specifically a thing for transportation at a grand scale called a train".
Luna seemed absolutely fascinated with this and went on to ask "Weapons, did anypony finish our crossbow?" asked Luna in a look of actual happiness. "Crossbow, yeah I have a custom built one here see" I said showing her my miniature crossbow in my saddle bag.
She looked it over in awe and amazement and touched everything from the handle to the pointy sharp end of the bolt. I became a little more distressed when she pointed the crossbow at her eye and quickly took it off her again.
"Amazing" was all Luna could say and I agreed, telling her "Yeah it's good for stealth and even better for intimidation". "What of my sister, you served in her Guard for many a year so you must have known her to a certain level" asked Luna now looking more serious and focused on my words.
"Well I didn't know her on a personal level but I did attend a few parade and Guards some festivals and quite a few times I was with her when the Wonder bolt's started up. "Wonder who?" asked Luna. "Oh just a bunch of arrogant fly ponies who fly around fairs and whenever there's a danger that can't e solved by ground they take to the sky in an impressive way, showing off their speed and tricks as they save the day" I said with some spite in my voice.
"You don't like them all very much do you?" said Luna and I agreed they were just like the Guard now all young and arrogant, full of energy but lacking experience. "Yeah well let's just say that thanks to your sister Equestria became so safe that they outlawed all weapons to be owned by civilians and even made sure that Guards no longer wear swords on a day to day basis" I explained.
"Well that's not very safe, what if the Kingdom were attacked?" asked Luna to which I replied in a loud voice "Exactly that's what I told them but they refused my views and banned the sword and when I didn't lay down my arms for the protection of the land they fired me!" I was yelling now, raised with my sword drawn.
Luna was looking wide eyed and scared at my loud tangent but accepted it and even shared some of her own time's stories as well. "In my time technology and social life was different, in a way much easier and yet much harder, ponies were still struggling to figure out the wheel for crying out loud but then again the social development was also lacking" explained Luna.
"Ponies just got on with their lives without complaint if we changed rules or taxes went up but from what I'm hearing there is a lot of political differences and change going on am I correct?" she asked. But I wasn't really listening to what Luna was saying, just her voice which had begun to sound more modern and less loud.
"Was it something I said?" asked Luna and I put on my best Canterlot voice and decreed "No thou hast done nothing wrong fair Princess". Luna looked at me puzzled before gasping and putting her hoof to her mouth. "Was I…we mean was I" she began to get muddled so I helped her by saying "Yes you were speaking like you were normal Luna" but she seemed to look sad when I said this and got up to go to the foot of the cave and peer at the stars.
She limped slightly and was still weak but she was a strong pony or Alicorn despite her current form. I stood by her and sheathed my sword, standing and looking up at the night sky. "I remember creating many of these stars" she began. "My Father had already made the majority of them but I began toying around and created entire Nebulas and comets and many more things it was beautiful from my point of view and although it bothered me that most ignored it, it made me appreciate more when ponies like it, with Celestia the ponies always accepted the sun and worked played and lived in it but they never appreciated it they just accepted it" Luna murmured.
I had absolutely no doubt now about what it was that I had to do and even though it would be difficult, the chances of me dying were high and the chances of success were so low I didn't even want to think about it I'd do it.
"Luna, this sky might not have been brought about tonight by your hooves but I promise you that I will do everything in my power despite how unimportant and powerless I am to bring it back into you and return you too your rightful place as the ruler of our land" I told her truthfully, even getting a little bit poetic at the end of my little pledge.
"So you mean you'll take me to the Northern Mountains of the Bad LAnds and help me regain my powers!?" she asked in giddy joy to which I responded "Err yeah I guess so". Despite her weak muscles and lack of energy she sure could hug tight as I discovered when I was encased in a bear tight hug which I was positive cracked a rib.
"Sorry" she apologised stepping back. "It's ok, but you do know which mountain it is right and actually more to the point why we have to go up a mountain in a beast infested land?" I asked. "Well do you have a map with you?" asked Luna and gave her my very detailed and coloured map the likes of which she'd probably never seen before. "It's good to know map producers have made some advancements in the field of technology" she said to which I mumbled "Yeah they even mapped the moon" but Luna wasn't paying attention and began to look over the map.
"Do thou have a quill to spare?" she asked and I instead handed her a pencil. Luna looked at it and asked "What is this?" I remembered that she probably had never seen a pencil before and explained "It's like a more precise Charcoal".
She began to mark key locations on the map and stare in amazement for some time at the pencil. At the end she showed me a map through the Everfree Forest which would take a little over a day which was good but then she showed me the rather large desert planes which would be the safest route to the mountains since it actually came up to the Bad lands and then the mountain where she said something powerful was stored.
All of this travel would take about five days and we had no magic on our side, we had no stocked food, we were ill supplied and ill equipped for any quests and Luna had just left a cell she had been resting in for a thousand years…I wasn't scared but I wasn't feeling very optimistic about the future.
"Well the early bird will catch the worm" I said, yawning and stretching back against the cave wall. "Then it will feed it to its young by eating and then regurgitating it" said Luna, thankful giving me a nice image to fall asleep with. "Great well can you take first watch Luna and wake me in a couple of hours" I asked and Luna nodded stating "I've pretty much had a thousand years to sleep we will be fine".
I nodded but just in case I gave her my crossbow and still without my mind at ease fell asleep and drifted off into the land of dreams.
Walking through the castle gates was always a pleasure and I felt it once more and still relished in the feeling that this castle was my responsibility. Every Guard, Everypony and every brick was all looking up to me and sometimes even Celestia wanted my advice on something.
However it was different this day as I saw something wrong with the draw-bridge, specifically the pony crawling slowly up its chain and to the battlements of the city. I scratched my nose and shouted "You there!" which startled the stealthier sneaker into scrambling up the chain and over the fortifications.
I immediately took off in chase except from the ground and pushed ponies and with boxes and foals alike aside in order to catch this sneaker or thief or maybe even assassin. Some sentries on the battlements saw her running and when I yelled stop her put their spears to good use and blocked the perpetrators way.
I ran at her now trapped and tackled her to the floor. The hood covering the potential threat slipped back and revealed it to me a mare that took me by surprise. "Well hello handsome" she stated before kissing me very hard on the nose and causing me to step back in surprise.
I was about to draw my sword when suddenly Celestia came out of nowhere and congratulated the thief saying "Well done Captain you just stopped the Royal Thief from breaking into the castle, it was just a test". I blinked and questioned test. To which the mare looked back and congratulated "Yep well done you have a nice tackle, I'd like to see more of it sometime" which I was positive made me turn red.
She was quite an attractive mare I'd noticed but suddenly I noticed something else. Behind this mare was the flickering image of somepony else and…it was Luna!
I awoke with a start and saw I was staring directly into the eyes of Luna. I reacted quickly and pushed her away, shouting "How dare you that dream was private"! Luna looked back at me and got up starting to apologise "I'm sorry Captain but it was getting late and my curiosity got the best of me and it just kind of happened" she tried to excuse but I wasn't having any of it.
"Well I don't care, now you sleep I've had enough and tomorrow I'll be pushing us really hard so you should sleep and try and keep your nose out of somepony's dreams…more specifically mine!" I yelled angrily to which Luna simply nodded, trying to apologise again but stopping when she looked at my angry eyes.
SO she instead settled down to sleep and I settled down to keep watch, still with the memory of that dream in my mind. I was ashamed to say that it made me want to break down and cry.