Nightmare S Lost Voice
IC date: Autumn 21
OOC date: October 10
PCs: Rocket
NPCs: Nightmare's Voice
GM: Gamble

It was just another peaceful day in the Wintersong Forest (of DOOM!). The birds were chirping, the snow was falling, and cute little snowbunnies were darting along through the snowbanks.

When suddenly… BA-THOOM!

An explosion! From nowhere! Only the third one in a small matter of days! Another great magical blast that flattens a small bit of forest space, blows leaves and needles everywhere, and otherwise makes a mess of nature.

At the epicenter of this new crater, yet another strange pony lays. This one decked out in not just a grey-shaded snowsuit, but a dark purple set of armor as well. Heavy-looking, certainly metal, several moon-type designs carved into it. Complete with an open-faced helmet.

The echo of the explosion fades, but the sounds of the forest are reluctant to return…

And that startling sound darn near knocks a passing griffon out of the sky! She chirps out a loud word that was probably quite uncouth. The forest was usually so calm! …Okay no it wasn't. But it was quiet! Quieter than /that/, at least. Okay the point here is that explosions are /not normal/. But it does get her to change course and head that way, because dangit, she's gonna see what's /doing/ that all these times. She's not entirely up on all the in-town occurances.

The silence is deafening. Only the sound of sizzling rock rises from the edges of the exploded out crater, and this feeling of /so much magic/ in one place… The poor pony in the crater is still unconscious. Not even moving beyond shallow breaths.

Rocket blinks and peers down, giving a startled yelp and diving down to land next to the crater. MAGIC! Oh, this was definitely somethimg magic! Magicmagicmagic awesome! But what sort of magic would cause explosions and craters and… oh hey. There's a pony. Whoops.

She heads over towards said pony, stepping carefully, as she doesn't want to mess up the crater before examining it thoroughly. "Hey… hey, pony." She prods the creature with one talon lightly. Not someone she recognizes from town! At least, not in that get-up. "Hey. You okay? Wake up. Come on."

"Nnnngh…" the armored pony groans, stirring ever so slightly to the nudging of talons. A feminine voice for sure. Another groan, and the stranger starts to sit up, shaking her head slowly. "What in the name of the Queen just hit me..?"

"Dunno!" Rocket answers cheerily. "Figured you would be able to tell me. Somethin' magic! It's all magicky around here. Landed you smack dab in the middle of the Forest, too. You're gonna be chilly. Ponies always are."

"Chilly..?" the mare grunts, roughly. "But it's so /warm/… And /bright/!" she exclaims, righting herself the rest of the way. She squints through her eyelids, at the forest, at the trees, at the crater, and then at the griffon. "…Who are you? What division are you from? Who's your handler?" Her squinty eyes get all the more squinty. "What /happened/ soldier?"

Rocket blinks over at her, straightening up a bit automatically. "Rocket. Clawspur tribe from the Northern Mountains." She pauses for a second, tilting her head. "…I… don't think I've got a handler. Fleet was our nest patron. Fa- I mean, uh, Windrider is our Patriarch. …And I'm a hunter, not a soldier caste." She blinks again, frowning. "Why am I rattling this all off? Where're you from? You gotta be from up North too, then, if you don't think this is cold. You a friend of the tribes? If that's where you're from, pony, you got blasted a long way off!"

This time it's the stranger's turn to blink. Under the armor, a pure white pelt, with a pair of glittering sky-blue eyes peering from beneath her helmet. Glaring, even. Hard. "A friend of the tribes..? And no handler?" She takes a single, all too aggressive step towards the griffon. "You're not one of /ours/ then, are you? You're not from the Queen's army? What are you doing in Queen Moon's territory!?" Squint! Glare! Speaking of magic, this mare appears to be a unicorn too, her horn's tip starting to glow. "Answer me or I swear you'll be frozen where you stand…"

Rocket instinctively draws herself up, feathers poofing. "Hey! This here is /my/ territory! I don't know what you're on about, pony. The Harbor's got no Queen. I guess that sun pony who came by was a queen. But she didn't tell me to go join any army! You're the one who just got blasted outta your place somehow, so I wouldn't be just assuming you're still in your territory, pal. Now calm down and let's talk like civilized creatures and figure this out." …Did she just refer to herself as a civilized creature? She blinks. Geez, a girl gets one pet bunny and makes some pony friends and suddenly she's gone all soft! Hmph.

Well /that/ sure brings the pony up short. The glow fades, blue eyes going very wide. "S..sun pony? There is no sun. Only Moon." But it /is/ awful bright. Certainly bright enough that no moon would be putting that much light out.

"…Well it doesn't matter where this place is. All is the Queen's territory." Those eyes return to Rocket, confusion mixed with a dangerous spark. "I am Nightmare's Voice, and I demand to know what happened to cause the sun to rise! It was banished! Banished by my Queen!"

Rocket peers at her quizzically for a second. "Nightmare?" She suddenly blinks, and perks up a bit. "Hey! Hey, I know that one. Nightmare Moon? Making it night all the time? Then the other pony ruler banished her for a thousand years and all? And there was some big hullabaloo some years back about her coming back again! And getting all fixed so now they both rule and stuff and night and day work like they're supposed to. Fleet told us all about it." She seems quite excited to actually know this story. "Sun's been rising and setting just like it should ever since! Well, I dunno that it ever stopped for too long, really. Just a while that one day few years back." She shrugs. "Not that it made too much difference up north. We get long nights and long days all the time."

The strange armored pony nearly growls, pawing the ground. "Lies! LIES! Queen Moon banished her sister and the night has ruled ever since!" Snort! Huff! "She just gave me orders this /morning/ so she can't have been banished! OR /fixed/!"

Rocket blinks over at her. "Well. Sounds like you know a different end to the story, then," she states, as if this were the most normal thing ever. "What, are you from, like… another dimension? Do they have those? I'll bet they do. Woah… did you magic so hard you got blown to another dimension? …That's /awesome/! How'd you do that?"

The fact that this griffon is remaining calm, despite her threatening gestures, seems to only be making Voice that much more irate. "It's the /only/ ending to this story! It's how the world's been for many years! It's…" Her head lifts. "Another dimension?"

Her rear plops down into the crater. "…Okay. I'm dreaming. That's what this is. This, is a dream. Or a nightmare." She eyes the griffon. One of her eyes is twitching. "There was a bright light, a loud noise, and I was suddenly…here. I'm going to wake up now, and I'll be in my bed…"

Rocket blinks over at her, excitement facing a bit. "Hey… it's okay. Deep breaths. You're magic! You'll figure out a way to fix it. Hey, I'll bet you're not even the only one here. Booms like yours've been happening for the past couple of days. If I'd'a known they were ponies, I'd've headed to 'em more often! 'Sides, our dimension's not so bad. I like it!"

"Other explosions..?" The white mare looks at Rocket in a new way, taking a hesitant step towards the griffon. "…Let's say I believe you." She squints. "Which I don't. But if I did. Where would I be? And which direction would the nearest civilization be?"

Rocket sits back on her haunches. "You're in the Wintersong Forest. Right north of Horseshoe Harbor. Other side of the mountains from Everfree Forest, they tell me. Canterlot's past there somewhere. I didn't go out that far." She lifted a talon to point. "From the sky, the Harbor was thataway. But things're… different, down here on the ground. You'll probably want a guide or somesuch. It's easy to get all turned around."

"I'll be fine." the armored pony says, her voice dropping down to that dangerous growl. "Nothing in this forest is a match for my power. I'm second only to the Queen… That's why I'm her Voice." She lifts her head, horntip glowing, already starting to trot out of the crater towards 'thataway'. "I'll find your civilization and get some /real/ answers…"

Rocket blinks and shrugs. "If you say so. Though they're gonna tell you 'bout the same stuff I am. I mean… sun's up. Was up yesterday. Gonna be up tomorrow." She spread her wings. "Just, y'know, call if you get lost or somesuch. I got good ears."

Voice's ear twitches. "…Fine. If I get lost. Which I won't. I'll call." Then she's gone! Right down the nearest bunnytrail!

What a strange pony.

"And look out for the spiders!" Rocket called after her, shrugging faintly and bounding into the air. Strange pony indeed.