A New Name:

Bastion stood before Nightmare Moon, a stoic look on his face. Nightmare Moon couldn’t believe this, she had just gained a great advantage. If the other guards saw her under Bastion’s care, she would no longer have to fear being discovered.

Bastion had dropped from his stiff posture and seemed to be looking at her slightly confused.

“Um, this is normally where you would tell me your name?” He said, trying to fill the awkward silence.

“Oh, right.” Nightmare Moon said. She had no clue what to call herself. If she said her real name then she would be apprehended. Without thinking she blurted out the first name that came to mind “uh, Moonbeam. My name is Moonbeam.” Nightmare Moon blurted out. Bastion didn’t seem to notice her discomfort with the name, something Nightmare Moon was grateful for.

“Alright little miss Moonbeam, do you know the name of the city you live in? The closest town to here is Ponyville, does that sound familiar?” Bastion asked, hoping he could get a basic direction based on where she lived.

Nightmare Moon looked away for a second. Should she say she was from Ponyville? She didn’t know how far away she had gotten from the town in her constant running from the guards. She didn’t see any other alternatives though, so she began spinning her story.

“We-” Nightmare Moon began before cutting herself off, trying to finalize her lies before committing to them. “My parents and I were visiting family in Ponyville. We decided to have a picnic out in the woods, but I saw an animal that looked really cute and started following it.” Nightmare Moon explained, making her voice shake slightly to try and sound like a more convincing lost filly.

“I wandered around trying to find them, but I couldn’t find them anywhere. *sob* I just wanted to find my way back to town but I wasn’t able to find the edge of the woods from where I was.” Nightmare Moon started crying to sell the effect even more. Bastion seemed to be buying her act, as he gently moved to give her a small, reassuring hug.

Nightmare Moon was glad that her ploy was successful, but still she felt strange. The tears felt almost real, but she couldn’t think of anything that would cause her to cry. She pushed the strange feeling away, deciding to think about it when she was at least sure her goals well within reach

“It’s okay, Moonbeam, I’ll get you to your parents as fast as I can. We just need to get to one of the base camps that the other guards set up so we can get some supplies for the trip back, okay?” Bastion comforted her, Nightmare Moon simply nodded.

“Alright then, let’s get going. The camp should be a few hours that way,” Bastion told Nightmare Moon, pointing in the direction he had come from. “I’ll handle everything, so don’t be scared when we get there.” With that, Bastion got up and led the way back through the foliage, Nightmare Moon following close behind.

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The walk to the camp had taken place in silence for the most part. Bastion had tried asking questions of ‘Moonbeam’ but her answers were always short, giving no room for conversation to follow. After his first few attempts had fallen flat, Bastion decided to give the filly some time to adjust. She was traveling with a stranger after all.

Nightmare Moon had been spending her time trying to get her story in order, if she slipped up while in hostile territory she was going to be captured for sure. She didn’t want to think about what would happen after that.

Only two and a half hours had passed by the time they had reached the clearing the camp stood in.

“Halt!” Two voices called out simultaneously. Nightmare Moon jumped, looking in the direction the voices had come from she saw two earth pony guards standing in front of them, a few pegasi had snuck up behind them as well.

“What division are you from?” one of the earth ponies called over to Bastion.

“Reconnaissance, her majesty’s sunset squadron, mage.” Bastion recited, tapping his horn for emphasis. The other guards seemed to accept that and lowered their guard a bit.

“Just one last question… who are the Patriots?” one of the earth ponies, wearing a bandana, asked. Bastion and some of the surrounding guards groaned.

“How long are you going to keep referencing that game your brother showed you?” the other earth pony guard asked, shaking his head.

“Probably until someone caves and answers me.” The bandana wearing guard said walking away.

Nightmare Moon was incredibly confused at this point, but Bastion just kept walking past the guards. She had to trot a bit to keep up with him as he was starting to move faster toward a large tent in the center of the camp. When they finally stopped in front of the tent, Bastion turned to her.

“Alright, I need to talk with someone to clear that I will be leaving the search for a bit. I’ll be right back so stay right here. Okay?” Bastion explained, Nightmare Moon nodded and sat down looking out at the camp.

As she sat there, she watched some of the guards ponies walking back and forth. The fact that they were all looking for her without knowing she was here nearly made her laugh. Aside from the irony, she started becoming slightly self conscious. Some of the guard looked back at her, the looks that they gave her only serving to remind her of how out of place she was. She started shrinking back, starting to feel uncomfortable.

“Moonbeam, can you come in here please?” Bastion suddenly called out. Nightmare Moon got up, glad to be able to get away from the looks that she had been getting. She stepped through the flap and saw Bastion looking her way.

“Here she is Sir.” Bastion said, moving out of the way and allowing Nightmare Moon to see a large earth pony.

“I see. So young lady, you got yourself lost in the woods. Seen anything or anyone unusual?” The earth pony asked. Nightmare Moon tried to keep a straight face and look straight at the earth pony but she couldn’t.

“Uh… um… I.” Nightmare Moon started babbling, the earth pony narrowed his eyes at her, only serving to make her feel more uncomfortable.

“Sir, you’re scaring her.” Bastion said stepping in between the two of them. The earth pony looked up at Bastion for a second and then sighed.

“You’re right I shouldn’t be scaring the poor girl, you can send her back outside now.” The earth pony Guard said, “And you can have your time off to escort her back to ponyville, however, we will expect you to send regular reports until you can regroup with us or until the search has been ended.”

“Sir, yes Sir.” Bastion said before turning around and escorting “Moonbeam” out of the tent.

“And Bastion!” The earth pony guard said after she was out of the tent, causing Bastion turned around.

“Yes sir?”

“Don’t forget to keep an eye on that filly. I know you want to help her, but her appearance now is undoubtedly suspicious.”

“I will keep that in mind, Sir.” Bastion said. Then followed Moonbeam out of the tent.
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Nightmare Moon was wandering around the tent that Bastion had led her toward while Bastion himself was talking to the quartermaster and getting some supplies for the trip that he was now taking. The quartermaster was a lot nicer that the Earth pony captain they had met earlier. Suddenly Bastion called her back over, they said goodbye to the quartermaster and then started toward the edge of the camp.

“Moonbeam, can you do something for me?” Bastion asked.

“Uhm, I guess, what is it?” Nightmare Moon said.

“When the bandana wearing earth pony stops us and asks that stupid question of his. I want you to say, ‘lalilulelo’, alright” Bastion told her. Nightmare Moon tried asking why, but Bastion would not react.

When they did reach the edge of camp, only the bandana wearing guard moved to try and stop them.

“Wait!” He exclaimed suddenly “Who are the Patriots?” Everypony around them seemed to face hoof. Someone was moving to smack him in the back of the head.

“Lalilulelo.” Nightmare Moon said with a straight face.

“Yes!!” The earth pony guard explained, suddenly he tore his bandana off of his head and gave it to her. He then turned to Bastion.

“Told you I would get someone to say it eventually bro!” And gave Bastion a playful shove in the arm.

“Yeah yeah, shut up about it Siege. I have to get this filly back to Ponyville, I’ll see you in a few weeks okay.” Bastion told him.

“You got it Bastion, I’ll see you when you get back.” Siege said going back to his position, and Bastion and Nightmare Moon started walking off into the woods. “And take good care of the kid!” Siege called after them.

After they were out of view of the camp Bastion turned to Nightmare Moon.

“You okay Moonbeam?” Bastion asked, “You haven’t said anything since you got handed that bandana.”

“ I don’t even understand what is going on.” Nightmare Moon said, holding up the bandana.

“Don’t worry about it, just part of a running joke between my brother and I,” He said before using his magic to tie the bandana around her head, “One that you are now a part of.”

Author's Notes:

I am sorry that this was so long coming. This chapter really should have been done a long time ago, but I just shelved a lot of things that were not directly influencing my life. I hope this chapter was still okay.
I also hope that the little joke reference to MGS is not hated, I just had that on the brain as I was writing, and I wanted to introduce a way for filly Nightmare Moon to have some accessory that ties her to Bastion in some way I guess.