Chapter 9
-The Chase Begins-
The extent of the damage to Ponyville was less than severe to say the least. Due to Princess Celestia’s protective barrier, almost all of the buildings in the major part of the city were spared due to Utopian’s attack.
The same could not have been said for the hundreds of ponies that were injured during the attack however. Some of them had been hit by shrapnel from the impact of the fireballs that had hit before the Princess strengthened her shield, while others were injured from the zombie ponies that had aided in the attack. All in all, there were a total of thirty ponies lying injured in some manner in the hospital. One of them included Wonderwing’s mother.
The small pegasus trembled and quaked like a leaf. He sat alone on a small chair outside a small operating room in Ponyville Hospital, his mother being sent there for extensive treatment of her injuries. Several questions ran through his head, but they all lead up to the all important question, Why? “Why did daddy do something like this?” Wonderwing thought. “Daddy could get banished to the moon for something like this. Why is this happening?”
The pegasus felt a gentle hoof on his shoulder which caused him to look up. Standing next to him were the other Cutie Mark Crusaders, each with concerned looks on their faces. They were with their older siblings and guardians, who were all just as equally confused and stressed as Wonderwing was.
“Ah’m really sorry about yer mom Wonderwing.” Applejack began.
“We should have done something better to help her out of that.” Rainbow Dash commented.
“But Mommy’s going to be fine.” Wonderwing said quietly. “I just know that she is.”
“Of course she is Wonderwing! You have the best mom ever, there’s no way that she’s not going to get up from what had happened.” Scootaloo said confidently.
“Scootaloo’s right, your mom can take hits like that all day any day. You don’t need to worry about that.” Pipsqueak said.
Wonderwing gave a weak smile and looked to the operating room doors, watching as they still remained shut and kept the pegasus from seeing his mother. As the minutes passed, Wonderwing seemed to get more and more worried until the Operation room doors were opened slightly. Two ponies, a unicorn and an earth pony each with cutie marks that looked like a red cross stepped out of the operating room and wiped sweat from their brows.
“Well doctor...” Twilight began, staring at the unicorn nervously. “How is Flower Petal?”
The unicorn lowered his face mask and tossed it in a recyclable container before smiling. “Flower Petal’s going to be just fine. We’ll need to keep her here for a while until she gets better, but other than that she’s good to go.” He said, smiling as the crowd of ponies erupted into a chorus of cheers.
“So you mean my Mommy’s going to be okay?” Wonderwing asked, receiving a smile from the doctor.
“Yes,” The unicorn replied. “Your mommy’s going to be fine. She’s sleeping right now, but if you come back tomorrow you can see her.” He said reassuringly, watching relief wash over Wonderwing’s face. “Now I need to be seeing to some of my other patients. Please take care.” He said as the small crowd left the office.
It took less than an hour for Twilight and her friends to get back to the Library. After encountering a half-hearted protest from the Cutie Mark Crusaders, which didn’t seem like them at all, Twilight steeled herself as she waited for Princess Celestia. Utopian’s declarations were wild, but thanks to her mentor’s guidance in the past she was ready and prepared to get herself and her friends through whatever Utopian threw at them.
“Twilight seems awfully tense don’t you think?” Rarity asked Fluttershy quietly, trying to ignore Applejack’s pacing in the main sitting room, or Pinkie Pie’s hoof wrestling match that she had started against herself.
Fluttershy nodded, watching as the lavender unicorn remained unnaturally quiet with her head down in an extremely large tome that she had taken from one of the shelves in the back. The covers were extremely old and dusty, with the bindings apparently made of an earlier form of faux-leather. As both Fluttershy and Rarity watched, Twilight’s eyes were frantically scouring the pages for some sort of answer as she used her magic to flip through page after page. She would stop every once and a while, before shaking her head and groaning. “Is something the matter Twilight?” Fluttershy asked, causing everypony to look up at Celestia’s pupil.
“None of what Utopian said made any sense!” Twilight snapped, slamming the book closed before planting her face head first into the table. “I’ve checked everything that the library has to offer about ponies ascending into immortals, and I haven’t found anything that said that he could. Not a simple paragraph, not a sentence, not even a mention of it being possible.”
“Well, maybe it isn’t possible.” Rainbow Dash said, rolling her eyes from behind another Daring Do book on the second floor. “I mean, most of those ascension-thingies are like an ancient artifact that needs to be destroyed and we’re probably going to go after the sicko to do it.” Rainbow Dash commented. “I mean, that’s what happens in Daring Do. Especially in, “Daring Do and the Immortal Crusade.” Seriously. It’s something not to get worked up over.”
Twilight shook her head and placed the heavy tome on top of an ever-growing stack of books to her right. “Rainbow, this isn’t like Daring Do. Ascension into immortality has only been speculated, and even then its something that its searchers have been scoffed at and ridiculed in the magical community.”
“He sure sounded confident that he was gonna git immortal ta me.” Applejack commented. “ ‘Specially since he specifically called us all out and th’ Princesses.”
“But that has nothing to do with each other. Does it?” Rarity asked.
“Well, in order to wield a weapon created by an immortal one needs to be an immortal.” Twilight answered.
“Like the Elements of Harmony?” Rainbow Dash asked, setting the book down and paying attention to Twilight. “Because aren’t they immortal? And can’t we use them?” She asked.
“Well yes and no.” Twilight answered. “They weren’t exactly forged by Princess Celestia and Princess Luna directly, they were forged by the bonds of friendship that they shared with each other. I’ve read some of the books in the Canterlot Archives that said the Elements of Harmony were more like body armor before they lost their power. A lot of the pictures that were in the Archives had both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna dressed in armor that more or less looked like the armor that Nightmare Moon wore during their battle.”
“So you mean that the Elements of Harmony are... Not totally complete as it were?” Rarity asked.
Twilight shook her head. “The elements are complete now, I never said that they weren’t.” She paused before looking up from the table and staring into space. “They’re just missing a lot of their original form since they had been turned to stone. I’ve heard it happen to simple trinkets that ancient dragons used in their day to day lives back in history even when Equestria wasn’t even around yet. Most of the ancient artifacts that are in museums now could be reactivated if exposed to the right magical spell. That’s why most unicorn curators prefer to have Earth Ponies move the artifacts instead of using their magic.”
“So they’ don’ accidentally set the dang things off.” Applejack said, receiving a nod from Twilight. “Ah always wondered ‘bout stuff like that. You’d think that they’d be tryin’ to keep Discord from escapin’ again.”
“One can never be too careful when dealing with artifacts from a different age Applejack.” Twilight said, rubbing her temples beneath her horn. “If you guys want, we can go to the museum in Canterlot after we finish what Princess Celestia needs us to do with Utopian.”
“Ooh Ooh Ooh!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed, looking up from her hoof wrestling match with an extremely goofy grin. “Can we go there at night so that we could have an ancient Museum Exhibit Party with all of the Ancient Exhibits and stuff that comes to life?”
“For the last time Pinkie, that was only a movie. The exhibits in the Museum do not come to life at night when we’re gone.” Rainbow Dash said, sounding a little agitated. “Besides, where are Princess Celestia and Princess Luna? Shouldn’t they be here by now?” She asked.
For all intents and purposes, Rainbow Dash was right. After separating with them to head to Ponyville Hospital with the remaining injured, and meeting the Cutie Mark Crusaders on the way there, both Princesses said to meet with them back at the library so they could explain what had happened. It had been well past four hours since they said that, and it was getting close to two-thirty in the morning.
“I’m sure that the Princesses will show up.” Twilight said in a reassuring voice. “They’re probably getting everything back to normal in the rest of Ponyville before coming here. A zombie pony attack on just a fun-loving crowd of ponies at a fair is going to take a while to get sorted out.”
Even at Twilight’s reassurance, it was well beyond Four in the morning before both the Sun and Moon Princess arrived. Their manes and tails were each a mess, but still fluttered as though a gentle breeze blew through them. Their coats were black in some places, and their feathers were completely ruffled but both Alicorns appeared to be fine.
“I apologize for us taking so long to arrive Twilight. There were extremely pressing matters for us to attend to, and we lost track of time and-”
“It’s okay Princess,” Twilight replied, rising from her bow as her friends did so rather slowly due to the lack of sleep.
“We do not have much time to discuss what’s transpired these past few hours Twilight Sparkle; you and your friends would do well to heed our words as the fate of Equestria, nay the World even, now lay in your hooves.” Princess Luna said,
in a surprisingly calm and non-shouting voice.
“What my sister says is true.” Princess Celestia began somberly, watching as Twilight and her friends immediately stood or hovered at attention. “Time is not with us, neither is luck. As it would come to find out, Utopian has found the Temple of the Sphinx god Grimclaw the Terrible.”
“Temple of who?” Rainbow Dash asked for everypony else, as she wasn’t the only one who wanted to be sure about what she had heard.
“The Temple of Grimclaw the Terrible.” Princess Luna repeated. “An immortal and vile creature of powers most foul and wretched indeed. The world would not be as it was today if it weren’t due to the valiant efforts of the Griffon clans that had sealed him away thousands of years ago.”
“That doesn’t sound good...” Pinkie Pie said quietly.
“It isn’t Pinkie.” Princess Celestia said, hearing the party pony. “Grimclaw was the worst form of an immortal that could have even taken the name. He had enslaved the griffon tribes for centuries, trying to gain and expand his reign of terror to encompass the globe. Fear and devastation were his weapons, the undead were his soldiers.”
“Grimclaw was a Necromancer?” Twilight asked incredulously.
“A what?” Applejack asked.
“A Necromancer is a sorcerer who uses their magic to interact with the dead.” Twilight explained, watching the horrified looks on all of her friend’s faces. “Not all of Necromancy is bad though, all it does is allow ponies to communicate with loved ones in the next life. The Bad stuff is something similar to what happened at the fair yesterday.”
“You mean Necromancers can b-b-bring th-th-the d-d-dead b-b-back t-t-to l-life?” Fluttershy stammered, trembling visibly at Twilight as she nodded her head.
“How horrid!” Rarity exclaimed.
“Hey, that’s RPG 101. Necromancers that don’t summon zombies are good, Necromancers that summon zombies are bad.” Pinkie Pie said, receiving looks from everypony else in the room. “Hey, at least I know my rules when I play.” She said.
“But this isn’t a game Pinkie.” Twilight scolded. “The whole world could be in danger.”
“What dya’ll need us ta do Princess?” Applejack asked.
Princess Celestia sighed, looking down on the Elements of Harmony before calming down. She wasn’t mad at them, she was mad at herself for asking them to put themselves in danger once again and it clearly showed. “Girls, I must ask you to prevent Utopian from reaching the Temple of Grimclaw the Terrible and return him to Equestria by any means necessary.” Princess Celestia answered.
“We would not want him harmed if thou couldst avoid it.” Princess Luna added, also visibly showing anger at herself for having somepony else do her job at protecting her beloved nation. “Utopian is a foal to think that he would be allowed to take Equestria and plunge it into his vile vision of rule.”
“Twilight I know that this is a lot to ask out of you. Out of all of you, but we would go ourselves if we had the chance.” Princess Celestia said on the verge of tears. “Believe me, we don’t want to see any of you getting hurt at all. And if we could have avoided it we would have.”
“Don’t worry Princess Celestia.” Twilight said reassuringly. “You can count on us to stop Utopian from reaching the Temple. Am I right girls?” Twilight asked.
“O’course.” Applejack answered.
“Why certainly, that brute needs to be taught a lesson.” Rarity replied.
“I can’t wait to get a Super Critical on him when we get to fighting!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed, once again receiving serious looks from everypony else except the Princesses. “What? I’m serious! I brought my dice and everything!” She said, pulling out a pair of ten-sided dice from her mane and grinning.
“Any ways, you can count me in Princess.” Rainbow Dash said, trying to steer the conversation back to the way it was supposed to be heading. “We’ll take care of Utopian and kick his butt in ten-seconds flat.”
“I’ll come along if everypony else is going to go...” Fluttershy said quietly.
“You don’t have to worry about us Princess Celestia.” Twilight said, reassuring her mentor. “We’ll take care of this problem and be back before things get too out of control.” She said, watching her mentor smile for the first time in the
passing moments that they were talking.
“You really are the best ponies that anypony could hope for.” Princess Celestia said, seeing the beaming, but extremely tired looking, faces of Twilight and her friends. “We’ll let you get some rest then and meet with you in the morning.” She said, watching them all smile. “You’re going to need your strength if your going to follow Utopian into the depths of the Griffon Kingdom.”
Princess Luna nodded. “Everything shall be prepared by the time you are ready to depart. My guards shall see to that personally.”
“Thank you Princess Celestia.” Twilight said before turning to the Night Princess. “Thank you Princess Luna. We won’t let you down.”
“No Twilight. Thank you.” Princess Celestia said finally, before turning to leave with her sister. As both Alicorns left and began to soar across the sky towards Canterlot, Rainbow Dash let out a huge yawn which reminded everypony of what time it was. They all said their goodbyes to one another before leaving Twilight in the library, who then proceeded to head upstairs to the comfort of her own bed.
As the Elements of Harmony proceeded to rest up for their incoming adventure, one foal in particular was having a hard time sleeping. Wonderwing, who hadn’t fully recovered from the sight of his mother being attacked by the giant pony, was too busy thinking about what he would do if he had lost his mother and couldn’t get to sleep at all.
“Who were those ponies?” Wonderwing thought nervously. “Why were they after Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon? And where did they take them?” He heard the sounds of Scootaloo mumble something about Rainbow Dash, “Welcoming her into the Wonderbolts,” but paid it no mind as the questions continued to pound on his mind. “Mommy got hurt because of that pony. He’s probably long gone by now... But I’m still going to go after him.” Wonderwing thought determinedly “Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon are in trouble, and because I’m a Cutie Mark Crusader now I’m going to help them. They may be really mean old bullies, but they’re foals just like the rest of us too.” He flipped over, seeing Pipsqueak gently buck at something with his hooves before nodding. “No Crusader leaves a pony behind.” He thought finally, trying to close his eyes and get some sleep.
The following morning was full of excitement and anticipation. Apparently news of the attack on Ponyville during the Summer Fair had spread like wild fire, and had left an impression on Equestria’s defenders. The transportation for their journey, an Aurora Class Battle cruiser Airship known as the Star Blaster was sitting on the outskirts of Ponyville and prepared for the beginning of the journey thanks to Princess Luna and the Night Guard. As hugs and farewells were exchanged and certain foals were told to mind their elders, the Elements of Harmony all boarded the heavily armed yacht-sized carriage that made up the underside of the airship and were off. Something bothered Twilight though, as she scanned the crowd she could see that somepony was missing.
“Hey, what’s wrong Twi’” Applejack asked.
“Well... I didn’t see Wonderwing at all before we left.” Twilight answered.
“Maybe he was just wanting to go see his mom.” Rainbow Dash said. “She did take a pretty big hit last night.”
Twilight nodded, but the feeling still bothered her. He and the other three missing crusaders, Dinky, Pipsqueak, and Twist were all missing from the crowd. Twist was understandable, she helped her parents with the local hard candy shop. But Dinky and Pipsqueak, no something wasn’t right. She couldn’t put her hoof on it, but she knew that they weren’t helping their families during something like today.
“Don’t worry about it Twilight. Maybe he’s back at home with his mommy now!” Pinkie Pie said happily.
Twilight nodded, the words of her pink friend made sense and as the crowd grew smaller than a bit she decided to put the thought out of her mind.
As the Star Blaster continued its ascent away from Ponyville, The Cutie Mark Crusaders all were heading towards Ponyville Hospital where Wonderwing should have been.
“Ah wonder why Wonderwing didn’t come with us ta see them off?” Applebloom asked as she and the other foals continued to approach the hospital.
“Maybe he lost track of time?” Sweetie Belle wondered aloud.
“He’s wearing a wristwatch like the rest of us.” Scootaloo commented. “He couldn’t have lost track of time while visiting his mom though.”
“Ya’ll seemed ta’ do that a lot with yer mom though Scootaloo.” Applebloom commented, snickering a little as the pegasus foal froze up a little.
“Well let’s just head up to the hospital so we can figure out what’s going on with him” Scootaloo snapped, trying to shrug the comment off as it were nothing.
-At Ponyville Hospital, minutes later-
“What do you mean that Wonderwing hasn’t shown up to see his mom at all?” Scootaloo snapped.
“Just that young lady.” The receptionist at the front desk droned, her boredom completely apparent by the expression on her face. “There haven’t been any ponies by the name of Wonderwing signing in to see any visitors. If there would have been a pony by that name, I would have their name on my sign in board and would be glad to help you but like I said there hasn’t been a pony of that name come here except for last night right after the attack. Is there anything else that I can help you with?” She asked, sounding irritated.
“No ma’am.” Applebloom replied. “Come on you guys, le’s go.” She said, turning to leave with Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo.
As the three foals stepped out onto the steps in front of the hospital building, Scootaloo groaned. “Argh!” She groaned angrily. “This doesn’t make any sense! Why wouldn’t Wonderwing want to go see his mother if he didn’t want to see Rainbow Dash off with the rest of us?”
“You do know that there are five other ponies that are just as important as Rainbow Dash right?” Sweetie Belle asked, watching Scootaloo nod.
“Yeah... ehehehe, sorry.” Scootaloo apologized.
“But Scootaloo has a point, if Wonderwing ain’t here then where is he?” Applebloom asked.
As they calmly trotted back to the Crusader Mobile to figure out what would make Wonderwing pass up an opportunity to see Twilight and her Friends off, but not use that opportunity to see his mother, they heard a yelp and a shout followed closely by a crash. They all looked up to see Dinky, laying in a heap and crashed next to a bush with one of the scooters that Scootaloo had for the other Crusader Mobile.
“Scootaloo! Applebloom! Sweetie Belle! You guys gotta come quick!” Dinky exclaimed, shaking her head before rushing over to the other crusaders.
“Easy Dinky. What’s the matter?” Sweetie Belle asked.
“Yeah, what’s got your muffins all spoiled?” Scootaloo asked.
“Muffins are being spoiled? Oh no!” Dinky exclaimed.
“She means what’s got ya’ll so worked up.” Applebloom said, watching the unicorn calm down.
“Oh.” Dinky said, calming down significantly. “Well, Pipsqueak and I were looking for Wonderwing around town because he wasn’t going to see everypony off like we were. And we found him, working on our Airship and talking about going after the big nasty pony that hurt his mommy!” She squeaked, causing the other crusaders to gasp. “Pipsqueak’s trying to talk him out of it, but I don’t think that he could say anything to convince him!”
“But those are warships! Even if ours could keep up with them there wouldn’t be a chance for us to stay airborne with all of their cannon fire!” Scootaloo exclaimed.
“Not to mention that it’s incredibly dangerous. We need to get over there now, come on you guys!” Sweetie Belle cried, leaping onto the wagon as Scootaloo revved up her wings. Dinky and Applebloom followed suit before holding on as Scootaloo began to flutter her wings as fast as they could go. In less than a few seconds, the crusaders were off to Sweet Apple Acres, holding on for dear life as they made their way to Sweet Apple Acres.
-Meanwhile at Sweet Apple Acres-
“You realize that you’ve gone completely bonkers right?” Pipsqueak asked, watching as Wonderwing continued to work on the last of the engines to the Crusader’s Airship alone. “You’re a right madpony if you think that you can do this on your own.”
“That was my daddy in that airship that attacked Ponyville.” Wonderwing answered, mounting the propeller on the engine before giving it a few test revolutions on the engine. “He and that big pony that attacked my mommy are doing something wrong, and they need to be told that its wrong.”
“Well tha’s what the Elements of Harmony are gonna do mate.” Pipsqueak replied. He watched as Wonderwing continued to work on the last of the four engines that he so meticulously modified like the other four that had been mounted onto the airship in the two weeks that the pegasus had been with the crusaders.
“They’re going to seal daddy away in stone just like they did with Discord.” Wonderwing snapped. “They don’t understand. My daddy isn’t mean and nasty, he’s just confused. I don’t want them to take him away...” His voice trailed off as he stopped working, looking away from the engines of the airship and sobbing a little.
“They’re not going to take him away Wonderwing.” Pipsqueak said, reassuringly. “Not unless they have to.”
“But-”
“Wonderwing!” The combined voices of Dinky, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and Applebloom shouted out and startled the little pegasus, causing him to jump and slam his head into the wing of the airship.
“What in the hay are you doing?” Scootaloo asked.
“You’re not thinkin’ about goin after Utopian ahr you?” Applebloom asked.
“Utopian’s my daddy. I don’t want anything bad do happen to him.” Wonderwing defended.
“We understand that Wonderwing, but do you even know where they went?” Sweetie Belle asked, watching the pegasus shake his head. “Okay, now do you even know if this thing will fly?”
Wonderwing looked up. “When I’m done with it, it will.” He said, smiling a little.
“How do you know that for sure?” Scootaloo asked.
“I’m following the ways that airship builders used to make their airships in my book here.” Wonderwing replied, trotting over to a small workbench and showing the other foals a complex layer by layer design of a very rich-ponies airship. “The gondola for the airship is totally different because of the way we were building it, but that makes it all the better for the tail fins. I’ve been trying to make this work for the past few hours, but I have to say that this isn’t like our watches. I may even be a few days behind them if I’m lucky.”
Applebloom shook her head. “Oh no, you ain’t gonna go anywhere by yerself Wonderwing.”
“Yeah, it’s still too dangerous. You could get seriously hurt or in trouble.” Dinky added. “And your mommy would be
very sad if you didn’t come home.”
“These watches may be neat, and let us do cool stuff but they really can’t do much else can they?” Sweetie Belle asked. “Can they?”
Wonderwing remained silent, looking down on his watch before taking a deep breath. “You guys are right.” He admitted finally after a few moments. “But we don’t know what we’re capable of if we don’t try! If we just sit here like good foals we won’t get in trouble yes, but we won’t be able to prove what we really can do!”
“We can do that when we’re older Wonderwing, maybe when we do something that isn’t so dangerous?” Scootaloo commented.
“Yeah, I don’t want to get hurt.” Sweetie Belle agreed. “But I also don’t want you to get hurt either.”
“But what about Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon?” Wonderwing asked.
“What about them?” Applebloom countered.
“Yeah, they’re nuthin but a bunch of bullies.” Pipsqueak said. “What do we owe them?”
“They may be bullies and mean ponies, but they’re also foals that need help.” Wonderwing said firmly. “And the job as a Cutie Mark Crusader is to help foals in need.” He said firmly, watching as sweat began to form on the faces of the other foals. “That’s what I said when I signed up to be a Cutie Mark Crusader right? To help other foals after I discovered who I am? Well I may not have discovered who I am, but Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon still need my help. And I’m not going to let some overly big bad metallic monster that my daddy made scare me from doing what I’m supposed to do as a Crusader.”
Wonderwing’s words hit home with the other foals, as determination filled his eyes. None of the other crusaders met his gaze until Scootaloo spoke up, her voice trembling as she spoke. “Wonderwing, you know that you’re taking the creed of the Cutie Mark Crusaders to a different level right?” She asked.
“That’s one thing that my daddy taught me.” Wonderwing replied. “If I’m going to have to be a part of a club when I leave the house, then I’m going to be as good in the club as I possibly can be.”
“But we don’t even know where to start going if we do have a chance to follow your dad and Twilight and the others.” Sweetie Belle replied.
“My daddy had lots of maps in a book that he had back at home in Canterlot. Maybe we can use that.” Wonderwing answered. “He did take a lot of good notes, and made sure that he kept them all organized.”
“The chances of those notes still being there are very slim though... Princess Luna and Princess Celestia probably already made sure to search your house for anything that could be used as clues as to how to get to where he was heading.” Pipsqueak said.
The foals all remained silent for a few moments, trying to search for an idea before it came to them all like a ton of bricks. “The Library!” They all shouted, smiling at the same time.
“Maybe Spike can get us copies of the maps we need!” Scootaloo said happily.
“And we could also check out a few books to keep us safe!” Sweetie Belle replied.
“We’re also gonna need supplies. Food an’ stuff like that.” Applebloom said. “Ah can take care of that with Dinky an’ Twist’s help if she’s on board.” She said, watching as Dinky nodded.
“We’re also gonna need that book that Wonderwing was talking about.” Sweetie Belle said quickly. “Without it, we won’t be able to find out where everypony’s going.”
“Me and Wonderwing will get that.” Scootaloo said. “It’ll be easy, just like how Nightmare Moon was beaten by the Elements of Harmony.”
“They never said it was easy.” Sweetie Belle said. “You also need an adult pony to go with you guys, they wouldn’t let foals onto the train by themselves.”
“Twist is an adult pony isn’t she?” Pipsqueak asked.
“Ah don’ know if she’ll help us with this though.” Applebloom commented. “Ah mean she doesn’t really like gettin’ into trouble and danger like this.”
“We can explain everything when we meet up with her. If her parents ask, we’ll just say that it’s a camping trip.” Scootaloo said.
“A camping trip.” Wonderwing repeated. The other crusaders were just as perplexed as Wonderwing was as Scootaloo watched her fellow Crusaders closely.
“Yeah, it’s not like we’re gonna go, “Heya Twist, wanna come with us to the same place that the bad ponies are going to go and have a chance of not coming back at all?” Her parents would freak if we said that.” Scootaloo replied. “We’ll tell her the truth as soon as we get out of an earshot, but she also needs to keep quiet about this. We don’t want any adults stopping us from getting in the air.”
“We’re gonna need to do it soon.” Wonderwing replied. “The last engine is done and ready to be put into place, and the balloon still isn’t ready. Plus the inside isn’t all done yet.” He said, watching Sweetie Belle smile.
“Don’t worry Wonderwing.” Sweetie Belle said with a grin. “We’ll get that taken care of, wrapping a hoof around Pipsqueak. “You all just get everything together and we’ll have a good bit done before you all get back.” She said watching as the other foals all nodded.
“All right. We’re all gonna meet back here before sundown okay?” Scootaloo asked.
“That’s if the train’s on time.” Wonderwing said. “Otherwise we’re gonna be not able to see a thing when we take off.”
“Oh that’s something we don’t need to worry about.” Scootaloo said confidently.
“Why do you say that?” Sweetie Belle asked.
“Oh trust me.” Scootaloo said. “I know how we can get there if nothing else works.” She said, grabbing Wonderwing
and taking off. The other foals remained silent before breaking off to their own assigned pairs, each excited for what they’re plan of attack.
As Scootaloo and Wonderwing arrived at Twist’s parent’s business, they didn’t stop to select their wares, only to ask for their fellow crusader. When the earth pony arrived, she greeted them in her usual way only to be met with a rush of dark
purple and orange hooves which carried her over to a corner of the store away from her parents.
“What’th going on you guyth?” Twist asked, her head being forced down into a huddle with the other foals.
“Listen, we need you to help us get to Canterlot.” Wonderwing explained.
“And we need you to be as quiet as possible. It’s kind of why we’re in a huddle.” Scootaloo added.
“Oh...” Twist whispered. “Okay, tho why do you need me to help you get to Canterlot?” She asked.
After a few moments, both pegasi explained what their plans were when they got there. Twist remained silent throughout the whole explanation, and as they both finished she shook her head.
“You guyth realize that you’re gonna be in tho much trouble if you do thith?” Twist asked.
“Yeah, we thought about it.” Wonderwing said. “But this is my dad that we’re talking about. He’s gonna get turned to stone if I can’t convince him that what he’s doing is wrong. Plus there’s also Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon who need our
help too.”
Twist remained silent, before nodding. “I’ll thee if I can get my mommy and daddy to let me go with you guyth to Canterlot. You guyth will need thomepony to get you there and back right?” She asked, watching both foals nod. “Well then, I’ll thee what I can do.”
Both Wonderwing and Scootaloo watched as Twist went over to her parents, both extremely large earth ponies and began speaking with them. After a few minute conversation her father, the pony behind the counter nodded which caused the foal to run into the back for a few moments before returning with a saddlebag on her back. Wonderwing and Scootaloo smiled before running out the door with Twist, and headed to the Crusader Mobile before speeding off. None of them realized however, that a unicorn wearing a heavy cloak over her face was watching them from the other side of the street.
After arriving at the Ponyville Train Station, and convincing the conductor that Twist was an adult pony just very small, the Cutie Mark Crusaders all boarded the noon train to Canterlot. The ride was completely smooth along the way, and it gave the crusaders time to think about what they were about to do.
“Tho, you wanted me to lie to my mom and dad. And you want me to do it again? Are you thure that we aren’t going to be putting ourthelveth in danger?”Twist asked.
“Don’t worry about it Twist.” Scootaloo said, reassuringly. “We’re gonna be fine. Especially after we get that book that Wonderwing needs.”
“But what about the monthterth and thtuff that would hurt uth?” Twist asked.
“We’ll be way above them.” Wonderwing said. “And most of what can fly wouldn’t be interested in us anyways, because we’d be too small for the effort.”
“Oh. That’th a little reathurring. And Applebloom and Dinky are taking care of the food?” She asked.
“Yeah, they should get enough to last the trip. For all of us.” Scootaloo commented, seeing Twist smile.
“Okay. Well tho long ath you know what you guyth are doing I gueth.” Twist said, looking out the window as the express train that they were on had entered the tunnel in carved in the mountain.
As soon as the express train stopped the crusaders all left in a hurry, thanking the conductor as they did so. It almost
took Wonderwing a full two hours to lead the other foals on the way back to his home, including to stop and ask for directions a couple of times when necessary. When the foals reached the mansion-like house, they all could see that there were no guards stationed anywhere near the house much to their surprise, but could see that most of the windows had been boarded shut as though it had been abandoned.
“This is where you live?” Scootaloo asked skeptically, seeing several of the black shingles on the roof fall to the ground below. “It doesn’t look like much.”
“It lookth thcary...” Twist uttered, trembling a little.
“I don’t think that my dad’s been here since I left.” Wonderwing commented, pushing the gate open and nervously trotting forward. The grass of the small front lawn looked completely different, having an almost dead feeling to it, and none of the flowers that were there when Wonderwing left his home even seemed to exist.
The three foals nervously approached the house, it getting more and more intimidating with every step they took. When Wonderwing walked up to the front door, he gently touched it with his hoof and watch it open a little too easily for even his tastes.
“It looks like your dad hasn’t even been here for a while Wonderwing.” Scootaloo commented. Wonderwing nodded before swallowing a little air and took a step inside the incredibly dark entranceway. He couldn’t hardly see anything inside, and other than the light from outside the front door, he could barely see anything except what was directly in front of him.
“Let’s stick close guys. We don’t need to get separated.” Scootaloo said calmly, moving close to both Wonderwing and Twist as they advanced deeper into the house. The foals all moved quickly, heading from one empty room to the next on the first floor before beginning to think about the second.
“Maybe we should turn back...” Scootaloo said, a chill racing down her spine.
“Yeah, I’m with Thcootaloo.” Twist said, shuddering nervously as Wonderwing continued looking around in the light.
“The book’s here. I have a feeling it is.” Wonderwing answered. “It’s one of his most prized treasures. He wouldn’t take it anywhere except when he wants to read it from...” He stopped, turning towards a set of familiar double doors to the left of the front door. He ran to them, with Scootaloo and Twist following close behind before opening them and seeing the battered book lying on his father’s desk. “There it is!” Wonderwing exclaimed, running over to the book and dragging it off the desk before showing it to Scootaloo and Twist. “This is his most favorite story from when he was a foal.”
“The Legends of the Great Crusader?” Scootaloo read from the damaged title. “I haven’t heard of that before.”
“That’s the problem with youth today.” A voice said from behind them all, startling the three foals before they turned around. “None of them want to read the classics anymore.” They all gasped as a unicorn, that looked almost as tall as Princess Luna, with a pale blue mane and tail emerged from underneath a dark heavy cloak and shook her mane a little.
“Wh-Who’re you?” Wonderwing asked, taking a step backwards.
“Why, I’m a friend of your daddy.” The unicorn said gently stepping forward a little.
“My daddy doesn’t have any friends.” Wonderwing said, stepping back and feeling the desk behind him. “He thinks that all ponies that want to be your friend are after nothing except to use you.”
“Oh, I see.” The unicorn replied. “But your daddy is my friend. He told me so. And he also told me that he wanted me to get that book your holding. May I have it please?” She asked, continuing her gentle routine.
“No. I need to use it for something. Plus he wouldn’t want me to give it to ponies who I didn’t know.” Wonderwing replied.
“Wonderwing... I think that we need to go...” Scootaloo said quietly.
“Yeah, thith pony giveth me the creepth.” Twist uttered.
The unicorn chuckled a little, hearing both foals comments. “And why do I give you the creeps little ones? You don’t need to worry. I won’t hurt you.” She said, smiling.
“That’s what they all say lady.” Scootaloo commented. “Right before they try to kidnap you.”
“Oh! Oh my, somepony has a mouth on her.” The unicorn said with a malicious smirk. “She had better be careful or else that may get her hurt or even worse.”
“Trust me lady, we’ve been through worse.” Scootaloo snapped.
“Scootaloo... What are you doing?” Wonderwing asked, never removing his gaze from the unicorn.
“Something’s not right about her.” Scootaloo answered. “She’s spying for somepony, and it isn’t our parents.”
“You must watch too much Television little one.” The unicorn answered, sounding a little frustrated. “I’m not spying for anypony, especially not your-”
“AHA! I knew it, you are a spy!” Scootaloo shouted, catching the unicorn off before she could finish. “You aren’t fooling anypony lady. You just wanted an excuse to tail somepony and picked us as a chance to score something big for your boss!”
The unicorn stopped, all of the frustration seemingly melting away as her horn flared up with a pale blue light. “Well well well.” She said, looking down on the foals. “It seems that somepony is smart enough to see through my innocence act. I really need more practice on it I suppose.”
“Who are you, and what do you want with my daddy’s book?” Wonderwing snapped, watching the unicorn toss her mane back a little before letting her spell discharge. Before any of the foals could blink at least fifty to sixty undead ponies just like the ones from last night appeared at her side and began to snarl and growl angrily.
“As I said I am your father Utopian’s friend. But you are correct at the same time. I am one of his trusted generals, Serene Grace at your service.” Serene Grace answered, watching the foals all tense up. “Now, what I want with the book your holding ever so close to that wretched little body of yours is this: My master wants that book destroyed, so that no hiccups hinder his rise to power. Hand it over and things won’t get ugly.”
“And what makes you think that we’ll just hand it over?” Scootaloo asked, causing both Wonderwing and Twist to give her, “Are you crazy?” looks.
“Well I have an army, and there’s only three foals here. Do the math kid, you’re out numbered.” Serene Grace snapped.
“Yeah, and you’re out gunned.” Scootaloo challenged, looking over to both Wonderwing and Twist before flashing her watch. Both foals understood where she was going with her challenges and set Wonderwing’s father’s book inside Twist’s Saddlebag before flashing their own wristwatches.
“What, are you going to time how long it takes me to take that book from you?” Serene Grace snapped, watching the foals closely.
“Nah, nothing like that.” Scootaloo said, flipping the cover for her watch as the others did so. “But it’s gonna be something cool though. You guys ready?” She asked.
“Ready!” Both Wonderwing and Twist answered.
“It’s morphin time!” Scootaloo shouted, as she and the other foals pushed the buttons on their watches. Serene Grace and her group of zombie ponies stepped back a little as light erupted around the foals before disappearing all together. Scootaloo smiled, tossing her cape lightly over her shoulder as she glared at the group of ponies in front of her. “Red Pegasus Crusader!” She shouted.
Wonderwing stretched a little, before taking an aggressive stance right next to his fellow crusaders, his suit allowing him to nearly blend in with the surroundings. “Black Pegasus Crusader!” He shouted.
Twist lowered the saddlebag from off of her back and adjusted her cape before narrowing her eyes at the crowd of ponies. “White Earth Pony Cruthader!” She cried, looking like she was ready to pounce.
“You guys, lets keep them from getting that book.” Scootaloo said. “It’s the only chance we got if we’re gonna save Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon.”
Serene Grace smiled at the three foals, watching as they all seemed to want to defend the book they had just gotten their hooves on. “Oh well, I tried being nice. Now you’re all dead. Gentlecolts, rip them to shreds.” She ordered, taking several steps back as the zombie ponies began to charge at the foals.
If somepony had told her about what was going to happen next inside Utopian’s old house, Serene Grace would have never believed it. Within the first two minutes of the fight, the three foals had scattered her soldiers like bowling pins, and had began to pick them off one by one. The leader of the three, the pegasus foal in red had surprisingly good reflexes as she seamlessly smashed her front hooves into one of the zombies in front of her before leaping into the air and doing a back flip away from her target as two beams of red magic slammed into and vaporized it. She then turned right around and punched two more several times with her front hooves before spinning around on her back hooves and bucking them through a wall.
The pegasus foal all in black seemed to prefer taking down his targets all with one shot, striking at joints of bones and snapping off horns like a professional killer. The foal got into close quarters with one of her servants, trading blow after blow with the pony before bucking it deep in the ribs and causing it to fly through the ceiling.
The Earth Pony foal was doing the most guarding of her target, playing floor hockey with her hooves as the zombie ponies tried getting shot after shot off. She threw the small saddlebag on top of the built in wall book shelf with a skillful kick, before charging head long into three or four zombie ponies that were about to take a shot and slammed them into the desk and the proceeding wall behind them.
The battle wasn’t wholly one sided in the foals favor though. The pegasus foal in red was knocked flying by several blasts of magic released by three of the zombie ponies that were close to her, and landed on the ground closest to where the Earth Pony foal was fighting.
“Scootaloo! Are you okay?” Twist asked, looking at the set of scorch marks that were on Scootaloo’s suit.
“Yeah Twist, I’m fine.” Scootaloo groaned, getting to her hooves before turning towards where Wonderwing was
fighting. “You keep those zombies off the book, I’ll help Wonderwing.” Scootaloo said, watching Twist nod before rushing at the zombies that continued to pound on the out numbered foal.
Wonderwing held his hooves up to block as another pair of undead hooves went to slam into him. The force of the impact caused the foal to slide backwards, but it didn’t break anything. Wonderwing was about to retaliate with a punch of his own when the offending zombie was beheaded by a flying kick caused by Scootaloo.
“Need a hoof?” Scootaloo asked, doing another round house kick against three more zombie ponies in her way.
“Do I ever. Thanks for the assist Scootaloo.” Wonderwing said before leaping at a zombie that was about to take a shot at the pegasus and kicking him.
Serene Grace took a step back, the foals were actually winning. After shaking herself, she concentrated as her horn flared up with magic for a second time which caused the zombies to glow with the same pale blue aura that she was generating. Before anything else could be done to stop her, all of the zombies seemed to repair all of the damage that was done to them and proceeded to back the Cutie Mark Crusaders into a corner.
“Uh... You guyth...” Twist uttered as Wonderwing and Scootaloo appeared on either side of her. “What’re we gonna do?” She asked, looking at the zombies nervously.
“There’s no way we can keep this up...” Scootaloo said, looking around for a way out. “We can’t win...”
“But there has to be a way! There just has to!” Wonderwing exclaimed.
“Sorry foals, but you’ve lost. Now be the good little ponies that you should be and give me that book!” Serene Grace commanded.
The three crusaders gave each other somber looks from underneath their helmets before the realization of their defeat settled in. Just as Twist began to climb up to the saddle bag where the book they so desperately needed was sitting at, the three foals watches began to glow a golden light.
“What’s going on? What did you do?” Serene Grace snapped, taking a step back with the zombies that were under her control.
“CRUSADERS, DO NOT LOSE HEART. MY POWER IS WITHIN YOU ALL, JUST CALL IT OUT.” A familiar voice boomed, causing the three foals to look at their watches. Wonderwing, who seemed to understand a little, stepped forward and cleared his throat.
“Calling on the Crusader Shield!” Wonderwing shouted. Everypony watched as the golden light shot from his watch and enveloped his whole right hoof, before taking the form of a very dangerous and heavy looking black foal-sized teardrop shield bearing the Cutie Mark Crusader logo in the center. He smiled and looked over the shield before turning to the other crusaders. “Come on you guys, just do what I did. You’ll get some cool stuff too!” He said excitedly.
Scootaloo nodded as Twist came down from the book shelf before turning to her watch. She closed her eyes watching in her mind’s eye as her own weapon began to form in the shape of a long and slim blade. Scootaloo then opened her eyes and cried, “Calling on the Crusader Saber!” The golden energy shot from her wristwatch, taking the form of a long and slim pegasus fencing sword with about the length of a two-hoofed sword. She took the sword by the handle with one of her hooves and gave it a swing, watching it tear through the air and slash a zombie completely in two. A small gem rested in the center of the guard, which looked like a pair of wings, the gem glistened a little before showing the Cutie Mark Crusader’s logo in dead center.
Twist wowed at the other two foal’s new weapons before she scrunched her eyes up as hard as she could. In her own eye she could see the golden light form two smaller sword like objects with hooks on the longest ends of the blades. She excitedly opened her eyes, and struck a pose before shouting, “Calling on the Cruthader Twin Hookth!” The light then erupted from the watch, splitting off into two and forming a pair of hooked swords that placed themselves in her hooves. Twist smiled, swinging the pair of swords together like a deadly ballerina before hooking them together and striking the zombie pony closest to her with a deadly overhead swing.
“But... Th-Th-This is impossible!” Serene Grace snapped, staring at the now dangerously armed foals.
“No it isn’t.” Scootaloo commented, taking her new saber in both hooves. “We’re the good guys, we get upgrades to our abilities all of the time.”
“Now you’re gonna get it.” Wonderwing said, smiling from underneath his helmet.
“Oh, I wonder what weaponth the otherth are gonna get.” Twist thought aloud.
“Boy won’t they be in for a shock.” Wonderwing replied.
“Not when we tell them what’s going on later.” Scootaloo said. “Now...” She said, turning to the crowd of zombie ponies in front of them all, “Let’s get’em guys!” Scootaloo said, charging forward with her saber held off to the side.
“Hey, wait for us!” Wonderwing shouted, charging into the crowd with Twist following him closely as Scootaloo began striking two to three zombie ponies down with each swing of her saber.
“What are you all standing around there for?” Serene Grace snapped, glaring at the zombie ponies before leaping out of the way from a blast of energy from Wonderwing’s shield. “Stop them!” She ordered, causing the ponies to blindly charge at the three dangerously armed foals.
As quickly as the advantage that the zombie ponies had gained when they revived was lost almost as fast. The foals were making short work of them, each displaying skills with their weapons that normal foals wouldn’t normally have at that age.
Wonderwing ducked and charged through the middle of a crowd of the hordes of the undead ponies, his shield reflecting the blasts of magic back in the general direction of the casters before he leapt into the air and fired blasts of energy at several zombie ponies near the door. He spun around immediately, blocking an attack from a pair of zombie ponies before shoving them off with his shield into the strike radius of Scootaloo’s saber.
“Wow, you’re kinda getting’ pushy with that thing.” Scootaloo commented.
“I guess it comes with the territory.” Wonderwing responded, pointing the shield at a zombie pony behind Scootaloo before firing a blast at it and vaporizing it on the spot. “Watch your back.” He said before moving on to three more to his right.
Scootaloo looked down at the pile of ashes behind her before regaining her focus, running a zombie pony’s skull skillfully with her saber before ripping it out of the said skull and cutting two more. She staggered a little, which exposed her to a pony ready to fire a blast of magic at her only to watch as Twist decapitated the zombie pony with her twin hooked weapons.
“I’ve got your back Thcootaloo!” Twist shouted, unhooking her twin hooks and using them to block the attacks of two more zombie ponies. She then leapt at the ponies, rehooking her weapons together, before skillfully taking them both out in a single slash before landing.
“Thanks Twist!” Scootaloo shouted, taking out another zombie pony with a powerful downward chop. Twist nodded in her direction and charged at five ponies that had managed to sneak up on Wonderwing before continuing her deadly dance.
Serene Grace couldn’t believe her eyes, in less than ten minutes half of her entire force was defeated by a bunch of foals. She ducked another set of rouge shots from the pegasus in black’s shield before backing away slowly. “Buck this... I can tell him that the book was destroyed when the guards searched the place and leveled it.” The unicorn thought, watching as in what seemed a matter of moments only a handful of her troops remained standing. “All right you three... You win this round, but I won’t go so easy on you this time.” She snapped, using her horn to blind the area before vanishing with the handful of soldiers that were with her.
As soon as all of the zombie ponies were gone; Scootaloo, Wonderwing, and Twist all reverted back to normal. “Did you guys see that?” Wonderwing asked.
“When the zombies were all like rawr!” Scootaloo shouted excitedly.
“And we were all like hi yah!” Twist said.
The foals all shared a quick laugh before looking up at Twist’s saddlebag at the top of the book shelf. “Now we have an idea on how to get there.” Wonderwing said. “And we have a way to defend ourselves if we get into trouble.”
“Yeah, let’s get back to Sweet Apple Acres and let the others know we can do all of this awesome stuff.” Scootaloo said.
“Okay, just lemme get my Thaddle Bag firtht.” Twist said, trotting over to the bookshelf before climbing up on the lower shelves and grabbing her bag with her teeth. The small pony looked like she was about to fall however, and let go of the shelf before she got down only to be caught by both Scootaloo and Wonderwing. “Thankth you guyth, that would’ve hurt really bad if I had hit the floor.”
“Uh that’s kinda why we caught you in the first place.” Scootaloo said, giggling a little. “Now come on, let’s get outta here before somepony get’s suspicious.”
“Right.” Wonderwing and Twist said, following Scootaloo out of the front door and out into the street in Canterlot. Wonderwing turned to look at the somber building one last time before following his friends back to the train station. Something told him he wasn’t coming back there, and it made him feel a lot better.
-Back in Ponyville, Several hours later-
“You mean you guys beat back somepony that was helping Utopian?” Sweetie Belle asked as soon as Scootaloo, Twist, and Wonderwing had returned from Canterlot. They were all waiting at the train station in the Crusader Mobile when the three foals stepped off of the train, and were now heading towards Sweet Apple Acres to what was hopefully the finished airship.
“Yeah, our watches were all glowy and this voice told us that, “His power was within us all,” and we just called out what sounded cool at the time and the lights turned into the weapons we used to kick some flank!” Scootaloo answered.
“We wouldn’t have gotten out of there thanks to who ever it was that was helping us with their power.” Wonderwing commented.
“An’ we got some sorta fancy weapons ahrselves too right?” Applebloom asked, watching the three foals nod.
“Yeah, we’ll show you guys how to get them out once we get airborne.” Wonderwing commented.
“You got that book you wanted right?” Dinky asked.
“Yep, it’th in my thaddlebag.” Twist answered. “We’re ready to fly when you are.”
“All right!” The other foals shouted, watching as the barn that held their airship came riding into view.
“It took us a bit to actually convince Dinky’s mom and your mom about the Camping Trip Twist.” Sweetie Belle said seriously. “But we still had a spare Filly Scouts book that was laying around in the clubhouse and they bought it hook, line, and sinker.”
“Spike was also easy to convince.” Dinky said. “I just gave him a few gems from around Rarity’s shop that I found lying around, and I got the copies easily.”
“Were those gems green in color by any chance?” Sweetie Belle asked.
“Uh... I think so?” Dinky said, watching as Sweetie Belle smacked her head with her hoof.
“Those were to keep the moths away from her shop.” Sweetie Belle replied. “Hopefully they don’t cause too much damage...”
“We don’t need to worry about that now. We’re almost there!” Scootaloo shouted, fluttering her wings faster with Wonderwing until they got to the airship. As soon as the foals dismounted, they all ran into the barn, making for their things on the inside. “Come on crusaders, lets get this stuff in before we take off!” She said, watching as Wonderwing ran into the basket and began to work at one of the consoles on the inside. Quickly the other foals began to place their saddlebags inside the airship, along with several baskets full of foods that they thought that they would need. Before the airship began to move out to the barn, Applebloom and Scootaloo galloped to the barn doors and pulled them as hard as they could to open them to the point to where the airship could leave the barn. As the balloon on the airship began to inflate all of the foals quickly ran out of the barn, leaving the Crusader Mobile behind and entering the basket before shutting the cockpit door behind them.
“Everypony, get your seatbelts on.” Wonderwing commanded, looking over his shoulder as the foals strapped into the other seats that were in the Basket. “Take off will begin as soon as the balloon finishes inflating.” Wonderwing said.
“How long’s that gonna take?” Scootaloo asked.
“About a couple of minutes. We are starting from it being flat after all.” Wonderwing answered.
As the Crusader’s Airship remained parked in front of the barn that it was in, the noise from all of their engines was
enough to get both Big Mac and Granny Smith out of the house to see what was going on. Both ponies stared, watching as the small winged craft’s balloon filled more and more, before seeing the small foals waiting patiently inside the ship. Big Mac’s eyes widened, causing him to reel back before charging at the ship, running as fast as his legs could go.
“Uh, you guys we don’t have a few minutes!” Sweetie Belle cried, watching as the hard working Earth Pony charged at them. “We’ve got a big brother Incoming!”
The foals all turned, watching as Big Mac continued his charge. “Wonderwing, what’s takin’ so dang long?” Applebloom shouted.
“Were at eighty percent, we can’t leave yet!” Wonderwing shouted, looking at his instruments before turning back to the sight of the charging pony.
“What in the hay is goin on here? You foals git outta there!” Big Mac shouted, continuing to charge at the airship rapidly.
“We’re at ninety percent!” Wonderwing shouted.
“Ah’m sorry Big Mac! But we can’t do it!” Applebloom shouted through the glass. She watched as her brother ran to the door of the basket and leapt at it, trying to open the latch that led inside.
“He’s trying to get inside!” Dinky cried.
“The doors automatically lock when the balloon starts inflating. He’s going to have to try and bash the door in if he wants to get in here.” Wonderwing replied, hearing a loud bang that came from the door.
“He’s gonna break the door in!” Scootaloo shouted.
Looking at the controls, Wonderwing could only watch as the air meter read out ninety seven percent. He looked to the other foals, who were still strapped in and waiting on what to do as Applebloom’s older brother tried his hardest to break in and keep them from flying off. He then turned to face forward, pushing the steering wheel forward as he began to taxi the airship down towards the almost clear path leading away from Sweet Apple Acres. The foals, who had now turned their attention to Big Mac as he narrowly avoided the propellers of the airship’s wings before beginning chase again.
“He’s still coming!”Pipsqueak said, looking from out of the back windows of the airship.
“Yeah, I see him.” Wonderwing replied, seeing the mighty stallion chase after their airship. “But we’re now at full inflation on the balloon, and we’re ready for take off. Everypony hold on!” Wonderwing shouted as they all felt the wheels of the under carriage left the ground and began to tuck underneath into the bottom and lock into place.
Big Mac, who had slowed down to a half-gallop watched blankly as the Cutie Mark Crusaders flew away, beyond his
reach and faster than he could run after them. He panted a little bit, beads of sweat forming on his brow as the airship turned to the east before heading out of sight to the tree line. Before he knew it, they were gone.