Game of Fate - 06 - Cross-eyed Expedition
Elise joined the Apple family for breakfast and with nothing to do around the farm went to wander around Ponyville with AJ. Twilight started her day with a small cup of coffee and continued to observe the half-breed out of her own worries and curiosities as the Celestial Centennial Celebration drew ever closer. Rainbow Dash on the other hoof was not planning on doing much that day.
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----[ Rainbow Dash's house
-----
It was a restless night for the multi-color maned mare that lasted until four in the morning, then it became a solid sleep for six hours. She woke up and stretched her legs and wings before she pushed the curtain open. There wasn't any cloud cover outside to obscure her view of Ponyville as she tried to think, How could I choose to just avoid Elise like that?, she looked around her room and saw pictures of her friends lining a wall, She entered that fight to help save my heroes, even though she barely knows me.
She wandered to a bookshelf poked through her Daring Do books and pulled out Daring Do and the Secret of Evermore, Maybe I should try and apologize, but how?, Her stomach growled at her and she sighed, "Alright, food first."
The kitchen was clean enough to make the mare who cleaned it happy, everything neatly sorted and placed away, even the cereals in the cabinets were arranged in order of color. Dash rolled her eyes at Twilight's neatness and grinned as she pulled a box of Marshmallow Do Well out of the cupboard. She looked at it for a moment, "When did I buy this?"
She shrugged and poured a bowl of the grain cereal with purple marshmallows. A few minutes went by as she read a few pages while she ate, while she read she broke out laughing, "Ha HA! They get to Omnitopia and the dog turns into a robot toaster?! That's sooo funny!"
A knock came to the door and she looked over at it, "Huh?"
On the other side she could hear the voice of someone familiar, "I brought you a package!"
She ran to the door and opened it, "Hey, Derps. Got anything good today?"
Ditzy smiled, "Sure do! I got a package and two letters for you.", she handed Dash the three items.
Dash took them, "Hey, thanks."
"Another satisfied customer!"
"Say, Derps. Could I ask you something?"
"Sure."
"You're kinda drifting to the side, are you ok?"
Ditzy looked at her right wing, "I kinda hurt my wing when I dropped this big hammer somepony wanted delivered, it had this sharp edge that caught on my wing."
"Ouch, should you be delivering the mail up here with that?"
"Not really, I'm on a ground route. Or I was supposed to be, Lucky kinda ran into Signed Seal so hard both of them were knocked out. And because nopony else was available to cover for him, I had to take his route too. With these packages I have to deliver I have to keep flying back to the postage center and get each one. It's kinda hard."
Dash thought for a moment, "I might know somepony who might be able to help you. Maybe two."
Ditzy smiled, "Really?"
"Yeah. The first one is me and the other oughta be around Ponyville. Wanna go find her?"
"If we can do it quick, that would be great!"
Dash placed the items inside and closed her door, "Let's go."
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----[ Ponyville Marketplace
-----
The marketplace was overflowing with activity once more as mares and stallions were buying and selling fruits, vegetables, and dairy. Very few were gathered around the young colt who shouted out the main headline for the day, "Read all about it! Cloud factory under repair after fight! Saboteurs still at large!"
When AJ and Elise arrived at the marketplace they wandered in their own directions, Elise to find something that would interest her and AJ to check on Apple Bloom with the apple cart. Unable to find anything Elise found her way back to the apple cart where Apple Bloom managed to bother Doctor Whooves into buying an apple once again. As he quickly walked away with the apple balanced on top of his fez Apple Bloom waved at him, "Thanks again!"
AJ snickered, "Looks like th' two of ya have a system goin' on."
Apple Bloom paused, "Aw, I coulda tried ta sell him an apple pie."
Elise wandered up to the apple cart and was greeted by AJ, "Howdy Elise, find anythin' 'round here?"
Elise shook her head, "Not much here for a being like me."
"Sorry ta hear that."
"It's not a surprise, so no worries."
AJ grinned, "Right."
A voice came from above, "Hey, Applejack!"
Both AJ and Elise looked up as Dash and Ditzy came down. AJ walked forward, "Mornin' RD."
Dash looked at Elise, "Hey, Elise, could I ask you a favor?"
Elise nodded, "Yes, what do you need?"
"It's not as much a favor for me as it is a favor for Derps here."
Ditzy smiled, "Hi!"
Elise waved at her, "Hello again."
Dash continued, "Well, she's kinda injured so she can't carry too much."
Elise looked at Ditzy, "I remember that from when we met at the hospital."
Ditzy nodded, "Yeah, I can't fly with any big packages and it's really slowing my delivery route down. Could you help me carry some of the load?"
Elise nodded, "Of course, I need something to do anyways."
Ditzy jumped up and cheered, "Yay!"
Elise looked at Dash, "How about you?"
Dash scratched her head, "I'm going too."
AJ looked at her, "You are?"
"Yeah, Derps is a good friend. She helped me out of a jam a while back and I can't just let her struggle like this."
Ditzy moved next to Dash and hugged her, "Thank you, Dash!"
Elise looked at AJ, "I'll see you later?"
AJ grinned, "We're almost done here, so we'll see ya at th' farm."
"Alright."
Ditzy looked at Elise, "I'll lead you to the post office."
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----[ Ponyville Mail Hub
-----
Ditzy led Elise and Dash into the back room of the postal hub, it was a large area where different kinds of ponies were sorting mail with any available methods. Earth ponies galloped on a treadmill which powered the conveyor system or carried boxes of unsorted mail to the sorting area. In the sorting area Unicorns used their magic to quickly sort letters and packets before they banded them together. Pagasi took the banded together items and placed them in different boxes along a very tall wall.
Dash looked around, "I didn't think there was this much work going on here."
Elise nodded, "I didn't think so much mail would need to go through here."
Ditzy looked back at her, "It's a major hub. Most of the mail between Canterlot, Ponyville, and Cloudsdale is run through here."
They followed her into a back room where a several empty mailbags hung on the wall, and four bags stuffed with letters and packages. Dash looked at them wide eyed, "Wow. That's a lot."
"That's just one day's worth for two carriers."
Dash's jaw fell open, "One...day?"
"Yeah, well let's split it up!"
Elise looked at the bags, "Give me the heavy packages, I can handle that."
Ditzy looked at her for a moment, then closely examined her with her right eye closed, "Most of the packages are for Cloudsdale, how would we get you up there?"
Dash smiled, "Show her your wings."
Elise slouched forward and her crystalline wings formed from her back, Ditzy jumped back with her eyes straightened only for a moment, "Wow, that's almost as cool as Dash!"
Elise just grinned. Dash thought the line over and agreed, "Almost, yeah."
Ditzy grabbed the bags off of their hooks, "Ok, we'll get all the packages onto uhm..what's your name again? Elise?"
"Yes."
Ditzy smiled, "Oh yeah!", she placed packages inside of one mailbag that both she and Dash lifted onto her. Ditzy over exerted her wing and let go on accident, the load dropped onto Elise, she looked at the half-breed, "Oops. My bad."
Elise shuffled the load so it fit right and balanced itself, "It's ok, I'm used to that."
"Oh, ok. Now let's get all these letters onto me and Dash.", she lifted off the ground and grabbed a bag of mail and placed it on Dash, "There, now mine."
Dash spread her wings and looked at the mailbag with a bit of surprise, "Wow, cozy."
Ditzy rustled into the last one, "Okay, let's deliver the mail!"
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----[ Ponyville Library | 11am
-----
Twilight was determined, this was it, she focused her magic and the piece of chalk was surrounded by the glow of her aura. It curved around the third chalkboard carefully, skillfully it avoided other lines and nodes of the chart to its destination. Finally with one little dot Twilight lowered the chalk, "Gotcha."
Spike looked over and his eyes glazed over as he saw the three chalkboards all packed with a single chart with a large number of different nodes about Elise, and all the different lines that connected the pieces, "Twilight? Did you even sleep last night?!"
Twilight looked over at him, "Of course I did. Just now I managed to figure out the last of the links between the data I could find on Elise."
"But where'd you get all this?!"
"A little observation, with a little help from my friends.", she smiled.
"But...Why?!"
"Well, you remember why I was up late these last few nights, right?"
In his head he groaned, I just walked into this didn't I..., he just nodded, "Yeah."
"Well, she mumbles in her sleep, so during some late nights recently, I left a magic image of myself here at the library and went to listen in on her. With much more information I was able to figure out that Fyren is her father, Follow is a baby dragon who she adopted, and that she used to make something named 'Lost' regret toying with her."
You can stay, but I'm leaving., he thought quietly before the sound of a slide whistle could be heard as his brain slipped away without him.
Twilight's lecture continued without skipping a beat even as she muttered, "Did Pinkie Pie leave her auto slide whistle here again?"
Spike simply stood there and just nodded whenever Twilight took a breath, "Uh-huh."
"And apparently there was some sort of thing where there is some sort of trait called 'expander' that she had to learn from her father, Fyren, who I need to assume is a fox; and apparently this Arla, some dragon I think, was her mother."
Spike blinked, "Uh-huh."
A small pointer started to levitate around the three chalkboards and point at different nodes on the massive chart, "And that someone named 'Ghost' is a 'kindred weapon' which might mean an ally in her group."
He noticed something pass by the window and his brain returned, "Twilight."
"So based on this information she might be a reject from a group of 'weapons'. Which might be some form of dragon warrior or special type of fox. More likely the former."
"Twilight..."
"However, in order to find the proper links of there being any fights in Canterlot, I had to look very deep inside of the history books during the great war a millennia and a half ago."
Spike sighed then shouted, "TWILIGHT!"
She snapped out of her crazy cross reference rodeo, "Yes, Spike?"
"You're doing it again! You're over analyzing someone who showed some sorta weird ability. You're doing to Elise what you did to Pinkie when you were trying to figure out her Pinkie Sense."
Twilight looked at him, "You're right... I lost track of her willingness to just be friendly in order to try and figure out who she is."
"Exactly, if she were to see all this, what would she think?"
Twilight looked at the web of data on the chalkboards, "I don't think she would be happy."
A knock came to the door and he looked at it, "Right, now think about that while I get the mail.", he walked over to the door and opened it.
Elise looked in, "Package for Twilight--", she noticed the chalkboards, "--Sparkle?"
Spike looked up at her, "Uhm..."
She smiled, "Fyren is the dragon, and Arla wasn't my mother, just another fox that could be described as an embodiment of hatred."
Twilight walked over, "Huh?"
She handed the package to Spike, "You aren't the first one to try and mesh together my past."
"Really?"
"Yes.", she glanced at the chalkboards again, "And for the record, I'm only twenty years old."
"Then...how did you fight Arla in Canterlot?"
Ditzy called to Elise, "We're done with this section, let's go."
She called out the door, "Coming.", she looked back at Twilight, "I can answer more as time goes on, but for now, I'm helping an injured mailmare."
"Oh, ok. Bye then.", Twilight grinned nervously as Elise stepped out the door and took flight.
Spike looked at her, "That was a surprise."
Twilight nodded, "It was. Let's erase these boards shall we?"
"Yeah."
--------------------
----[ Mid-air
-----
Ditzy kept a decent pace with her lighter bag, "Next stop, Cloudsdale."
Dash pulled up next to her, "Yeah, we'll be done with this in no time!"
Elise pulled up on her other side, "So far, this load has gotten lighter, I can't complain."
Ditzy smiled, "Thanks again for helping Elise."
"You're welcome."
Dash looked over at Elise, "So what took you so long at Twilight's?"
Elise grinned, "I caught sight of her little research project."
"The one...on you?"
"Yes. She pieced together the closest things she could find. I think the only things she got right were the name of my father, and the fact that I'm keeping an eye on Follow."
Ditzy looked at her, "Follow?"
"He's a young dragon I'm caring for in the absence of his family."
She hesitated, "That's a very nice thing to do."
"I want to get back to Ayis and make sure he's alright, but I know I can count on Lusce and Lisann to keep an eye on him for now."
She smiled softly, "Get to him as soon as you can."
"I'm planning on it."
Dash dropped down and pulled up next to Elise, "Sounds like a plan, does he look like Spike?"
"He's an ice Dragonling, his plates are silver, and his scales are a lighter shade of your coat."
"Ice dragon? He breathes something other than fire?"
"He can create a mist cold enough to almost instantly freeze whatever he uses it on."
"Cool."
"He doesn't have absolute control over it, so beware freezing sneezes."
Dash laughed, "F-freezing sneezes? HA!"
Ditzy giggled, "That has to be fun."
Elise smiled, "They are."
Dash looked forward and her smile turned to small frown as they approached Cloudsdale, "Here we are."
"We have a reason for being here."
Ditzy nodded, "They shouldn't do anything if you stay with me."
"Right. Dash?"
Dash nodded, "Right, let's make this quick."
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----[ Sweet Apple Acres | 1pm
-----
Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo walked along the path to the farm next to Braeburn. He was looking around admiring the sight, "All them apple trees here are more than healthy, seems like Applejack and Big Macintosh have been takin' good care of the place."
Big Macintosh walked up with a small basket of apples balanced on his back, "Eeeeyup."
Apple Bloom looked up at him, "Hey Big Macintosh, where's Applejack?"
"Should be comin' up on where she is."
Braeburn smiled, "Grabbin' a basket of apples for yourself?"
"Eeeeyup."
Apple Bloom smiled, "That's some-a th' bakin' apples. Is Granny Smith makin' a pie fer us tanight?"
"Nnnnope, she's plannin' on makin' some cobbler."
Scootaloo smiled, "That sounds really good."
From deep in the orchard Applejack's voice could be heard, "HeeeeYAH!"
The group paused and Big Macintosh looked in that direction.
There was the sound of something hitting a tree, but that wasn't the sound of hooves, "Git offa our property!"
Big Macintosh galloped towards the sounds, leaving the basket of apples on Braeburn without him noticing. Apple Bloom watched as he disappeared among the trees, "More of 'em?"
Braeburn looked at her, "More of what?"
Applejack was slouched down and ready to attack as the diamond dog stood back up, "Now, are ya gonna git?"
The diamond dog barely seemed to hear her as he flatly muttered, "Hurt ponies."
"Fate put ya up ta this didn't he!"
"Hurt ponies."
He jumped forward and AJ quickly turned and bucked him back into the tree trunk, "What's it gonna take to get some sense inta that head of yers!"
"Hurt..."
"Yer gonna get yerself killed if ya keep comin' at me! Stop this!"
There was no response.
She pulled back, "Wha?!"
He faded away.
"What in..."
Big Macintosh came to a stop, "Applejack?"
She looked at him, "Those shadows can start lookin' like other things."
"Hmmm, either way Braeburn's here."
"He is? Ah'll go with you."
AJ and Big Macintosh walked away from the area and back to the path where Braeburn and the Crusaders were waiting.
Braeburn looked at AJ, "What was that all about? Some dark creatures or somethin'?"
AJ nodded, "Yeah. A lot less of 'em after last night, but there're still enough to cause a bit-a ruckus."
"Well, that's good to hear, Appleloosa has been seein' whole messes of those critters too."
"Really?"
"Yeah, the buffalo started helping us fend 'em off jus' after they first showed up. Somethin' about tainted magic and the souls of the dead."
"Well, erm, that's good ta hear, most ev'rypony 'round these parts're not what you'd call the bravest. Some-a the police'd do but they don't do private protection if they're busy with 'em in town."
"That's a shame. Hey, maybe I could help shoo some of 'em off?"
AJ looked at him, "Braeburn, yer a guest here we couldn' just have ya out there fightin' those things, after all we sorta got somepony ta help with that already."
He looked at her, "Really? They good at it?"
Big Mac nodded, "Eeeyup."
AJ smiled, "What he said, you can meet 'er later, she's helpin' Rainbow Dash n Ditzy Do right now."
Braeburn smiled, "Alright then."
AJ looked around for a moment, "Where'd Apple Bloom an' her friends get off to?"
Big Macintosh looked around, "Dunno but somethin' tells me they're gonna need a bath."
The distinct sound of a thunk and a splat could be heard, followed by Scootaloo shouting, "Tree sap again!"
"Eeeeyup."
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----[ Cloudsdale
-----
The mail delivery group was making great time, they were halfway done with the few hundred residents of the floating city on their route. Dash's bag was light enough that she could do some tricks and get some speed. Ditzy decided to keep her hooves on the clouds, flying as little as possible. She looked at Elise, "Thanks again for helping me Elise, if it weren't for you carrying those packages I'd just be finishing Ponyville."
Elise smiled, "You're welcome."
"The great thing is there are only five packages left to deliver and four of them are next door."
"Hopefully they'll want the four heavier packages. I'm willing to believe that I'm carrying a small weight machine."
Ditzy looked in the bags real quick, "Lucky you, you're right. They go to the next house."
Elise grinned, "Alright."
Ditzy smiled, "After that you can go do what you want to."
"I'll stay with you two, maybe take more of the load off of both of you."
"Really? Thank you."
Dash looked around as her mind drifted back to the fight in the cloud factory for the third time since they arrived in Cloudsdale, "Wait a minute..."
She flew over to Elise, "Don't you have some sort of spell that could help Derps?"
Elise shook her head, "The healing spell I used on you was what was left of the spell used on me, AJ, and Rarity...before Fate proved to us that he wasn't as weak as I thought."
"So you don't have it anymore?"
"Since I used it before I could learn it, I don't have it anymore."
"That kinda sucks."
She followed Ditzy to the next house, "Tell me about it."
Dash thought for a moment, "So why did you use it on me?"
"You wouldn't have admitted it, but your brief exposure to Spitfire's fire cyclone left you teetering on the edge of not being able to fight. If that had happened then the two of them would have overpowered me, and Fate would've had two Wonderbolts as his personal minions, or Agents, as he calls them."
Ditzy knocked on the door as Dash sighed, "One little spell would've made that much of a difference...", she smiled at Elise, "Thanks."
The door opened and a brown Stallion with his light blonde mane hanging in front of his eyes looked out, "Hey, is that who I think it is? Yeah, it's Rainbow Crash!"
Dash sneered, "Hey... Billy, great to see you too..."
"So, you've hit a new low, Mailmare."
"What makes you think I would do this as a career? Maybe you're as dumb as your cutie mark."
"Oh, it's ok to be ashamed, it just means you finally realized that you'll never truly be cool."
Elise shook her head, "Let me know when you save this world, then I'll think of you as cool."
Billy looked at Elise, "Huh? Got yourself a weird friend?"
"Let me save you some effort, I'm a freak of nature called a Dracaen, or if you can't understand the name, Dragonfox. Got that Dumb-bell?"
Dash looked at Elise, "What're you doing?"
Billy laughed, "You're right, you saved me some work, now I know what to call you, freak."
Elise grinned at Dash for a moment then looked back at Billy, "And you couldn't have done it without me, way to prove yourself as the self-reliant genius."
"Huh? HEY!"
Dash snickered, "Yeah, Billy. You never could build any good names to use on me without Hoops. Say didn't he first coin 'Rainbow Crash'?"
Ditzy snickered, "At least I can think up my own nick-names."
Billy blushed, "Can you just give me my mail!"
Elise pushed the four packages with Billy's name into the door and he pushed them to the side, "It's not over.", he closed the door and the three ladies laughed.
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----[ Carousel Boutique
-----
Meanwhile, at the Carousel Boutique Rarity was busy. After Sweetie Belle had run off with her dressforms the other day, she had to put so many new dresses on hangers that they couldn't stay in the right shape for her to consider new changes to their designs. Now that the dressforms had not only reappeared but had also been thoroughly cleaned of tree sap, she placed the new designs on them quick as can be. Of course, being careful not to place a work of art on one that was still wet. She dressed the last dry dressform as a knock came to the door, she turned and trotted to the door calling out in song, "Comiiiiing!"
With her magic she opened the door, ready to say the greeting she had used hundreds of times prior but paused when she saw Fluttershy on her porch with a smile on her face, "Oh, Fluttershy, hello! I take it you're here to work on your dress for the Celestial Centennial Celebration?"
Fluttershy nodded, "Uh-huh."
She stepped to the side, "Then please, do come in."
Fluttershy trotted in and looked around for a moment, "Where do you want me to go?"
Rarity closed the door, "Let's see, where would be the best place to work?", she looked at a small area near her gembox, "Not there.", she looked at a large mess, "Oh, definitely not there.", she looked at a somewhat clean area, "Aha! Over there near the mirrors."
"Ok.", she walked over and checked her reflection, she noticed the reflection of a silver cat looking in the window, "Huh?"
Rarity donned her work glasses and looked at Fluttershy, "What is it, darling?"
Fluttershy turned to look at the window and the cat was gone, "I thought I saw a cat."
Rarity looked at the window, "Strange, Opal is upstairs."
"That wasn't Opalescence, that one was silver and had spots. Like a lynx."
Rarity levitated Fluttershy's Grand Galloping Gala dress out of a closet, "One of yours?"
"I don't take care of any lynx."
The dress fit onto Fluttershy as Rarity examined it, "I suppose the police will handle him then?"
"I guess."
Rarity started to look over Fluttershy more carefully, "Now hold still, I need to think."
"Ok.", she held her body very still and looked around the room with her eyes. She noticed a dressform that was still dripping with water, "What happened to that mannequine?"
Rarity sighed, "I had to clean all of my dressforms, somehow Sweetie Belle and her crusader friends covered them in so much sticky filth I couldn't dare use them until they were clean."
Fluttershy lowered her head a little, "They try so hard to find their special talent."
A scroll levitated over and a quill took down different notes as Rarity moved around her Pegasus friend, "It gets so frustrating that she would just take important things without asking. Did she ever stop to wonder if I needed those for my projects? No. She just up and ran off with them, I don't know how but she did."
Fluttershy just kept quiet.
"If she didn't live with mother and father things would be so very different. Instead of her getting to spend the week with Apple Bloom, I would have grounded her until she got her Cutie Mark. But, given the circumstances I have to simply put my hoof down.", she stamped a hoof and made something rattle, "And live with it!"
Fluttershy looked back at her, "Uhm...Rarity?"
Rarity looked down at her hoof which was deep inside a deep bowl of pins, "Oh dear, right into the bowl with all my pins."
"Are you ok?"
"Odd, normally that stings more than a bad review, but I barely feel anything.", she lifted her hoof out and several pins were stuck in her leg, "This really is quite odd."
Fluttershy moved closer, "We should get those out."
Rarity focused her magic and pulled them out slowly, her teeth clenched at first. She relaxed as not a single one of them hurt, "There, that wasn't too bad now."
--------------------
----[ Sweet Apple Acres Farmhouse | 2pm
-----
AJ managed to find Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle with help from Pinkie who was upstairs washing the two fillies. She looked all over the farmhouse and couldn't find hair or feather of the young Pegasus, "Scootaloo? Ya need to get that tree sap outta yer coat before it solidifies ag'in, you know what happened last time it did."
Braeburn had made himself semi-comfy in the living room where Granny Smith was tugging on his vest and straightening his hat, he kept still and smiled, "I'm gonna be here all week Granny, ya don't need to keep on straightenin' me up."
She smiled, "Ah jus' don't get ta see ya very often, Braeburn, I see ya less than I see mah son who married ya mother."
Big Macintosh grinned, "Eeeeyup, you get all the pent up straightenin's."
Braeburn grinned back at him, "I'll make sure to say that to ya next time Ma's doin' this to you."
Granny Smith finished adjusting Braeburn's vest, "There ya go, you look all fine an' dandy fer now."
"Thanks, Granny."
AJ walked into the living room, "Big Mac, you happen ta see Scootaloo run by?"
He shook his head, "Nnnnope, ya reckon she went home ta get cleaned up?"
"I doubt it."
"Hmmm, did ya check th' barn?"
"Twice."
"How 'bout th' pantry?"
"Hmmmm, Lemme look there.", she wandered into the kitchen and looked around in the pantry for a moment, "There ya are!"
Big Macintosh walked to the front door and sat down.
"Git back here!"
Scootaloo ran out of the kitchen and right into Big Macintosh, "Eep!"
He looked down, "Come on now, ya need ta get that outta yer coat."
"Fine.", Scootaloo turned and went upstairs with AJ following her.
Braeburn walked over, "This happens a lot?"
Big Macintosh nodded, "Eeeeyup. Can't help but wonder if this goes on at her house."
"Any reason?"
"She spends most of 'er time here, playin' with Apple Bloom. If I didn' know any better, I'd say she hadn't been back home in months."
"Might be a rough home, you never really know."
"Eeeeyup..."
--------------------
----[ Cloudsdale
-----
Out of all of the mailbags that the three had in total, they were down to the last home on the list. Ditzy smiled and knocked on the door, "Package for Heather Vane."
The door opened and Elise looked at the mare, "You again?"
She looked at the half-breed, "I hope you didn't rough up my package like you did the cloud factory."
"I don't do things without good reason. Fate screwed over that machine and in an attempt to stop him, there was some other damage."
"Fate? A friend of yours?"
Elise sneered, "That depends. Do you define friend as the being in the top slot of your list of beings to horrifically maim, torture, stab, rend, obliterate, behead, and murder?"
Heather Vane's eyes widened a little, "Oh, come in."
All three of the deliverers looked at her for a moment. Dash eyed her, "Why the change of heart?"
"I'll explain inside.", she walked back inside.
The inside of the house didn't look like it had anypony living there, it was dusty, and the furniture was barely used and covered in plastic. Dash looked around and even noticed how little stuff there was, "Wow, empty."
Ditzy looked at the package as she placed it on a table, "I guess this is the start of a collection or something?"
Heather Vane turned around and looked at her, "Yeah, why not...would one of you close the door please?"
Ditzy bumped into the door and it closed.
Heather Vane looked at Elise, "Now, your choice of words to describe what you would do was...", her voice shifted to a more sinister tone, "...perfect."
Elise looked at her surprised, "Huh?"
"He's a loveless manipulator and for that I would enjoy having him as my little pet, but he took care of that chance when he found out I had my own little plans for his game."
Dash thought for a moment, "You sound familiar."
Elise looked closer at Heather Vane, "You had your own plans for his game?"
"I was planning on cutting it short and seducing him, but that wouldn't do. He knocked me around some room and sealed off my power. Said something about a 'half-breed's poison being the only way I can regain my power' before he vanished claiming that I'm part of his game now."
Dash glared at Heather Vane, "Chrysalis."
Elise looked over at her, "Who?"
She turned to the door, "Come on, she can handle herself."
"What did she do?"
"She tried to take over Canterlot by impersonating Princess Cadence. Then she had an army of changelings attack when she was found out."
"Oh."
"She even managed to knock out Princess Celestia!"
Elise paused and realized how much of a feat that is, "Oh..."
Chrysalis stepped forward, "Well, it's out there. Now make with the poison."
"I'll tell you what I told Applejack, I don't know what Fate meant by that. I don't produce any poisons of any sort."
"Well, make some. I'm not giving you his crystal until you do."
Elise looked at her, "Crystal? He gave you one of mine didn't he."
She opened the package and pulled out a clear crystal glowing with magic, "You tell me."
"It is, give it to me."
"Go ahead.", Chrysalis grinned, "Take it from me."
Elise grinned and slouched down, "You got it!"
She leapt forward and grabbed for the crystal, Chrysalis stepped to the side and let Elise fly past her, "Try again."
Elise made another grab for the Crystal and missed again, "Hold still."
"Don't count on it."
Dash flew forward and made a grab for the crystal, Chrysalis looked her at just the right moment to watch the crystal get knocked into the air, "No!"
Elise and Ditzy both jumped for the crystal, it spun through the air as both of them just missed it and collided with each other. They hit the floor as Dash tried to grab it again, she was pulled down by Chrysalis and the crystal crashed on the floor. The spell inside exploded which caused all the dust in the house to blow around and obscure everyone's sight.
They coughed and wheezed as the dust settled, once it did Ditzy looked at Elise, "Are you ok?"
Elise stood up, "Don't worry, my head is plenty hard."
Chrysalis stood up and shook off the layer of dust she gathered, "Tell me about it."
Dash stood up and looked up at her, "Oh, great."
Chrysalis examined her black hole-filled hooves and smiled as she moved her mane to the side and spread her insectoid wings, "So that's it, your poison is spells in your crystals. Maybe I oughta get another one of those big enough to shatter all over my hive."
Elise looked at her, "Poison?! That was a healing spell!"
Ditzy stretched her healed wing, "Sure was."
A familiar voice sounded, "How delightful, your greed for your power was so strong that you accelerated a few events. Why am I not surprised..."
Chrysalis grinned, "So what. I'm going to break you and make you into a sobbing mess..."
"How adorable, you think you can break my emotions. It is difficult to break what doesn't exist.", the voice paused, "Speaking of what doesn't exist, I have the option to add a queen to that list."
Her grin faded, "Really..."
"Consider it equivalent exchange for messing with the flow of my game. I have in my sight the crystal infused with your power, the one that was supposed to have sweet little Cadence's power."
"What are you getting at?"
Dash and Ditzy stepped back as a crystal appeared, brimming with green energy. Elise moved away from her, unsure about whether or not to get ready to fight.
Fate laughed, "It's up to the half-breed, whether you live--", the crystal shattered and sent a large feedback of energy through Chrysalis, "--or Die."
Chrysalis tried to resist the energy until it overpowered her and made her scream.
His vicious laugh faded away as she collapsed, Elise moved close to her. Dash moved close, "Elise?"
Ditzy looked at Chrysalis as Elise started to focus.
Dash looked between the two, "You're going to heal her?"
Elise mumbled something under her breath and listened. The whispers of the mana returned once more and formed a harmony. Elise nodded, "Mending of the body, through force of light's restoration. Heed my call as a descendant of three blood-lines! Aura!"
She stood up and waved her paw multiple times, each motion released a light that streamed into Chrysalis. Dash frowned, "You did..."
Chrysalis looked at Elise and stood up, "What the..."
Elise looked at her, "Listen carefully, I've encountered Fate before. He's a wannabe god that I've killed. Once again, I'm fighting against him--"
"No, now we are.", Chrysalis interrupted her.
"Huh?"
"He takes most of my hive and makes them into those shadows, then he blocks my power to change forms, now he tries to kill me. I think I want to see him writhe and to see that I'm willing to help you."
Elise stood there with a dumbstruck look for a moment, "What?"
Chrysalis smiled and moved next to her, "You said you killed him, and I don't think you did the job right. So, I'm going to tag along and have a little fun as I help you tear him down and properly kill him this time."
Dash glared at her, "She's pulling a trick on you."
Chrysalis sneered, "I wish."
Ditzy looked out the window, "Somepony is coming."
Chrysalis tried to transform into somepony and failed, "What? Fine.", she tried a simpler form and copied Dash, "Too tomboyish."
"Hey, Whaddya mean by that...", Dash grumbled.
Chrysalis settled on Heather Vane again, "This'll have to do."
A knock came to the door and Chrysalis cleared her voice so she sounded like the innocent Pegasus again, "One moment."
The door opened and a police officer looked at her, "Pardon me, but there were reports of an explosion here. Is everypony alright?"
"We're ok, just a little crash landing."
Ditzy shrugged, "My bad."
The officer looked at her, "Well, as long as nopony was hurt. Sorry to bother you four.", he tipped his hat and flew away.
Chrysalis closed the door and Dash sighed, "I don't know what you have planned, but you'd better not pull anything on us."
Elise looked at Chrysalis, "There's a long struggle between where we are now and the point where we can fight against him, and stand a chance."
She reverted to her normal form and walked around Elise, "You think I don't know that? It's clear that I have a lot of work to do if I'm going to get my full power back."
"What makes you sure of that?"
"If my first transformation succeeded then the police officer would've been greeted by an Alicorn."
Dash eyed her, "Trying to copy Cadence again?"
Chrysalis shook her head, "Why would I borrow the form of a princess who doesn't ever leave Canterlot."
Elise shrugged, "Good point. Now what's your point?"
"Each and every time you sank your claws into those shadows a little energy built up inside of you and anypony else that received a spell through your crystals. That energy is the key to building up the power in each of them, so you and me free my former minions and build up our power."
"Just remember you'll being doing something good for different ponies."
"The only thing I care about is seeing Fate beg for mercy, I don't care if I save Equestria while doing that."
Elise looked at Dash and smirked.
--------------------
----[ Ponyville
-----
Lusce had gotten comfy in a little corner behind a small group of town homes, the trashcans weren't filled with anything that stank, and this large box here was perfect for a cat to hide in. He had two weapons that he pulled from a little pack he had, both of them were guns that he clearly took good care of. He pulled a small roll of tools from the pack and unloaded the weapons, it was tricky to pull back the slide to get the current shot out of the chamber but he succeeded. He unrolled the tools and pulled out a round brush that he used to start cleaning the barrel. He kept his ears perked up incase someone tried to wander by, he finished with one of the weapons and started to work on the other. The sound of hooves landing nearby alerted him to a presence and he placed the pieces into his pack in one swift movement.
Soarin walked up to him, "Spitfire's turn."
Lusce looked at him, "Fair enough, well, what did you find?"
"Not much, she helped with mail delivery up in Cloudsdale. She seems to have a new follower though."
"Any idea who?"
"No. Some mare with an off-blue mane and a light gray coat."
"Hopefully just a fan."
"I hope so, too."
There was a slight pause as Lusce found a new topic, "So, tell me. Enjoying this work so far?"
Soarin looked at him questioningly, "What do you mean?"
Lusce grinned, "It may not be as glorious as being a Wonderbolt, but are you enjoying it?"
"I guess so, it's not as restricted."
"Restricted?"
"Yeah, used to be your standard sort of special ops unit, then Windholm came along and started trying make us train as some sort of private army."
"Windholm, eh? He the one who kicked you out?"
Soarin sighed, "I swear he was waiting for the chance to do that."
"Wouldn't be the first time I've heard that. Take a break, I'll let you know when I've had my turn."
"Your turn?"
Lusce smiled, "Yeah, I want to see some of this for myself."