//------------------------------// // Chapter Six: The Way Back // Story: Dawn of the Crusaders // by VietNinja220 //------------------------------// “Then why is she going with Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon? She knows that they’re bad!” Sweetie Belle followed up. “I’m not sure, Sweetie Belle. I cannot sense the feelings of a pony unless they are dreaming about it but I can tell that Babs Seed is not asleep at the moment.. I’m sorry.” Luna answered. Apple Bloom tilted her head downward. Her red mane dropped down and covered her face to prevent Princess from seeing the tears flowing down her face. “Thank you, Princess Luna.” She choked. The yellow earth pony turned around and slowly walked towards the other three ponies who were waiting for Apple Bloom near the door. As Apple Bloom walked past the giant blue door, it glowed with a dark blue aura. The whole room shook as the double doors slowly moved towards the center of the room. A small creaking sound was heard throughout the loud rumble. There was a large bang as the doors finally shut behind the ponies’ backs. The four moved in silence towards the exit of the castle. [Canterlot] The four came out after a long night in Canterlot Castle. The streets were dark and abandoned with the exception of the few clubs that were still open at this time at night. The bright pink and purple that was splashed across the town faded into a dark blue. A small chill ran through the mountain wind throughout the streets of Canterlot. The full moon shone just enough to light the many streets of the royal city. Atop one of the many towers of Canterlot is a large yellow clock. The numbers were written in black Romane Numerals. Each hand stretched across the size of a typical house in Ponyville. The minute hand slightly moved and hit the 12, overlapping with the hour hand. A chime shook the majority of Canterlot. Loud enough for everyone to hear, yet quiet enough to not cause an annoying racket to those who live near the towering clock. The four started their trek back to the Canterlot Train Station at the other side of town. Each step they took was followed by a clop, echoing as the sound bounced off the walls and buildings located around town. The stone path that was so warm and homelike in the day felt cold and uninviting in the dark depths of the night. After a long period of silence, Sweetie Belle broke the ice. “Hey, Apple Bloom. You ok?” Apple Bloom looked up for the first time since she asked Princess Luna. Her eyes were still soaked with the tears that she shed back at the castle after she had learned that her beloved cousin, Babs Seed, had joined forces with Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon to destroy the Elements of Harmony. After all they’ve been through, all their adventures looking for their Cutie Marks, even the adventure Apple Bloom had trying to stop Babs from joining Diamond Tiara’s group and becoming a big bully. She wiped her tears to confront Sweetie Belle and answer her question. Her eyes shimmered with the light of the lit moon. Tears still trickled down her face as she prepared to answer. “Why would she try to help destroy the Elements of Harmony? Why would Babs Seed, my favorite cousin, try to kill me?” Scootaloo flew back to Apple Bloom’s side and started walking at the same sluggish speed. “I don’t know, Apple Bloom, but we’ve got a job to do.” Scootaloo paused, thinking of any strong words to cheer her up. “Right now, the fate of Equestria is in our hands. I’d hate to say this, but we can deal with Babs later. If she’s going to stop us from succeeding, she’s an enemy… for now at least. I really don’t want to fight her again either, but we’ll have to sooner or later, and who knows? Maybe she’ll notice her wrongdoings and stop, or even better join us!” Apple Bloom still retained the same sad face as before. “Look, Apple Bloom.” Scootaloo stopped in her tracks and pointed toward Apple Bloom, stopping her in her tracks. “What I’m trying to say is that even though Babs is bad now, it shouldn’t stop us from saving Equestria.” “Ah, know it’s just..” Apple Bloom choked as she began to break down crying again. “Ah don’t want to fight mah own cousin. We’re family and..” “And that’s why we should keep going.” Scootaloo interrupted. “You heard her at the element tower right? She said that she didn’t want to hurt you. There has to be some good still in her to defy Diamond Tiara like that.” Apple Bloom looked at Scootaloo straight in the eyes. Tears rolled down her cheek constantly like a waterfall from Cloudsdale. She lifted her front right hoof and wiped of as many tears as she could. “Then why did she help Diamond Tiara if she knew that it would cause trouble?” Sweetie Belle turned around and looked into Apple Bloom’s eyes. “I don’t know, Apple Bloom. I really don’t know, but I know that she’s not doing it for her own benefit. The way she fought, the places she attacked, the hesitation before each hit, everything showed that she did not want to fight you as much as you didn’t want to fight her.” Sweetie Belle stated her analysis with surprising accuracy. “I think that for now, we should all go home hang out before we on our quest, what do you say? It’ll take quite a while for Diamond Tiara to find the nearest train ride to the Crystal Empire.” Apple Bloom sniffed a bit before smiling back at Sweetie Belle. Tears still flowed down, but much more subtly. “Ok, sure.” Cheerilee looked back at her pupils. A small grin crept up her face as she watched just how much her former elementary school students have grown in what seemed like such a short period of time. She knew that despite how close they were and just how excited and anxious she was to go on such a long adventure, Cheerilee knew that even though The Cutie Mark Crusaders have just barely began their epic journey, the old schoolteacher, Cheerilee’s journey was going to end soon. At their young age, the crusaders are able to go far and wide without too much hindering them. At the age that she is now, Cheerilee would just slow them down and ultimately could cause them to lose track of Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. A wind of nostalgia stroke her mane as she remembered the last few memories that she will have with her favorite three students before they will be separated until life decides to bring them back together again. She decided to keep silent as the four of them walked towards the Train Station at the end of the street. The train had arrived at the station just in time for the four to get on. Three earth ponies exited the train, all running as if they were late for a party in one of the few night clubs in Canterlot. Luckily for Cheerilee, the Ponyville Express was free after midnight and so she did not have to waste time to buy tickets for the other three. A large stallion stepped out of the train wearing a blue suit and wearing a conductor hat. The stallion opened the door for them and led them into an empty car. The chairs were small green beds so that ponies could sit in any way they wanted without any restriction whether it is laying down, or even sitting upright on their rear ends. Purple trims decorated the many windows on each side of the car and red curtains made it look very homelike. A dark purple carpet laid on the floor and a golden door showed the border between this car and the next. “Enjoy the ride.” The conductor with a fake smile. It was obvious that he did not want to be working at this late, but at least he showed some consideration towards the passengers. He exited the car and closed the door behind him as he trotted towards the front of the train. The four laid down in separate beds, each adjacent to each other. They did not say a single word throughout the entire boarding sequence. “Next stop, Ponyville!” A familiar voice said on the intercom. The train started moving, gaining momentum with every turn of its wheels. With every click of the wheel, their eyes got heavier and heavier. Next thing they knew, they were sound asleep on the path back to Ponyville. [Ponyville]] The four got off the train, yawning after just waking up from the one hour ride from the top of the majestic mountains of Canterlot back to the fertile lands of Ponyville. The moon still shone brightly across the area, making all the streets still fairly visible, despite the lack of street lamps in the area. “Hey, Apple Bloom.” Scootaloo yawned. “Do you think we can sleep over at your house tonight? It is the closest after all.” “Sure thing, Scootaloo.” Apple Bloom yawned in response. “Ah just want to go to bed.” “Doesn’t everypony at this hour?” Sweetie Belle chuckled. The four let out a weak laugh. “Well, I’m going back to my house for the night. I’ll see you three in the morning!” Cheerilee said with a delightful tune. “Bye, Miss Cheerilee!” The three said in unison. The group split with Cheerilee headed back to the center of Ponyville and the other three headed towards the giant apple orchard that stood about a mile away from the train station. That night was going to be the last night that the three would have in Ponyville before the adventure that they would have to partake, as well as the last time they would be able to see everypony else. “Y’Know, Ah’m gonna really miss Ponyville.” Apple Bloom said with a sigh. “Yeah, me too, but at least we’ll be able to go to new places and the sort.” Scootaloo said optimistically. Sweetie Belle walked in silence, being as curious as Rarity and as obsessed with magic as Twilight Sparkle did have its downsides. What kind of magic will she have? Will she be able to use that magic at all? If the harmonious magic is most likely going to be found in the closest sibling to the original beholder of the related element, then will she have the same gem based magic as Rarity? Will Apple Bloom have the same absurdly enormous strength as Applejack? Will Scootaloo have any magic at all since she isn’t related to Rainbow Dash by blood? What about Fluttershy’s magic? She doesn’t have any siblings after all. Would Pinkie Pie’s older sisters gain her magic even though they aren’t the most comedic ponies in the world? Would Shining Armor get Twilight Sparkle’s magic? So many questions to be answered and so many— “Hey, earth to Sweetie Belle!” Apple Bloom yelled out, interrupting her thought sequence. “Huh? What?” Sweetie Belle jumped back into real life and looked at her surroundings. Apple Trees flourished around her. Small garden were carefully placed around a giant red bard staring down at Sweetie Belle. Throughout the entire time she was pondering about the Harmonious Magic, she had walked all the way to Sweet Apple Acres without even noticing it. “Oh. Hehe.” Sweetie Belle let out a weak laugh. “You’ve gotta stop spacing out randomly like that!” Scootloo scolded. “If you start not paying attention out there then we could all get killed!” “I’m sorry! I just have so many questions about that Harmonious Magic stuff!” Sweetie Belle rebutted childishly. “Girls!” Apple Bloom screamed. The Pegasus and unicorn both looked at the yellow earth pony. “We shouldn’t fight over something like this.” A tear fell out of Apple Bloom’s eye. “This is the last time that we’ll be able to spend time together with anyone in Ponyville, the last time that we’ll be able to play together like old times, maybe even the last time we’ll even see Ponyville!” Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle looked at each other in sadness. “We should make tomorrow a good day to remember for the rest of our lives and enjoy everything that we have right now.” “You’re right, Apple Bloom.” Scootaloo said to the earth pony. She turned and faced Sweetie Belle apologetically. “Sorry, Sweetie Belle…” “Apology accepted.” Sweetie Belle answered. The three jumped together and wrapped their arms around each other. The last group hug that they’ll ever have in Ponyville until they come back. Apple Bloom let go first, with Scootaloo right after. “Come on, you guys can sleep in my room tonight.” Apple Bloom suggested. The other two simple nodded their heads and followed in her footsteps. The earth pony slowly opened the giant barn door and the three went inside, closing the big red door behind them.