The group made an odd procession as they walked back down the road. At the front was an ill looking Arroway, followed by the two guards leading their horses, and with Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle bringing up the rear, while Scootaloo kept watch from overhead. The guards were still in armour, but their swords were back in their scabbards, and likely to remain there courtesy of the strongest sticking charm Sweetie Belle could muster. Arroway's dagger was in Apple Bloom's saddlebags.
They'd found out that the two guards were Constable Clovis, a fresh faced youth who had been Falchion's rider, and Constable Gaspard, an older, more weathered male who didn't seem particularly unhappy at his bosses' discombobulation. Their equipment was nowhere near as shiny as Royal Guard armour, but it had the correct balance of well used and well maintained that indicated well trained troops, though none of the Crusaders would have recognised that.
Other than introductions, there hadn't been much more conversation. Sweetie Belle took it on herself to remedy that. She trotted up alongside Clovis, though at Apple Bloom's suggestion, she stayed at least an arm's length (his arm to be precise) away from him.
"You never answered my question," Sweetie Belle prompted. "Why did you think it was a good idea to pony-nap Scootaloo?"
Clovis was clearly deep in his own worried thoughts, and almost jumped at the sudden question.
"I didn't... I mean, I didn't know exactly what was going on. Look, we'd just got in ahead of the storm, and pretty much all I wanted to do was get a meal and good night's sleep. Then he wakes us both up in the middle of the night, babbling about demons and proof and how we had to get back to the Duke immediately.
"So we have to get out of bed and turn out in the dark and the cold, and head on up the high road. Then we get this explanation about how three monsters..." He gave a quick sideways look to see if she'd taken offence, and was relieved when it seemed she hadn't, "...had somehow cast some sort of mind control spell on the entire town and turned them against him. He'd captured one of them, and was taking it to the Duke for judgement."
"Hey, watch who you're calling an 'it'!" Scootaloo's indignant reply suggested she _had_ taken offence.
"His words, not mine." The guard glanced up as he explained. "I thought he was a bit crazy, and a lot drunk, but it was our job to guard him, so we went. I didn't realise he was carrying anything more than an animal at first, and I didn't know just how nasty a piece of work he was..."
"I'll make sure the Duke hears of this disrespect!" called out Arroway, then staggered to the side of the road and was noisily sick.
"Our lord and master, gods help us!" groaned Gaspard. "Guarding him is always a stake in the barracks dice games, with the honour going to the loser."
"If he's that bad, why did you follow his orders?" asked Scootaloo with some asperity.
Gaspard sighed. "Because the Duke ordered us to protect him, and follow his orders, and I follow my Duke's commands, even if I don't like them."
"Even when it meant doing something wrong?" The pegasus pressed.
Oddly enough it was Apple Bloom who answered.
"Now Scoots, I reckon you've got a right to be mad, but I can kinda see where they're coming from. Diamond Tiara ain't exactly miss sweetness and light, but we followed her orders when she was running the Foal Free press, even when we knew some of those stories we were turning out were making ponies unhappy. At least these guys were doing out of loyalty, and not because they were being blackmailed. If all they knew was what Arroway told them, then they would have even figured they were doing the right thing. This is all his fault for feeding them a line of rotten apples."
"I guess..." Scootaloo mused. She flew down lower, above and in front of the two guards, back-winging as she skated backwards on the puffs of cloud covering her hooves. "Sorry, you guys, I guess I'm just cranky, what with being kidnapped and having no breakfast..."
"There's always grass." Apple Bloom suggested.
"Raw grass?" the pegasus made a face.
Sweetie Belle, who's own stomach was grumbling now that food had been mentioned, stepped aside and grabbed a mouthful of the chest high wild grass, and chewed it experimentally.
"Mmmm... Could do with some dandelions or sliced tomatoes for flavour, but it's not bad." She grabbed another mouthful. "I just wish we had some blueberry muffins from Sugar Cube Corner..."
"Zap Apple tarts and Applejack's special sweet cider." Apple Bloom sighed.
"Mom's honey roast turnip and baked garlic shallots..." Scootaloo's eyes were distant.
There was a synchronised rumble from three stomachs. Finally Apple Bloom gave another sigh. "Well what we've got is grass, and lots of it. Besides, Granny Smith taught me a recipe for Honey Roast Turnip, and made sure I knew it right, so that we can have, if I can figure out how to wrangle the local ovens."
"I can make some of Rarity's fancy toast!" Sweetie Belle exclaimed, causing the other two ponies to blanch.
"Uh, no offence Sweetie Belle, but the last time you brought fancy toast to a Crusaders meeting, everyone thought it was peat broth." Apple Bloom gently reminded her.
Scootaloo was more forthright. "_You_ thought it was peat broth, I thought it was grouting. I just didn't say anything."
Sweetie Belle teared up. "Are you saying I can't cook?"
"You can cook... just not edible food." Scootaloo clarified, then saw Sweetie Belle's expression, and Apple Bloom's. "But then I can't shape raw elemental chaos into pure awesomeness with the power of my voice alone, and you don't see me crying about that. For that matter, I thought your powers were down for the count."
That distracted Sweetie Belle. "My horn grew out, that's why it was hurting."
Scootaloo hovered and skimmed backwards just in front of Sweetie Belle, using a wing-tip to pass her a pad of condensed cloud to wipe her eyes with.
"Hey, yeah! At first I figured you were just wearing your mane differently. Looks really cool and pointy, and you got a big power boost too! That Royal Guard ghost or whatever you summoned was amazing!" the pegasus said,in an enthusiastic tone, then calmed down a bit. "What I'm trying to say is it doesn't matter to us whether you can cook, you're our friend, regardless. Besides, I've been banned from the kitchen by mom after the third time I set it on fire while making a cup of hot chocolate."
Sweetie Belle's magic held the cloud wipe and brushed it across her eyes. "You set fire to the chocolate powder?"
"Nope, the water!" Scootaloo grinned. The cloud boots crackled slightly. "I guess that now we know why that happened."
"Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, I agree with the sentiments, but we've got humans to herd, and keeping my eyes on all three is making 'em derp!" Apple Bloom called out. "My eyes that is, not the humans. What say we take it in turns to get a snack?"
That had the three ponies dropping out of the procession in turn to get a mouthful of the roadside. That emboldened Clovis to say, "You three might be able to manage on grass, but we can't! We didn't have breakfast, and neither did our horses! Could we stop for a while? We have rations and water in our packs."
None of the ponies saw a problem with that, and the group came to a stop. The horses were set to grazing, and the ponies did too. The two guards had canteens of water; dried meat and thin loaves of spiced flat bread with cheese. They offered some to Arroway, but the assessor just turned green at the sight of food, so they sat off the track and ate.
Scootaloo had scouted out some patches of wild dandelions and colts foot, and ended up trying the spiced bread, which wasn't exactly Sugarcube Corner standard, but made a nice change. She didn't need to hit up the guard canteens, as the early morning air had enough moisture that she could wring out a few cups of water with her new talent, while Apple Bloom crafted some improvised bowls out of some broad leaves and Sweetie Belle's sticking spells.
They were just finishing up when a group of horsemen appeared from the direction of Macklewheat, moving at a canter. As they grew closer, the ponies could see Mayor Vennor in the van, flanked by Jace and Yancy, and behind them, Durnik the smith, Simeon and Jaeger on a large stallion. When they saw the almost domestic scene in front of them, most of them had expressions of surprise, but Jace and Yancy just smirked at each other.
As they rode up to the group, Arroway stirred up out of his stupor and stood up, yelling out, "Mayor! I order you to arrest these three monsters! They attacked us on the Duke's Highway, which makes them bandits! I insist on seeing justice done right away, and I want the death penalty!"
His actions brought exclamations of shock from just about everybody else, including the two guards. However, Mayor Vennor recovered first.
"Assessor Arroway, that is a very serious charge! Do you wish to change your mind?"
"No!" The self-important man recovered a lot of his puff and turned a nasty smirk on the ponies, and the two guards. "It might have been better if I'd had competent guards, but I'll deal with that when I report to the Duke."
Mayor Vennor rubbed the bridge of his nose wearily. "Very well, you leave me no choice. You are under arrest in the name of the Duke for kidnapping. Durnik, Jaeger, take him in custody."
Gaspard and Clovis suddenly found Jace and Yancy behind them, hands on sword hilts. "Do _not_ interfere. I know your lot's reputation, not someone I'd want to go up against in a fair fight, which is why you won't get one if you try anything."
"To rescue that moron?" Gaspard exclaimed, "Not a chance!"
The tithe assessor went white as the two villagers took hold of him. "You can't arrest me! I outrank you and everyone in that pathetic little hamlet! Anyway, I was only carrying out my sworn duty, and protecting everyone from those things' insidious mind control tricks! Even if they've fried your brains, if any, there's no way you can claim that taking one of those creatures away for the Duke to examine is kidnapping!"
Mayor Vennor rolled his eyes. "For an educated man, your knowledge of the law is abysmal. Firstly, while you have authority in specific areas, seeing that the tallies of crops are taken accurately and assessing the tithe, I am responsible for upholding the law, as the Duke's representative, duly elected by the villagers and sworn to the Duke as his bondsman.
"We've never needed a separate sheriff in Macklewheat, and in the absence of one, I am responsible for those duties as well. If you believed a crime had been committed, you should have come to me. And by that I mean make a formal complaint, not just take one look at things and immediately storm off to harangue someone who was still on their sickbed."
"If you were so sure I was compromised by an enchantment, you could and should have taken your problem to the Duke, but that was all you had authority to do. Enforcement is my job, and one which you've just made tougher with your last thoughtless rant."
Arroway sneered. "Humph! Yes, whatever you may say, you can't get out of the fact that your precious ponies attacked someone on the high road."
"Actually, that isn't what I'm talking about. Brother Soran cast an alignment detection spell on them, and it came back positive and internal. On that basis alone he declared them to be people in the eyes of Pelor. Animals have no concept of good and evil. I've confirmed it against what books I have, and absent other evidence or higher secular or church counter-ruling, that must be considered legally binding. You've already admitted taking one of them against her will, which makes it kidnapping.
"Any high crime, and kidnapping is one of them, requires people to stop it or assist if they are able to, and they are protected by law from the normal consequences of any illegal actions, if they can show those actions were necessary in preventing the crime. Since neither you or your guards are robbed, dead, or even look badly injured, I don't think any justice would see their actions as banditry."
Vennor had dropped from his horse and stalked over. "You, on the other hand may have talked yourself into a noose! I wanted to handle this quietly, administratively, and you had the out that you couldn't know of Brother Soran's determination. You could legitimately argue that you didn't believe Scootaloo was a person, and that you were stealing an animal. Not a high crime and something I could deal with quietly."
He prodded the now quivering tax man in the chest. "But by your own admission, you see them as people, which makes it the high crime of kidnapping. Now I have no choice but to take it to the Duke, who will not thank me for having to decide whether to condemn his own tax assessor to hang. Why couldn't just keep your stupid mouth shut for once!"
"But... I always said they were animals..." blubbered Arroway.
"However, you treated them as people. Asking for them to be arrested? Accusing them of crimes? You don't arrest animals." He turned away, disgust on his face, and looked over the now guarded guards. "I hope you at least understand the chain of command."
Clovis hung his head, and Gaspard had difficulty looking the mayor in the eye. The younger guard mumbled. "After a mess like this, are we even Duke's guards any more?"
"That depends on the degree of complicity you had in the kidnapping."
Brother Soran had come over and checked Scootaloo's rope marks and bruises, but had motioned them quiet while the Mayor spoke. However, Scootaloo felt she had to speak. "Uh, Mr Mayor?"
"Yes, Scootaloo? I'm sorry I couldn't check on you first, but this is my duty as representative to the Duke."
"That wasn't what I was gonna say. But I can say that they didn't kidnap me. All they knew was that I was some dangerous animal, that guy filled their head with tales, and all they did was follow his orders. Maybe they shouldn't have fought when my friends came to rescue me, but they were doing what they thought was right."
She'd thought all sorts of mean things about the two guards while she'd been tied up, and planned all sorts of ways she'd see them in trouble along with their boss. She'd even been ready to zap them without a warning shot during the fight, and only the fact that her friends had been avoiding head on attacks had stopped her. Now she knew their side of the story, she felt guilty about that, and sticking up for them made her feel a lot better.
Mayor Vennor nodded, and turned to the two guards. "Well, it seems you have an advocate. You may come out of this without too much trouble. May, I say."
He looked over at Brother Soran. "Is she unhurt?"
"Yes, by the grace of Pelor." The cleric affirmed. "The ropes have chafed her where she was bound, but that seems to be all."
"Very well, I can find out exactly what happened on the way back to Macklewheat."
"I want to know what happened too," Jace commented. "I expected a fight, not a picnic! I also can't believe they left you your swords. I thought I taught Apple Bloom better than that."
Gaspard gave an amused snort. "We may have our swords, good luck doing anything with them. Your unicorn friend zapped them with some sort of spell that peace bonded them to the scabbard. I still can't believe we lost to them, even against a magic user."
Tensions between the two guards and the mercenaries had eased when Scootaloo had provided her defence. Jace rolled his eyes.
"I can. Let me tell you about how they pulled me and Yancy out of a 'famous last stand'..."
The procession resumed back towards Macklewheat, rather larger than before. The parasail required a bit of explanation, and eventually a piece of rag and a twig as scale model. The tale of the battle was retold, and the aftermath, and the guards pretty much exonerated, even though they'd attacked first, because they had done so at what they thought was a lawful order. In return, they got filled in on exactly why the trio had inspired such loyalty.
Jace called over to Sweetie Belle, "So, holding out on us? I didn't know you could do summoning too!"
"Uh, well I didn't know either." The unicorn admitted. "It just sort of came to me."
"Well I hope you can do it again, I wouldn't mind facing off against this spectral guard later myself. Or whatever it is."
"Well, I can try." Sweetie Belle replied. "I don't feel tired out."
Scootaloo called down from above. "So, what are the two of you doing here anyway? I mean I'm glad you're here, but you're not part of the villiage."
"Master Merrel wanted to come along to help, but the caravan is moving on today, and he had to stay behind to get it ready. That's why he sent us along instead, to give the mayor some trained fighters if we'd had to rescue you. Should have known it wouldn't be needed."
Meanwhile Apple Bloom was receiving a couple of gifts. Brother Soran had ridden up beside her, and was talking down to her, though his tone was anything but patronising.
"I have the letters attesting to your person-hood, as I promised, and a letter of introduction to Bishop Merantis in Teiras. I taught him as a noviate, and still correspond with him when I can. While he may not be the most skilled in the mysteries, there are few who are more honest, decent or open-minded. He will find someone who can help you if anyone can."
"Gosh, Brother Soran, you've done so much to help us already!" Apple Bloom looked up to the white bearded human. "Thank you. I mean, I don't know how we can repay you."
The cleric smiled gently. "Bless you, I just do Pelor's work, though it's allthe better when it's such a pleasure too."
Durnik rode up along her other side. "I've got something for you too. After the storm, there wasn't really much more need for sharpened scythe blades, so I had the time to work on these."
He pulled a package from a bag on his belt, and drew out a horseshoe, made from dark iron. "Two sets, shaped for your hooves, as bought and paid for. It's not often I make footwear for someone who's able to tell me how they fit."
Sweetie Belle was called into action to add some sticking charms, and Apple Bloom quickly got to try them on. The iron felt cold on her hooves at first, but they fitted well, and the weight wasn't bad, though she figured adding it to the end of a hoof strike might buff up her damage a bit. Most importantly, she could still feel the earth underneath her and draw on it's power.
"Oh yeah, these will do just fine!" She called up as she trotted along, bringing her hooves up high. However, she noticed two people weren't sharing the general high spirits. One was the now utterly defeated Arroway, and the other was the Mayor, who looked as if he'd eaten something sour. She came over to him.
"Uh, Mister Mayor? Is something wrong?"
The mayor looked down from his horse. "Yes, but it's nothing you can help with. I dislike that idiot Arroway as much as anybody, but that doesn't mean I want to see him dead."
"He doesn't look that ill to me." Apple Bloom replied innocently.
The mayor looked confused, then realisation spread across his face. "How do you punish crimes where you come from?"
Apple Bloom frowned. "Uh... Generally you have to make up for whatever you did, I guess. Really bad ponies get imprisoned, and I think you can be banished, though I've never heard of it actually happening, not in Ponyville."
"I thought as much." He sighed. "If he's convicted of kidnapping, as he's likely to be, the sentence is to be hung by the neck until dead."
"You're going to kill him?" That loud exclamation brought the two other ponies over at the double.
"Not I. Though if he'd actually a managed to harm someone, I'd gladly put the rope around his neck myself. He will have a trial, and the Duke himself will ultimately decide his fate, but for some thoroughly evil crimes, arson, murder, highway robbery, kidnapping, that is the penalty under the King's law. You clearly come for a gentler place, but that is how things work here. Indeed, in some kingdoms, the laws are far harsher."
The three conferred. Finally Apple Bloom spoke. "We wanted to get Sootaloo back, and see that guy punished, but not like this! Is there anything we can do?"
"I don't see how. The situation may be due to your arrival, but it was not of your making. It was caused by an vicious, petty idiot being an vicious, petty idiot."
"But it's not like he actually got away with it." Scootaloo mused. "I mean he got the drop on me, but he didn't escape. Does that make a difference?"
"Actually it may..." Mayor Vennor mused. "If you're willing to make attestations to that effect, well, he still won't enjoy what happens, but he'll probably be alive to experience it."
They quickly agreed, and the rest of the journey back to Macklewheat passed quickly. There were people back out in the fields as they arrived, continuing to gather the harvest, but a lot of them came to the road and cheered when the group passed by, except for Arroway and the guards, who got more than a few pieces of rotten fruit aimed at them.
They spent just enough time with the Mayor to deal with all the paperwork relaing to the kidnapping, and Scootaloo managed to get some spare sheets for herself. While her set of coloured pencils had come through her various ordeals intact, the paper she'd had on her hadn't.Then they went to privately visit Brother Soran, though they had to stop for hugs from some of the kids, and a few of the ladies.
Sanree, the old lady druid even gave Apple Bloom a carved wooden hair clasp that she'd crafted to replace the young earth pny's lost hair bow. She also gave her a small but well stocked kit full of healers supplies. She also gave them each a wooden stoppered vial that contained a potion that could heal at least some injuries instantly.
After Brother Soran had given them their papers, Apple Bloom cleared her throat. "Uh, Brother Soran? Like I said, we really wish we could repay you for everything you did, and we meant it."
Sweetie Belle's horn glowed, and she lifted one of the smaller gems she was carrying out of her saddle bag. While not the largest, it was a flawless saphire, and according to Jace's rough horsdeback guess, would sell for at least a couple of hundred gold.
"I... I couldn't accept something that valuable! Where did you get it?"
Apple Bloom shook her head. "Sweetie Belle's sister uses piles of them in her dresses. We had some left overs with us when we were casting the spell that got us here. We won't miss one gem, but we figured you could find a use for it. Jace told me how you church runs on tithes and donations. We figured this should help out if we're not around next time something bad happens."
Brother Soran finally took it out of the air. "Thank you, all of you. I will ask Pelor to watch over you in my prayers, and to see you safely home."
"Hey, you three!" came Jace's voice from outside. "The caravan's all ready to go!"
"Thanks, we can use all the help we can get!" Scootaloo replied. "Goodbye, and thanks again!"
The next couple of days saw them travelling slowly towards the more populated areas of the kingdom, which they found out was called Maysalon. The capital was a sea-port with the same name, but it was much further south. The high road they were travelling on ran east to west, across the high plains where Macklewheat and a number of other villages were.At the far end, it dropped down into a wide river valley, with the large town of Teiras at the centre. It was all a part of the Duchy of Wilberis, and the Duke had his headquarters at the town.
Two rivers from the northern mountains met there, the Rushwater and the Whitewier, becoming the single, more leisurely Whitewater, which led south. It was also the northernmost point that couple be reached by river barge, which made it a major shipping hub to the more populous duchies of the south, and a prosperous and bustling place.
Beyond Maysalon there were other kingdoms, all part of a great peninsular that was tipped by the Free City of Greyhawk. That had no kings, but was run by a council of merchants, craftsmen and mages. It was rich and powerful, not least because it was the site of a great magical college called The Academy. It also had many other colleges and places of learning, as well as many of the primary temples of the major gods.
The three ponies found out all this from Dayton and Jace over camp-fires at night, and during the slow miles they travelled during the day. It was a big change from the single country of Equestria they were used to, but even Scootaloo, the least studious of the three was eager to learn all she could of the place. If nowhere else, they could expect to find some answers to their problem in Greyhawk, but they hoped it wouldn't have to go that far, as it was almost a thousand miles away as a pegasus flew. A few days travel for a society with airships and railways, but a couple of months of hard slogging in this world.
Sweetie Belle had suggested that she try and use her newly enhanced magic to send them back to Equestria directly, but Apple Bloom told her to wait for now. Trying magic without having an expert opinion was what had gotten them here in the first place, and if anything went wrong, they could end up in a far worse place. Of course, once they found someone who knew about dimensional travel, and did get his okay, then that would be a different matter.
So their plan, insofar as they had one was to travel to Teiras and if they could not they could find help there, take a boat down to Maysalon. While they couldn't expect to find a magical expert in Teiras, Maysalon had it's own magical quarter and might have a wizard who could help, for a fee.
There was one other possibility Dayton suggested, Teiras did have a church dedicated to Fharlanghn, god of roads and patron of travellers. It was actually part inn, part coaching house, and part library, specialising in geography and navigation. The priests of Fharlanghn specialised in travel magic, including teleportation spells, so if anyone in Teiras might know something about dimensional travel, they would be the ones.
As the three ponies travelled with the caravan, they also practised with their new-found powers. Scootaloo found she could manifest puffs of cloud under each hoof, and either ride them like roller skates or expand them into a small cloud which she could ride like her scooter or a skate board. While she could fly normally now, she was no more than an average flyer in everything but manoeuvrability.
However, put clouds under her hooves to take the weight, and she got a lot more capable, as she could devote all her considerable wing-power to flight and manoeuvres. She could also pull lightning out of the clouds she formed, and could zap a tree-stump alight at full power. She could also generate short bursts of rain, no more than a few gallons, but enough for a shower.
Apple Bloom focussed on honing her fighting ability. With Jace and Yancy, and Sweetie Belle's summon spell, she had opponents to fight, and while Jace couldn't teach her more of her martial arts style, he could teach her how to use what she already knew effectively, and find ways to best use it in a real fight, rather than a training match. She also leaned what she could from Maia about healing, especially healing wounds and trauma, Both Zecora and Granny Smith had focussed more on curing illnesses, but with their new circumstances, she figured expanding her repertoire would come in useful.
She took to wearing her spare set of horse-shoes on a chest harness she rigged up out of some spare tack, along with her healers kit,ready for instant use. She was unable to use a crossbow, let alone a proper bow, or a javelin effectively, but her skill at horse-shoes meant that she had at least something she could use beyond hoof's length. Yancy knew the sling, and tried to teach her, but she hadn't really gotten the hang of it yet.
Sweetie Belle had found her horn's dead-lift capacity had gone up quite a lot. Where once she'd had trouble lifting a heavy book, now she could lift a boulder her own size without too much strain, though keeping it in the air for more than a few moments was. She also refined her rock throwing ability until she could accurately embed a hoof sized rock in a tree trunk at thirty pony-lengths. She practised dexterity with her telekinesis as well, helping out wherever she could find some-one needing an extra hand tying knots or driving in a tent peg.
While her telekinesis was pretty solid, her musical magic was a lot more hit and miss. She could reliably summon up background music for a song, but she couldn't always get a magical effect she wanted. Some days it clicked effortlessly, on others she got nothing, or unexpected side effects, though she had a lot more success with spells she'd already done once.
All three knew that if they couldn't find what they needed in Teiras, they'd have to fend for themselves. Dayton had been apologetic, but there was no way he could abandon or divert his caravan from their scheduled route to take them down to Maysalon. He knew some reliable boat people, they could take passage with, but he couldn't be sure who would be in port when they arrived.
So they'd thrown themselves into learning about this new world, and how to protect themselves and each other in it. Maia Marrel had taken the time to see that when they faced the world, it would be with newly restitched and repaired Crusader cloaks, with some of their smaller gems hidden in pockets in the seams.
The caravan was only a day or so away from Teiras, and travelling through one of the last forested areas before the road came out into the villages and fields surrounding Teiras. It was where a spur from the northern mountain range jutted down into the valley, forcing the road to curve around it. However, it was a well travelled section of road, paved with gravel and with the trees cut well back against ambushes.
There was a sound of distant thunder, and Dayton looked up at the partly clouded late afternoon sky.
"It's just as well we should make Duke's Haven before nightfall. We should be sheltered from the storm."
Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle were riding the front cart with them, as was often the case. "Oh yeah, you said, that's the village next to the Duke's castle, isn't it?"
"They also have proper facilities for caravans. Though if Mayor Vennor's messages got here ahead of us, I expect the Duke may want to see you for himself."
That worried the little farm filly. "I've been to Canterlot castle a couple of times, acted as a flower-girl at a Royal Wedding even, but I'm not to sure how to act around a Duke! Sweetie Belle may know something."
"Ooh, yes! Rarity wanted me to know how to treat nobles if they came to her shop. A Duke beats just about everything less than a Princess, and is addressed, 'Your Grace', and..."
"Why?" Apple Bloom asked, "Does a Duke have to be particularly graceful?"
Sweetie Belle's face screwed up in concentration. "I'm... not sure!"
"Let's just hope Scoots and I can get all that fancy manners stuff it all right."
"Don't worry dears, I've heard the Duke is a good man. I'm sure he'll be nice to you, especially after what you did in Macklewheat." Maia reassured her.
Scootaloo came floating down from overhead where she'd been providing air cover. "Guys, there's something screwy going on up ahead."
Dayton nodded. "We heard. Could you get any idea how far away the storm is?"
"No storm, but there was some sort of big plume of white smoke from over the ridge. It was more like an explosion of fireworks. Shall I go ahead and scout?"
"Fireworks?" Dayton asked. "Alright, but stay up high and well back, and as soon as you know what's going on, get back here. If there's any kind of fire up ahead, I do not want to run right into it while there's trees on both sides."
"I'm already there!" Scootaloo pulled down her goggles and shot off, cloak billowing out behind her.
She returned a couple of minutes later, staggering through the air, and landed by the side of the lead cart, where she was quite thoroughly sick. Unlike their terrestrial counterparts, Equestrian ponies could throw up, and Scootaloo seemed intent on finding her hooves the hard way.
When she recovered, and then dropped a gallon of water on her head, she finally managed to report to Dayton, white faced and shivering.
"It's horrible! The smell... there was a fancy carriage, the remains of one, and a bunch of guards on horse back, in front and behind it. They've been... it's like someone blew a whole load of big holes in the road while the guards were riding over it! I think some of them are still alive, but I couldn't get close enough to tell."
Dayton moved around to the edge of the baseboard and waved the caravan to a stop.
"Abyss! It's the only way through to Duke's Haven! Is the road blocked?"
"I... pretty much, I guess, it was all..." She turned distinctly green.
"I hate to ask you this, but I need you to circle up ahead. It sounds like an ambush that already happened, but I need to know if any of the ambushers are still around. They may not want witnesses."
Scootaloo gulped, but set herself and lifted up into the air. "Okay, I'll try."
"Maia?" He looked over at his wife. "We have to help any survivors."
"I'll get what supplies we have, but I don't know how much I'll be able to do." She looked back at Sweetie Belle, who replied, "Healing song, at the ready!"
He dropped down from the wagon and started moving back along the caravan, giving instructions on how they were going to work around the blockage. "Get the carts ready to circle around on the cleared back edge, and keep a tight rein on the horses, this will spook them, or better yet, get down and lead them by the reins."
They started moving forward slowly, and approached the area. It wasn't as bad as Scootaloo had said, it was worse. They could hear the screams and moans of injured horses and humans alike, and the cart horses started to look a little wild, eyes rolling. There was also a scent of gunpowder, which didn't cover the other, worse smells from up ahead.
When the scene came into view, Sweetie Belle fainted dead away, and Apple Bloom jumped over the side of the cart to go add her lunch to the scenery. However, most of the caravan looked ill, and some joined Apple Bloom in the grass. Thirty to forty mounted guards had been riding double file, bracketing an ornate, four horse coach fore and aft, and heading in the same direction as the caravan until someone had attacked them.
As Scootaloo had said, there were multiple holes in the road and rubble scattered everywhere, along with bodies, and parts of bodies, both human and horse. A central part, containing the carriage and it's immediate area was unscathed, but the footmen and guards riding the carriage had been taken down by bow-shot and ultimately an assault where they'd tried to protect the door of the carriage from attackers.
"What sorcery is this?" asked one of the carters, wiping his mouth.
"Not sorcery, dwarven blasting powder, though that's even harder to believe." Dayton exclaimed. "It's a high price on your head from the Dwarf Holds for any non-dwarf possessing it, let alone knowing how to make it."
Maia had brought Sweetie Belle around by dabbing cold water on her face. The little unicorn huddled on the floor and cried out. "How could any-pony do something like that? It's horrible!"
"Yes, it is." Maia responded, getting some cloths soaked in alcohol. "But there are still people alive out there, so we have to help."
"I can't... I just can't go out into that!" Sweetie Belle sobbed into her hooves. "It's too horrible!"
"You have to! Your magic can heal them, all I can do is make them comfortable until they die, if that!"
"She's right Sweetie Belle." Apple Bloom's voice came from outside. "I'll be with you, I've some healing stuff too, you won't even have to look. "
Sweetie Belle gulped down a sob and lifted herself up on unsteady legs. "Yes, yes I will. Okay, I'll try."
While most of the caravan went about clearing the way, hacking down any tree stumps on the verge that might threaten the cart axles, Maia, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle went into the shambles, wearing the alcohol soaked cloths as masks. They had Tonas, the stolid cart driver trailing them. Both of the ponies had tears in their eyes and were none to steady on their hooves, but they were supporting each other.
Amazingly there were still some survivors, over a dozen humans but only a fewl horses, as they'd been bigger targets and closer to the erupting mines. However, in most of the survivor's cases, it was more a matter of time than anything else, as the least injured was well beyond Maia's basic first aid skills,let alone Apple Bloom's. Fortunately they weren't beyond Sweetie Belle's healing spell.
Wherever Maia found a sign of life, or even a possibility, Sweetie Belle jumped in with her horn glowing, despite her horror at the injuries she had to deal with. Indeed that horror gave a depth to her healing song, an intensity that rivalled when she'd healed Scootaloo's wing, and seemed to enhance the effect. The fact that she had to touch the victims with her horn meant that she couldn't avoid seeing in detail exactly what damage the mines had caused, or smelling it despite the cloth over her muzzle.
It was up to Tonas and Apple Bloom to haul the healed out to the verge, as Sweetie Belle's magic wasn't without side-effects. Horrific wounds sealed up, and those on the edge of death were suddenly well again, but at the cost of being unconscious. A similar thing had happened with Scootaloo, and her experiments since then suggested the effect was worse, in proportion to the injury.
The dozen guards she'd been able to revive were laid out in the wagons, while the three horses who'd survived were hitched to the back. There was also one other survivor, a lady in fairly fine clothing who'd been in the carriage. At first glance she appeared beyond help, with a serious stab wound in her chest, but it turned out that the strike was superficial. She'd clearly fallen and hit her head, knocking herself out and as a result been left for dead by the attackers.
The relatively minor injuries meant that when Sweetie Belle healed her, she woke up.
"Lady Annette! No..." She sat up with a jerk, then looked around dazedly.
"Easy miss, you had a bad time." Maia reassured her. "Just lay back for now, and tell us what happened."
The woman shrunk in on herself slightly. "It was terrible! One moment we were riding along, the next moment there was a great noise and the coach almost overturned. Then these ruffians charged out from the trees, and attacked us. The guards fought them, but they got all the way here and ripped the door open. I tried to stop them laying hands on Lady Annette but one of them..."
Her hand went to her chest where the stab wound had been. "Where is Lady Annette?! Who are you people anyway?"
"Maia Marrel of the Marrel Trading Caravan. And these are Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle. And you are?"
"Baroness Nerina, lady in waiting to Lady Annette..." Her gaze finally fell from Maia to the two ponies peeking in. "Wha... what are they?"
"Well we ain't a what, we're a who!" Apple Bloom snorted. "And Sweetie Belle is the who that just healed you up, so be nice!"
"It doesn't matter to me," Sweetie Belle shook her head. "I'm just glad I could help. She's probably a bit dazed from being healed up."
Apple Bloom shook her head, calming down at Sweetie Belle's words. "Okay, sorry, we're ponies, unicorn and earth, and we're people, we even have papers that say so. All three of us have magic and our pegasus friend is up top making sure the bad guys don't come back. We came here by accident and are trying to find a way home. I'm guessing the Duke hasn't heard about us yet then?"
"I wouldn't know, Lady Annette has been visiting her cousins in Canamas for the last month... Lady Annette! Have you found her?"
"You are the only woman we've found." Maia replied.
"Then they must have kidnapped her!" Nerina exclaimed. "She's the Duke's only daughter, he'll do anything, pay anything to get her back!"
"Duke Wilberis?" Apple Bloom asked, remembering the crest she'd seen on the guards and the carriage were the same as the ones on Clovis and Gaspard.
"But of course!" Nerina replied, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
Scootaloo was circling the ambush site as widely as she could, as much to stay away from the carnage as to keep a watch. She'd seen the figures of Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle moving among the mess, and healed people being carried away. She felt equal parts pride that her friends could cope with something so nasty, unhappiness that they had to in the first place, and guilt that she wasn't there to support them, and that she wasn't sure she could. She had no healing skills, and the sight of all that blood...
Now she focussed fiercely on her part, there was no way anybody who could do something like that were getting anywhere near her friends or the caravan. Wait, was that movement there, beneath those trees? Maybe it was just an animal, but surely they'd have been scared off... She flew down lower, and saw glimpses of a human figure, clothed in colours that matched the forest, but betrayed by their fast movement.
They were heading north, uphill from the roadway and deeper into the forest. Try as she might, Scootaloo couldn't think of any legitimate reason he'd be running away, and lots of others who's parents had never even met. She dived down below the tree ops, weaving between branches and fallen logs as she homed in on the runner like a feathered air-to-ground missile.
Santaris Goldenleaf was an elven woodsrunner. Santaris Goldenleaf also had no morals beyond the next bag of gold. These qualities made him perfect for watching the site of the ambush and reporting back when it was discovered. It had happened faster than expected, but that was fine. He'd get his well filled purse from Mancetti anyway.
Mancetti was a human from Del Toro, a southern city-state, and the brains of this operation, as well as being lethal with a knife. However he also couldn't seem to shut up about how he was smarter than everyone else. That didn't seem particularly smart to Santaris, considering the kind of thugs the guy from Del Toro had hired; but it was none of his beeswax if the guy dug his grave with his mouth so long as Santaris got his gold first.
He'd stayed just long enough to confirm that is was a string of heavy goods wagons. His one worry had been that whatever group found the place might have a skilled ranger or woodsrunner of their own. Not a big worry, as even if they did, he'd have to be crazy to chase a bunch of vicious bandits up into the hills. Even then, there was no way they''d be able to catch up with...
Something hit him in the back of the neck, sending him flying. However, as flying effects went it was distinctly second rate as he almost immediately crashed into the ground. He managed to cushion himself and roll over, grabbing at his short bow. He brought it up and loosed an arrow at the shape hovering overhead on instinct. However, it seemed to roll out to the side, and his arrow went past it's wing.
"Okay buddy! What were you doing running like that? Are you a spy?"
A talking pegasus half his size would normally have been something to cause him to pause, if only to work out how best to make money off of it, but right now he was more worried that he'd been caught. That meant he was dead, either courtesy of Mancetti, who had a strict policy about screw-ups, or the Duke, when they took him in... if they took him in.
He slumped back, groaning and dropping his bow. He mumbled something, just loud enough for the creature to hear, and as he hoped, it moved in closer. He flailed feebly, eyes half lidded in feigned pain, shifting around so his short sword was free to grab.
"What was that? Speak up!"
Just a little closer... He drew his sword and lunged in a single swift motion, but the creature was greased lightning, she shot up out of the way and responded with real lightning from the clouds around her hooves. It hit his sword and earthed itself through him, which convinced him to take a long nap.
Scootaloo poked the elf with a hoof, ready to dodge, but it seemed that this time he wasn't faking. She had no real choice but to leave him there, and fly back as fast as possible to warn the caravan that they'd been under observation. She returned to find the wagons had pretty much gotten past the blockage, and an argument was in progress.
"No! I know you only want to help, but it's just too dangerous! We will get to Duke's Haven and let the Duke know. He's got soldiers, people who can deal with this!" Dayton Merrel rarely raised his voice, but when he did, it was able to quell most people.
However, Apple Bloom wasn't quelling. "That'll take hours, and there's no knowing where these monsters will go in the meanwhile! Okay, getting the wagons to safety is good, but you don't need the three of us for that!"
Sweetie Belle spoke up, a fierceness in her voice even as it cracked. "We can't just let them get away with this! We have to do something!"
Maia was tearful. "Oh, my dears, I know you mean well, but if you keep on putting yourselves in harms way, you're going to get hurt!"
Scootaloo decided it was time to add her weight to the debate. "Guys, someone was watching us, and made a run for it. I stopped him, but there's gotta be more stuff going on than just this one ambush, and someone's gotta find out what!"
Apple Bloom took that and added her own comment. "And we're the best ones for the job! None of the survivors are in any fit state to do anything, you need everyone else to get the caravan to safety, even Jace and Yancy. We're used to working together, and even Sweetie Belle can outrun most humans..."
"Hey!" Sweetie Belle exclaimed.
"I didn't mean it like that, I want you there with me, and Scootaloo too! If we go in the direction Scootaloo's runaway was going, we may track them down, and then Scootaloo can race back and find you guys and the Duke. If they know where to go, it'll mean they have a better chance of getting there before they get away!"
"This isn't in part because you're worried about meeting the Duke, and you want to make a good impression?"
"No!" Apple Bloom exclaimed, then thought for a moment, "Well okay, maybe a bit, but mostly because it's the right thing to do. Just like protecting your caravan from goblins, or saving that harvest."
Dayton grimaced. "Can you promise me that watching is all you'll do? Find them, stay out of sight, and if they do discover you, run away as fast as you can?"
Apple Bloom started to say 'Yes!', but it caught in her throat. She looked around at her friends, and saw trust there. "I can't, we can't promise that. But we will do our best, finding out where they are and getting back safely comes first, and we won't try anything else unless we have no other choice. Please..."
Dayton was hit by a triple set of puppy-dog stares, and finally gave an exasperated groan. "Okay, but no stupid heroics! I mean it!"
The three ponies seemed to light up. Apple Bloom raised her hoof. "Cutie mark Crusaders – Bad Guy Discoverers! (And not doing anything stupidly heroic at the same time ponies)."
The trio gave a three way high hoof.