//------------------------------// // 2. Feel My Blade // Story: The Ninth Fantasy - Gaia // by MrAlterad //------------------------------// Applejack sighed as she watched the play from a overlook near the royal balcony. Garnet doesn't know how I got here, and she's never heard of Equestria. Still, she must have summoned me here! It's Princesses that have all the magic, so she must know! The mare thought as she looked to Princess Garnet. Applejack's tilted her head in confusion when she noticed how down Garnet looked. Is somethin' on her mind too? Hearing a cheer from the audience, her eyes went back to the play, two of the actors had separated themselves from the stage, participating in a mock sword battle before the nobles. The red head, and the blond man with the tail were sparing with a practiced ferocity that captivated Applejack. Have- Have they fought with those weapons before? She wondered in alarm. The skill they attacked and dodged each other didn't seem staged to the mare, but ad-libbed. The weapons the guards and actors used, were real. The unspoken danger of those weapons prompted her eyes to fall upon several cannons stationed around the castle with large metal harpoons loaded in them, guards posting them lazily, watching the play. Why are there so many weapons here? She wondered worriedly, the notion only increasing her desire to return home. Trying to rid herself of her worries, she looked to the play, and saw that the bout between the two actors came to an end, and they ran off, out of sight. Wait, did they just go inside the castle? Looking back to the royal balcony, spotting the over-sized queen, but it appeared as though the princess had left. Queen Brahne was, well, quite large, and shared no resemblance to her daughter. She was generously proportioned, had sickish blue skin and had a hat that would have made Applejack chuckle, had her situation upon seeing it hadn't been so hostile. The queen did not have the kind nature that her daughter emulated. Suffice to say, the queen of Alexandria sure knew how to leave a poor impression on others. The notion of a queen being in charge had taken a few minutes for Applejack to get accustomed to when she first arrived in Alexandria. She looked away from the queen, curious as to why the actors went into the castle, as well as what was bothering the princess. Abandoning the balcony, she headed into the castle, heading to the royal balcony, hoping to spot either of the parties that interested her. Going down several halls and flights of stairs, she stopped before reaching the stairway to the balcony, the sound of someone running down catching her attention. A woman wearing a white robe with red triangles etched into its edges paused a moment to take in the mare, and when their eyes met, Applejack faltered in surprise. “Princess?” Applejack asked, confused, but the sound of others coming down the stairs prompted the princess to run past her. Applejack saw two guards running towards her, and they both also paused at seeing the mare. One of the guards had short blond hair and a tail- Wait a minute! What's goin' on here! She thought as her brow furrowed, and she moved to block their path. “Stop! What're ya up too!?” Applejack asked, making the blond one scratch the back of his head as he gave her a sheepish grin. She then glanced behind her, where the princess ran off to. Are they after Garnet? She wondered as she frowned, glaring back at- One of them, she couldn't tell which, used the moment she looked away to approach her, shoving her hat down over her eyes, and tripping her. “Hey! That's playin' dirty!” She proclaimed indignantly as she scrounged to her hooves, hearing their footsteps go in different directions as she got her hat straightened. Looking towards where the princess had run off too, she followed in pursuit. They're after the princess!? I gotta stop 'em! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ATE: Big Castle, Small Dragon ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ It seems the guards inside the castle are less attentive than outside, getting past these chumps was easy! Spike thought with a sly grin, only to realize he didn't know where to go. He wandered around, searching, finding a large kitchen, and a library that reminded him of home. Letting out a small sigh, he wandered about for ten minutes before resigning himself to the fact that he was lost. Right, so if I was a princess in a large castle, where would I- his line of thinking was interrupted as a girl wearing a white cloak with small red triangles stitched at its edges bumped into him. He quickly appraised her attire with a nod. Rarity would approve of that design! He thought, suddenly feeling a little homesick. “I'm sorry,” the girl began, her voice carrying dignity and a honest apology. “I did not intend to bump into you.” He was caught off-guard by how formal she was, prompting Spike to apologize in turn. She had long, dark brown hair, and had an aura of sophistication. The girl bowed to him again before running off, and shortly after she departed, a guard with a tail and short blond hair stopped and looked over Spike. He kind looks like one of the actors! he thought as he looked at the man, wide-eyed. “Did you see a young beautiful woman in a white robe wander past here?” He asked of the dragon, making Spike wonder if this was part of the play, or something else. “Uh, she just passed by.” He replied, giving the actor a questioning look, “She a friend of yours?” He shook his head, but gave a playful smile. “Wouldn't that be something.” He said with a light chuckle as he ran off after the girl, looking to Spike over his shoulder. “Thanks!” He said, clearly having fun as he left Spike alone, and confused. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ “Get back here ya darn scoundrel!” Applejack cried out as she rounded the corner. She paused in confusion as she saw Spike standing there, looking to the mare in surprise. She saw past Spike, the thief that intended to steal the princess running off. “Spike!?” Applejack said in confused relief. Oh thank goodness, I'm not alone in this strange land! She thought as she ran forward. “Look sugarcube, we can catch up later, that hooligan is after the princess! Let's move!” He looked at her, a little confused, but nodded eagerly with a grin. He may be agile, but he can't outrun me! Applejack thought as she passed Spike. If she wasn't so busying breathing heavily from exertion, she'd let out a sigh. Why did this all have to happen on the Princesses' birthday? I'm suppose to be with the others in Canterlot helpin' with the mist, not savin' a princess in some unknown land with strange creatures! she thought in annoyance. Unlike Spike, she wasn't aware of what humans were, and considering her welcome, wasn't completely comfortable around them just yet. “AJ, wait for me!” Spike shouted after her. Ahh shoot! Applejack almost kicked herself for not stopping for Spike. Turning back, she muttered an apology as she scooped him up onto her back. Looking back, her brow furrowed as she saw that her target was out of sight. If Spike is here, maybe the others are as well! she thought hopefully as she looked to her young friend. “Now you hold tight Spike, we got us a princess to save!” She proclaimed as she moved, almost losing Spike in the process, getting a yelp from him as he grabbed on tightly. She heard footsteps of the criminal, and pursued them. Castle guards got out of her way, recognizing her by the princesses' orders, and took action as Applejack spread the word of the thieves. Since the princess was occupied by her birthday, Applejack had time to familiarize herself with a good amount of the castle. She actually found this place easier to make sense of than the castle in the Everfree. “So what's this about a thief after a princess? I didn't see a thief, or a princess.” Spike asked as they left the castle out into the courtyard. Passing a pair of guards, she told them about what was going on, and the guards spread the word that a pair of thieves were out for Garnet. The blue light of the moon was cast over the area, revealing the princess and the brigand as they went into one of the grand towers, and Applejack continued her chase. “That feller with the tail is a thief, and an impostor! He and his actin' buddy went right into the castle durrin' the play! And now it looks like they're after Princess Garnet.” She breathed out, she was giving the chase her all, and it was wearing her down faster than it should have. Why am I so winded already? “Oooh~, so the girl in the robe was the princess!” Spike nodded, his expression lacking confusion. “I knew that.” “I'm sure ya did,” She sarcastically replied. Within the tower, a spiral staircase challenged her fortitude, but her step didn't falter. However, her speed was hampered by the curve of the climb, the staircase was not accommodating to a pony. Dang it, I'll never catch up at this rate! Wait! This should lead to a dead end! Seeing her victory near, she couldn't hide her rueful smile. Reaching the top of the tower, it opened up to a walk-about around the tower's spired roof. Going around half the circle, her legs locked when she saw the princess standing on the stone railing, a small rope with decorative triangle flags was held behind her. The thief that had been chasing her was looking at her, surprised. The princess smiled at everyone before falling off the side of the tower, causing Applejack's heart to almost leap out of her chest. “Princess!” A unified cry from Spike and Applejack pierced the night as panic and fear drove them to look over the edge. Before they closed the distance the, brigand with the tail jumped over the side after her. W-What the hay!? Quickly looking down below, she let out a sigh of relief as she saw both the princess and the thief swinging down to the ship the play was staged on, using the decorative ropes. Her chest still pounding, she eyed another rope tied to the side of the tower. “Come on AJ,” Spike began, a fire in his eyes, “if a princess can do it, we can to!” He gave her an infectious smile as he tightened his grip on her. Applejack took that smile in, and reflected back to him. “Yeehaw! Here we go~!” She grabbed the rope, biting into it as if her life depended on it, and fell over the side to continue the chase. Having her tail grab the rope for extra grip, she kept a hoof on her hat to keep it from flying off. Getting closer to the ship, she frowned as she foresaw that their swing wouldn't follow the princesses'. While the thief and princess landed above the stage, in a loft where the band was playing music, the Ponyville duo ended up crashing on the deck above the loft. Not wasting time lingering on their new bruises, they used the rope and wrapped it around the ship's railing, then climbed down it to reach the loft. The musicians looked distracted, but the princess was nowhere to be seen. “Which way did the princess go?” Applejack asked, her only answer being the sound of the instruments playing their love song. It wasn't that the musicians were preoccupied with their roles in the play, they were actively ignoring the two outsiders. “Let's try through here!” Spike offered, indicating a door to the right, and seeing no other option, she moved towards it, briefly wondering why the band was so cold to them. Going though it, her heart almost jumped out of her throat as she moved to avoid crashing into a gray haired woman wearing a light blue bandanna. “Gosh, it's like a stampede in here!” The woman claimed indignantly “We're sorry! Didn't mean to startle ya!” The mare responded as she passed the woman. Hearing Garnet's voice down a set of stairs, the pair followed it to its source. At the bottom of the stairs was a room with a table at its center, lighting the room with candle light. Seeing the thief go into a room on the opposite end, he closed the door behind him, giving the pair a little smile as he did. Applejack reached the door first, it was locked. She hit the door repeatedly in a fruitless effort as another door in the room opened up, and an Alexandrian soldier joined them. “Ah, a soldier!” Applejack exclaimed, glad that one of the guards finally caught up to them. “The princess has been foal-napped, they're in this room. Give me a hot second and I'll get us in!” The soldier looked confused at the expression 'foal-napped', but nodded. Applejack turned around and gave the door a solid Applebuck. As she did so, she felt a strange sensation travel from her hat into her back hooves. The door crashed open, and flew into the opposite wall, prompting her to stare inside, wide eyed, unmoving for several moments. Spike let out a low whistle at the door's fate as the three of them went into the room. The room was littered with spare parts to some sort of machine, which wasn't present. A table had been pushed aside, revealing a hidden hatch in the floor. It was open, warm air and the sound of an engine leaked out of it. She eyed the narrow latch, picturing herself getting stuck in it, then shook her head in annoyance. “Well shoot, I'm too big to fit!” She nodded to the hole, “Spike, you go after them,” She then turned to the soldier, “You help Spike, I'll look for another way around.” Spike nodded and hopped into the hole, to the soldier's surprise. He jumped right after the dragon, leaving Applejack by herself. She turned around, her breathing hard, her legs aching. She wouldn't give up, she needed to find a way down, she needed the princess to, hopefully, return home. She looked and looked, her panic slowly rising with each passing moment till she found what she was looking for. In a room adjacent to the candle-lit room, was a small maintenance area with a sliding pole that lead to a lower level. Sliding down the pole, Applejack was surprised to find herself in front of the thief and the princess, who were standing side by side, along with another person who had a strange hat and a scruffy beard. For a tense moment, they all looked to each other, the moment defused when Spike and the soldier appeared behind them from an adjacent room, dispelling Applejack's panic for something more inspiring. “Gotcha, ya darn thief!” Applejack said, her victorious grin evident to all, “Now, we'll be taking back the princess.” “Now don't you worry princess,” the soldier assured sarcastically, “we'll take care of you.” He gave Applejack a grin that made her own falter. He quickly shoved Spike behind him, back into the room they came from, and shut the door, locking it, prompting Applejack to take an unexpected step forward. “What!? You!” She exclaimed as realization struck her across the face. The soldier was the other brigand from earlier. Now it was three against one, against her favor. The princess stood back behind them as the trio stood side by side in front of Applejack. She was about to call out to the mare before being interrupted. “You can just~” The one with the tail started. “Leave the princess~” Followed up the hammer wielder. “To us!” They all valiantly concluded in unison as they stood between the mare and the princess. “You want to do this the hard way, that's just fine with me!” Applejack yelled in defiance. She eyed their weapons with concern, but wouldn't stand down. She was going to save the princess, even if that put her life at risk. As she began to move to buck the short one with the beard, she felt exposed as wind rushed past her ears. Reaching to her head, she stopped moving as she felt that the back of her head was naked. Looking to the one that slipped past her, the one with the tail, her blood ran hot when she saw her hat on his head. “Hey! Ya give that back!” Applejack cried out as he smiled at her. Before she could reach him, he tossed her hat to the fellow disguised as a soldier. The princess temporarily removed from her mind, Applejack succumbed to a game of pony in the middle. During the hat tossing, she failed to notice the one with the tail leave with the princess following behind. She plowed into the 'soldier', pinning him and getting her beloved hat back. In the process, she also managed to get his blade away from him. Carrying it in her mouth, she hesitated at the idea of using it, and reassured herself that it was just for self defense. Seeing that the bearded one ran off to the same side room as the others, she followed after. Inside the small room were several platforms, three total. The room smelled of oil and metal, and she saw a contraption tied to the platforms. The two brigands and the princess were each standing on a platform as the platforms started to rise, and Applejack was quick to act. She slammed into the bearded bandit, knocking him off the the platform as it ascended up onto the stage above, taking her with it. The lights were shining on everyone on the stage, four actors were looking at the unexpected additions in surprise. Applejack's attention was drawn elsewhere. If Garnet's mother is watching the play, then I can expose these crooks! Squinting through the light, she looked past the crowd and saw on a high balcony the large leader of Alexandria. The mare dropped the sword, took a deep breath and exposed the criminals for who they were. “Yer highness! This is a band of thieves tryin' to steal the Princess!” Applejack said while pointing at the actors, the fellow with the tail, and the princess. The brigands were trying to improvise when they stared at the orange mare in shock. Their change in attitude gave her what she had been secretly hoping to feel for the last few minutes. The rush of victory. Queen Brahne stopped looking amused by the play, getting worried looks from the brigands. “Scrap it, Zidane, we're moving out!” The play's beginning announcer ordered as he departed from the stage, addressing the thief with the blond hair and tail. Applejack looked to the others, her thoughts racing as she tried to piece together why Garnet wasn't acting to flee while everyone else was distracted. A possibility came to mind that made her ears drop. Wait, her strange get-up, and the troubled look she had earlier... “Uh princess,” Applejack began sheepishly, “did you want to be foal-napped?” Her head started to fall as Garnet gave her a confirming look. “Oh horseapples, and I've gone and mucked it up,” she shamefully admitted as she rubbed her leg. If Garnet wanted to leave, they why was she runnin' from the brigand. No, Zidane? One of the lifting platforms came topside, revealing Spike. He appeared composed as he looked around, as if expecting everyone else to have been expecting him. Receiving nothing short of confusion, or outright ignoring the dragon from the others, Spike sagged a little as he addressed Applejack. “So are we still playing cops and robbers? It looks like everypony is busy being serious.” As he finished, the engines let out a roar as the ship started to move, almost making Spike fall over. The thief named Zidane, the one Applejack had been chasing, helped keep Spike from falling over before looking towards the castle, his face flashing in alarm. Applejack's gaze followed his, her heart skipped a beat as she took in that the cannons were now aimed at the ship. Each cannon had a large metal spear bigger than a pony, and with a blast, they were sent flying towards them. “What in tarnation!” Applejack proclaimed in outrage, “The Princess is on the ship! Are you trying to get her hurt!?” She screamed at the queen, but the only response the queen offered was calling for another barrage. The spears had long metal chains dragging behind them, and when they hit the ship they easily dug into its wooden exterior. The ship shook violently as it was lanced by the attack. “Okay, not fun anymore!” Spike yelled as a metal spear landed right into the stage, knocking everyone but Applejack down. Several spears had the ship chained, but it still moved to get away from the castle, the chains dragged and altered its course, making the side of the ship rub against the buildings in the city, causing panic amongst the roof-top viewers. As the ship gained distance from the castle, many of the binding chains broke, or were pulled out of the hull. Before the ship got too far away, a large metal ball was shot at the stage, but before the ball collided, it blew open, revealing a round monster of fire. Applejack felt the heat radiating from it, and took a step back. A monster!? “It's a bomb!” Zidane proclaimed as he brought out a pair of daggers, taking up a battle stance. A bomb!? She thought as she glared at the new threat. No! I'm not gonna let any of us get blown up because of my blunder! “So then we just cut the fuse, right!?” Spike asked, alarmed. “I'll take care of it!” Applejack proclaimed as she got under the 'bomb' monster and gave it her best Applebuck. Once again she felt a strange sensation travel from her hat to her hooves as her back legs connected with the monster. The bomb was starting to grown as it was hit, and the impact sent it flying up into the sky. Had it not been night-time, it would have been difficult to spot where the bomb had been sent. It had also been hot to the touch, making Applejack reel back in pain as she waved some smoke off her hooves. Looking back to the bomb, she let out a sigh as it exploded, well before it could return to the ship. My applebuckin' sure seems to be good at sendin' things flyin' in this land. She thought, as she lay on the broken deck. She felt that she wouldn't be able to do another Applebuck like that without rest first. Indeed, after all that running, she was right tuckered out. “That was one heck of a kick,” Zidane complimented Applejack, giving her a honest smile, “Glad I wasn't on the receiving end of one of those.” He then offered her his hand, leaning down to help her up. “I'm Zidane, and welcome to the Prima Vista.” She quickly got on her hooves, cautiously accepting his hand, briefly eyeing the sword she had before replying. “Oh, um, I'm Applejack-” “And I'm Spike!” “And I'm not gonna apologize for chasin' ya down,” she frowned at him, then her ears dropped again, “but I will say sorry for gettin' yer ship shot up. I didn't know Garnet wanted to be stolen.” Applejack turned to the princess with open concern. “I am terribly sorry about that Applejack,” Garnet said while bowing to the mare, “I should have told you. Things have been... unusual in the castle. I wanted to head to Lindblum to see what regent Cid knows about it, but mother would not let me-” Everyone fell over as the Prima Vista sagged, the sound of one of its engines sputtering out sent a poor message to everyone on board. The ship had managed to leave the city behind them, and was now over the valley. As its altitude lowered, Applejack noticed a layer of clouds beneath the ship, and as the ship fell into the clouds, she realized that it wasn't clouds, but mist. The last thing Applejack saw before being hurled off the ship from an unexpected impact, was a large forest, radiating malice. ~~~~~~~~~~~ Moogle Notes: ~~~~~~~~~~~ 'Howdy Equestrian, Mois the moogle here with some more tid-bits about Gaia!' 'Applejack was the first to be transferred between worlds, switching places with Captain Aldelbert Steiner. He was in charge of the Pluto Knights, the only squadron of male soldiers in the kingdom.' 'While a recent addition to Equestria, mist has been present in the Mist Continent for longer than the nations have, thus why it's called the Mist continent. The nations of Alexandria and Lindblum have learned to harness the mist to power mist engines, which allow airships to fly!' 'The bomb Applejack sent flying is a monster that lives solely to explode, it gets bigger and bigger until it goes off, causing massive collateral damage. Kupo~' 'As you can see below, Applejack has an ability called Beast Killer. Abilities are divided into two kinds, active and passive, and Beast Killer is passive. It costs ability points, which you have a limited pool of, and while you're investing AP into it, the affect it grants is active. There are a lot of abilities, but a limited amount of AP. As the story moves along everyone will learn more and more abilities and will have to pick and choose which they want to have active.' 'You may have noticed that Applejack has no MP, just as Spike had almost no MP at the end of chapter one. That's because they used it all up on their active abilities. Active abilities are magic that can cause amazing things, whether you're a swordsman or a mage, you can use magic to fight, heal, or do something completely unexpected. Active abilities fall under a specific category, such as Applejack's Applebuck being listed under her Apple Arts. Active abilities cost MP, and without MP you cannot use them, so they must spend their MP wisely! Kupo~' ~~~~~~~~ Applejack ~~~~~~~~ Items Equipped: *New Item Acquired* *Broadsword: Beast Killer Applejack's Hat: Applebuck(mastered) Lvl-1 HP 108/120 MP 0/24 AP 13/17 *Beast Killer (4) - Deals lethal damage to beasts. Abilities: Apple Arts: Applebuck 12 MP - High chance of removing an enemy from battle. Sword Arts: