//------------------------------// // 20: Crusader power! // Story: Equestrian Adventure! // by DerpyHooves320 //------------------------------// I got off the train, walking back into the friendly town of Ponyville. "Well, that's one adventure I'll never forget. So, what's our next plans?" I asked the girls, as I thought about what I was going to do for the day. "Well, I'm going back to the castle" Twilight said, walking ahead. "I'm gonna go say hi to Gummy!" Pinkie said, cartwheeling her way ahead. "I'm off to do my own things" Rainbow said, flying past me. "I have to finish a dress for a very special customer darling" Rarity said, walking along. "Me and Angel are going to do a tea party" Fluttershy said, hovering past. "Would you like to join?" She asked. "Nah, I don't drink tea" I said, waving my hand a bit. "Oh, alright" she said, continuing on her way. "You know how to buck apples?" Applejack said, slowing down to walk the slow pace I was doing. "Wait, what?" I asked, I felt my cheeks burn. "Buck apples" she said, giving me a curious look. "Now why would I want to......do that to apples?" I asked, she just cocked her head in confusion. "I don't know what yo-" she stopped mid-sentence, her cheeks turning red almost instantly. "Not that buck!" She yelled, I just put my hands up in defense. "Sorry! I didn't know there were multiple meanings for buck here!" I said, both our cheeks red. "Just wondering, what exactly do you mean by.....well......'buck' apples?" I asked, I felt the fire in my cheeks slowly calm. "By buck I mean kicking a tree until the apples fall" she said, the red leaving her cheeks. "I hate yard work" I said, answering her question. "Well, might as well find something to do, as my PS3 doesn't have power" I said, speeding up a bit. I heard Applejack's footsteps speed up as well. "Well, you could always go and play with Applebloom and her friends" she said, I looked at her curiously. "Were those the three little ones at Fluttershy's house that one time?" I asked, she gave me a quick nod. "Well......sure, why not. Know where I could find them?" I asked, she started scratching her chin. "Well, you could always check their clubhouse" she said. "Well where's the clubho-" I started, but stopped as I tripped over a random rock. "And that's another point for gravity!" I heard Pinkie yell from somewhere far ahead. I lay on the ground for a few more seconds, wondering how Pinkie knew exactly when I fell. "You alright, sugar-cube?" Applejack asked, I slowly got up. "Yep, never better" I said, wiping some dirt from my shirt. "Alright, so where's their clubhouse?" I asked again, continuing the walk. "It's behind the barn on Sweet Apple Acres" Applejack said, sounding a bit proud for some reason. "Alright, where's this 'Sweet Apple Acres' at?" I asked, she gave me a smirk. "Just follow me, we'll get there soon enough" she said, running ahead of me. "A race it is then" I said, running after her. We ran past a few houses, I gave a quick high five to a random pony I ran past. He looked completly surprised as well. We ran for a good while, stopping in an orchard of apple trees. "Please.....no more running" I said, putting my hands on my knees as I panted. "We don't have to, we're here!" She said, doing a motion towards the barn and house nearby. I looked at the barn for a few minutes. "Cool" I said, pulling my eyes away from it. "So, the clubhouse is behind the barn right?" I asked, she gave another nod. "Alright, peace out" I said, walking towards the barn. I looked at the paint, and I felt like something was watching me from within. Giving the barn a nice good look, I noticed something moving in the paint, but it was to faint to see what it really was. "Whatcha looking at?" I heard a deep voice ask, jumping from the sudden voice, I looked around to see a big red guy. "Oh, just the paint, and the thing in it" I said, giving off a bit of nervous laughter. He continued to stare at me for a few more seconds, before he just shrugged and walked away. Seeing this as a sign that I should keep going, I turned towards the direction of the clubhouse, and walked. After a bit of walking aimlessly, I found the clubhouse. Walking up the ramps, I heard some voices coming from inside. The walls muffles it, so I couldn't truly understand the conversation they were having. Coming to the door, I decided to make myself known to them. "Hello! I got the pizza you ordered!" I yelled, knocking on the door loudly, I heard a few shrieks from inside. I waited at the door, chuckling at my success of scaring them. "Who's there?" I heard one of them ask, the door still closed. "The gingerbread man" I said, then things went silent as I waited for a reply. "Do you mean the gingerbread mare?" I heard one ask from inside, this time closer to the door, and slightly different. "Either way it involves gingerbread, so in the end it's all good and tasty" I said, I heard them giggle a bit. I decided to lean against the door, since I could only imagine that they won't open the door for a little while. "But weren't you saying something about pizza just a second ago?" One of them asked, I chuckled a bit. "You caught me, I'm the gingerbread pizza delivery man" I said, no laughter this time, it was a bad joke after all. "Now how can we trust you if you go off and do stuff like that?" They asked, I gave it some thought. "Well give me something to do to get your trust then" I said, hoping that was enough to at least get them to open the door. "Then explain what you are right now" I heard someone say directly to my right, making me jump in surprise. "Oh no, it's Diamond Tiara" I heard another voice say as the door opened, revealing the CMC. "Wish I had some popcorn now" I said, sitting on the railing. They all gave me a weird look. "What? I can obviously tell you three hate her and she obviously bullies you!" I said, using my arms to emphasize my point. Diamond Tiara, as I now know who she is, rolled her eyes at me, then turned to the CMC. "So, what's this strange creatures business with you three blank flanks?" Diamond Tiara said, strolling up the stairs. "We don't know! He just showed up!" The orange one said, giving Diamond Tiara a dirty look. "No wonder he managed to find you blank flanks like yourselves so easily, he doesn't even have a cutie mark!" I heard a new voice say to my left. Looking that way, I saw a gray one there, and of course she was looking where all butt marks are found on ponies. "God what's with you ponies and staring at my ass?" I asked, standing up and stepping away. "Why is it located there?" I heard a faint voice ask, looking around, I saw a leg slip behind a nearby tree. "Well of course he wouldn't have a cutie mark, even if he was a pony. He's too busy hanging around these blank flanks!" Diamond Tiara said, giving me and the CMC a cocky look. "Wipe that look off your face, if you want to keep your face that is" I said, giving her my cocky look. "Oh, is that so?" She asked, slowly walking towards me. "And how do you plan on doing that?" She said, getting uncomfortably close. "Like this" Frank said, as his arm came out and grabbed her face through mine. She gave off a loud scream from the sudden hand from my face, same with the others. "Now go home you brat!" Frank said, lifting her up while emerging from me. He threw her towards the gray one lightly, making them both fall over. "What the hell is that?!" Diamond Tiara asked, getting a better look at him. "A good friend slash enemy" I said, as Frank walked towards them. "Let's get out of here!" The gray one said, as they both got up and ran away. "Thanks Frank" I said, he just shrugged and started walking off. "Hey, where you going?" I asked, he turned back towards me. "To meet up with someone I met in this world, now go play with those three" Frank said, before he continued on his way. Well alrighty then" I said, turning to the now very creeped out CMC. "So, where do we begin?" I asked, they just stared at me in disbelief. "How did you do that?! That was so awesome!" The orange one said, being the first one to break away from the surprise from Frank. "Oh you know, just carry around a dead spirit" I said, she just stared at me blankly. "Alright, a murdered dead spirit" I said, putting my hands up. "What?" The white one asked in fear. "Don't ask, it'll take too long" I said, then the yellow shook her head. "You're that creature from Fluttershy's house!" She said, staring at me. "Why yes, yes I am" I said, giving a quick smile. "Now, shall we proceed into the clubhouse?" I asked, wandering in before them. "Hey! You can't just go in there!" The orange one said, chasing me in. "Well I just did" I said, she stopped, and let her mind get to work on that. "But it's clubhouse rules! Only members can enter" the white one said, walking in with the yellow one. "Well, we'll get to that later. For now, let's just introduce ourselves" I said, taking a seat on the floor. "I'll start. Hi, I'm Zach, it's nice to meet you three. Now it's your turn" I said, gesturing my hand towards the yellow one. "We're not as young as you think we are" she said, ignoring that it was her turn. "Well boo hoo, take your turn, I don't got all day" I said, then put a hand to my chin. "Actually yes I do" I said, slapping myself lightly. "Fine, my name's Applebloom" Applebloom said, staring at me with a teensy bit of anger. "Me next?" The white one asked, I gave a quick nod. "Well my names Sweetie Belle!" She said, being the first one to actually sound happy about this. "I guess" The orange one said. "I'm Scootaloo, now get out until you're a member!" She said, and with a quick kick, she kicked me out the door. "Ah shit!" I said, as I watched the ground approach very quickly. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Is he alright?" I heard a quiet voice ask. "We don't know, all we know is that Scootaloo can kick!" I heard a high pitched voice ask. "Well I didn't mean to kick him that hard!" I heard Scootaloo say. "Don't kick the baby" I said, hearing a small 'eep' come from nearby. "That actually worked?" I asked, opening my eyes and sitting up. "I didn't kill him?!" Scootaloo said, staring at me in surprise. "I don't die easily" I said, getting up off the couch. Looking around, I found myself to be in Fluttershy's house. "Now how'd I get here?" I asked them, looking around to see Fluttershy giving her usual small smile. "The girls carried you here" Fluttershy said, giving them a quick smile. "And it's a good thing they got you here in time as well" she said, I gave her a questioning look. "What do you mean by that?" I asked, checking my body for any wounds. "This stick was impaled in you upper back" Fluttershy said, pointing to the stick on the table. It was still covered in my blood. "Well damn, that's a nice stick" I said, picking it up. "Too bad it was wasted on me" I said, walking to the door, opening it, then chucking it as far as possible, then turning around. "Gah! Who threw this stick?" I heard someone say, looking where I threw it, only to see a science experiment gone wrong. "Oh Discord! I had completely forgot about today!" Fluttershy said, walking outside. "Don't worry Fluttershy, I brought spares" Discord said, then looked at me. "Oh there you are" he said, rolling his eyes. "Whadda mean there you are?" I asked, looking at him. "Oh you'll find out soon enough" he said, laughing a bit. "Now, go play with the little ones" he said, flicking his fingers. I felt the usual feeling I get when teleporting, and I knew someone was going to be mad. "What the?" I heard Scootaloo ask as we reached our destination in the tree house. With no way to stop it, it came pooring out. "WHAT?!" I heard Sweetie Belle shriek, as she was covered in my lunch. "Sorry about that, teleporting does that" I said, laughing nervously. Her eyes dug deep into my soul, as I felt the anger emanate from her. "Shit" I said, as I knew there was no way to stop whatever magic she was going to hit me with. After a few seconds of her focusing on the spell, I opened my arms, and took a magic blast to the face.