Living Mark of Courage

by Moowell

Lost Underground

Apple Bloom finished her note and set it on the first aid kit. Miss Cheerilee would surely read it when she woke up and be happy to get better. Apple Bloom then went to her teacher's overturned desk and grabbed the emergency flashlight. Where she was going, she would need it.

She walked outside, climbed the nearest dirt mound, and shined the light into it. It was deep. Very deep. So deep she could barely see the light at the bottom. She gulped as she leaned forward and dove into the hole. Down she fell, bumping against the sides of the hole as she went, scraping and grinding against the walls. Then it opened into a large expanse, and there was nothing to break her fall but the earth that rapidly approached. She closed her eyes and braced herself for a nasty landing.

Suddenly, her fall slowed rapidly. She opened her eyes to see the ground approaching like a floating balloon. Then she noticed the hooves under her body. She looked up to see Courage holding onto her with his hindlegs while he clutched a leaf as big as she was.

"Really, Apple Bloom. Never jump into deep holes without some sort of way to stop falling," he rebuked. She felt her hooves finally touch the earth as gently as if she were hopping out of bed. Courage landed next to her on all fours, the leaf having disappeared. "Now then... It's been a while since my last adventure. What do you say we go and save some ponies?" he asked with a grin toward Apple Bloom.

"Ya mean ya'll help me?" He nodded. "Thanks, Courage!" She quickly hugged the green stallion's leg, catching him slightly of guard, then ran off down the tunnel with her flashlight.

"Wait for me, Apple Bloom!" he called. He paused for a moment to summon a little green orb of light, then chased after his charge.

~~~~~~~~~~

"Spike, if what Apple Bloom said is true, then we have a crisis on our hooves!" Twilight said frantically as she ran around the tree, collecting supplies. "The Diamond Dogs attacking the school? I know foalnapping ponies isn't unheard of. I mean, they took Rarity that one time, but what do they need a school full of foals for? Oh, did you send that letter to Princess Celestia?"

Spike belched a green flame which consumed a small scroll. "Yep. It's on its way now."

"Good. If I'm not back by noon tomorrow, send the second one. Can you take--"

"Care of the library while you're gone?" Spike finished. He put his claws on his hips and shook his head. "Do you really need to ask?"

Twilight smiled. "Thanks, Spike." She didn't waste time with running. In a flash, she was no longer with Spike in the library; instead, she appeared outside Fluttershy's cottage. She knocked on the door carefully. "Fluttershy? Are you home?" In a moment, a canary yellow pegasus opened the door.

"Oh. Hello Twilight. Why don't you come inside? I-I mean, that is, if you want to, I'm making tea. Would you like some?" Fluttershy offered. Twilight shook her head.

"Not now, Fluttershy. I need you to call Rainbow Dash. Right now. It's an emergency." Fluttershy saw the urgency in Twilight's eyes and demeanor. An urgency which usually meant some sort of experiment went wrong.

"What did you do to Rainbow Dash?!" Fluttershy asked sternly. She Stared into Twilight, demanding the truth with her gaze.

"I didn't do anything, I swear!" Twilight stammered.

"Oh." Fluttershy stopped Staring. "You didn't? Then what do you need her for?"

"Please don't make me tell you. I don't think you'd take it very well."

"Twilight, you know you can tell me anything," she said sweetly.

"Okay, if you're sure..." Twilight took a deep breath. "All the foals at the school have been foalnapped by Diamond Dogs and Cheerilee was injured in the attack."

"..." Fluttershy just stared at Twilight.

"Now, could you get Rainbow Dash over here? We'll need her speed against the dogs."

"..."

"Fluttershy? Hellooooo?" Fluttershy's eyes became pinpricks. Her breathing became rapid. "Oh, ponyfeathers... I knew you wouldn't take it well," Twilight sighed.

"Eeeeeeeeep...!" Fluttershy screamed quietly. Suddenly an explosion of sound shot across Ponyville and a rainbow colored streak arched into the sky. Then the streak arched out of the sky, directly for the cottage.

"Great! Thanks, FluttOOOO--" If anypony could have frozen the world at that exact point in time and seen what happened, said pony would have seen a blazing streak of rainbow colors emanating from the mane and tail of a cyan pegasus. The pony would have seen said pegasus' eyes filled with unlimited anger, burning with the need to destroy the creature that would dare to make Fluttershy eep with 9 whole e's. Her hooves would be outstretched in front of her, and wrapped around them would be the body of a lavender unicorn, bending much like a rubber chicken from the impact.

Then the world would return to normal, and the two connected ponies would be seen rolling along the ground until the pegasus ended up on top, pinning the unicorn to the ground. "--OOOOPH!!" The two ponies locked a gaze for a moment.

"Twilight?!" Rainbow Dash's eyes lost their hatred at the sight of her friend.

"G-good morning, Rainbow D-dash..." Twilight wheezed. Rainbow Dash hopped off and helped her up.

"What did you do to Fluttershy?" she asked, her anger not quite tempered.

Twilight groaned painfully. "I didn't do anything..."

"Didn't do anything? That scream lasted a whole nine e's!" exclaimed the cyan pegasus. Twilight explained the situation.

"And that's how it is. We've got to hurry!" Twilight waited for an answer that never came.

"..."

She facehoofed. "Oh, not you too!"

"..."

She brought a small watch out of her pouch and waited for the implications to kick in. "Three, two, one..." She placed her hooves into her ears.

"...WHAAAAAAAAAAT?!" Dash gasped melodramatically.

"We don't have time to foal around, Rainbow! Come on, girls. We've got to get the others and save those foals!" Twilight enveloped her magic around the three of them, and they disappeared from the cottage.

~~~~~~~~~~

Apple Bloom and Courage made their way carefully through the Diamond Dogs' lair. Courage had so far shown he had many more items than just a wooden sword and a really big leaf. Currently, he was sporting a green tunic that somehow channeled Equestria's ambient magic, a torch around his flank (one that ran on said magic, not batteries that die at the worst times), a set of silver braces around his thighs, a large metal shield carried on his back, and a sword with a blue hilt in its sheath on his side. All in all, he was an impressive sight to behold for the little filly.

These weren't his only pieces of equipment either. Hidden away in his magic were some clawed gloves that helped him dig through the ground as well as any dog. He also had a set of masks and rings (with purposes he never mentioned), a bag of bombs, a boomerang, and other strange items from his travels. By far though, his most prized possession was a little blue flute-like instrument with the symbol of the Triforce on its mouthpiece.

So far, the only enemies the two had seen were watch dogs just milling about. They had a system working to deal with the threats: Courage would stun them with a quick throw of the boomerang, and Apple Bloom would jump on top of them and whack them with her stick until they spilled the beans on where her friends were.

Finally, after a while of searching, the pair came across a new set of tracks. Pony Tracks.

"We're close," whispered Courage. "These tracks are still fresh."

"Finally. Ah was wonderin' if we'd ever find'em in here," Apple Bloom commented.

"Shh! I can hear voices." Courage held Apple Bloom behind him and slowly approached the corner.

"You didn't get the one I'm looking for!" shouted a muted voice. It sounded angry. "You had one job: capture the foals. Are you dogs so dumb as to leave the most important one behind?"

"Pony says 'Capture the little ponies' so Dogs take all the little ponies Dogs see and bring them here like Pony asks!" another voice yelled back in a raspy tone. "Pony never says he wants one little pony from a group of little ponies."

"Then find her! This is her picture." A pause. "Find that foal and bring her here, or you're not going to see a single gem from me!" The door opened violently. Courage shuffled Apple Bloom quickly out of sight and hid as several dogs passed by, followed by the angry stallion.

"Ah wonder what that was all 'bout," she remarked.

"I don't know, but at least we've found the others. Come on, we're almost at the end." Courage and Apple Bloom peeked around the corner to make sure nopony (or dog) was coming, then went into the next room. In the far back was a cage, and in the cage were all of Apple Bloom's classmates. Except Diamond Tiara, she noticed. Maybe that was who the pony was talking about, though Apple Bloom couldn't imagine Diamond Tiara being the most important filly to anypony outside her family.

"Apple Bloom! Hey guys, look! It's Apple Bloom!" One by one, the foals turned their heads toward the filly running toward them. "Apple Bloom, you've got to help us! We're trapped!"

"That's why Ah'm here, Scootaloo. Ah'm gonna get y'all outta this cage an' back home where we belong," she announced, but the cage door was locked tight. "Does anypony know if there's a key?"

"I know," said Sweetie Belle, crowding her way to the front. "There's a set of keys that might open it up, but they were taken by--" A small set of keys landed at Apple Bloom's hooves. The foals in the cage stood dumbfounded. "Where'd those come from?"

Courage appeared from around a corner carrying an unconscious Diamond Dog. Apple Bloom picked up the keys and smiled at the stallion. "Thanks, Courage!"

"Who's your friend? He must be really strong to take on a dog like that!" said Pipsqueak, one of the younger colts.

"Yea, he is," replied Apple Bloom as she went to work testing keys on the lock. Finally one of them clicked and the door swung open. "Listen, we gotta be quiet. We don't wanna let the dogs know y'all are free, got it?" Each of the foals nodded and poured out of the cage in twos.

"Alright everyone, gather around me. I'm going to get us out of here," said Courage. He lowered his head for a moment as his entire body glowed. The magic coalesced into a little green ball of light. "Is everyone--"

The door slammed open, revealing a troop of armored dogs wielding spears and one well-dress stallion. "The foals are escaping! Stop them!" the stallion ordered, and the dogs charged the group of ponies.

"Stay close, okay?!" He touched the orb, and the group disintegrated into a thousand particles of dust, flowing through everything in their path until they reached the entrance of the caverns. The particles touched the orb at the entrance, causing the group to reappear together in a flash, and the orb that caught them to dissolve.

"Is everyone okay?" Courage asked, counting the heads of the little ones. All were there with him. All except... "Where's--"

He was interrupted by a group of six adult ponies that fell from the hole above and landed on top of him.

"Well at least the landing wasn't as hard this time," commented the lavender mare, who happened to be directly on top of Courage. The group stood up and dusted themselves off, then suddenly realized they were surrounded. "Look, girls! It's the foals!"

"Sis!" cried Sweetie Belle, running toward her sister.

"Darling!" responded Rarity, opening her hooves to hug Sweetie Belle.

"Rainbow Dash!" shouted Scootaloo.

"Scoots!" exclaimed Rainbow Dash. "We were all worried about you guys!"

"Even you?" asked Scootaloo, wide-eyed and innocent.

"Me? Worry? Please! I knew you would be alright, especially once I got here." Rainbow Dash caught a glimpse of Fluttershy staring hard at her. She gulped and pawed the ground. "Well, maybe I did worry a little..."

"When we get home, I'm going to throw the biggest, most awesomest, most super duper whoopie scooper Hurray-the-Foals-are-Safe party EVER!" Pinkie Pie screamed at the top of her lungs.

"Twilight, ya seen mah sis at all? She ain't with the rest o' the foals..." Applejack whispered into Twilight's ear. Twilight scanned the room. Applejack was right. There was no sign of Apple Bloom anywhere.

"I don't see her either. Hey, has anypony seen Apple Bloom? We think she came down here to rescue you," Twilight called. The fillies and colts looked around. Apple Bloom wasn't with them.

I have seen her, replied a disembodied voice. In fact, I'm looking at her right now.

"Who are ya, and what have ya done with Apple Bloom?!" Applejack shouted into the air.

Oh, nothing. She's merely in a cage suspended over Cerberus' play pen, that's all.

"She's what?! Give her back, or Ah'll--"

You'll what? If you even move from that spot, I'll drop her into the pit.

"Y-You monster! She's just a filly!" she raged.

How callous! Did you think I would send a simple little filly like Apple Bloom to her doom just like that? No, that decision is yours.

"What do you mean?" spoke Twilight. "We would never choose to do that!"

"Yea!" Rainbow Dash added. "We're not crazy like you!"

In that case, just surrender the Elements of Harmony, and we'll have no issues. Everypony stopped at the ultimatum.

"Now that ain't fair! Mah sister's life or the Elements of Harmony? What kind o' choice is that?!" Applejack cried, half in rage, half in worry.

The moral kind. Do you save your sister, or do you save the world? A long pause.

"I wish I didn't have to say this, but the world is more important," Twilight said plainly. "We can't afford to give up the Elements of Harmony and risk a catastrophe."

"Twilight! That's Applejack's sister you're talking about!" Rarity rebuked. "I know if it were my Sweetie Belle, I wouldn't hesitate to do anything I could to get her back."

"Are you kidding? You've got to think about all of Equestria, not just one pony," piped in Rainbow Dash. "Would Apple Bloom ever forgive you if you saved her only to end up losing everything instead?"

"What about you, Fluttershy? What would ya do if ya were in mah hooves?" Applejack asked.

"Me? Um... Well, I don't know. If it were Angel bunny, I would probably ask for help rescuing him."

"But if we even move from this spot, that pony will probably send Apple Bloom to the bottom for Cerberus to make a chew toy," said Pinkie. "What are you going to do, Applejack? She's your sister. We can't make the decision for you."

"I..." Applejack started. Then she turned away and called to the air, "I wanna talk to Apple Bloom."

Of course. Another pause... Sis!

"Apple Bloom! What's goin' on?!" Applejack cried.

Ah'm trapped in a cage. Ah'm hangin' over a big room, an' Ah can't see the floor.

"Apple Bloom, Ah've been given a hard choice, an' I can't make up mah mind. The guy who's got ya prisoner said he'd free ya if we gave up the Elements o'Harmony."

No Way! Don't ya need those if somethin' bad was gonna happen?

"But if we don't, then somethin' bad will happen, Apple Bloom..."

Whaddaya mean?

"Sis, don' be frighten' now, but yer hangin' over the lair of a beast called Cerberus. It's a giant three-headed dog, an' Ah'm guessin' he likes the taste o'pony."

Ah'm WHAT?! Ah don't wanna get eaten! Apple Bloom wailed. Applejack nodded.

"It's a'right, Apple Bloom. Ah'm not gonna let--"

But. Applejack stopped short. Apple Bloom's voice was resolved in a way she had never heard before. Ah'm not afraid to die. Ah mean, not if diein' means everypony Ah love stays safe. Ya gotta keep yer Element safe, Applejack. Ya can't let anythin' keep ya from doin' that. Not even me...

"Apple Bloom, I..." Applejack broke into tears, unable to hold her emotions back any longer.

It's a'right, Applejack. Ah love ya, big sis, an'-- A release clicked loudly. AAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaa......

"Oh Celestia, NO! APPLEBLOOOOOM!!"

Suddenly a bright glow emanated from beneath Twilight Sparkle. The soft green pad she landed on (which she now saw was a pony) rose up and morphed into a brilliant ball of golden light, then streaked away from the group.

The filly has chosen for you, it seems, said the voice.

The sound of snapping and shattering wood reached everypony's ears.

Applejack stared into the air. All around her was an uproar. Foals were screaming. Her friends were shouting furiously at the evil pony on the other end of the voice. Dogs were bursting from the ground and walls.

But Applejack heard nothing but her own heartbeat.

"She's... gone..."

Comments

[AxtontheMechanist]

Applebloom? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! (<---- Paradox right there :3)

[Changeling-Drone]

psshaw if she has courage shes basically link and HE'S fought giant monsters, she will be fine

[Moowell]

SHH! Don't spoil the surprise!

...dangit.

[Tank the turtle]

She can't die, she's the main character.

[Moowell]

2464041 Aha, that's not quite true. She can be killed, but it is extremely unlikely. Especially since I haven't found a way to implement bottled fairies.

...yet.

[Tank the turtle]

2464356

Bottle fairies = a chapter thats nothing but Apple bloom dying a lot.