Tales of the Battle Foals

by Sirdubya


Upgrading 2- The Sequel!

Back in Ponyville...

Twilight and co. had just arrived back in Ponyville with the Royal Sisters already back in Canterlot. A few of them were still in sheer disbelief of what they had uncovered right before their eyes; they were content that Bullseye’s ‘parents’ were where they belonged.

However, their unrest wasn’t quite quelled as the CMC brought up some interesting information that they told Twilight about on the trip home. “So, Crusaders, you say this ‘Greensprout’ was some filly that mysteriously appeared in Trifectown?” she asked.

“At least that’s what everypony was saying.” Scootaloo said.

“Yeah. We met her, and she said that she had just moved there, but not even the mayor had even heard of her.” Sweetie Belle said. “But why would she lie about something like that?”

“Y’all think she mighta been with Fire Fight!?” Applebloom suddenly thought.

Everypony glanced at her as though they had all internally gasped. It made sense! Bullseye ran away when an unknown filly appeared in town, and it just so happened that an unknown filly was supposedly with Fire Fight. “Could she be…..” Twilight thought to herself.

Scootaloo facehooved. “I swear! If Fire Fight was right there under our noses….” She ranted.

“Yeesh! Maybe we taught him a little too well.” Fist commented.

Cat rolled her eyes. “That aside, maybe we should try to figure out who this filly is. Twilight, do you think you can find her name somewhere?”

“We have plenty of census records that I could check through. They’re all organized by name in alphabetical order, so it shouldn’t take too long if her name pops up.” Spike said.

“Alright then, Spike! And if her name doesn’t come up, then I’ll send a letter to Princess Celestia and ask her to check the records she has.” Twilight said.

“But….we both have equal copies of every census. So does Cadance and Shining Armor….” Spike said.

“Oh….right…” Twilight muttered. “Anyways, if the Crusaders theory is correct, then that must mean that Fire Fight is somewhere in Western Equestria. He couldn’t have gotten far by now.”

“Then shouldn’t we go look for him?” Rarity asked.

“We really should, Twilight. I’m starting to lose my patience with waiting for a surefire lead.” Cheerilee said.

Twilight sighed. “You’re probably right.” She muttered. “Maybe I should dispatch a search team with you guys and start in the White Tail Woods. In the meantime, Spike and I will search those records, ok?”

“I’m sure we could discern a trail from there.” Rarity said. They all agreed on that plan and went their separate ways for now.

*****

Just as Spike and Twilight were about to reach their castle, Spike broke the silence between them. “Twilight, you never did tell me where you got that recording diamond.”

Twilight was hoping he wouldn’t ask that, but with the introduction of the mysterious jewel, she knew that it was inevitable. “Spike, I….” She had no idea how to answer that with how sensitive the information behind it was. Considering that the Shadewalkers must have had the nerve to infiltrate her castle just to deliver that black diamond to her, it stood to reason that they’d have no issue silencing anypony who they deemed knew too much, and she didn’t want to put her assistant in potential danger. “I-I’m not sure I should-”

“Twilight! There you are!” Twilight and Spike looked up to see Zecora trotting over to them.

“Oh! Hey, Zecora. What’s up?” Spike said.

“The wraith in the woods, I have discerned its form! But what I discovered caused….some alarm.”

*****

Working throughout the remainder of the day, the Battle Foals made themselves a temporary home until they had to move on. Bullseye thoroughly swept the inner sanctum, and everypony who wasn’t working on something immediately after the Rockslide left got to work making the conditions a little more livable. The barracks area was cleaned up and replaced with bedrolls of their own, and Fire Fight got to work on some dinner- wheat pancakes stuffed with fruits and vegetables. They had a good sum of leftovers from the provisions that Abbot Meadow gave them, so tonight was going to be another feast, and they were gonna need it after such a long day.

“Sure is nice to actually have a roof to sleep under again, huh?” Spiral Galaxy said.

“Word. I’m kinda startin’ to think we better look for a crib to crash ‘fore we start peepin’ out other foals. We ain’t a small family, heh!” Turf War said.

“You might be right. With how much we stand out, It’d be dangerous to get close to towns. I know we could split up, but….Lady Luck just seems to toy with us every now and then, so I’d rather not tempt her.” Shadow Shroud said.

“But Lady Luck is my Fairy Godmother! How dare you insult her fortunateness!?” Crazylocks blurted.

Shroud cleared her throat. “Th-That aside, I’m worried that Bullseye’s presence may deter others from joining our cozy little family. I hope we can ease her emotional issues soon.”

“Man, you gotta be patient wit her. We let her come through even d’ho we seent dat she a real problem, a problem we ‘bout to solve, ya feel me? Don’t nopony else gonna do it.” Turf War said.

Kickback chuckled. “Ah reckon it’d be worse if it was anypony else. We’re a smaller herd she can get used to easy. Wouldn’t be too awfully surprised if they decided to send her to a protective service r’ sumthin’ right away. That would be an awful much.”

Spiral smiled wryly. “Any stories come to mind?”

“Ah’m afraid not, Ms. Spiral.” Kickback said. “Well….other than today, but Ah think we all know what happened.” They all shared a little chuckle.

“Yeah, yeah. I’m the f****** bad guy, and that’s such a laugh.” They looked over to see Bullseye accompanied by Greensprout entering the room with them.

“Hi, Bullseye! The floor looks great in there.” Spiral said. “I got your bedroll set up for you in that…bedroom, I guess.”

“Eh….thanks.” Bullseye said as she looked away.

Greensprout giggled. “There’s no shame in having caring friends, sister.”

“Oh my Celestia! Will you stop calling me that!?” Bullseye complained.

Crazylocks suddenly popped up in front of her. “She didn’t call you ‘that’. She called you ‘sister’! Sister, sister bo bister mister fister my blister!”

Bullseye gave her a blank glare for a moment, and then put her hoof right between her eyes before pushing her away. Crazylocks maintained her stance, and she dug into the ground a little from being pushed. “Blisters, later. Now, food. I’m hungry. When’s hot shot gonna be done?”

“How about right now?” They looked over to see Fire Fight trotting towards them. “We’re all eating outside. C’mon, guys!”

Shroud chuckled. “What better way to end a day such as this?” Greensprout went to get Air Slash before joining them.

*****

The foals gathered outside around a campfire that Fire Fight had started where he served his feast. The luscious aroma of wheat mixed with fruit and veggies made everypony’s mouths water. Even Bullseye’s disgruntled expression lightened considerably upon taking a whiff. Even though they weren’t having eggs this time around, it was bound to be a good dinner regardless. Shrapnel was off to the side a little savoring a deer that Zebota had helped him hunt.

“Damn, son! Why you ain’t done dis sooner!?” Turf War said.

Fire Fight shrugged. “Didn’t really cross my mind until now. It’s not like I was studying to become a professional chef.”

“<giggle> You might as well be!” Spiral commented.

Fire Fight then looked over at Bullseye, who was eating about as normally as anypony else. “Hey Bullseye, thanks for sweeping up that inner room. That was really helpful.”

Bullseye just turned her eye to him and nodded. “Sure.” She took another bite of her pancakes. “Thanks for the food. It’s…..good.” She then noticed that a bedroll was right beside the entrance to the cave. “Hey, who slacked off out here?” she asked as she pointed to it.

“Oh! That is actually mine.” Zebota said. “I will sleep outside with Shrapnel since he cannot fit into the cave.” Shrapnel nuzzled his master.

“Tch. How romantic.” Bullseye said. She then looked over at Air Slash, who had something covered in a blanket behind him. “Hey butter knives, you done with my bow?”

Air Slash lightly glared at her. “I am not called ‘butter knives’, and my swords-”

“Air Slash.” Greensprout said. One look from her told him to just have patience and answer her.

Air Slash sighed. “I am, and I think you’ll be impressed.” He put his plate down and removed the cover to reveal her bow, but it had been noticeabley changed. Running along its limb portions were guard-like blades. Each one started from each outer end of the limbs and eventually curved over the grip. The way the blades curved there reminded the foals of a beetle’s pincers in a way. At each tip were roughly 5-6 inches blades protruding outward parallel to the string. Finally, just above the grip was a guard with little spikes protruding outwards that covered her hoof. “I realize the improvements are few, but its structural integrity is already quite impressive. I simply gave you a means to defend yourself at close range effectively without having to use your arrows.”

Bullseye inspected her new and improved bow in awe. If she didn’t know any better, she’d have sworn that this was how it was made to begin with. The craftsmanship was top notch, and the added features were balanced in such a way that they fit her like a glove. “Whoa…” She looked at Air Slash. “Ok, I gotta be blunt. This is damn good!”

Air Slash decided to take the compliment in good stride. “Good to see you approve, but don’t forget that your marksmanship is where you excel, so I’d advise against rushing in blindly ready to make use of these features. Even as it is now, it’s not the most optimal melee weapon.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Bullseye said. “Still though, thanks. I can’t wait to tear s*** up with this.” Fire Fight cleared his throat, prompting Bullseye to look at him. He had a rather authoritative expression, reminding Bullseye of the consequences of another rampage, killing her excitement. “Eh….right. I was….just exaggerating.” She said. Fire Fight warmly smiled and nodded. Bullseye then looked at Quantum Tech. “What about my arrows?”

Quantum put her plate down before speaking. “Before we get to that, I’d like to get Kickback’s guns out of the way first.” She pulled up her saddlebags and took out Kickback’s precious twin revolvers, but they were slightly different than before. Both of them had a metal ring wrapped and welded around their barrels slightly in front of where the triggers were. Built into each ring was another one of the crystals harvested from the golem beneath Canterlot. She hand them to Kickback.

“Huh….Looks like y’all too got yerselves a li’l makeover.” Kickback said. “What’re they gonna be doin’ now, Ms. Quantum Tech?”

Quantum giggled. “I’m glad you asked, my handsome!” she squeaked. Kickback just internally blew her off and waited for her explanation. She cleared her throat. “As a native of the desert, I’m sure you’re well aware that when sand abrades against metal, it creates static electricity?”

Kickback chuckled. “Mah grandpa once made a wire sculpture of a dog and named it Sparky just ‘cause o’ that! So whenever a sandstorm blew over, he’d live up to his name.” Everypony got a nice little laugh out of that.

“Oh, how delightful!” Quantum said. “Anyway, I’ve repurposed the magical properties of these two particular specimens of the golem’s crystals to create a sand-like magical field within the barrels of your guns, so when you fire a bullet, it will become charged with electricity, greatly boosting their damage potential. Not only that, but the electricity will form around the bullet as a sharp field that will give it more piercing ability.”

Kickback looked at his guns in mellow awe. He was worried that his rather simple weapons would do little to serve as effective support in battle, but now, he was far more confident in his trusty shooters. “Well, shucks! I hope y’all two thanked Ms. Quantum Tech!”

“Go ahead! Fire a shot.” Quantum said. Kickback looked around for a brief moment before deciding to take a shot at a narrow tree branch. He quickly drew on of his guns and fired at his target. Accompanied by the muffled gunshot was a sudden burst of electricity at the end of the barrel. When the bullet hit the branch, an slightly bigger burst of electricity lit up the forest for a brief moment before dissipating. The area around where it hit had been fried with electrical burns; Fire Fight used his magic to calm the heat before a forest fire could start. The branch he hit was charred on the ground.

“HOO-WEE!! That there’s a hootenanny!” Kickback cheered.

Quantum giggled. “I’m so happy you like it, darling.” She then reached around her bag for Bullseye’s quiver. “Now then, for your arrows.” She said. “I’ve left some of them as they are, but you’ll find that others have interesting properties.” She pulled out and arrow that had a red ring at the base of its head that glowed a little. “I’ve magically charged arrows such as these to explode shortly after impacting into a target. When it strikes something, the red ring around its head will glow more brightly for…roughly three seconds before detonating.” She explained.

“No, s***? Can I try it!?” Bullseye asked.

Quantum sighed. “That swearing…” she mumbled to herself. “Go ahead, darling. Though, I’d ask that you find a target that is rather far…” Just as with Kickback, Bullseye took aim at another tree branch, but a slightly further one as per Quantum’s request. She shot her arrow and hit her target, and the red glowing began immediately. Sure enough, it exploded violently after about three seconds. Had the arrow been any closer, the shrapnel from the explosion might have struck them.

“Damn! Now that’s what I’m talkin’ about!” Bullseye cheered. “What else ya got?”

Quantum reach into the quiver and pulled out an arrow with a blue head. “This is an ice arrow. I learned the enchantment that the officials at the Pony Games use to make them, so I thought ‘why not?’.” She said, and then put the arrow back in the quiver. “And now…” She pulled out an arrow that had its head glowing a golden gleam. “These….are not to be wasted.” She handed it to Bullseye, who looked like she might start drooling with excitement just looking at the gilded arrow. “I had Zebota help me with this particular enchantment. Fire it into the arrow at at least a 45 degree angle and see what it does.”

“Uh…okay.” Bullseye was slightly befuddled at the somewhat unorthodox way of firing an arrow, but decided to trust Quantum and Zebota. She fired it into the forest at a high angle. After it reached a height a good ways above the tree canopy, the arrow suddenly burst in a gilded light. A seemingly endless rain of arrows of light violently showered down from the point that the initial arrow burst; it subsided after about ten seconds.

Everypony was in awe of the spectacle they had just beheld. “Jeez, you two! You really know how to make something more awesome than it is!” Spiral Galaxy commented.

Zebota chuckled. “Think nothing of it.” He said.

“Think nothing of it?” Bullseye said. “Dude! That was the sickest thing I’ve ever seen in my life!” She was starting to smile.

“I’m happy to see that you're so full of joy for once, Bullseye.” Quantum teased.

Bullseye then caught herself and blushed as she put her angry face back on. “I-I-I wasn’t sappy-happy or any of that s***.” She stammered.

“You so were, explosion friend!” Crazylocks blurted in a sassy manner.

Bullseye glared at her. “Shut. Up.” She shyly hissed.

“Anyway, I should warn you that this consumes the arrow just as the explosion enchantment does, and it’s not an easy enchantment to cast, so use these arrows wisely.” Quantum said. “Air Slash is capable of replicating these arrows, so having the resources won’t be too big of a problem, but still.”

“Yeah, yeah. I’ll stick with the regular ones unless we’re in some deep s***.” Bullseye said. She then noticed her Battle Foals medallion laced into her quiver where it would be displayed when she wore it. “Heh. Cute.”

“Now do you feel like a member of our little band of misfits?” Shadow Shroud asked.

“Damn right!” Bullseye growled. “The Blood Cupid is ready to roll!” The foals were caught a little off-guard by her suddenly calling herself such an ominous name. “It’s my new nickname. Ya dig it?”

“Eh….sure….” Fire Fight said. The other foals seemed about as hesitant as he was, but saw no harm in it so long as she didn’t take it to a more literal sense. After they finished their meal, they put the campfire out and hit the hay for the night.