”The time now is 09:29. The next train from Canterlot to Appleloosa will be departing shortly. Please make sure that you have boarded the train and that you have put any of your belongings at the back of the train. Please note that if you missed a train for which you have paid a ticket for, you will not be refunded and you will have to buy a new ticket. Thank you.”
The elderly stallion walked as quickly as he could, breathing heavily as he tried his best to ignore the dull aches he felt in his lower joints as he desperately tried to reach the train doors. He managed to reach the doors and give his ticket to the pony standing next to them before boarding the train, and he had just passed through them when they began to close. The stallion staggered on the spot for a few seconds before slowly walking to and sitting down in the nearest seat, breathing heavily.
“This morning’s Equestria Daily for only three and a half bits right here,” announced a mare, holding up several newspapers in a basket. The elderly stallion, along with quite a few other ponies, slowly got up and joined the queue to get their own copy and after nearly two minutes, the elderly stallion reached the front of the line.
“It's okay Sir Renois, you don't have to pay anything. You ca-can have it for free,” stammered the mare, recognising the elderly stallion and holding out a newspaper.
“I insist,” declared Sir Renois, before giving three and a half bits to the mare, who thanked him profusely. Sir Renois sat back down in his seat and opened his newspaper to read what the top headlines in the nation were.
‘AN EQUESTRIA DAILY EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH PRINCESS LUNA ON EQUESTRIA’S 1000TH ANNIVERSARY!’
Sir Renois skipped over the first few pages, filled with articles on the upcoming Equestria Day parades taking places in cities across Equestria (which was tomorrow) and he continued to flick through the paper before pausing when he saw an article towards the back of the newspaper that caught his attention, and as he read the short article, he began to feel more and more anxious.
WHERE IN EQUESTRIA ARE FLIM AND FLAM OF HOUSE ARIES?
It has been nearly a week since the explosion at the Super Cider Squeezy factory in Appleloosa took place, allegedly caused by dissatisfied workers and the co-owners of the company, twin brothers Flim and Flam of House Aries, have disappeared completely. We have contacted the representatives of the leader of the former Super Cider Squeezy workers, Autumn Forest, but he has declined to comment. The impact of the factory explosion has been devastating, with nearly 400 ponies now out of work in a small town with few jobs available in the first place, and there are growing concerns as to whether Appleloosa will be able to survive with so many ponies unemployed. The mayor of Appleloosa, Cherry Pie has released a statement saying that the town is actively looking for solutions to this issue and she said that Appleloosa would welcome any company that would like to build a base in the small town. We have also contacted the twins’ parents, Sir Renois and Lady Nocha, but they have declined to comment.
Sir Renois Aries slowly placed the newspaper back down on the table. When his sons Flim and Flam had declared that they were going to start up their own apple cider business nearly five years ago after graduating from the University of Detrot with business degrees, both Sir Renois and his wife, Lady Nocha fully supported them, and Sir Renois even gave the two a loan of nearly a hundred thousand bits to help them get started. The first time that he heard of his sons apparently mistreating their workers was nearly four months ago, when complaints of low pay and long hours were made from Super Cider Squeezy workers in factories all over Equestria. Lady Nocha had questioned her sons about these complaints and they had furiously dismissed them, claiming that the workers were deliberately trying to cause trouble in order to get a better wage. Sir Renois and Lady Nocha had believed them, and the topic wasn't brought up again until the factory explosion in Appleloosa. Lady Nocha had contacted the Royal Guard unit deployed at Appleloosa to ask if there was any news on the investigation to find Flim and Flam, but they still had not responded to her letter. Sir Renois had decided to take matters into his own hooves and travel to Appleloosa to find out what had really happened to Flim and Flam. but after reading the article, the small voice in Sir Renois’ head that was saying something bad had happened to Flim and Flam had become a lot louder.
Sir Renois closed the newspaper and slowly stretched his worn out legs before pressing a button underneath his seat that folded the table and the headrest back, forming a makeshift bed. Sir Renois pulled out the blanket that was underneath his seat and he covered himself with the blanket and slowly lay down in the bed and closed his eyes, hoping to at least have a few hours sleep on the eight hour journey from Canterlot to Appleloosa.
Sir Renois slowly opened his eyes and lifted his head to look out of the window. The midday sun was quite high in the sky (which meant that he had slept for at least three hours) and the train was currently passing through a barren area, the train occasionally rocking from side to side. In the far distance, Sir Renois could see what he guessed was a platform, meaning that the train was nearing the halfway point, Ponyville Station. The elderly stallion slowly took the blanket off his midriff and sat up in his bed, stretching his arms up high over his head to loosen his joints. Sir Renois got up from the bed quietly (so that he didn't disturb his fellow sleeping passengers) and crouched down to press the same button from a few hours before, and both the table and headrest returned to their previous positions, and the bed folded back to form a seat.
BANG!
Sir Renois’ head shot up and he quickly looked out of his window to see where the sound had come from.
“Did you hear that? That really loud noise just now?”
When the pony next to him gave him a strange look and shook his head, Sir Renois concluded that the stress of finding Flim and Flam was getting to him and that he had just imagined the sound, and he slowly picked up the newspaper and read it for the next forty minutes until the train reached Ponyville Station, the train slowly grinding to a halt.
”The train that has arrived is headed to Appleloosa. Please let the passengers that are leaving the train get off first before boarding the train. If you are leaving the train, please make sure that you have collected all of your belongings from the back of the train.”
Sir Renois stared out of his window at the small crowd of ponies that were gathered at the door, whilst others were taking and quickly loading their luggage onto the empty compartment at the back of the train. As he absentmindedly turned his head to look back at the ponies coming onto the train, Sir Renois made eye contact with a large green earth pony stallion that was standing close to his window. The stallion was wearing a small brown satchel that he was holding with a hoof, and he glared at Sir Renois for a few moments before finally boarding the train and sitting in the seat behind Sir Renois.
Sir Renois looked at the stallion for a few seconds, before shaking his head and opening his newspaper to continue reading it just as the train began to set off again.
Sir Renois finished reading the newspaper and put it back down on the table, when out of the corner of his eye he stopped the green stallion trying (and failing) to look at him without being caught.
What is his problem?
Sir Renois looked straight at the green stallion, who quickly turned his head to look out of his window.
“Excuse me, do you know how long it’ll be before we reach Appleloosa?” asked Sir Renois politely.
“Don’t know. Ask somepony else….Sir Renois,” grunted the green stallion, clearly recognising who Sir Renois was.
Sir Renois simply shrugged and turned to look out of the window again. The green stallion put his satchel on the table and took out a crumpled sheet of paper and laid it out on the table in front of him, lowering his head to carefully read to read the paper’s contents.
Sir Renois felt his curiosity get the better of him and he slowly got out of his seat and went to the toilet, which was in a small cubicle at the end of the carriage. When he came out a few minutes later, he made sure that he was walking slowly back to his seat and he paused briefly to peek over the green stallion’s head to try and make out what was written on the paper in front of him. Luckily for Sir Renois, the green stallion was too engrossed in reading the paper to notice the elderly stallion standing behind him. The paper was covered in messy handwriting but Sir Renois was able to make out three names: Autumn Forest, Flim and Flam. just before he started walking back to his seat, Sir Renois also caught a glimpse of three words written in bold at the top of the page; Order of Roots.
What is ‘Order of Roots’?
Autumn Forest…..he’s the stallion in charge of all of the workers at Flim and Flam’s factory.
But why are their names on the paper?
What in Equestria happened to them?
Does that stallion know what happened to him?
Sir Renois walked back to his seat and sat down, and he was now beginning to fear the worst for his sons. The hours seemed to fly by and before he knew it, the train was pulling into Appleloosa station. Sir Renois slowly got up out of his seat and followed the other ponies and left the train through the small door at the end of the carriage, and he stood still in the middle of the crowd.
Now what?
Sir Renois heard a nearby commotion and turned his head to see the green stallion barging through the crowd, blatantly ignoring the angry shouts and cries of pain from the ponies he was passing as he hurried off the platform.
Acting on impulse, Sir Renois decided to follow him and he walked as quickly as he could after the stallion, quickly weaving through the crowd of ponies boarding the train before reaching the luggage area. Since he had not brought any luggage with him, Sir Renois walked past it and reached the train station exit, where he saw a glimpse of the green stallion’s shaven mane
“I hope you enjoy your stay in Appleloosa!” called out a worker who was standing near the exit, but Sir Renois ignored her and pushed the large glass door that led him to the outside of the station.
Appleloosa was an almost exclusively earth pony town, and the several hostile stares he was receiving from earth ponies as he followed the green stallion confirmed this to Sir Renois. There were several small buildings that were dotted across the street and most of them were in serious need of reconstruction. Sir Renois spotted a large crowd of ponies standing outside a small building labelled ‘Job Centre’ , and it reminded Sir Renois of the devastating effects both the factory explosion and the economic crisis were having on the small town. Sir Renois looked up to see the green stallion enter a pub that was nearly twenty metres ahead and Sir Renois slowed down to avoid suspicion before opening the door to the pub.
The silence that descended onto the pub was rather intimidating for Sir Renois, and all eyes were on him as he slowly made his way to the front of the bar. A lone mare who was sitting at the back of the bar watched Sir Renois with curious eyes.
“Uhhh… can you get me one whisky and chaser please?”
The male bartender stared at Sir Renois for a few seconds before ducking underneath the table to prepare Sir Renois’ drink.
“Here,” said the bartender, roughly pushing Sir Renois’ drink across the table to him.
“Thank you,” muttered Sir Renois, before using his magic to take the drink off the table. Sir Renois turned around and looked for an empty table he could sit at. He spotted a vacant table at the far end of the pub next to a small window and he quickly walked to the table. Whilst there were several conversations taking place all over the bar, Sir Renois could still feel hostile stares his way as he walked over and sat down at an empty table.
“So, what brings you to our fine town?” called out one of the stallions that was sitting on a table near Sir Renois, and the bar fell silent once again as the ponies waited for Sir Renois’ answer.
Sir Renois ignored him and tried to finish his drink as quickly as he could.
“Hey! I’m talking to you!”
Sir Renois moved the glass away from his mouth and looked at the stallion that had spoken to him.
“Sorry, I never heard you. I’ve heard lots of good things about this town and I wanted to have a pleasant stay in Appleloosa for a few days.”
“Here? In Appleloosa? Aren’t we too low for your high unicorn standards?”
Sir Renois simply shrugged and finished off the rest of his drink, before returning the empty glass to the front of the bar.
“That’ll be thirteen bits.”
In the silence that followed, Sir Renois quickly remembered that in his rush to get to Appleloosa to find his sons, he had forgotten to take extra bits with him apart from paying for the train ticket, and it didn’t take long for the bartender to catch on.
“So you thought that you could just waltz in here and get a drink for free?!” proclaimed the bartender. Sir Renois stood silently, and he had no idea how he was going to get out of this situation.
A few ponies that were sitting near the front stood up and surrounded Sir Renois, (including the green stallion that he was following) which meant that there was no way out for the elderly stallion.
“We don’t take too kindly to thieves in these ends,” snarled the green stallion, shoving Sir Renois backwards.
“I’ll pay for him.”
Everypony turned to look at the mare sitting at the back of the bar that had just spoken. She got up from her seat and took out a few coins from her satchel.
“Are you really that desperate that you'll go for anypony now Stardust?” snorted the green stallion. The mare ignored him and stood in front of the ponies that were blocking the front of the bar, who moved out of her way and the mare placed the money on the table before leaving the bar.
Sir Renois quickly rushed out of the bar to thank the mare but when he stepped outside, he couldn’t see her. Suddenly he felt his mane being pulled back and the stallion was dragged into an empty alleyway that was a few metres away from the pub.
“Sorry about that. I had to get you in here quickly before anypony saw you,” whispered the mare. She led the stunned Sir Renois towards a black door that was at the end of the alleyway.
“What are you-”
“Shush!”
The mare held a hoof to Sir Renois’ lips and she dragged him through the black door. The door led the two ponies into an open space, which the mare told Sir Renois used to be a storage room for alcohol for some of the pubs in Appleloosa.
“Why did you bring me here?” asked Sir Renois, suddenly stopping.
“Because, you're the only pony that can stop all of this madness,” whispered Stardust.
Stardust’s story started nearly eight months back, two months before Flim and Flam had set up their apple cider factory.
“The first time I realised that there was something weird going on in Appleloosa was when Mayor Cherry Pie was elected. The candidate that went up against her was a pegasus named Sky Walker. I actually thought that he was going to win the election and quite a few ponies I know told me that they were going to vote for him. But somehow, someway, Cherry Pie managed to win. Of course, when the result came out, there was uproar amongst the ponies in Appleloosa, it was obvious that Cherry Pie had somehow managed to mess with the votes and-”
“Sorry, but is there a point to this story?” interrupted Sir Renois.
“If you let me speak, then yeah, sure, I’ll get to the good part,” retorted Stardust before continuing her story.
“Sky Walker eventually announced that he was going to appeal against the election result and take this case before the noble council and the princesses. Even though it was obvious that Cherry Jubilee had cheated, she still went about setting up her council, and one of the ponies on that council was Autumn Forest.”
“He’s the-”
“Yes, he’s the pony in charge of all of those workers at Flim and Flam’s factory. I still don’t know why he worked at the factory whilst being on the council. Anyway, once my mom sent me to the council building, I can’t remember why she sent me there but what I do remember is when I went past one of the rooms, the door was slightly open and I caught a glimpse of Sky Walker gagged and tied to a chair with lots of rope. I thought I heard somepony coming out of the room so I quickly ran and left the building. The next week, Sky Walker was found dead on the train tracks at Appleloosa Station, having been apparently run over. Most ponies thought that he couldn't handle the election loss and that he took the easy way out.”
“Okay, So Autumn Forest and the Mayor were probably behind Sky Walker’s death,” concluded Sir Renois.
“Yes, but that’s only the beginning. Nearly six weeks later, just before your sons came to this town, one of my friends decided to join a group led by Autumn Forest that claimed to improve ponies’ self-esteem. Autumn Forest had originally started the group three years ago but it disbanded for unknown reasons. When he brought it back, he said that because of the job crisis Appleloosa is facing, he wanted to improve ponies’ work skills. When Flim and Flam finally came to Appleloosa to build their factories, you should’ve seen it. When the factory was built, Flim and Flam made a huge speech about how they were going to change our lives for the better, and in the first month or so, everything was fine. But then they started to increase working hours, they docked pay, and in general just began to mistreat everypony working there. The meetings for Autumn Forest’s Group became more frequent and after my friend started going to a few of the meetings... she changed.”
“What do you mean she changed?”
“She started talking about how unfair life was for earth ponies, that we were the first to live on Equestria and that it was cruel that we were now the lowest tribe. She also began to constantly insult the princesses and claim that they weren’t fit to rule Equestria.”
“Is the group by any chance called ‘Order of Roots’?” enquired Sir Renois, remembering the name he’d seen on the green stallion’s paper on the train hours ago
“I think so….There was definitely ‘order’ in the group name,” replied Stardust.
“So there could be a conspiracy involving Autumn Forest’s group and the princesses?”
“Exactly. There’s….also another thing.”
Stardust’s voice had become a lot quieter and she struggled to look Sir Renois in the eyes.
“What? What is it?”
“The day of the factory explosion, my friend who was in Autumn Forest’s group who also worked at Super Cider Squeezy…...she said that all of the ponies working there started the explosion and that Autumn Forest ….dealt with Flim and Flam. And when I asked her what she meant by that, she just said that they wouldn’t be a problem to any earth ponies in Appleloosa anymore. I’m so sorry.”
Sir Renois was silent. He could feel the blood roaring in his ears and his surroundings began to spin. He tried to stand up but he staggered on the spot and he began to lose his balance, before dropping to the floor like like a stone.
Sir Renois, are you okay? Can you hear me?
Sir!
Beep, beep, beep.
He should be waking up very soon.
Beeeeeeeep.
Yep, he’s waking up.
Sir Renois coughed and slowly opened his eyes to find himself in an impossibly small hospital room, with two doctors standing over him, with one of them holding a pile of paper in his hooves.
“Nice to see that you’re awake, Sir Renois.”
“What….happened to me?” groaned the elderly stallion.
“A mare found you unconscious in an alleyway a few hours ago and she brought you in. You’ve been asleep for nearly four hours. It's nearly five o’clock,” announced the first doctor, looking at the clock above Sir Renois’ bed.
The events of the last few hours came rushing back into Sir Renois’ mind and he tried his best to swallow down the urge to vomit.
“How long will I be here?” he asked.
“We’re just waiting for your blood test results to come back, and if they come back fine, you’ll be free to go,” said the first doctor.
The two doctors left the room and closed the door behind them, leaving Sir Renois alone in his room, who allowed a few tears to fall from his eyes. He squeezed his eyes shut to try and stop the flow of tears, but they continued to fall, and Sir Renois felt the last of his resolve break away, and he quietly sobbed into his duvet.
How am I going to tell their mother?
“Mr Fo-Forest, the patient never said that he’s expecting any visitors! So please-”
“And I’M telling you that I need to speak to him now, so move out of my way.”
Sir Renois lifted his head up from the duvet when he heard the raised voices from outside his room and he quickly rubbed his eyes with his hooves.
“Sir Renois, Mr Autumn Forest is here to see you,” said one of the doctors as he opened the door for the visitor.
As Autumn Forest squeezed past the doctor and entered the room to stand in front of Sir Renois’ bed, the elderly stallion had to try his hardest to resist his urge to jump up off his bed and throttle the stallion behind his sons’ death.
“Sir Renois Aries, it's a pleasure to see you in our fair town. If only it was under better circumstances,” said Autumn Forest with a sympathetic smile.
“The pleasure’s….all mine Mr Autumn,” replied Sir Renois with a forced smile.
“Could we have some privacy please, doctors?” asked Autumn Forest, and the doctors obeyed, not wanting to infuriate him.
Once he heard the door close behind them, Autumn Forest grabbed a chair that was next to the door and he pulled it next to Sir Renois, before sitting next to it.
“What happened to you, Sir Renois?
“I fainted. I think it's because of all of the alcohol that I had in one of the pubs,” replied the elderly stallion.
“Alright then, that’s a relief.”
There was a few moments of silence then, and Sir Renois forced himself to confront the stallion over what had happened.
“How has the search for Flim and Flam been doing?” Sir Renois asked, looking straight into Autumn Forest’s pale blue eyes.
“We….haven’t made any progress in the search unfortunately, but it is still early days, and we are all still very confident that your sons will be found soon.”
As Autumn Forest gave a sympathetic smile, Sir Renois looked deep into his pale blue eyes, and with a heavy heart, knew that he had been right in guessing that Autumn Forest had killed Flim and Flam. Having confirmed this to himself, Sir Renois decided to find out whether what Stardust had told him was true.
“Is that the reason why you came to Appleloosa?” enquired Autumn Forest.
“Yes, but there was also another reason. Princess Celestia herself sent me to Appleloosa in order to check whether the reports about Appleloosa were true.”
“What reports?” asked Autumn Forest, a frown beginning to appear on his face.
“That there is a dangerous group, who I think they're called the ‘Roots’, that have rather revolutionary beliefs, who in the near future, could pose a risk to Equestria.”
Sir Renois watched as Autumn Forest’s face went through a range of emotions, from shock to anger, before settling back into the stallion’s usual smirk.
“I haven’t heard anything about a group of these sorts, but if I do, I can assure you that they will be dealt with.”
Autumn Forest shook Sir Renois’ hoof and moved the chair back to where he had found it before leaving the room. Sir Renois stared at the door for a few seconds, before sitting up to press the button next to his bed to call a doctor to ask when he could leave.
“Just one more question,” said Autumn Forest, sticking his head through the door, “who told you about this group?”
Sir Renois thought carefully for a few seconds before deciding on his answer.
“A complaint was made to the noble council two days ago by a few ponies who were visiting Canterlot from Appleloosa, Mr Forest.”
“Thank you. That will be all.”
Autumn Forest closed the door again, leaving Sir Renois alone once again. The elderly stallion pressed the button next to his bed, before suddenly deciding against it and throwing the duvet off himself before getting up. He quietly opened the door and stuck his head out to see if anypony would see him leave. When he didn’t see anypony, Sir Renois slid past the door and slowly closed it behind him, before walking to the end of the corridor and turning right, when he spotted the hospital exit. Sir Renois looked quickly at the receptionist, who was busy talking to one of the nurses, before quickly walking out of the hospital.
Sir Renois walked across the pavement as quickly as he could, trying to reach the train station so that he could return to Canterlot as quickly as he could. He suddenly remembered that he did not have any money to pay for a train ticket and luckily for him, he saw a bank coming up a few metres ahead of him. He pushed the door open and walked straight up to the desk and banged on the glass window the accountant was behind.
“Hey! Don't bang on the glass or I won't help you!” retorted the accountant. “What do you want?”
“I need to withdraw money from my account,” said Sir Renois.
“Okay then, let me get my record book out,” said the mare before ducking down underneath her desk to get the book. When she came back up a minute later, she opened the book and quickly dropped it down onto the table, before ducking down again to find her quill. Sir Renois peered over to look at the book and saw that there was a unicorn called ‘Ice Star’ in the record books.
“Right, what’s your name?” asked the mare, holding the quill on the page.
“Ice Star,” replied Sir Renois confidently. The accountant stared suspiciously at him for a few seconds, before tickets no the corresponding name in the book.
“You currently have four thousand bits in your account, and you can withdraw up to two thousand bits.”
“Okay then. I’d like to take out thirty bits please,” said Sir Renois, looking at the clock that was up on the wall behind him.
The mare pressed a few buttons to open the till in front of her and she took out the money for Sir Renois and gave it to him through the small hole in the glass window.
Sir Renois thanked the mare and left the bank quickly. In his hurry to reach the train station, Sir Renois wasn't looking where he was going and bumped into a mare walking opposite him.
“Hey, watch where you're- Sir Renois!”
Sir Renois looked up at the mare he had bumped into.
“I'm from the local newspaper, are you free to answer-”
Sir Renois shook his head and moved past the mare to continue making his way to the station.
After nearly ten minutes of power walking, Sir Renois looked up to see a crowd of ponies travelling the same way as him. The elderly stallion saw a sign that read ‘Appleloosa Station’ and he continued walking forward, passing through the large glass doors to enter the station. He saw that one of the tables was free and he was about to make his way to the table when he saw none other than Autumn Forest with nearly fifty other ponies making their way to the table. Sir Renois got in a line behind the ponies but it did not stop Autumn Forest from spotting the elderly stallion.
“Sir Renois! Who knew that we would cross paths again!” he exclaimed, but the ponies that were with him glared at him and Sir Renois even heard one of the ponies growl at him.
“Mr Forest, a pleasure to see you once again,” said Sir Renois, sticking his head out to see how long the queue would be.
Autumn Forest smiled and turned back around since he had reached the front of the queue. The mare working behind the desk greeted Autumn warmly, and Sir Renois watched as Autumn Forest paid for all of the other ponies that he was with.
Nearly five minutes later, Sir Renois reached the front of the queue and paid for his ticket to take the train back to Canterlot. He took his ticket and walked on to the platform, and he sat down on a bench that was near to where Autumn Forest and his group were standing.
“When we get off at Ponyville, I am going to tell Marzana, Ambrose and the others to catch the next train to Canterlot. Your job is to collect the rest of the members. Understood?”
“Yes sir!”
The train emerged and stopped at the station, and ponies that worked at the station moved to stand in front of each door as the driver pressed the button to open all of the doors.
The ponies on the platform surged forward to give their tickets and enter the train and Sir Renois ended up in a different carriage to Autumn Forest and the other ponies. Sir Renois sat down in a seat and watched the other ponies climb aboard, many of them clearly travelling to Canterlot for tomorrow’s Equestria Day celebrations.
As he watched the ponies, many of whom were travelling with their family, Sir Renois was reminded of the fact that he no longer had any children, and he tried his hardest to stop tears from falling.
The train doors were shut by the working ponies and a loud whistle was heard before the train set off, taking Sir Renois back to Canterlot.
The train’s wheels screeched against the tracks as the driver pulled the brakes, and the train grinder to a halt.
Autumn Forest immediately pushed through the ponies that were leaving the train and emerged onto the platform with his group.
Autumn nodded at them once before leaving the platform and passing through the gates to leave Ponyville Station. He walked through the streets, which were packed with ponies making last-minute preparations for the street party that they were going to have tomorrow. Autumn Forest saw a lone mare walking towards a market stall and he quickly approached her.
“Excuse me? Could you tell me where Sweet Apple Acres is?”
“Sure, just go down this road for ten minutes, and take a right. It's easy to find , it’s a really big farm,” replied the mare. Autumn Forest thanked the mare and made his way to his destination to find the agents he had picked for Phase One.
“MARZANA! IT'S REALLY DARK NOW! YOU AND AMBROSE NEED TO COME BACK INSIDE!”
“COMING MOTHER!”
As the sun continued its descent from the sky, Marzana Crumble bucked the last apple off the tree he was at and he picked up the bucket with his mouth and walked back to the barn. His wife Ambrose Orange came out of the barn holding an empty bucket.
“Tell Granny Smith that I’ll just get one more bucket so that there’s enough cider for tomorrow, okay?” said Ambrose as she walked back out to get more apples.
“Okay.”
Ambrose continued walking through the trees, holding the empty bucket in her mouth before settling on one of the larger trees. She placed the bucket down and turned her back to the tree before raising her hind legs.
As Autumn Forest emerged from behind some of the trees, he watched as Ambrose raised her hind legs in the air and bucked the apple tree. Most of the apples fell off the tree and into the bucket, but there were still some apples left on the tree. Ambrose sighed and raised her hind legs again and Autumn Forest began to feel a stirring in his loins as he watched Ambrose use her we'll-toned legs to successfully buck the tree, before approaching her.
“Ambrose Orange.”
“Ah!”
Ambrose jumped in shock and knocked over the bucket of apples next to her. The two ponies stood opposite each other silently before Autumn spoke.
“Tell Marzana Crumble that you are to both travel to Canterlot tonight and stay near the palace for the night,” the stallion commanded.
“But why- I mean yes, sir, as you command.”
The two ponies fell silent again and Autumn stared at Ambrose, the bulge between his legs beginning to get larger and more visible as he stepped forward.
“As your leader, you are always supposed to follow my orders, is that correct?”
“Of...course sir,” replied a confused Ambrose, before memories of what had happened between them in Appleloosa nearly a week ago flooded through her mind, and a deep blush appeared on her cheeks.
Autumn gently stroked Ambrose’s face before leaning in to kiss her. Ambrose immediately pushed her tongue inside his mouth to pleasure Autumn and the two remained locked in position for a few minutes before Autumn broke off the kiss.
“Turn around.”
“Wha-”
“Turn around and lift up your tail.”
Ambrose nervously obeyed and turned around and lifted her tail. Autumn pushed her to the ground and straddled the mare, before roughly pushing his member in and out of Ambrose, prompting her to moan loudly against her will.
“I can do things to you that Marzana can only dream of,” hissed Autumn Forest as he pumped away. Ambrose pressed her lips together but not before another, even louder moan escaped from her lips.
In the living room of the Apple family home, Marzana and Ambrose’s children were wondering why their mother was taking so long.
“Why’s Ma taking so long?! I want her to try mah apple pie!” whined Applejack as Marzana finished serving his eldest daughter with her portion of the apple pie. Her grandmother made a shushing sound and pointed at the sleeping Apple Bloom in the small cot.
“I’ll just go out and get her, knowing her she probably decided to get even more apples,” chuckled Marzana as he left the house through the back door that was at the back of the kitchen.
Now, which of the trees would she have gone to?
Autumn clambered off of Ambrose and he felt his erection deflate. Ambrose lay on the floor for a few moments, breathing heavily as sweat poured down her face. Autumn Forest held out a hoof and helped Ambrose up.
“You must leave immediately with Marzana. Say your goodbyes to your family. You won’t be seeing them for a while. I’ll be waiting with the others at the station.”
Ambrose dusted herself off and nodded before picking up the bucket of apples with her mouth and walking away from Autumn, who turned around and began to make his way back to Ponyville Station.
“Ambrose! Where are you? It’s been ages!”
Marzana was about to yell his wife’s name again when she suddenly emerged.
“There you are! I’ve been calling your name for ages!” the stallion exclaimed, before taking the bucket from Ambrose.
“We need to leave Ponyville. Now.”
“What? But I thought that-”
“Autumn Forest just came to see me. He ordered us,” replied Ambrose.
“What, now?”
“Yes, come on, we need to go now.”
Ambrose galloped back to the barn as quickly as she could, with Marzana following behind her. She placed the full bucket of apples near the barn door, and Marzana closed the door for her before the couple made their way back to their house and burst through the backdoor to the kitchen, frightening the rest of the Apple family.
“Mother, we have to go to Canterlot, now,” announced Marzana.
“And for what reason, hmm?” asked Granny Smith, and Marzana remained quiet and tried his best not to shy away from his mother’s penetrating stare.
“My brother has been taken ill in Canterlot and he’s been taken to Canterlot Hospital, Granny Smith,” said Ambrose speaking for her husband as she came into the kitchen holding two satchels around her neck, and she gave one of them to her husband, who quickly left the kitchen through the back door.
“Oh my goodness! Okay then, but when are you going to be back?”
“Soon, it depends how badly he’s been hurt,” replied Ambrose, before hugging and placing a quick kiss on Applejack’s head and doing the same to Apple Bloom.
“Where’s Big Mac, Granny Smith?”
“He’s at his friend’s house remember?”
“Okay then, when he comes back, tell him why we’ve gone.”
Ambrose finally hugged her mother-in-law tightly before leaving through the backdoor to find her husband.
“Marzana, where are you?”
“I'm here.”
Ambrose followed his voice until she found him at the back of the barn, quietly standing over a memorial. There was a small piece of paper on top of the flowers that read ‘Apfel Pie. Your kindness to others will never be forgotten. Rest in peace.’
“Don't worry, Father, I'm gonna make you proud. I’m gonna kill all of those demons like you want me to. I’ll get revenge for you.”
Ambrose walked up to her husband and gently rested her head on his neck, and Marzana returned the gesture.
“We’ll get them, Marzana. We'll get all of them tomorrow.”
“Please make sure that you take all of your belongings with you before leaving the station. We hope you enjoy your stay in Canterlot and happy Equestria Day!”
As soon as the train doors were opened, Sir Renois wasted no time and he quickly made his way off the train and through the doors to exit Canterlot Station. Outside the station, there were several carriages available for ponies and Sir Renois quickly clambered into one, paying the required fee and ordering the carriage driver to take him to Canterlot Palace. As they were making their way to the palace, Sir Renois looked out of the window to see several ponies hanging up decorations outside of their houses, whilst others crowded in nearby shops, no doubt making last-minute shops for tomorrow.
Fifteen minutes later, the carriage driver arrived and Sir Renois almost jumped out of the carriage, before slowing his pace and walking up to the palace entrance. Sir Renois noticed that there were a lot more guards surrounding the palace than usual, and they all appeared to be on edge.
“Halt! What brings you here?” demanded the guard, stepping forward to block Sir Renois.
“I need to speak to the princesses. Now.”
“You can't see them. They're making the last preparations for Equestria Day. Next time, write a letter.”
After the traumatic day he’d had, Sir Renois was not in the mood to be bossed around by a couple of guards. He stepped forward so that he was face-to-face with one of the guards.
“You listen to me. I have every reason to believe that we are all in danger tomorrow, and you’re stopping me from telling the princesses what that issue is? Now, I am going to give you one more chance to step aside and let me pass, or I will use my power as a noble to ruin your career.”
The guard stared defiantly at Sir Renois before muttering obscenities under his breath and moving aside to open the palace door for Sir Renois.
Sir Renois quickly walked through and made his way up the main stairs before accidently bumping into Sir Capricornus.
“Sir Renois! What brings you to the palace at this hour? I’m just here to collect my granddaughter,” asked Sir Capricornus, looking curiously at Sir Renois. Sir Renois was surprised that Sir Capricornus was even speaking to him since the two rarely spoke to each other despite representing their houses on the noble council, and Sir Renois could not remember the last time he had spoken to him.
“I need to speak to Princess Celestia and Luna right now,” said Sir Renois, shaking the other stallion’s hoof before quickly continuing down the corridor to the sister’s conference room, which was at the end of the corridor. Luckily for him, the younger royal sister came out of the conference room, having just taken care of the sunset, carrying a cup of tea with her magic.
“Sir Renois. What are you doing here?” she asked.
“I need to speak to you and your sister, Your Highness. Right now.”
“Unfortunately, my sister has come down with a nasty flu, so I am very busy right now. Perhaps you can come back this time tomorrow, sir.”
Luna stepped past Sir Renois and made her way down the corridor, but Sir Renois quickly followed after her.
“Your Highness, please, just listen to me! There’s a big-”
“Sir Renois! Do not make me repeat myself. If you would like to speak to me and my sister, come to the palace tomorrow!”
Princess Luna looked silently at Sir Renois, and he knew that she wasn't going to listen to him, no matter what he said or did. Sir Renois silently hoped that Stardust was wrong about the Order of Roots, and he bowed his head at Princess Luna before walking away down the corridor.
“Of course, Princess.”
Once Sir Renois had disappeared down the corridor, Princess Luna teleported to Princess Celestia’s room and gently knocked on the door with her hoof.
“Come in, the door isn't locked,” Celestia answered weakly.
Luna opened the door to find her sister yawning loudly as she tried to get out of bed.
“Sister, you should rest. I'm sure that a cup of your favourite tea will make your recovery a lot quicker.”
“No, no, I've had enough rest. Now it's time to get back to work, I can’t waste any more time.”
Luna knew that when Celestia wanted to do something, there was nopony that would be able to stop her, and she simply gave the cup of tea to her elder sister.
“Of course. What about... Sir Capricornus?”
Celestia was drinking her tea and she almost choked when she heard the name, and she nervously cleared her throat before speaking.
“Did you…”
“Yes, his injuries are healed and I’ve wiped his memory. He won't remember what happened.”
“Good.”
Celestia stepped past her sister to leave her room.
“Celestia, we need to talk about this,” called out Luna, but Celestia ignored her and continued walking down the hallway, drinking her tea. Feeling frustrated, Luna teleported so that she was standing in front of her elder sister.
“Do you not feel any guilt for what you did? Did you enjoy beating Sir Capricornus to within an inch of his life?” hissed Luna, slightly looking up at her sister.
“You don't think I regret what I did?! You think I’m a monster?! If I could go back to yesterday, then I would have released Sir Capricornus straightaway!”
Celestia’s voice became very loud and an earth pony butler carrying a silver tray at the opposite end of the corridor was looking at them curiously.
“Is everything alright, Princess?”
“Yes, everything’s fine,” replied Luna with a forced smile before she whispered to her sister that they should talk somewhere private. Once the princesses had disappeared, the butler dropped the tray and quickly galloped across the corridor to Celestia’s room. He pushed the door and was frustrated to find that it was locked, before remembering that he had already taken the key yesterday and that he had put it in his top pocket. The butler turned around and went down the two flights of stairs, before descending another set of stairs to quickly leave the palace, telling the guards that there was a family emergency.
Once he was sure that he was out of sight, the butler took off his uniform, making sure that he took out the hey from his top pocket, and galloped again to the back of the palace, where he was relieved to find that there were no guards standing there. The butler held up the key and unlocked the door, before closing it quietly, and this would allow Autumn Forest to gain access to the palace tomorrow.
As the train began to set off, Autumn Forest remained standing in the carriage, and he quietly watched the other members of the Order of Roots from Ponyville and Appleloosa. He had made sure that the members were in carriages that were next to each other, and he silently watched his comrades. Most were sitting quietly in their seats whilst a few were having hushed conversations amongst themselves. The one thing that all of the ponies in the carriage shared was that there was no laughter or smiles; the prospect of unleashing their plan on Equestria had obviously destroyed any chance of laughter the night before Equestria Day.
Autumn thought he could hear strange noises coming from the toilet at the end of the carriage and he walked up to it, opening the unlocked door to find Ambrose and Marzana in a compromising position.
“Do you really think that’s appropriate the night before Phase One?!”
Autumn directed his question at Ambrose, and seeing her with her husband made Autumn feel unusually angry, and he struggled to keep his feelings hidden.
“Save your…..celebrations for after we dispose of the tyrants,” finished Autumn, before walking away from the couple. Ambrose and Marzana came out of the toilet a few seconds later, and they sheepishly walked back to their seats behind Autumn Forest, with everypony watching them.
Autumn Forest watched the couple quietly speak to each other, and he felt a strange sense of possessiveness over Ambrose that he had never felt before.
I can’t get distracted.
Chaos. That’s what we’re bringing, Celestia and Luna.
That night, train stations all over Equestria reported a large number of earth ponies travelling on the nighttime train to Canterlot, but they didn’t think anything of it, assuming that they were going to attend the Canterlot parade.
The usually empty streets of Canterlot were filled with earth ponies the were all part of the Order of Roots, and most ponies were making their way to hotels whilst others were staying in relatives’ houses for the night.
Autumn Forest, Ambrose, Marzana and several other ponies decided to stay in one of the cheaper hotels in Canterlot that was close to the palace.
As he entered his room, Autumn Forest placed the large satchel down on the queen-sized bed and opened the balcony door, and walked out onto the balcony, watching the stars shine brightly in the sky.
Enjoy this peace tonight, Equestria.
Tomorrow we will bring Hell into your lives.