Apple Bloom took her position as leader, the grin on her face all the more wide as she got to see more of this world.
Sweetie Belle knew why she was a mage, it totally made sense, she had magic in her horn so of course she was the mage and these robes were just as her sister would say, fabulous! She knew that she was going to have to figure out how to use this staff though, just as Scootaloo would have to figure out how to use her spear.
Scootaloo was too excited about flying to even be worried about her spear skills right now. She looked on ahead able to see more of the landscape then either of her two fellow crusaders. The grass felt so real and fresh, the smell of it lingered even in the open sky. The clouds moved all on their own without having to be moved by pegasi like her, and up ahead she could make out the signs of a town.
“Apple Bloom!” she shouted from up high. “I see what I think is a town. Maybe we should go there and look for clues?” suggested Scootaloo as she would hover down next to the others, being too excited about flying to walk at the moment.
“A town ya say? I reckon that's a swell idea, surely the townsfolk would be able to tell us more about these here lands and such, and maybe we can even find someone to help you learn how to use that spear of yours.” smiled Apple Bloom.
“Listen Scootaloo, why don't you fly on ahead and we'll meet you there, that way you can get a headstart.” suggested Sweetie Belle.
“Woah, Sweetie Belle, I reckon that's probably not a wise idea, who knows what could lie between us and the town, we need to stick together, just in case.”
“Ah come on Apple Bloom, I can handle myself.” spoke Scootaloo agreeing with Sweetie Belle that going on ahead of them to learn her weapon was probably a wise idea.
“I don't know...it could be dangerous to go alone. Promise ya will be careful alright?” replied Apple Bloom concerned for her safety. She knew she was a farm pony and didn't know the difference between hay and oats when it came to a video game but she knew that common sense said to stick together, so she was hoping Scootaloo would be careful. She sighed to herself and looked back towards Sweetie Belle with a raised eyebrow.
“Maybe you're magic could make us able to fly too.” she suggested.
“I don't know Apple Bloom, I'm not that good with my horn yet.” replied Sweetie Belle.
“But it's a game! I bet your horn is way more powerful.” replied Apple Bloom.
“Hmm...I suppose you do have a point. I guess I could try.” replied Sweetie Belle as her horn lit up as she attempted to make the two of them able to fly through the air without having to have wings like their fellow pegasi friend. At first it did seem like it was working...but within a span of a minute's time both Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle crashed back onto the ground with a loud thud.
“Ouch....well I reckon that's not going to work.” spoke Apple Bloom.
“Can I go now?” questioned Scootaloo beginning to get just a bit angsty. She knew that Apple Bloom was worried but she could so handle herself.
Apple Bloom sighed, as she hesitated to let her go but nodded. “Alright but you come back as soon as you can ya'll hear? I'll never forgive myself if something bad happens because I let you go it alone.”
“Ah don't worry Apple Bloom, I'm not alone, I have my trusty spear by my side, and it's like they say it's dangerous to go alone, here take this.” she smiled holding up her spear with pride. She smiled brightly even though a slight sweatdrop ran down her face trying to hold the spear up straight. Boy this thing sure was heavy. She was beginning to wonder if she would be able to use it, but she wasn't about to give up, after all she wanted to be just like her idol. Rainbow Dash could do anything, so that meant so could she. With that she flew off in the direction of the town. She wasn't sure what to expect when she arrived but she would soon learn just what this game was all about.
“You sure that was a good idea Sweetie Belle?” questioned Apple Bloom as the two of them continued to walk in the direction of the town, luckily for them there was a nice pathway that led towards the town so at least their hooves didn't have to track through the grass anymore. Apple Bloom didn't mind it much, but she was sure Sweetie Belle was glad to have a path to walk on.
“Ah it'll be fine, after all games like this don't get hard right away, and I reckon she might even be able to find some tutorial of how to use her weapon and all.” replied Sweetie Belle. She knew all about these kinds of games from her friend Button Mash, he was always playing one of these silly games. Well she thought they were silly but they could be really fun but of course a lady couldn't like video games, they were so not lady like.
“Alright if you're sure...” replied Apple Bloom. Though all of a sudden five stallions surrounded the two fillies.
“Halt!” they spoke. “Who are you and what are you doing on our territory?” they spoke up.
Apple Bloom just looked towards Sweetie Belle with a questioning look as to how to handle this situation. Sweetie Belle just smiled and took a stand in front of Apple Bloom.
“I got this.” she smiled as she looked towards the stallions. It was easy for her to see they were some sort of bandits, they obviously weren't a guild with the scowls and how their attires were all torn and worn over a long extended period of time. The one who had questioned them must have been the leader for the other four seemed to be awaiting a command from the leader.
“Well...again and I'll only ask one more time. Who are you and what are you doing here?” spoke the head stallion. He had a dark colored mane of mostly black with one white streak flowing through it. His coat was a deep sapphire color but didn't look like he had bathed in over a year, ugh...so disgusting. He had a little goatee hanging from his face. He was an earth pony, she wasn't surprised that an earth pony was in charge of this kind of operation after all they were known for their strength and endurance and it would be easy for them to control pegasi and unicorns to do what they wanted, but only two of them were pegasi and only one was a unicorn. So two earth ponies, one unicorn and two pegasi.
“My name is Sweetie Belle and this is my friend Apple Bloom and we're just travelers on our way to the town for a lovely honeymoon for our good dear friend Scootaloo, so if you don't mind, we will be out of your hairs and on our way.” replied Sweetie Belle.
The head stallion seemed to accept their answer and had his stallions move out of the way of the path. “Very well but don't come back here or else.” spoke the leader.
“Of course not. Good day to you sir.” replied Sweetie Belle as she would bow towards him respectfully, and hurried for her and Apple Bloom to be on their way. Once they were far enough away, Apple Bloom finally spoke up.
“A honeymoon huh? Who would our friend be married too?” questioned Apple Bloom. As far as she knew Scootaloo never showed any interest in anyone in that way. Heck the only one she usually cared about besides them was Rainbow Dash and that would just be wrong. So wrong....
“Apple Bloom it wasn't true, I had to make up some sort of story. Otherwise who knew what they might have done.”
“So just saying we're travelers isn't good enough?” questioned Apple Bloom a bit confused by it all.
“Nope. You gotta really pull out all the stops when dealing with those kind of ponies. After all they might have tried to do horrible things to us if we didn't have a reason for being on their territory.” explained Sweetie Belle.
“Oh...alright. Well we probably should find Scootaloo. I hope she doesn't have this kind of trouble.”
“Oh she'll be fine, the town isn't that far and there will be lots of people in the town so it's unlikely for her to run into any trouble like that. Bandits usually are outside of towns and such and they look for easy victims to rob, but we don't have any benefit to them.” explained Sweetie Belle with pride.
Apple Bloom couldn't believe how much Sweetie Belle actually knew about these games, it was almost like she had played these games before. But why would Sweetie Belle even care about this kind of thing? It wasn't anything like she was used to from her. She was beginning to wonder just how much she knew about her good friend, but there was no sense in worrying over that now. They had to meet up with Scootaloo in the town. Hopefully she would know more about how to use her spear by the time they arrived.
It was a rather beautiful quaint little town, that Scootaloo arrived in. The buildings seemed mostly made of solid wood, only the one with the forge was actually made of stone. She went up the stairs towards the forge to see if the blacksmith was there. It was empty, seemed he must be away at the moment but then she heard a voice from behind her that made her jump.
“Can I help you dear?” asked a female voice.
Scootaloo jumped and turned around to see a female filly like her. She couldn't help but notice her flank was blank. She immediately forgot all about why she was here even for a brief minute. She had to find a way to help this filly if she could.
“Um....well I wanted to learn how to use my spear here. It's awfully heavy and I'm having a hard time holding it without falling flat on my face.” explained Scootaloo towards her.
“Oh is that all? Well that's really simple dear, you just have to fix it up a bit. It clearly looks like it needs a good tender love on the forge. Hold on let me get my Pa. Hey Pa! There's someone out here that needs your help.” spoke the filly towards the inside of the cabin next to the forge.
Not long after a stallion emerged from the cabin. He had a rustic look and his hooves were long since chipped and shown signs of aging. He wasn't nearly as old as Granny was but it was clear to say he was definitely older than even Rainbow Dash. He just walked over looking towards the young filly with the spear.
“Hmm...so you want me to fix that up for ya huh? You have gold to spend?” questioned the stallion.
“Um...no?” replied Scootaloo with a nervous look with a slight sweatdrop and a gulp of air running down her throat. She wasn't sure what to think now. She was half tempted to just forget about it but then the stallion just laughed and patted her on the shoulder.
“You really are nervous aren't you?” smirked the old stallion. “Don't worry I'll fix it up if you do me a favor. You see there's a group of bandits running around here right outside of this here town, and they keep stealing supplies from our town. If you bring them to justice, I'll teach you anything you want to know.” replied the stallion.
“And how am I going to do that if I can't use my weapon?” questioned Scootaloo.
“Well I'll fix it up now, I wouldn't let you just go in blind after all. It's a chance for yourself to not only prove yourself but show you can handle yourself and help us get our supplies back as well.” replied the stallion.
“Oh really? Oh thank you, thank you, thank you!!!” smiled Scootaloo as her wings flapped and she just about hit the roof with excitement and cheer but managed to stop just short of the roof.
“Now the first thing you need to know about a spear is how to handle the weight of the tip. You hold it at the center of the base like so.” explained the stallion as he demonstrated what he might. “But hold it wrong, and you'll fall right onto your face as you did when you first tried to wield it, is that right?” questioned the stallion.
“Yes, that's exactly what happened.” replied Scootaloo.
“Stick with me kid and you'll be a fine spear wielder in no time at all.” smiled the stallion. “Oh and you can take my daughter with you to help you with the bandits, she may not be a fighter like me but she is intelligent and resourceful, I'm sure she can be a help to you for dealing with the bandits.”
“Ah come on dad, you know I'm not good at much of anything.” spoke the filly.
“You just need more confidence. You may not be a warrior, but I know my daughter is strong of heart and sometimes that is more worthy than simply wielding a blade. You'll do just fine. Now shall we get onto the lessons little one?” questioned the stallion with a huge grin on his face.
Scootaloo smiled brightly towards the other filly with a wide eyed look as she couldn't help but hug her. “This is going be so awesome!” and with that Scootaloo's training began.
Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle finally arrived at the town to find Scootaloo training with so old guy who seemed to be helping her use her new weapon and it seemed she was starting to get the hang of it.
“Well I guess you were right. People really are helpful in these towns.” smiled Apple Bloom as she walked right up towards Scootaloo but of course keeping her distance.
“Of course I was right.” replied Sweetie Belle. “See, I told you I got this. Now we need to find supplies and some sort of wagon for transporting stuff. We can't carry everything after all.” suggested Sweetie Belle to Apple Bloom.
The filly that had been watching her father and Scootaloo train walked right up towards the two fillies. “Um...hello there, are you friends with her?” she pointed towards Scootaloo.
“Yeah, I'm Apple Bloom and this here is Sweetie Belle and well you already met Scootaloo.” smiled Apple Bloom as she extended a hoof out towards the filly.
“Oh...I'm....my name is Angel Heart.” replied Angel Heart with a soft sigh. She just wanted to be able to do something but it seemed like no matter what she tried she wasn't any good at anything where as her father was such a talented and respected smith and here she was just trying to find something she could do to help out around the town.
Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle both noticed it at the same time as they looked towards her blank flank as each of them remembered how long it had taken them to find their cutie marks, maybe they did have a purpose for being here other than helping out one blank flank, maybe there was much more to this game than they ever realized before and their eyes lit up and they knew they had to find Wild Ace but first they had to help this filly. They wouldn't be the cutie marked crusaders if they didn't.
“Hey what do you like to do around here? Do you have any hobbies or interests?” questioned Apple Bloom.
“Well...I like to help my dad around the forge, but often I tend to be more in the way than helpful.” replied Angel Heart with a heavy hearted sigh. “All I ever wanted is to be able to help my father bring this town back to the old ways.”
“Hmm..I see. Well there's plenty of ways you can help you know? You don't have to be a hero to help a town grow.” explained Apple Bloom.
“But I'm not good at anything. I've tried every single weapon I could think of, every time I try to forge or wield one I end up causing a mess. See this splitted wood? That was my first attempt at using an axe. I just am no good at anything.”
“Ah come on Angel, you have to be good at something, maybe it's something you never even thought about trying. Don't worry you have the best when it comes to helping ponies find their cutie marks! After all they don't call us the “Cutie Marked Crusaders” for nothing.”
Angel Heart just looked at Apple Bloom and the other two as they smiled towards her. She really hoped they were right because the only thing she was good at was finding herbs to heal the burns she caused her father every time she tried to use the forge...