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// 18 Battle Hardened 
// Story: Alternate Beginnings: Year Five 
// by Doug Graves 
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The town stands silent, the only sound the dull thud as one of the boulders rolls down the gray pile of rubble. The ponies stand in awe at witnessing Princess Celestia's raw firepower firsthoof, all eyes trained on the blazing orange figure, her wings slowly beating as she watches for any signs of movement. A few seconds later and the last of the airborne rocks slam into the ground, bits of earth flung to the sides but showing none of the signs of the spreading corruption. A cheer rumbles as the gathered ponies start dancing, their joyous cries dwarfing those of the, now fallen, corrupted titan.

Princess Celestia flies over the collected ponies, her regal voice booming, "You did a fantastic job, my little ponies. Well done." She comes in to a landing by Mayor Mare, a few of the pegasi also congregating around, each pony bowing as the alicorn lands. Princess Celestia glances to Rainbow Dash as she flies in, saying in her normal voice, "Did any of the corrupted missiles make it to the water?"

Rainbow Dash, her face widening into a smile, "Thanks, Princess Celestia! You were pretty awesome," She looks back before awkwardly rubbing a hoof against the back of her head, "And so was everypony else. We all came together, and stopped all the missiles from getting to the water." She spreads her foreleg, pointing to the south part of town, "Just a few destroyed houses, many with close calls."

Princess Celestia nods, the pleasant smile on her face slipping for a brief instant before she regains her composure, "Excellent. The other team was not as successful, and I will be needed there to assist in the recovery process. Inform the others to gather as many of the still corrupted pieces on top of or near the catapillt, or at least where its remains are located. I will be back shortly."

Rainbow Dash salutes, "You got it!" Mayor Mare, Spoiled Rich and Applejack chuckle, rolling their eyes while Princess Celestia blinks away. "Alright," Rainbow says, looking over towards the forest, "There shouldn't be anything else new making its way here, just the remains and spent missiles to deal with."

Spoiled Rich nods, "Very good; Applejack, your team is up. We need to dig out all of the impacted areas, starting with the ones closest to the town. Find a few of those canisters Pinkie made, empty as much of the contaminated soil as we can into them."

"You got it, Ma'am." Applejack gallops over to the two teams of earth ponies, "Giddy'up! We're gonna start our way to the east part of the river, picking up the ones on the shores. Then, make our way back to the west part, only getting those pieces that are close by. Scoop the scat up, dump it into the dump wagon, haul that to the big pile and empty, repeat as necessary. We'll get the main piece out of each, then come back later to shovel out the rest, and any corrupted soil. After we finish by the river, we get those pieces in the town, then those farther out." A team of unicorns follow the excavator, able to assist with pushing the giant scoop into the soil and then pull it back out. A few unicorns move to some of the closer holes inside the town, though their attempts to levitate anything within twenty feet of any large chunks of the missiles leaves them cross-eyed and woozy.

Doug peeks out from inside the destroyed house, looking past one of the broken walls to see why the ponies a cheering, a relieved sigh when he realizes that the battle is over. Scootaloo and Apple Bloom are huddling in the corner of the bedroom with him, as far away from the impact site as they can be. Doug looks up, seeing Sweetie Belle in one of the rooms on the second floor, her hooves pawing at the slippery floor as the ceiling loudly creaks, the walls slowly leaning inwards. He yells, "I need help, please! Anypony! Quick!" and pointing to the ceiling above.

Doug goes to Apple Bloom and Scootaloo, grabbing the two scared fillies and picking them up. He turns, making his way to leap over the impact site but they start twisting, flailing in his arms to try to get as far away as they can. Their shrieks echo in the open room, "NO, IT HURTS!" , "STOP! IT BURNS!", screaming as they desperately try to get back to the corner. Doug stops, dropping the struggling fillies as he turns around, the two racing back to cower in the corner. Doug, a look of confusion on his face as to what the problem is, goes to the only available window and knocks the broken shards of glass outside with a nearby night stand, knowing he has to get them out of the wrecked building as soon as possible.

A few pegasi fly over the collapsing house, none daring to get close to the spreading chaotic energy that is sapping the color from the wooden walls. Fluttershy flies to the second floor, trying to stay as far away from the chaotic magic emanating from the open hole on the first floor as possible, barely held aloft by her magic. She motions with her forelegs, smiling at Sweetie Belle, the filly terrified at crossing the unsteady beams. A second pegasus goes to the window Doug is clearing, the gray mare holding her hooves out. The house gives another loud creak, the roof slowly waving back and forth, the second floor tilting a little more towards the missile.

Doug grabs Scootaloo and Apple Bloom, setting Apple Bloom on the counter. He says, "Girls, this house is unstable, you have to be strong." The fillies give nervous nickers as they inch closer to the missile, both closing their eyes and shuddering. Doug carefully passes Scootaloo through the window, Derpy taking the filly, quickly moving away from the broken glass and setting her down before returning for Apple Bloom. Both fillies give a sigh of relief as they look back, the house giving another loud groan.

Fluttershy yells, "Doug, don't, it's not safe!" as Doug takes a running leap over the impact site. He winces as he comes down, his bare feet on the destroyed wood, looking up at Sweetie Belle. He gingerly walks away from the house, pulling a few large shards out of his feet. Fluttershy, relief showing that Doug is safe, turns to Sweetie Belle, "Come on, dear, we have to go!"

"But I'm scared!" Sweetie Belle calls, her hooves scuffling along the floor, now dangerously tilted down. She gulps, a quick jump to the bed, then another towards Fluttershy as the bed begins sliding. Fluttershy leans forward, scared of getting any closer to the missile than she has to, grabbing hold of Sweetie Belle and flying the filly to safety as the bed drops down to the first floor, the cracking wood interrupting many of the nearby ponies as they turn to watch.

"My home..." Storied Pages says as she walks over to the destroyed house. She slumps down next to Doug, her eyes watering as a bookshelf topples over, books cascading into the hole, disintegrating on the way down. Her head lowers, the librarian trying to contain her tears as a few ponies cautiously make their way over, comforting hooves laid on the mare's back.

"Whew!" Fluttershy says to Sweetie Belle, the house behind them slowly collapsing, "Good thing you aren't much heavier than a bunny!" She plops down on the ground, moments before Doug moves over, wrapping both of them in a hug.

"Thank you thank you thank you," he says, tears slowly welling in his eyes, "You saved her life, Fluttershy." He gives another heavy sigh as he moves one hand to her head, the other scratching Sweetie Belle's side.

"Oh dear," Fluttershy says, one glance to the pile of rubble she had just left before she buries her head in Doug's chest. She glances up as as his fillies come over, each nuzzling the others. Fluttershy relaxes as Doug's arms wrap around the four of them, resting for a few moments. She can feel his head turning, looking up to follow his gaze to a group of doctors checking out a number of ponies. She feels his arms withdraw, a pang of regret that he is leaving, and slowly gets to her hooves to follow him.

Doug gets up, holding his fillies in his arms as he walks to the stage area. Mayor Mare and Spoiled Rich are coordinating the relief efforts, the two glancing at him as he walks up. Spoiled Rich says, "I'm... glad to see all of you are alive. Doug, I wanted to ask, how did you jump over that missile? You were close enough to the chaotic energy for it to scour the flesh from your legs, but you merely got splinters from the landing."

Doug glances down at his feet before looking back up, a cross, "Um, I don't know. Lack of magic?"

Spoiled Rich slowly nods, giving him a hard look, "And your fillies seem to be affected by it. Though not as badly as some." She motions with a hoof; several pegasi are being treated for burns, one of them with nearly half of the feathers on one wing seared off, the blackened area carefully being excised by two doctors. "And yet you retain no trace after passing within feet of it, while others would have absorbed that magic, corrupting them and serving as a new source to spread the chaotic magic."

Apple Bloom and Scootaloo hunch down in his arms, Doug raising an eyebrow and glaring, a harsh, "Do you have a point?"

Spoiled Rich huffs, "I am not trying to insinuate anything, merely trying to figure this out! Please stop treating me like an enemy!" She sighs a heavy sigh, bringing her hoof to her chest as she slowly breaths out. "I was thinking we could use you to dig out some of the corrupted areas, places where we might have difficulty using the earth mover or pony magic to remove all the traces of chaotic magic. Assuming it is safe for you, of course."

Doug stares at Spoiled Rich for a few seconds before saying, "Fine. I'll get Rainbow to grab my work gear, let me know where I'm needed." He sits down with a heavy thump, staring off at the ruined house, the fillies squirming a little as he squeezes them tighter.

One of the doctors comes to Doug, running an instrument over his body, a calming voice as he says, "Well, you all are hopefully the last of the ponies I need to use this instrument on. Normally a hospital wouldn't need it, but with the Everfree Forest so close by we occasionally need to whip it out, see if any of the forest's magic is spreading." He pauses, looking at the instrument and giving a surprised look, "Hmm, no signs of chaotic magic. None at all, as if it passed right through you." Doug holds up his foot, a bit of blood slowly trickling from one of the punctures. The doctor whistles, his colleagues looking over; he motions with a hoof to one, Nurse Redheart coming over with bandages and disinfectant. He holds up one foot, a wince as she rubs the disinfectant and then examining closer, carefully removing the last of the splinters. She lightly rubs the foot, watching for any reaction; seeing none, she bandages it before swapping to his other foot.

The doctor runs the instrument over Scootaloo, frowning at the elevated reading. He tries the time honored tradition of turning it off, then back on, frowning at the repeated reading. He tries Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle, grunting as they both return a reading far higher than normal. He walks over to Nurse Redheart, getting a normal reading from her, and then cautiously walking closer to the destroyed house, watching as the reading slowly climbs and climbs as he gets closer. He walks back to the fillies, each pony watching with interest as the reading slowly climbs; he says, "Doug, these are your fillies, correct?"

Doug nods, grimacing a little as the disinfectant is applied, "Yes. Why?"

"They are giving off a reading, suggesting that they are storing an elevated level of chaotic energy, but it does not seem to be harmful to them, or emanating out from them. In other words, they seem to be holding onto that energy, and this detector can spot it, but they are not releasing it; you can tell, because we can stand to be near them without burning. You have other fillies, correct?"

"Yes, back at the farmhouse." Doug waves at Rainbow, the mare flying over. His voice, a note of exhaustion in his voice, "I need Rainbow to go back and get me some things from the house. She could take a reading for you."

"Excellent." The doctor turns to Rainbow Dash, hooving the instrument over. "Rainbow, when you get to the farmhouse, take this, point it at each filly from about one foot away. Press this button here, that starts measuring, and remember the number that comes up. Just wave it about a foot or so away from each of them. Press this button to turn the instrument off."

"Okay." Rainbow takes the chaos detector, peering at the odd looking machine, the blinking lights fascinating her for a moment before looking at Doug. "You need something?"

"My boots and gloves. And a shovel or two, the big metal ones. Guess I'm going to be helping more with the cleanup." Doug reaches over, pulling Rainbow in for a hug, forcing a smile to his face, "Also, great work out there. Awesome as always."

Rainbow rolls her eyes, "Alright, that makes it worth being a glorified courier. See ya soon, dude." A brief kiss before she takes off, heading for the Apple farmhouse, looking back and winking at Doug as she flies away. Doug happily sighs, the smile returning to his face, the sight of that pegasus in particular flying always enough to lift his spirits. 

Spoiled Rich motions for him to walk towards one of the missiles embedded in the streets, stopping about twenty yards away, her ears laying flat. She asks, "You can feel nothing?" Doug shakes his head, Spoiled Rich shuddering, "This is about where I can feel tingling, the chaos magic reaching out to me." She walks backwards, "It is... extraordinarily unpleasant. To say the least."

Doug shakes his head, "Nope, don't feel anything at all." He reaches an arm forward, then a cautious step before backing off, "Still nothing."

The doctor comes up as Rainbow Dash returns in a wide course that takes her around the missile. The doctor asks, "Any reading on the fillies?" 

Rainbow hoofs the instrument back, "Nope, nothing at all. It beeped a little at me when I pointed it at myself." She gives a half smile, moving over to Doug, enjoying the ear scratches as they both look at the doctor.

The doctor takes the instrument, "Yes, you likely have a little, just residual chaos magic the missiles left behind, likely in the air you were breathing. Just take one of the pills we will be distributing shortly, and you should be fine." He points the instrument at Doug, "Hmm, like you said, nothing at all. If you feel up to it, get as close to the missile as you can, then return."

Doug shrugs, walking up to the missile, casually reaching out a hand. The mares around him gasp as his finger gets an inch from one of the cats, the rocky visage quietly yowling at him, the tiny teeth trying to lunge closer. He backs up, returning to the doctor; the pony shakes his head, looking at the reading, "Nothing again. Well, I still wouldn't touch any, at least not with anything you don't mind losing. But you are okay to work, for now, just let anypony know as soon as you feel the slightest bit off."

"Sure." Doug takes the shovel from Rainbow as Applejack leads the excavator down the street, the scoop positioned at the base of the hole. The unicorn's horns light, the metal driving into the ground, soon coming out the other side and lifting the missile out of the ground. The dump wagon moves over, the earth ponies scratching the dirt nervously as the excavator unloads its contents. The two earth ponies hurry to the pile of rubble, dumping the wagon and rushing away, then taking a more languid pace to return to town.

Applejack walks over to Doug, a serious expression on her face. "Hey, Doug, walk with me." Doug follows her over the bridge, the bustle of ponies moving back and forth, many giving the impact sites in the road and town a wide berth as they move to examine their houses. They walk up to the bank of the river, their hooves and feet squelching as they get out of earshot of the town. Applejack says, "Doug, Ah'm disappointed in you. Ah-" She stops herself as she sees Doug collapse to the ground next to her, the work gear falling out of his hands as his arms move to cover his face.

She takes a cautious step forward, watching his chest heave up and down, his sobs stifled by his arms covering his nose and mouth. He shies back as she reaches a hoof towards him, turning his head away from her as she tries to nuzzle him. She frowns, taking another step closer and pressing her muzzle into his chest, moving up to push his arm out of the way so she can see his face. He sniffs loudly, attempting to retrieve the snot mixing with his tears as they roll down his face, barely glancing at Applejack before he squeezes his eyelids shut again.

"You okay there, partner?" Applejack asks in a quiet voice, her muzzle gently pushing against his cheek.

"It's all my fault, Applejack," Doug chokes out. "I nearly got the... I nearly got our fillies killed, and for what? Because I was afraid they would run off or something?" He shakes his head, "Much better to just drop them straight into the fire, right?" He tries to laugh, failing as he chokes up again, trying to look anywhere but at Applejack.

"Look, it ain't your fault." Applejack tries to push his arm away from his face, succeeding as he rolls backwards into the mud. "You didn't know it was going to be this bad."

"But you did, Applejack, and I ignored your advice about this crazy world, and look what it almost ended up costing us." His legs pull towards his chest as he gives a heavy sigh, looking back at Ponyville, "Some days, I just want to go home."

"And maybe Ah should have insisted, but we needed all the help we could get out here and Ah didn't want to stand there arguing. Who knows, maybe you and the fillies helped save the town by gathering enough sheets for the pegasi to use." She rubs a hoof along his mud coated side, "And we can get you home, take a bath and clean you up, but we need to deal with this stuff here first." She looks into his red rimmed eyes staring off into space. She frowns at his lack of movement, "But that ain't what you meant, was it?" She pushes her hoof into his chest, leaving a muddy hoofprint, "You better not be thinking about leaving."

Doug stares off for a few seconds before slowly shaking his head, shutting his eyes and grabbing Applejack, pulling her chest into his. "Half the ponies here hate me, Applejack, and the other half just put up with me because of you. I can see it in their eyes, the way they watch me everywhere I go. Sometimes, Applejack, I don't know why I keep pushing myself. Whether or not it's worth it." He shudders in her hooves, mud smearing across his hands and face as he tries to wipe his tears away.

Applejack takes a hard look at him, made difficult by his arm wrapped around her barrel, "Well, if you ain't gonna do it for yourself, know that you got a lot of ponies counting on you. Lookin' up to you, expecting things from you. And Ah ain't talking about bits or junk like that, but a good role model. Ponies like Apple Bloom over there, and Rainbow, and even me. And Ah know you want to be perfect, and respected by all, but trust me, partner, none of us are perfect, and the sooner you accept that about yourself the better. Now, pick up that shovel, lets get a quick dip in the river. Ah know Ah'm a mud pony, but that don't mean Ah like it lathered on my coat." Doug smirks at the last comment, a long breath out as his face returns to a neutral expression, giving a heavy sigh. Applejack pushes her muzzle into his side again, saying, "Come on, partner, up'n at'em." She gently nuzzles him as he lays still, his heavy breathing puncturing the silence, "Or did you want to lay anything else on me? Ah'm here to help if you need it, and so is the rest of the herd."

Doug gives Applejack another squeeze before gently pushing her to the side, Applejack smiling as she makes her way to the river. The two hop in, quickly rinsing themselves off in the cool, untainted water. Doug ruffles Applejack's mane, the wet ponytail clinging to her side, "Thanks, Applejack. Thank you for everything."

"Aww, shucks, Sugarcube, ain't nothing anypony wouldn't do." She glances over at the dropped items, "Now, you might want to lose the gloves and boots; Ah think they'll just get eaten up by the chaos, and Ah don't think Rarity wants you throwing away her hard-made work."

"Well, least I'm used to working naked," Doug quips as he rolls his eyes, grabbing his shovel while Applejack gets the boots and gloves, her wet tail leaving a long red line as it whips across his flank. The two trade smirks as they walk along the river towards the nearest dug-out hole. 

Applejack takes a few cautious steps towards the hole, shaking her head, "Ah think the digger got everything from this one, the solid pieces that is. Still a bit of corruption, but we'll need to handle that as a town. Let's head to the next one, Ah think I feel some coming from there."