War in Equestria: The Tale of Bright Blade

by Michael_Ravencroft

Chapter 9

Twilight lying in her bed awake, her mind was still trying to make sense of everything Princess Celestia had told them. She was already having a hard enough time with her sudden loss of all memory concerning Bright Blade, but adding this on top of everything else was almost enough to make her head explode. An ancient pony civilization older than ours, soul sucking demon ponies, an amnesiac earth pony who can transform into an alicorn! Ugh, the biggest part of this headache is definitely due to Bright Blade.

Twilight poked her head out from under the covers; she looked over at Bright Blade and saw that he was rolling around, groaning. Nightmares, she thought. Despite her suspicions about him Twilight found it hard not to offer some comfort to the young colt. She got out from her bed and went to Bright Blade's bedside, like before Twilight patted him on top of the head which seemed to calm him. Once it seemed that Bright Blade was sleeping comfortably she went back to her bed, despite what she was doing Twilight knew that there was still something not to be trusted about him. Even when she had the perfect opportunity to tell the Princess about this she lied, she lied to her mentor and ruler of their world. Strange though, Princess Celestia didn't seem to recognize him at all, but in the journal I told her about Bright Blade? It was then that Twilight had an idea. That does it, from tomorrow onwards I'm following him, I don't care how long it might take, but I'm going to find out whatever he's possibly hiding no matter what, she secretly swore.

Twilight could hear Bright Blade getting up; quietly he made his bed and proceeded to head down the latter, she could smell breakfast being cooked by Spike as per usual. When she was sure that Bright Blade was out of sight, Twilight swiftly slipped out of bed and stuffed some pillows under her sheets. She then crawled to the edge and listened closely, and watched carefully. Bright Blade immediately went to the table, scarfed a sandwich, and chugged down some milk. "Hey BB, you sure I can't make you something else?"

"Sorry Spike, no thanks. I got – uh – stuff to do," said Bright Blade.

Stuff! What kind of stuff, thought Twilight.

"See ya later," with that Bright Blade ran out the door.

Twilight rushed to her bed and with her telekinesis removed her saddlebags from underneath. She strapped them on and levitated off down to the lower level. Twilight was half-way towards downstairs doorway, when she heard the pitter patter of dragon feet. "Twilight your up too? Wow first BB gets up early and now you…what's going on?" asked Spike, suspicious.

"W-wha-what! Spike nothing's going on, I'm just uh, going to visit – Fluttershy! Yeah, she needs my help with some of her animal friends so I decided to lend her a hoof, well gotta go!" Twilight disappeared in a flash of purple, leaving behind one confused baby dragon.

Twilight kept to the roof tops of Ponyville, teleporting discretely from one to the other, the whole time never taking her eyes off Bright Blade. Twilight levitated a journal and quill pen out of the saddle bag and began to write in it:

August 27th: Bright Blade left early this morning, having a light breakfast. Spike didn't seem to know where he was going, judging by his reaction to how fast he left. Currently he's walking along the streets, the reactions from the other ponies are a mixture of appreciation and, I would venture to say fear, maybe.

Twilight spotted Bright Blade turning the corner and making his way down the dirt road. "That way goes to Sweet Apple Acres, wonder why he's going there?" She then teleported to the next closest roof top and allowed Bright Blade to gain some distance. When he was halfway down the road Twilight, once again, teleported to the ground, and began following the earth pony by hoof. She ducked behind every tree should could find, and jumped into any nearby bush. There were several times when Bright Blade turned around and almost caught Twilight, she was able to uproot a bush and was using it as camouflage. Thankfully Bright Blade didn't suspect anything and ventured forth.

As they approached the Apple family farm Bright Blade bypassed the main house and headed towards the orchard. It was then that Twilight was able to figure out his destination. "Oooohhh, now I get it! He's heading for the Crusader's clubhouse," said Twilight to herself. Luckily the orchard was thick with trees and bushes, so it made it that much easier for Twilight to sneak around and keep close without being spotted. "Guess I'm going to be writing about another of their latest 'get a cutie mark quick' schemes," giggled Twilight, her imagination running through all the possible funny, and almost nearly flamboyant scenarios that were about to be played out. She crawled to the tree line trying to get a closer look, when Twilight poked her head up from a clump of bushes her jaw dropped immediately.

"Cool huh," said Scootaloo, "we spent all yesterday afternoon, and a little bit of this morning making it!"

Twilight took out her journal and quill pen and quickly wrote in her journal:

I have followed Bright Blade into Apple Family orchard where the Crusaders clubhouse was. I originally thought he was going to play with Crusaders, but now! The whole place looks like a makeshift Royal Guard training ground! How did those three little fillies make something like this!

Twilight then heard knocking and poked her head back up to see what was going on. Just then Rarity, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash all appeared from different hiding places. From what she could hear it seems that the Crusaders found out about the origins of Equestria and the Daemoni from Bright Blade, and it also seems that her friends had a hand in helping them create this elaborate setup.

"We figured if that's what's really going on then you're the only one who can protect Ponyville," said Apple Bloom.

"Maybe all of Equestria," added Sweetie Belle.

"And that's why we built this, a training ground to help you get ready for when you have to fight again," said Scootaloo.

She noticed that Bright Blade seemed to get really nervous after what they said. Who wouldn't be nervous after hearing all that, Twilight thought.

"But you know I had no, I repeat, NO control over that transformation, heck I don't even know how I did it in the first place," shouted Bright Blade.

Twilight quickly wrote that in her journal, marking it down for future reference. Now Bright Blade looked really nervous, she felt almost betrayed, that her friends would do this behind her back. And to top it all off Bight Blade was just a colt, and they built this just to bring out that mysterious power. Twilight could see that Bright Blade was cowering a bit, almost as if he were being crushed under the pressure that he was feeling from the others.

Applejack was the one to come up and comfort her fellow earth pony. "Look BB, we're not telling ya you should do this – if anything Twilight would have our heads for making this whole thing in first place."

"You're darn right I would," Twilight hissed. She smacked a tree hard with her left foreleg. The tree shook and from its branches two squirrels fell out and landed on top of her head. Eeeeeekkkkkk! They scrambled around scarred and annoyed that they were forced down so violently, getting tangled up in Twilight's mane. Eventually Twilight was able to get them loose and, after the squirrels shook their tiny fists at her, the squirrels scampered off through the bushes. Twilight took a peek to see if she had been spotted, but it looked like she was safe for now as Applejack went back to their conversation.

"Whew, that was too close," said Twilight.

Twilight watched intently as Bright Blade went through the training regimen that her friends created. Her feelings towards the training were mixed, part curiosity, part suspicion, and bit of hilarity.

Today I found out that my friends and the Cutie Mark Crusaders wanted to help Bright Blade by creating a training ground and assisting him in different ways.

Applejack trained Bright Blade in strength; to be honest I was kind of thinking that his alicorn strength would transmit to his earth pony form. But unfortunately he couldn't move Applejack, Bright Blade looked pretty tired after that. Guess he wasn't able to channel that super strength I had heard of during the Siege.

Next he started to train with Rarity and Sweetie Belle in magic! Magic! Of all things, it's not like I'm jealous or anything, but I have been studying all the intricacies of magic for years now! But again I'm not jealous! A-a-anyway Bright Blade's aptitude for magic was lacking, Sweetie Belle's magic on the other hoof is improving nicely. Of course it wouldn't be possible for Bright Blade to use magic since he didn't have a horn, but I have to say I was hoping he could use magic.

This lesson had to be one of the worst ideas I've ever seen Rainbow Dash come up with. At first I thought "Wow it's really nice to see Rainbow giving lessons on flying to not just Scootaloo, but Bright Blade as well, even though he didn't have any wings." But when she decided to drop him from a hundred feet in the air that thought quickly went out the door. I have to say I was afraid when I saw him free-fall like that, but luckily Rainbow Dash was able to catch him. I almost wanted to run up to Rainbow and slap her upside the head for what she did. But thankfully Applejack and Rarity were able to set her straight.

Twilight's stomach was growling, remembering that she hadn't gotten to eat any of the breakfast that Spike had made. And it wasn't helping that her friends were having a picnic ten feet from her position. During their lunch Applejack, with a frustrated look on her face, took one of the wooden swords and began to whack the bushes where Twilight was. The lavender unicorn had to put her hooves over her mouth to keep from screaming when Applejack accidentally hit her on the rear, really hard. Although irritated that her friend just practically spanked her, Twilight wasn't about to give up that easily.

With the groups meal having been consumed they were now underway to the second part of the training. Twilight watched as Rarity, Sweetie Belle, Applejack, Apple Bloom, Rainbow Dash, and Scootaloo all took their positions around the training ground. She saw as Bright Blade hesitantly picked up one of the wooden swords on the rack and took his stance. Twilight took a big gulp, would he transform again, would Bright Blade go on a rampage and hurt her friends. That in mind she prepared herself to step in, just in case anything really did go wrong.

Bright Blade took off, weaving in and out of the incoming wood Daemoni. Impressive, she thought. What came next made her wince, Bright Blade was blindsided by Rainbow Dash with a sandbag, and afterwards was pelted with apples by Applejack repeatedly. Oh ouch! Please somepony stop this already! She had had enough, Twilight's horn began to glow, but before she could do anything Applejack yelled "Stop!"

Bright Blade was completely covered in apple bits. Twilight was starting to feel bad for him, but then she noticed Bright Blade blushing after talking to Sweetie Belle. Afterwards it seemed that Bright Blade caught his second wind, his expression changed, it was more serious. Twilight readied her quill and journal, feeling that something was about to happen. Bright Blade took off, faster than last time. He struck down two of the wooden horses and demolished the third. Holy horse apples! Twilight quickly wrote it down in the journal. Rainbow Dash swooped in next, swinging her sandbags at him. Bright Blade quickly neutralized the sandbags, dodging one of them, and impaling the other with his wooden sword. Twilight was getting excited, it was as if she was watching an action scene from one her novels.

"Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, load me up," Applejack ordered. Twilight watched as Scootaloo and Apple Bloom threw apples up into the air and as Applejack kicked them in Bright Blade's direction. He ripped the wooden sword from the sandbag and started to deflect some of the apples. Wow that's amazing, the accuracy, the speed, the power, the –their heading right for me!

Indeed the apples were soaring Twilight's way; she released the quill and journal and began frantically dodging the apples that pierced the bushes. Unfortunately Twilight wasn't able to move in time to miss the last apple as it hit her in the right eye, sending Twilight flat on her back.

"I swear he knew exactly where I was, no way it couldn't have been a coincidence," said Twilight. The impact had knocked her out for a couple of minutes because when she awoke her friends had left the area. Twilight had to stealthily make her way back to the library, making sure not to draw any attention to herself. Once home she found Spike tidying up the library.

"Jeez Twilight what happened to you! Ha, ha, where'd ya get that shiner," laughed Spike.

"Ha, Ha, Ha, very funny," said Twilight drolly. "Now are you going to laugh or are you going to get me an ice pack!"

"Alright, alright don't get your tail in a knot," as Spike walked upstairs to the kitchen Twilight could hear him snickering the whole way. She fired a small magic bolt towards the stairwell resulting in Spike letting out a squeak from the sting.

After Twilight iced down her right eye she went back to her private study to finish up writing the entry in her journal. Once done with that she hurriedly replaced the journal while Spike was upstairs. As she passed by the window Twilight saw that Bright Blade was coming home, she panicked when she remembered what that her mane and eye were messed up. Twilight hurriedly went to her podium and used her telekinesis to grab multiple books from the shelves. She then scattered them around her and placed one book on the podium itself. Twilight opened the book and began pretending to read the book, just in time.

Bright Blade walked into the library and up to Twilight. "Hey Twilight, I wanted to ask you something."

Twilight took a shallow deep breath, "Yes Bright Blade?"

"Twilight what happened to you," exclaimed Bright Blade.

"What do you mean," she asked.

"What do I mean! How come you have a black eye, and what happened to your mane," asked Bright Blade worried.

"Heh, heh, heh, funny story about that…" Twilight searched her mind for a story that would satisfy Bright Blade's curiosity. "You see today I went to visit Fluttershy, she needed help with some of her animal friends. Unfortunately the animals got a little rambunctious and Angel threw an apple which, well," Twilight pointed at her eye for effect.

Bright Blade looked like he wanted to believe Twilight's story, but her nervous chuckling made him wonder. Twilight could tell he wasn't buying it and tried to redirect the conversation. "A-anyway enough about me, what about you, did you do anything fun!"

"Uh no, nothing much, I just visited Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle at the clubhouse! You know, I might have my cutie mark, but I still want help them find theirs," said Bright Blade hastily.

Spike was walking downstairs with an ice pack, upon noticing Bright Blade Spike excitedly ran up to him. "Hey Bright Blade when did you get back!"

"Just now, what's that?" he asked.

"An ice pack for Twilight," answered Spike.

Twilight levitated the ice pack to her eye, she sighed in relief as the cool pack soothed her blackened, throbbing eye. "Listen; why don't you guys go and have some fun, I'm going to go upstairs and rest for bit."

The two of them nodded as Twilight ascended the stairs, "Bright Blade why do you smell like apples," asked Spike.

Twilight chuckled and kept going. Eventually she got on her bed and stared out the window, removing and replacing the ice pack, and groaning from her exhaustive stealth mission. "That's it I'm just going to confront them about it later, no more sneaking around," said Twilight as she drifted to sleep.