//------------------------------// // Act 5, Chapter 4 - Honesty // Story: Hoof and Claw Versus the World // by Chythar //------------------------------// I had been sent to retrieve one of the Elements of Harmony, but which one? And where the heck did Nightmare Moon send me? I was standing on a dirt road that wound through a field of green grass. The grass waved lightly as a gentle wind drifted by. The wind blew from behind me, and with it came the earthy scents of a forest. I could see buildings off in the distance that made me think that I was on an old farm. Somewhere. The sky was a bright blue, with wisps of cloud that drifted lazily in the wind. The late morning breeze was a little on the cool side, though experience told me it would warm up after noon. To my left was a large swath of green grass. The grass was close to knee-high, and was a bright shade of green that would darken during the heat of summer. Beyond the field was a wooded area, the trees too tightly packed together to see far past the tree line. To my right was much the same, but the grassy area was bigger. No, not 20% bigger. Sheesh. More like twice the size of the expanse on my left. The dirt road was just two ruts in the ground parallel to each other. They had been dug deep into the soil, so I knew this road had been well-used for many years. A ways down the road was a small building. It sat just off to the left of the road, and it had seen better days. Its roof had collapsed, and the bare rafters were sagging downward. The faded red paint covered badly-weathered boards, while the door was open and sagged down on its hinges. The building was much too small to be a barn, perhaps it had been used for storing tools or animal feed? Much farther down the road was a large farmhouse. The house had fared much better than the storage shed, as I was calling it. The home looked to be in decent condition and had a newish looking roof on top, so someone was probably living in it. However, the white paint looked to be dull and peeling even at this great distance. The road continued past the farmhouse on its right side, and presumedly led up to a street on the other side. I idly wondered if that part of the road had been paved, or just covered in gravel. The entire scene was somehow familiar, even though I had grown up in the suburbs of a large city. This was simply what was left of an an old country farm, where the owner had sold off the farmland but kept the house to live in. So. If I was an Element of Harmony, where would I be hiding? I could spend all day searching the farm and find nothing. So let's cheat. I can sense magic, and magic is rare in this world. Let's see if I can detect the magic that this Element gives off. I closed my eyes to concentrate, and sent out my magical senses. I immediately felt a little tingle of magic from where I was standing, though it was maybe twenty feet in the air. That had to be the teleportation node. I got another tingle of magic, somewhere down the road and off to the left. The tingle felt like it was around my 10 o'clock position, and on or near the ground. I doubt Rainbow Dash would hide on the ground, and Fluttershy wasn't with the group. So this means I have air superiority. With a thought, I opened my magical wings and leapt into the air. I stayed kinda low to the ground however, maybe a hundred feet or so in the air. Much higher and I wouldn't be able to see a pony hiding on the ground; any lower and I could be easily attacked. I slowly followed the road towards the farmhouse, then took a lazy left past the storage shed. What I saw next surprised me so much, I had to stop in mid-air to stare at it. The large yard behind the farmhouse was covered in old appliances. Refrigerators, washers & dryers, dishwashers, freezers, and other stuff I didn’t recognize. They were painted in browns and pale greens and whites, with a smattering of yellows and blues and tans. Grass and weeds poked up all around and even inside the metal machines. What the appliances all had in common was age. None of them looked remotely new, their paint faded or their doors left open to the elements. Some looked to be made entirely out of rust. The group of appliances just in front of me were strewn around at random, with dirt paths that snaked between the metal shells. Some lay on their side and some were upright, like someone had just dumped them and left. It was obvious to me that this was an appliance graveyard. Farther down, someone had taken the time to organize the old appliances in order. There were five rows that stretched away from me, with random gaps in the rows. The shorter appliances were stacked two high, with a tall refrigerator placed here or there. It almost looked like someone had made a maze out of the metal boxes. I imagined that this farm was an ideal place for the local Halloween horror maze. The maze of appliances was also a great place for a pony to hide. My magic-sense wasn't very accurate, unfortunately. It had stopped giving me a direction as soon as I saw the graveyard, so I knew the Element Bearer was close by. But exactly where, I couldn't tell. So I drifted slowly forward, almost hovering over the graveyard, and panned my head to the left and right. I saw no one, and no pony. Suddenly, I heard a loud CLANG! You know, the sound of metal hitting metal really hard. It came from behind me and to my left, so I glanced over my shoulder. I was just in time to see a washer unit sailing through the air right at me! "WHOAH!" I quickly ducked under the large projectile and watched it sail over my head. That was TOO close! It was definitely a washer unit; the top controls and upper door were unmistakable. And it had a large dent on one side. How in the heck did that thing get up in the air? These things are HEAVY! There's concrete inside them to keep them from shaking around in the spin cycle! My eyes subconsciously followed the washer as it fell back to earth, and watched it land noisily into a pile of old refrigerators. As suddenly as the first, another loud CLANG signaled that it was time to dodge. This time I was ready, so I simply flew half a dozen feet to my right. The projectile (a dryer this time) sailed past and missed me by a comfortable margin. I watched this one smash into a million pieces when it landed on the hard ground. Which of the Element Bearers could toss such heavy objects so high in the air? From down below, I heard my answer. "Stand still, ya varmint!" Applejack. I turned and followed the voice with my ears, then looked down at the ground. There she was, standing out in the open. Her tan coat and stetson hat stood out starkly against the green grass. While I watched, she turned around and was about to buck another appliance at me. But this time, I was ready. I swung off to my left and swooped down towards the apple farmer, who was too busy aiming her shot to notice I had moved. Yet another CLANG came from the mare's horseshoes impacting the appliance, the force of which sent the metal box flying into the air. Before her hind hooves touched the ground, I fired off a blast of paralyzing lightning at her body. The blast hit! And was absorbed by a small magical shield. It popped up to absorb the blast, then disappeared just as fast. "Nice try! Princess Celestia gave me this here necklace, an' said it would protect me from your confounded black magic!" "It's not black magic, it's just ordinary magic!" "Whatever! Bet ya can't catch me!" Applejack then bolted towards the appliance maze. I made a banked turn and tried to catch her, but she was surprisingly fast. In scant seconds, she was inside the maze. I had to drop down low into the maze to try and catch her; then I put on an extra burst of speed. I was upon her a moment later, and I reached out to grab her tail... Just as AJ jinked left through a gap between the appliances. I took the same turn on instinct, but I was moving too fast and smashed into the row of appliances. The one I hit crumpled under the impact and was pushed out of the way! The heavy freezer on top then dropped painfully onto my body. A second later the stack next door tipped over, and the top unit fell on to my legs. Ouch. I tried to untangle myself, but my wings were pinned under the heavy machines. I had to de-summon them to free myself. After I untangled my body and stood up, I realized that the metal gadgets would have crushed my wings if they weren’t magical constructs. I heard Applejack's laughter float over from somewhere nearby. "I hope you got a hard head, or this chase'll be over quick!" I have to fly fast to catch her, but she'll just pull the same trick again. I can't run as fast as she can, and if I stay safely in the air I can't even zap her. Time for some reinforcements. With a magical tug, I pulled my Shadowcats from the Moon Palace and re-formed them in front of me. The small cats looked surprised to be there, and glanced all around themselves to get their bearings. "Okay, listen up. Take your Shadowcat forms." All three cats immediately shimmered in magic, then reappeared in their larger Shadowbolt bodies and uniforms. They sat down in front of me, fluttered their wings and waited for their orders. "Your prey today is Applejack. Tan earth pony wearing a hat and has three apples for a cutie mark. Track her down on foot. Er, paw. When you find her, chase her and try to grab one of the necklaces she's wearing. Doesn't matter which one. Split up, and I'll watch out from up above." I leapt into the air and took up a position maybe forty feet or so high. I hovered over the maze for a few uneventful minutes, until I heard a loud feline yowl! I made a beeline to the sound, and saw that Kusac had Applejack on the run! I watched as AJ took a 180 around an appliance wall, but instead of taking the turn Kusac skidded to a stop and turned around. Both AJ and Kusac were running the same way, but on either side of the same wall. Applejack was fast, but Kusac was faster. He burst through a gap in the wall right in front of the mare, and the farmer pony slammed on the brakes! As she did, I saw a little sparkle swing away from her body. It had to be the pendant! Kusac must have thought the same, as he reached out with a paw to grab it. Electricity arced across the cat’s body and through his fur. His pained yowls could be heard over the crackle of lightning. As soon as they started, the electricity and yowling stopped. Kusac immediately collapsed to the ground. Applejack paused for a moment to look at the downed cat, then stretched out a shaky hoof towards his unmoving body. She paused and looked up at me, then immediately turned around and ran back the way she came. My concern for Kusac was much more important than catching Applejack, Nightmare Moon be damned. So I ignored Applejack and landed hard next to my feline friend in the grassy dirt. A quick check-over revealed he was breathing, but would not wake up when I shook him. I had no way to heal his injuries, but I remembered that he was supposed to be a magical construct. So, I decided to try something: I de-summoned Kusac, then re-summoned him. He reappeared next to me in a sitting position. And most importantly, he was awake. He shook his head several times, then looked up at me with confusion in his eyes. I stroked his back with a hand, and he began to purr. "Good job, Kusac. You almost had her." I recalled my Shadowcats and gave them new instructions. "Her pendant is booby-trapped, so don't touch it. Grab her hat instead, and run off with it. Make her chase you, and lead her to me.” Bastet found Applejack next. The tan pony put on the brakes as soon as she saw the tortoiseshell cat, but Bastet was faster. Her paw swiped out and snagged AJ's stetson with her claws. She tucked the hat under a wing, then scorched off into the maze with Applejack in hot pursuit. "Come back here with ma hat!" Bastet let AJ on a short yet speedy chase around the appliance maze. She ran just fast enough to keep the mare close, but never close enough to be caught. Applejack rounded the last corner only to find me, kneeling down with an outstretched hand. "Whoah, nelly!" There was no way for her to stop in time. Applejack ran into my hand, and I let loose a zap of paralyzing lightning INSIDE her protective shield. The mare had no defense against that, and her body tumbled limply into my arms. I set the awake yet paralyzed mare gently onto the ground, and arranged her body so she looked comfortable. While I did this, Kusac and Bastet padded up to my right and left sides respectively. Isis trotted around the corner from in front, and all three cats sat down to watch. I turned to Bastet and retrieved Applejack's stetson hat, took off my helmet, then placed her hat on my head. Surprisingly, the hat was a good fit. I looked down at AJ, and she looked pretty pissed that I was wearing her prized hat. "Aw, is something wrong?" "You know there is, you're wearin' ma hat!" "My hat now. Isis, get her Element necklace please. Don't touch the other pendant." "No, no, no! Ya can't do this!" Applejack tried to squirm and prevent the loss of her Element, but the paralysis held her strong. Isis handed over the Element of Honesty to me, and I smiled softly at the farm pony. "See? All done." "Fine. I guess you're just gonna kill me now." "What? Why would you think that? I just wanted your Element necklace. The paralysis will wear off soon, and Celestia will come back for you eventually." I stood up, and took the stetson off of my head. I held it above Applejack, then dropped the hat on her face so she couldn't see. As I walked away, I gave her my last statement. "Not all of us bad guys are evil." The world re-appeared around me, and the first thing I saw was Nightmare Moon. She was facing towards my left, and had not yet noticed my arrival. A quick glance past her showed that I was back in the field in Washington DC, where Nighty and I had confronted Celestia and the Bearers. A zap of lightning arched from the ebony mare’s horn, and her target screamed in agony. I turned in time to see a uniformed police officer collapse to the ground. Lightning arced all over her body, and she let out another throaty scream. The officer thrashed about on the ground for several painful moments until the spell faded away. Just past the police officer was a police car, parked on a paved pathway normally reserved for joggers or bicyclists. Its lights were flashing and the driver's door was open. The officer was still lying on the grass, and had not moved as far as I could tell. The officer’s unmoving body made me uncomfortable; had the Night Mare killed her? I turned back to the ebony mare, who had just noticed my arrival. "Ah, you have returned. And so quickly! I trust that you were successful?" "Uh, yes." I pulled the Element of Honesty out of my pocket dimension, and showed the jewelry to her. "Excellent! And what of the Bearer?" "Paralyzed and relatively unhurt." The Mare in the Moon frowned. "I would have thought your feline nature would have made you more bloodthirsty." I returned the Element to my pocket dimension before I replied. "Didn't want to damage her Element on accident. Besides, Celestia had her protected with some sort of anti-magic shield via a necklace she was wearing. I had to chase her down and get past that protection before I could stop her. Once I had her Element, there was no need to kill her. I had what I wanted." "Hmm, perhaps. "Regardless, I shall send you to rendezvous with the next Bearer." Nightmare Moon's spell enveloped me, and I was sent off through the aether to my next meeting.