//------------------------------// // Chapter 2: Setting Out // Story: The Gaean Crusade // by Seven Fates //------------------------------// Oo-Chapter 2: Setting Out-oO “Are you sure Princess Celestia is really going to just give out a letter of pardon that gets me out of work for however long this is going to be?” Goldenrod asked impatiently as he trotted alongside Twilight. It took all of his effort to not fly off towards the flower stall and let the girls know that he wasn't going to be in Ponyville for a long time. “I really feel like I should say something to them.” “There's no time, Goldenrod,” Twilight said. “We've got to get to the train station before 7:30 a.m. The first train out of the station leaves for Appleloosa at 7:45. Just don't worry about it. I had Spike send the request for a letter of pardon before we left. Given our mission, Princess Celestia has no reason not to do everything she can to help us.” Scootaloo popped her head out of one of his saddlebags, startling both Goldenrod and Twilight. “She's right, bro. She knows what she's doing,” she said with a grin. Catching the startled expressions on her companions faces, she added, “What? It's roomy in here, and I wanted to see what it was like being Pinkie Pie.” “I wouldn't do that if I were you,” Twilight said with a hint of amusement. “We haven't studied the effects of placing one enchanted saddlebag inside another.” She winked mischievously at Goldenrod. “You might bring about the end of the universe.” He knew Scootaloo was fast, but the speed at which the adolescent pony flew out of the saddlebag was on par with the freaky speeds Pinkie could move at. Clearly the prospect of being blamed for the end of the universe scared her. It didn't seem to occur to her that if the universe ended, nopony would be able to blame her. Onward they went, passing by familiar faces in the streets of Ponyville. It eerily felt as though every eye was on them. Goldenrod almost swore that he even caught sight of a few faces that usually weren't seen this early in the morning. A few of them were even waving hello―or was it goodbye?―as they passed. Sure enough, Lyra and Bon-Bon were both sitting on a bench in front of the train-station, waving their hooves. Goldenrod had his occasional dealings with the aquamarine unicorn. As long as he was feeling charitable, he didn't mind indulging in her obsession with humans. Much to Bon-Bon's chagrin, the two got on well enough. Mostly, she hated hearing Lyra recount his rambling over the loss of his hands. Once she understood that Goldenrod would never be more than a friend, though, she tolerated him. “Good morning Lyra, Bon-Bon,” Goldenrod nickered. “Are you two going on a romantic getaway?” Bon-Bon began blushing furiously, while Lyra broke out into raucous laughter. “Nah! It's not a bad idea though,” Lyra said between laughs, giving her life-partner a knowing wink. Impossibly, Bon-Bon started turning even redder. “We just wanted to say goodbye.” The three outbound adventurers exchanged confused glances. As far as any of them knew, neither Lyra or Bon-Bon possessed any form of precognition. How could anypony have known that they were leaving this morning? The only one who knew they were leaving at all was Spike... They didn't have time to ask, however. Twilight glanced up at the clock mounted above the station's ticket booth, and dragged her companions forth. Goldenrod paid no attention to the exchange between their leader and the ticket-master. Instead he stifled a yawn and tried not to simply fall asleep right there before they even reached the train platform. “C'mon bro, you can't sleep here!” Scootaloo kicked him gently in the side. “We're not even on the train yet!” Indolently, he followed close behind Twilight and Scootaloo as they stepped out onto the boarding platform. Any fatigue he might have been fighting off was soon forgotten. A loud bang went off beside him, and the sudden impact of confetti and streamers nearly blasted him off his hooves. As he gazed around dazedly, he saw that the three of them weren't alone on the platform. Standing right beside him was Pinkie Pie with her party cannon, and while he couldn't hear her over the ringing in his ears, he knew she was probably apologizing. Behind her stood Rarity, Fluttershy, Applejack and―to his surprise―Spike. As the ringing in his ears began to clear, he could hear Pinkie talking. “... and Spike said you all were going away on a mission from the Princess and that you'd probably be gone for a long time. So I figured you might want to say bye-bye!” Pinkie was having a motor-mouth moment, and as Goldenrod continued to listen, he knew he had to stop it. “So, you four all camped out here all night, at the behest of the scaly sneak?” he interjected, laughing. Spike gave him an unimpressed scowl, but didn't reply. “Still, it's a shame Rainbow Dash is on tour with the Wonder Bolts. I know Scoot would have liked to see her one last time before we go.” The orange pegasus looked a bit downtrodden as the realization struck her that nopony had specifically shown up to say goodbye to her. Applejack caught on quick enough, and offered words of reassurance. “Chin up, sugar-cube. Ah reckon y'all will be havin' plenty o' time to catch up with Apple Bloom in Appleloosa, if what Spike says was true.” “She's quite right, darling.” Rarity added agreeably. “And of course if you ever stop in Canterlot, I know Sweetie Belle would be dying to get a visit from you. As much as she loves the music academy, I always hear from her how lonely it gets in the dorms.” Goldenrod could only stand back and watch as everypony said their goodbyes. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to see them. On the contrary, he saw most of them on a daily basis per his delivery job; they were all practically a regular fixture in his life. He was just tired of saying goodbye to those he cared for. To him, a goodbye had become the symbol of no return. Instead he made his way over Spike, who’d also chosen to break off from the group. “Going behind our backs like that, you’re a sneaky bastard,” he said with a small chuckle. “Still, it’s a nice gesture. I can see how much it means to the both of them. When did you even find the time to see Pinkie?” Spike crossed his arms and leaned gingerly against one of the roof supports for the platform. “It was in the middle of the evening when you all were discussing the mission and what it entailed―not that I was eavesdropping, of course,” he replied smartly. “I just happened to overhear that you guys would probably be gone for a long time before coming back home to Ponyville, and knew that Twilight would want one last chance to see them all before she left.” This drew a smile from Goldenrod. “You really care for her, don’t you?” His facial scales becoming a light shade of purple, Spike looked away. Inadvertently, he wound up looking straight at Twilight. Goldenrod followed the drake’s gaze, catching sight of Rarity bequeathing something to Twilight and Scootaloo. “Yeah,” the young dragon finally said. “She’s the only family I have. Since I can’t go with her, the least I can do is make sure she has a good send-off.” Gazing at Scootaloo, the blonde pegasus nodded. “I know exactly what you mean.” Turning back to Spike, he added, “Don’t worry about her. Scootaloo and I will make sure nothing bad happens to her.” “You better!” Spike said with an amused snort, before jogging off to join the others. Oo-2-oO Shutting her tome quietly, Twilight Sparkle frowned. She’d never much cared for travel by train, especially during the day-time. It was just one of those tedious things that she couldn’t just sleep away as easily as she could on the night-time rides. The vibrations traveling through the floor and seats of their private train-car made dozing off nearly impossible for her when she was so wide awake. At least, that’s how it was for Twilight. Her two companions seemed to have no such issues with being able to sleep the whole ride. It was eerily like being around two of Rainbow Dash. It left her pondering whether or not all pegasi were like that. Alternatively, it might just have been a learned habit from having learned flying from Dash. It still unnerved her that anypony could sleep sprawled out on a bench instead of lying on a bed that was readily available. Falling asleep well past midnight, none of them had received much rest. It didn’t help matters that they were all awake before the cock crowed, making last minute preparations. At least they looked like they were having a good sleep. She smiled slightly as she saw Goldenrod’s wing twitching against his side. He must be dreaming about flying. She could barely contain her laughter when he began mumbling in his sleep. “No, keep it away from me...I don’t wanna eat the garlic and salami...” He continued with various unintelligible mutterings as he slept. It served as a reminder of the luxurious rail-car the Princess had reserved for them. The entire car was soundproofed to the clattering outside. His mumbling and Scootaloo’s soft snoring proved to be the only sounds at all. Looking out the window at the passing landscape, Twilight guessed that they were about eighty percent of the way there. Much of the landscape remained the same, even five years down the line. At least this time she wouldn’t have to worry about a civil dispute between the buffalo and Appleloosa causing any trouble. Still, part of her hoped to catch sight of the buffalo tribe racing alongside the train once more. The late afternoon sun proved to beautify the lands around them, in spite of their inhospitable nature. Twilight knew that they weren’t going to arrive in Appleloosa until just before nightfall, but at least they could get a decent night’s sleep at the inn once they arrived. It certainly wouldn’t do for them to have distorted circadian rhythms when out on their quest. Pulling her attention away from the window, she began going through her saddlebags. Aside from her collection of books and her canteens, Twilight’s enchanted saddlebags had been mostly empty when they left the library. That had changed when her friends had started passing out gifts for their journey. She smiled at the gesture, seeing as their gifts would likely save on provisions they’d need to gather in Appleloosa. Fluttershy had been most gracious in donating a first-aid kit. Twilight knew only too well that anything and everything was bound to happen, so the least they could do was be prepared for their injuries. Applejack and Pinkie had both given them a good share of foodstuffs. Finally, Rarity had provided not fashion items or umbrellas, but a jeweled necklace that had been enchanted with a water dowsing spell. Rarity claimed to have had it for a camping trip, but never ended up putting it to use. Regardless, being able to find safe water would be vital on their journey. “Are we there yet?” Goldenrod moaned. “All this cushioning is doing nothing for the vibrations against my undercarriage.” Twilight nearly knocked the tome she’d set aside off of the bench. She hadn’t expected him to wake up so suddenly. “Just a few more hours.” “Damn...” he muttered. “Can you toss me one of Applejack’s apples? I think I slept through the food trolley’s last visit.” It was a reasonable reaction, she supposed. None of them had eaten more than a light breakfast before they left, and he had slept through most of the ride. Levitating an apple from her saddlebag, Twilight said, “I honestly don’t know how you can sleep so much. You’ll be up all night.” Not waiting for Twilight to give him the apple, Goldenrod flew across the car and snatched up the apple from her telekinetic grasp before returning to his bench. “Speak for yourself. I was moving a lot of product yesterday. You try flying a quarter tonne of flowers halfway across Ponyville in the sweltering heat.” He smiled before taking a voracious bite out of his apple. “Besides, Rainbow Dash always said a pegasus has to be prepared for anything. A big part of being prepared is being well rested.” Typical of Rainbow Dash, she thought. Only she could pass on a bad habit and justify it like that. It did make sense in that loose Rainbow Dash rationale. Then again, Twilight had never had wings. For all she knew, power-napping was important to keeping a pegasus in tip-top performance. Note to self, when this is all done with, study pegasus sleeping habits. “A power nap is one thing, Goldenrod, but you’ve been asleep for probably nine hours,” she said, half incredulous. “How will you fall asleep tonight?” A thoughtful look crossed his face. “Probably in a cloud,” he offered sheepishly. With surprising gusto, he finished his apple, core and all. “I was thinking I’d fly patrol around Appleloosa until I drop.” Yeah... Definitely pushing her bad habits on others. Twilight rolled her eyes, and then looked down. “Listen...I wanted to talk about Gaea.” From the opposite side of the car, she could hear him sigh. “There’s not much I can really offer,” Goldenrod replied, flying back across the car to come to rest beside her. “I only ever met her the one time, and it couldn’t have been for more than ten minutes.” Twilight collected her thoughts, thinking back to what Princess Celestia told her three years ago. ‘The mother of all Alicorns is an ancient by the name of Gaea. She is the embodiment of the world, and the Matron Alicorn to life itself.’ The Princess went on to tell her everything about Gaea, except for what she was like. “What was Gaea like?” she finally asked. “It’s hard to explain.” he said with a sad smile. “She had a youthful vibrancy about her, but at the same time she felt... ancient. There was this haunted nature about her.” “Haunted?” Scootaloo asked, meekly breaking into the conversation. Goldenrod gave a soft nod. “I think it’s a result of predating all other Alicorns,” he whispered. “All the life she’s seen come and go. Imagine how many loved ones she’s outlived. “In spite of it all, she still had this warm motherly nature about her.” He all but laughed. “I could have become like Celestia and the others when she offered me another chance at life. I wanted nothing of the sort. While she was clearly hurt by not getting to add to the ranks of her children, she seemed...proud.” “You turned down becoming an Alicorn?” Twilight and Scootaloo shouted in unison. He’d never spoken once about how he’d come back to life as a pegasus on that fateful day. Twilight wanted to be surprised that he’d decided to tell them now, but she was pretty sure she knew why. “What for!?” “I was selfish,” he said, disinterested. “Mother Gaea came to me, making her offer as a reward for my part in that whole mess with Morrigan and Discord, and there may have been something about noble sacrifice and Equestria needing a strong male figure. I can’t remember it all that well.” He looked over at Scootaloo with pride. “I told her I didn’t need any of that. Equestria didn’t need me more than you, Scoot.” Twilight gaped at the former human beside her. He’d turned down becoming an all-powerful, mighty figurehead, simply to take care of a filly he bore no familial obligation to. At the same time, she began to question how Gaea chose prospective Alicorns. Was it their noble deeds alone? Was there a character aspect as well? Did that mean the more noteworthy ponies throughout Equestrian history―say, Starswirl the Bearded―had been offered a step into godhood? “Bro?” Scootaloo said worriedly, noting Twilight’s eyes crossing.. “I think you broke her!” Oo-2-oO By the time the train pulled into Appleloosa station, Goldenrod was absolutely elated to be able to stretch his wings and feel the breeze in his mane once more. Say what they might about earth pony engineering, Goldenrod could appreciate that a pegasus was meant to fly. Even in a spacious luxury car, spending most of the day on a train left him feeling very claustrophobic. Glancing at Scootaloo as they departed the train, he could tell by her ruffled wing feathers that she was just as bothered by their locomotive imprisonment. “C’mon, let’s check out the town,” he said, nudging her with an elbow. “I’m sure Twilight will be fine by herself for just a few minutes.” For the slightest moment, the adolescent pegasus looked like she might object. That objection died at her lips when she saw him spread his wings, readying himself for takeoff. She grinned, her eyes gleaming in the afternoon sunlight like two purple garnets. Gesturing at a moderately sized cumulus cloud high up above the town, she said, “Race you to that cloud up there!” “You’re on!” he grunted. Right then and there, taking off from the train platform never felt so good. It didn’t matter that Scootaloo was faster and had taken a head start, or that Twilight was below them on the platform shouting up at them in frustration. Not even their mission from Celestia could keep them from stretching their wings at that moment. Scootaloo quickly raced ahead, but to his surprise she shot straight past the designated finish line. Putting on his own burst of speed, he closed in on the cumulus. For once, he thought he just might beat her in a race. Then he saw Scootaloo had looped up and around. She had retracted her wings, and took a corkscrew dive into the cloud like a bullet. At the last possible second, she pulled out of her dive, righting herself and extending her wings to slow her fall. She grinned at him as she touched down on the cloud. “Show-off.” “You’re just jealous Rainbow Dash’s awesome didn’t rub off on you.” She stuck her tongue out at him before softening her expression into a wistful look. “Did I ever miss doing that. Scouting doesn’t make many opportunities for stunt-flying.” “I’d hope not,” he replied dryly, settling down beside her on the cloud. “Unless you’re suddenly in a dogfight, there’s no real need of it.” Inching himself over to the edge of their cloudy platform to peer out at the town below. “Not a bad little town, but too Spaghetti Western for my tastes.” Scootaloo looked at him, confused. “What? Appleloosa is south of Ponyville, not west!” “Never mind.” He stared at the train platform. Twilight was still standing there, but she wasn’t alone. A golden-yellow earth stallion, clad in a vest and a cowpony hat not unlike Applejack’s, was talking to her very animatedly. “Looks like the final member of the party has shown.” Rolling off of the cloud, Goldenrod glided silently down to join Twilight and their new party member. As he came to rest beside his leader, he was floored looking at the stallion before him. He’d thought there was something familiar about the buck simply looking at him from above, but now he knew where he’d seen him before. This was the cousin of Applejack who’d been attending the ceremony in Canterlot three years back. He blushed, recalling Applejack calling him out on checking her cousin out. “Hey there pardner, welcome ta A-a-a-appleloosa!” The buck was very enthusiastic, and it showed. He was vigorously shaking Goldenrod’s hoof. When he caught sight of the stunned expression on Goldenrod’s face, the earth pony smiled politely. “The name’s Braeburn, and I know who you are, yes sir. You were at that big commemoration up Canterlot ways with cousin Applejack, Twilight and the others! Goldilocks, wasn’t it?” “I, um...” he stuttered. “Goldenrod―” “Goldenrod, that’s it!” Braeburn’s green eyes gleamed in recognition. “It’ll be a pleasure working with you. Apple family always says any friend of family is good folks, and Apple Bloom speaks highly enough of you. I’m sure we’ll get along fine. A shame I can’t give you the grand tour though. Apple Bloom’s always saying I scare off the new folk with my vigor.” It was roughly then that Scootaloo joined them, landing daintily on Goldenrod’s back. “Can we go see her?” she exclaimed. “I haven’t seen her in such a long time!” “And you must be―” “Scootaloo, yes.” Twilight interjected. “Sorry Scootaloo, but we really should get going. There are still provisions we have to pick up, and then we need to get out west to the desert. Princess Celestia was quite urgent in her letter” “T’aint so, Twilight.” Braeburn replied patiently. He adjusted the brim of his hat to better block out the sun, allowing a few amber-gold tresses fall free. “By the time we’re all loaded up to go, the sun will have set. We can’t go traipsing through Buffalo territory past sunset. Even with the agreement regarding the Apple family orchard five years ago, they’re still particular about their land and privacy. We can go at first light.” Twilight looked like she was about to protest, but logic and Scootaloo’s puppy-dog eyes won out. “Fine.” Oo-2-oO After a trip to the livery, Braeburn was very insistent that they all stay the night at the Appleloosa Orchard. As he put it, “No team-mates of mine are going ta spend a night at an inn when I have a few beds available in the workers quarters here on the farm.” Scootaloo was quick to accept for the group. Twilight couldn’t bring herself to object, realizing that a bit saved today is a bit to spend another day. As they approached, Goldenrod soaked in the sights of the orchard. It was all he could do to stop gawking at Braeburn. While the Appleloosa Orchard was only a third the size of Sweet Apple Acres it was still a sight to behold, even in the dim evening light. It was a thriving patch of life in an inhospitable environment. For him, it was beautiful. “The workers quarters can be found just behind the barn.” Braeburn explained, leading them towards a large barn at one end of the orchard. “Tain’t anything fancy, but we ensure the farm-hands are well cared for. Y’all can have room three. You won’t have any roommates, but it’s fully furnished, and if y’all get lonely, you’ve got Apple Bloom in the barn.” A small explosion and crash inside the barn punctuated Braeburn’s sentence. “Dang it!” a familiar voice cried out inside the barn. “I just fixed that!” “Apple Bloom!” Scootaloo shouted, before flying through the open hayloft door above. “Are you alright?” Twilight and Goldenrod exchanged worried glances before trotting towards the barn door. Instead of seeming concerned, Braeburn sighed and shook his head before joining them. As the trio entered the barn, they saw a familiar pale grayish-olive young mare in a welding face-shield parading about with a fire extinguisher, dousing flames around a spherical metallic object, while Scootaloo dropped a blanket from the hayloft down on a large patch of flames and began stomping it. Once the flames were out, the young mare flipped off her face-shield. As she wiped some sweat from her brow, she gave a pouting glance at the metal sphere. “Scootaloo! Goldenrod! Twilight! It’s so good ta see y’all,” she said, taking stock of her visitors. “What brings y’all ta Appleloosa?” “Princess Celestia actually sent us on a very important quest,” Twilight explained. “We can’t tell you too much about it, but we’ll be borrowing Braeburn for an extended period of time.” Apple Bloom seemed to ponder this for a moment. “Oh, right! Y’all are going out San Palomino way’s, ain’t ya? Braeburn mentioned something about that.” She dashed over to a workbench off in the corner. Sitting on the workbench were four pairs of goggles. “When Ah heard that he was goin’ out that way with three others, Ah reckoned he’d probably need somethin’ ta keep the sand out of his eyes. “So Ah took some spare pairs of weldin’ goggles I keep about the workshop, swapped out the regular lenses for some real low grade filter lenses, an’ worked in a little somethin’ special,” she babbled. Slapping a pair of the goggles onto her face, she used a hoof to depress a small button on the right side of the goggles. The eye-shields emitted a low whine, and then the lenses emitted two bright beams of light. “Ya never know when you might need to see in the dark, an’ I’m sure it’ll be of use ta yas.” “That’s incredible Apple Bloom!” Scootaloo squealed. “Where did you find the time to learn all this?” “This is really impressive Apple Bloom,” Twilight agreed. “Many experienced ponies twice your age would struggle to produce such fine craftsmanship. Did you do all this just today?” The Apple mare blushed, turning the goggles off and returning them to the workbench. She ran a hoof through her amaranth mane, tied back into a ponytail. “Shucks, tain’t nothin’!” She turned away. “Ah cain’t rightly say Ah hadn’t toyed with the idea before today. Things’re much easier to make when ya’ve done it once anyhow. Hardest part was interfacin’ the Manacite cores with the circuitry.” She pulled open a drawer on the work bench and removed a glowing crystal shard. “Once Ah figured out the proper way ta regulate the power flow, things were easy as cupcakes.” While Twilight and Scootaloo seemed fascinated with Apple Bloom’s work, all of this magic engineering babble was starting to make Goldenrod’s brain ache. He caught an apologetic smile from Braeburn, and quickly returned it. Clearly Apple Bloom had taken a liking to this branch of ‘inventing’. “Now if only I could get the power ta properly interface with the hover talisman. Ah might need an array of cores, though, an’ that’s somethin’ Ah just don’t have!” Apple Bloom continued rambling. “But if Ah did, Ah could finish my hover pod prototype. Then earth ponies could haul twice as much and not have ta worry about breaking an axle on a wagon! It could revolutionize Equestria―” Goldenrod backed away from the mare trio. Twilight had just asked how Apple Bloom came by the Manacite shards and how she’d learned so much about the arcane power source, and Apple Bloom was going on about Buffalo lands or some such. It made no sense to him. He turned to Braeburn, “Think you could show me to our quarters? I thought she was bad when she started messing with alchemy.” “Thought you’d never ask, pardner.” Braeburn laughed. “Right this way.” Not quite the reaction Goldenrod had expected. His face went bright scarlet. No, I don’t think he meant it that way. I mean, we just met! There’s no way he’s a shameless flirt! “Thanks...” Luckily for the blonde pegasus, the new teammate showed him to his quarters without a fuss and that was that. There was not the slightest sign of awkwardness or embarrassment on Braeburn’s part, but there wasn’t any particular sign of disinterest, either. All Goldenrod wanted to do at that point was lay down and let the science bleed out of his brain. About an hour or two later, he was joined by Twilight and Scootaloo. The younger pegasus seemed particularly pleased with having seen her friend, and why not? Apple Bloom had been out here for a long time now. It warmed his heart to see Scootaloo nod off with a smile on her face. Twilight, on the other hoof, was fussing about with everypony’s saddlebags. She was adding and removing items seemingly at random to optimize their supplies and add in their new equipment. Finally, she settled on her bed with a tome. To his surprise she began to scrawl out a familiar design on the cover. He’d seen that same design on the medallion sitting in his own saddlebags. She was writing by the time he finally dozed off. Quest Updated: The Earthen Four - Seek out the Earth Temple in the San Palomino Desert Quest Added: Arcane Power Sources - Apple Bloom has asked we keep an eye out for Manacite, and drop off any shards we collect the next time we see her. Braeburn joined the party Equipment acquired: Food & water provisions, First aid supplies, Desert Goggles x4 Artifact acquired: Dowsing Necklace Codex updated: Manacite - Formed from the leftover energies used in the creation of Equestria, Manacite is a quartz-like crystallization of pure magic. Though shards of Manacite are uncommon in large quantities, as more plentiful veins of the crystal are discovered, more and more Equestrian technologies incorporate this magical crystal as a power source over the less dependable magically charged gemstones Equestrians once relied on. Arcane devices operating on a Manacite core have been noted to outlast their owner’s lifespan. Devices found in ancient ruins have been noted to crudely use Manacite core as a light source, leading historians to argue that at some point the knowledge was lost and only recently rediscovered.