//------------------------------// // Tea and Ponyville // Story: Bane of Equestria // by PhilosipherKing //------------------------------// At Zecora’s hut, the two drank their tea. Thankfully for Bane, the Pony didn’t ask a lot of questions, that was good enough for him, after all where he came from too many questions was a dangerous thing. Finally after sipping the last of her tea Zecora spoke “ if repairs on ship is what you wish Mr. Bane, I’m afraid your journey might be in vain” Bane looked up from his cup. “Oh? And why’s that?” “I’m sorry to say we do not have a star map, between your technology and our technology there is quite the gap”Zecora said sadly. Bane sighed in frustration, this was going to be harder than he thought “then what’s the point of helping me to town if I can’t repair the ship?” “Because a safe haven is what I can give, after all, the Everfree forest is no place to live” “I ain’t looking for a place to stay, I’m looking to repair my ship, and if what you said is true then we have nothing more to say to each other” Bane put down the tea and got up to leave and as he was turning Zecora held up her hoof. “Wait, I understand your frustration and anger, but in Ponyville you’ll be in less danger, I know repairing your ship is your best bet, but if you go to Ponyville, you won’t regret.” Bane stopped for a moment and turned slowly fixing Zecora with a stare that sent a shiver down her spine “why won’t I regret it?” Zecora regained her composure “the gap between our technology is great, that much is true, but there is someone there who may help you” Cad Bane raised his eyebrow “who would that be?” “She’s an Alicorn who might help you with your plight, her name is Princess Twilight”. Bane was skeptical, he had known his fair share of princesses (in more ways than one) and hardly any of them had a bit of knowledge in technology, how could this princess help him with his apparently highly advanced ship? But then again, he couldn’t stay here forever, if there was a chance that he could find a way to repair his ship, he needed to take it. Bane let out a sigh “oh alright, I’ll go to this Ponyville and find your princess… “ he then glared at her “but if this turns out to be a wild Mynock chase, I’m coming back. And it won’t be for more tea” with that, he walked out of the door before stopping and turning around. “Which way?” Zecora pointed westward “the journey will take you half a day, follow the path, it will show you the way.” Bane then tipped his hat and walked outside and went on the path. As he walked through the forest he took the time to look around and found he rather admired the fierce beauty that was the Everfree Forest. With its dark areas contrasted with some deceivingly beautiful spots dotted here and there. As he walked two Timber Wolves jumped in the middle of the path and growled at him. Bane Smirked as he looked at them both “your move” he simply said. After an intense moment, one of the Timber Wolves moved quickly and pounced before Bane quickly jumped out of the way. “Wrong move” Bane said as he activated his flamethrower wrist gauntlet setting his wooden assailant on fire. The animal howled in pain as the fire consumed him, his comrade watched in horror. Soon the poor creature was a pile of ash and Bane turned to the other one. The second Timber Wolf ran away whimpering. “Good move” Bane simply said as he continued walking. After walking for about an hour with no further incident, Bane finally came upon the exit of the Everfree Forest. After walking out, Bane found himself on the outskirts of Ponyville. It was a modest sized town, Bane had seen bigger, but he’d also seen smaller. “Alright, time to find this Twilight, wherever she is” Bane said to himself, and he strode into town. The place was filled with horse-like creatures of different colors and sizes. As he walked down the avenue, the bounty hunter began to notice that a lot of of the creatures in town were staring at him, giving him strange looks and some were whispering things behind his back. They act like they’ve never seen a Duro before Bane thought as he continued walking. Then he remembered what Zecora said about the technology gap, these creatures probably haven’t developed space travel yet. In a rare instance of forgetfulness Bane felt him bump into something, looking down he saw a creature that was completely pink, with bushy hair and three small balloons on her flank. Seeing this as good a time as any, Bane spoke up “I’m looking for a princess Twi-“ before he could finish the creature rose up in the air and gasped dramatically and ran off as fast as she could. Bane was a bit taken aback by this, he new he had a reputation, but he didn’t think it reached species that didn’t have space travel. Shrugging off the encounter and continued walking before he saw a large crystal castle in the center of town. I think I found it he thought sarcastically as he walked to the door. Spike was busy organizing the books in the library while Twilight was cleaning the Dining area. If there was one time of the year Spike hated the most, it was Spring Cleaning Day. It was always this time of the year when Twilight was at her most strict; everything had to be in a certain way, books had to be put in alphabetical, numerical, and Chronological order. In addition, the shelves needed to be dusted, sanitized, and dusted again just in case. “Twilight!” He called from the library “I’m done with the books! Can I nap now?!” “Did you organize the books in alphabetical, numerical, and chronological order!?” She shouted from the dining room. “Yep!” “Did you dust and sanitize?!” “Sure did!” “Twice?!” Spike stopped and after thinking for a moment, he sighed and went to get more cleaning materials. As he walked down the hallway he heard a knock on the door, stopping for a moment he heard the knocking again. Spike walked towards the door and opened it. He laid his eyes on a tall individual with a duster coat and a wide brimmed hat, on his hips the dragon saw holsters of two strange devices, but the most strange thing was the visitor himself, not only was he standing on two legs, he was also blue with blood red eyes. The way he was looking at him, Spike felt a bit of fear. “I’ve come to see your princess on some important business little man” the creature finally spoke in a terse and business like tone. “Hey Twilight! Some blue guy is asking to see you!” Spike called to the princess. “Tell him he’s going to have to wait a little bit! I’m not finished cleaning yet!” Spike was about to repeat the message when the stranger pushed him aside and walked right in. “Hey!” Spike exclaimed as he followed him down the hallway “you can’t just barge in! You need to wait!” He caught up with the stranger who turned around and faced him. “I’m on important business.” He said tersely. As he turned and continued walking, Spike ran ahead of him and stood in his way again. The stranger sighed. “Word of advice son; it’s not a good idea to keep me from what I want” He leaned down until he was at face level with the dragon. “People end up getting hurt that way”. “I don’t care” said Spike defiantly. “You’re not seeing the princess until she’s ready to see you”. To his surprise the stranger chuckled. “You got Spunk kid I’ll give you that, what’s your name?” “Spike” he said bravely. “Well Spike because I like you and I don’t want to unnecessarily waist ammo, I’ll let you live”. The stranger then stood up and continued walking “but me and your boss have things to discuss, so stay out of my way.” Just then Twilight appeared out of the dining room. “Spike are you ok? I heard you shouting and I thought you were…oh”. Spike and the stranger looked at the Alicorn princess and the blue stranger walked up to her. “Princess Twilight?” He asked. “Yes that’s me” Twilight responded.“What can I do for you mr…” “Bane. Cad Bane, you and I have business we need to discuss.”