//------------------------------// // Chapter Six // Story: A Moon and World Together // by Evilhumour //------------------------------//   Chapter Six If Straight Arrow wasn't on duty at the moment, he would have loved to see more of this village. Even without all the pageantry that came from hosting the Summer Sun festivals a few weeks ago, it still felt so lively and inviting with everyone they met giving them a warm smile and welcome. Though neither he or his partner Bright Bolt could afford to let their guard down. After the failed coup attempt, Canterlot was still dealing with the traitors that dug themselves deeply into several streets, with the fighting as ugly as the battle at the castle, if not worse at some parts. The traitors were being driven into a corner and they were fighting not to win but to cause as much pain as possible. Guards had been summoned from all over to help break their backs and restore full and proper order to the capital. And yet, here they were, away from the fights. He nearly balked at his orders but Straight understood what Captain Sentry was going for and felt a surge of pride he had been chosen to do this, among the many other guards sent out to grab all known avengers left out in the wild. He didn't glance up at the pegasi team hiding in the clouds. In case the family tried to stall them while their avenger relative made their escape by the back door, they were there to bring down the thunder on them all. His ear flicked at that; normally there was a long line of escalation that needed to occur before they were allowed to use that amount of force, but after the failed coup, none of them felt like these avengers deserved that amount of restraint. But the Captain had been extremely clear that all of them would use the normal levels of escalation or they would need to find new jobs. Captain Sentry had proven that it wasn't an idle threat when senior Guards had loudly objected and had them removed after their refusal to listen to the Captain's more than mericful attempts to let them save face and back down. They were currently suspended from service due to their insubordination and admitting in planning to break the law and facing investigations to pry deeply into all of their years of duty as a further act of deterrence to the rest of them. Still, Straight had heard rumors that some Guards had been turning a blind eye to reporting such violations of the law to their superiors to avoid the same fate and it had put a lot of them in an awkward spot of complicity. To know that some of their follow Guards were breaking the law and a direct order was a serious offense but he personally didn't have any solid proof on anypony, so it would be one's Guards word against another's and then it would paint a massive target on his back for those actually breaking the law. After all, what was one more crime in the name of justice or revenge or whatever they used to justify themselves and he didn't need or want that. Thankfully Straight and Bolt and their pegasus team hadn't been put into that spot with those they had spoken with to cross that bridge. Yet. And more worrisome was that while Straight knew it should be a no brainer, he still wasn't sure how he would act if they did get a runner. Doing his best to put the worry out of his mind, Straight walked with Bolt, the two of them continuing down the dirt road to the suspected dwelling of the avenger. They had been surprised to see who was their suspect; the earth pony clan was known far and wide for being really decent ponies but he supposed that every family had some rotten apples in them and it would undoubtedly bring a lot of shame to the family once they arrested Ross Apple. But what one family would go through was a fair price to bring in one of these terrorists. Walking up to the farmhouse, Straight gave one more glance to the cloud where their aerial team were waiting and watching in case things went wrong.    "Nothing out of the ordinary," Dewdrop, the pegasus mare, said softly through the communication spell built into their helmets.  It was a relatively new upgrade in their standard equipment, though the spell itself had been known for a long time. The short range of the spell limited its overall effectiveness in most situations but the senior mages had been making progress in increasing the range. Apparently, it had taken one mage to see of the Lunarian's equipment devices once before she had managed to make a breakthrough, with the kinks being worked out in Canterlot. The Lunarians had been impressed at how fast they had discovered the spell and how quickly they were adapting it to their needs.  Still, even with it being a new tool in the arsenal which traditionalists disliked out of principle, the spell had proven its worth as it was easy to use, easy to operate and most importantly, didn't require an unicorn's magic to activate. It was going to be revolutionary when it was finally ready for mass use, and help bridge the gaps in their tech in so many fields outside the military. He flicked an ear at that as he went to reply; their cousins from the moon had really shown how patchwork their own advances had been in comparison, but that had been explained as the Lunarians' need for survival against their more gradual discoveries with the occasional Cutie Mark specialist making a grand leap forwards in one niche field. Though their mages and thinkers had taken the gap as a challenge, with their new communication spell, the radio spell, being among the first products produced. Already, they were running around like excited foals, ordering equipment from the griffon lands for their experiments and ideas. "Keep your eyes peeled," Straight replied, raising a hoof to knock on the door. He gave it a proper rap and within seconds he could hear the sound of an elderly set of hooves approaching. "Just a second, just a second. Ah ain't no spring chicken no more," a mare said from behind the door, with a wizened green earth pony looking up at them. She saw their armour and let out a sigh. "Ah'll bite, what did Bloom do this time." "We aren't here for them ma'am," Straight answered, though he kept the name in the back of his head for a potential lead to examine if she thought the Guard would come for them.  "Well shucks then, what did ya come for?" She flashed them a friendly smile, pushing the door more. To Straight, it meant that this avenger wasn't here if this old mare was being so open and forthcoming. "Ah know my grandfilly can get herself and her friends in a whole heap of trouble if ya don't watch them." "We're here for a Ross Apple, ma'am," Bolt said, watching her reaction. In a flash, the mare's expression and demeanor changed completely. Narrowing her eyes with a hoof pushing the door closed, she said in a far more hostile tone, "Ah ain't know no pony by that name." She would have slammed the door in their faces if Straight hadn't grabbed it with his magic. He took a step forwards, still staying outside, aware he couldn't just enter the house without a warrant or due cause, though with how she was acting they would have the latter shortly. "Let go of mah door and get yerself off mah land now, ya hear?" She barked at them, glaring angrily as she continued to try and shut the door. "Ma'am, please understand that this is a serious matter and if you are lying to us to protect Rose Apple-" that was as far as he got before the mare started to screech again she didn't know anypony by that name. A bold face lie as she was the matriarch of this clan's family branch and thus knew all the Apples that were born Equestria. "Ma'am, I am giving you one more chan-" The mare might have been old but she was still an Earth pony and could pack a serious punch of physical force, causing him to stumble backwards. He still kept his magic on the door, though, and was now no longer holding back. Using his magic, he opened the door all the way ans glared hard at the all but confirmed avenger suporter. "Ma'am," he said in his most leveled voice, crossing the threshold of the door and into the house. "Listen to me very carefully; this will be your last chance to be honest with us. You can either tell us here or in a prison cell. Your choice." She glared hateful eyes at him, with a mixture of shock as well. Whatever she was going to say was cut off by the thundering of hooves and the approach of a towering stallion with a murderous look in his face, moving I'm front of old mare. "Don't you threaten my granny," he snorted in Straight's face. "Sir, stand down now or you will be arrested alongside her," Bright glowered, horn lit as well. It was clear as the Princess's sun he wasn't going to stand by and just let his grandmother be arrested and taken away but Bright was following procedures and Straight was thankful for that. "Eeeenope," the stallion snorted as he lowered himself, clearly preparing to charge. He wouldn't get that far; even if the stallion was the greatest Earth pony mage which he strongly doubted, all Straight needed to do was get him off the ground long enough for any magic he had to dissipate. That was the great weakness of Earth ponies; remove them from any contact with the earth and they would eventually become weaker than a newborn foal.  Then again, it did usually take a few hours for them to be powerless and this stallion was brimming with Earth pony magic and likely could break out of a restraint bubble. It might take several unicorns to contain him over at least a day and there was the old mare to consider as well. But that was part of the reason the pegasi team was there. He was about to put them both under arrest for suspicion to harbour the avenger when Dewdrop's voice reached his ears. "Incoming civilian earth pony, on your six, non hostile," she said in a tense tone but thankfully, she and her fellow pegasi were not jumping the crossbow and remaining hidden. Horn still glowing as he absentmindedly created a small cage around the pair -not to hold them but give him some warning if they tried to move-, Straight turned to see the newest actor on the scene. She was a young off orange mare with a stetson atop her blond mane, rushing towards them with speed that spoke of either great athletic training, strong Earth pony magic or a combination of both. Not even waiting to reach halfway, she shouted out, "What in tarnation is going on here?" "Applejack, tell these-" the grandmother began to speak only for Bolt to raise a wall to block the sound from within the house and not give this mare any pointers so she could hide the truth from them. "We were about to place these two under arrest but perhaps you can settle matters," Straight said, staring at her to look for any tells. "Do you know a pony by the name of Ross Apple?" Straight then saw that this Applejack was either the world's worst lier or the world's best actress. Eyes still bulged and cheeks sucked in, she nervously looked at her fuming grandmother before paying the ground with a heavy sigh, her features falling as the effort of trying to lie was clearly too much for. "Yeah, he's our kin." "Applejack!" The grandmother shouted her name the way only a parental figure could do, with Straight flinching from ingrained instincts from his foalhood. "Have you seen him recently at all?" That caused her to blink and pull back, shaking her head. "Ah ain't ever saw him. Ah don't think he's ever been here before." She was clearly telling the truth, Straight was sure of that. "What this all about mister?" "We are here on official orders to arrest all known members of the terrorist group known as the avengers," Bolt said with the entire family giving a jolt of understanding. "'Nd since he's" Applejack started before squeaking under the glare of her grandmother. "was kin, y'all thought to come here ta find out if we know where Ross is, didn't ya?" That wasn't the exact situation but it was close enough. Nodding his head, he adopted a kinder expression. "And we had a bit of miscommunication with your grandmother, leading us to think she was harbouring him here." Straight said while the mare in question looked horrified at the possibility. "I can see now that's not the case." "Ah'm mighty sorry about that mess there, young fella," the older mare said. "When that no good snake joined them-" she frowned, looking at her grandfoals and debating if she should say the actual curse she was thinking of. "Avengers, we'll swore that none of us would ever think of him as kin again. He ain't family and never will be." "Eeyup." The stallion said while Applejack was looking incredibly shifty. Her grandmother didn't even need to hear her speak before she squawked out her name in shock and outrage. "Look granny, Ah know he's a no good varmint for joining up with them avengers, but maybe he'll have a change of hearts or something?" She let out a sigh. "Ah just don't want to write off kin like this, even if they really done lost their way." Whatever the matriarch was going to say was halted when Straight stepped in. "It is not too far fetched. There are ex-avengers that had left their organization and truly regretted what they have said and done." Smiling at younger mare, he reached into his pack and pulled out a jar full of magic. "Here; this contains dragonfire. If you learn or hear anything about Ross, write it down and stick it in the flames. It will come to me and we can help your kin out." Nodding her head as she took the jar, Straight flashed the family another smile as he and Bright walked back down the path, the cloud team hovering over the farm a bit longer just in case. Bright waited until they were out of earshot before turning to face him and asked, "I didn't know there were ex avengers." "Well, I'm sure there are bound to be some out there,” Straight said with a shrug of his shoulders. “Come, we’ve got more people to talk to.” Bright nodded his head, falling in step to his side as the two continued through this quaint town.