As night started to draw in the Crusaders really started to worry. They were lost cold and hungry. The cold and the hunger made them uncomfortable. Their being lost scared them, one of them at least. Sweetie was feeling distinctly miserable. She was lost in a strange city that was much bigger and more complex than anywhere she had been before, while she had been to Canterlot it was much easier to navigate than Trottingham. To top it all she didn’t have her crusaders cape to hide under as it had been packed in one of Rarity’s suitcases. The others didn’t seem to be having a problem, Apple Bloom looked a little worried but Scootaloo just looked annoyed.
Scootaloo hadn’t paid attention to her surroundings as she ran, there hadn’t been time she had focused on the grey stallion totally or she would have risked losing him. How could he have just disappeared? She had been gaining on him, then she turned the corner and he was gone she had checked the sky remembering that he was a pegasus but had seen nothing. There was no sign of him, there were no doorways that he could have hidden in so where was he? When she gave up the search as hopeless she started to worry and get a little angry with herself. She worried because she had led her friends here and now they were lost. She was angry with herself because she couldn’t fly, if she could she would have got a birds-eye view and directed her friends to the nearest road then they could have been out of here in a few seconds. She was responsible for getting her friends lost with no way of getting back.
Apple Bloom for her part was quite calm. While she was worried that she was completely lost, she knew she wouldn’t be able to think straight if she was panicking, so she forced herself to stay calm and look at her surroundings. They were in a courtyard formed by the walls of buildings that on closer inspection turned out to be boarded up shops. A courtyard bordered by shops in Trottingham, where have I heard that before? She thought. She carried on taking in her surroundings looking for a clue to get to the hotel. As she turned she noticed a small bridge like structure that they must have crossed. This place looked like it had been abandoned for a long time the shop signs were faded, there was litter all over the place. Her eyes passed over a plaque with imprinted letters covered in grime, she walked over to get a closer look. She brushed off some of the grime with her hoof and read “Dedicated to the memory of those who died during the Celestial Wars and to the memory of the saviours of Trottingham, the Cutie Mark Crusaders.”
“What did you say Apple Bloom?” Sweetie Belle asked trying to calm herself; Scootaloo looked over as well breaking from internally berating herself.
“This plaque is dedicated to the Crusaders” Apple Bloom replied turning to look at her friends. As she did she froze looking past her friends, a smile spreading across her face. She ran across the courtyard, past her friends who got up to see where she was running to. When she reached the other side she cried in delight.
“What is it? What have you found?” asked Scootaloo urgently
“Scoots, do you remember what the courtyard in the story looked like?”
“Sure, there were shops along the edges, a bridge at the front and…”
“Exactly!”
“What? What is it?” asked Sweetie Belle her worry being replaced by curiosity and annoyance.
“The courtyard was backed by an inn” Scootaloo finished gesturing at the name of the building in front of them printed in large red letters above the doorway “Celestia’s Sun inn”
“Ah’m going in” Apple Bloom said a note of steel to her tone, “Are you gals coming?” she looked back to her friends, Scootaloo immediately nodded her assent and fell into step on the Earth pony’s right flank. Sweetie Belle looked a little nervous.
“Are you sure this is a good idea?” She asked a slight quaver in her voice “I mean we don’t know if it’s safe in there, and if there is somepony in there how do we know they are friendly?”
“Well we will be carful, and it didn’t look like there was anypony there when I looked through the window, but if there are ponies in there then they will be able to tell us how to get to the train station, we can find the hotel from there.” She stated reassuringly, smiling slightly to the scared little unicorn filly.”
“Well,” she said her voice more confident, yet it retained its slight tremor “OK, let’s go in” She got up from her sitting position and walked over to her friends instinctively and subconsciously formed up on Apple Bloom’s left flank. With that the three friends took three short steps forwards to the door. Apple Bloom rested her hoof on the bare wood and pushed lightly, the door swung open easily to reveal a large room with benches and chairs huddled around tables, most of the chairs were placed upside down on top of their respective tables and had a thick layer of dust covering them. Some chairs were down around the tables indicating the place wasn’t completely abandoned. The right wall was taken up by a long counter with lots of different (mostly empty) bottles of drinks. Sat at the far end of the room with a glass of orangey liquid and his back turned to them was the green haired grey bodied stallion they had met at the station and had chased through town. Sitting next to him in profile from their point of view was another stallion, this one a unicorn, that the crusaders had never seen before; he was teal with a short and spiky red and yellow mane.
Evidently he was watching the door because as the crusaders entered he nudged his friend and nodded in their direction. The Pegasus turned to look where his friend had indicated. As he saw the three fillies a look of surprise crossed his face before he could hide it, his gaze settled on the young orange Pegasus “You’re fast” he said his voice deep “Why did you chase me?”
“We’re looking for the Cutie Mark Crusaders” Apple Bloom said confidently
“Try a library” he didn’t look at her as he spoke, he just continued his staring contest with Scootaloo.
“We thought you might be able to help us more than a library.” Scootaloo returned with a smirk. “Since you don’t have a Cutie Mark.”
He smiled slightly at that, he turned back to the table he had been sat at “I can’t help you” he said before he sat down again.
“We think we may be new recruits” Apple Bloom told the unicorn who was still watching them “we are much older than any others in our class and we haven’t found our ‘special talent’ yet” the unicorn just stared at them “we’ll prove that we are the crusaders” she said Sweetie Belle looked at her worriedly.
“How do you plan to do that?” the Pegasus asked turning his head slightly. This caused Apple Bloom to pause, she hadn’t considered this, how could she and her friends prove that they were the new Cutie Mark Crusaders?
“A test” Apple Bloom jumped slightly she had been thinking so hard she didn’t notice the other unicorn stand up and move to the bar on her right, his voice was higher pitched than the other stallions but only slightly, a little rough and gravely but quite, like he was trying to not be heard by anyone but those in the room with him. He was placing empty bottles on the counter; he stepped through an opening in the bar and pulled something covered in cloth from underneath. He stepped to a place on the other side of the bar and indicated for them to stand over by the other stallion, who was now watching with interest. The crusaders obliged when they were standing watching intently he unwrapped the cloth to reveal a long thin chain, on the end was a large piece of silvery metal shaped to look like a hammer head with a vicious looking spike on one side. He unwound the chain wrapping the excess around his left hoof with his right he held the chain about 2 feet from the hammer, “this is a Meteor Hammer” he told them “If each of you can use it to hit the bottles on the counter I will believe you” He then started rotating his right hoof spinning the hammer in circles making it spin faster and faster, until it was nothing but a blur of silver around his hoof. With a flick the hammer flew like a bullet, the chain unwinding from his left hoof slightly before he caught it, the hammer struck the left most bottle shattering it, for a second time seemed to slow down the hammer hanging in the air before falling to the counter with a thud. He wound the hammer back to him before turning to the three fillies with a smile “Who wants to go first?”
Scootaloo stepped forward looking excited she took the Meteor hammer from the unicorn placing her left hoof through the coil of chain like he had, when she had gotten a hold of it he backed away to stand with the others. The young Pegasus looked to her friends once, then turned back to her target and started rotating her hoof the heavy hammer following the motion speeding up much slower than it had in the hands of the unicorn, after a minute the hammer was at nearly the same speed as it had been in the stallions hoof, she stared ahead fixing her target. She flicked her hoof. Time seemed to slow down to her as the hammer flew from her across the room heading straight for its target. It hit the right most bottle, shattering it, and continued on across the counter and buried itself in the back wall. Time resumed its normal flow as her friends shouted in congratulations, she herself pumped her arm before turning to the two stallions “Sorry about the wall” she apologised blushing slightly. The unicorn shook his head with a smile, before stepping up to reel in the hammer and telling the telling the next pony to try.
Apple Bloom gave Scootaloo a wink as she walked passed her “Just like a lasso” she whispered as she took the hammer and prepared to use the weapon, she waited for her fellow crusader and the stallion to retreat and started spinning the hammer, it took a few seconds to reach the speed that the stallion had used “just like a lasso” she thought as she aimed for her target and with a quick flick of her hoof sent the weapon flying, less than a second later there was the crash of a bottle shattering and a small thud as the hammer buried itself once again in the right wall. She handed the chain to the unicorn as he stepped towards her taking the chain with one hoof and pulling the hammer from the back wall with magic. It was Sweetie Belles turn, she stepped closer to the stallion as he held out the hammer. She took it, her hooves shaking slightly the unicorn smiled at her before walking back to join the others. Sweetie took a deep breath and swallowed before she slowly started to rotate her hoof causing the heavy hammer to follow, it took her considerably longer to build up enough speed to use the hammer when she was spinning it at half the speed the stallion used she started to aim at the last remaining bottle, she flicked her hoof as the others before her had,closing her eyes as she did so. There was the crash of glass smashing, she opened her eyes, the bottle was still standing she looked around confused, the hammer was sticking out of the wall a few inches to the left of the bottle, the remnants of a different bottle (this one happening to have had some liquid in it) lay around the shelf.
“I’ll give you that one, since you closed your eyes” said the older unicorn who was stood next to her. He took the hammer in his magic and pulled it from the wall. The Pegasus stepped forward while he was putting his hammer away.
“It’s late you should rest” the Pegasus said looking blankly at them “you still have my test to complete” he threw 3 keys to them which Apple Bloom caught he walked to the door and opened it, revealing a set of stairs.
“We already have a place to stay for tonight” Sweetie Belle informed him “actually, we could use directions, we got lost chasing you”
“I’ll take you there, Trottingham isn’t too safe after dark, where were you staying?” he asked
“The ‘Dormir Poney’”
“Ooh posh, I know where that is come with me.” He closed the door to the staircase and walked to the door at the other end of the bar, opening it to reveal the courtyard beyond. He stepped out then looked back over his shoulder at the crusaders, who hurried to catch up.
They walked in silence for a time the crusaders memorising the route they were taking, some time passed before Scootaloo decided to break the silence asking “So, what should we call you?”
“My names Tail Wind” he said not looking at her continuing to lead them towards their hotel, “the chatty unicorn is Meteor Storm” and once more silence reined. They reached the hotel without incident except one drunken stallion shouting to them from across a busy street. Tail Wind stopped outside bidding them goodnight, and saying he would be there at ten the next morning, they said good bye and entered the hotel.
When they reached their room they instantly knew they were in trouble, the door was open and they could hear Rarity’s voice drifting into the hall. “Yes three fillies one is a light yellow earthpony with a red mane and tail, one is an orange pegasus with a messy purple mane and tail and the third is my sister, she is white with a purple mane lighter than the pegasus.” The crusaders walked up to the door “I left them here while I went to see a client for my business then I went to see the fashion show I locked the door behind me” she continued her voice quivering “then when I came back the door was unlocked and they were gone” they heard her crying as she finished. Sweetie Belle ran around the corner into the room, she shouted Rarity’s name before she jumped and tackled her with a hug. The other two rounded the corner to see Rarity and her sister hugging each other, Applejack was stood next to her tear tracks on her face and another pony, a mare in a police uniform. When Applejack saw her sister she ran to her wrapping her in a fierce embrace.
“Don’t ever do that again you stupid filly” Applejack admonished in a teary voice, she broke off her hug with her sister and hugged Scootaloo in a similar embrace. “Where have you three been? And how did you get out of the room?”
“We were exploring the town and we got a little lost but we met a nice stallion who showed us the way back here.” Scootaloo told her when she pulled away from the crusader, fabricating a believable story as quickly as possible, filling it with half truths instead of trying to lie to a pony who would spot a lie instantly “we’re sorry that we scared you.”
“It’s ok, Ah’m just glad you’re all safe” she said in a softer voice.
“It seems I’m not needed here.” The uniformed pony said as she walked to the door. “Have a goodnight.”
“Thank you officer, the same to you” Rarity replied breaking her hug with Sweetie Belle. “Now where is the kind gentlecolt who brought you back here?” she asked the crusaders when the mare had left.
“His name is Tail Wind and he said he would come back tomorrow if ya say yes so that we could explore some more without getting lost again” Apple Bloom answered “He was the conductor of the train that we rode here on” She added.
“Well that was nice of him” Rarity said “but I think we should leave in the morning.
“NO” Sweetie shouted before she could stop herself “I mean we can’t leave yet”
“Well I have no further business in this city and I’m not letting you three get lost again”
“Ah agree, ah’m certainly not going to trust the word of a pony ah don’t know, even if he was nice enough to help you find your way back here” Applejack agreed looking sternly at her sister.
Apple Bloom sighed “It’s no use girls, we’re gonna have to explain” she looked at Sweetie Belle then to Scootaloo, finally she looked at her sister “you should sit down” Applejack walked over to sit on the bed next to Rarity as Sweetie walked to stand next to Apple Bloom.
Scootaloo closed the door then walked up to Apple Bloom “Are you sure this is a good idea? There must be a reason the crusaders are a secret” she whispered looking nervous.
“Ah’m sure they can take care of themselves and if we don’t we won’t get the chance to join them” she replied also in a whisper trying to reassure the young Pegasus.
“Well we don’t have to tell them the whole story do we?”
“I guess not, but we’ll have to tell them most of it”
“Ok, let’s get this over with” they both turned back to look at Rarity and Applejack sitting on the bed, then Apple Bloom started telling them about the ill fated fishing trip and the idea to try researching their problem, the discovery of the true Cutie Mark Crusaders and their decision to search Trottingham, then Scootaloo took up the story telling the two mares of seeing the conductors lack of a cutie mark then of the chase through the city and finding the two stallions, leaving out how the fillies escaped the room and the test.
“Well that was quite the tale”
“You three sure have an imagination” Applejack looked sceptical
“We’ll prove that we’re telling the truth when Tail Wind come here tomorrow, he’ll be here around ten” Apple Bloom protested looking angry.
“What is it with you and proving things?” Sweetie Belle hissed at her, Apple Bloom gave her a look that said ‘be quite I’m trying to do something here’, Scootaloo looked on keeping quite.
“And just how do you plan to prove what you say is true darling?” Rarity asked.
“He doesn’t have a Cutie Mark, you’ll see when he arrives”
“Well that would lend credence to your story” Rarity said thoughtfully “But none of that matters, for now let’s just be happy that we are all together again” she crossed the room to stand close to Sweetie Belle once more.
“Yes, why don’t we all go and get some grub, ah’m starvin’” Applejack suggested.
“I’m up for that” Scootaloo agreed, followed a few seconds later by the other crusaders.
Scootaloo walked through the narrow hallway nervously. She seemed to have been walking for hours towards the black door. As she walked she could see it getting steadily closer yet always the same distance away. Time seemed to have little meaning in this place, there were no windows, no way of telling the time at all except the rhythmic pounding of her heart and other than that and her hoofsteps no sound. She was closer to the door now. She could see the black paint peeling off in places revealing crimson underneath. The door opened, she looked through but could see nothing in the darkness, she walked in. The door closed behind her with a snap. She felt a pain in her back. Turning quickly she saw what looked like a pony whose coat was closer to the fur of a dog and ears like a bats. She only saw the other pony for a few seconds before they melted back into the darkness. Then she started to fall.
Scootaloo woke with a start. She was back in her bed, in the room she shared with Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle. The former of who was looking at her. It was just starting to get light outside, the sun just about to crest the horizon. Apple Bloom walked over to her bed quietly.
“Bad dream?” she asked softly so as not to wake the white unicorn sleeping in the bed next to Scootaloo with her sister.
“Kind of” she answered
“Me too, what was yours about?”
“I was walking down a hallway, towards this door but it took forever because it was always far away, eventually I got close to it and it opened.”
“Was the door black with red paint underneath?”
“Yeah why?” Scootaloo asked surprised
“Because that’s what the door in my dream looked like, you just described my dream perfectly.”
“Well after I got in the room I felt a pain in my back and turned around-”
“To see a pony with a dog’s fur and a bat’s ears” the voice made the two fillies jump. Apple Bloom turned around to see Sweetie Belle eyes open and staring at them fearfully.
“You to huh?” Apple Bloom stepped over to her bed.
“What do you think it means?” Sweetie asked sounding scared.
“I don’t know, but what I do know is it can’t hurt us. We can tell your sisters if it would make you feel better” Scootaloo said getting out of her bed.
“Not yet it’s way too early” Sweetie said sounding more confident “I can tell you something, waking Rarity up will is a nightmare much worse than that one.” This gained a chuckle from her friends.
“Well I can’t go back to sleep now” Scootaloo complained.
“Me either” Sweetie Belle agreed, she sat up in bed “what are we going to do though, we can tell Rarity and Applejack in a few hours when they wake up and Tail Wind doesn’t come until ten”
“Well when ah can’t sleep around dawn, ah like to watch the sunrise.” Apple Bloom told them. “Why don’t we go and watch the sunrise over the roof?”
“Of course you like to watch the sun rise; the sun feeds plants which earth pony magic is linked to, since historically they were farmers.” Sweetie Belle said “Do you pay any attention during our classes?”
“Some you sound like the textbooks. Now come on lets go to the roof” Apple Bloom walked to the door and opened it while Sweetie Belle pulled a piece of paper and a pencil towards her and wrote a note telling her sister where they were in case they weren’t back by the time their siblings awoke, then joined her friends by the door. They crept down the corridor to the ‘magic room’ and pressed the button, the doors opened and when they were all inside Scootaloo, using her wings to gain a little height, pressed the topmost button and the doors closed.
When they opened again there were stairs leading a short way to a door, they opened it to reveal the roof, a flat expanse of concrete with a small raised lip around the edge. They walked to the east side and sat down to watch as the sun crested the horizon to sit just above the tops of the sky scrapers.
They got back to their beds a few minutes before Rarity and Applejack came in and told them it was time for breakfast. They ate in the hotel’s restaurant as they had the night before. When they had all finished it was nearly half past ten.
“So how did you three sleep last night?” Rarity asked pleasantly.
“Badly” they answered in unison. They told Rarity of their shared nightmare, about the hallway, the door and the pony beyond it.
“Oh my, that sounds simply horrid” Rarity looked distressed after the three had finished recounting the nightmare “But it was just a dream, it can’t hurt you”
“We know that, we were just confused because we all had the same exact one.” Sweetie Belle answered sounding exasperated.
“Well ah don’t know what to tell you sugar cube, all ah can say is dreams pass in time.” Applejack said looking to her sister and Scootaloo. Their conversation drifted after that to various subjects until it was nearly ten o’clock. The five ponies stood outside the hotel and a few minutes until a stallion walked around the corner of one of the streets feeding into the road they were on. As he got closer they saw that it wasn’t the pony they were expecting to greet.
“I thought Tail Wind was going to meet us” Scootaloo called to the unicorn. He carried on walking and when he got closer he said “He had to do something so he sent me to pick you up instead”
“Oh ok then” Apple Bloom turned to her sister and Rarity, “Rarity, Applejack this is Meteor Storm, he is the other Crusader.”
“Hello, are you two relatives of these three?” he asked and then suddenly turning to Sweetie Belle with a shocked look asked. “What do you mean ‘the other Crusader’?”
“Yes Apple Bloom there is my sister” Applejack answered.
“And Sweetie Belle is mine. I’m Rarity, a pleasure to meet you.” Rarity answered.
“Hello Rarity the pleasure is all mine, and good morning to you Applejack, my name is Meteor Storm as Sweetie Belle told you, but you can call me Storm” Storm said then looked back at Sweetie Belle “Please elaborate on your previous statement” he asked her giving her a hard look.
“We had to tell them everything, the original crusaders, you and Tail Wind, everything. If we didn’t they would have taken us back home already.”
“We were expecting Tail Wind to meet us, that’s what she meant by ‘other’ Crusader” Scootaloo interjected. Storm placed a hoof to his face.
“There is a reason that we are a secret. You’re not supposed to go telling everypony that you meet. That being said I guess you two don’t believe their story, I wouldn’t.”
“Not for a second, they said they could prove it, that ‘Tail Wind’ didn’t have a Cutie Mark and ah assume from the way Sweetie here introduced y’all you don’t either.” Applejack responded, looking at him sceptically.
“Well I’m sorry to rob you of an ‘I told you so’ but…” he turned and moved the cloak he was wearing to reveal his flank which lacked a Cutie Mark “You three are lucky that I didn’t decide to wear a patch today.” He said to the Crusaders as he hid his flank from view again. “We manage to hide from most of Equestria for 50 years and then three fillies come along bringing their sisters with them, the only way this could get much worse is if the nightmares start” he muttered to himself.
“You know it is terribly rude to mutter to oneself” Rarity admonished.
“Wait, what was that about nightmares?” Apple Bloom asked, looking concerned.
“Please tell me you haven’t all had one involving a pony with bat ears and -”
“Dog fur? Sorry they have” Applejack answered
“Fine you had all best come with me, I’ll explain everything when we get somewhere safe.” With that he turned on his rear hoof and led them back the way they had come, watching the side streets much more carefully than before.