“OK how did y’all get a train to the Crystal Empire to yer’selves?” Apple Bloom asked “The Crystal Empire is a massive tourist attraction.”
“I called in a few favours.” Tail wind replied after coming back into their section from the drivers cab. “Nopony will bother us; to everyone else the train has been cancelled.”
“That is impressive. I wish I could do that whenever I have to travel.” Rarity said.
“These are special circumstances, we don’t normally do this either.”
“What do ya mean, and wouldn’t it be less obvious to travel with a large group of other ponies?” Applejack asked.
“Exactly, it would be easier to hide but it is also easier for a pony under a vampires influence to overhear us.” The green haired Pegasus replied.
“What do we need to talk about?” Scootaloo asked looking confused.
“I’m sure you have questions, and I know he wants to get them out of the way before we get to the training grounds.” Meteor Storm said facing the window looking at the scenery the train was passing. They were chugging through rolling hills of green countryside, with very little else to see.
“Well I have a question, what did you mean by support roles?” Rarity asked
“Things like medical treatments, cooking, helping with the training and keeping the armour and weapons in good order. That last one you won’t be doing regularly as we train to look after our equipment almost as well as we do ourselves and we don’t tend to carry weapons with us.”
“Why do we have to do all that? Why can’t you do it?” Applejack asked indignantly
“You have to because we won’t let you fight and we have allowed you to come with us.” Tail Wind answered looking slightly annoyed.
“The cooking is mostly because the only time either of us cooks we spend the night in the infirmary.” Storm chuckled earning a glare from Tail. “And we won’t let you fight because we are much more adaptable than you are, and better trained than you without spending much time with the weapons.”
“Ok, I guess cooking and medical would be good places for me,” Applejack admitted relenting.
“And I could help with the training and keeping armour in good condition.” Rarity admitted.
“Any other questions?” Tail asked.
“Yeah, where are we going?” Apple Bloom asked.
“To the Crusader Training grounds near the Crystal Empire” He replied.
“Why, can’t you train us where we were?”
“No, there wasn’t enough space, the required equipment wasn’t there and we need the climate there.”
“What do you mean ‘we need the climate’? What’s wrong with this climate?” Applejack asked perplexed.
“This is what I wanted to talk about, amongst other things. Vampires will die in the sunlight. This is because Ponies represent balance and harmony so the two Princesses are the exact opposite of each other. Not by just their personalities but fundamentally, their magic’s are opposite like night and day. Vampires were made using Luna’s magic and so Celestia’s magic will completely negate it and destroy them. It doesn’t happen with most things because, while they are opposite they are also in harmony so their pure magic will be left untouched but the Vampires were made with corrupted magic. The sun is made of fire so it naturally follows that vampires won’t like that much either; they prefer the opposite, ice, so we train to be resistant to the cold, more of a problem for you Earth ponies and unicorns than for us Pegasi.”
“Wow that is the most I have heard you say all at once I think.” Apple Bloom said, Tail sighed.
“Are there any other questions … you know what no, no more questions until I have made my speech.” He looked a little annoyed as he said this. He cleared his throat and began.
“As I have already told you we are heading for the secret training grounds of the Cutie Mark Crusaders in the far north of Equestria, near the Crystal Empire. We are going there for a few reasons, firstly as I have already told you all the training equipment we need is there. Secondly, it is really cold up there and we need you all to be comfortable to fight for prolonged periods of time at low temperatures. Thirdly, due to its fortunate placement the Crystal Empire (and specifically the Crystal Castle) refracts the sunlight to cover the area keeping it lit almost constantly, which makes it one of the safest places to train.
“When we reach the Crystal Empire on this train we will have 20 minutes to find enough food for two days, then we will leave heading west. You will follow us closely because we know the way and if you stray from the path you will be lost and we won’t find you. Is that clear?” A round of nods followed his statement “Good, now your training begins the morning we arrive.
“We will teach you about our enemy, and any other enemies you are likely to face. We will teach you how to fight as a group and individually, the individual segments focusing on hoof-to-hoof combat and improving your skill with certain weapons. The group training sessions will be focused on how to fight as a group, covering each other’s weak points and the other tactics involved in group fighting. We are going to the arctic because as I have said we need you all to be able to function in the cold. Was that everything Storm?”
“Think so” The unicorn replied.
“Good, any questions?”
“Yeah, why do we need to train with any weapons at all?” Sweetie asked.
“Because while we can use any weapon we find we are more effective if we have trained with them first. Our enemy has ponies that have Cutie marks in most weapons and have trained for years within its ranks. Without training you would put up a fight but not much else, anything else?” A round of shaking heads. “OK then I’m done, if you want anything talk to me or Storm.”
“Wait, why can’t we start training now?” Scootaloo asked a hopeful look in her eye.
“Well I suppose I could try and teach you a few hoof-to-hoof moves.” Storm said looking over.
“Hold a sec, you teach hoof-to-hoof? I thought that unicorns preferred to use magic?” Apple Bloom asked looking confused.
“Two reasons One: Crusader we all have to learn for the times we don’t carry weapons, two: We lost our close quarter’s specialist so me and Tail have had to cover as best we can. Now do you want to start training or just flap your gums all day?”
“Sure!” Scootaloo answered quickly. The three fillies lined up on one side of the aisle facing the teal stallion.
“Widen your stances, move your rear hooves apart slightly and crouch a little.” He watched as they followed his instructions. “That’s good Apple Bloom. Just spread your fore hooves a little more, Sweetie you need to be lower and Scootaloo you’re a little too low and your hooves aren’t far enough apart.” When they were all in roughly the correct stances he began “Okay now these are the basics first punching, kicking and blocking. You need to know how to do those three properly or you will lose every fight. Now with your fore hoof punch me.” He stood directly in front of them. “Don’t worry, I can take it.” He stood in front of Scootaloo who after a second shrugged and punched him square in the chest with her right fore hoof. A somewhat awkward manoeuvre due to the difference in their heights. Storm felt her hit him with a decent amount of force, enough to hurt but he wasn’t even winded. He had shrugged off worse. “Okay you have decent power. Try to pivot more on the hoof you’re not attacking with to give yourself more power.” He stepped to his left in front of Apple Bloom, who wasted no time in punching him. This punch had more power but it was pretty wild. If she had aimed it properly he would be severally winded but he was hurt only a little more than when Scoots had punched him. “Work on your aim. You could have done much more damage to me if you had aimed that right, try for the centre of the chest over the sternum, that’s a good shot to open with because it will force your opponent away from you, you can gauge his strength compared to yours and you may knock him off balance.” He moved over to stand in front of Sweetie Belle, who looked at him before swinging her left fore hoof at him. ‘Has she hit me yet?’ He wondered to himself as he watched her. His eyes answering for him when he looked closer to his chest, seeing she had stopped less than a hair from his chest. “Why did you stop? I told you I can take it.” He asked looking at her quizzically.
“I don’t want to hurt you” She told him looking up at him.
“I’ll be fine; I’m much tougher than I look.”
“Come on Sweetie we can’t learn how to fight if we won’t even punch each other!” Apple Bloom said moving out of the ready stance.
“Fine, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.” Sweetie retracted her arm launching it out again a few seconds later. Storm was knocked completely off his feet, landing on his back on the seat he had occupied before starting to teach them.
“Did anyone get the licence plate of that cart?” Storm asked slightly dazed, his statement being followed by raucous laughter from everyone except Sweetie Belle who just grinned at him sheepishly. “You have a lot of power there and you are very accurate, you hit in the centre of my sternum. Now punching is good but I want to see how you block before we get on to kicking.”
Half an hour later after going through blocking and kicking assessing their form and power and teaching them a few moves to use in a variety of situations, Storm concluded their first hoof-to-hoof training session. They all returned to their seats and waited for the train to pull into the station.
They disembarked to the Crystal Empire train station. Tail grabbed their bags handing them out to their owners while he talked. “Okay, I’m going to get some supplies together. You five and Storm are free to wander and buy things you will need, only buy the things you are willing to carry in your saddle bags” he directed the last part at Rarity giving her a look before continuing. “We’ll meet up on the north side of town in 20 minutes then head off north. You all understand?” Hearing affirmative acknowledgements from them all he turned and took wing heading to the west side of town.
“I suggest we find some blankets, food and possibly some medical supplies.” Storm said as the five of them began to trot into the market in the centre of town.
“Tail just said he was gonna get all that” Applejack pointed out.
“Yes but he was referring to supplies for the training grounds, they have been abandoned since we finished our training. It’s a good idea to have snacks and medical supplies on hoof anyway.”
“Fair enough.” Applejack responded. They stopped at the edge of the market; it wasn’t anywhere near as busy as the one in Trottingham had been but it was still much bigger than Ponyville’s market. Most of the stalls were selling souvenirs like ‘genuine’ crystal heart replica pendants, but some were selling things that could be of use to them. Applejack quickly found some food stalls and bought a few pies, biscuits, cakes and a few berries. Not long after did Rarity find some blankets and near to that Storm found some medical supplies.
“OK now that we have all of these, we have 10 minutes still so you can go buy whatever you want, just remember what Tail said, only things you can carry. I’ll wait by the other side of the market come to me when you’re done and we’ll go meet Tail”
“Alright I’m going to buy some rope; I just don’t feel right without it.” Applejack said as she walked off through the market.
5 minutes later Applejack returned with a length of rope attached to her right side and a larger bulge on her left. “What you got in there?” Storm asked indicating the left saddle bag.
“A little more food, ah found some apples and a little hay. Oh and ah found a har-mon-ica.” She said slowly stumbling a little around the new word, “Ah have no idea what it does but it looks interesting so I picked it up.”
“May I have a look?” He asked.
“Sure, one sec.” she rummaged around in her bag for a second before pulling out the instrument.
“Here ya are sugar cube.” she said hoofing it over.
“This is quite well made.” He said holding it in his magic. He levitated it closer to himself and blew into it creating a high C note “Very nice.” He said hoofing it back. “It is an instrument you blow through it like I just did and move it around and you can play songs on it.”
“Well that’s interesting.” The orange mare responded before dropping it back into her bag. They stood in silence for a while until Rarity and the three Crusaders appeared out of the market.
“Come on, if we don’t go now we’ll be late.” Storm said as they got up to him. The unicorn stallion turned on his rear hoof and led the way through the streets, avoiding the main roads until they reached the northern most point of the city. They stood there for a few minutes until they saw a familiar figure trotting towards them from the opposite road. As he got closer however they noticed something. He had a massive black eye.
“Nice shiner, how’d you get it?” Applejack asked when he was close enough. The Pegasus looked at her grumpily. “I ran into an old friend.” He answered. Rarity looked shocked.
“I think you and I have different ideas of what a friend is darling.”
“No doubt” he replied
“Which one was it?” Storm asked
“Orange pegasus from Las Pegasus.” He answered “What? You know I can’t remember most of their names, most of the time I was drunk.” He said in response to the disapproving stare Strom was giving him “You weren’t much better around that time. Come on let’s get moving.”
Storm chuckled and let the subject drop, the others figuring this was the best thing to do as well just followed the two stallions as they led the way north.
They had walked roughly half the distance to the Crusaders training grounds when they came across something unexpected. They were in a valley forged by the passage of a glacier centuries before any of them were born. The steep walls were covered in ice and some of the over hangs where the wind had blown the snow almost formed bridges across the top, as if they were walking along a dry river bed in a land of giants. This was not what caught the attention of the young crusaders and their guardians, but what they could see inside the one of the ice covered walls. It appeared to have once been a cave but it had been completely frozen over. Very quickly it would appear as the occupant didn’t appear to have awoken while it was frozen inside the cave and now was stuck there in an eternal slumber. The creature inside was one of the strangest things that any of the young crusaders had ever seen, it had the head and front paws of a lion, the body and rear legs of a goat and its tail which was curled around it while it slept was a snakes head. The creature was huge, twice the size of either of the princesses and three times as wide.
“What is it?” Sweetie asked. Her voice not more than a whisper.
“It’s called a Chimera” Tail Wind informed them. He had seen where they had stopped and walked over to stand behind them. “They were amazing creatures once, as dangerous as a Manticore and as intelligent as a pony. They had a mighty empire that spanned the whole of Equestria and beyond. When the Ponies appeared they allowed them to settle some of their lands in return for a tribute of food and other goods. Their armies were a sight that struck fear into the hearts of any that opposed our ancestors, can you imagine it? An army of ponies all working together and then these come over the horizon covered from head to toe in armour? While some may not like to admit it the main reason Equestria hasn’t been invaded for longer than any text has existed is because of these creatures.”
“Then what happened to them? If they were so powerful why aren’t there any now?” Scootaloo asked, walking closer to the ice.
“Nightmare Moon. She knew that when she took over the Chimera’s would fight on the side of her sister to restore order, so she killed them all. This one we found out after a lot of research was the commander of an entire battalion in their army. Nightmare Moon came here while he was sleeping and froze him there. We’ve tried to break him out hoping that he might join us, they were promoted based on strength and merit so the more they commanded the more powerful and intelligent they were, but we can’t. The ice is enchanted, nothing can break it. And even if it could the ice would re-grow.” He sighed. “Come on, we have much further to go and I want to get their as soon as possible.” He headed off at a trot to catch up to Storm who stood a little further down the valley. The others tearing their eyes away from the strange sight followed him.
When they exited the valley they found their way blocked by darkness. There was a strange band of darkness that covered the ground for miles in front of them. They were stood all together at the top of a small hill, with the darkness starting at its base.
“I had hoped to get further from the city, oh well” Storm muttered to Tail who looked troubled by the band of night “Come on everyone! We won’t get there by standing and staring!” He said raising his voice and looking to the others.
“I thought you said that the Crystal Empire made it light all the time around here.” Scootaloo said looking confusedly at Tail Wind and Meteor Storm.
“I did, unfortunately there is a band of night as you can see. Its position changes and we had hoped that it would be further away from the city so we would be safer crossing it. If a vampire has fed recently they can use magic to allow them brief amounts of time in direct sunlight and much longer if they stay in the shade. In any case Strom is right; we need to cross as quickly as possible.” The Pegasus stallion looked around, a little way to their right was a small ice cave “We’ll rest in there for a while then we will cross the night band as fast as possible, the training grounds shouldn’t be very far from the other side.” Tail led the way into the cave, carefully he and Storm walked in checking every nook, cranny and shadow to be sure it was abandoned.
Once they were sure the cave was abandoned, Storm turned to Sweetie Belle “Help me get a fire going.” he instructed. Sweetie walked over to some stalactites and started pulling the mosses she found there, gathering the fuel. “Why not just use magic?” Storm asked after watching her struggle for a couple of minutes, his horn lit up and he collected twice the amount that Sweetie had in a few seconds.
“I can’t.” Sweetie spat looking angry with herself.
“Ah, now I understand.” Storm said as he looked back at her. “Tell me, were you sick when you were very young?” he asked.
“Yes, she was” Rarity answered for her sister.
“So sick you were unable to move?” He pressed.
“Yes I was; it was horrible I could barely move my eyes.” Sweetie was on the brink of tears now; Rarity not far behind her.
“Why do you want to know this? Why do you have to bring up these memories?” The white mare asked hugging her sister.
“Please forgive me it was not my intention to upset you. I have been trying to work out how your sister is so strong ever since the train; and I have just worked it out. You can’t use magic like other unicorns because you are using it constantly. When you grew sick you instinctively used your magic to help heal yourself, when you lost your ability to move your magic was diverted to your muscles to give them strength again. You just never knew about it so you were never able to control it, you were never able to stop using it.” He explained “unfortunately I believe that now you will be completely unable to control it, without serious training you may never be able to use magic like other unicorns. In time with lots and lots of careful and dedicated training you may become strong enough to cast alongside this strengthening or maybe you’ll learn how to divert magic from it into other spells.”
“That is so awesome.” Scootaloo breathed as she stared at her friend.
“Wait, I might never be able to cast spells like you and Rarity?” Sweetie asked recovering slightly.
“Like he said if you train hard enough for long enough you will become stronger, well more like you will learn how to cast spells with less energy. There are some unicorn monks that can nearly move mountains without breaking a sweat they are masters of a unicorn martial art that I can’t remember the name of, something along the lines of movement or stillness or something like that, I didn’t pay too much attention when it was explained. But they were responsible for the tunnel for the train around Canterlot mountain. I’ve even heard they sometimes cast spells in their sleep because they use so little energy to power them.” Tail told her walking over “now can we please get that fire going? I’m cold, hungry and tired.” Storm laughed and set fire to the pile of mosses they had collected. Everyone gathered around huddling against the cold. Applejack pulled a few apples from her saddlebag and passed them around, everyone accepting them gratefully. When they had eaten and warmed themselves by the fire for a time Storm pulled a few of the blankets from his bag and passed them to the others “You should all get some sleep we’ll take turns keeping watch.” He walked and sat down near the entrance to the cave.
After a little while Sweetie Belle and Rarity decided to do as Storm suggested, lying down together close to the fire to keep warm, Applejack joining them not long after. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo sat on the other side of the fire to Tail who was staring into it, losing himself in the flames.
“So what’s your story?” Apple Bloom asked after being uncharacteristically quiet for the most part of the day.
“Hmm… What do you mean ‘What’s my story?’” He asked looking at them through the flames.
“How did you become a Crusader?” Scootaloo clarified.
“Oh that. Well I guess you have a right to know since you are both Crusaders.” He leaned back slightly, resting his chin on his barrel so that he could continue to stare into the dancing flames. “I once lived in a house near a small town in the Canterlot valley called Ponyville.”
“You’re from Ponyville? So are we!” Apple Bloom exclaimed.
“That’s interesting, now back to the story. I grew up near Ponyville. I was always trying to get my Cutie mark I spent years of my life trying everything I could, but I never got it. Eventually I just gave up. Then one day the royal guard came out to my families little… it was kind of a farm but not really a farm it was just a really big garden. Anyway, they came out looking for recruits, I had always admired them, they were some of the most important ponies that I could think of; they guard the princess and protect our borders from groups like the changelings. I joined up in a heartbeat I was shipped off to basic a few weeks later; I never got to see my family again.
“Basic was Tartarus on Equestria but I learned everything I needed to become a royal guard so I gritted my teeth and got on with it. When I left I was a scout and very good at it, I was strong enough to take most resistance I came across but I was small and fast enough to either stay undetected or to get out of there if it got too hot, and the thing that set me apart was I knew how to use myself, I knew for instance not to take a group of Diamond Dogs head on, I knew to take out their leader quietly then when they were searching pick them off. The higher ups noticed that and thought I would be better suited to direct more forces, turns out they were right I rose quickly after I first learned how to direct forces as effectively as I did myself.
“I reached the rank of lieutenant under Captain Silver Shield, the Captain Shining Armour replaced. Then my tour was up and I could go home, so I did. I was so excited, it would be the first time I had seen my family for years so I flew as fast as I could home. I was too late. When I got there the house looked abandoned, the doors and windows were all open or smashed and there wasn’t anything or anypony to be seen outside. I did what anypony would do in that situation I used my combat training and experience to search the house, top to bottom always aware of the potential to be assaulted when walking the hallways or entering a room. I checked the dining room at the back of the house last; to this day I wish I hadn’t.
“Inside I found my family my mother, father, my two younger sisters and my new born brother. They were all dead. I always wished it was just that, but they were shrivelled like someone has sucked everything that wasn’t skin and bone off of them. They all had puncture marks on their barrels, right over their hearts. I was devastated and angry, so angry. I swore that day that I would never rest until I found the one responsible for this atrocity against me and the peaceful ponies of Equestria and I would destroy them. I would make them pay a thousand fold for every second that my family suffered. I started searching, the only clue I had were the strange marks on their chest and a patch of black fur that one of my sisters caught in her teeth.
“I found the nest of vampires eventually, a year of searching and false leads leading right to them, I went in during the day when I knew they would be asleep; I went in with the sword I had used to fight hundreds of threats to Equestrian peace, I normally prefer larger weapons but I could use that one just fine, I brought an invention of mine a device that explodes to produce sunlight. I went in and within minutes I was over halfway done; I had destroyed half of them before they awoke the rest fled deeper into the cave to regroup and come at me from the shadows. I got to this large chamber in the cave without any resistance I thought it was the last so I didn’t waste any time I threw my sunlight explosives around the corner and after the flash I charged in. There were three ponies surrounded by ash piles rubbing their eyes trying to get their vision back I knew they weren’t Vampires because they were still standing and I had tried that device earlier and it had worked. I asked what they were doing, told them the place was dangerous. They all laughed at me and said they knew, that it was their job to do this. They had come in through another entrance, I had known it was there but the other was closer and harder to spot so I had used that one.
“They asked if I had met anypony else in there. So I told them ‘just these abominations’ and that I had killed them all. They noticed that I didn’t have a Cutie mark about the time I noticed they didn’t either. When I asked about it they told me that they were the Cutie Mark Crusaders and that I was one of them. They took me in, gave me a home and taught me how to direct my anger. I had never learned how to do that I had always just repressed it, became indifferent towards my enemy. That’s how I met Storm, he had joined about a year before me. We trained together became the soldiers that we needed to be, we became Crusaders together, and we became friends.” Tail finished his story looking up from the fire and staring into the eyes of the two fillies across from him. Scootaloo couldn’t look at him for long and quickly allowed her eyes to drift into the heart of the fire. Apple Bloom on the other hoof, held his gaze and said in a quite understanding tone “Ah’m sorry about your family, ah didn’t mean to bring up bad memories. Ah know what it feels like to lose your family though, and I don’t know which of us is luckier, me because ah didn’t really know my parents that well. Or you because you got to make memories with them.”
“If either of us were lucky, we wouldn’t have lost them in the first place.” He said quietly, not taking his eyes away from hers. “You should get some sleep, you will want to be well rested by the time we get there, training starts immediately.” He watched as they walked dragging their blankets closer to where Rarity and Applejack were laid. Apple Bloom resting close to her sister with Scootaloo very close by. “Oh, don’t ask Storm about his past, it upsets him and he has some anger management issues.” With that he turned and walked to the mouth of the cave to join his friend.