//------------------------------// // 8 Muscle Ache // Story: The Crusades End // by ColdChimera //------------------------------// "Alright fillies, take 5." Tail Wind barked. After he had gotten them measured for Storm to make them a set of armour, he had taken them out onto the practice field again and ordered them over to a small out of the way stone outhouse like structure. Inside they found various different weights from dumbbells to some strange device shaped like a Pegasus’ wing. They had taken a few of the dumbbells and a few weighted saddles each, Commander Storm had then put the heaviest that they could possibly carry on each of them and ordered them to gallop around the training ground for half an hour. Needless to say when the order to stop came the three young crusaders dropped like so many sacks of potatoes. That had been a couple of weeks ago. They had just finished a similar drill when Captain Wind had told them to take a break. Today they were practicing stealth. The cave was darkened and Storm had erected walls around the place to form a maze like structure. The crusaders then had the weighted saddles placed on them by Tail and Rarity. The saddles this time came with an assortment of pots and pans as well as other pieces of metal attached that made loud clattering sounds whenever they moved. After the five minute break was over Tail called them to attention. They all stood up, quickly standing to attention giving him smart salutes. “At ease recruits.” He said giving them a salute in return. “Today as you already know we are practicing stealth, Vampires have increased night vision and hearing, a few benefits from the bats and wolves, they also have a slightly more acute sense of smell than a pony.” “We need to be able to sneak up on them without them noticing and not allow them the same chance, we got lucky the last time, they didn’t even try stealth.” said a strangely echoing voice from right behind the three fillies. They spun around quickly to find Meteor Storm had crept up behind them without making a sound even though he was in his full Crusader armour. The armour was made of a dull metal that was surprisingly light considering how much there was, it was still incredibly heavy though the only time they had wore a piece they each had put on one of the boots, and had been stuck to the ground until they took them off. Storm wore his Champron with its strange reflective covering over the eyes, it was crystal clear on the inside and mirror like on the out. The thickened Criniere that protected his neck had been an adaptation the oldest of the Crusaders had made to their standard armour, along with a thickened Peytral protecting his chest. “Right. Now you will all go in from the same point and we will both go in from two other points. Your job is to get to the centre without running into us. You all get that?” Commander Wind explained. “Sir, yes sir!” The three fillies answered. “Good. Actually I’m feeling confident; you can have a minute’s head start on us. Starting now.” The three fillies gave him a salute then hurried into the entrance to the maze. “How do we do this? A maze I could deal with but while avoiding those two?” Scootaloo asked shaking her head slightly. “Well, if we move slowly then we can reduce the noise we make, and then we can focus more on the maze.” Apple Bloom answered. “I doubt Captain Storm will have set up a really hard maze in only a few hours, he probably used a rule to help him like ‘right is up left is down’.” “So you’re saying we just have to find the rule he used then we can focus on avoiding them?” Scootaloo asked. “How do we find the rule?” “That’s the thing, to find it I would have to observe the whole of the maze.” Sweetie answered looking sheepish and a little crestfallen. “Or I could just ask Storm.” “Mind explaining how you know these things?” Apple Bloom asked inquisitively. “I like puzzles okay.” Sweetie answered defensively. “We could go by trial and error, why don’t we start with right takes you to the centre and left away?” “Good a plan as any, ah guess.” The yellow Earth pony answered. So they set off forward taking care not to walk to closely together or too quickly to reduce the noise from the saddles they wore. Three turns later they found an exit, and quickly moved back around the corner they came around. “How long has it been?” asked Scootaloo. “A couple minutes by now.” Apple Bloom answered in a whisper. “Right so we know that there are at least three entrances to this maze, and we have found two. That must also mean we aren’t getting closer to the centre. So we can rule the right is closer rule out.” Sweetie said thoughtfully. “We don’t even know if there is a rule.” Scootaloo pointed out. “Why don’t we just try to find the – look out.” She hissed pulling Sweetie and Apple Bloom roughly to the right wall, there saddles clanking loudly. “Scoots what’s gotten into you?” Sweetie muttered pulling away from the Pegasus. “Tail. I saw him flying over the maze, looking for us.” “Dirty cheater.” Apple Bloom muttered. “Do you think he saw us?” “I don’t think it will matter that much, we made a lot of noise just then.” Sweetie observed, nervously looking to the sky. “Well we can’t just sit here waiting for him to find us.” Scootaloo said. “I have an idea. Sweetie how strong are you?” “Pretty strong, it depends sometimes if I’m scared I might be as strong as Big Mac. Why?” “In a second. Apple Bloom, I assume you’re pretty strong to?” “Ah don’t like to toot my own horn but I’m not much weaker than AJ.” She answered. “Good, here’s what I think we should do…” “You find them?” Storm asked his comrade as he flew a slow circle over the maze. “I think so. I think I saw the unicorn and then I heard their saddles. They’re over by your entrance.” The Pegasus answered. He started to move circling over the area he had indicated. “I owe you a drink.” Storm grumbled ass he teleported over to the area specified. He exited into a massive cloud of dust. Coughing after inhaling a large amount he lit his horn and quickly cast a spell to filter the air in front of him and another to clear the dust. He heard Scootaloo shouting something as his coughing fit died down. He quickly sent a couple of stunning spells into the rapidly disappearing dust cloud. Sweetie bucked the wall feeling it crumble into dust beneath her hooves. She felt Apple Bloom pass her a few seconds later running through the hole she had made into the clean air on the other side she, ran up to the next wall pivoting on her front hooves as she reached it giving a mighty buck with nearly the same effect, she didn’t make as big a hole as Sweetie had made but it was enough. There was a flash from behind them, followed by the sound of Scootaloo’s wings buzzing, sending the dust the other two had kicked up towards the area the flash had come from. “Storm’s here! Get moving.” she yelled at them. Sweetie Belle charged forward, head lowered and broke through the next wall and kept going, Apple Bloom struggling to keep pace behind her with Scootaloo binging up the rear blowing the dust behind them creating a smokescreen. It took Sweetie a few seconds to realize when the other two stopped, frozen in their tracks. She looked back to ask what was wrong and jumped to the right, just barely avoiding a third stunning spell that shot through the dust cloud. A second after she landed she felt something crash into her back pushing her to the floor and pining her there, another weight pressing on her head preventing her from moving and concentrating enough to cast a spell, not that she could if she wanted to. A pair of hooves entered her vision before a bright flash and a feeling like she had attempted the Running of the leaves with the weighted saddle on. A second later she was lifted and placed on her hooves, where she stood not able to move a muscle, not even lift her head. She heard wings flapping away and then return a soft clopping noise as three sets of hooves touched down two either side of her and the third behind them. There was another flash and she was able to move again. “Do you know what you did wrong?” “We panicked and gave up on stealth.” Sweetie answered, tired and disappointed that they had been caught so quickly. “That was actually the point that you work together the best. You and Apple Bloom used your strength to smash walls, while Scootaloo used her wings to blow the dust away to make sure that the dust was clear of you and formed a large smoke screen to stop us from targeting you.” The voice of Tail told her from behind. “Don’t worry, you’ll all feel really worn out that’s a side effect of the spell, it’ll wear off in a few minutes.” Storm informed them. “Now what you should have done is utilised your unique abilities to help you. For example all Earth ponies can sense the ground for a certain distance around them, so you Apple Bloom would be able to find your way through the maze and avoid me easily. You Scootaloo should have used your naturally fast reflexes and enhanced spatial awareness to keep watch for potential threats, which you did, well done.” Despite her muscles aching Scootaloo swelled slightly with pride at the praise. “You should have worked together using these abilities to help you avoid us.” “Ah didn’t know ah could sense the ground around me.” Apple Bloom remarked. “You’d have to ask your sister about that. Scootaloo I can teach you how to sense the air properly if you don’t know already.” Tail informed the Pegasus and Earth pony. “I’ll work with you until you can cast properly Sweetie.” Storm added. “But this wasn’t really important, it was just a way to test your skills individually and how you work as a group.” “Alright that’s enough of a rest, get yourselves to the showers then meet me in the classroom.” Tail ordered walking past them and taking off, flying toward their classroom. “The first thing you will learn is how to destroy a vampire. Notice I said ‘destroy’ not ‘kill’. This is because vampires are no longer living how do we know this?” Captain Wind asked looking to his pupils. Sweetie, naturally, was the first hoof in the air. “Sweetie?” “It’s because they can’t make or regenerate their own life-force, they have to steal it from others.” “A perfect answer. So the Vampires have a few weaknesses most are well known, anyone want to hazard a guess?” Sweetie’s hoof was not the only one in the air, this time it was joined by those of her two friends. “Apple Bloom?” “Sunlight.” “Good, Scootaloo?” “Fire?” She asked hesitantly. “Yes, very good. Sweetie?” “Err… Silver?” “Yes, silver is one of the few metals that can harm them. A few things that are told to people are garlic and rosewood stakes dipped in water blessed by Celestia; these are all false with the exception of the last one the blessed water will weaken them but it being water they normally just freeze it before it gets to them. What do you think you have to do to destroy a Vampire?” he asked pointing to Scootaloo. “Make them stand in sunlight.” her answer came immediately. “Very good, that would destroy them but not very useable unless they are particularly stupid. any others?” “Burn them?” Apple Bloom asked. “Yes that is one way although that is normally a unicorn tactic as they can focus the heat in their surroundings into fire, that it? Can’t think of any other ways?” He looked around the room to see a three heads shaking. “OK, well there are; one other way is to cut their heads off, this effectively separates the majority of their stolen life force from the brain which directs it. Another way is to force enough silver into their system, silver actually transforms life-force into other forms of energy to make it as un-reactive as gold, it’s not effective against living ponies because we can regenerate our life-force quicker than it can be stolen, it is also why we use silver and gemstones as magic batteries to fuel spells without unicorns being around all the time. So, to recap, the main ways to destroy Vampires are?” “Burn them.” Scootaloo answered. “Cut their heads off.” Apple Bloom answered. “Put silver in them or lead them into sunlight.” Sweetie answered. “All good answers. Now let’s go over ways to spot a Vampire or a Vampire’s thrall.” “Thralls are practically zombies, they have no free will and aren’t technically sentient like ponies.” Sweetie rattled off. “Oh come on Sweetie, you keep this up and you’ll make us look bad!” Scootaloo cried in a playfully exasperated way. The Commander chuckled. “Yes that was a completely textbook answer Sweetie Belle. But do any of you remember how to spot a Vampire?” The grey Pegasus asked. No hooves were raised. “No one? Okay then, there are a few ways to spot a Vampire, one is that they won’t be outside during the day, and if they are they will be avoiding direct contact with sunlight as much as possible. They have a problem with crossing running water, so it’s a good way to discover a Vampire. It also provides a good way to avoid them, if you need to escape one then just run over a bridge. There are a few other detection techniques but they are more specific to individuals or are less reliable or really complex so those are the main ones we use. Any questions?” “Why would Vampires be scared of the river Styx?” Scootaloo asked hoof raised. “Vampires tend to have lived longer than most ponies should, this is all speculation we have no real ideas like I said we haven’t really looked into it that much. Their unnaturally long life leads them to fear that the river Styx will take them and carry them away to Tartarus. Anyone else got a question before lunch?” The stallion asked looking around to see that no hooves were raised. “Good I’m starving.” With that he took wing gliding over the heads of the three fillies to the door. “Before I forget Apple Bloom I still need to speak to you in the command centre, go there after lunch.” He added as he left. “What did you need me for Commander?” Apple Bloom asked as she entered the Command centre. Tail Wind had taken up a position by the window watching the other two fillies train with Meteor Storm. “Do you remember what we talked about on our journey over here?” he asked without looking away from the orange Pegasus who was currently sparing with Storm using a retractable hoof blade. Similar to the ones he liked to use. The hoof blade consisted of a Vambrace strapped to her hoof. The blade was attached to a mechanism that allowed it to be extended or retracted with precise movements; this was attached to the top of the Vambrace to allow the full range of motion for the hoof. “You mean Scootaloo not bein’ able to fly?” she asked. “Yes, you said there was special equipment that could help her fly like other Pegasi.” “Yeah but it’s really expensive, only really rich ponies can afford it.” “We can make pretty much anything we need, how do you think we maintain this place?” “Well I guess I could give you the specifications, me and my sister once tried to make a set of it for Scoots; but we didn’t have a forge like you do or your skills with it so it didn’t end so well.” “Thank you. Just write them down on a piece of paper and leave it on the table, then get back to your friends you still need to train like them.” The yellow filly gave a salute before setting to work. THUNK…THUNK “Ha, you call that a hit? I’ve had a harder time fighting flies!” Storm crowed after successfully blocking two more of Scootaloo’s strikes. They had been sparing for twenty minutes and the orange filly hadn’t gotten anywhere near to touching the stallion. She was however very close to exploding with anger. In the last few minutes she had been hit no less than fifteen times by the wooden unicorn sword that the Captain was holding in his magic. She was bruised from head to toe, she was getting tired both physically and mentally of Storm and Sweetie Belle who was sat on the sidelines, sniggering quietly at Storm’s jokes. In short her fuse was about to be burnt up. “RRRAAAWWR!” She screamed diving into another attack swinging as hard and fast as she could. She started her wings buzzing reducing her weight and increasing her agility. She jumped from side to side dodging a few of his swings. She dodged a swing to her right by jumping left; realizing too late that it was a feint when the wooden sword quickly flicked around to come from her right. She just raised her sword in time to block the strike, she didn’t, however, stop flapping her wings. Her reduced body mass combined with the power of the strike sent her flying across the arena. “That,” Storm said rising to walk over and offer a hoof, he had been sat in the same spot on the floor for ten minutes; “is why you shouldn’t forsake stability for agility.” Scootaloo reached up for his hoof. Then, with a quick buzz of her wings she flipped over to bring her sword singing to his right side. THUNK…BANG…THUNK…click-clack The sword was stopped an inch from Storms neck by his own sword. He then proceeded to flip the orange Pegasus over his head while spinning to land in exactly the same position as the were before the manoeuvre, this time though Scootaloo was on her back with her sword a few feet away and Storm’s sword pressed against her throat. “A surprise attack, I’m impressed. You used your position to hide your intentions until the last second but you lost your balance when I lifted you. If you had recovered then this duel would have lasted longer.” He remarked casually as if he were commenting on the weather, and didn’t have a sword pressed to the throat of a young Pegasus. He removed his sword from her throat and once again offered her his hoof. She took it allowing him to pull her to her hooves. “So when are you planning on teaching us to fight? At the minute it just looks like you enjoy an excuse to beat me up.” “I have been teaching you, there would be no merit in just giving you the information. This way you learn how to fight but you also learn how to adapt to the ever changing situation of a true battle.” Storm informed her proudly. “Now I think we have sparred long enough. Sweetie Belle you’re up, pick your weapon!” “Ouch” “You can say that again Scoots” “Ouch” “Very funny, Apple Bloom how are you not as hurt as me and Scoots?” “Ah am ah just don’t complain about it.” The filly in question replied as she dropped into her waiting bed “She also didn’t take as much of a beating as we did, again.” A distinctly more purple Scootaloo added as she found her own bed and promptly collapsed into it. “Ah did to. Ah fought Storm for near an hour with those weighted shoes, those things are heavy.” Apple Bloom responded, her voice muffled by the pillow her face was pressed into. “Yeah, but he didn’t hit you as many times as he did me and Sweetie. He hit me clear across the room!” Scootaloo argued. “That’s because she didn’t give him many chances, Apple Bloom was quick on her hooves and kept blocking his sword, whereas you just charged in screaming your head off.” Sweetie commented already in her bed with her eyes closed. “What time is it?” Came Scootaloo’s voice a few minutes later. Apple Bloom mustered her strength and rolled her aching body over to face the clock that hung at the far end of the room, above the door that lead to the site of their most recent torture at the hooves of the unicorn Captain. “It’s half seven, why?” She asked. “Dinner gets served at eight.” Scootaloo informed her staring at the ceiling. “Well if you two go can you bring me something back, I don’t think I can move from this bed.” “No, you didn’t even fight Storm for ten minutes before you gave up. If any of us should stay here, it’s me I got hit the most, at least thirty times.” Scootaloo complained. “Fine we’ll all go. But I want to sleep for a little while first.” “That’s not a good idea.” Apple Bloom told her looking in the direction of her bed. “Why not? Sleep sounds good right about now.” Scootaloo said. “Your muscles will get stiff and it’ll be even harder to get up at eight. Trust me, this is something you learn when you try to buck apples all day.” She answered rolling over again onto her hooves. “Alright then what do you think we should do Bloom?” Scootaloo asked as she rolled onto her hooves. “Ah don’t know just something to keep us moving until dinner, after that we don’t have to go anywhere.” “Fine, any suggestions Sweetie Belle?” No response came from the third bed, the two friends turned to look back for the third member of their group. “Sweetie Belle?” Scootaloo asked again, moving to the bed under whose covers a small lump betrayed the presence of Sweetie Belle. As Scootaloo got closer she heard quiet breathing and occasional mumbles. “She asleep, I don’t believe it.” “Just leave her, Ah reckon she must have been mighty tired to fall asleep so quick. We’ll bring her a plate of food later so she don’t starve.” Apple Bloom told her as she walked out the door, soon joined by Scootaloo. “So what are we going to do?” Scootaloo asked again. “Ah don’t know, ah’m just gunna walk.” She replied setting off in a random direction. “Sounds good to me.” Scootaloo said hurrying a little to catch up. The two walked around ‘The Candle’ for a time. They did a lap of the practice field, and were walking between some of the older buildings when Apple Bloom decided to break the silence. “You alright Scoots?” “Sure, why wouldn’t I be?” She asked looking at her friend. They were walking between two of the buildings that were used as store houses. The Commander had left again the day after they got to ‘The Candle’ and had returned a little later with a cart load of food which he had told them to help put away in the storehouses they were walking between. “You just seem quiet is all, and ah don’t think ah’ve seen a smile on your face since we started the journey here.” “Yeah, I’m fine” she replied not looking at Apple Bloom. The yellow Earth pony stopped and held out a hoof to stop Scootaloo and make her look. “Scoots you know you can talk to me about anything right? Ah promise if you don’t want me to tell someone else then ah will take it to my grave.” “Yeah, I know I can talk to you and trust you to keep my secrets Bloom.” She started walking again and Apple Bloom resumed her course next to her friend. “It’s just…” She said a few seconds later. “What is it?” “I stole that money from my dad. I do it all the time, but normally it’s just to make sure we have food instead of letting him spend it on drinks.” “You’re worried about him?” Apple Bloom asked. “Yeah, he’s been a drunken slob since mum, but I’ve always taken care of him because he couldn’t take care of me. He drinks because he’s sad, sad that mum’s gone. Now I’ve gone too.” “He’ll be fine; you told him you were leaving right?” “Yeah I left him a note so I know he would know I left when he was sober enough to read. But that’s only one thing I’m worried about.” She looked at Apple Bloom stopping once again. “Do you think we are really doing the right thing? Becoming Crusaders like this?” Apple Bloom stopped for a second contemplating her answer. “Yes.” she said eventually “Well more like ah don’t think we’re doing the wrong thing. You still havin’ the nightmares?” “Yeah.” “Me too, Tail and Storm both say that’s a sign that we really are Crusaders. We’ve seen our ability with various skills like the forge or your swords. We were attacked by the Vampires so we know we have to fight them if only to prevent others from fighting them. So yeah I think that we are doing the right thing.” The young Earth pony smiled at her friend. “Thanks Apple Bloom, I feel a lot better now. Maybe don’t tell anyone else about this?” “If you don’t want me to tell anyone else, I’ll take this conversation to my grave.” “Thanks. Come on dinner must be ready by now.” “Right behind you.” The two fillies turned around and retraced their steps to the mess hall, where they sat down and ate, talked and Scootaloo smiled.