//------------------------------// // Storytime // Story: In a Far Away Land // by TheReaderAndWriter //------------------------------// "It all started, well, the same way I reckon it did for you: with a fall out of the dark." It had been that thing's fault, whatever it had been. It must have. That was all Applejack was able to focus on as she fell. Tumbling through the air, the few glimpses of the ground beneath her almost blinded her; it was nothing but shining white as far as the eye could see. She couldn't hear anything, the air was zipping by her at an impressive speed, until it all came to a sudden stop. The impact made Applejack's head ache. It had been a tad softer than she had imagined, but still plenty painful. While her body had finally stopped, her head was still busy spinning wildly. Standing up only caused Applejack to fall over, no matter how many times she tried. Eventually, she just decided to lie down, if only for a little while longer. The ground she was lying on was wet and cold, covered with a thick blanket of snow. When Applejack finally managed to feel steady again, she rose up, looking at her surrounding with shock. This was certainly much different from anything she had experienced before. Realizing she was in some sort of strange blocky forest with odd pines growing everywhere took some time, as just grasping the bizarre world around her was so overwhelming. "I wish I'd never found that dang thing. This is a fine mess you've gotten yourself into, Applejack," she said. Then she heard something in the distance, in between the trees. "I was mighty frightened when I realized it wasn't just me, but everyone else. Without food, water or even shelter, I quickly did everything I could to gather up every pony I could find. In the distance most could see a large group of mountains, higher than anything we'd seen before, so I told everyone to go there. If nothing else, at least it was easy to see. We spent hours trying to find as many ponies as we could. To my relief, most had fallen down where they could see the mountains, and were drawn to them. It didn't take long before we were all together in one spot, at the base of the tallest mountain, fearing for what had happened to our kin. We weren't safe. There was no food and some of us were hurt badly. And all of us were cold. Then the sun started to go down." "Applejack, I don't like the look of that sunset. The worst things come out when it's dark," said a young stallion named Bric-a-brac. "Agreed. Have you seen Winona? She's good at patrolling, keeping some nasty creatures at bay back home at the ranch," said Applejack. "I think I saw her over where they are treating the hurt," said Bric-a-brac. "Thank you kindly. I'll be back as soon as I get her, but, before I do, how come Winona followed us, but nothing else did? I don't see any animals, cows, birds, or anything except us pony folk." "Well, I did hold her when that strange cube was activated, maybe that's why?" said Bric-a-brac. "Again, I'm very sorry I made this happen." "Telling everypony the truth was, for the first time in my life, hard, but it had to be done. It took a while, but eventually everyone understood that we were all in the same boat without a paddle." *** "It was you who made this happen!?" yelled Rainbow Dash in sheer surprise. "Well...." Applejack glanced at Twilight's and Spike's direction, noticing a subtle but desperate pleading gesture. "Yes, it was," she continued, but with a slightly sour, disappointed, tone. "And I'm sorry. If I hadn't found it, this whole mess wouldn't have happened. Still, too late for regrets now," said Applejack. Twilight felt like she was just digging herself deeper. First it was avoiding the blame and anger of those she sought to protect, but now it was outright letting somepony else direct the blame towards themselves. She felt like a complete jerk, and she desperately wished for the courage to face this problem. Many things had become less intimidating throughout the years, but this had become even more terrifying than anything. "Unbelievable! Wow, everything feels so messed up right now," said Rainbow Dash. "Well, sugarcube, I guarantee there's more. For now, please just listen to the story," said Applejack. She looked at one of the guards. "Hey, warrior, could you go and get Rosy here?" "Of course, chief," said the guard, leaving the room. "Anyhow, where was I?" *** "The first night was the worst, by far the worst. The monsters were everywhere. It didn't matter where you looked or where you ran, there was always something standing there in front of the snow. So, being surrounded by creatures willing to devour us, we climbed and climbed. Eventually, we hit the highest peak. Hundreds of ponies, all huddled together in fear of the climbing monsters. I, and the few strong ones, fought back, strong as oxes. It was just barely enough. The dang monsters just kept comin' and comin'. Thankfully the mountain was steep, so kicking them off worked wonders. At least a hundred horrors must have fallen to their death." "By the time the sun rose, every fighter was exhausted. It had been too much. We were desperate for some sleep and some decent grub. But we were alive. The mountain had saved us, so, having assumed the whole world to be cold and covered in snow, we decided to make the mountain our home. A few patches of leaves and grass was enough for us to keep ourselves fed. We were hungry for quite some time, but at least it would not kill us. We were too stubborn to die." "Wondering what the strange things the monster had dropped was, we started to experiment, and we even managed to figure out this thing about Intent, not that we had a name for it at first, and we couldn't make heads or tails about how to use it to get food. Then, in a stroke of good fortune, we found something strange at the other side of the mountain. It had been a little shack, built into the side of the rock. There was warm torches in there, and soft bedding. There was plenty of room too. It was filled with books. However, there wasn't anypony there. It seemed to have been abandoned a very long time ago. All we found that we could understand was a diary of sorts. It spoke about many strange things, and because of that we managed to survive. We started to mine, make torches, make farms underground. Eventually, we started to build our homes on the mountain. It had been our new home. Living on a mountain changed us. Strength became important. Farmers less so. We remembered the stories of griffin kingdoms, how chiefs lead and how warriors followed. We started to use them words, for fun at first, but eventually it was just who we were. A home had started to shape around us, by the time we found out that the world was not all snow and ice, we no longer wished to leave. Eventually, we had made a full town, something to be mighty proud of. I still remember the day, I, the chief, named it. It was about three years ago." Applejack stood on the top of the tallest tower of the tallest peak, overlooking the town below. Hundreds of ponies gazed up at their strong leader, the pony who had lead them through the trouble she claimed to have caused. They had forgiven her, though she had not forgiven herself. These were her ponies now. The strong would help the weak and the weak would become strong, that was their code to survive in this winter land, their land. "I have watched this town be built from the first tool to the last block! I have watched those I consider to be friends fight and live alongside me! Danger no longer mean anything to us. We have lived because we are strong! We have grown to love this land because it has tried to kill us, and therefore made us more alive than ever! We have shared food, fights and friendship, and now we share a home!" she yelled out with all of her strength. The cheers beneath her as she stood on the pointed roof was almost deafening, even at that altitude. "Though," she said, lowering her voice. Suddenly the crowd became dead silent. It was so quiet that Applejack only had to speak normally, yet be heard by all. "I have always had regrets. I promised you that I would find the way to our home. We were supposed to go back, back to Ponyville, back to Equestria... but I never could. I wasn't clever enough. Now, many of you have started new families, had foals, sons and daughters. And I..." She took a deep breath. "And I have no intention on making my promise a lie! I said I would bring us home, and while it took a whole year, we finally have one again!" she yelled out, with an infectious pride. Cheers roared throughout the city. "This is our home, this peak. I made a promise, and in one shape or form I intend to keep it. We might never find our way back to Ponyville, BUT WE SURE AS HECK HAVE FOUND OUR HOME!" She took a another breath full of the invigorating cold mountain air, fresher and cooler than morning dew. "This town has always needed a proper name, and I've heard some interesting ones, but, if it's alright with you, I think we need to settle on one. This peak representing my promise, one I've desperately wanted to keep. If there are no objections! Mountain, our home, I dub thee: Promise Peak!" "And every single fella' on the mountain loved it plenty. After all, I had done quite a bunch for these friends of mine." *** "But this isn't Promise Peak, is it?" asked Twilight. "No... it's not. Not even close. This is an old mine we've reused as a base. This place is made to take back Promise Peak." "Take it back?" "You're darn right, Twilight. I can almost guarantee that it's from the same ponies who attacked you." "I'm a bit lost," said Spike. "That's because I haven't finished telling the story yet," said Applejack. "Hang on, wait, you said you named the mountain town three years ago, and some had already started families?" asked Rainbow Dash. "That's a bit early. I mean..." "Yeah, I agree. There are some who became couples and had foals in Haven too, or were couples already, but the first one came first half a year ago," said Spike. "Well, out of everyone in Ponyville, we got mostly the younger ones. Hardly adults, some of them," said Applejack, chuckling a bit. "And, considering it can get chilly during the nights even with a few torches, most ponies live together and sleep huddled together on an almost round bedding made of wool. What do you think happens when a bunch of young ponies, some still swirling with hormones, cuddle up together to keep warm?" Spike started to visibly blush, and Twilight suspected she did too. Rainbow Dash looked almost entertained with the little mischievous grin she made. "S- so, at least now we know where the extra ponies came from," said Twilight, clearing her throat. "Some of them. Anyway, with quite a few having started families, and almost all of us being young and proud of what we've made, we chose. We've decided to stay in this world. It's our home now," said Applejack. "We can't give up," said Twilight. "I won't give up." "We didn't give up, Twilight. We just think this was better for us," said Applejack. "But, but... Ugh, just, just keep telling your story," said Twilight. "I believe I will," she said, smiling gently. "This happened just two months after that day. It had been a normal day like any other, but to most, or at least to me, it marks when the dark times started." *** "Indeed, it was just the start." "Chief, get down here!" yelled a voice from below. Applejack looked over the side of a bridge built above several houses on the downward slope of the mountains southern side. Several streets down of the surprisingly vertical town, she saw a pegasus, a young stallion named Thunderlane, standing on one of the inner walls, looking up at her. "What is it, warrior?" asked Applejack. "I almost didn't believe it myself, but there's a pony outside the main gate! He's new!" yelled Thunderlane. This piece of news made Applejack's eye widen in surprise. There hadn't been a new arrival in Promise Peak since after the first few weeks there. The potential of these news boggled her mind as Applejack rushed down as quickly as she could. Within minutes she, along with several warriors, stood on the top of the wall at the main gate. She looked down at a lone pegasus, he was severely wounded. His side had a long wound, from a blade, that was still bleeding. His head looked like it had been bruised considerably. Those were just a few of his injuries. Unused to this sort of situation, always making sure to keep her ponies as safe and as ready one could be, she didn't immediately let the strange but wounded stallion in. "Who are you? What is your business here? What happened to you?" she asked. "I'm... I'm Keen Eye, I'm from Trottertown. Please, you have to help me, I just fell into this place, and I was suddenly attacked. I don't know where I am, and I'm really scared," said the pony, struggling to keep his voice steady. Applejack examined the pony closely. His wounds seemed to be deep, and new. The stallion was tall and large. Somepony or something had slashed at his eye, the wound just barely shallow enough to not have injured his vision. One of his hooves had been crushed, a few pieces of his hoof was still clinging to him thanks to some strands of red flesh, she could have sworn she saw the tip of the bone. It hurt just to look at him. His coat of fur was a shade of orange, like her own, but not as bright. His mane was bright red, though that could have merely been an abundance of blood. "Let him in, and get him to a hospital," said Applejack. "I'll question what happened to him myself." "So I did. Our hospital is, or, was, a really tiny building, barely more than this little hut under a little overhang, barely more than four small rooms. We didn't have many who knew much about health or treating wounds, but we sure did try to treat our wounded." After less than an hour, Applejack was finally approved to go inside the room the stranger, this Keen Eye was staying in. She walked in, seeing him on the bed, wrapped in wool in several places. He seemed uneasy, but tried to relax as Applejack walked closer. "So, mind telling me more about you? Like who attacked?" "I just don't know. One second, I was minding my own business, the next, everything got dark and I fell. I just... I didn't know what had happened. Before I knew it, ponies, large ones, scary ones, jumped out from everywhere. They had swords, and they attacked. I don't know how I survived. Maybe they were just toying with me? Running away from them was hard, my hoof really hurts, and itches." "What is your talent? Something about sowing?" asked Applejack, giving the pony's cutie-mark a quick glance. "Well, actually it's paper craft," said Keen Eye. "But what does that have to do with anything?" "I assumed you would be staying here, I just wondered if you knew any useful skills. Turns out that's not the case." "S-sorry," said the stallion. "Trottertown doesn't usually make many famous ponies." "Trottertown, that's a bit... west, right? In Equestria?" asked Applejack. "It's pretty far from Ponyville." "Wow, I didn't think you would know about it. When I visited Ponyville, nopony had even heard about it," said Keen Eye, actually sounding impressed. Applejack almost understood him. It was the tiniest town, more of a village actually. Just over 50 residents. She had sent a supply of hay there once, which was the only reason Applejack remembered the name, because she had been required to find it on a map to write out the right paperwork. She had been looking for half an hour before she had found it, so naturally the name would stick with her. "Anyway, my name's Applejack, I'm the chief of this place." "You are? Really?" he asked, quite surprised. "Any problem's with that?" asked Applejack, not really approving of his tone. "N-no, I just, I didn't expect the leader to be so-" but he immediately stopped talking. "So what?" "Nothing!" "I can still kick you out, you know, so you better tell me." "Pr..." he whispered something inaudible. "What was that?" "Pretty," he said silently, blushing. Applejack was a bit taken aback. She had not expected that sort of praise. She had been praised for many things in her life, everything from her skill as a farmer to her adept leader skills, but never her appearance. Keen Eye wasn't the only one who had started blushing. "He was quite the charmer, he was. He was intelligent too, once he stopped acting all shy. Not having anywhere else to go, he did indeed decide to stay in Promise Peak. He fit in quite well, always willing to chat with everyone. Nopony thought ill of that one, so when danger came, it didn't take much for us to want to protect the fella'." "In fact, just a month after he had arrived, our need to protect our own was put to the test." "Listen to me closely, you little mare, if you don't give me that stallion right now, things could get ugly. I won't ask you again," said a gray and white stallion, at the exact same spot Keen Eye had been a month before. His expression was fierce, and his build was about the same size as Keen, but no doubt stronger. He was surrounded by mares and stallions, all of whom were armed with bows and arrows, just like Applejack's warriors. "Please, Applejack, don't let them take me, they'll do terrible things to me. I'm sure that's the guy who crushed my hoof," said Keen Eye, making sure to hide behind a block on top of the wall. He seemed uncomfortable just being in their presence. "Are you the one who did this to him?" asked Applejack, holding up his damaged hoof. "Well, yes, but-" "Then that's all we have to say to each other," said Applejack. Several of her warriors, all on top of the wall looking down at the dozen or so ponies agreed wholeheartedly, something that made Keen Eye smile with a grateful, heartwarming smile of utter relief. "Listen here you little-" "And that's when I was almost hit by an arrow, it just went right past my check. I think it almost hit my hat. One of their fellows had shot an arrow at me. It even hit the guy behind me, fortunately it just hit his rump, so there was no lasting damage. Though we were less than happy." "Return fire!" yelled Applejack after diving down behind cover. Immediately several of her warriors drew their own bows, and fired their arrows at full speed. It was just an intimidation tactic. They had been instructed to not harm anyone unless specifically told to kill, and they were well trained, Applejack had made sure of it a long time ago. "Retreat!" yelled the leading stallion. "Who fired that?! I'll have your head when I find out! We almost had him!" the stallion yelled to his partners as they ran away, some firing back to make sure they would not be followed. "They shouldn't have bothered, we didn't care about them. We just wanted to be left alone. Though, we were always a bit keen to fire warning-shots at anything that got too close to the city after that." A few hours after almost getting shot, Applejack and Keen Eye were sitting together in her home at the top of the mountain, chatting away in front of a fireplace. "Applejack, thank you again for saving me. I've never been so scared in my whole life!" said Keen Eye, drinking some of his milk. He seemed to have enjoyed his life a little extra bit the latest hours. Getting close to losing it could have that effect on some. Applejack just blushed, embarrassed at the attention. "Keen Eye, think nothing of it. I always protect my friends and kin." Keen Eye almost scoffed at the idea of not thanking her properly. "Applejack, you're amazing! That arrow zipped right past your head! It could have killed you! And you don't even seem to care! You're so brave! And you did this for me, I- I'm just honored to be able to call you my friend." Finding it so silly, she couldn't help but to laugh. "H-hey, I'm just trying to tell you how much I appreciate you. I wish I could show you that every day. Because, you're a swell gal, and you deserve it, one hundred percent," said Keen Eye. Hearing his words, she just stared into the fireplace. It was warm, and she needed it, especially since a lot of her house was small and made from stone bricks. Without the fireplace it would have been quite cold in her home. "Wow, Keen, I've never had anyone talk to me like that before, I mean, sure, some have praised me, but not, not like this, not when the moment has long since passed." "I'm... sorry?" "No, it's, it's nice." "As I said, you deserve it," he said, taking another sip of his milk, and looking deeply into her eyes. It seemed he hadn't quite noticed just how much he had been staring into her eyes the last hour. *** "Woah, seems like it's getting to some good stuff.... So, right there in front of the fireplace?" asked Rainbow Dash. Soarin coughed, incredibly awkwardly and suddenly. "Good gracious no, Rainbow Dash! I'm not that sort of gal. But, we did start to see each other a lot more after that day. Took walks through Promise Peak, talked a lot, went out adventuring together, mined diamonds together. He even learned how to make golden apples." "Golden apples?" asked Spike. "Oh, yes, they are a remedy, cures everything and makes you as fit as a fiddle too. He found out how to make them, and gave me the first one." She sighed. "Without even realizing it, I had become a bit attracted to him. He was quite the charmer, that was his real talent." "Ahem." Everyone in the room turned towards the entrance of the cave. A guard was standing there, awkwardly but steadily holding a pegasus foal. It was a little filly. "Ah there she is," said Applejack. The guard walked up to Applejack, carrying over the foal to her. She grasped the little foal, sleeping soundly, with great care. She looked down at the baby with something Twilight recognized: a motherly look. "Everyone, this is Rosy Apple. She's my daughter." Spike had to rush over to Big Macintosh to keep him from hurting himself, as the large red stallion had lost his balance and almost fainted. Twilight, Rarity and Rainbow Dash just stared at her and gawked. Managing to regain some degree of composure, Twilight shook her head and then looked at the sleeping filly. She did look a lot like Applejack. He coat was the same bright yellow as Applejack's mane, and Rosy's own mane was a dark shade of orange. Just like any other foal, she was adorable and looked so full of innocence. "So... you and Keen?" asked Spike. "Yes," said Applejack. "But if it wouldn't have been for getting little Rosy here, it would have been the biggest mistake of my life." *** "Keen, I'm home, Darling!" said Applejack, walking inside the boundaries of her own home. It had been more than two years since Applejack had first met her husband, and more than six months after Rosy's birth. Having spent her day doing her job, she was longing to spend some time with her family, but unlike every other day, where Keen Eye would have come up to greet her the moment she stepped through the front door, there was nopony there. In fact, today was the first day Applejack had ever come home to hear Rosy cry, but not from the living room where Keen Eye would spend the whole day with her, but from her own room upstairs. Something was amiss, Applejack rushed up the stairs and took a few sharp turns and came into her daughter's room. The little foal was weeping in her crib, all alone. "There there, Sweetie, everything's alright. I'm right here. Mommy's here," said Applejack with a soothing tone, picking up Rosy. Just from the smell alone, Applejack understood that her daughter had been horribly neglected this particular day. Leavings did vanish after a while, but not if pressed up against somepony's fur. "Where is your father?" she asked without sounding stern in front of her child, looking around for any trace of him. She took her daughter over to a table of wool, where she made sure to clean her quite thoroughly before feeding her. "If he's off doing something else, he'll wish I'd have given him to the outcasts. I know he's been a hard working husband and deserves a break, but this is a baby we're talking about. There's no resting from this responsibility," said Applejack, patting her foal on the back, gently swinging her from side to side, calming her down. It had not been a particularly good day. Except a few standard brawls between youngsters, the redstone detection system was on the fritz. It had stopped working for a few minutes for some reason. If it shut down, it would essentially allow anyone to break through the underground fortifications undetected. It was like a tripwire. And now her daughter had been neglected and Keen Eye was missing. Her attention was drawn away when somepony knocked on the front door downstairs. Applejack walked out of the room with her foal securely placed inside of a special piece of clothing, made just for mothers. "About time you got here, Keen Eye. You better have good excuse." But when Applejack opened the door, it wasn't Keen Eye. It was Thunderlane. In hindsight it was obvious. Why would Keen Eye knock on the door to his own home? "Chief, I was ordered to inform you that somepony was spotted sneaking into the town's storage. We've checked the inventory, and three diamonds were stolen, plus some paper and that powder from Creepers," he said. "Alright, have you seen Keen Eye?" "Not since yesterday," said Thunderlane. "Alright, if you see him, tell him to come home at once, alright?" "Alright, chief," said Thunderlane. "Goodbye," said Applejack. Thunderlane left without a word. "Something is seriously wrong here," said Applejack, hugging Rosy. It helped calm them both down. Then from the living room, there was the sound of stone breaking. Applejack ran into the room, and she was shocked to see the gray and white pony, the same who had demanded Keen Eye to be taken with him, simply climb out of the ground and up on the floor. "This is not your safest idea, you know," said the pony down to somepony in the hole. He casually turned around, just to look right at Applejack, holding her bow aimed right at him. "Okay, don't do anything you'll regret," said the pony. "Get into the hole right now and leave, and nopony will die," said Applejack, filled with a desire to protect her home, ponies and daughter, she was ready to do it. She was ready to take a life. "You crazy mare, just let me explain!" said the stallion. "There's nothing you or your kind can say to me!" said Applejack. "Now leave!" Rosy started to cry from all the yelling. "If we leave then everyone here is in danger!" said the pony. "Why should I listen to you?!" asked Applejack. "Because he's with me," said a third voice, from inside the hole in the floor. Out of it, walked a stallion that Applejack recognized very well. His voice, calm, authoritative, oddly smooth, even managed to get Rosy to stop crying. "What's going on here? What are you doing here?" asked Applejack. The stallion turned to the gray and white pony. "As you said, explain," said the stallion. On his command alone, the gray and white pony started to talk. "My name is Clear Cut, and this is my commanding officer. The pony you are protecting is an incredibly dangerous criminal, leading a gang of horrible convicts." "Now that's just ridiculous," said Applejack. "Just listen to me for a-" "Hey! Keen Eye isn't a criminal, and he can't be a leader of anything! He's been living with me for more than a year, I never noticed anything!" said Applejack, not wanting to listen to this Clear Cut. The other stallion spoke. "His name isn't Keen Eye, it's-" "Sharp Edge," said a familiar, yet so different voice from the hallway. Applejack turned around, and Keen Eye was standing there. His face was nothing short of a confident, amused smirk, one Applejack had never seen on him before. "What- what's going-" but, as painful as it was, Applejack caught on quickly enough in this situation. There were three stallions in that room, Clear Cut, Sharp Edge and the third, and the third's words were all Applejack needed to understand this was indeed the horrible truth. Sure, Applejack's eyes started to run without any signs of stopping, but the glare of betrayal, anger and determination was stronger and greater than anything she had ever accomplished. "That's right, 'Honey', I'm a criminal," he said. Whatever signs of love those eyes had given when talking to her were as good as gone. They were cold. Suddenly everything about him seemed cold, from the way he talked to the way he moved like a predator circling prey. "It was all a lie?" "I care about our daughter, that wasn't a lie. Though, I see her more like a project than anything else, something to build up with some hard work and take pride in, more that than an actual daughter to love. I guess that's the good thing with being a self-aware insane sociopath, you have a surprising amount of insight about what you think of everything," he said, still so cold and calm. It was eerie. "We had to risk everything to get into the town today, we had to try to warn you against him. Today's the day they are going to strike against the town. We interrogated one we captured," said the third stallion in the room. "They?" asked Applejack, grasping her daughter tightly. "The convicts. He leads them, there's more than a hundred of them. Every single one of them are very strong," said Clear Cut. "But why are you all here? I don't get how this works!" said Applejack. "We'll tell you later, right now we must stop this before his plan is-" "Too late," said Sharp, looking out the window. In the light from the setting sun, something suddenly went of further down on the mountain. Some sort of projectile went up into the air, then exploded: a firework. "And that's the signal. Just like I planned, and just like they were instructed..." he said, anticipating, but not for long. Immediately Applejack heard screams from below. "Intruders! To arms! Hide the children!" "It doesn't matter if you are strong or not," said Applejack defiantly, straining to see one she had loved just a few minutes ago as an enemy. "We are stronger than we look, we are well trained and we know this town inside and out. You know we are prepared," said Applejack. "Which is why I infiltrated the town to begin with, to learn everything of value here so it would go smoothly. I rigged the redstone today. Half have tunneled up as we speak," said Sharp. "And you know what? With just that, it still won't be enough. You should know that too, 'Dear'" said Applejack. Her voice was as steady as ever, and angry, but she couldn't stop the tears betraying her. "Of course not. I'm insane, not stupid," said Sharp, tilting his head a tad. "That's why I made sure to figure out everything I would need," said Sharp. He spread his wings, and flapped them a few times. Rising up from the ground, just like a few menacing flying pegasi appearing outside of a large window in the room, Sharp looked at Applejack. "Impossible," said Clear Cut, staring at the flying ponies. "You might have the ground, but we have claimed the sky, and that's everything we need. Now, give me my daughter, and then go prove to my subordinates just how accurately I described our wedding night. They are quite eager to see if everything I told them about you is true," said Sharp. Except about the part about getting Rose, he didn't say anything with even a sign of really caring about any of this. Sharp's ponies burst through the front door and through the window. Applejack was surrounded. "We need to retreat!" yelled Clear Cut's commander. Arrows started flying in their direction. "As I said, don't harm my daughter!" Sharp ordered. Immediately arrows were pointed towards the two stallions in the room. Applejack rushed towards the stallions, following them down into the hole. She couldn't allow herself to be captured, she needed to figure out a plan, she needed to keep her daughter safe, and she couldn't do any such thing if she stayed where she was. So she ran. It turns out, that the criminals, such as Sharp Edge, and royal guards, such as Clear Cut, were all, more than a hundred each, on board a great train taking the prisoners to a highly fortified prison, but, as the train passed Ponyville, the cube got them too. So, more than a hundred guards and perhaps even more criminals, were brought here along with the rest of us. And, of course, the most dangerous of the bunch is the pony who managed to charm himself right into a position of power, next to me. He had been top dog in their former prison, every single criminal was loyal to him on that train. Those who weren't didn't last very long. "Because I had no choice but to escape, Sharp managed to play the rest of the town right into his hooves. By that point, everyone liked the pony named Keen Eye, and payed attention when he spoke. He fooled most ponies in town that he had managed to convince the intruders to cut a deal, and that I had run away never to return. He basically made Promise Peak surrender, even though most didn't want to. It only worked for about an hour before ponies understood what had really happened, but because of Sharp's planning, the criminals had gotten an iron grip on the town by then. The strongest fighters were in jail, and everypony had to do what the intruders told them to." "I joined the guards, and started to fight back. Eventually, those few who managed to escape from Promise Peak joined up with us, we became the resistance. We've tried to fight them ever since, but we haven't been able to do or save a lot. A bunch of us even got captured. At least two dozen have died so far. I think we've managed to do two things against them, and they've outsmarted us on at least twelve other tries. It's hard to beat them when they can fly." "It's terrible in Promise Peak right now. While there is just enough food to not starve, it's not free. Ponies are pushed around by those criminals like leaves in the wind. They are the worst of the worst that ponykind has to offer. If you don't do everything they say, you're as good as dead. There's been a baby boom because of those sick bastards, which doesn't make it easy to balance working to grow food and taking care of the new young ones. It's just horrible. But... with you here, now there's some real hope again." *** "And that's the end of the story," said Applejack. "Please, will you help us to take Promise Peak back from those terrible ponies?" "Well, obviously we'll help you," said Twilight. "But there's not many of us here, and any help we could get from Haven is very far away and would take a long time to get here. Not to mention it is, like you say, difficult to battle those who own the sky." "How can they fly?" asked Rainbow Dash. "While we aren't fully sure, we think there was some sort of strange book in that abandoned library. Sharp Edge had spent some time understanding how to read it, and then only let his own ponies read it too. That's what we had heard from some who had fled Promise Peak, anyway," said Applejack. "I've got to get my hooves on that book," said Rainbow Dash with a determined look in her eyes. "In any case, Twilight, I'm sure you will think of something. You're a clever one. We need your help," said Applejack. "Besides, you'll want to help us, you more than anyone. I did say this had something to do with you, didn't I?" "What do you mean?" asked Spike. Taking a deep breath, Applejack looked down on Rosy, then up at Big Macintosh. "Because, Spike, the stallion who came up out of the hole in my living room with Clear Cut, wasn't just any old royal guard. He's been our leader ever since I joined these fellows. Recently, he got captured on a mission. He's held hostage in the highest tower in Promise Peak. I was chosen as the new leader because I know so much about Promise Peak and have proven myself before. But this stallion, this commander, he's just not anyone. Twilight." she said, looking at her with a very serious stare. "He's your brother, Shining Armor."