Chapter 8: Reinforcements
“Is she gonna be okay?” Applebloom asked as Scootaloo gave Sweetie a quick goodbye hug.
The young mare turned to see who her farmer friend was talking about. Rarity was just standing at the edge of the platform, staring into space.
“Yeah,” Sweetie said, a little saddened to see her sister like that. “Me growing up has been a little hard on her. She practically raised me half my life.”
“I hope she's going to be alright,” said Spike.
“She'll be fine. She’s stronger than most ponies give her credit,” Sweetie assured. “Well, we better get aboard. I'll see you girls tomorrow.”
“Hey, before you go,” Scootaloo stopped her friend mid step. “Could you, uh, you know... I’m going to go hang out with Storm after you leave.”
Sweetie rolled her eyes and lit up her horn and washed Scootaloo in a lime colored light. “You better be grateful. You know what your mom would do if she knew I was helping you screw your coltfriend.”
“Yeah, yeah, I know,” Scootaloo replied. “Now go on.”
“And don't forget, we're gonna wanna hear all about it when you get back,” Applebloom added.
“Yeah, all the hot, steamy details,” Scootaloo tacked on, making Sweetie and Spike blush.
“Like how them claws of his are,” Applebloom joined in the hazing.
“All aboard!” the conductor called.
All too eager to get away from the teasing, Spike grabbed up the bags and his fiance. “Look at that! gotta go, bye!” he said quickly before darting toward the train.
“Ya know,” Applebloom said to her blind friend, “we can be kinda mean sometimes.”
“Yeah, I know,” Scoots agreed. “But so can she, so it's fine. Now if you'll excuse me, I gotta find Storm.”
Applebloom chuckled. “Well then get, ya horn ball.”
“You know, I bet I could talk him into a three-way if you're interested,” Scootaloo said in a teasing tone.
“You'd like that, wouldn't ya, ya fillyfooler,” the farmer poked back. “Besides, you know I'm savin' mahself for the right colt.”
“You mean Midnight.”
“Ah'm'a kick your flank if you don't go.”
Scootaloo laughed. “You couldn't if you wanted to, but I'll leave anyway, because I'm a good friend. Oh, but before I go,” Scootaloo's mouth turned up in a mischievous grin as she moved closer to her friend and whispered in a husky voice, “Midnight's hard cock spreading your virgin lips.”
Applebloom's face went redder than her brother's as the image filled her mind. The squeak she let out was more than the pegasus could handle and she hit the ground laughing. Once again, though, she found her unique sight saving her flank as the flash of magic warned her of the incoming upheaval of stone from directly underneath.
“Whoa!” the orange pegasus cried as she spun out of the stalagmite’s path.
“Ah'm'a kick yer ass, ya feather duster!” and irate Applebloom declared, glaring daggers at her friend.
“Oh, look at the time, gotta go!”
Scootaloo activated the runes on the bottoms of her hooves, creating a cushion of air that held her a few inches off the ground. With her wings buzzing furiously, the pegasus sped off as quickly as she could, away from her angry companion. Thankfully, the earth pony didn't give chase for long and she was able to relax.
“You know,” a voice said to her left, bringing a smile to the pegasus' face, “pissing off a filly that can pick oak trees like they were daisies might not be a good idea.”
Scootaloo shifted suddenly, tackling the colt out of midair and pinning him beneath her. “That's what makes it fun. Besides, Bloom wouldn't actually hurt me. She knew I'd see that 'stone spike' coming a mile away.” Without another thought, she leaned in and gave the gray colt a loving kiss. “I missed you Stormy.”
The colt returned the gesture and replied, “I missed you too, Looloo.”
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
Applebloom watched from a couple blocks away as her friend cuddled up to her coltfriend in the distance. She smiled, glad to see her fellow Crusader so happy; but at the same time, it just reminded her of what she wanted, but couldn’t have.
“Don't worry, Bloom,” came Nightshade's voice from inside her head. “You'll have that, too, in a few months.”
“Ah hope so,” the apple farmer replied, sounding a bit depressed.
“Hey, I know what will cheer you up,” the ghost filly said. “Let's go to the training grounds and swing that hammer of yours around for a while.”
Applebloom laughed a little at that. “Yeah, that sounds good 'bout now.”
With a destination set, the yellow earth pony made her way out of town to a large establishment set up in an equally large field, near the road to Canterlot. It was still a very new structure, only four months old, and was marked by a silver shield with a sun rising over the horizon within - Dawn Shield HQ.
She picked up the pace a bit until she stood directly in front of the door. A pulse of magic, an enchantment by some of the high mages in Canterlot, washed over her, recognizing her as a member of the unit. With the whirring of gears, the thick steel door slid up, allowing her access.
“Good morning, ma'am,” a pegasus stallion, slightly larger than average, with an orange coat and short red mane, greeted with a salute.
“Mornin', Corporal Breeze, how was the party?” Applebloom returned the salute with a warm smile.
“It was great,” he replied, relaxing again. “Spring was so happy, showing of her cutie mark to everyone she could.”
Applebloom chuckled. “Ah'm happy for her.”
“Thank you, ma'am. You and your friends’ club helped her get it.”
“It’s why we started the Crusaders. Anyway, who all's here right now?” the farmer asked.
“Just you, right now,” the guard answered. “Major Dash was here this morning, but she left about twenty minutes ago.”
“That's a shame. Ah would'a liked a sparrin' partner.” Applebloom shrugged. “Well, Ah guess Ah'm training solo.”
With that, she left the front guard to his job and made her way through the facility. It wasn't very big as far as military installations go, but there were still quite a few ponies going to and fro. None of them were actually Dawn Shield, however. Most were technicians, engineers and analysts managing data, intelligence, resources and various other tasks. Most of them came from EI, Equestrian Intelligence, but a few were from other government and private organizations.
As for the building itself, it was as dull and drab as any government facility. Contrary to what comics told her, Applebloom never once saw a ninja training ground or a room with ponies in lab coats testing exploding quills. It was mostly just cubicles and ponies carrying stacks of papers.
A few minutes later and the red maned young mare reached the only interesting room in the entire place; the prep-room. This was where they stored all the toys, including a big machine Jacob said was called a 'road runner fast deploy infantry carrier'. It was busted, but the human was determined to fix it. This was also where Midnight kept his combat oriented golems.
Applebloom walked over to a chain-link storage space and opened the gate. Selecting a target launcher, she grabbed the machine and a crate of targets. She took them, the crate on her back and the machine being pulled by a rope in the pony's mouth, to a large door that opened to a massive field, pocked with craters and gouges from various training sessions. Applebloom grinned at one particular scar in the ground as she began setting up the equipment, wondering if Twilight's face could still be made out in the dirt.
“Definitely showed her that magic can't do everything, huh?” Nightshade spoke up noticing where her friend was looking.
“Well, in her defense, it did take three hits to break her shield,” Applebloom said, though she had to admit it felt good to prove earth ponies could take unicorns, even with their magic. Not to mention, Pinkie was the only other one that ever landed a solid hit on the magical mare. Between her shields and teleporting, she was a hard pony to punch.
“Alright, you feel like helping?” Applebloom asked.
“Sure, what do you need me to do?” Nightshade replied.
“Go down range and tell me how bad Ah miss.”
“Okay, open up.” Applebloom opened her mouth and an indigo mist seeped out, forming into the now-familiar unicorn filly. “Practicing with runes again, eh? Good, you still kinda suck.”
“Hey! Ah ain't that bad!” the living pony defended, but then mumbled, “Ah just ain't that good either.”
“Either way, practice will do you some good,” the ghost filly smiled and ran off a good hundred yards down field.
With her deceased friend in position, Applebloom popped open the crate of targets and loaded a dozen into the magazine. With a flip of the switch, the magic motor started up and Applebloom got ready. With a zap of telekinetic magic, three clay disks were hurled through the air in a long arc. Applebloom channeled her magic through her right fore-hoof, rune glowing dimly. She stomped down, forcing the magic into the ground and six two foot long, three inch thick stone spears exploded from the ground, heading toward the retreating targets. The first spear soared past, missing by a few inches, but the second struck true, destroying the disk in a shower of clay. The third and fourth followed the first into the dirt, leaving the fifth to destroy the second target and the sixth to barely clip the final.
“That was good,” Nightshade shouted. “You were on target, but your formation was too loose. Tighten it up.”
Applebloom nodded, even though her friend was too far away to notice the gesture, and hit the switch again. Same as before, three targets were launched, and like before Applebloom fired her salvo, only this time there were no survivors and only the third spike missed.
“Ack!” came a cry from down field.
Applebloom trotted over to Nightshade to see her laying on her back, one of the stone spikes in her chest with her tongue hanging out and her eyes rolled back into the back of her head.
“What are you doing?” Applebloom asked, trying to hide her amusement under false irritation, though it wasn't working.
“I was hit. I'm dead,” came the response.
Applebloom rolled her eyes at her friend and started giggling. “You are so weird.”
“Yeah, well, I was alone for more than a thousand years. It's kind of hard to hold onto your sanity.”
“Oh, Ah'm sorry,” Applebloom apologized. “I didn't mean to bring up bad memories.”
“It's not your fault, Bloom,” Nightshade reassured. “Celestia's the one that did it, not you.”
Applebloom furrowed her brow at that. It wasn't the first time she heard the filly speak of the solar diarch with such venom. “How do figure? What you got against the Princesses anyway?”
“Princess,” the spirit corrected. “I don’t really mind Luna, but... let's just say Celestia isn't the perfect little angel ponies think she is. You know all those monsters in the Everfree? They didn't exist when I was alive. Your great Sun-plot didn't want to put her ponies in danger when Nightmare Moon rose up against her, so she made monsters to fight her sister. Manticores, hydras, cockatrice, timberwolves, all were made by miss high and mighty! That jerk made monsters that have killed hundreds of innocents, and nopony cares!”
Applebloom watched, worriedly, as her friend seemed to literally darken, a black haze distorting her figure.
“And they weren't even the worst of them. She's evil,” the filly whispered, venomously.
“N-Nightshade?” Applebloom uttered, her fear and concern heavy in her voice.
Just like that, it stopped. The menacing darkness receded and the filly looked back up as if she were slapped. “I... I'm sorry. I didn't mean to sour the mood.”
Applebloom sat beside her friend. “Night, did Princess Celestia have something to do with your death?”
“I... don't want to talk about it,” Nightshade answered. “It's not a nice memory.”
“Alright, but if you change your mind, Ah'm here.”
The ghost smiled up at her friend. “Thank you.” her eyes landed on something behind the farmer and widened. “Besides, I think you have company. Prince Charming approaches.”
Applebloom's eyes widened a bit before she spun around to see a familiar blue figure walking toward her.
“I see you're practicing your rune work,” Midnight said with an approving smile. “It's good you're practicing with ranged attacks, but how much have you put in with larger spikes, or using it in melee combat?”
“What d'ya mean?” Applebloom asked.
Midnight chuckled. “You seem to have the same problem as Twilight. This isn't pony magic. It isn't dominated by algorithms and matrices. Rune magic is an art, the runes simply the artist's tools. Your rune makes stone spikes, but how they're made and what they do is up to you. Observe.”
Midnight's seal glowed with power and in an instant, a swarm of tiny rock shards, no more than an inch long, buried themselves into Applebloom's stone spike. In the next instant, a crown of sharp earth erupted around the alien pony, leaning out as if pikemen countering a cavalry charge.
“Both of those used the same runes you have,” Midnight explained. “Remember, you're our heavy hitter. We gave you Stone Spikes because it excels at taking out heavy, armored war machines. Let's practice the 'Tank-kabob'.”
Applebloom giggled out, “Tank-kabob?”
Midnight smiled and a long stone spire erupted, still rooted in the ground, about three feet wide at it's base and twelve feet long at a forty-five degree angle. “The 'Tank-kabob'. Guaranteed to skewer any tank with ease.”
“Oh,” Nightshade said, “Look how long and hard he can get it.”
Applebloom had to force herself not to admonish her friend's dirty mind. After all, how would it look to Midnight if she just started yelling at nothing.
“Now, you try it,” Midnight said. “Remember, just will it bigger, and keep it rooted in the ground.”
“Right.” Applebloom followed his instructions and stomped a glowing hoof. A stone spire shot up beside Midnight's, identical in every way but one; her's fell with a crash.
“No, no, no,” Midnight said, shaking his head. “How long is mine?”
“I'd say a good eight inches,” Nightshade remarked, grinning at Applebloom.
Luckily, Applebloom was able to ignore her. “‘Bout twenty five hooves?”
“Wrong, fifty. Half of it is still underground to support it.”
“Oh...” Applebloom said, admonishing herself silently for not thinking about something so obvious.
“Try it again.”
Applebloom nodded and did as she was told, this time with much more success.
“Nice. You're a natural,” Midnight praised. “Keep going.”
They practiced for another twenty minutes before Applebloom asked the question she'd been steeling her nerves for. “So... um, have you thought about it? You said you would.”
It didn't take long for Midnight to realize what she was talking about. He sighed and answered, “Yes, I thought about it. Like I’ve said before, the concept of polygamy isn't completely foreign to me but to actually practice it is.” At Applebloom's downcast look, he continued with, “But, so was eating daisy sandwiches. I'll tell you what. If you can convince Twilight to agree to it, then I will, too.”
Applebloom instantly perked up. “Really?!” She threw herself at her commanding officer and friend and wrapped him in an uncomfortably tight hug. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!”
“Don't thank me just yet,” Midnight said with some difficulty, bringing the young mare's joy to a halt. “Twi has something personal against herding. I've asked her, but she just says it's not her place to say.”
“Oh,” Applebloom said, slightly deflated. “Ah always figured she did.”
“Alright, well, let's get back to practice,” Midnight said. “Let's try-”
“Excuse me, sir?” a unicorn guard interrupted. “I'm sorry, but I have an urgent message. There are five new arrivals awaiting entry. They had this.” The stallion presented a scroll with Celestia's seal.
“Thank you, Sergeant.” Midnight took the scroll, broke the seal, and began reading. As he went, his eyes widened, making Applebloom a bit nervous. “Send them in.”
“Sir.” The guard saluted and headed back, moving quickly.
“What is it?” Applebloom asked.
Midnight smiled. “Apparently a friend in Canterlot sent his cousin a letter, telling him about what was going on.”
“Who is it, though?”
The red-head's question was answered as five figures stepped out onto the training grounds. Their powerful build, sharp teeth and claws, bright orange coats, and rich black stripes made them easily recognizable as some of the best warriors in the world.
The one in front spoke, his accent a deep Tigerian, “Cousin Shiro says you have a war?”