//------------------------------//
// Chapter 24 
// Story: Bad Future Crusaders 
// by TonicPlotter 
//------------------------------//

	“Eu não quero morrer...”
BLAM! BLAM-BLAM-BLAM-BLAM—
Apple Bloom’s eyes tore open and the war was over. She was back in Equestria, back where she had dozed off the night before, staring up at the slats of the rail bridge high above. She rubbed her forehead to stroke the echoing gunshots out of her head and back to her nightmares where they belonged and found her entire face was clammy and cold with sweat.
Ah hate sleeping outdoors.
She was stiff from sleeping in the gravel. Stiff and sore and cold from the stone sucking the heat from her body; she didn’t know how Scootaloo had made a life of this. Apple Bloom cracked the joints in her neck and looked around. Scootaloo was standing near the ashy corpse of their fire like a statue. She hadn’t bothered to get dressed yet; her head was cocked up slightly with her mouth open just enough for her teeth to show, and her one good eye was scanning their surrounding with the intensity of a wild animal that had sensed something it didn’t like. “Scootaloo?”
“Shh.”
She took the hint. Apple Bloom leaned back slowly and slid her pistol toward herself, pulling the hammer back as it came within reach. The barely audible click as it locked in place was enough to make Scootaloo’s ear twitch. She kept her back against the abutment so nothing could sneak up on her and, with her pistol ready at her side, she kept her eyes on Scootaloo’s blind spot.
“There!” Scootaloo abruptly yelled as she threw a rock hard into the bushes. A loud clunk like a metal pail being kicked and a yelp that was unmistakable canine had Apple Bloom on her hooves and beside her friend, ready to shoot dead the first thing that leaped out to make their acquaintance.
The soft crunch of still-damp underbrush accompanied with the gentle jingle of armor put Apple Bloom on edge. The bushes began to dance and she twitched her pistol; if whatever their visitor was even breathed wrong in her direction it would be vulture bait in a heartbeat. A creature rose from the brush, one that was definitely canine but could hardly be considered a dog; it looked closer to a gorilla. The thing walked upright on stubby hind legs, clutching a spear in its disproportionately huge front paws, and wore simple armor and a helmet to match. The visor was pulled down over its eyes but she could feel its death glare to accompany the low feral growl; no doubt the source of its anger being the dint in its headwear from Scootaloo’s rock. Three more crept out of the bushes behind it, two of them identical to the first in dress and body, and the third was shorter and dressed in a red vest with pockets stuffed with gems. Seeing the latter triggered a vague memory to return to Apple Bloom: a story from her sister a long time ago where such creatures kidnapped one of Applejack’s friends.
Diamond Dogs.
Apple Bloom wasn’t in the mood. She aimed at the ground near the closest one’s feet and fired four times. Each bullet ricocheted off the gravel; the sparks and whine of deflected bullets making the creature drop its spear and hop from foot to foot with fearful yelps. It was enough to intimidate all four of them; they dropped their weapons and raised their paws defensively. “That’s right,” said Apple Bloom as she loaded ten fresh rounds into her pistol, “That’s what Ah wanna see. Now unless you want some real difficulty Ah suggest you—”
“Apple Bloom! Easy!”
Scootaloo’s hoof was on her pistol and trying to ease it down, which Apple Bloom resisted against until her friend winked her good eye with a smile. The message was clear: Scootaloo wanted to handle it.
“Hi,” said Scootaloo in an eerily casual manner with a sheepish chuckle as she turned to the dogs that were cautiously picking their weapons back up. “Sorry about the rock. Really, I am. Look, we’re not here for any trouble, we’re just passing through and bedded down for the night.”
The gang of monstrous dogs glared at her, then her friend, and then amongst one another. To Apple Bloom’s surprise, the one in the vest begrudgingly nodded; they lowered their weapons and began to withdraw the way they came. All Apple Bloom could do was give an unseen nod of genuine respect to her one-eyed friend and holster her weapon.
“Guys! Wait!” said Scootaloo abruptly, and the group stopped. “Look, uh, we’re looking for a friend of ours who’s around these parts, actually. A unicorn about my age, gray coat, two-tone pink and purple mane? You guys haven’t seen her around, have you?”
They reacted to the description in a way that bothered Apple Bloom; they just stood motionless for a moment and then leaned in close and mumbled amongst themselves quietly. Finally their decision was made and the group began to walk away once more with the dog in red gesturing for the duo to follow them. Scootaloo jumped on the spot with a giddy squeak and trotted happily after them, leaving Apple Bloom no choice but to go with these monsters as well.
Apple Bloom and her friend walked for some time through the bushes until they reached a well-travelled trail that the group began to follow. How Scootaloo was able to complacently follow these beasts nagged at her the entire time; she was able to keep quiet for what must have been a half-hour until she could take no more and sped up to a light jog to get beside her friend. “Scoot,” she whispered, “Ah don’t like following these things.”
“I know what you’re thinking. They’re not like that anymore.”
“The heck are you talking about, Scoot?”
“I remember too, when they kidnapped Sweetie Belle’s big sister,” whispered Scootaloo, “but they’re civil nowadays. I wouldn’t have even thrown the rock if I knew it was them.”
They walked for a few more minutes until they reached a rather non-descript cave carved into the side of the canyon. Two more of the dogs stood guard at the entrance but paid little attention to the group as they entered. “Ah hope you’re right, Scoot,” said Apple Bloom unable to hide her nervousness. She remembered her sister’s description of these dogs: they were stupid. Violent, dangerous, and very stupid. They lived in crude underground holes and spent their entire existence digging for gems.
‘Cept this is hardly crude…
The cave they found themselves in looked like a professional mine that bordered on being an underground village. Other than some mining tools none of the dogs underground were armed; instead they wandered about like ponies in a town. The few that even bothered to look their way thought nothing of it as if seeing ponies in their midst was an everyday occurrence. Tunnels went every which way, all with proper arching supports, sufficient lighting, and even warning signs reminding of the need for personal safety equipment. Whoever planned this out clearly had a brain in his head.
Or her head. Couldn’t be…
They were taken down the largest of the tunnels, found at the far end of the commons area, which led them upward a ways to a large rounded out subterranean room, close enough to the surface to allow for skylights to be cut from the ceiling. In the center of the room was a large, comfortable-looking chair with its back to them, set in front of a large banner that proudly displayed the insignia of three red diamonds. “Is that you, Twist?” said a low but feminine and somehow familiar voice that came from the chair.
“Sweetie Belle?!” cried out Scootaloo in a mix of shock and pure delight.
Nothing but the sound of a flinch came from the chair, followed by a moment of silence. Finally the elaborate throne rotated around revealing the mare who sat in it. She was a unicorn no older than Scootaloo and Apple Bloom, with a gray coat like snow and an elaborately styled two-tone mane. She was dressed just like one of the dogs the duo had seen in the corridors before: a bright red vest with pockets stuffed with precious gemstones. It was hard to recognize the face; too much time had passed for Apple Bloom to clearly remember most of the faces from her past, but even with the modest covering of makeup the unicorn wore, Apple Bloom knew exactly who it was.
“Sweetie!!!” screeched Scootaloo, who wasted no time studying the old friend. She ran faster than a pegasus had any right to move, swiftly dodged their escorts as they tried to stop her, and tackled Sweetie Belle right out of her chair. Apple Bloom held herself back and smiled warmly; she’d get her chance for a proper reunion. Scootaloo had pinned their old friend to the ground, hugging her tightly and rubbing her face against Sweetie Belle’s cheek while the poor thing struggled to break free of the embrace. The two Diamond Dogs gave Apple Bloom matching alarmed looks and she only shrugged back; nothing in the world could make her interrupt a sight like this.
“You’re… choking me!”
“I don’t care!”

        Sweetie Belle finally managed to shove the clingy pegasus off just as Apple Bloom had made it up to her. She stared up and Apple Bloom offered a hoof to pull her to her legs. Reluctantly she accepted and Apple Bloom yanked her to her chest and threw her legs around her in a tight hug. “Ah missed you,” she said amid tears, but immediately sensed something was wrong. Sweetie Belle returned the hug, but did so with almost no enthusiasm; she draped one leg around Apple Bloom’s shoulders and patted her lifelessly, the way one would hug a stranger.
        You are a stranger. You haven’t seen her in years.
        “Girls,” Sweetie Belle said awkwardly, “It… it’s so good to see you two again. I’m glad you’re doing well.”
        “I can’t believe it!” said Scootaloo enthusiastically, “How many years have gone by anyways?! I can’t believe we’re all still around!”
        Sweetie Belle chuckled warmly, but her body language deceived her; she acted as if she couldn’t wait to get away. Perhaps the years had just changed her that much or perhaps something was wrong. “What is all this?” said Apple Bloom, hoping to get her old friend to warm up to them.
        She smiled proudly. “Home,” she said as she reared back and took a few amazingly confident steps on her hind legs, no doubt a trick she’d picked up from these dogs, and gestured about the room. “And there was no way I was going to live in a filthy pit. So… I whipped my darling little dogs into shape.”
        “Y’mean you’re the boss ‘round these parts?” said Apple Bloom.
        Sweetie Belle turned and slumped lazily back into her chair, and gestured to the two dogs to leave the room. “You’d better believe it, darling. It’s a… long and rather complicated tale.” She sighed heavily and, for a moment, her voice became rather sad, “Not a story I’m particularly fond of telling.”
        “So your parents…?” said Scootaloo in a low voice, “and your sister? They’re—”
        The expression on the unicorn’s face said it all, and Scootaloo went quiet. “Let’s just say I ended up here. They thought they could use me to find gems; I found a much better use for myself and the rest sort of just fell into place.” She perked up and gestured around the room, “All I did was teach them to think like ponies. Stop hoarding, and start spending. Rather than leave them to drool over the pile of riches, I showed them some of the very nice things gemstones can get for you. Just the basic comforts to start; things ponies take for granted.” Sweetie Belle found some part of that to be particularly funny and giggled devilishly. “But then… with a modest investment I put the weather itself at their command. The most perfect weather conditions here in this valley all the time and they shower me with riches beyond my wildest dreams! Anything I could want is mine!”
        Apple Bloom whistled with approval. “How’d you manage that?”
        “I met somepony very special,” she said softly, “barely a few years ago I met a pony who was just like me. Ambitious. Both wanting more. All I wanted was money. She… I’m not so sure. She’s a special case. Very strange, but very intelligent. All it took for her to take over Environment Equestria was a kick in the wallet from me.”
        Apple Bloom and Scootaloo both looked each other in the eye. Judging by the very confused look in Scootaloo’s eye she hadn’t been ready for a show like this either. This isn’t at all what Apple Bloom had expected to find.
        ‘Least she’s had it good.
        “Look at it this way,” said Sweetie Belle, “Do you know how many unicorns it takes to raise the sun each and every day? Or how many it takes to lower the moon? How many pegasi across the country it takes to move the weather? And of course there are bureaucrats, pencil pushers, janitors, even the pony who cleans the restrooms. Thanks to our money, the government could pull funding. That made them happy, Ms. Daydream happy and, most important, me and my darling dogs happy.”
        Scootaloo stomped her hoof and shook her head in disbelief. “You mean you’re in this with the government?! How could you?! Don’t you remember what happened in Ponyville?! To our friends and family?!”
        “Bah!” spat Sweetie Belle. “What happened happened. Period. This life isn’t at all what I imagined, but it’s a life. My folks would be happy for me. What about you two? What’s the point of holding onto the past, no matter how bad it is?!”
        “I can’t,” said Scootaloo, turning so her blind side faced Sweetie Belle. “I can’t forgive any of them. Twilight Sparkle or the sickos who murdered Dashie and Fluttershy. I’ll never put that behind me.”
        “Are you sure?” said Sweetie Belle said in an enticing tone, “There’s a slice of pie for both of you here, if you’ll only accept it. Ms. Daydream spoke rather fondly of her meeting with you, Scootaloo; said she had never met a stronger mare. And Apple Bloom, dear, that bandit you chased through the badlands? He had been robbing us blind. Ms. Daydream would love to meet you as well.”
        “Stop right there,” said Apple Bloom in a low tone; she couldn’t believe what she had just heard. “You mean you knew all this time we were alive and around?! You didn’t even try to make contact?!”
        Sweetie Belle’s expression was grim. “Of course not,” she said darkly. “Like I said. I put the past behind me. All of it. But since the two of you are here anyways, what do you say?”
        Apple Bloom looked over at Scootaloo’s heartbroken expression; her one good eye was peeled wide-open and her jaw hung with an expression most ponies could only muster after being shot. “Appreciate the offer,” she said in disgust, tipped her hat in what little respect she had left for her old ‘friend’, and turned to leave. As she moved she was only vaguely aware of her surroundings like she was caught in a terrible dream. Time was swallowed by the trek out of the cave and through the valley; she barely even knew where she was as she moved. All the way up the hill to the train tracks all she could think about was how hopeful she and Scootaloo had been the night before as they descended it. She sat in the gravel, unable to shake the pain; she couldn’t stop thinking about how much it hurt.
        “Apple Bloom!”
        Scootaloo’s voice jolted her out of her self-loathing, and she turned to her friend. “Scoot. Ah’m sorry. Ah let you down.”
        “What?! Apple Bloom, no!” said Scootaloo, whose eye bled a stream of tears, “She… she just…”
        A train’s whistle blared in the distance as Apple Bloom grabbed her friend and hugged her tight. “Sugar, you listen to me and you listen good,” she said in a weak croak, “There’s a town within an hour’s walk from this valley. Ah want you to go there and make a life for yourself. Ah know you can’t put the past behind you, but you need to stop running.”
        Apple Bloom felt a jolt run through Scootaloo’s body. “You don’t mean— NO! No, I’m not going anywhere without you!”
        “Scoot. Ah only came with you to see Sweetie Belle alive and well, and then drop you off.”
        “No!!! NO NO NO!!!” screamed Scootaloo, “You’re the only friend I’ve got!”
        “You don’t want me as a friend, Scoot,” said Apple Bloom darkly, “You’d be far better off as far away from me as possible. Ah’m trouble. Ah almost killed you, Scoot, and we haven’t been together a week.”
        “Apple Bloom…” said Scootaloo as she pushed herself to leg’s length and made eye contact. “I know. I know you’ve done bad things. I know you shot at me. And I… I forgive you,” she said with a sincere smile, “Let’s just go, just the two of us. We’ll forget that masked pony, and everything, and just go. I’ve lost everypony, Apple Bloom; don’t make me lose you too.”
        “Don’t you worry about that masked pony. Ah know you can take care of yourself, Scoot, probably better than me. Ah’ll make sure this masked pony never so much as thinks about you ever again,” Apple Bloom said softly. She took one good look at one of the few things she had left in the world, and as much as it hurt she knew what she had to do. “You’re not coming. You’re not getting dragged through the mud with me, Scootaloo. Ah’m sorry.”
        “Shut up!!!” yelled Scootaloo as she weakly pounded on Apple Bloom’s chest, “I’m not going, I am NOT going, you got that?! There’s nothing, NOTHING you can do to—”
        Without another word Apple Bloom wound up and punched her friend as hard as she could. Not ready for it at all, Scootaloo stumbled backward and collapsed to the ground in an unconscious heap. Apple Bloom stared down at her friend, who looked as if she was sleeping peacefully, and hated herself more than ever. “Ah know you’ll hate me for this, Scoot. Ah’m fine with that. You’ve got a good grip on things, Scoot; you don’t need a friend so bad as to waste your time with… with an old killer like me.”
        The train from the distance moved past, moving slowly to take the steep grade and ease itself over the bridge, and Apple Bloom jumped between one of the cars and braced as the next one slammed into her and pushed her along with it. She closed her eyes; not about to force herself to look back. Twice now, she had watched a loved one slip out of reach into the distance, and it wasn’t something she could stand to see a third time. Instead she made her way inside one of the cars, one that contained nothing but empty crates, and sat alone with a cigarette.