//------------------------------// // Nightmare In Dodge Junction // Story: Cutie Mark Crusaders Royale // by Bluecatcinema //------------------------------// The Cutie Mark Crusaders Royale were currently in Dodge Junction, visiting Miracle's grandparents, Big Red and Cherry Jubilee, alongside their parents. Big Red had just picked them up from the train station, and brought them to the homestead in his cherry farm. "Hi, grandma!" Miracle smiled at Cherry. "Hello, darling!" Cherry beamed, hugging her. "Shine, Celestia, always good to see you." "And you as well, Cherry." Celestia smiled. "Ditto." Shine agreed. "Hello, miss Cherry." Vito bowed respectfully. "Ah, little Vito." Cherry smiled. "You get more handsome every time I see you." "Guilty as charged." Vito smirked. "Like father, like son." Blueblood declared. "Right, honey?" "Right." Dusty nuzzled him. "Thank you for having us, miss Cherry." Pureblood smiled. "Such a gentlestallion." Cherry cooed. "It's our pleasure, sugar. We are family after all, no matter how distantly related." "I'm just glad to be here!" Hurricane cheered. "It's nice and warm out here. And smell that country air!" "Yep." Big Red chuckled. "Ain't nuthin' like it in all Equestria." "I should hope not." Vito cringed. "It's quite pungent..." "V!" Pureblood nudged him. "Well, it is." Vito scowled. "It's too bad Mist couldn't come along." Miracle frowned. "She said she wasn't feeling up for it." Shine shrugged. "Something about a stomach bug..." "Yew kids jest settle right in." Big Red announced. "Our home is yer home. Feel free ta play in the orchard. Jest don't damage any a' the cherry trees. Them's the lifeblood of our business." "Don't worry, grampa." Miracle smiled. "We'll be good." "You kids have fun." Caboose smiled. "As for me, I'm gonna have some cherry wine..." "Cuttin' right ta the chase, huh, Caboose?" Big Red smiled. "Right this way..." "Wait for me!" Daring chuckled, carrying the giggling Michael. As Big Red led Caboose to the wine cellar, the Crusaders went outside. Once outside, they to play and explore the orchards. At one point, Miracle charged up a new spell she had read about in one of her mother's books, that would 'transform' fruit. It was a complicated spell, but as an Alicorn, Miracle was sure she could handle it (And besides, it could turn out to be her special talent). She took careful aim at a bunch of cherries. Just as she was about to release the magic, Hurricane popped up beside her. "Whatchya doin'?" She asked. "Yah!" Miracle yelped, her aim thrown off. The magic missed the cherries and bounced off trees at a high rate of speed. "HIT THE DECK!" Pureblood bellowed. The four ducked as the magic continued to bounce tree to tree. "Man, I bet this would look real cool from above." Hurricane chuckled. Big Red then walked by. "Hey, little 'uns, how's it-" Big Red was cut off when the beam of magic struck him. "Grampa!" Miracle yelped. Big Red's body crackled with energy for a moment, which then subsided. "Are you okay?" Miracle asked. "Ah reckon so." Big Red looked himself over. "Sorry about that." Miracle cringed. Ah, it ain't nuthin'." Big Red smiled. "Ah got inta way worse scrapes with mah old gang, The Cherry Cavalry. Ah'll tell ya about them later." As Big Red walked away, he felt an odd fuzziness in his head, then shook it off. Later that night, they all had their supper. All but one, that is. "Where's grampa?" Miracle asked. "I don't know." Cherry frowned. "It's not like him to miss dinner. Where did you kids last see him?" "In the cherry orchard." Pureblood declared. "He must've taken another stroll through his precious cherry trees." Cherry rolled her eyes. "Somepony better fetch him." "We'll do it!" Hurricane smiled. "We will?" Vito asked, getting another nudge from Pureblood. "I mean, we will!" "Be careful out there." Shine declared. "It's getting dark." "We'll be fine, dad." Miracle sighed. The four kids investigated the orchard, finding it to be far less inviting at night. "Right now, this place is kinda creepy." Hurricane shivered. "Sure is." Miracle agreed. They found some of the trees had their cherries eaten... in fact, some branches were ripped cleaned off. "What did this?" Pureblood asked. "And more importantly, is it still here?" Vito trembled. "I've never heard of an animal that can do something like this." Hurricane declared. "And thanks to mom, I know a lot of animals." The orchard turned out to be bigger than they thought. It seemed like hours had passed since their search began. As they kept moving, Miracle soon saw Big Red's silhouette. "Grampa!" Miracle walked toward him. "Grampa, you had us worried for a bit! What are you doing out this late?" Big Red didn't answer. This disturbed Vito and the others. "Um, Miracle?" Vito nudged his cousin. "Not now, V." Miracle moved closer to Big Red. "Grampa, I-" A loud growl cut her off. All the kids were horrified. "G-Grampa?" Miracle trembled. The silhouette turned towards Miracle... with bright glowing pale green eyes. He stepped out of the shadow, and the four kids were even more horrified. It was Big Red, except his coat was a dull red, his mane was also dull. But what was also different was his already big muscles were more bulky, but not grotesquely, and Big Red's jaw was more profound, with sharp fangs jutting from his upper mandible... and two big canines for his underbite. His chin was stained brighter red with what looked like blood. "Good Faust..." Pureblood gasped. "W-what is that?!" Vito quivered. "He's a... a... vampony!" Hurricane gasped. "But how..." "My spell." Miracle gulped. "It did this to him." "I thought it only worked on fruit." Vito pointed out. "It's supposed to be used on fruit." Miracle recalled. "The effects on ponies are said to be totally different." Big Red let out a loud hiss, causing everypony to scream... and Pureblood to faint. "Gah! Pure!" Vito went to help his brother. Miracle was stupefied. "Holy hay... I turned my grampa into a vampony!" She started tearing up. "I turned my grampa into a monster!" "Hey, look on the bright side... " Hurricane suggested, causing Miracle to glare at her. "At least you didn't turn him into a sparkling colt-cuddler vampony." "Kids!" Caboose called out as he approached. "Need a little help?" "More than you think, dad!" Hurricane trembled. "Miracle turned Big Red into a vampony!" "Accidentally!" Miracle added. Big Red hissed at Caboose. "Uh... hi there, big guy." Caboose smiled nervously. "Remember me? I just enjoyed your cherry wine a few hours ago." Big Red hissed again. "Guess not..." Caboose cringed. Big Red menacingly approached the four Crusaders and Caboose... then a golf ball pelted him. "Rah!" He rubbed his head. "Is that the golf ball Pureblood hit from chapter two?" Hurricane asked. "Huh?" Pureblood suddenly revived. "I was wondering where that went..." Suddenly, a velvet box hit Caboose on the head, and landed in his hoof. "Ow!" He winced. Glancing at the box, he opened it, revealing earrings. "Hey, aren't these the earrings Blueblood tried to give Dusty back in chapter two of 'The Prince and the Pauperess'?" The Crusaders shrugged. "Well, I'm sure Blueblood won't miss it. Daring will love these." Caboose chuckled to himself. Big Red shook his head, then hissed again. "When I give the word, you kids run for it." Cabose declared. "What about you?" Vito asked. "I'll handle Big Red." Caboose smiled, pulling a necklace of garlic out of his pocket. "Uhh, why do you have garlic in your pocket?" Pureblood asked. "Plot convenience." Caboose shrugged. "Now run!" The kids made a break for it. Big Red made to follow, but Caboose blocked his path. "Back!" He waved the garlic at him. "Back, unholy demon of the night!" Big Red looked at the garlic, gave Caboose a floundering look, then knocked the garlic away. "Huh." Caboose frowned. "That usually works..." Big Red tackled Caboose, knocking him to the ground. He then went to go after the kids, but Caboose grabbed his hoof. "Where do you think you're going?" Caboose smirked. With a scoff, Big Red shook him off, sending the poor Unicorn against a tree, as he began charging his way through the orchard. "You're not getting away that easily!" Caboose followed, shaking off the pain in his shoulder. Up ahead, the kids were racing towards the homestead, when Big Red suddenly leapt in front of them. "Oh, no!" Pureblood gulped. "Grampa, no!" Miracle squealed. As Big Red stepped forward, Caboose tackled him. "Run, kids!" He yelled. "I got this!" "Go get him, dad!" Hurricane yelled, as they resumed running. "No offense, Mir!" They continued their mad dash, Caboose and Big Red following/wrestling across the orchard with them. By the time they reached the homestead, it was sunrise. Celestia came out of the house to meet them. "There you are." She said with relief. "What took you so long?" "Mom, I turned grampa into a vampony!" Miracle sobbed. "It's true." Hurricane added. "My dad's wrestling him right now!" "What are we going to do?" Vito asked. "We can't have a vampony in the family! Think of the scandal!" "Not really the point right now!" Pureblood admonished him. Celestia frowned. Their story seemed unbelievable. But just then, Caboose and Big Red tumbled past the last trees of the orchard. "Hi, Cel!" Caboose waved, hanging off of Big Red like a cowboy on a bucking bull. "I know what to do." Celestia declared. "Exactly what spell did you use, Miracle?" "The one from the big book in your study." Miracle declared. "The fruitus flavus spell." "I see." Celestia nodded. Racing over to the combatants, she yelled "Hold him down, Caboose!" "You got it!" Caboose rammed Big Red, knocking him over. He then pinned him. "RAH!" Big Red roared. Cherry, Shine, Blueblood, Dusty and Daring came out of the house. "Is that...?" Cherry gasped. "It is." Shine nodded. "Is he...?" Blueblood gaped. "Looks like it." Dusty agreed. "Get him, baby!" Daring cheered for her husband. "Show 'im what's what!" As Big Red struggled, Celestia charged her horn, and unleashed the counterspell. There was a giant flash of light, and Caboose was thrown clear by the sheer force of her magic. When the light dimmed, Big Red was back to normal. "Oh…" Big Red moaned, rubbing his head, "Why does my head hurt…" He wiped his muzzle, "And why do I have cherry jam all over my maw?" "Grampa!" Miracle rushed over and hugged him, weeping unashamedly. "I'm so sorry I did that to you. I didn't mean to-" "Shoot, that's okay." Big Red hugged her back. "Ah've been hit by worse things. Why, this one time, with the Cherry Cavalry..." "We're just glad to have you back, Red." Shine sighed in relief. "Even if we just found out you'd left..." "I certainly am." Cherry nuzzled against her husband. "Well, looks like all's well as it ends w-" Pureblood started, before being cut off by a loud hiss. Everypony glanced up at one of the trees... and saw Caboose, his mane pale black and slicked back, eyes pale green and coat pale brown, with vampony fangs. He hissed prolongedly. "I'm moody..." He growled. "Oh you've got to be kiddin' me." Vito groaned. "But how-?" Miracle gasped. "Wait, wasn't Caboose on me when Celestia hit me with that there magic?" Big Red realised. "Oh no!" Hurricane yelped. "Miracle! Your mom turned my dad into a vampony!" "Well, we all make mistakes..." Celestia cringed. Caboose let out another hiss... then the sun hit him, and he was sparkling. "And you turned him into the worst kind of vampony!" Hurricane said angrily. "Moody, sparkly, and possibly male-loving!" "Do you dream of being a vampony?" Caboose asked seductively. "Oh boy…" Daring frowned. "I don't suppose you've got a spell to fix this, mom?" Miracle asked. "I'll get right on it..." Celestia sighed. "You will never take me and this bodacious body alive!" Caboose declared, and laughed maniacally as he jumped tree to tree into the orchard. "Well, might as well get after him…" Big Red shrugged as he got up. "I hope you've learned something from all this, Miracle." Shine declared. "Oh, yeah." Miracle nodded. "Never try using a spell you're not ready for." "I was thinking more along the lines of 'don't turn grampa into a vampony', but that works too." Shine shrugged. Their trip to Dodge Junction had proven more memorable than the Crusaders had imagined...