//------------------------------// // Chapter IX // Story: Journey to the center of Equestria // by Rarity Belle //------------------------------// The sun slowly managed to crawl back upon the horizon once more. It was the admiral herself who was the first to wake up of the two. She calmly stretched her arms up against the bark of the tree before she got up. Some of the bones in her still functioning leg snapped themselves back into place while she used it as leverage to get her mechanized one on solid ground. As wonderful as the steam powered leg was, as much of a hinder it also proved to have been. A hinder that was perhaps a lot bigger than she originally had wanted to get out of it. Her eyes looked deeper than the casing and straight into the massive gearing mechanism as well as the little furnace for the water to boil above. The sights caused a deep and sad sounding sigh to be released by her mouth. The green eyes turned over to the sun for a moment. It was in that little moment that she lost her balance and fell against the bark of the tree while cramp came in her good leg. Applejack gritted her teeth together as she tried to withstand the pain that was surging through her body. Events like that happened almost every single morning to her. It was a thing that drove the mare always to the edge of insanity. But once the starting up had been done, she could do pretty much whatever she wanted. Mornings weren’t for everypony’s favor. Yet Applejack was that one thing Twilight wasn’t: she did happen to be a morning mare. So when she finally allowed herself to be released from the bark of the tree did the mare a couple of steps over the grassy underground as the springs that connected the lower leg and the hoof constantly adjusted themselves to the differences of height. Eventually was the admiral happy with it before her eyes turned over towards the still shrouded pieces of the land. The darkness that surrounded the parts of the land caused a smile to form themselves over the lips of Applejack. She watched just how the sun calmly invaded its territory before announcing that the morning had fallen upon them. It was a wonderful sight to see the sunlight slowly crawling over the massive planes and towards the mountain of Canterlot. The very mountain that Twilight called her home was still standing on the horizon. Though it had shrunk to about one third of its original size. They had already covered a great distance for certain, but it would only become greater as they needed to head to the grassy fields at the border of White Tails Woods. It would be there that they would be finding the massive city hopefully coming towards them and therefore allowing them both to enter it in the search for the third member of their company. Behind her did the moans and groans of Twilight fill the air and Applejack calmly turned herself around to greet her with a nod. A nod which was then followed up by a warm smile as she walked back and almost limped with her steam powered leg. Twilight –despite being sleepy– of course noticed it and wanted to offer her help before the orange earth anthrony shook her head calmly. Instead she offered the unicorn a hand to get up. The hand of the admiral was gladly taken before the unicorn mare was being pulled up to her hooves. The strands of hair once more fully covered her chest. It was a bit of a painful realization for the mare. She did release a deep sigh through her nostrils and Applejack almost immediately knew what she was referring to. So without a word was Twilight excused by the admiral. The unicorn then walked to the back of the tree with some grumbles leaving her mouth. Grumbles that were inaudible and perhaps best left that way for other ears. Behind the tree could the raspberry colored magical aura be seen before a bright light took over the entire scenery. Which meant that Applejack was actually caught on two fronts. On one side she had the light of Twilight’s magic, on the other she had the rising sun teasing its way through her closed eyelids. She could only hope that one of the two would fade out quickly before she would be going blind. Luckily for the admiral was it Twilight’s light that faded after a couple of seconds before she heard some bones being snapped into their respectful places. It was a terrible sound to hear for certain but it was required within every single body, every single day. The mare simply shrugged the sounds off as she turned a valve or two that was located beneath the casing on the underside of her leg. Things still weren’t running all too smooth for her but after the small changes were made it felt as if nothing had ever happened. It brought a tear to her eye when she was remembered just by who and how she was given that very leg from. It still devastated her from the inside out but also made her into the rock hard mare that she came to be. She wouldn’t take nonsense for an answer by any means whatsoever. The events happened in the past, were the building foundation for the person in the future. A simple saying not often used by anyone but one that was all the more true. In the end did Twilight return from the her location behind the tree and the changes were obviously notable. For where she was basically naked around her chest, was then all of the skin covered up in a top that was the same coloring as her pants. Not the most fashionable solution by any means, but a solution nonetheless. Twilight walked up to Applejack and gave her a nod that she was ready to go. They would be eating their breakfast along the way towards the city of pride. Neither of them knew just what they could be expecting to see, they could only be hoping that it would have been something good. In response did Applejack nod back and together they began on the second leg of their journey. The mission to reach the fields of White Tails before the city would arrive. Perhaps that was also where the problem laid. ~~~~                       Hours upon hours had the two of them traveled in almost complete silence before they were just one hill away from reaching the fields. Their journey had brought them dangerously close to the woods of Everfree. A forest where nopony wanted to even look at. For one glance was already more than enough to send the shivers down the spine on even the hottest of summer days. Nopony knew what caused it and all they knew was that black magic was the cause. But the woods of White Tails and its fields laid behind a vast ridge of hills where both of the anthronies had been trying to get over for almost half an hour. Hill up and down was never a good thing for either of them. Yet they managed to do it. Somehow they both managed to reach the top of the last hill and Twilight was the first to just lower herself into the grass on top of it. She panted deeply to herself as the sweat was being wiped from her forehead. The burning sun was nice to lay in, but to walk in it almost was like a living hell. Perhaps it was a good thing the trees of Everfree were as large as they were, for they cast a massive shadow in which the two could walk. Applejack arrived only a couple seconds later on top of the hill but she never sat down. Instead she gave her eyes the time to watch over the field of grass before them and noticed something that perhaps wasn’t supposed to be there. For in the middle of the field there was a massive body of water to be found. Sure it looked like a couple of puddles but even with the sun burning like it did, it should have vaporized already. The admiral took off her hat in order to wipe away the few strains of sweat. She pointed to the water in the field that had stretched out before them. Twilight’s eyes simply followed to wherever the index finger was pointing towards before both of her eyes went wide. Out of all the thing she had expected to see was that about one of the last. The water on the ground meant that the ground there was either quicksand in disguise, or that it was so squishy that it almost could act like a trampoline. A trampoline that was ready to burst at any given time and would swallow whomever thought it was funny to make it burst. A gulp was being released by Twilight as she placed both of her hands in front of her face. The scene was nothing like she ever would have expected to see. It could have been considered the worst of the worst but that had yet to come. “Ya think we’re too late for the show?” Applejack asked when she turned her attention back to a still visually confused Twilight. She had only seen the city of pride from the far distance and from inside of her room. Never had she been up close to the metropolis of a city, she didn’t have even the slightest of clues to whatever would be coming or happening. "I, I don’t know. All this water in front, this I didn’t expect,” replied Twilight in an honest and confused tone. Then both of her hands were lowered again. “The city still needs to come here, one hour tops. Although I am really curious as to why that water got here.” “Hmpf, Ah reckon ya wanna go in there? Forget it. Ground is held together with that very same water. One wrong step, and yar swimming with grass, literally,” answered Applejack to her. She received a raised eyebrow from Twilight. The unicorn was more curious to the fact as of how the admiral would be knowing such a thing from that distance. “Secrets of the trade,” she chuckled up. Applejack placed both of her hands behind her back and eyed the skies a bit. “So, we wait now?” “That’s the plan yes,” replied Twilight. She knew more than enough about the mysterious puddles of water from the ground. While she still questioned almost all of the possibilities around it, the desire to fully investigate just wasn’t there anymore. Which perhaps was for the better. Twilight was actually right on the matter. For within three quarters of an hour had it appeared on the horizon. The first buildings of the massive city had revealed themselves to their eyes, and the horizon just kept growing and growing. Faster and faster did the city appear to get to them while both Twilight and Applejack looked calmly upon the scenery. The busy life within the city then entered their ears. The floating place came closer without a single sound. It just drifted along the currents of the wind at the altitude it cruised. A true work of beauty by the pegasi, that had the both of them to admit immediately. Yet the biggest show had yet to come. Only when the city covered all of the field and the massive shadow that it cast almost made it feel like it was night below it did it happen. Both of the anthronies looked to the city before they heard a roaring and deafening sound coming from the city. To be exact, the clouds under the city. What happened next was something that neither mare could have ever believed to have seen with their own eyes. They were staring right at the origin of the watery field. Thousands of liters, tens of thousands of them were poured down onto the grass. It almost seemed like it was trying to fill up a swimming pool in the quickest way possible, or drain it for that matter. Both Applejack and Twilight looked at the scene with an open mouth as they couldn’t believe it. Never in their lives had they seen so much water being dumped out of one place at one go. It was both breathtaking as well as horrifying to see. Yet the entire scene didn’t even last for half a minute. When the water finally stopped it seemed that the floodgates were closed again. There was however, one other little problem they had to deal with. Applejack tore her attention away from the waters of Cloudsdale. She glanced over to Twilight with a serious and questioning gaze. “Uhm, might have asked this before, but how are we gonna get inside?” she asked in a concerned tone. The pegasi race was unique when it came to that aspect. While the earth anthronies were a lot stronger in their physic when it came to the other races, it were the unicorns who could tap into the arcane arts, but the pegasi controlled the weather. Not to mention the little fact that their wings also gave the ability to actually walk upon the clouds. Twilight turned her head over to Applejack with a small grin going across her lips. “Oh don’t worry, I know just the spell that we need in order to get in,” she said as her horn and hands began to coat themselves in the magical aura. "What?! No! Don’t you dare!” exclaimed Applejack. She really didn’t wanted to become the guinea pig for some kind of magical experiment. Though before she could have flown Twilight to the throat, the near thinkable had happened and the both of them had disappeared from the spot. Somewhere scattered into tiny, invisible flakes, they traveled towards the outskirts of the city. Only to then reappear under a poof. For Twilight had teleported the both of them right into the city itself. ~~~~                       Somewhere within the outskirts of the massive city of pride did the second poof appear which caused both Twilight and Applejack to reappear as if nothing had happened. Which sadly also meant that the admiral had her hands around the throat of the soothsayer. “Why you little..!” she exclaimed while Twilight’s sounds of strangle could be heard echoing through the alleyway. Some sounds that caused the eyes of less friendly types to turn their way. Three pegasi watched the events happen with their eyes. Though one of them lowered his sunglasses to keep watching in silence. The unicorn managed to punch the earth anthrony in the shoulder before signaling her to look around her. Luckily the message came over and Applejack looked all over the place with an expression of confusion. She let go of Twilight’s throat who moved over to a wall as support. She only hoped to catch up with her breath. The admiral continued to look around before she noticed that she was actually standing upon the clouds of the very city. Once again it seemed like a massive smack in the face for her. The mare almost had not more clue of what she could do or had to believe. So her attention was turned over to Twilight with a question readable within her eyes. “I’m not going, to ask for an apology.” Twilight said after she had recovered from the strangling with a couple of last coughs. “What I am going to say though, is magic. Just, magic. Alright?” The answer sort of managed to calm the admiral down before she continued to wonder, only to get the same answer out of Twilight every single time. “So, Ah can walk on clouds and ya teleported us here?” she eventually said to Twilight. Applejack still couldn’t believe it. She was an earth anthrony and far from being used to either magic or standing on clouds. Thankfully the mare understood that problem of hers rather well and she nodded calmly. "Yes, you can and yes we did. Now can we please just go?” Twilight then spoke up as she wanted to head out of the alleyway. Only to be stopped by the three pegasi that blocked their paths. The trio of them never had taken their eyes off of them and the one that wore the sunglasses stood in the middle. He took a deep inhale before a smirk went across his lips while the blue skin almost shone in the sunlight. “Well, well, well, what do we have here. Two lost mares who aren’t even from the pegasi race. Tsk, tsk, tsk, you two are a long way from home by the looks of it. Tell me, what are your names?” he spoke up in a polite tone. Twilight fell for it but Applejack wouldn’t have any of it at all. “My name is Twilight Sparkle and this i-” Before Twilight could even finish her sentence was she being interrupted by the admiral. “Mah name ain’t one of y’all’s concern. Now beat it, before Ah do it to ya.” She growled up towards the three of them. With both her cutlass and flintlock still ready, the temptation to take either one and go loose was greater than ever. The sunglass wearing pegasus released a small ‘hmpf’ before he snapped his fingers. The other two pegasi took out weapons of their own which caused Twilight to gulp a bit. Suddenly it had become a matter that seemed to be going about life and death. “You made a big mistake missy, threatening one of us, not many tell the tale.” “Yeah? Well Ah’ve been through lots of thing Ah wasn’t supposed to tell the tale from,” snarled Applejack towards the three of them. She pushed Twilight back to keep her out of the battle. It was the first act of the admiral actually offering protection to the soothsayer and it made the unicorn realize she didn’t lie when Applejack had said it. Twilight was indeed the one who needed her protection. “Oh how unwise of you. Send those my regard will you?” the pegasus returned to her. He took off his sunglasses and looked her straight in the eyes. “Do as you please.” “Big mistake.” Before the stallion even knew what was going on was there a sheer amounts of pain that went going through his body. It made it known to him that something had gone terribly wrong. He then followed the arms of the admiral as it was stretched out and noticed the blood covered blade. “N-No,” was one of the only things he could say before looking at his hand. Though his hand actually laid upon the ground. Tears were already coming to his eyes as he heard the sword slicing through the air again. But that time it stopped merely an inch from his chest. “Beat it and leave us alone,” growled Applejack in a commanding tone before the three of them simply obeyed her words. They ran off like dog ready to lick their wounds. Perhaps a bit too literal of an indication. The orange skinned mare then sheathed her sword again before she signaled Twilight to come with her. For they had a much bigger bird to catch. The two had left the alleyway and they came into one of the many market streets that the city was rich. Yet much to their surprise were a lot of pegasi actually walking upon the clouds. Only perhaps half a dozen were actually flying through the skies. It did create a nice blend of color as the feathers of the wings caused a warm palette to become a reality. However, it also caused the earth anthrony and the unicorn to blend in rather nicely. It wasn’t causing too much of either a distraction or disturbance among the crowd. They were just like two tourist that were dressed a bit too compact for the kind of weather. “Aren’t you hot in that coat, I mean, it’s full on leather from the looks of it,” asked Twilight at one point as they were halfway through the street. “Nah, it’s breezy as hell. It kinda adjusts to the climate yar in. Tropics, this thing become a fridge. Snowy mountain, it become a warm bath. Well, ya get the idea,” the mare replied before she erupted out in a gentle chuckle before her head was shook. “Oh that was a bad joke, wasn’t it?” Twilight gave a little shrug as response before she replied with some words of her own. “Truth be told, I have heard a lot more jokes that were even more terrible than that.” Which caused the both of them to actually erupt out in a gentle snicker. It felt good for some reason. Even if Applejack was this rough and tough sailor who took literally no nonsense from anypony, she still had that gentle side of her somewhere hidden and tucked deep away. Perhaps just Twilight’s entire personality caused it to come up. Who would know the facts as they were. Yet they didn’t matter to the unicorn at all, she was at least having some fun. “Hey, here’s a map of the city!” exclaimed Twilight. She had noticed something that stood at the side of the road. They had left the busy market street behind them and turned into a side street which led them over to a little park. The admiral herself rose a gentle eyebrow before she had a look herself. The pair of them began to figure out just where they were and where they had to be going. “So, we are here, in the near south corner of town, but need to north… Great, can walk through half the city again…” muttered Applejack barely audible. Twilight turned her focus to her and almost wanted to point to her horn. “Don’t even think about it. One teleport was bad enough, and Ah still gotta go back.” “Okay, okay, sorry for thinking about it, captain Grumpy,” responded Twilight with a gentle smile. She slowly began to memorize the route towards the airbase. The names of the streets were easy to remember, the question would be if it also was stated obviously into which street they would be going. The admiral released a small exhale to her nickname before she just rolled her eyes and sighed. Some anthronies wouldn’t even have changed with the gears of time, that much she knew for certain. “So, we’re good to go?” “We’re ready when you are.” Not even fifteen seconds later were the both of them wandering again through the city of pride and simply took in the massive structures made out of nothing but clouds as well as the architecture they all seemed to be sharing with one another. It was both a beauty as well as a horror to see. ~~~~                      The pegasi race was one that loved war, not yet glorifying it but it was rather close. Yet who could blame them for it? They were a proud race of anthronies who almost constantly were placed under the highest amounts of pressure that there was. So it was a little logical that they honored the greatest heroes of their time with massive statues. Though the more statues they came across, the more they realized they were getting closer and closer to the airbase. In their ears they already rang, the ones who went almost at the speed of sound. Those few dare devils that were almost breaking the barrier of sound itself. “Well, Ah reckon we’re in the right place,” commented Applejack when they neared a fence that was looking straight over the runway. Twilight nodded before her eyes looked over the runway itself where she saw two pilots taking off at an incredible speed. “They really want you to see what they are doing, don’t they?” she spoke up as Applejack slowly began to get what she meant.  “What do you want from them? They are pegasi in body and soul. Showoffs but helpful when needed, Ah promise ya that.” For some time they would be looking to the trainings that were given upon the runway itself while their eyes were also peeled to the skies. For somewhere upon that air base would the third member of the group be revealed. The question just was: where? Both Applejack and Twilight continued to look towards the skies. They made the realization that they needed to get in close and personal with the pegasi. Which meant that Applejack had to come in close with pretty much her biggest rivals in warfare, the air force itself. Both the Equestrian Navy and C.A.F. never had been the greatest of friends from one another. Something that would help them in the right way, or from the frying pan into the fire. “Well, standing here isn’t really going to be doing anything either. We have to find a way inside that isn’t guarded by pegasi asking for some sort of identification,” said Twilight when she finally managed to tear her eyes away from the acrobatic stunts that were being performed in the air. It was amazing to see, but it indeed didn’t help them an inch further at all. “Heh, no need partner. They’ll allow anyone on there as long as you have a valid reason when being asked,” answered Applejack in her defense. The two of them left the fence and looked for some sort of an entranceway placed along it. They simply walked down the length of the entire fence and therefore the entire runway before they finally managed to find a way in. The way that would be leading them in was actually the normal entrance of the place so they were quite in luck. Weren’t it for the fact that there were still two pegasi keeping guard. The two of them looked at the guards for a couple of minutes and how they handled the pegasi that were entering and leaving the airbase. Out of that could the two of them conclude that they wouldn’t be doing anything to stop them. Perhaps they would even be helping them to find the right anthrony they are looking for. Although they both knew that that chance was very small. So with all the courage in the world did the two anthronies walk up to the gate and joined the line, which only consisted out of two other pegasi. The two pegasi in front of them were allowed through pretty much without a hitch. It was only when Applejack and Twilight wanted to enter the base that they were stopped by one of the muscular guards. “What is the purpose that an earth anthrony and a unicorn have upon the airbase of the C.A.F.?” he asked the both of them in a dead serious tone. The eyes kept on inspecting the pair of them. Of course he was just doing his job, but it still annoyed the living daylight out of the other two. “We came here to blow it all up, happy now?” Applejack replied before she rolled her eyes. “Mah goodness, ‘course we ain’t gonna do that! We’re just here to watch and see how y’all work. Heard stories on some vessel that y’all are the cherry on the cake.” It was of course a massive bit of flattery, but a pegasi praised for its work more often than not would be leaving its guard down. Which was exactly the thing that happened in the case of Applejack and Twilight. The guard nodded calmly to the two of them before he waved them through the checkpoint. Without much hesitation did both of the anthronies make their way past the point. With a quick pace in their hooves did they make a little sprint until they were out of his hearing range. “How did you knew that would work?” Twilight asked curiously as she really wanted to know the secret of Applejack. “Years of sailing with Old Bonesnapper. Every pegasi is alike, they take pride in their stuff. Remember that for later, it’s useful advice around this lot,” said Applejack with a faint smile. Then they calmly continued over the base’s ground. The search for the new recruit had begun and they had not even a single clue as of where to look. Whether it be mare or stallion, general or janitor. ~~~~                       The eyes of both of the mares looked over pretty much every single pegasi that they saw, but none of them actually seemed to hold any of the capabilities where Twilight and Applejack were looking for. Beginning about those, neither of the mares even knew what they were looking for inside of a pegasus of that caliber. They actually didn’t knew what was required for them to find outside of the fact that they would know it when they saw it. “This is just complete madness, it’s like we’re looking for a needle in a haystack and ya know it, Twilight,” spoke Applejack in an annoyed tone. She took her hat off again and shook her head a little bit. It was perhaps the first and only time that she was granted a perfect view of the hat of the admiral. Calmly it waved next to her while she simply watched over the insignia that it was supposed to carry. But the sign of the celestial sun wasn’t there. Instead there were three apples positioned in a triangular shape to be found upon it. Twilight knew instantly what it was, it was the mark that had marked Applejack for the rest of her life. Whether the admiral knew it or not, it just happened to be that very way. “Come on, let’s look over here. Or perhaps in the barracks we can find somepony that will be able to help us.” Twilight said as she tried to get the hope back in Applejack. Although that was something a lot easier said than done. The hat was placed once more upon her head before a deep sigh was also released. “Yeah, yeah, I’m coming,” she muttered up before following the unicorn into one of the barracks. When they both entered the barrack was it the cool air that surprised the both of them. They felt themselves almost comfortable inside of it. Something which a lot of the cadets also seemed as they were all either sitting around a table or laying in their bunk beds. In that aspects was the navy not all too different from the air force. Which was much to Applejack’s glee. It still remained to be a needle in a haystack though. When Twilight looked over all of the pegasi that were inside, there wasn’t even one who seemed to be capable to join them. It was that outcome that led to Twilight saying a series of words that would were almost like a shot to the heart for Applejack. “We have to ask some of them, we need to know somepony in command who can help us with it all.” Grumble after grumble was being released by Applejack as she tried to formulate a reply upon the words. It wasn’t something she wanted to do at all, but it was perhaps their only shot if they didn’t wanted to spend days, if not weeks inside of the place. So with a deep sigh she finally came to the conclusion. “Fine, ask them. Let’s see what their squabbling mouths got to tell.” Twilight didn’t understood much from the words, but she was glad that she had agreed upon the facts as they were. So without much trouble did the anthrony stand on top of an empty table and almost instantly became the focal point of attention. “Now that I have your attention, who is the highest in command. Myself and my partner will be needing a couple of words with him or her.” Twilight spoke up as she looked past the eyes of all of the pegasi. “Grand field marshal Spitfire, is the one you’ll be needing for that. Somewhere out on the runway, flaming hair. Can’t miss it,” one of the recruits said to them. The rest all gave a slow nod of agreeing. Which meant for both Twilight and Applejack that they had found the one pegasi who could be helping them further. So the quest to find this Spitfire was on.