//------------------------------// // Return I: A Tall Tale to Tell // Story: Return: Tales of the Lost // by Dustchu //------------------------------// War, War Never Changes... Atomic fire plagued the Earth in the early days of the Great War, millions died from the fallout while thousands escaped below the surface. No one on the surface was spared the wrath of the nuclear holocaust, either turned into ash or turned immortal, becoming Ghouls. Two hundred years have passed since then, and the Earth is in shambles. Humanity escaped below using the fabled Vaults from Vault-Tec, sparing them from the horrors that went on during the war, and for years they lived peacefully. Years later after the vaults opened people began populating the surface once more, while hundreds broke out into tribes or setting out on their own. Many thrived, while others fell to raiders, men were killed while their women were raped and killed and their children taken and turned into slaves or raiders themselves. Men, Women and Children had to fight for survival in this hell, no one was spared their innocence... they had to change and adapt to overcome the struggles of the harsh post-apocalyptic wastelands... having to kill, maim and brutalize to survive... no one would ever be the same again after becoming a survivor of the wastes... Not even three strange creatures from a world afar... Ponyville Outskirts Near Fluttershy's Cottage It was midnight in Ponyville when Applejack decided to visit Fluttershy for what felt like the hundredth time this week. Luna's moon was high in the skies making the chilly night feel somewhat better for most of the Ponyvillians. For Applejack, it was just another day without her sister by her side. Six years ago, Ponyville, like always was under attack by some dangerous creature. Every day or week it was always something, some great evil being unearthed or a magic spell gone wrong, an idiotic duo of brothers or something along those lines. And like always, the Elements were called in. Ah swear me an' the girls do more work round here then th' royal guards ave done in their lifetime! But as it turned out, this particular enemy was something else entirely. A being known as a Voidling, a creature that resides in the space between spaces. Tall, almost as big as Applejack's brother, if not taller. Covered in dark fur, swirling tendrils of darkness snaking in and around its body like dark flames. And its eyes, redder than an apple during Applebuck season and filled with more malice than Sombra. Applejack remembered her and the rest trying to herd everyone out of the way before they could deal the pesky varmint some damage. Sad to say, the elements could only do so much damage against it. The creature proved to be too fast for them to use the Elements of Harmony effectively. It caused damage to the town and they had to resort to calling both the princesses to help out. By the time they both got there the beast was gone, and after galloping through town to find it they found it converging on a building... And to Applejack, Rarity and Rainbow Dash's horror the Cutie Mark Crusaders had been trapped inside that building. The six along with both the rulers of Equestria attacked the beast drawing its attention away long enough for Dash to fly in and get them out, yelling at them to run away and don't look back. The eight fought against the Voidling to a standstill before it suddenly changed tactics, escaping the clutches and chasing after the CMC, chasing them deep into the Everfree forest. The rest of them gave chase, AJ, Rarity and Dash in the lead. Pushing through the forest mowing down whatever was in their way, only they were too late. Three high pitched screams sounded out seconds later, a flash of light and the earth shook from a massive explosion was visible not too far but once they got there... all they found were scorch marks on the ground and burned trees... the CMC were gone... Applejack cried for days on end... a three week long search had proved fruitless. No amount of magic or guards turned up anything except Void Magical Residue from the blast... they were dead. Later in the days, there were similar reports of the Voidling re-appearing across Equus, attacking small towns and disappearing. Ponies went missing from all over, including some Applejack knew. Ditzy and her daughters Dinky and Sparkler went missing, and the famous DJ-PON3 the day after. It was a mystery no one could solve as to why these ponies along with so many more went missing. Applejack's thoughts turned back to the three fillies, no matter how hard she didn't want to believe it, she couldn't stop thinking of the screams. "APPLEJAAAAAAAAAACCCCK!" "RAAAAAAARITY!" "RAINBOW DAAAAAAAAAAASH!" the screams of three little fillies, helpless against a monster she wasn't there to stop... it should have been her instead of her little sister. She shook slightly from a cold breeze, or maybe it was the thoughts of the lost fillies. She didn't know or care, all she cared about now was getting to Fluttershy's house. Ever since that day, Fluttershy has helped console Applejack, Rarity and Dash the best she could. Pinkie helped as well when she could and Twilight also. And both of the princesses helped out however they could, be it moral support or just lending an ear. AppleJack heaved a sigh as she craned her head skywards. A faint trail of rainbows could be seen leaving the Everfree forest, and AJ knew it was Rainbow Dash. She never stopped searching, all these years she kept flying over the forest despite her friends' protests. She didn't give up she didn't want to give up on her number one fan... a filly she promised to help fly one day. Apple Bloom... I hope wherever ya are, yer' happier then Ah am... she turned back towards the dirt path and starting trudging down it. another cold chill washing over her body like a cold unwelcome blanket *RUSTLE* Applejack's eyes shot open, looking at the bushes along the path. Her keen eyes didn't see anything, but that didn't mean there wasn't anything there to begin with. Getting into a stance she carefully started moving forward, her eyes checking to the left and right. *RUSTLE RUSTLE* "Alright! Come on out ya varmint!" Applejack yelled into the forest, her eyes locked on the treeline. "I know yer there!" *RUSTLE RUSTLE RUSTLE* The orange mare steeled herself for whatever was about to show itself, the bushes rustled once more and then a hoof poked out. An orange hoof with an untrimmed fetlock, piercing violet eyes stared at her through the dark of the forest before emerging completely revealing a young mare with a dirty orange coat and a unkempt purple mane. She stepped out of the bush and onto the path in front of Applejack, letting the older mare see her. Who the hay is this? she wondered as the bushes rustled again and two more mares stumbled out. One with a dirty light gray coat, light green eyes and a light pink and purple mane that hung from her head down to her legs. The third of the small group was another young pony with dirty light olive colored coat, a long braided red mane and tail and donning a dusty looking stetson on her head. Bright orange eyes peered out from under the hat at Applejack. It was hard to see who they were, but she could tell they were a Pegasus, a Unicorn and an Earth pony. Curse this blasted darkness, and mah eyes. The apple farmer cursed, stepping back a few feet, eyeing them warily. Who are they? I don't recognize them? She wondered, watching as the three shared a glance before the orange one spoke up in a scratchy voice. "Applejack?" she asked, stepping closer. Inquisitive eyes searching Applejack's eyes. "Uh, that's me... do Ah know you three? Are ya lost?" Applejack questioned. The orange mare chuckled, almost sounding like Rainbow Dash when she laughs. "You should, AJ." The farmer looked at the three, her eyes lingering on their forms before she looked at the Stetson wearing one. Her eyes slowly widened in realization, her legs shook and a few tears made their way out. "A-Apple Bloom?" she choked out, every fiber of her being desperately hoping it was true. The mare stepped forward, her own eyes brimming with fresh tears. "Its me, Applejack." she replied, now that she was closer Applejack could tell it was her voice. Her little sister's voice... Applejack moved closer to the younger mare, looking into her eyes, those orange colored eyes... suddenly A fell forward into her younger sister's form, sobbing and clutching onto Apple Bloom and holding her tightly against her chest. "A-A-Apple B-Bloom," said mare rubbed her older sister's back, crying lightly into her shoulder as they rocked back and forth. "I missed you so dang much, Bloom." AJ cried, tears staining the younger mare's mane. Apple Bloom looked up at the other two mares beside her, both with warm smiles on their faces as they watched the two. Apple Bloom smiled at the two. "Its me sis," AB whispered softly. "Ah promise." Applejack only cried more, shaking and clutching onto Apple Bloom as if letting her go would result in her disappearing once more. The two sat there in the darkness for a few moments longer, Applejack's cries slowly dying down before she found herself pulling away reluctantly. Applejack looked into her little sister's eyes, years of sorrow etched into them like stone. "Where in tarnation have you been?!" Appejack yelled, her voice shaky. The younger pony rubbed the back of her neck, her eyes hardening and what little happiness that was in them died out. "That's a long story." 0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0 After gathering the trio and galloping back to the Castle, Applejack quickly explained to Twilight what happened and who she found. The alicorn couldn't believe it, but when she caught sight of the three her jaw dropped half a mile before she yelled for Spike, who later would contact the princesses as Applejack proceeded to gather up everyone else. They were going to get to the bottom of this, no matter what. As Applejack left after giving her younger sister one more brief yet tight hug, she galloped off into the darkness to get Rarity and Dash while Twilight went for Pinkie and Fluttershy. Apple bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo all sat in the castle's main room, sitting on cushioned seats as Spike ran around the castle preparing everything for the two regal sister's arrival. "So," Scootaloo leaned forward, her eyes peering into her friends' eyes. "We gunna tell em what all happened?" "Of course we do." Applebloom nodded, crossing her forelegs together. "Why wouldn't we?" Sweetie chimed in. "Would they even believe us? What we went through?" she looked down at her hooves, stained dark brown. "What we had to do?" Scootaloo sighed heavily, brushing back some of her mane before saying, "Look Sweets, I'm not proud of what I had to do, I know you two are the same... but you know how that place was... we had no choice." She shook her head, "can't change the past ya know, we ust have to move past it." The light gray mare nodded grimly. "I know..." she said softly, her eyes locked on the floor as the door suddenly smashed open prompting all three young mares to shoot up onto their hooves, instinctively getting into defensive stances and drawing several strange weapons. The six Elements stood in the doorway, their eyes locked on the three fillies turned mares. What was long await relief and happiness turned into fright at the sight of the weapons they all drew. Scootaloo was lying prone on the floor holding a long black metal device in her front hooves, her eye blocked by something that to Twilight looked like a miniature telescope as she looked through it. It strangely resembled a small cannon, with an extremely long barrel. Sweetie Belle stood on all fours, her horn alight with a light green glow as several knives of varying shapes and lengths floated in the air around her and a dangerous glint in her eyes. Applebloom was, to the shock of the six present, standing on her hind legs and holding a object that looked like a rectangular box with a smaller looking viewing port on top and various other attachments. She was holding it like one would hold a crossbow. Needless to say, an awkward silence followed. Sweetie sighed in relief before shaking her head. "I have a feeling that's going to happen a lot." she muttered distastefully before sheathing all of her knives with swift precision, nonchalantly sitting back down as her two friends did the same with their own weapons. More silence followed before Rarity spoke up. "Sweetie, is it really you?" she whispered, tentatively stepping closer. After that little display with her magic, she was frightened but the prospect of seeing her sister again outweighed the dangers. Sweetie turned to her sister, getting up and trotting over. "Of course it's me," she said, her voice significantly different but still reminiscent of the filly Rarity helped take care of. "I know I look different, but it's really me... no tricks... no games." Rarity smiled and gently embraced Sweetie Belle who returned the gesture. "Where on Equus have you girls been?" Rarity asked, her voice soft and laced with sorrow as several tears left her eyes. Scootaloo piped up from behind the two, looking to Apple Bloom and Sweetie who both nodded. "We'll tell you... but its a long story." she sighed heavily, shaking her head and brushing aside more of her mane. She needed to get it cut when she got the chance. She sat down as Apple Bloom came over to her, nuzzling her lightly as Sweetie joined them after ending the hug with her sister. "You guys might want to sit down, we'll wait for the princesses to arrive then we'll get down to it." she explained when the others took a seat on the opposite side of them. Now that the three were in the light Applejack could see the three young mares in front of her... were vastly different from the three troublemakers that often caused mischief and mayhem on a daily basis. All three were older, that much was obvious by the tone of their voices and how bigger they were. The three also appeared to be wearing odd forms of clothing and armor and carrying weapons the likes of which the elements have never seen before. Scootaloo sat in the middle of the three. The clothing she wore was a dull shade of blue with a duller shade of yellow going around the collar that covered the majority of her body like a tight jumpsuit, several dark leather pads were stitched onto her legs and joints with a small metal plate, around her neck was a pair of goggles and a dark brown bandanna stained with red splotches and mud. Her wings were covered up by the suit so no one could see them, and she had two bandoleers wrapped around her barrel with several large pouches containing black cartridges. Scootaloo's face also bore several small scars, with a large one over her left eye that Applejack could now see was a duller shade of violet then the right. Two small objects colored black were holstered on her sides with the larger weapon she had pointed at them earlier was on her back. Apple Bloom wore the heaviest looking armor out of the three, a large vest of an unknown dark green material was wrapped around her body, with a black tight fabric underneath covering her whole body much like Scootaloo's armor. Two large shoulder pads stood out from her forelegs that wrapped around her, along with small hardened looking plates of armor on her legs that were fashioned to not hamper her movements that resembled something like the leg armor of the Royal Guard. Apple Bloom also donned a large saddle bag crafted out of the same material as the armor she wore, the flaps were neatly shut but Applejack and Twilight spotted some objects poking out through them, some small colored strings and metal parts. Despite the armor's size and considerable weight, Apple Bloom didn't seem fazed by it. Apple Bloom's Stetson was almost like AJ's with the exception it was a dark dusty brown with a frayed brim, and a pair of welder's goggles wrapped around the top. Her orange eyes were sporadically looking around, almost like she was searching for some threat that lie hidden away in the castle. The mare's mane was longer and her bow was absent, the bottom of both her mane and tail was braided and seemed darker than it usually is. Sweetie Belle was the most changed. Her mane was long, to the point it was hanging down all the way to her legs. Her tail was shorter in comparison however, and seemed clean as opposed to the other two. Sweets wore a light looking armor made of leather. Very small pads made of leather jutted out from her shoulders, her legs were left free as the sleeves of the suit were short, expertly cut by a trained hand. Around her barrel and legs, to Rarity's horror she saw several knives and other sharp instruments of varying sizes strapped to her body, butcher knives, cleavers and others one would find in the Griffon Empire or Minotaur lands. Lashed onto her sides were two large white boxes with the universial medical cross. Her face was pristine of dirt, save for a few red specks near her neck. All three looked so much different than their younger selves. The three looked stronger, their bodies taut with lean muscle and their fur dirty. But they all shared one thing. Their eyes. Hardened gazes with a fire in them Applejack couldn't discern, and as the three whispered back and forth to each other the tone of their voices were harsh and cold, a bitter tone AJ couldn't believe she was hearing from three of the sweetest filles she ever knew. What happened to ya'll? she wondered, watching as Apple Bloom spoke into Scootaloo's ears about something no one could make out. "Hello? Twilight?" a warm voiced called out from the upstairs. "There's Celestia!" Twilight cried happily, dashing off to retrieve both her and her sister should she be there. Sweetie Belle had gotten comfortable in her seat as she pulled out one of her knives and a whet stone before going about sharpening it, making a *Shink* sound with each pass. Her light green eyes focused on the shimmering blade as the six elements watched with apprehensive gazes. Not able to take the silence any longer, Scootaloo spoke up. "So Rarity," she started, her voice sounding hoarse as she cleared her throat. "How has Ponyville been since we've been gone?" The alabaster mare looked up, her eyes finding Scootaloo's. "Uh, Ponyville?" she asked, getting a nod. Rarity composed herself and replied. "A lot has changed since you three went... missing." she muttered the last part softly, but the three's keen hearing heard it anyway. "After the Voidling attacked, other towns underwent a similar fate, more ponies went missing. In fact you're the only ones to have returned so far." Fluttershy nodded sadly as Applejack added, "that an' international tenses ave been on th' rise past couple o years." she told them. "There's also talk o war and th' like. Th' royal Guard ave been dispatched ta th' borders and there's factories goin' up, no clue what they got goin' on in there." By then Sweetie had stopped with her knife, her eyes locked on Applejack's form once she had said war. "War?" She mused silently, "I thought..." she murmured to herself for several seconds as Apple Bloom spoke up. "How big are those factories?" she asked, arching an eyebrow and crossing her forelegs. "They're reeeeeeeaaaaaallllllllllllly big!" Pinkie said, stretching her forelegs out to impossible lengths. "Giant smoke stacks too, and lots of smelly stuff coming out of them, and they've been hauling a lotta metal and crystals into them... Do you think they're building a massive party cannon?" she asked, squeezing her cheeks together in a barely suppressed squee. "Somehow Pinks, I doubt that." Rainbow rolled her eyes, shaking her head. Any further talks about the factories was halted with the appearance of the three princesses. Celestia and Luna hadn't changed much, although Luna looked a tad taller than before. Once Celestia laid eyes on the three mares she smiled warmly. "Scootaloo, Sweetie and Bloom." she looked at the three, "it's so nice to see you back and well." They all nodded, their expressions neutral as the Twilight took her seat in her original spot while both the princess of the sun and night took up spots on either side of the mane six. Celestia studied the CMC for a moment, eyeing their forms and weaponry with a keen eye as did Luna. Both having mixed reactions on what they were and why they had them... though they kept their mouths shut on the matter, leaving it for another time. "Tis good to see the three of you are in one piece." Luna said, smiling widely. "We feared thou were lost to the darkness of the void." Scootaloo looked into the mare of the night's eyes, Luna instinctively shivered for reasons she did not know. "Like we've told the others, its a long story about what happened to us." "Weren't no cake walk that's fer fuckin sure." Apple Bloom muttered, a slight growl to her voice as Rarity gasped at her use of language, Applejack's ears twitched and Fluttershy hid in her mane. Before anyone could question that, Sweetie slid her knife back into one of her holsters and said. "This is going to be long, so I suggest getting comfy. We're going to be here all night, maybe longer." she told them, light green irises boring into everyone of the others. "Care to start Apple Bloom? You were our leader after all." Scootaloo suggested, leaning back and propping herself up with her front hooves. Said mare sighed, taking off her stetson and shaking her mane loose before running a hoof through it. "Alright." she looked up, placing the stetson down on the floor next to her. She then began her tale... The Tale of the Lost. Because War... War Never Changes.