//------------------------------// // Chapter XV: Crusading // Story: Distorted Fate // by Silvak //------------------------------// Reading was a luxury for those that had the money and time for it where I came from.  Here, I had plenty of time to study the books that Twilight gave me, since Pinkie was too busy during the week between her job at the bakery, the wreckage in the forest, and the night where she had to babysit the twins.  This gave me enough time to figure out their alphabet, which in this case consisted of pictures once again and a single word attached to it, with the first letter oversized and bold.  So after a week of scratching my head and asking the Cakes for help, I finally figured out their alphabet.  Unfortunately, that was how long it was before the Crusaders were released from whatever punishment they were given, for after a week they finally showed up, barging into my room and dragging me off for who knows what. "So where are we going?" I asked, sitting in the red cart again as I hung onto the edge for dear life.  While I wasn't up for going out today, Mrs. Cake insisted on me going outside for some fresh air.  Except in this case it was air rushing into my face due to Scootaloo's speed. "We're goin' to my family's farm, Sweet Apple Acres!" Apple Bloom answered.  "Our clubhouse is there, and it's time for you to have your initiation!" Oh, joy, I thought to myself as we hit a bump in the road, which due to me only gripping the edge... caused my body to bounce off the cart, resulting in it falling out and dragging on the dirt as I hung onto the edge for dear life.  Well, until common sense returned to me and I let go, leaving me to tumble across the ground until I crashed into a tree.  "....ow..." "Omigosh!  Are you alright‽"  Sweetie Belle shrieked as she jumped out of the cart when Scootaloo came to a halt, the other two following her shortly after. "Yeah... I am alright.  I had worse." "Worse?  That looked like it hurt, a lot, even though it was a bit funny," Scootaloo said with a snicker as I just gave her a deadpan stare. "Ha ha, it was funny, can we go now?" I said as I got back on all fours, brushing off the dirt from my coat.  Receiving a nod from the fillies, I got back in the cart, but this time Scootaloo went a tad bit slower and apparently avoided any bumps in the road, for she occasionally shifted from one side of the road to the other as we went on our way.   It wasn't long before we reached the apple farm, where I went wide eyed for once.  Normally, I don't go wide eyed at things unless it happens to be a rather large predator that wants to eat me, but damn, that was A LOT of apples.  I mean, well, there's so many apples here that you could feed all the poor of a fringe city for a week, and those cities tend to have shit tons of poor folk. Apparently I was also gaping as I stared at the trees, for Apple Bloom chuckled as she said, "I know. Pretty impressive, ain't it?  All the work of the Apple family."  I just weakly nodded my head, unable to give a proper response.  Soon Scootaloo turned off the main road, pulling us between the trees ‘till we stopped at one tree that had some sort of building built on its side... I would call it a 'tree house' but the library already covered that area. "Here we are, the Cutie Mark Crusaders Clubhouse," Sweetie Belle said as we hopped off the cart and the trio led me up the ramp.  It wasn’t until I stepped inside the Clubhouse that I really know just how desperate these fillies were for their cutie marks.  There were stacks of paper all over the place, with various plans pinned to the walls, some of them making me cringe in fear due to how incredibly reckless they were.  One of them included a catapult, with a filly being... the ammunition... their sisters were right. They do have crazy plans. After a long and drawn out initiation, during which I pretty much zoned out, I received a cheer from the Crusaders and some... kind of cape.  Why a cape?  They're, like, the most stupid thing to wear, ever, I thought to myself as Apple Bloom decided to move onto the next item of interest. "Now that Aether is a member of the Cutie Mark Crusaders, we are one step closer to gettin' out cutie marks!"  Where in limbo did she came up with that idea?  "So for the next thing on our agenda, is today's next Cutie Mark idea.  Since Aether just joined us today, we'll let her decide what we'll try today." As three pairs of eyes turned their attention to me, I gulped as I began to think to myself.  They expect me to come up with an idea?  I'm still learning their words!  Damn it all!  Let's see, what I got that I'm good at that I can say... parkour, no, can't explain it in their language.  Fighting?  No, bad idea, don't want these fillies getting into trouble, much less the fact that I haven't practiced in this body yet.  Guess I have to go for something random and hopefully not stupid. "Err.... climb a tree?" "Did that," they said in unison.  Creepy. "Bake a cake?" "Did that too." "Write a book?" "Too boring," Scootaloo replied. "...tame a wild animal?" "Tried that." "What‽" "Oh come on, think up of something good Aether," Scootaloo complained. Frowning, I decided to throw caution to the wind.  "Fine, how about... we climb a... augh... big rock... sorry, but I do not know the word for it yet." Tilting their heads in confusion, they think on what I meant before Apple Bloom said, "Oh!  She want us to try climbin’ a cliff!  Rock climbin’ sounds like it’d be fun!" "Yeah, having a rock climbing cutie mark would make us EXTREME!" Scootaloo yelled with excitement. "Yeah, let's do it!  We can go to Ghastly Gorge, it has the best cliffs for rock climbing!"  Sweetie said as she stuck out her hoof, the other two doing the same.  Then they looked at me, expecting me to join in.  Mentally groaning, I placed a hoof over one of my folded ears, as I stuck my hoof to theirs. "Cutie Mark Crusaders Rock Climbers!  Yay!" the three yelled, while I only mumbled it, except for the last word. Whatever 'Ghastly Gorge' meant, I don't think it's a good thing to hear, I thought to myself as I looked upon the cliff side that the Crusaders wanted to climb.  It was another long ride in that cart of theirs, which included more hanging onto both the edge and the bottom of the cart (don't know how the other two were able to hang on so easily).  Eventually, we arrived at this rather deep ravine.  Apparently they think that climbing treacherous cliffs would help them get them cutie marks.  It would make perfect sense if it was cutie marks in falling to their doom. "Ar-re you sure this is a g-good idea s-still Scoot-taloo?" Sweetie fearfully asked, looking at the cliff with terror-filled eyes. "Of course it is, this will be so extreme that once Rainbow Dash sees my cutie mark, she'll be calling me the most awesomest filly ever!" Scootaloo replied with a smug grin.  Great. She just had to have the braggart as her role model, didn’t she? "I'm not so sure, it looks a tad bit dangerous... I think Aether should go first.  It was her idea after all," Apple Bloom said, to which I gave her a glare for that proposal. "I ag-gree, it was her id-dea, so she should h-have the first t-try," Sweetie Belle said, as Scootaloo scowled at their cowardice, or in my point of view, their newly attained instincts in preservation. Looking upon my forehooves, I sighed as I thought, Yeah... should have seen this coming.  When one has to go to a lot of dimensions, it's a given that one should have some climbing skill, but I was accustomed to using my hands for climbing.  Now here I am, with hooves instead of hands... I think I just signed my own death sentence.  Taking a deep breath, I decided to just get it over with as I put my hoof against the rock ledge, getting as best as a grip one can with a hoof.  Fortunately, with such a jagged cliff side, there were plenty of ha—I mean hoofholds for me to get a grip on.   At first, it was slow going, as I tentatively made my way up the cliff side with the three below me watching silently.  Maybe they were expecting me to fall off and land on my ass for their amusement.  However, as I got higher up the cliff, my confidence began to grow, encouraging me to speed up.  Soon, I was already halfway up the cliff, with the Crusaders below cheering me on, as I felt the rush of excitement going through me.  Perhaps I’m finally getting used enough to this body enough for me to try the sort of stuff I could do with my old one.  Perhaps I won't need hands after all.  Perha- what the heck is that noise? I thought to myself, as I heard the sound of something soaring through the air at a high speed. Looking to the source of the noise, I spot Rainbow Dash flying through the ravine at a fast pace speed.  As I pondered why she is here of all places, she burst past me, with a gust of wind following in her wake, which happened to blow me off the cliff.  Okay, I didn't expect this to happen, I thought as I suddenly started to fall.  Screaming various profanities as I cursed Rainbow Dash with a thousand horrible ends, I saw the ground closing in on me before suddenly something caught me. Blinking in surprise, I looked at my savior, only to see it was the one that send me plummeting to the ground.  "What are you doing here Aether?  You shouldn't be climbing a cliff, especially in Ghastly Gorge, even though it looked awesome," Rainbow said. Scowling at her, I replied, "I was doing fine till you flew by and your wind knocked me off the cliff."  Rolling her eyes, Rainbow flew down to the Crusaders before letting me down. "That was awesome how you saved Aether from danger Rainbow!" Scootaloo yelled as she praised her idol. "She was the one that knocked me off..." I muttered, before I noticed Sweetie Belle looking at my flank, which I found to be quite uncomfortable. "Awww... you didn't got a cutie mark.  Guess rock climbing isn't your special talent, Aether," Sweetie said. "Oh, I should have known that you fillies are here for your cutie marks.  Who's bright idea was to go rock climbing?"  Rainbow demanded, at which the Crusaders then pointed their hooves at me.  Bunch of filthy traitors. "Well... that I didn't expect, I thought you weren't interested in extreme stuff Aether," Rainbow said, frowning as she remembered the last conversation we had. "I said I did not like watching stuff like that.  Doing is different matter," I replied as I folded my forelegs across my chest as I sat down. Before Scootaloo could comment on how I couldn't be impressed by Rainbow's stunts, Apple Bloom cut in when she said, "Wait... if you're not impressed by Rainbow's moves... that means ya must have done a lot of extreme stuff.  Maybe you can show us what you have done and maybe that can help us get our cutie marks!"  With that, Scootaloo forgot her complaint as she realized the possibilities, as all three fillies looked at me with excitement. Well.... shit, this will not end well.