//------------------------------//
// 14 - The Call to Adventure 
// Story: The Apple Falls Far from the Tree 
// by David Silver 
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The butler led the group of five through the manor to the armory. "The Lady has insisted you be given full access to whatever will assist you." They entered the room of weapons and armor, but the butler proceeded across the room. His clever fingers caught under a shelf and lifted. With a grunt, a hidden niche was revealed with a mace, chain armor, and a rapier inside. "These are heirloom pieces, enchanted with magic. I would ask that you return them, even if Lady Longtail has given leave for you to take what you will. It does not do for a house to surrender its past."

Applejack moved up to inspect the pieces, then looked down to Scootaloo. "Ya can figure out magic things, right?"

Scootaloo bobbed her head before intoning the proper spell. She gazed over each slowly. "The shirt just kinda glowy. I don't think it's special besides being magic..." Her eyes turned to the rapier. "Ooo!" She hopped up and grabbed the rapier in her mouth and gave it a few swings. It burst into flame in her mouth, illuminating the room slightly in dancing light with her energetic waves. Scootaloo dismissed the flame, set the rapier down, then pulled the one she had out and switched for it. "Mine."

Applejack snorted softly before pointing at the mace. "One left."

Sunflower wandered the room, gazing from one piece to the next with wide eyes. Scootaloo squinted at the mace a moment intently before announcing. "It's..." She frowned and pulled out her spell book and leafed through it quickly. "Uh, a ghost-hunting mace? Cool, but we're not hunting ghosts are we?"

Sunflower reached up and took the mace, giving it a swinging about. It was a light mace, and rested easily enough in his paws. "If we see any, I'll be ready for them!" Sunflower turned the mace over and pointed at the bottom. "Look, it's got the family crest on it." There was an icon of the sun with a tail wrapped around it.

Applejack pulled the armor off. "Everypony got what they want? Get something t'wear. Yer fur ain't gonna protect much." She heaved a sigh. "Ah can't believe Ahm saying that."

Far better equipped than when they entered, the Crusaders departed the manor they had just started to call home. On the way out, they saw Lady Longtail engaged in conversation with one of the ratfolk. It sounded serious, but they didn't pry into it. Sunflower waved wildly at her on the way past. "Bye Grandma! We'll be back with stacks of gold in no time!"

Apple Bloom giggled a little. "Ah can't promise we'll be back with all of it that fast. Alright, ah think it's time we went over signals."

"Signals?"

Sweetie bobbed her head. "We have to stick together, and that means knowing what to do. If one of us does this." She made a motion with her hoof. "It means find something to hide under super fast."

Scootaloo winced. "Ugh, last time we used that, I got shot." She laughed it off though. "This one means charge!"

Applejack watched out of the corner of her eyes. She might not have been a full crusader, but knowing what her little companions were planning couldn't hurt.

Apple Bloom nodded towards Sunflower as they reached the end of the tutorial. "Don't worry about giving signals at first. Yer a new member, so just follow our lead, alright?"

Sunflower bristled a little at the idea. "But I'm the man here..."

Sweetie tilted her head. "Man?"

Sunflower bobbed his head. "Alpha, male. You're all girls. I should be in charge and take care of you, not the other way around."

Scootaloo suddenly sailed over Sunflower, bumping his head with her dangling hind legs very much on purpose. "That's stupid. We have more experience."

Applejack gave a soft snort. "Ya reckon ya can take care of me?"

Sunflower craned his head back to look up at the relatively towering Applejack. "Uh..."

Applejack reached out a hoof and gently nudged Sunflower. "We can wrastle for it if ya like?"

Sunflower shook his head quickly. "No ma'am! You can be in charge for now."

Applejack tipped her head. "Mighty magnanimous of ya."

Sunflower leaned towards Sweetie. "What's that mean?"

Sweetie beamed brightly. "She said you were nice!"

"Oh."

They traveled through the city to return to that dark tavern. Their contact was in the back, shuffling papers as if he had never left, though his drink was decidedly orange that day. His eyes raised to look at the four ponies and kitten that approached. "You're not dead! I assume that means the job went well?"

Applejack nodded her head. "Yep. Job was a mite tougher than expected, but we were paid fair. We're ready for more. We're saving up for something special."

Apple Bloom advanced just ahead of Applejack. "Do ya got something special?"

Louis raised a furry brow. "You can take care of rats, but you haven't earned your way into 'special' yet. I have two jobs I can part with." He quickly searched through the papers and laid them down in easy view. "The first is a guard detail for a warehouse. The owner's extremely paranoid about a shipment going through it. They're willing to pay ten gold per head, per night, and it should be a week. That's 350 in your pocket for what is likely easy work."

He nudged the other paper forward. "The other is an exploratory assignment. Cat discovered some ruins in his backyard while trying to dig out a cellar and is nervous something spooky will come out and eat him in his sleep. This one doesn't have a guaranteed pay. You get full looting rights, and that's it. Could be great, or nothing, can't say. Could be a boring walk around some old tunnels and a waste of time. Who knows?"

Applejack turned towards the Crusaders. "Well, ah like the one we know what we'll get paid fer."

Apple Bloom nodded slowly. "But... what if we look around the other one first, then we go play guards? We get both!"

Louis pushed the papers forward. "I like that foal's style. The shipment arrives in two days, so you have that long to finish exploring the other one, or you'll have to put it on pause and come back. The warehouse isn't negotiable. If you aren't there, you don't get paid. Since the ruins aren't being paid for, that cat gets what he gets."

Sunflower advanced to claim the papers, looking them over curiously. "There could be a mountain of gold..."

Scootaloo giggled. "Or a big fat nothing. Let's find out!" She thrust a hoof forward. "Cutie Mark Crusaders Ruin Explorers!" Her hoof was met by Sweetie and Bloom swiftly, with Sunflower's paw coming in shortly after, and Applejack's larger hoof finishing the job.

As the party turned to depart, Louis tapped Applejack on the flank. She turned sharply to find him offering a vial. "For the little ones. Let it not be said I have no heart. If they get hurt, give it to them." 

Applejack accepted the vial and tucked it away into her saddlebag. "Thanks kindly. Ya ain't so bad, uh, fer a cat..." She trailed off, looking awkward.

Louis waved it off. "Go on. Try not to get them all killed."

Applejack frowned sharply at that. "Ah'll do mah best." Then she departed.

They proceeded through the crowded city, but were less hedged in that day than when they arrived. Armed and armored, they seemed to repel most of the casual contact. They were dressed like adventurers, ready to fight, and were given berth for it. Even the smaller Crusaders commanded a minimum of respect with their obvious weaponry on display.

Scootaloo took notice of the difference. "I could get used to this. I don't feel like somepony's gonna step on me."

Sweetie bobbed her head in agreement. She was the least obviously equipped of them, and stuck to the middle of their little herd. "I think I see it."

'It' turned out to be a small one-story house that, unlike most of the buildings in the area, had a small space on either side separating it from its neighbors . Scootaloo flew up and knocked on the door, clopping her hoof on the wood.

The door swung open to reveal a wiry looking purrsian with sandy brown fur. "What?"

Applejack tipped her hat at the cat. "Howdy. We heard ya had a problem out back and came ta fix it fer ya."

He nodded and waved a scrawny paw towards the back. "Go 'round the side and she's all yours. I don't want to hear about it. Tell me when it's safe." The door slapped shut without waiting for reply.

Sunflower wrinkled his nose. "He's not a very good purrsian."

Sweetie lifted an ear at Sunflower. "What do you mean?"

Sunflower shrugged. "Well, you can be a greedy cat, but he isn't that, because he's letting us take everything we find. He could be a nice cat, but..." He waved at the door. "He isn't that either. He's a coward, hiding scared in his house and doing nothing." He put his paws on his hips. "I'm going to be a great purrsian and make Mom proud."

Apple Bloom stuck out her tongue. "You better be the nice kind of cat or we'll have a problem. There's no room for greedy cats in the Cutie Mark Crusaders."

Sweetie bobbed her head. "He is a nice kind of cat! He was telling me about when they were lost in the middle of nowhere! Nopony wanted to do anything, so he went into the forest and hunted up food for everypony!"

Applejack raised a brow. "Ah remember that a little different... But yes, Sunflower's a good cat. Come on, let's have a look at what we came fer." She led the way around the building. There was a jagged hole in the sandy dirt, leading into darkness. "Sweetie? Send some of your light down there."

Sweetie clopped her hooves before letting out a sweet note. Balls of light erupted around her, then zipped down quickly into the hole, revealing a large room made of stone. It looked like sand had poured in from above in uneven piles. They could easily see two doors of stone leading elsewhere, but they were closed. Sweetie leaned over the edge a little. "Looks like it's time to explore."

The drop wasn't far, and with Applejack to serve as a landing point for Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle, they were soon underground. Applejack lowered herself for her two passengers to slide free. "Stick togetha, alright? We'll do this nice and slow and safe. Ya won't do a lick a good to nopony if ya get hurt."