It was certainly a nice change of pace, staying at Applejack’s again. I hadn’t realised how exhausting my day to day life had become until I was back on the farm, I think Applejack noticed that as well which was why she insisted on me doing only the simplest of chores, mainly domestic stuff. Occasionally Pinkie and I would help Applebloom around the farm itself or Granny Smith preparing the apple cart for travelling to Pivot the next day. Naturally Applejack asked us both to keep quiet about Pinkie Pie’s… lifestyle, which didn’t seem to bother her in the slightest; I figured she was used to pretending to be something she wasn’t, which was truer than I could ever have guessed.
When the day’s chores were done, we all sat down around the kitchen table and ate while expressing our relief at not being attacked again. After that, Applejack offered to take me to one of the more secluded parts of the farm and give me some pointers on using my new sword. I had always figured I was pretty decent at wielding it, but once I was going up against Applejack and Pinkie Pie, both of whom were going easy on me, I realised just how sloppy my technique really was. Applejack was kind about it however, saying it was probably just down to my lack of experience in using my hooves, which she claimed had improved since the last time we met.
We sparred for a short while, Applejack showing me how to use my rapier while Pinkie gave me some tips on using my knives. By the end of it I didn’t feel much better at it, although the short training session turned out to be quite valuable in the future, I would certainly end up relying on my magic considerably less for a start. The next day we were setting off early, although this time we weren’t held up by long, drawn out farewells, I had every intention of returning with Applejack to the farm once our business in Pivot was concluded.
The journey back up to Pivot was a little slower than when I travelled the same road with Big Mac, it was also considerably less quiet thanks to Pinkie Pie. I was already used to her overbearing personality by that point, but for Applejack who hadn’t spent a huge amount of time with her on the farm; it came as a bit of a shock. I just found the whole thing to be rather amusing, having to resist the urge to laugh every time Applejack looked at me with pleading eyes to make Pinkie stop talking for a few minutes.
“Oh, nice move,” Pinkie commented as we walked. “However I’ve still got a few tricks up my stripy sleeves. I’m going to move my queen’s bishop to D4, check!”
“Um…” Applejack began, giving me another desperate look. “Ah’ll move mah… knight?... kings knight?... to F6?”
“Ha!” Pinkie exclaimed, pressing her face right up against Applejack's. “You fell right into my trap! I move my queen to F6 and take your knight, check!”
“Ah…” Applejack tried to say, I could practically see the gears in her brain trying to comprehend what was going on. “Ah have no idea.”
“Pinkie darling,” I started, taking pity on Applejack. “I don’t think our dear Applejack knows how to play imaginary chess as well as you do.”
“Ah think ah could manage…” Applejack argued. “If there was an actual board and pieces.”
“But Applejack, the lack of board and pieces is integral,” Pinkie told her in an urgent tone. “That’s what makes it imaginary chess.”
“Sounds like bullshit,” Applejack muttered, only to have Pinkie gasp in horror. “Ah mean…”
“Darn it!” Pinkie interrupted, kicking her hooves on the road. “You called my bluff; I guess you win, congratulations Applejack.”
Pinkie shook Applejack’s hoof then continued walking along the road while the pair of us were left standing still, staring at each other in utter bewilderment.
“I guess…” I began, searching for the right words. “It’s just Pinkie… being Pinkie.”
The rest of the journey was equally wacky, and when we came to stop for the night Pinkie finally got that slumber party she had been hoping for. Applejack lit up a campfire, thankfully having brought her own matches as I had never got my own back from Cogs, and Pinkie produced a bag of marshmallows out of nowhere which we roasted while telling ghost stories. For a short while before we called it a night and went to sleep, life actually felt like it was back to the way it used to be, no conflicts or troubles, just a few friends spending time together and having fun.
There was never enough of those times, I often found myself thinking back on them, wishing I could simply relive them over and over again, especially considering what awaited us the next morning. We all awoke, our fire having burned out sometime during the night; nothing was out of the ordinary, nothing that could have alerted us to what was waiting for us just around the corner, or more accurately just down the road. We made the final leg of our journey, Pinkie still talking and Applejack still dragging her cart, it was only when we reached the crest of a hill and Pivot came into view that we knew something was wrong.
When I first reached Pivot when travelling with Lyra and the others, I knew something was wrong just from how lifeless the town looked. This time that very lifelessness seemed even more pronounced, aided by the huge column of smoke rising from the centre of the town. We all glanced at each other, even Pinkie looked slightly worried. Without a word I pulled out my spyglass, extended it and peered through the lens down at the city. The road we were standing on led straight to the main street of Pivot, which went directly from the outskirts of the city to the square before the town hall.
As such I was able to see the town hall in the distance and the square in front of it, we were still too far away to make much out, even with the spyglass. What I could tell was there seemed to be a great deal of activity in the square, although trying to decipher what was like watching ants. What I could tell was that the source of the smoke didn’t seem to be any buildings on fire, rather there was some kind of large bonfire in the square. I turned my attention away from the square and moved my gaze down the main street to the entrance of the city.
Things were a little clearer there, I could see more ponies milling about and what appeared to be a hastily thrown together barricade constructed along the city entrance. Lowering my spyglass I turned back to my friends and told them what I had just seen.
“A barricade?” Applejack repeated. “Are they expectin’ to be attacked or something?”
“Should we go down and ask?” I questioned, neither of them looking too keen.
“Ah’m not sure,” Applejack replied slowly. “If somethin’s goin’ on down there, we should figure out what it is before marchin’ on in.”
“I agree with Applejack,” Pinkie stated. “We should approach the city from a different angle; see what we can figure out.”
Agreed on our next move, we all set off west, stopping occasionally so I could take a closer look at the city perimeter. Pivot was the only major city in Panchea that didn’t have a wall surrounding it, intended so ponies wouldn’t have to hike around the city depending on which direction they were approaching from. This served us well as there didn’t seem to be any other barricades erected and we quickly found a relatively deserted section that we could enter from. Applejack left the cart at a safe distance, hidden by some tall grass; we all agreed that if anything went wrong, that would be our rendezvous point.
As we neared the city, we saw two ponies walking around it, it looked like they were on patrol. We quickly decided not to hide from them, we could question them on what was going on in the city, and if something went wrong… well we had the advantage of greater numbers. They stopped when they saw us approaching; they were each wearing a uniform I had never seen before and carrying battle axes. Their outfit consisted of a forest green robe with hoods drawn up, on top of that they were wearing a breastplate, pauldrons and gauntlets, all crafted from a strange looking metal that resembled granite.
They watched us closely as we walked towards them, they were whispering among themselves but stopped suddenly when we got within a dozen metres, as if they had only just noticed something. They both drew their weapons and took a defensive stance while we froze, getting ready to draw our own if they tried anything.
“Sisters!” one of the ponies cried out. “Seize that abomination at once!”
We all hesitated, glancing quickly around us, worried that something had snuck up on us while we were walking.
“No!” the pony shouted out once more. “The unicorn, seize it so that we can present her before Lord Terra.”
“Unicorn?” Applejack repeated.
“It?” Pinkie added. “What are you talking about? Rarity is a ‘she’, not an ‘it’. Is it hard to tell? Are stallions particularly feminine looking where you come from?”
“You would give the creature a name?” the other pony said, sneering at us. “This is the only warning we will give you, join us and capture that abomination so that it can be castrated, or you too will be declared enemies of the Children of the Earth!”
“Castrated?!” we all exclaimed in horror as I crossed my hind legs instinctively.
Without another moment's hesitation, we all drew our weapons, preparing ourselves for a fight.
“You would betray your own kind?” the first pony said in disbelief. “For the sake of this creature? Gaia may show mercy to reluctant earth ponies like yourselves, but we will not forgive your ignorance!”
They both charged forwards, giving loud battle cries, one being swiftly cut off as Pinkie leapt down on one of them from behind and drove one of her daggers into the back of his skull. Applejack moved in on the second one, swinging her claymore in a wide arc, knocking the axe right out of the ponies grip. I tried to rush in and pierce his side with my sword, but at the last second he turned and my blade bounced harmlessly off his armour, not even leaving a scratch in it. He dived for his axe but my knife buried itself in his rump before he could take hold of it.
He screeched in agony as we all converged in on him, Applejack grabbing him by the neck of his robes and pulling him up so they were face to face.
“What the hay is goin’ here?!” she demanded. “Who are you and what’s goin’ on in the city?!”
The pony opened his mouth but never got a chance to speak as we all heard the shouting of more ponies dressed just like him, most likely drawn over by his scream. With few options, I pulled my knife out of his backside and charged after Applejack and Pinkie Pie as they retreated into the city. We were quickly able to lose our pursuers with a few sharp turns and ducking into an alleyway where we stopped to catch our breath.
“Okay…” I began, panting. “This seems bad.”
“Definitely,” Applejack agreed, peering out of the alleyway to make sure there weren’t more nearby. “We can’t stay here; we should get out now while we can.”
“What about Grass Snake and the others?” I asked in a panicked voice as it dawned on me just how much danger they might be in.
“We should go to their house,” Pinkie proposed. “They might still be okay.”
“Ah still think Rarity should go back at the very least,” Applejack tried to say. “Those crazy ponies are after unicorns by the sounds of it, us two should be fine though.”
“But I know where Grass Snake’s house is,” I argued. “Have you ever actually been there yourself?”
“Well, no…” Applejack admitted.
“Besides, we can’t leave Rarity on her own,” Pinkie added. “If those bad guys come after her, she won’t be able to take them on her own, no offence.”
“I’m not about to argue with that,” I said, honestly not offended in the slightest.
“Fine then,” Applejack relented, although I could tell she wasn’t happy about it. “Let’s get to Grass Snake’s house then, quickly and quietly.”
It wasn’t easy to find their house as I only knew the way there from the town square, and having to constantly change direction to avoid the patrols we ended up getting quite lost. Thankfully after much trial and error I got us onto the right track with only one other run in with our apparent enemies, an unlucky pony on his own who Pinkie made quick work of after he tried to sound the alarm. We crept up the narrow street Grass Snake had taken me down when we first met; I counted along the houses for the one I knew to belong to her.
I was certain it was right as we began to climb the front steps, I gave one quick look down either end of the street to make sure there was nopony approaching before I began knocking. There was no reply, pressing my ear up against the door I heard no sound coming from within. They might have been hiding so I knocked again, this time calling out in as loud a voice as I could risk.
“Grass Snake,” I called. “It’s me, Rarity. Pixie Dust? Is anypony there?”
There was still no reply, I glanced back at the other two and saw they shared my worried expression. It tested the door handle and found that it was unlocked, that made my insides freeze. Stepping slowly into the deserted hallway, I glanced at the other side of the front door and saw that all the locks had been broken. I was shaking as I carried on down the hallway, silently praying that they were all okay somewhere. I glanced in the sitting room and the kitchen, both of which were undoubtedly empty.
Making my way upstairs I found the second floor deserted too, but the third floor was not. I froze as I saw Willow lying in her bed, quite clearly dead. Applejack saw her over my shoulder and made her own way over to her as I stood paralysed on the top step. She looked her over briefly before glancing back at me, a solemn expression on her face.
“Ah don’t think she was killed,” Applejack told me. “Looks like her heart just gave out.”
I opened my mouth in the hopes something would come out, instead I heard a scream come from downstairs. My mind snapped from grief back into action in a second as I sprinted down stairs, reaching the hallway of the first floor where I saw Pinkie Pie dodging attacks being delivered by…
“Grass Snake!” I exclaimed.
Grass Snake ceased trying to bludgeon Pinkie to death with what looked like a broken chair leg and looked up at me as I leaned over the banister.
“Rarity!” Grass Snake exclaimed, dropping the chair leg and pushing past Pinkie to reach me.
She threw her forelegs around my neck and began sobbing into my shoulder; I simply rubbed her back while I looked around the hallway. I saw there was a small cubby hole door in the side of the staircase that I had never noticed before, which was now lying open, Caramel peering out fearfully.
“Grass Snake, what happened?” I asked, holding her by the shoulders.
“It was awful!” she sobbed. “Caramel and I were in town when they attacked, we hurried back here but… but they had already been here. Lock Pick, Pixie Dust, Emerald, they were all taken, and Granny Willow… she’s… she’s…”
Grass Snake couldn’t go on, breaking down once more. With great difficulty we managed to move her into the sitting room where Applejack and I sat down on either side of her while Pinkie tried to comfort Caramel.
“Grass Snake,” Applejack began in a firm voice. “Ah know this is hard, but it’s important that you answer these questions. When did all this happen?”
“Just yesterday,” she replied, sniffing.
“Do you know where the others are now?” I asked, she shook her head in response.
I decided not to ask if she believed them to alive or not, instead I glanced up at Applejack and tilted my head towards the hallway. We both stood up and Pinkie followed us after inviting Caramel to sit with Grass Snake. Once in the hallways we all looked at each other in silence for a moment before Pinkie spoke up.
“The town square,” she stated simply. “Whatever’s going on there, it might have something to do with all this.”
“You think the captured ponies are there?” Applejack asked.
“If they aren’t, we might be able to figure out where they are,” I reasoned.
“There’s bound to be more of those… Children of the Earth ponies at the square,” Applejack pointed out. “All five of us can’t go, but we can’t leave these two here alone either.”
“They need to get out of the city,” Pinkie said. “It’s too dangerous for them here, even if they aren’t unicorns.”
“They took Pixie Dust too,” I reminded her. “She was a pegasus, perhaps they’re targeting anypony who isn’t an earth pony.”
“That’s disgustin’,” Applejack spat. “But it’s all the more reason for Grass Snake to get out of here with Caramel.”
“I agree, but I’m not leaving the others to be…” I began, stopping myself from saying the dreaded word, whatever it meant to these ponies. “I have an idea that might work, but you probably won’t like it as it involves splitting up.”
“If you think you know somethin’ that will work, ah’ll help,” Applejack told me.
“Me too,” Pinkie agreed.
“We’ll wait here for a few hours and move under cover of darkness,” I began, looking directly at Applejack. “Then you escort Grass Snake and Caramel out of the city, out of all of us you’ll have the best chance of getting them out safely, especially if you run into any trouble. Take them to the apple cart and wait for us to return.”
“What will we do?” Pinkie asked eagerly.
“We will head to the town square,” I explained. “If we can get into the town hall and climb the clock tower, we might be able to find out what we need to know about the prisoners and devise a plan to rescue them. Once they’re rescued, we’ll escort them out of the city and meet up with Applejack, from there we’ll head back to Sweet Apple Acres.”
“What about the rest of the town?” Pinkie asked.
“There’s nothing we can do for it on our own,” I replied sadly. “I’ll tell Maverick what’s happened here and he can do something about it, it is after all in his best interests to hold onto Pivot, he’ll never accept this group coming in and taking it over.”
“That sounds agreeable enough,” Applejack said thoughtfully. “Ah can definitely get these two safely out, and you’re sure you can do your part without getting caught?”
“I have no doubt that Pinkie Pie can,” I began, smirking at her. “As for myself, they don’t call me a part time spy for nothing.”