//------------------------------// // Chapter 16 - Friendship // Story: My Little Equestroid: Stompin' is Magic // by ForeverChasingRainbows //------------------------------// **Applejack** "Where's that dang featherbrain gotten to?" Pinkie, Fluttershy and Rarity didn't seem to have any more idea than Applejack did, but equally it didn't seem to be worrying them as much either. The four friends sat around another magically-lit campfire - this one a strange shade of coppery green, presumably courtesy of the unknown guard responsible for lighting it - trying to sort through the increasingly strange and trying day they'd had. Conversation had been sporadic since they'd left Twilight and the Princesses alone with their alien visitor, everypony apparently content to work on things in their own heads for the most part. The surrounding guards seemed to have calmed down, and were obviously settling in for a night in the wilds. "I'm sure she's fine, Applejack," Rarity said from beside her. "Sometimes one just needs a little time alone with one's feelings." Applejack sighed and fussed at her hat with a hoof. "I know, an' RD ain't exactly the greatest when it comes to talkin' about this kinda thing. But with all what's been goin' on out here tonight... I'd just feel better if I could see her, y'know? I don't mean to fuss, but I just can't stop worryin' about 'er." She glanced up at the sky, hoping to catch a glimpse of a brightly-coloured form in the dark. "The guards shoulda found 'er by now." Fluttershy shivered, and huddled down a little tighter behind her mane. "I just want to go home," she whispered faintly. "Too many ponies have gotten hurt today." Pinkie Pie shuffled a little closer to Fluttershy and placed a hoof across her back. "Come on Fluttershy, everypony's going to be fine. Especially thanks to you, you've been super helpful today." Pinkie leaned her head to the side and gave her friend a little squeeze, turning her comforting hoof into a comforting hug. Applejack caught a glimpse of a small smile behind Fluttershy's mane, but it was still tinged with a little sadness. "Thanks Pinkie Pie," the pegasus said, a little more confident but still subdued. "But I'd still feel better if I hadn't needed to help like that in the first place." Then Pinkie Pie let out an explosive sneeze, which sent her sliding quite some distance back along the ground. Fluttershy squeaked in terror and fell sideways in a tangle of legs and wings as she tried to escape the sudden noise. Applejack counted several other strange body movements from her pink friend - a couple of ear twitches, and something with one of her back legs - before Pinkie's head snapped up to stare at something out in the rest of the camp with a surprised gasp. Before anypony could ask what was going on, Pinkie shot off in a puff of dust. "Well, that was a little rude," Rarity commented as she helped Fluttershy up. "Are you all right, Fluttershy?" "Um, yes... sorry." "Ya think maybe Rainbow's back?" Applejack asked. "To be honest, darling, I try not to speculate when it comes to Pinkie Pie." An excitable high-pitched shout that could only have come from Pinkie emanated from somewhere nearby. "I suppose all shall be revealed shortly." A few moments later, Pinkie reappeared - with Twilight and the plus-sized alien in tow. The stallion hesitated at the edge of the group, and hung back while Twilight approached. "Hi girls," Twilight said tiredly. "Is... is Rainbow Dash around?" "No," Applejack replied, trying to keep the annoyance out of her voice. She knew friends wouldn't always see eye to eye, and that worrying over Dash was no excuse to get mad at Twilight, but that didn't make it any less frustrating that the two of them weren't getting along. "She ain't back yet." Twilight's head lowered a little. "Oh. I wanted to talk to her first, but, well, if she's not here..." Twilight looked back to the stallion stood awkwardly on the outside of the group. "You can't just stand there waiting while I sort my personal issues out, come on." "Okay, so, Thirty-Thirty," Twilight pointed to each of her friends with a hoof, "Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie. Girls, this is Thirty-Thirty." The stallion raised one of his strange paws in a little wave. "Hey there." "So ya can understand us now, right?" Applejack asked the enormous biped, rising to her hooves. "Eeyup." Applejack suppressed a shudder at the familiar phrase. Now that's just downright creepy. "I know we sorta did this already, but..." she extended a hoof up towards the strange creature. Rather than bending over to reach her, he folded his legs under him and sat down. "I'm Applejack," she finished, trying her best to sound friendly rather than uncomfortable. What followed was even more alien to her than the original hoof-shake with a giant hoof had been. Applejack had never had much cause to interact with anything that wasn't another pony, and the way Thirty-Thirty's odd branching limb wrapped around her hoof felt very strange, and she had to catch herself to avoid snatching her hoof back. After the others introduced themselves again - some rather more enthusiastically than others - he addressed the group rather then each of them individually. "I wanna thank all o' you fine folks for takin' care o' me earlier. I don't know what mighta happened if y'all hadn't been there." Pinkie Pie leaned towards Applejack and, out of the corner of her mouth, asked "Psst. Hey Applejack. Are you two related?" in a clearly-audible stage whisper. Applejack and Thirty-Thirty both reacted with a surprised "What?" "Well," Pinkie went on, dropping the pretence of subtlety altogether, "you kinda-sorta sound like an Apple." "I'm an Equestroid, not a fruit," Thirty-Thirty said bluntly. "Not the fruit, silly," Pinkie giggled. Applejack eyed Pinkie Pie suspiciously as the other earth pony pointed a hoof at her. "The family." "Pinkie, it's a translation spell. The accent isn't real," Twilight interjected. "I'm a little puzzled as to why it's even present actually." "An' I was kinda wonderin' why only one of ya was talkin' normal," the stallion said, aiming one of his small claw-things at Applejack. "She's the only one that sounds like everyone else back home." "Really?" Twilight asked with obvious interest. "The spell's even approximating cultural analogues for regional accents?! Wow! Oh. Um," she shifted a little uncomfortably, "none of us, uh, sound silly or anything, right? Only I tried something similar once, and the results were... well, frankly, sort of racist." "Nah. None of the rest o' y'all sound like New Texas natives though. More like fancier Coreward types." "Your home wouldn't happen to be a rural farming community of some kind, would it?" Rarity enquired. "Kinda," Thirty-Thirty hedged. "We're out on the frontier. Mining, farmsteads and ranchers, mostly. This place don't actually look all that different, far as the land goes." Rarity aimed a raised eyebrow towards Applejack. "Frontier farmers and ranchers... sound like anypony you know, Applejack?" If by 'anypony' ya mean almost the whole Apple clan, sure. And most of Appleloosa, and Dodge Junction... "I reckon I could name a couple," Applejack replied, grinning. "Looks like it got that part down at least." Twilight seemed slightly taken aback by the news. "That's... wow. That's a really impressive piece of work." "Y'all sure do seem to have a lot more magic to toss around than I'm used to," Thirty-Thirty said. "Not sure if somethin' like this'd even be possible back home. Although I ain't exactly a magic expert." Appplejack saw Twilight perk up, obviously interested. "What's it like?" Twilight asked excitedly, "Your home, I mean." Oh boy, here we go, Applejack thought, trying to figure out how to politely keep her friend's curiosity in check. "And do you like parties?" Pinkie interjected. "Wait, who am I kidding, of course you like parties. Everypony likes parties. Never mind, silly question." "Twilight! Pinkie!" Rarity protested gently, "One doesn't just grill guests on every little detail of their lives without giving a little first." An' I bet he ain't exactly eager to dwell on what he's missin', but that was prob'ly a nicer way a' sayin' it. Guess there is a practical use for some a' them fancy manners after all. "Ya gotta have a heap o' questions on your mind right about now," Applejack said, "I know I do, but I think Rarity's got a point about maybe havin' us be the ones to give a couple answers." Thirty-Thirty grunted, eyes distant. "Can't say's I know enough to even ask the right questions," he said absently, before focusing back on the group. "Why don't ya tell me about these Element things y'all are wrapped up with, that'll give us somewhere to start I guess." "Ooh, ooh, that's a great idea!" Pinkie exclaimed, "That's the story of how we all met and became super bestest friends!" Pinkie dropped into a thoughtful silence for a fraction of a second, one hoof beneath her chin. "Hmm... Twilight! You do it!" she exclaimed, redirecting the hoof towards Twilight. "Do what?" Twilight asked, confused. "Tell the story, silly! It starts with you reading that passage from an old history book outside your old house in Canterlot, remember? Then you ran home and skipped out on Moondancer's party to check Predictions and Prophecies for more information on the Elements, and-" "How did you- You weren't even-" Twilight sputtered incredulously, then caught herself and sighed. "Never mind." Applejack mostly sat by and listened as Twilight told the story of their small group's first day and night together, chiming in a couple of times with her own perspective. Rarity and Fluttershy also added some extra pieces of information, or fielded some of the questions from Thirty-Thirty, while Pinkie Pie provided sound effects, shadow puppetry and enthusiastic re-enactments of several scenes. She actually found it quite interesting to hear Twilight tell the story - it struck her then that all six of them must have their own slightly different perspective on the whole thing, and that they'd all probably tell it a little differently. Twi's a whole lot easier to derail with questions about magic than I'd be, that's for sure. Probably a better storyteller than me though. I'd have galloped through the whole thing in a couple of minutes, and she actually took time to describe stuff. The big stallion had asked quite a few questions along the way, and Applejack could tell he was holding back a whole bushel more so as not to disrupt the telling too much. Even so, as Twilight reached the aftermath of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna's reconciliation the whole affair had become less of a story and more of a six-way conversation. That was when Pinkie Pie had one of what Applejack had come to think of as her 'moments'. With absolutely perfect timing, slow enough to seem natural but fast enough to keep the conversation flowing along before anypony had time to think, Pinkie shifted the topic. "So, how'dja meet your bestest friend?" she asked, nudging Thirty-Thirty's leg with a shoulder before unleashing a truly prodigious grin at his downturned muzzle. Most of the time Applejack didn't understand a whole lot of what went through the other earth pony's head. Occasionally she even suspected there might be one or two trees missing from Pinkie's mental orchard... but then these sorts of things happened. Pinkie would do something a little special, and Applejack honestly couldn't tell if the mare was secretly a genius or just getting lucky with the whole direct brain-to-mouth thing she had going. Applejack didn't even have time to wonder if the big stallion had noticed what Pinkie was doing - or figure out if she'd done it intentionally - before he just started in on a story of his own. A small smile crept across her muzzle as she settled down to listen, intent on getting some answers to a few of the questions stewing in her own head. Now he's tellin' his story, exactly what Pinkie's been wantin' all along. Most times that girl makes about as much sense as a soup sandwich, but every now an' again... **Thirty-Thirty** "Well, I first met BraveStarr a couple years ago..." *** The once-mighty Hall of the Equestroids shuddered as the mountain shifted. Apparently the damage from the fight had been too much for it. Pillars crumbled, and stones broke with cracking sounds louder than cannon blasts as equine statues and intricate carvings were smashed to powder. As great chunks of rock fell to shatter on the floor around him, Thirty-Thirty was surprised to feel an overwhelming sensation of relief. It's... it's over. His victorious opponent reached out an arm towards him. "This place is collapsing! We have to get out of here!" "You go.. I have been defeated." Every word was another great weight dropping from his shoulders, another memory he would no longer have to bear. He was slowly filled, not by happiness, or joy, but simply an absence of the leaden weight he had borne for so long. This was the way it had to be. The way it should be. Finished at last. He closed his hand around the sacred gun for the last time as he rose unsteadily to his hooves, prepared for the end. He faced the interloper through the thunder of falling masonry. With a grim finality, the last Equestroid declared, "When the mountain falls... I'm gonna fall with it." "I'm not leaving you here!" the intruder protested, holding his ground. This is where I belong. Last in a line a' misbegotten outcasts. But this darn fool don't need to go down with me. "You ain't got a choice!" he yelled back. Then there was a blur of motion, and a gloved fist crashed into the underside of his muzzle. Thirty-Thirty's head snapped back as he staggered to one side, and he had just enough time to feel the world start to spin madly before everything slipped away. *** When he regained consciousness a few seconds later, he found himself seated against a rock in the desert outside the Hall. Dust was still rising from the crippled spire, and parts of the metal skeleton beneath the rock lay exposed to the debris-choked sky. The human stood with his back turned, one arm resting against a boulder, as he watched the structure continue to slowly fall. To his surprise, Thirty-Thirty didn't feel any sense of loss as the great Hall crumbled. He realised it had long ago ceased to be a home in his mind - it had been nothing more than a prison, a purgatory where he waited for his duty to end - for someone to end it for him. His people's home fell, but the Equestroids were long gone and forgotten. It was nothing more than a shell, an aged gravestone whose inscription had been ground off by the relentless passage of time. His vigil would continue, but he need no longer be bound to his people's final resting place. Thirty-Thirty tentatively raised his left hand to his jaw. I haven't been hit that hard since... well, ever, he thought, finding his hooves still a little unsteady as he tried to rise. An' I ain't never lost a fight before, neither! His right arm brushed against something leaning against the rock beside him, and Thirty-Thirty did a brief double-take as he recognised the sacred gun. His shaken brain began to throw up some more recent memories. He didn't take it? And he... he carried me out? Why? Everyone who had come to the Hall since he had been left as its sole occupant had been after the gun. Although now that he stopped to think back on it, this one had tried to say something about not knowing the gun belonged to Thirty-Thirty. Trying to apologise, and saying that he'd leave empty-handed rather than steal it. Of course by then he'd already tried to grab the gun, and mistakenly treated Thirty-Thirty as if he was a mindless animal. The fight had started, and his words hadn't mattered, but... He beat me, fair and square. And still he saved my life, and didn't steal Sara-Jane? He looked the human up and down as he turned around, finally placing the silver star and brightly-coloured uniform. A Galactic Marshal... looks like someone's finally bringin' some law to this forsaken rock. The Galactic Marshals. Champions of justice, the help for the helpless. Thirty-Thirty remembered what it was like to fight for something. Not just fighting because it was all he was good at, all he was built for - but for a real, honest reason. How could he have been so willing to just lay down and die? The stallion felt something kindle inside him that had been absent for far too long. Law on New Texas. Now that... that might just be somethin' worth fightin' for. "You alright?" the man asked, obviously a little winded. "Reckon so," Thirty-Thirty replied carefully, trying not to move his jaw, "an' I figure ya knocked some sense into me." The man smiled, then turned back to look at the devastated mountain. Thirty-Thirty stood, stepping up to look over the Marshal's shoulder. A little hesitantly, he said "I guess I owe ya one." "Nah. I say we're even," the human replied, turning to extend a hand to shake. Thirty-Thirty considered the man's words carefully, still cradling his aching jaw in his left hand. The extended hand reminded him of what had happened a few seconds ago, the last time the human had offered it to him. "Nope," he said, "not yet..." The Equestroid cocked back his right arm and slammed a metal fist into the human's jaw. The man was thrown through the air by the blow, his back smashing into the flat side of a rock before he slid down to sit at its base. He simply sat there stunned, now also cradling his jaw in his hand. Trying to hide his surprise that the human was still conscious, Thirty-Thirty grinned broadly and reached down to help the man up. "Now we're even." *** A few hours later, BraveStarr and Thirty-Thirty stood together for the first time in Shaman's home atop Star Peak. The old man sat before a fire, with his back turned to the entryway. "I've failed, great one," the Marshal confessed to his mentor. "You sent me to get the great weapon, but I failed. I could not bring myself to take it from Thirty-Thirty, its rightful owner." "You did not fail, BraveStarr," Shaman replied, still staring into the fire in the center of his cave. "I did not send you to get another toy." Nobody calls my Sara-Jane a toy! Thirty-Thirty bristled, and was about to protest when the man continued speaking. "I sent you after a great weapon, one that you could trust with your life. This, you have found." The old man's face creased into a small but genuine smile as he glanced over his shoulder at the pair, and his voice gained a subtle warmth. "It is called... friendship." *** "Aww, that's so cute!" Thirty-Thirty felt his cheeks grow warm as the ponies around him voiced their appreciation for the story. Mostly they looked happy, but Diamond - or Rarity, which he now knew to be her real name - seemed unimpressed with something. Her expression caused Thirty's own immediate reaction to Shaman's statement to run through his head, although he was fairly sure the pony was put out for different reasons. Probably the prospect of becoming friends with someone by way of a brawl, if his assessment of her high-class accent and some of her input on the ponies' earlier story was on the money. "I can't stand people that talk in riddles!" "He said our friendship would be our greatest weapon! Where's the riddle in that?" "Friendship?! Well, it may not be a riddle - but it sure is a joke!" He couldn't help but smile at that reaction now - Shaman's words had been vindicated within a matter of hours, never mind the couple of years that had gone by since. And going by what these ponies had told him, that lesson was even more true in this strange world. Friendship was a literal as well as metaphorical power here, responsible for the destruction of great evil and the redemption of fallen gods. Before Thirty-Thirty had time to fall into melancholic reflection on the friends he was now parted from, he was reminded of another absent friend a little closer to his current position as Applejack glanced skyward and voiced the question all of them had been contemplating on and off for some time. "Where the hay is Rainbow Dash?"