Redirection
Just as the sun arose the next morning, a piercing scream jolted me out of a zoned state. Suddenly, I saw a shadow bolt from the bakery, seeming like its’ tail was on fire. It took off into the sky with a powerful flap of its wings. A sure-hoofed, bright-green Earth pony followed suit, beating the ground in a merciless retreat.
Emerald Thunder!? What was he doing?
Another scream had me leaping off the roof and barreling into the confectionery. In the middle of the room a Shadow with a Stetson hat had Boomdrop pressed against the wall. Everyone else was incapacitated, and Emerald Thunder and Zytharros were nowhere to be found. Cheerilee was missing, too.
“Applejack!!” I shouted. “What do you think you’re doing?”
“Jus’ showin’ this criminal some of the tough love we have around these parts…” the Southern-slanged mare threatened.
She slugged the black and purple pegasus-zebra across the face. I leapt for Shadowjack and tackled her, sending each of us careening into a display shelf. The shelf collapsed on top of us. I was shielded by the shadow of Applejack who had taken the brunt of the damage, so I wriggled my way free. The corporeal shadow pony struggled to free herself from her prison. Apparently, she was still very new to the form’s magical capabilities – she should’ve been able to get out of that trap simply by becoming a shadow in the floor.
“What the heck happened?” I asked.
Boomdrop growled. “Emerald Thunder’s betrayed us. He led Shadowjack to our hideout and helped her take over Zytharros’ body.”
I growled furiously. Nobody betrays me!! The rest of the crew was cowering in a corner as Boomdrop and I stared Applejack down.
“Use your bubble technique!” Boomdrop ordered.
I shocked back into focus and closed my eyes, concentrating.
“No, you don’t,” Applejack said.
Several loud screams, some fearful, one violent, preceded a ferocious, crushing, massive blow against my body. It sent me, spinning, rolling, and tumbling towards the pile of friends. Before I connected, an unknown force swept in and redirected the object away from me. The loud grunt and the cracking of wood and shattering of glass identified who saved me as Canuck Chuck and the large weapon in question as a display case. I rolled a ways, my head softly landing between a filly’s hind legs. I shook and shivered for a brief second before awakening to a cacophonic backdrop of fighting and grunting, supplied by Boomdrop and Applejack, I looked up. I was resting between Apple Bloom’s legs. I quickly got up and apologized before diving back into the fray. As I ran, I generated the bubble technique. However, Applejack noticed again, so right when I got to the middle of activating the technique I received a quick and surprising buck to the face. I flipped and tumbled into the counter with the cash register.
“Oh, this is just…” I muttered, twitching my muzzle and feeling the blood run down my face.
Full of rage, I erupted in a loud scream. The bubble technique’s magic exploded from deep within me in a flash of white flame, encasing my entire body. Quickly, I captured Boomdrop, in the middle a kick that would’ve connected solidly with her foe’s head, and Applejack, preparing a rushed defense of the oncoming kick that would have been too late, in it and sent them deep into my mind. This time, the entry was like glass shattering. The blackness fell away quite quickly, revealing the purple essence of Boomdrop and two black spirits entangled in the same fight as before, but this time, engaged alongside them, was a third darkness and the orange life-force of the ever-ornery and ever-lively Applejack.
Boomdrop was quite the fighter anyway, but to take the battle to a… I guess ‘soulecular’ level… that just enhanced her skills to an almost whimsical amount. On our journey back to Ponyville Zytharros had told me about two tales of two different fighters, one named Goku from a saga about ‘dragon balls’, the other named Neo from a place called the ‘Matrix’. Boomdrop was fighting as if she was both of them, delivering full hoof-punches, kicks, bucks, tackles, and dive-bombs in such array and speed it felt like I was simply watching a black and purple line dart across the sky, occasionally connecting with the blackness in flashes of powerful explosions and battling with limbs of light. The cloud-like patterns stirred up by the flying purple buzzsaw known as Boomdrop served as a deadly weapon in their own right as they caught the blistering tailwinds behind the pegasus once known as ‘Purple Ghost’ and pelted her other opponent with the sharp, powdery residue.
Go, Boomdrop, I thought. I wasn’t getting within three miles of that battle.
Applejack, although nowhere near as good a fighter as Boomdrop, fought with all her spirit against her opponent. She wasn’t as fast or as graceful, but all her moves were getting what needed to be done accomplished. Occasionally she would look over at Boomdrop, pick up a move or three, and begin incorporating them into her own fight with mixed results for a time, but soon they had been assimilated seamlessly and she continued battling with the stamina of a stubborn mule. With the power of a dozen years of apple-bucking and heavy farm work behind her, her attacks had double the force behind them as Boomdrop’s did.
About five minutes later, one of Boomdrop’s clouds blew up and tried attacking her. I dove at the cloud at that point, tore it off her with a loud grunt, and gave her the assistance necessary to cleanly destroy the enemy by restraining the cloud as she delivered the deathblow to its’ core. She then turned her attention to her final opponent, which she dispatched without much trouble. It wasn’t long afterwards that Applejack’s enemy, too, was vanquished.
After a few seconds of rejuvenating rest, letting the adrenaline subside, we looked at each other and smiled.
“Damn,” Boomdrop said. “I’ve gotten rusty.”
Applejack, Boomdrop and I laughed. I was just about to send Boomdrop back, when Applejack stopped me. She implored me to let her say her piece, and I relented, allowing Boomdrop to remain.
“I wanna thank ya fer savin’ me,” Applejack said. “I was havin’ a heckuva time with those jerks. They’da gone an’ locked my mind up from me, an’ I was at the edge of my rope fightin’ them to regain control. If it wasn’t for y’all, I…” A sniffle from the proud Earth pony… “I don’t think I coulda lived with myself with what she was doin’ with my good name.”
Boomdrop smiled kindly. “You’re welcome. You should be thanking Derpy, though. She’s the one who got me in here.”
“Derpy!?” Applejack exclaimed. “The Derpy with the…”
“The same,” I said before she continued.
Applejack laughed heartily. “Well I’ll be! Then I thank y’all as well, Derpy. I knew I felt somethin’ special about you when I knew you as a li’l ol’ filly. Now I know what it was. Now, get me back in control so I can help y’all kick some Crystal Fist flank!”
I nodded. Turning to Boomdrop, I smiled. “I’m sorry, but I can’t complete the rites without disconnecting you from her body. I need my full power to do this.”
Boomdrop nodded. “Do what you must.”
So I sent Boomdrop back. Applejack and I conversed as we walked between minds, entering a mind filled with apple trees and pony-sized versions of various apple-based recipes. Apple quarters rained from the sky, and the earth was formed into the shape of her old hat, warm to the touch like chocolate brownies. The whole place smelled of a freshly-baked just-half-a-second-out-of-the-oven apple pie. It made me quite hungry.
In the middle of the field, unlike all the others, was a simple farm house instead of a crystal-encased pony form.
“I think I can find my way home from here,” she said, breaking into a full gallop and disappearing into the house with a shout. “Thank y’all greatly!”
I smiled, allowing my magic to slip away and disappear. My mind and vision went blank just as the house became enveloped in white light, causing her spirit to fill the mind. In seconds, I awoke in my own body and Applejack reunited with friends and family. It was joyous and heart-warming.
But something still gnawed at us all.
I walked to the space Zytharros had once occupied one mere hour earlier. It was empty, save for Sweetie Belle, crying over where his head would have been. Eventually, we were all together, remembering the stallion that had once occupied this space. Applejack was brought up to speed shortly after, about the Guardians of Harmony, the sacrifices Zytharros had made, and the fact that Crystal Fist had now used her to bring him completely under her control.
Applejack was shattered.
She collapsed on the floor in tears, distraught that she had done yet another dark thing to a friend in need. This one hurt even more than before because she openly admitted her feelings for Zytharros to all of us, and even told us about the conversation they had shared a year ago about becoming sort of surrogate siblings. Everyone crowded around her, trying to console the work pony, but nothing was working.
Until Sweetie Belle sang a song Zytharros had taught her. (Pieces by Red)
Her voice filled the air quietly, building into the full-sized anthem of the original by the first chorus. The second verse had a smattering of light instruments and voices joining in. However, by the second chorus, everyone was participating, the remnants of Dashcore playing their instruments and Fluttershy filling in on bass. The sonic anthem rose higher and higher, filling not only the house they occupied but the block around. Passing through the bridge, everyone was harmonizing and playing, thrashing about and directing all their anger into straining voices for a final, piercing scream… then the final chorus repeat was quiet and a capella, ending the song intimately, where we all stopped and let Sweetie Belle once again take over.
Applejack’s head slowly lowed as the snow-white filly’s echoing voice faded into obscurity. Completely enraptured in the devastating honesty of the song compared with their situation, she found herself lost to its power. She was reinvigorated, her resolve restored, and her mind now acutely steeled against Crystal Fist and her demented power. Two final tears fell from her jaw line to the ground, joining their brethren in two small puddles at her feet.
“That’s the last time she gets to my heart,” Applejack said, slowly opening her eyes. “Thank you, Sweetie Belle.”
Rarity’s sister smiled through her own tears. The two shared what I thought was quite possibly the sweetest embrace I had ever seen between friends. Boomdrop joined in. Soon, we were all embracing in a giant group hug. When we released, Applejack looked back at the door, a fire so red it could’ve burned a hole through the wall coming from her eyes.
“Now that I’m free, I have some things I can tell y’all,” she said. “First, the Emerald Thunder that brought me here’s a Changeling, the only one of their swarm to survive Chrysalis’ attack on Equestria. The real Emerald Thunder’s still back in Fillydelphia somewhere, but that’s okay. I don’t think we’ll need him for the final battle against Crystal Fist.
However, that witch’s plan’s almost complete. She’s got Zytharros, and she’s workin’ hard on Celestia. We have to save Twili’ and Rarity before she can crack the Princess. Otherwise we’re all as good as dead – Equestria, Earth, and the rest of life itself. The first time she passed through was jus’ a trial run. This time, she’s serious. She ain’t gonna stop ‘til everythin’ lies in ruins.”
I nodded. “So we take off for Canterlot, then.”
“Not yet,” Applejack said. “We need two more pieces to the puzzle of the Guardians of Harmony.”
“You mean Crystal Fist is aware of them?” Fluttershy asked, alarmed.
Applejack nodded. “Yes, sugarcube, she is.”
“Two more pieces!?” Scootaloo asked, bewildered. “But Apple Bloom, Derpy, and now Boomdrop are Guardians. That leaves only one more slot open for our group!”
“Sorry to blow your fuckin’ minds, but… there are no fuckin’ more from our group,” Razortongue said. “I did a bit more research during that last fight. Derpy is Rainbow Dash’s counterpart, I am Fluttershy’s, Apple Bloom is fuckin’ Pinkie Pie’s, and Boomdrop is Applejack’s. That leaves only Spirit and Cheer left for Generosity and Friendship, and if my theory is right none of us have the damn skills for those. What’s shitty is that the damn spell that Crystal Fist put up can only be fuckin’ passed by the Elements and the Guardians of Harmony when they all come together. In short, we have to find Twilight and Rarity’s fuckin’ companions before we can even fight them.”
“Sweet Celestia!!” Sweetie Belle said, mimicking exactly the tone her sister used when she was overwhelmed by the dramatic and about to faint.
“Well, since we passed the outer barrier, that would mean Spirit and Cheer are inside the dome, right?” Rainbow Dash asked.
I nodded. “That’s safe to assume. I don’t think she could bring us in here to split us up.”
Boomdrop nodded. “True harmony’s too powerful for her magic to split.”
I sighed, turning to the white-and-red paint mare. “So, who do we have to find to complete the Guardians?”
Razortongue shrugged. “How the hell am I supposed to know?”
Suddenly, a voice from a back room… “I think I have the answer.”
Cheerilee walked somberly into the room, carrying a large tome on her back. It was old. The engraved-wood cover had long become indecipherable, and only one gem remained of the twelve that used to rest in the pits on its’ surface. The book was bound in magic and magic alone. No solid bindings could be found. Its’ pages were old, yellowed, decayed, and some even had random rodent holes. As she cracked it open, we crowded around her to find out what she had discovered.
“I was flipping through my old family history last night and discovered something more about Cheer and Spirit,” she said. “Cheer has always been a musical pony, one who’s a little bit eccentric, quite dynamic, and easygoing. She’s usually found at parties on-stage and often wields a particularly-large and bizarre sound-based weapon. The other, Spirit, is mismatched to her world. She’s usually born of a rich, noble family, but she has the sensibilities of common ponies and very little desire to show off her wealth. In fact, whatever her race has been, she usually finds herself with a strong enjoyment of manual labour. Although her upbringing usually doesn’t leave her very strong to start with, she can pick it up very, very quickly.”
She flipped a couple more pages, then slapped a hoof on the book. “I didn’t know that one of my ancestors had been a Guardian of Harmony in the past until I read this.”
I put my eye patch on and began reading, sure to remove all distraction before focussing intently on what was in front of me. In the book, it described the Guardians and what traits they normally possessed. We realized what Razortongue had - that none of us had the skills or the qualifications to be Cheer or Spirit. The only one who came close to either was Sweetie Belle, and even she admitted she wasn’t eccentric enough to be Cheer. Both Emerald Thunder and Keytap Sweethorn were outside the dome, so they were excluded.
We had a new direction. Before we could even enter Canterlot, we had to find these two missing pieces…
…but in a town of several thousand ponies, how were we going to find them?