CHAPTER FOUR
Despite Rainbow’s defeat, Celestia still remained confident that nothing was lost. “The fools.” She sneered, and then snickered “It really amazes how they continue to fight a losing war.”
Princess Luna agreed with her sister “They will lose, and then the light and harmony shall gain more power as our empire grows.”
Celestia smiled wickedly.
…
“Sam, come in. Sam, are you there?”
Jerry couldn’t get a peep, and Sam’s duel disk signal had gone out, just like Megan’s did. He sent more agents to investigate, and they found the same thing; her duel disk was busted and her cards were scattered about, but no sign of Sam anywhere, and the situation of the brainwashed people had not improved. The blue light was gone, but the people were not back to normal.
“It’s the same pattern.” Jerry said to himself.
Back and Duel Academy…
More than eighty percent of all the staff and students were affected. Sabrina and I gathered security, and managed to detain those who were affected in the large dueling arena in the main building, sealing off all the doors and windows so they couldn’t get out and spread the brainwashing.
The remaining staff and students who weren’t affected were restricted to their dorms for safety until further notice, but we would tend to all their needs as best we could.
There was no point in evacuating the island. With the whole world under the ponies’ spell, there pretty much was no safe place to go.
Sabrina had been making medical reports on all the affected people on the island ever since this all started, but every single one of her reports read the same. “Vital signs, brainwaves, blood flow, all check out perfectly fine. Whatever’s infecting them, it can’t be treated, at least not by medical science.”
She then looked up and saw standing by the window and gazing outside. I looked rather strange, and downhearted. Jerry had contacted me earlier and told me about Megan and Sam, and I was very worried about them, and the fact that dueling the ponies and defeating them didn’t seem to be doing the trick, plus, it did break me up inside that I was isolating our students and staff, though there was no alternative.
My wife came over to me, she softly placed her hand on my shoulder, and I gazed at her. “What’s going on, Sabrina?” I asked “We’ve been through a lot of tough times, but none as ever like this before.”
“We’ll find the girls, I know we will.” Sabrina said. I knew she was right, but I was still worried about their safety, as well as the others, and the world.
Still, something else began to baffle me, and that was the astral card itself. We had confiscated the cards from duelists we defeated, and analyzed them, it turned that they were just ordinary cards, and there was no magic or power emitting from them. We even tested them out in practice duels, and they were perfectly safe.
Whatever was causing this infection, it wasn’t the card itself, but exactly what it was we had clue.
I messaged Jerry and told him to inform the spies.
The spies messaged each other back and forth, and were glad to hear the card was safe, but it still didn’t solve what the ponies were really using and how to stop. The only chance they had of getting answers was to keep dueling.
Tony even had the idea that, “Maybe we have to defeat all the ponies and get rid of all the lights in the sky.”
Everyone agreed, but had also received warning to be on the lookout for anything else suspicious, which was believed to be the source of Megan and Sam’s disappearances.
Tony could hardly wait to find those ponies and wring their miserable necks for kidnapping his sister and Sam, his friend and one of his mentors at school.
He was following the orange light, which lead him to the foothills of Kansas. The sun was nearly set, and Tony was feeling exhausted, and a wee bit starved having missed his midnight snack.
He wasn’t used to the time zones, and it was early morning hours on the island. He’d usually be in bed and asleep in his dorm, but the mission had been keeping him awake, and very much awake.
Luckily he was passing over a large field of apple trees. Just the sight of those ripe, juicy apples made his eyes sparkle and his mouth water. “Cone to papa…”
He was about to pick a couple of apples, when he had that sneaky feeling he was being watched. Then he heard the sound of a gun being cocked, and a voice calling to him “Ya so much as breathe funny, it’ll be your last.”
Tony slowly raised his hands and turned around, and saw a very pretty teenage farm girl, standing next to her mother who was pointing a shot gun at him. Tony thought the girl was very cute, and then he noticed neither one of them had the astral mark. “Look Ma…” said the girl “He ain’t got the mark.”
The monster saw this, but she wasn’t so sure “Lots’a weird stuff’s been happenin’, how we know for sure you’re not one of them?”
“Um, hello… I’m on your side here.” said Tony.
The two ladies felt that was proof enough, and they also noticed Tony looked hungry and tired. They apologized for their actions, and invited him back to their farmhouse for a piece of apple pie.
“Name’s Adeline, and this here’s my daughter, Kitten.”
Kitten winked at Tony, and he blushed softly.
The pie was really good, and Tony felt a little better. “Sorry again about earlier…” said Kitten “But even since them lights appeared in the skies, things have been really going loopy around here. Our orchard’s been in danger.”
“Danger, how?” asked Tony.
Aldine explained how people in town had the astral mark on their heads, and just came and went as they pleased picking apples for themselves, and trying to get them join their little society. “My husband got drafted in…” said Adeline “He just went into town to get some supplies and the next time we saw him, he was one of them.”
“Whoa, that’s awful.” said Tony.
Kitten nodded and tried to fight her sadness from showing too much. “He kept on coming back with others, taking more apples and telling us to join ‘em all and praise the harmony. We ain’t fooled an instant. We barely managed to keep everyone off our land, but they just keep on comin’, especially when the sun goes down. That’s when they come in a huge gaggle.”
Tony felt really bad for the ladies, and decided to stick around and help them, having a feeling that maybe he’d find the pony that was controlling the area if he did. “Aw, shuck… you’re so sweet little guy.” Kitten said, and she pecked him on the cheek, causing Tony to blush and faint in a dopey daze.
The sun had finally set, and the stars could be seen through the gaps between the lights in the sky. The ladies and Tony were scattered about the field prepared for any ambush. The trio flashed flashlights to keep each other on the alert.
Tony had always wanted to do this-- traps were set up all around the orchard, and he and the ladies would be setting them off, one-after-another.
Suddenly, they could all hear something, it sounded like the wind off in the distance, but as the noise got louder, they could tell it wasn’t the wind, but rather an entire gang of brainwashed people making their way towards the orchard. “All right… get ready.” said Adeline.
The brainwashed people stopped at the edge of the orchard. Kitten recognized the ring-leader as her father. “All right, y’all know what the boss said. Strip this here field clean of all them apples, and if ya find those two betties here, y’all know what to do.”
The others all agreed, and began to march in to take the apples, but one of them tripped over a wire by the ground, which caused several tree limbs to swing and bash them all back hard.
Other tried to come in from the side, but Adeline, aiming carefully with her gun, shot down a very large hornet’s nest from a tree, which crashed near the people, and the angry bugs frightened them off.
Others decided to break into the barn to try and steal the animals, but Kitten stood there and blew her whistle, signaling some of the cows to stampede out and scare the people away.
The rest of the people fell victim to Tony’s WOOHP gadgets. His stun spray, his super-rope, and even a spare gadget, the laser net blaster; One shot fired a small, harmless beam of energy that formed into a net, trapping the people in the strings of light. “Ye-haw…! This is my kind of fun.” Tony hollered.
With the people all tied up or beaten down, Tony and the ladies stood before them. Kitten’s father glared angrily at them. “Release us at once, or else!” he demanded.
“Or else what?” snapped Tony.
“…Or you’ll be dealin’ with Me.” hissed a voice from within the shadows. Out from the shadows crept an orange pony with a yellow mane, and wearing a cowgirl hat. She tilted her hat up revealing her sinister eyes, and the astral mark on her forehead.
Tony narrowed his eyes at her, and the pony glared back at him, like cowboys ready to draw. “So, you’re the one behind all this.” said Tony.
“Eeyup.” said the pony “The name’s Applejack, and I’ve got my orders; to spread the harmony and the light, by word of Princess Celestia.”
“Princess Celestia…?” Tony felt he had hit on some vital information.
“Anyone who dares defy the light of harmony needs to be taught a lesson.” said Applejack.
“Why you yella-belly critter…” snarled Kitten “You’re the one makin’ my dad act all loopy?!”
Adeline cocked her gun. “Say your prayers.” And she took aim, but Applejack merely scoffed, and fired a small beam from her astral mark, splitting the gun in two. The ladies and Tony gasped in shock.
“It ain’t polite to be pointin’ guns at folks, is it?” sneered Applejack. Then she turned back to face Tony. “First I’ll deal with you and them next.”
Tony glared and clenched his firsts. “You two get inside where it’s safe.” he said to the ladies “I’ll handle this myself. It’s what I came here for in the first place.”
The ladies saw no choice but to comply, and headed for the house, but watched from the window as Tony and Applejack prepared to duel. “Boy, ya don’t know what you what you’re in for.” Applejack teased “Me and my deck of animals is gonna wipe you clean like the hogs in the springtime.”
“Ooh, I’m shaking in my spy boots.” Tony mocked “All I’m interested in is what you’ve done with Sam and Megan.”
Applejack snickered softly “Ya wanna know…?”
“You bet I wanna know…”
“Ya really wanna know…?”
“Yeah… I really wanna know.”
A soft silence passed as a soft cool wind blew, but ultimately Applejack refused to tell. “Ya wanna get your friends back, just beat me, but even then it won’t matter much.”
“Ha!” Tony scoffed “When I beat you, you and your pony friends will be sorry you ever came here.”
Applejack shook her head “Ya just don’t get it do ya. We know what’cha all are doin’, but it don’t make much a difference. Even if ya beat us, we still get what we want.”
“Seriously...?”
“Eeyup; Truth be told, you’re just puttin’ a big fuss all for nothin’.”
“We’ll just see about that.” said Tony. It was time to duel!