To Protect and Serve

by iMan203

A Strong Start

It was early on the morning. The sun hasn't come up above the horizon and still shines elsewhere among the world. It was about 4:30 AM when we all awoke. Nopony could sleep with such a big day ahead, so we all arose and gathered our supplies. Crisco woke up from the jumbling of the equipment. He made us a good starting breakfast in the dim light of the candles and flame of the cooking fire. A large pot of thick oatmeal was made with a variety of different ingredients that added to the oats perfectly. Two days ago, Granny Smith had shown the large mustached pony how to get honey from bees her special way, which was added to the oatmeal to make the perfect combination. The honey was sensational when swirled into the batch. Everypony perked up a bit after the fantastic breakfast. Everypony was ready to go, until a knock was heard on the front door.

"I wonder who that could be." Tiki said flatly.

"Take a wild guess. It's definitely not one of the mane 6." I said jokingly.

"Yeah, one of them probably picked up on the noise we were making and told the others." Tiki said, opening the door.

"You weren't really planning on leaving without a goodbye where you?!" Rarity said to Tiki, fuming.

"Of course not! We just got up a bit early to... Enjoy breakfast." Tiki smiled sheepishly.

"Well, I took the liberty of notifying the others, just incase you tried to escape without a proper farewell." Rarity said informatively, walking though the front door past Tiki.

"Well, we have more than enough oatmeal to go around, you're welcome to join us in breakfast." I offered.

"That sounds splendid, but I only use oatmeal to moisturize my coat and such." Rarity said.

"Oh, but you must try mah recipe! It'sa homemade Italian breakfast oatmeal. I got'a the honey fresh just yesterday see?" Crisco said, pouring a small bowl of the delectable breakfast treat.

"Oh, well maybe I'll try a bit." Rarity said, giving into the generous offer.

It only took one bite for Rarity to fall in love wit the sweet honey mixed in with the savory, thick, cinnamon oatmeal recipe. The white unicorn now joined us at our large kitchen table, eating oatmeal and having one last goodbye chat with the group. Not long after Rarity sat down to join us for breakfast, 5 more ponies showed up at the door, irritated by Rarity's naive remark on our unplanned departure from Ponyville, which wasn't true. After explaining the real story and giving each pony a bowl of sweet, thick oatmeal, everypony sat at the table saying their last words of goodbye and enjoying the sweet company of conversation in the early hours before the sun rose over the horizon. About 20 minutes had passed, the oatmeal was finished, and the sun's glow was almost breaking the horizon.

"Well, I guess the time is coming for you four to pack up and head off, the sun is breaking the horizon." Twilight said.

"Yeah, it's about time, I guess we might as well head off for the trail we're taking." I said.

"Don't go too fast, I want you around as long as possible before you leave us!" Twilight said somewhat worriedly.

"I don't plan on leaving without a very special goodbye." I said charmingly.

"Oooh things are getting steamy in here!" Rainbow Dash laughed.

"It can get a lot hotter if you want." Silver Dust winked.

"Um no, this temperature of hotness is good where it is." Rainbow said sheepishly, blushing slightly.

"Well ah'm gonna take my hotness somewhere else, if y'all don't mind." Bronze said, walking out the door with Applejack.

"We'll be in the back if y'all need anythin'!" Applejack yelled out.

"I can stay right here, I don't need to go anywhere with Rarity today." Tiki said.

"You're right, nothing 'hot' is going to happen between us, unlike you... Playful ponies." Rarity said.

"Maybe just lightening up a bit wouldn't hurt." Tiki said, whisking his feathery wing at Rarity's side, engaging the tickling.

"Stop it! I'm trying to maintain my composure, before you leave me for so long!" Rarity said, her eyes becoming a bit misty.

"Don't worry, I'll write to you as much as I can." Tiki said.

"Yeah, I'll make sure to send out letters every day if possible." I added.

"That's good to hear, I expect to learn everything about what you all did in each letter, I don't want to miss anything." Rarity smiled.

"I'll make sure to leave out the gory parts and nothing else." Tiki said with a smirk.

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Rarity and Tiki had left for the trail at the edge of Ponyville. The couple observed the sun rise over the hill while everypony else was saying goodbye to their companions. Applejack and Bronze were outside and Rainbow Dash was upstairs with Silver Dust. I had the living room all to myself with Twilight.

"Well, I'm all packed and ready to go. There's only one more thing I need before I leave." I smiled and walked over to Twilight.

"What's that? It shouldn't be to hard to..." She was cut off by a kiss.

"I think I'm ready to leave now, I got everything I needed." I smiled at Twilight's dazed expression.

"One more couldn't possibly hurt anything." Twilight said, going back for more.

A few more minutes went by, kissing and goodbyes. I knew nopony would disturb us at that moment, so I started to kiss Twilight's horn softly. A few lone sparks started to fly from the her horn as I let my tongue out of my mouth around her horn. I had to stop shortly after because I knew Twilight couldn't control the bright sparks and the moaning.

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"You know things won't ever be the same. Not after that day in the park." Rainbow Dash said.

"Don't worry, I'll write to you often and I'll come back soon. Everything can continue from there." Silver smiled as he packed the last of his bags.

"Yeah, but what am I going to do when you're gone? It'll be sooo boring!" Rainbow Dash pouted.

"I guess it's time to tough up and get ready for boredom." Silver chuckled.

Rainbow Dash tackled Silver Dust onto the bed, locking his hooves in place by her own. This spontaneous action couldn't be explained by either pony, so they just enjoyed the moment with each other and laughed it off. With a kiss at the end, Silver Dust escorted Rainbow Dash out the door and down to the trail with Tiki and Rarity.

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Applejack and Bronze were out in the back, swimming in the middle of the river along the back side of the mansion. The river water was warmer than usual, making the swim much more comfortable in the early morning. The two earth ponies had each other locked in their arms, floating in the middle of the slow moving water.

"Ah don't want this to end. Ah don't want you to leave me again." Applejack said, looking into Bronze Hammer's eyes.

"Ah know, but it has to be done. The others need me as much as ah need them." Bronze replied.

"Ah understand that, and ah'll try not to stop ya from leavin' on such an important quest." Applejack said.

"Just enjoy the moment, worry about it later." Bronze comforted Applejack, bringing her closer in his grasp.

Taking his advice, Applejack enjoyed the moment with a long, sweet kiss in the middle of the river. There was plenty of tongue to go around, and the country ponies enjoyed every last bit of it. Knowing that it would be their last time for a long while, both ponies kept lips locked for what felt like many minutes. After a while, they had to break their passionate kiss and head back to the mansion, as they had floated downstream during such a moment.

"Well, the sun's coming up, ah better start headin' for the trail." Bronze walked out of the river soaking wet.

"Alright, let's get goin' for the trail. Grab all of your stuff, ah'll help ya carry some at the door." Applejack offered.

"Don't worry about that, ah packed lightly. It shouldn't be too hard to carry it all." Bronze said walking through the back door after shaking off a bit.

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Everypony was now at the edge of Ponyville at the south trail heading into the Everfree forest. Silver and Rainbow Dash had walked in on Twilight and I while we were in the living room. It probably wasn't good to leave Twilight on those terms with Rainbow Dash, since the Pegasus would have plenty of jokes to muse over while we're gone. Tiki and Rarity were watching the sun come over the horizon, Applejack was packing the last of Bronze's pockets on his uniform, and I was saying the last of my goodbyes to the mane 6. The sun was now peeking over the horizon and bringing light to the land as we sat on Ponyville's edge, waiting for the time of departure to come. Everypony was just in one big group hug while the sun continued to rise over the horizon.

After a long while of goodbyes and one big group hug, we all prepared to set off down the trail for Appleloosa. It could've been a two day walk easily, but we were focused on digging out any goblin resistance in the areas. Each of us had our uniform fastened on and packed for a long trip. I even packed a tent to fit four in my back pocket. Twilight had shown me some more tricks with magic, and I caught on fast. Silver Dust was given a book in a unicorn marking language. It explained all of the spells and tricks that could be done with magic. I thought the book itself was magic, since I couldn't read a single word from it, but Silver picked up the language as if he were born reading it. All along the trails he read the book, practicing different spells of manipulation or illusions on the passing scenery.

The sun had now risen above the horizon and filtered through the trees along the sides of the trails. Tiki had been circling the area to make sure we didn't pass over any goblins or other threats to worry about. I also had my Draco-vision on, trying to pick up on heat signatures or other life forces throughout the forest. My eyes were amazing, picking up on the smallest amount of animal life moving throughout the forest. I could see squirrels climbing trees from hundreds of feet away. I even saw bugs moving under rocks down to the smallest detail. As we walked I was beginning to think about these sources of power and the other dangers along the trip. Our uniforms were designed to withstand fire, water, and slashes from many different kinds of weapons, even dragons' claws. I didn't know how my uniform and everything in it would react to such intense power of a magical fire, if the need for such weaponry occurred.

As we walked, I noticed an unusually large form of life in a hollowed out stump to the left of the trail, deeper into the forest. In a short amount of time, I had called the other three down to my side as we began to approach the area of designation. It was a hut surrounded by mysterious artifacts and torches in a small clearing of the forest. I recognized the life force shape as Zecora, and the smaller must've been Apple Bloom helping the zebra with daily chores.

"Hello!" I shouted out, "is that Zecora and Apple Bloom in there by any chance?"

"What a delight! You've guessed us right!" Zecora announced from her window.

"I just picked up on glowing life forces and decided to investigate with my group. We might as well stop to say hello before we leave for a long time." I informed.

"You've been so busy in Ponyville! There never really was a good day to come out to see Zecora." Apple Bloom frowned.

"It's quite fine, little filly! I haven't had time myself to visit Ponyville, I find it very silly! Zecora spoke in rhyme.

"Well, we don't have much time to stick around, we're on a goblin hunt on our trip to Appleloosa." I said.

"I have a warning for you! The point between forest and desert, goblins come out of the blue!" Zecora informed us.

"That's good to hear, we'll be ready for when we approach the group." I said.

"Alright! But before ya go, ah want a goodbye hug!" Apple Bloom said, locking onto my front leg in a tight grip.

We left the hut on good terms, Zecora even lending Silver Dust some spices for cooking and healing. We continued our walk through the forest in the afternoon and almost to dusk. Observing our surroundings, we kept our eyes peeled for goblins or other troublesome sources. Nothing peaked our interest and the sun was beginning to set. I suggested to set up camp for the night and to continue tomorrow morning. As I pulled the tightly folded tent from my pocket, Tiki shouted out from the sky.

"Goblins! Up ahead, there's a small camp on the outskirts of the desert!" Tiki had yelled down to us from the clouds.

We had been walking for the day now, dusk coming along the sky and the other side of the Everfree forest approaching us. I tucked the tent back into my pocket and looked through my Draco-vision. I saw a group of goblins sitting around a campfire though the bush and trees, completely defenseless to an ambush. After Tiki made a silent landing, I explained to the group what my plan was. There were 8 goblins in a small clearing in the forest surrounding a fire. We were each going to take a side and eliminate two goblins in unison. The plan was fail-proof if everypony remained silent. After minutes of positioning, everypony was in the correct location to execute the plan, and the goblins. Each of us slowly walked out of the bush, with Tiki hovering in the air above his selected two. Silver Dust whipped his tail blade through the back of one of the goblins head, grabbing the other by the throat and securing him on the ground. As the other goblins reacted, I had pushed my pair into the pit of fire and watched them burn. Bronze had brought down his hammer in the middle of the log supporting the other two goblins. This broke the log in half and the two pieces flew up and collided, crushing the pair of goblins into a meshed pile of meat and blood. As the last pair of goblins got up to fight back, Tiki dropped from the sky, landing both of his short swords through the back of the goblins' heads. The force had carried the group down, and the swords drove into the log that the goblins had been sitting on.

"Perfectly executed. Best part is that we don't have to clean up after ourselves." I smiled, wiping the blood from my face.

"Well, I'm actually going to have to clean my wings the next time we find water, I don't want it to affect my flying." Tiki complained.

"Don't worry, I could just do this." Silver Dust flashed the mess from each of us away and into the fire in front of us.

"Well that's pretty dang useful, ah guess you're gonna have to show us some more tricks on the trip." Bronze said, lightly clapping his hooves together in a joking applause.

"Alright, calm yourselves. At least we have a camp ground for the night." I said, feeling relieved.

"Alright, I'll clean the bodies away if you get rid of the makeshift goblin tent." Silver offered.

Silver Dust cleared the fire pit and threw the bodies far into the woods after I had burnt them to a crisp in their makeshift tent, just to avoid any stench overcoming us in the night. Aside from the burnt body smell, it was much better than rotting body smell. I had lit a bluish fire in the pit and whipped out our tent for the night. The tent we had was a large, four pony tent, and some of the surrounding trees needed to be cleared and were used as firewood. We all sat around the magic glow of my blue flame as the night became colder as the moon rose in the sky. I decided to have some fun and try out a new trick I thought about for a while after looking into the flame. I had looked into the fire with my eyes glaring green, allowing a single magic spark to roll off of my tri forked tongue. In an instant, an image of Rarity had been projected into the fire. The image looked so realistic that only magic could cast such an image. After a minute had passed, I broke the silence.

"Rarity! It's so nice to see you!" I shouted into the flame.

"Who's there?! The boutique is closed! It's practically midnight!" Rarity jumped from her seat and acted defensively.

"Look into the fire, for it will explain everything." I chuckled, trying not to laugh at Rarity's dumbfounded expression.

"Oh my Celestia! How did you all wind up in my fire place?" Rarity asked.

"Just a spell I had picked up myself." I smiled.

"I know its only been a day, but its so good to see you all again!" Rarity squealed.

"Well, don't get used to it, I don't know how often I'll be able to cast a spell like this." I said.

"That's too bad, but please, let me go call up the others to say hello!" Rarity jumped to her hooves.

"That isn't necessary! I don't think troubling the others in the middle of the night would be such a good idea." I said, panicking.

"But why not? They would all love to see you, even at a time like this!" Rarity argued.

"Yes, but it isn't needed. You can let them sleep, I can visit each of them later on. Besides, it's only been one day." I said.

"Oh, alright, if you insist." Rarity crossed her hooves and sat down in her chair once more.

"Well, there really isn't much to say, we've only walked through the forest and we eliminated a camp of goblins. We've actually made camp on their campsite." I smiled.

"Oh, how ironic! Well I'll leave you boys to your tent! Goodnight!" Rarity winked and put out the fire.

Everypony got into the single tent and soon fell asleep after such a long day of walking. It took a bit longer than usual, probably because of the thought of my bisexual orientation. I knew it made Silver Dust pretty uncomfortable that I liked mares AND stallions, but Bronze and Tiki were totally tolerant to it. It was a cold night, and only got colder because of the approaching winter within the next few months. A blanket wasn't needed, the tent was enough to trap the infinite source of heat coming from my central core fire. Tiki had talked about how great cuddling is all the time, in Equestria and our home world. I never really knew how great it felt to have a cuddle buddy until I met Twilight as a special somepony. Tiki helped remind me of this when he turned over some time in the night and wrapped an arm around me. I didn't want anything bad or awkward to happen so I only moved his arm back to his side before somepony woke up, it was only common courtesy. I fell asleep once more, no more disturbances throughout the night. Dreams overtook my mind and I rested peacefully under the starts of the wide, black sky. It was strange, because I felt as if I visited each of my companions in their own dreams. I saw Tiki cloud surfing through a big storm over Ponyville, a sport he had invented within days of arrival in Equestria. I saw Bronze Hammer, dreaming of Applejack and himself at the forge once again, swimming in the river behind the forge in the middle of the hot day. I could feel the amulet of Silver Dust keeping me from joining his dream, but I knew it was something about crystals, magic, and... Rainbow Dash. I could hear a strange voice in the background, like as if the amulet was speaking with Silver Dust in his dreams. It only made sense because the amulet soon started to address me.

"You! Dragon lord! Keep your distance from me and my partner!" A deep voice rumbled in my head.

"But why? I'm only here to assist, not to harm!" I argued.

"I can sense your power! The dragon lords are an ancient power not to be trusted! I shall bring you to your knees if you threaten the lands around me!" The voice said, seeming enraged.

"I am not an ancient power! I'm a new force that emerged from another world!" I pleaded.

"Another world, you say? This explains all of my questions and such..." The amulet contemplated.

"I'm only here to make peace! I won't change the world around you, but will only reform the things around us, the things that have needed reformation for so long." I explained.

"I see your intentions, your spiritual form is changing in my very presence." The amulet explained.

"You seem to know more about this than I do. I'm only here to do good and to learn, and I think you can teach me what I need to learn." I said.

"I can, indeed. Tomorrow morning everything will be revealed, tell your friend to remove me from his neck and place myself upon your own." The amulet said, his voice dying through the dreams.

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The next morning was very interesting. We all arose early, as the sun rose along the horizon. Tiki flew about, gathering clouds for a water supply for this morning. Bronze Hammer gathered some more wood for a cooking fire while I talked to Silver about the dream I had last night, about the amulet. After gathering the wood and collecting some plants along the trail for breakfast, I had cooked up some potato pancakes Bronze had dug out around the trails in the area. We all ate breakfast around the open fire and discussed what we would be doing today and what happened last night. I had told each of them about the different dreams I had encountered, each one accurately correct to the others dreams. I had also mentioned the cuddling session that almost occurred during the night when Tiki had placed his hoof around me. Apparently Tiki was awake when it had happened, and thought that I was asleep. He was looking for something warm to grab onto when it got colder that night and remembered my core fire. After we both realized that we were both wide awake when that happened, Silver and Bronze couldn't help but chuckle at our expressions. I knew I blushed a bit from the thought, but it was harder to tell on a crimson red Pegasus. After the laughing died down from all of us, I explained to Silver Dust about the amulet and how it spoke to me that night. I told him that I need to wear the amulet for myself like it told me to do. Silver was very hesitant about this command and didn't like the idea of giving his source of power to another pony. It took a bit of conversation and convincing, but the amulet finally came off by itself and jumped upon my forehead.

"Ironclad, all powerful lord of bliss, pure happiness and love for others. I see now how you maintain such a positive attitude with a fountain of power such as yours. Although your ways of battle are merciless and sickening, your meaning of friendship and protection is a truly pure motivation. You have an uncanny source of power at your command from the energy of your friends." The amulet's voice echoing through mine, as my eyes glowed green to match the central core of the diamond in the amulet.

"What's happening?!" Tiki had started to panic as an unsettling breeze picked up around the campsite.

"Ah'm guessin' it's just another one of them dragon lord things goin' on again. Ah'm just gonna sit through it." Bronze said flatly.

"I see now the true purposes of our interactions and am sorry for shunning you before. I will no longer interfere with and will welcome your presence in future occurrences." The amulet jumped from my touch back to Silver Dust's neck.

"Let us continue the journey, my friends!" The amulet echoed upon Silver's neck as he looked down upon it in horror.

"This thing can talk? And it's just been sitting on my neck all this time? Why haven't I heard from you earlier?!" Silver looked down at the amulet, which glowed a dark, shimmering silver glow to match the unicorn's eyes.

"Ok. I heard him talk, I'm ready to go." Silver said, hearing the amulet through his thoughts.

"What's all of this talk about lord of bliss and stuff? What the BUCK just happened?!" Tiki asked, dumbfounded by the performance given by the amulet.

"That's apparently my role and specialty as a dragon lord. I'm guessing the appearance of ponies and their ways of happiness have mysteriously summoned another element of power to the order of dragon lords." I explained.

"Makes enough sense to me, lets get goin' before the sun gets high in the sky." Bronze suggested.

"I agree, fighting the desert heat doesn't sound fun today." Silver added.

"Squad, let's move out before anything weirder tops what just happened." I said flatly, walking out into the dried ground.

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It was about 9:00 AM when we set out for Appleloosa through the desert. The sun was beating hot, so Tiki had gathered up the clouds around the area to shade us from the heat. As we walked on, Tiki pushed the cloud from the bottom to shield us from the sun. There wasn't a sight of danger for miles around, everything was flat aside from the rocky pillars in the distance. About mid afternoon we approached a form of dirt road leading into Appleloosa. Nopony was traveling the road at the time, probably because it was so hot out. We continued to walk the trail, observing our surroundings very closely, incase any sign of trouble was to jump out in front of us. Soon enough, we were jumped by roadside bandits who had no clue who we were. There were only three bandits, weakly armed with a blade for each criminal. I gave a motion for everypony to stand back and watch the show.

"Hand over whatever you have! We don't care, just dump your pockets!" One of the bandits commanded.

"Please, what are you three going to do to me?" I chuckled.

"I'll cut your throat straight down the middle and watch you choke for breath!" The bigger one had threatened.

"Oh my, isn't that so violent? Please, impress me!" I laughed.

"We ain't joking around here! Either dump your pockets or your head comes off!" The smallest of the bandits yelled.

I got right up into the face of the leading bandit, "please, do away with me if you want the goods in my back pocket!" I chuckled.

"Alright, you're overconfidence is going to cost you and your entire group!" The middle bandit yelled.

A jagged blade landed right in the center of my throat, the largest of the bandits had lunged for my gullet and attempted to run a knife through my neck. The blade only snapped as the top half fell to the floor and I walloped the largest bandit ten feet from me and off the ledge. He continued to roll for ten seconds before hearing him hit the ground with a large crack that echoed through the valley below. The other two bandits looked at me and lunged for my head without thinking. Each of their blades hit the side of my face and bent into an unusable shape. I had bucked the leader off the same ledge and roasted the smallest criminal in front of me. Three bandits out of the way and not causing trouble.

"You're ruthless! The things you do are sickening, yet amusing!" Tiki said excitedly.

"Well, I try my best. You all know that." I swatted my hoof jokingly.

"Lets just forget today's... Show, and get to the town before sundown." Bronze suggested.

"Sounds good, lets hoof it double time!" I said encouragingly.

Each pony started at a galloping pace down the road into Appleloosa. When we reached the entrance to the town, we slowed to a walk and went through the main road of the town. Shops and bars were set along the stretch of the town with western-styled ponies running each building. Our unique uniform got mixed looks from the crowd as we walked down the road to the sheriff's office. Along the side, there were more bandits dressed like the ones we had just encountered on the road into Appleloosa. It didn't take much to catch onto whats going on around here. We walked into the sheriff's office to see if there was a place to stay for the night. Before we entered through the swinging doors, Braeburn stopped us on the street.

"Bronze Hammer! Is that you and your group Applejack told me about?" Braeburn called out to us.

"Yes, sir! We're out on our journey, gettin' rid of all the goblins along the way." Bronze replied.

"Well the sheriff is... Out of town right now, but y'all are welcome to stay out at the ranch while this whole thing blows off!" Braeburn said, glancing around at the shady characters on the streets.

"Hold up now, whats going on here?" I asked suspiciously.

"Just a bit of a bandit problem. We don't have many goblins out here in the desert, but these bandits came along when the sheriff left for a two week trip to Canterlot!" Braeburn said.

"Don't worry, that's why we're here, to clear out all the problems in Equestria, whether it be goblin or bandit." Silver Dust said.

"Alright, lets just get off the streets before we draw some unwanted attention." Braeburn eyed the group of bandit ponies approaching us slowly.

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We had all arrived at Braeburn's barn house in one piece. A scrap with some bandits on the outer edge of town and nothing else had happened. We were invited into the home to stay the night while we were passing through, but I insisted on helping these ponies with their bandit problem.

"Now Ah appreciate the offer, but y'all don't have to get involved in this! It'll blow over when the sheriff gets back in town." Braeburn argued.

"But this is a job that we were obligated to do this by the command of Princess Celestia! We can't go against her word on this." I explained.

"It don't matter, Ah just don't want y'all to get hurt while you're here in Appleloosa." Braeburn said worriedly.

"Now, Braeburn. We've fought a war against a horde of goblins, I doubt a group of bandits would be much of a problem." I said.

"What?! Ah thought y'all were just on guard duty! Applejack never explained that you fought in the goblin battle." Braeburn looked surprised.

"Fought? We were the leaders of different sections. I was the one who commanded the army and took Blunt Will's head from his body." I said proudly.

"Well, ah guess there's no stoppin' me from y'all helpin' out the town." Braeburn gave into our offer hesitantly.

"Well, if you're really going to help us, we need to know more about the situation." I said.

"Alright. It all started when Blaze showed in town, Blaze Whiplash. He's a dark red unicorn with a blonde mane and some funky magic missile spell. He can blow down doors and break ponies with one shot, and he's pretty dang accurate, too." Braeburn explained.

"Well of course it's accurate!" Silver Dust exclaimed, "it's a magic missile! It hits where he wants it to hit, there isn't any bragging to be done about a spell like that."

"There ain't much braggin' from his mouth, just threats and tough talk from him." Braeburn said irritatedly.

"We can change that, tomorrow we'll confront him and run him out of town. Either that or just kill him and everypony else that works for him." I said.

Later that night, we were treated to a small, simple dinner by Braeburn and his family. It was much better than being on the trails with nothing else to eat. At dinner we talked about Blaze and where we could find him. We were also warned about the guard he has posted around wherever he goes. I knew the guards wouldn't be a problem, I just didn't want the little snake to crawl away when we blow through his defense. After all the serious talk was over, I got to the stories about the goblin battle and why we were traveling Equestria. The little colts seemed quite excited to hear these stories at dinner and to have a group of soldiers at their table. It would definitely make a good story to tell at school the next day. As the stories continued, everypony finished their dinner and started to clean up. I had told all I could and had everypony caught up on the recent events, so it was about time we all went to bed. There weren't any extra rooms to fit us all in the house, so the barn out in the back would be just fine for us to stay in. One of the little colts showed us to the back and gave us a large old quilt to keep us warm tonight. It was a very generous offer and we all thanked the family for letting us stay. Everypony got their own corner of the quilt and had plenty of leg room due to the size of the blanket.

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The next morning came along quickly after a good night's rest. When we woke up, the sun was only beginning to rise over the horizon. I knew that Braeburn was probably up with his family, working early in the morning as usual. Before we left the barn, I decided to send letters out to the mane 6 back in Ponyville. Tiki, Bronze, and Silver also wrote their own personal letters to their loved ones, and I sent them to the mare of each stallion. When Silver Dust approached me with a personal letter, I had no clue who he was sending it to.

"Alright, I'm all set. Send the letter out and we can get going!" Silver handed me the anonymous letter.

"And who does this letter go out to?" I asked suspiciously.

"Do you have to know? Is that how the spell works?" Silver asked nervously.

"Don't worry, just tell me who it is, nopony has to know, and I won't judge." I whispered, pulling Silver closer to me.

"Just send it to Rainbow Dash, she doesn't really want anypony else to know about us yet, but you can be an exception." Silver said.

"Sounds good, I'll just send this off and we can go eat!" I said to everypony.

With a chilled burst of blue sparks, the letter flew out the door and everypony gave a cheer for breakfast. We all walked into the kitchen of the estate through the back door. Through the side window the orchard could be viewed as the buffalo stampeded through the trail. Large, delicious apple pies had been made to serve the whole Apple family living at the estate working the orchard. We were invited in to join them all in their glorious apple pie breakfast. There was enough apple pie to go around twice through the entire apple family. The pies themselves were enormous, about twice the size of a full, regular apple pie. The gooey cinnamon apple filling was sweet and a bit tangy from the tart lemon glaze coating each pie. Everypony soon sat down at the large round table in the dining room to enjoy a large helping of apple pie as the sun rose along the horizon and shown through the single large window in the kitchen. As we finished our apple pie and enjoyed small conversation with the little colts and fillies practically running circles around us, I brought up the topic about the bandits.

"Kids, go out and get ready for work, its time for the bigger ponies to talk..." Braeburn said to his younger siblings.

"Yes, just tell me where I can find Blaze and we'll be off. I promise not to cause a large scene in town if you don't want." I said.

"By all means, cause a scene! Ah bet any pony out there wouldn't mind a bit of a showdown, seeing their enemy fall to brave warriors!" Braeburn said eagerly.

"Alright, cause a scene, got it." I said jokingly.

"Well the first place ah would look would be the sheriff's office. It's Blaze's favorite lounging spot." Braeburn suggested.

"Alright, will do. If we don't find him there we'll ask around and find him at some point, and if he doesn't show we can stick around until the sheriff returns." I offered.

"That would be mighty nice of y'all. Ah won't stop y'all from your job, so just do what's right." Braeburn said, leading us to the front door and off to the town.

The sun was coming over the horizon, and many of the residents of the town hesitantly left their homes and opened for business. Bandits were all around, harassing citizens and causing trouble in general. One of the bandits were trying to take an item from a little filly walking down the street.

"Hand over the ring! You don't want me to have to ask you again!" The bandit grunted.

"No! Ah can't! Mom will be so disappointed in me! It's her favorite ring!" The filly said, dodging the Bandit's attempts to swipe the shiny little ring.

"You owe... Taxes to the town! The ring will pay them off just fine!" The bandit said, grabbing the filly by the mane.

"Ah got this one, guys..." Bronze said with a serious look upon his face.

"Go get em, big guy." Tiki said encouragingly.

"This is your last warning little girl!" The bandit started to raise his voice.

"She doesn't owe you anything, but Ah think ah owe you a first class ticket to the pain train!" Bronze said, grabbing the bandit by the shoulder.

"Get off me you idiot!" The bandit said, dropping the filly and throwing a punch into Bronze's chest.

The hoof made clean contact and a dull thud sound could be heard by all of us. The punch clearly did nothing to Bronze, and he returned the favor with a much more lethal blow to the side of the face. The bandit fell over onto his face with his flank hanging in the air. Bronze continued to buck the bandit in the flank, sliding him into a wooden wall of one of the establishments nearby. The bandit tried to get up and run, but the two clean blows left him dazed and crippled as he flopped back onto the ground.

"Ah'm gonna leave ya there, so you can think about what just happened and WHY it happened." Bronze Hammer said, kicking a cloud of dust in the crippled bandit's direction.

"That was a good performance, I just hope the others don't try and challenge us after such a show." I said, eyeing the other bandits dotted around the main road.

"Lets just make it to the sheriff's office in one piece." Tiki suggested.

We continued walking, bandits now glaring at us from every direction. There were about ten of them now gathered around the area of the sheriff's office. I had spoke softly in the group, telling each pony to watch their backs. I pointed out the number of bandits dotting the crowds, and everypony got a good idea of what was going to happen. We reached the sheriff's office, which wasn't being guarded by any bandits at the front door. I walked through the door, followed by the other three of my group. As the door opened a small bell rang above the door.

"I've been waiting for you to show up. Did it really take you 'soldiers' an entire day to find my office?" A dark red unicorn spoke from the sheriff's seat.

"Blaze Whiplash, you aren't the sheriff and you don't belong here. I'm only here to remind you of that, and to politely ask you to leave." I said, stomping my hoof down on the wooden floor.

"You're going to have to go through all of my men before you can tell me anything. I'm not going anywhere and neither are you." Blaze said, chuckling.

Four husky ponies walked through the door and seized each of us. We've been through this silly routine before and knew exactly what to do. Nopony fought back and we let Blaze take us outside to the main road in front of the large clock tower. Brown bags were put over our heads and our hooves were bound tightly together. Blaze started announcing to the crowd, planning to execute us as an example of power.

"Mares and gentlecolts! Gather around for my performance! I shall be eliminating conspirators against your stallion in charge!" Blaze said boastfully.

"These four stallions walked into town only a day ago, planning to overtake this town with their harsh ways and plans of enslavement to the apple orchard!" Blaze kept running his mouth.

"Come on! Don't make us laugh! Just skip to your little performance, its getting hot out here!" Silver Dust taunted.

"Seriously! I want to see this little show somepony is ranting about in front of us!" Tiki said, laughing.

"We can't though, we've got sacks on our heads!" I yelled out, laughing with the rest of our group.

We were all now enjoying a laugh about this whole mishap. The crowd started to giggle a bit our own show, even the stallions who tied us up were now laughing. I couldn't see the expression on Blaze's face with my Draco-vision active through the bag, but I could tell he was becoming irate with our defiance.

"That's quite enough!" Blaze yelled, firing an explosive bubble of magic into the air.

"Is that your 'deadly weapon' you've been bragging about?" Silver asked mockingly.

"Yeah, it sounds a bit more like a fireworks display than a deadly weapon!" Tiki chimed in.

"This is enough joking around, which one should I end first?" Blaze though to himself.

"Ah volunteer mahself to start this little show!" Bronze said jokingly.

"Have it your way, I hope you said your last goodbyes before today!" Blaze said, charging a large pulse of magic at the tip of his horn.

One large missile was fired, flying directly towards Bronze Hammer's head. There was only a fraction of a second to react, but nopony had to. The projectile stopped about a foot in front of tan stallion's face and dissipated into the wind from Silver Dust's protection spell. Blaze was confused and still pissed off at our mocking performance, so he fired another shot at myself. The missile hit my face and the bag and ropes around me were burnt off. My face was charred but my green eyes still glowed glamorously as I looked at Blaze with an innocent look.

"Well, you hit me, but it didn't do much good!" I chuckled.

"What's going on here?! What are you made of?!" Blaze started to flip out.

"Well, to be honest with you, I'm not exactly sure what I'm made of, but I'm guessing you didn't know I'm dragon-blooded." I laughed.

"That's it! My men! Seize them! Attack!" Blaze started shouting.

Silver Dust cut his hooves free with his hidden blade and removed the ropes and bags from the other two ponies. We were soon surrounded by black masked bandits, all armed with different shaped blades and cow whips. Each of us took a position back to back, preparing to be swarmed by a crowd of bandits. Tiki had shot up into the air as Bronze took a swipe with his hammer, clearing a section of bandits and throwing them all to the ground. Silver Dust created a barrier to keep his side of enemies from advancing further onto his side. I spat a small blue orb of flame over the middle of my group and it exploded and forced all of the bandits to the ground. Silver Dust forced his group to the ground as he cast a spell on the group to drive them unconscious. The only pony standing was Blaze. The look on his face, seeing his men all on the ground, some of which were clearly dead, was priceless. I started to approach the unicorn, and he only backed away slowly from us. He was almost tripping over himself. It was a sorry sight to see, such a boastful jerk now doubling over in fear. I had finally caught up to Blaze as he had fallen onto the ground and just laid there in defeat. So many ponies were watching, I didn't want to end his life in front of them all. We only bound the maroon unicorn in the ropes he had used to bind us, taking him to the holding cells in the sheriff's building. He knew it was all over and was prepared to face his penalties with dignity.

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"Don't worry, the sheriff will only be gone for another week or so. Ah'll make sure to feed Blaze in his cell every day while we wait for the sheriff's return." Braeburn said.

"Alright, I'm glad we could help. We'll be off to the next destination shortly, so you take care now!" I said.

"Don't leave in such a hurry! Y'all might as well spend a day or two here, being heroes of the town and all!" Braeburn suggested.

"That sounds pretty nice, I could go for some good old fashioned cider at the local bar tonight..." Tiki said, thinking about the sweet taste.

"Alright, I'll give everypony a day of rest, but tomorrow morning we'll be leaving." I said.

"Sounds good to me, it's still morning so today will be good enough." Silver Dust said.

Everypony was given the grand tour of Appleloosa by Braeburn himself. All the town folk were very grateful for our job of clearing out the bandits around town. We were all treated to a free meal and drinks on the house at the local bar. We weren't known for being big drinkers, but Tiki almost drove the bar bankrupt with the amount of cider he drank. Even Silver Dust had about three tall mugs of cider. The fries served at the bar were simply amazing and should be world famous. I told the cook in the back to enter a contest or something, but he wanted to keep his secret recipe just through his family. After a night of food and fun, everypony went back and fell asleep in the barn. It was a warmer night out that night, ironic to the defeat of a pony named Blaze. Each of us got our own little bunk somewhere comfortable in the hay bales around the barn. Sleep came faster than usual that night with all the cider everypony drank. It's only been 3 days now and we've got a strong start on our journey.

Comments

[Dark_Night]

Thank for letting me know about this, i'll read it in a bit, i got another story to finish reading

[FxBlackJackx]

This story is so badflank!

[Dark_Night]

Good chapter, i cant wait for the next, ironclad seems even MORE like a giant reptilian Badass