Saving The Crusaders

by The Blue Bandit

Chapter 2, Help From A New Friend

Chapter 2, Help From A New Friend

Cotton was still behind the caravan and was waiting for the fake fillies to walk out of sight, before she could even begin to think what she would do next. She had only just met them and they had been captured by changelings and no pony would know because there were fake ones who had disguised themselves as the crusaders. If anypony could help it would be the Mane six, Cotton decided to go find Princess Twilight Sparkle and tell her what happened to the crusaders.

Cotton walked to the town and she looked around for the princess, but she couldn't find her anywhere. She asked around Ponyville but each and every pony said that all of the Mane six were out of town due to a problem in Canterlot that Princess Celestia had asked them to solve. As the mane six couldn't help, Cotton decided that she would have to find the crusaders herself. Cotton was deep in thought when she bumped into a stallion and she was knocked over and then the stallion offered his hoof.

“I'm so sorry.” he said as he helped her up.

“It's alright I bumped into you.” Cotton said.

Cotton looked at the dashing stallion he had purple fur, a streaked green, blue and red mane, his perfect pink eyes and his cutie mark which was a firecracker and a piece of candy. She looked at his shining eyes and longed to tell him about the crusaders but then turned around before what she wanted to say came out. Then he put his hoof on her neck and slowly turned her body back towards him and then looked in her eyes.

“Hey, I’m Pop Rock” He said.

“Nice name, I’m Cotton Candy” Cotton said. Then Cotton realised that she was about to tell Pop Rock what was going on but could she trust him? How did she know that he wasn’t a changeling in disguise so she ran away from him.
As Cotton Candy walked away she thought that she was making a mistake and that he looked like the stallion of her dreams. She really wanted to turn around and run into his arms but she couldn’t be sure if he was a stallion or a changeling. She was walking towards Sweet Apple Acres to visit the fake Apple Bloom to see if she would let anything go about where the real Apple Bloom and the others were when she realised that somepony was following her. She turned around to see that Pop Rock had followed her and she was about to blast him with magic when she remembered a spell that some ponies had learned during the Canterlot siege which could tell between a real pony and a changeling.

During the siege Cotton had been with the circus trying to drum up business in Canterlot and all of the unicorns among the circus had learned the spell. Pop Rock watched as her facial expression didn’t change however her horn lighted up as if she was casting a spell but nothing happened. Cotton was so glad that he wasn’t a changeling and she threw her hooves around his neck and then she used her magic to transport them to her caravan where she was certain that no changelings would be listening in.

“You’re acting really weirdly.” Pop Rock said.

“Sorry, long story short, my friends were abducted by changelings and then three of them turned into my friends and now I don’t know who to trust.” Cotton said.

“So now you’re feeling a bit paranoid.” Pop Rock said. “And you’re going to look for them and I’m guessing you want me to help you.”

“You took the words out my mouth. Will you?” Cotton asked.

“Saving some ponies and possible endangering my life.” Pop Rock said and then he sighed.

“Of course I’ll help you save your friends.”

“How should we start?” Cotton said.

“Maybe we should write everything that we know down so we don’t forget.” Pop Rock suggested.

Cotton looked around and found a quill and scroll and then she used her magic to begin to write down everything that she already knew. As she wrote she heard the sound of ponies moving around outside and then realised that the circus was about to move on and that the caravan was owned by the circus and it would be taken with them. Not only did she have to save the crusaders but she was about to give up her life in the circus and she didn’t really care, after years in the circus she had only know realised that she didn’t belong there.

“The circus is moving on. Ponyville was a one show stop” Cotton told Pop Rock. “They’re going to take my caravan away and I have nowhere to live.”

“Come stay with me. I own a hovel on the other side of town, I have a spare room and we can move your stuff over there” Pop Rock offered.

“Yeah if you mean it, why not” Cotton agreed.

Cotton had very few possessions and all of her stuff could fit in one little moving box that Cotton rarely bothered to unpack after travelling from place to place with the circus. Cotton and Pop Rock began to walk together towards Pop Rock’s house and as he carried the box for Cotton, Pop Rock was thinking about what happened to Cotton’s friends. He then remembered that when the changelings attack on Canterlot didn’t work they were forced away and some of them got separated from their Queen, Chrysalis.

“Who do you think these changelings are working for?” Pop Rock asked.

“Is that a joke? It’s pretty obvious, Queen Chrysalis” Cotton said. “There’s a reason she took these ponies.”

“Which ponies? You haven’t even told me there names” Pop Rock said.

Cotton felt ashamed and embarrassed because Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo were her only friends over than Pop Rock. She didn’t usually make friends as she travelled around and didn’t stay in the same place for more than at least a day. Also if your only friends are fillies it is really embarrassing, even though they were really cool fillies and were great friends.

“They call themselves the Cutie Mark Crusaders and two of them are sisters of Rarity and Applejack of the mane six and the other one is close friends with Rainbow Dash and they’re…” Cotton said. “They’re fillies.”

“Sisters of the mane six, that would definitely them a target, but foal napping is certainly disgusting and who would do that?” Pop Rock said

“Obviously Queen Chrysalis would, she has a sick mind” Cotton said.

“We’re here my hovel” Pop Rock said.

The outside Pop Rock’s hovel looked pretty small but however quaint the hovel was it looked more homey than any house that Cotton had ever set her eyes on. It had flowers growing up the wall and a nice thatched roof and then there was a small garden in-between the fence and the wall. The inside was nice too and Pop Rock showed Cotton to her room and she put her box on her bed and then went to the nice living room with the quill and scroll.

“The changelings wouldn’t have taken them far right?” Cotton asked.

“It would be impossible to guess where they are, but if we went on a stakeout outside the crusaders clubhouse we might be able to catch them meeting up.” Pop Rock suggested.

“Why would changelings go there?” Cotton said.

“That’s the entire point, changelings wouldn’t go there but the crusaders always do so they would be able to converse them without anypony suspecting that they aren’t actually the crusaders.” Pop Rock said.

“Yeah but tomorrow they won’t go out in the middle of the night.” Cotton said.

“I guess if they want to keep their cover they won’t” Pop Rock said. “I’m going to hit the hay, night.”

“Night” Cotton replied and then went to bed herself.

Cotton closed her eyes and tried her hardest to get some rest but the more she tried the more she failed until eventually she gave up and fell to sleep instantly. Then Cotton began to dream that she was walking through the Everfree forest and then she heard shouting coming from nearby. Cotton felt like she was actually in the Everfree forest which was officially one of the scariest places in all of Equestria.

The shouting was coming from a cave and Cotton hesitated in fear as she went inside the dark cave and then used a spell to lighten up the cave. It was cold, dark and Cotton began to feel like the walls were closing in and she was practically crawling because the cave was so small. Then Cotton found some space when the cave opened a bit but by then the shouts became louder and then Cotton saw them. Dozens of changelings and in the centre the crusaders were being guarded by the changelings and then Cotton awoke.

She then went into the kitchen and looked in the fridge, however the only food that was in the house was a bowl of apples. Cotton took one and ate one and then Pop Rock walked into the room and his mane was such a mess. Pop Rock watched in confusion as Cotton laughed because of the mess of his mane and then he put his mane back the way it usually was.

“Sorry, I just got out of bed” Pop Rock laughed.

“It was just really funny” Cotton said.

After seeing Pop Rock’s mane in a mess she’d been able to stick the dream into the back of her mind at least for now. The two of them set out for Sweet Apple Acres and the made themselves comfortable in a bush right opposite the entrance of the crusaders’ club house. They waited for what seemed like hours and nobody passed until the fake Scootaloo showed up alongside the fake Sweetie Belle.

“Where’s the fake Apple Bloom?” Cotton whispered.

“I don’t know but they won’t start talking about anything until she gets here then we’ll quietly walk up to the door and listen in” Pop Rock whispered back.

“Sounds like a plan” Cotton said. “And if we become endangered I’ll magic us back your place.”

Pop Rock nodded and then the fake Apple Bloom came into sight and all three of the crusaders went up into the clubhouse. Pop Rock and Cotton Candy quietly followed as the door closed and they leaned softly against the door listening in the conversation. They didn’t talk about anything about the capture until they transformed into their natural form as changelings. Then the changelings began to speak about the fillies that had been captured by their leader and about what happened to them.

“Do you know where those foals have been taken” One of them said in a scaly voice.

“No it’s all quite quiet” Another one said.

“As long as our boss is fine then so am I” The other one said.

Cotton left door remembering her dream and thought that it was a sign that they were in the Everfree forest. Pop Rock followed her and together they walked towards Ponyville quietly as Cotton wasn’t about to explain her plan so close to anypony except for Pop Rock. When they arrived at the house of Pop Rock Cotton explained deeply about the dream that she’d had last night, but it was more of a nightmare.

“So you think that they’re in a cave in the Everfree forest” Pop Rock said. “It was a dream you were asleep, it wasn’t real.”

“I have to try, they’re fillies and they need saving” Cotton said.

Pop Rock and Cotton glared at each other, Cotton was obsessed with saving her friends and Pop Rock understood that Cotton would never give up trying to look for them until she found them. Cotton hoped that Pop Rock would understand what she had to do and would continue to help her find the crusaders. Pop Rock knew that Cotton needed someone to watch out for her when she was being stupid and endangering her life. Pop Rock and Cotton Candy had locked eyes and the Pop Rock frowned which Cotton thought meant that he wouldn’t help her.

“I’ll help you, under one condition” Pop Rock said. “If I come with you to the cave you have to promise that in the sign of danger we run back and we get out of the cave.”

“I promise.” Cotton said.

“I’m glad you’ll stay safe.” Pop Rock said. “Let’s go to the cave.”

Comments

[Bronycommander]

I can See they make good friends