War in Equestria: The Tale of Bright Blade

by Michael_Ravencroft

Chapter 4

Chapter 4: A Nice Day for Cutie Marks

Down in Ponyville things were quite peaceful; at the library Spike had finished most of his morning chores and had set the table for breakfast. Spike took a big whiff of the air and gave a satisfied sigh at the smell of the delicious spread he prepared. "Now where is he?" Spike walked up the stares that led to the upper level. Then he moved to where he Twilight slept, "That's what I thought," Spike looked to the makeshift bed opposite Twilights and his own. In the bed, still fast asleeep, was a young colt, his coat golden like the sun, and mane white as snow.

"Bright Blade~" said Spike, "It's time to wake up."

"Ugh, Spike c'mon – just five more minutes…" groaned Bright Blade. He bit on the edge of the blankets and pulled them over his head.

"BB it's almost eight o'clock, and I already made breakfast," said Spike pulling back on Bright Blades blankets.

Bright Blade let go of the blankets and Spike was sent flying off the bed onto the floor, Spike groaned as he rubbed the back of his head feeling for a bump. "Did you say it was eight o'clock!"

"No, I said it was almost eight," corrected Spike.

"Oh no I got to hurry; I'm supposed to meet Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Bell at the clubhouse after breakfast!" Bright quickly jumped off the bed and slid down the ladder to the bottom floor. Bright Blade then rushed into the bathroom, quickly brushed his teeth then proceeded to head to the front door. Bright Blade stopped about half way before realizing something was amiss, and turned to Spike who was climbing down the stairs from the upper level. "Hey Spike, where's Twilight?"

"She got a letter from Princess Celestia early this morning, way early, like five o'clock early," said Spike, apparently a little grumpy from having been woken up at such an early hour. "Anyway, when Twilight read it she hopped into the hot air balloon and took off for Canterlot. It was crazy, the balloon was so fast, I've never seen it fly like that!"

I wonder if something's wrong, thought Bright Blade. Ah, I almost forgot about Apple Bloom and the others!

"See ya Spike," with that Bright Blade opened the door and broke out into a gallop, leaving dust in his wake.

"BB what about breakfast!" but it was too late, Bright Blade was already too far away for Spike's voice, "Man that pony is fast, oh well guess I'll have to help myself to BB's share of breakfast, again," said Spike with a sly smile. "Now where's that syrup, he-he-he?"

---

"Looks like he's late, again," said Scootaloo.

"You know what that means, Sweetie Belle you might wanna get ready," suggested Apple Bloom.

"Can do," replied Sweetie Belle.

Sweetie Belle trotted over to the door of their tree house and stood beside it, waiting. Apple Bloom closed her eyes and tapped her hoof rhythmically, Scootaloo and Sweetie were giggling with anticipation. "10…9…8…7…6…" Sweetie Belle's horn started to glow, and Scootaloo put about four or five pillows near the podium, "5…4…3…2…" the door knob began to turn slightly, "1!" Sweetie used her magic and quickly opened the door, when she did Bright Blade dashed right through eyes shut. He then accidentally tripped on his own hoof, tumbled and spun, till he crashed into the pile of pillows that Scootaloo had set up in advance. Apple Bloom walked over to Bright Blade and looked him over, smirking and giggling in her chest at the sight of Bright Blade covered in feathers. "You're late Bright Blade," said Apple Bloom.

Bright Blade got up and began to shake the pillow feathers off his body, he then spat out a couple of feathers that had got into his mouth. "Sorry Apple Bloom, I –" just then Bright Blade's stomach began to growl loudly, he rubbed the back of his head a bit embarrassed.

"And you forgot to eat breakfast again didn't ya," asked Apple Bloom.

"Again," chimed Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo in unison.

Apple Bloom walked to the table where a basket had been placed. From inside she pulled out a hot Sweet Apple Acres apple pie, "Here, figured you might've forgot, so I asked Applejack if she could bake one before I left," said Apple Bloom.

"Thanks Apple Bloom," said Bright Blade. Without hesitation he quickly trotted to the table and dug into the pie.

"Okay, now that that's taken care of we can start today's meeting of the Cutie Mark Crusaders," announced Apple Bloom. "We recognize Crusader Scootaloo for today's idea of how to earn our Cutie Marks."

Scootaloo quickly took to the podium and cleared her throat, "Alright guys today we're going to pull off something big, something huge, today we're going for daredevil stunts!"

"But didn't we try something like that," asked Bright Blade with mouth full of pie.

"Oh no, this stunt will make anything we've done look like child's play," said Scootaloo grinning.

All three of them gulped at once, worried about what Scootaloo's latest stunt related expedition was.

---

Out in the clearing the Cutie Mark Crusaders had spent the latter part of the morning building a makeshift half-pipe. Scootaloo had apparently been in charge of most of the construction, and while Apple Bloom offered her constructive criticisms, Scootaloo insisted that her vision of the half-pipe was perfect. The platforms of the half-pipe were at least ten feet tall, made of a combination of wood planks and some metal pipes hastily nailed or taped together. Sweetie Belle wiped the sweat from her brow after hammering the last wooden plank onto the center of the half-pipe, "The final piece is in, but I'm still not too sure about this," said Sweetie Belle.

"Don't worry guys I got it all figured out," Scootaloo was filled with pride as she gazed up their creation. "This is going to be so cool!" Scootaloo then dragged a reluctant Sweetie Belle off to find roller blades, skate boards, and anything else they could perform tricks up and down the half-pipe.

Meanwhile Apple Bloom began to inspect the half-pipe, Bright Blade noticed that Apple Bloom's expression became worried and trotted over to see what was wrong. "Apple Bloom, what's up, something wrong?" asked Bright Blade.

"Oh, nuthin's wrong BB, way it's – uh – it's uh – the best darn half-pipe I've ever seen," said Apple Bloom hesitantly.

Bright Blade raised his eyebrow, her reaction belayed the nervousness in her, and Bright Blade could tell. "C'mon what's really bugging you?"

Apple Bloom gave a long sigh and inhaled deeply before responding, "The foundations terrible, there's no structural integrity, the wood planks are in the wrong places to bare the heavier load, and to top it all off some of the pipes are rusted!" Apple Bloom began to pant heavily, apparently having listed all the flaws of the half-pipe in one breath.

Bright Blade stared wide eyed at Apple Bloom, both impressed and surprised by her ability to spot the structural flaws in Scootaloo's creation. "So why don't you tell her something, cause everything you just said made this thing sound like a ten foot tall metal and wood death trap!"

"I know I should, but ya saw how proud Scootaloo was about it – besides I'm sure it'll be alright," just then a breeze blew through the field rustling the trees. The half-pipe started to sway a little, back and forth, back and forth, groaning with each movement, Bright Blade raised an eyebrow at Apple Bloom who then started to rub the back of her head with her foreleg. "I'm pretty sure it's gonna hold, heh-heh-heh," she chuckled nervously. Bright Blade continued to stare at Apple Bloom, "Alright, I'll see what I can do, gimme a hand here BB."

After quickly making a few modifications, along with some minor reinforcing of the structure's foundation, Apple Bloom and Bright Blade felt that the half-pipe would hold, maybe…

Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle arrived later with saddle bags full of roller blades, skateboards, helmets, and knee guards; eager to start Scootaloo was the first one up on the platform, with Sweetie Belle in tow. Once the two fillies were up on the platform Scootaloo asked Sweetie Belle if she could levitate her scooter up to them, Sweetie Belle obliged her and brought up both a skateboard and Scootaloo's scooter. Bright Blade and Apple Bloom traded nervous glances, wondering if the structure would hold long enough for all of them to perform the their stunts. "Alright, Sweetie Belle and I will go first, Apple Bloom and Bright Blade, you two can go second!" Apple Bloom and Bright Blade nodded and gave encouraging smiles, all the while praying that nothing bad was going to happen, "Let's do this," shouted Scootaloo. Scootaloo jumped off the platform and rode down on her scooter. She picked up more and more speed swinging up one end of the half-pipe and back up the other side, when Scootaloo was able to get high enough she began to do aerial tricks with her scooter. The Bronco, Tailwhip, Bunny Hop, an Ollie, and many other tricks she either developed or seen.

The others watched on in amazement, Scootaloo was in the zone. But that would soon come to an end. Despite Apple Bloom's and Bright Blade's best efforts the half-pipe ramp still swayed and groaned. Sweetie Belle hung onto a makeshift rail, becoming increasingly worried about the ramp, "Scootaloo I think you should stop!"

But Scootaloo didn't stop; she was totally in the zone, with every trick she felt herself getting closer to something. A kind of knowing deep inside her, she kept going faster and faster, performing as many aerial tricks on her scooter as she could. Scootaloo started to notice something amiss, with every pass she saw the frightened face of Sweetie Belle who was holding on to the rail for dear life. "Sweetie Belle, why are you –!" just then sounds of snapping and splintering wood rang in the ears of the young fillies and colt. The support beams started to buckle under their own weight; the pieces of the ramp began to fall out making Scootaloo jump and dodge the various gaps.

Down below Apple Bloom and Bright Blade were scrambling around, part of them wanted to get away, but neither of them wanted to abandon their friends who were stuck up top. The half-pipe swayed violently back and forth, pieces falling like hail stones. Then the four heard a sound that made their stomachs sink. The half-pipe groaned a loud groan, like a bellowing beast, which was followed by a succession of snapping sounds. In an instant the entire structure collapsed. "SWEETIE BELLE, SCOOTALOO," shouted Bright Blade and Apple Bloom in unison. A dust cloud hung in the air for several seconds, Apple Bloom and Bright Blade squinted their eyes, straining them to find any trace of their friends. A gust of wind blew the dust cloud away and allowed the two to search, in the heap of debris they still couldn't make out any sign of Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle.

"Hey guys we're up here!" Bright Blade and Apple Bloom looked straight up and, to their relief; Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo were floating in midair. Sweetie Belle's horn was glowing, using her telekinesis to levitate both herself and Scootaloo. Scootaloo was flapping her tiny wings furiously, trying to lessen the strain on Sweetie Belle.

"We're alright…Don't worry, BB, Apple Bloom," said Scootaloo between pants.

Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle sighed in relief, but that didn't last long. There was a noise, as if something was about to snap or break. Scootaloo spotted something just a few feet from where Bright Blade and Apple Bloom were standing, a piece of plywood was about to break apart. Problem was, this piece of plywood had about ten to fifteen nails imbedded in it, the other problem was at the angle that it was bent the wood might launch those nails right at the two unsuspecting ponies. "APPLE BLOOM, BRIGHT BLADE, MOVE OUT OF THERE NOW!" Too late the beam snapped, the nails were launched straight at them.

Bright Blade turned his head and watched as the nails made their way towards them, only mere seconds before they were impaled. There's no time, only one thing to do, thought Bright Blade. "Sweetie Belle, use your magic and throw me a pipe, NOW!" Sweetie Belle's eyes quickly scanned the area and found an unbroken pipe, using her telekinesis; she picked up the pipe and threw it at Bright Blade. Only a few moments till the nails hit them, Apple Bloom frozen in fear, unable to move. Bright Blade opened his mouth and caught the pipe in his mouth, as soon he did his mind went into autopilot. Everything around him slowed, his eyes focused on each individual nail that was heading for them. Bright Blade put himself in front of Apple Bloom, she crouched low behind him and covered her eyes not wanting to see their fate coming; he then swung the metal pipe to the left deflecting three nails into some debris. Bright then flipped the pipe in his maw to where the long end was pointing left; Bright Blade swung right and deflected five more nails. One after another Bright Blade would perform techniques that made the pipe spin the air, switch positions, deflecting or letting the nails imbed themselves in the pipe with each maneuver. One final nail was left, aimed dead center for his head. The pipes long end was on the left, unable to deflect it, Bright Blade leaned to the left, the nail whizzed by him, nicking his right cheek. When it was over Bright Blade let the pipe drop out his mouth, followed by a couple of spits to get the metallic taste of his mouth. "Apple Bloom, are you okay," asked Bright Blade.

Apple Bloom rose up and checked herself, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo had taken cover earlier and were now making their way toward the two. "Oh man, Bright Blade your face," said Scootaloo.

"What, what's wrong?"

"You're hurt," said Sweetie Belle.

Bright Blade put his right hoof to his cheek, sure enough there was some blood trickling from the cut. "Oh, it's just a scratch I'm fine," said Bright Blade, although now aware of the scratch it began to sting a bit. Once again this freaky think saves the day, thought Bright Blade as he stared at the nail ridden pipe.

---

The Crusaders decided to head to Ponyville, to see if they could get any "safer" ideas on how to get their cutie marks. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo hung their heads low, eyes slightly downcast. Sweetie Belle and Bright Blade traded glances wondering what was wrong. "Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, you two okay," asked Sweetie Belle. "Yeah, everypony's alright," threw in Bright Blade. To this Scootaloo and Apple Bloom let out a sigh.

"Yeah, but because of me I almost got you killed Sweetie Belle," said Scootaloo.

"And because I froze up, you coulda' been hurt worse BB," said Apple Bloom.

"But I wasn't, I only got a little cut, we're all alright," comforted Bright Blade.

"Besides, you got to admit, BB's quick thinking with the pipe was cool," said Sweetie Belle hopping around excitedly.

This brought a smile to the two depressed fillies. "Yep, my freaky ability to swing something around saved the day," now Bright Blade was the one who was starting to sound depressed, and the girls knew why. Bright Blade had been found wandering the Everfree Forest almost a year ago, Zecora had found him and alerted Twilight and her friends about the unknown earth pony. When they first talked to him the only thing that Bright Blade could remember was his name, the six searched all of Ponyville and even searched Canterlot, but still they could find no trace of Bright Blade's home or his parents, he was alone. Arrangements were made so that Bright Blade would stay with Twilight, at least until they found his family. It was Applejack who introduced Bright Blade to the Cutie Mark Crusaders, being that he had a blank flank. At first they were a bit hesitant to bring in a strange colt into their club, but soon they came to accept Bright Blade. The one thing they found out about Bright Blade was that whenever he picked up something like a long stick or pole he was able to do amazing things, flipping it to and fro slashing at the air. The crusaders and the others would find Bright Blade performing these feats in secret; to Bright Blade he found this to be weird. The main reason was that his mind and body went into a kind of autopilot that overtook him, Bright Blade was afraid that one day he might accidentally hurt somepony, like his friends.

"Hey if it wasn't fer that 'freaky ability,' I'd be, eeeekkkkkk," at this Apple Bloom made a gesture by dragging her left hoof across her throat. "If ya know what a mean?"

"Yeah you're a hero BB," Scootaloo chimed in.

At this Bright Blade blushed a little, "Pony Pile," shouted Sweetie Belle. Bright Blade quickly looked for an exit, but was too late to stop the three fillies from jumping on top of him, first Sweetie Belle then Apple Bloom and finally Scootaloo. The four of them were laughing and giggling, Bright Blade's mood and spirits were lifting.

Ponyville was as busy as it always was. Lily, Daisy, and Rose were selling their flowers to passer by ponies. The mayor was walking around with her assistants both greeting the citizens of Ponyville, and inspecting to make sure everything was shipshape. Bon-Bon and Lyra were having a conversation while drinking tea at their favorite shop. The Crusaders found themselves at Sugarcube Corner, where a lively pink party pony could be seen bouncing around outside the shop. "Wonder what's goin' on," asked Apple Bloom.

"Let's go see," said Bright Blade. There was a crowd gathering around Pinkie Pie, which made it hard for them to get to her. After wading through the crowd of ponies, the Crusaders were finally able to see what all the commotion was about.

"That's right, today only; Sugarcube Corner is handing out free cupcakes! These cupcakes were made a special new recipe by Mr. and Mrs. Cake, and yours truly, so dig in everypony," announced Pinkie Pie.

"Hey ther Crusaders," said a voice with a southern accent.

"Applejack," shouted Apple Bloom. The Crusaders trotted through the crowd to where Applejack was, she was near her apple cart which was set up along with some benches. On the benches were a couple of trays of the cupcakes that Pinkie Pie was hocking. "Applejack, you got us some of them cupcakes!"

"Well, Pinkie Pie told me about this little event and set aside some cupcakes for all of us to share," said Applejack nodding to the trays. "We're just waitin' fer Rarity, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Twilight, and Pinkie said she join us in a few minutes."

Bright Blade's head popped up, "Oh you haven't visited the library, so you don't know! Twilight's gone, she went to Canterlot," said Bright Blade.

Applejack raised an eyebrow, "Really, when did she leave," she asked.

"From what Spike said it was early this morning, real early. Apparently the Princess asked her to come, don't know what for though," said Bright Blade, now pondering what was so important that she had to leave so quickly.

"I wouldn't worry too much about it little guy, if it was really bad I'm sure that we would've heard something," said Applejack taking a glance at the silhouette of Canterlot on the moutainside. "Now c'mon y'all lets set up for when the others get here."

After some time, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash flew in looking cheerful. The crowd had died done enough so that Pinkie Pie could enjoy the cupcakes with her friends. The ponies all gathered around the benches ready to dig in, Spike had come with Rarity to join them in place of Twilight, at least that's what he said. Fluttershy inquired about the cut on Bright Blades face, not wanting to tell the other mares about their little incident Bright Blade made up a story about him not watching where he was going and cutting his face on a sharp branch. To his and the Crusaders relief Fluttershy bought the story. Fluttershy pulled out a bandage from her saddlebag and put it on Bright Blades face. "There you go, BB," said Fluttershy, in a kind hushed voice.

"Really darling, you must be more careful. You don't want that handsome face covered in scars, not every mare likes the rough and tough look," said Rarity. Bright Blade blushed when she said that, he also noticed that Spike was turning red a bit, but Bright Blade doubted it was from embarrassment.

"Ah, what's wrong with scar or two? Frankly, a scar wouldn't look too bad on you, especially if it was over one of your eyes! Oh man that would be cool," said Rainbow Dash.

"Oh no, scars are painful, I think Bright Blade's fine the way he is, a nice, gentlecolt," Fluttershy countered.

"Well maybe instead of a scar he should get an eye patch – oh no wait, maybe an eye patch and a scar – Ah, an eye patch, a scar, and a peg leg," threw in Pinkie Pie.

"Then wouldn't he look like a pirate," asked Scootaloo.

"Pirate, I thought we were just listing off things to put on BB?" the group let out a big laugh at another one of Pinkie Pie's random trail offs.

Bright Blade looked around the table, at all the happy faces of all the friends he had made. He felt lucky to know such kind, interesting, and cool mares as them. Bright Blade was especially thankful to Twilight, who opened her home to him, him, a lost pony with amnesia. So what if I can't remember anything, thought Bright Blade. Everypony here is my family, and I wouldn't trade them for anything. Bright Blade still didn't know what kind of colt he was before, whether he was bully, a liar, or something else bad, he didn't know. But one thing he promised himself was that he would be the best friend he could be. "Alright everpony, let's dig in to these here cupcakes, they're starting to smell real good," said Applejack.

"BRIGHT BLADE!" shouted Apple Bloom.

The others looked to Bright Blade; his mane was standing on end, some of the color had drained from his face, body shaking, and eyes wide. Fluttershy was closets to Bright Blade and tried to find out what was wrong. "Bright Blade, honey, what's wrong do you feel sick? Why are you shaking so much!" asked Fluttershy panicked.

"S-s-something…bad…something bad is coming, I-I can feel it," said Bright Blade in an almost hushed tone.

"What's he talking about," asked Pinkie Pie.

All of sudden thunder roared through the skies, everypony looked up and saw nothing. After a few seconds they heard it again, this time with enough force to shake the houses in Ponyville. "Rainbow Dash I thought you said the weather was going to be bright and sunny," asked Rarity.

"It is, there aren't any storms scheduled, not for a couple of weeks anyway! Hold on," Rainbow Dash backed up from the table and took off into the sky. She flew up till she was high above Ponyville, that's when she saw something on the horizon. "Uh guys, there's a storm coming…"

With a storm looming in the horizon what kind of mayhem will it bring, and what is the reason for Bright Blade's strange reaction? All is revealed in chapter five of War in Equestria: The Tale of Bright Blade.

Comments

[AfterTouch]

memedepot.com/uploads/2000/2397_bpfobu.jpg

[Sharky]

Once again this freaky think saves the day???
What does this meen

[way_2_spooky_4_u]

1963365
I think the writer was going for 'thing,' in reference to Bright Blade going into 'autopilot' when he picked up the pipe and blocked the nails. There's a whole paragraph partially explaining that he's done this sort of thing before.