Living Darkness

by vildtiger

Back Again

Note: This happens a week after the last chapter. part of it is based on the episode "One Bad Apple"

Grey has been careful to keep father and son separated, only letting Dell know that he has a grip over him in knowing his son is still alive. The Mirage mercs, no longer trying to go against Grey thanks to the Sirens, brought the boy to his father but only long enough for Dell to know his son is alive and not too badly hurt. He wanted to hug his son, have the chance to take him away but know that's not how Grey is playing this game. He's only allowed longer meetings with his son the moment he has gotten past the Administrator's block and allow team Mirage to be connected to the respawn as well.

He hates to do it, but he does not really have a choice. Besides, even if Team Mirage got connected, the chance of them going through a respawn failure is great as they do not exhibit the virtues the Elements of Harmony finds important. Sure, the enemy team might get the perk of long life, but the ability to respawn? Dell highly doubts it.
His power to see how something works down to the tiny details has mostly faded but Dell still had just enough of this power to know how the machine Chio gave him works and get past the firewall Grey's technician had sat up. With this, he can warn his own and Jack’s team that staying in the building holding the Alpha Respawn is really a bad idea.

‘The Sirens somehow can drain our powers and use it to gain strength. They did it with Jane and only pure luck that Grey need my mind clean saved me from getting under their control.’

Not long after he gets a reply: ‘We got your message. Sorry, but you are on your own now.’

Dell understands why they have to abandon him and the others, it’s just too dangerous with the Sirens able to gain strength on the magic they can pick up from the Elements residing inside the Alpha Respawn.
Still, it would’ve been nice knowing the team would've been ready to charge the building if needed, but guess that’s not an option. Dell begrudgingly returns back to work on the block.

**down in the prison cells**

Zhanna is doing a bit better as she has been thrown into the same cell as Scout, he is quite beaten up, but according to his words. “Could’ve been worse I guess. they are more interested in getting a hold on…” He does not finish the sentence, but Zhanna knows who Grey truly wanted his hands on. “Your father.”

Scout blinks that she knows about this. “How did you?— never mind, what is the plan? You do have a plan right?”

“If little man stop talking, Zhanna will tell" Which he does. Good thing this annoying chatterhead knows how to shut up and Zhanna explains that she and his two team members all have some sort of residue that will take them. “—to land of ponies when set on fire.”

“Ohhh like when Ignis teleported us.” Scout realizes and must admit that this plan is quite clever. “So, now we just have to figure out and set this whole place on fire— man where is Pyro when you need them?” He laughs weakly. Scout does not notice the unamused look on Zhanna’s face.

“Engineer gave me lighter that burn very strong.”

So she has the way to get them out from this place all along? “Really? Then why haven’t you used it?” He demands.
“The women have my maggot bear, I will not sleep easy without him.” The Russian woman explains quite upset and angry about this fact.
Uhhh okay, at least his old man is better doing pet names. “Just set him on fire, someone in Equestria is able to put him straight again.” Scout tells her, he heard from the others that their partner has the ability to snap them back to normal by a simple touch. So they simply need to get Solly to Derpy.

Zhanna casts the scout a look, she was already aware of this, but how does he think she can do that when those woman has stolen her future husband and keeps him away from her loving grasp?
The sound of the door to the prison makes her turn, dreading some of the enemies will come and torment them. But it proves to be Dell, he looks quite tense- afraid even to be down here.
Scout is about to speak but the man hushes him down. “I’m only allowed to see my boy for a moment. If Grey’s men realize I am chatting with you…” He glances to where the whimpering boy resides.
Zhanna gets up, understanding this is Dell’s chance. “Take boy, we will follow when Soldier is with us.”

That’s going to be tricky, according to Mikhail, only sincere emotions will make one able to break the chains of the Sirens. He was able thanks to the genuine love he felt to the doctor. Soldier is committed to Zhanna, that is clear but Dell thinks at the moment their relationship is more bonded on lust and admiration to one another than anything else. She won’t be able to break him free. But… well, Jane is many things, but he’s not the man to abandon a mission nor the people he has decided is part of his squad. “… I think I have the best chance snapping him out from it.” He admits slowly. “It will get messy but if I succeed, Solly will attack the enemy.” And when that happens, hell will break loose but they could use a good distraction and that's one thing Jane is really good at.

“Hey what about your kid?” Scout asks, he and the kid have been talking a few times and although Logan is traumatized and scared out of his mind, he’s still a sweet boy and Scout would really hate to see him get hurt for this stunt his old man is about to pull off. Engineer eyes him behind those welding goggles. “Do you know how to pick a lock?”
Scout nods. “Yeah, but that was only my brothers' door and a few lockers from school.” Nothing compared to a prison cell. Did seem to be good enough for Engineer, the man leaves to speak with his son, cannot hear what the two are saying only that Logan stops crying.
Engineer leaves not long after and about three hours later, he returns with some very quick made lockpicks. “Make it count, Grey is getting suspicious so I won't be able to return with more.” Scout takes them. “Alright, how do I know when it’s safe to get out?”

Dell scratches the back of his neck. “Well, I’m pretty sure there’s going to be explosions.” He remarks and leaves before Grey realizes he hasn’t been working on the respawn.
Back at the room Grey gave him, Dell has to work on the block in order to remove suspicious, but fortunately, right before he got truly past the block he spots Jane walking down the hall along with some of Grey’s guards. He eyes the machine, did for a moment consider destroying it and thus Grey's chance to get past the respawn block, but consider otherwise as he knows that even if Grey finishes this machine, he won't be able to use respawn as he wanted. So leaving the half-finished machine, Dell grabs his wrench and chuck it at the more twitchy than usual man, as expected Soldier attacks him and although Dell prepared himself for this and is in equal strength with the patriot, but, even if Soldier is really lacking in brain, he got enough to remember how to do proper hand-to-hand combat which Engineer here does not have, and that factor was what ended up with him getting his ass kicked.

“Any last word ya cow-heading Canadian?” Soldier asks, ready to blow this man’s head off with his shotgun.

Ignoring the both offending and yet hilarious insult— mostly the Canadian part. “Yeah, you’re abandoning your main mission soldier.” Dell tells Soldier, it did confuse the man; the Sirens has that boring effect to make one quite narrow-minded.

“My commanding officers wants me to guard this place!” Soldier retorts but back in his mind, he knows that’s not true and that shows in his slightly wavering voice.

And Engineer heard it and he latches onto it, if this does not work then he will be trapped in an eternal loop for who knows how long. “Think Solly! What was the reason you attacked the robots?” He flinches when the song in Soldier grip harder around the man’s mind, making his fingers tighten around the trigger but the shot never came. The green shine in Soldier’s eyes fades and his expression frozen in his moment of clarity. “The prisoners!”
That’s it! He remembers! “That’s right! We’re here to save Scout.” Engineer urges him, to say he is relieved that his hypothesis of being able to get through the song and reach his comrade is an understatement. Soldier struggles against the song, and maybe it's a good thing he has a very simple mind, for the second the thoughts about Scout has festered in his head, Soldier starts to ignore the command of the Sirens, jumps on his feet and charges towards the prisons with a battle cry Engineer heard more than once during the War Games.
He follows the man. No need to worry about his lack of a weapon, Soldier is making short work on anyone getting in his way. Did prove troublesome when the alarm got activated and about halfway down to the prison cells, Team Mirage's Pyro appears and blocks their way with a ready flamethrower.

Soldier does not stop his attack and blindly charges at the enemy pyro. Engineer tries to stop him. “No wait!” but the man does not listen and the moment the flames torched Soldier, Ignis magic activates and Soldier got taken away by a large burst of flames. These magical flames consume most of the hallway, and in a matter of seconds, the flames have gotten a grip on the wooden furniture and not planning on dying out for quite some time. Engineer has no idea if these new flames are magical or just plain burning ones. Whatever they are, he can’t get caught in them. So leaving the burning hallway, he finds another path to the prison.

He does encounter the enemy soldier and wasn’t fast enough to get away so he ended getting shot in the arm.
“Surrender or you will be stuck in respawn for all eternity!” The man warns him, but Engineer here is not planning on dying today. He checks the wound, and puts part of his torn sleeve into the spot to stop the bleeding. With that issue fixed for now, he readies his wrench but before he can, he hears the sound of what he for a moment mistakes Heavy punching someone, he checks and realizes it was Mikhail sister who did the punch that knocked the man out. Behind her is Scout with a scared yet determent looking Logan behind him, which gets replaced with relief when the boy spots him. “Dad!” Logan runs over to him.
Engineer picks up the boy and hugs his son as if he is never going to let go of him. “I’m so sorry you have to go through this.” He apologizes to Logan, he never wanted this to happen.

Logan sobs from the relief he feels, more happy to be with his father and knowing he now can leave this place holding these scary people. “Can we go home now?” He asks.
His father starts walking. “We can’t… it’s not safe anymore.” His father tells him somberly as if he thinks it's his fault. Logan does not really see why his father thinks that as he wasn't the one who made these scary people kill grandfather and take him away. But if they cannot go home... "Where can we go instead?" Logan asks his father.

“To a place where these people can never get us.” Dell replies and can’t help but chuckle when Logan asks quietly. “What about mom?” She did make an emthy promise she would get him back, one Dell knows she cannot keep ever since the Administrator helped him out with the rights to his boy. But since it did worry Logan, he assures him. “She won’t know of this place.” That seems to calm his boy and Logan nods. “Okay.”
So far so good, now they just have to open a portal by fire. Easy enough, Soldier solved that problem for them.
“This way.” He tells Scout and Zhanna, leading to the place.
To their luck, the flaming hallway is still there and although there are several robots, none of them tries to stop them as their program is set on extinguishing of the spreading flames. He turns to Zhanna who pretty much traps Scout in a one arm grip and charges at the flames, they burst up in effect to Ignis magic surrounding her and as hoped, both she and Scout gets taken away. Well, Dell likes to think so for he can’t see any burning bodies inside the fire.
“Close your eyes.” He tells Logan, not wanting to scare his boy with what he is about to do. Logan eyes the fire scared but does show his trust by closing his eyes and turning his head against his chest. Logan probably thinks he will run through the flames– probably best he thinks that. Dell tightens his grip around his boy and runs into the burning hallway.

It only hurt for a moment before the magic activated. Engineer is sort of happy it got foggy in the realm between the human world to the one populated by equines, not sure he wants to feel the sense of been turned into a horse with bird features. Maybe it would've helped to keep his disorientated mind more sharp for when the flames disappear, he takes a tad too long realizing he plunges to the ground. It does he do not have time using his wings, so in attempt to at least save his son from a hard landing, he turns in the air and slams back first onto the ground and almost gets knocked out for a moment, at least he has gotten a bird's ability to handle hard landings, so no broken bones.

Logan clutches to his father after the sudden hit to the ground, slowly he opens his eyes, wide twice their size when he sees some weird bird creature that is sort of dressed like his father. He jerks away, scared to how this creature got a hold on him but stumbles when his spine does not like having him walk on two legs. Gives the creature the chance to recover and… speak with his father’s voice. “Logan, don’t be scared, it’s me.” Blinking in confusion, Logan eyes this equine bird. “D-Dad? That’s you?” This honey colored with strong blue plumage hair and tail– his father nods and helps him up, there Logan realizes that he too looks like his father, except he is yellow-lime with his hair- um feathers is green turquoise. It takes him several moments to comprehend what has just happened. He does slowly get the shock under control as his father explains him of what is going on and why they look like this. When his father is done, Logan stares a few seconds at him, asking slowly just to be sure he got this right. “So… um, we’re in another world?” His father nods. “And you have a house here?” Again his father nods.
Logan looks around, taking notice that the townfolks all are very colorful ponies but only a few gave them confused looks while the rest seems to know his father. He notices a few foals and realizes that if they will stay here for some time: “Does that mean I will go to school with… ponies?” That does not really sit right in Logan's head, he's used to tending to horses, not go in school with them.

This last one Engineer chuckles at. “Yeah, but only when you are ready. I know it takes time to get used to all of this:” He gestures at his own chest, like with Demo when he became whole, his body has gotten shaper colors. Logan nods in agreement, at least his boy is taking this whole thing way calmer than he did. “When you feel up to it, some of my friends here have younger siblings. I am sure they will be more than happy to show you around.”

“Can we see them now?” Logan asks, yeah sure this is quite mindblowing but he is curious to get to know kids on his own age. Weren’t any back at the farm so it will be nice having someone at his own age around again. His father is a bit caught off guard by his request, but recovers quickly and smiles. “Sure thing. Come, let’s go.” Logan tries to follow his father who is way more adept in walking on all four, but all that gets him is stumbling over his feet. His father is kind enough to let him ride on his back, which is a big plus since he has been too big for that back in the human world.

On the way, they encounter Scout and Zhanna– who has been turned into a syrup brown earth pony with cedar socks and dark purple with lighter shades hair. Not sure what the cutie mark is supposed to mean, for Engineer, it looks like three blue crystals bound together by a line. Derpy and Time-Turner are with them who explains. “When we heard Soldier is in trouble, I thought it will be best if we helped them out.” Derpy nods in agreement and about there she notices Logan sitting on his back. “Ohh you must be Engineer’s son, nice meeting you, I am Derpy Hooves and this is my friend Time-Turner.” She smiles up to the still trying to get used to all of this boy.
“Um, hi, nice meeting you too?” Logan replies although it sounds more like a question than a greeting. Engineer does not blame his son being still very confused with all of this.

The group leaves not soon after, leaving father and son on their own little mission. Engineer glances to his son when Logan asks a bit confused. “Why did she call you Engineer?” So he explains. “Well, you probably already know my line of work is dangerous.” Logan nods, looking quite uncomfortable and he feels bad reminding his boy of where he had been these past weeks. “So my boss— well former boss told us not to reveal our names. The residents won’t rat us out or be any danger, but it was out of habit.” Engineer notices a pony wave to him, remembering that stallion to be one of the ponies he helped to repair that roof. He returns the wave before moving on. “The ponies have a different culture when it comes to names, so Engineer is a name for them and that’s what everyone here knows me as. Now, I can’t really bring myself to correct them.” He admits and figure it will be a pain in the neck doing so, not that he minds being called Engineer, he’s so used to it that it is pretty much a second name for him.

He did notice that those ponies have sort of weird names, but after what his father told, Logan gets the sense that his human name might be the weird one. “Do you think they will find my name weird?” He asks. That does make his father stop to ponder. “Hm, that has never really crossed my mind. But now that you mention it, I haven’t encountered a pony with a name a human would use.” So that means his name will make ponies give him a very weird look and… maybe some might even bully him for it… Something Logan really does not want to go through again. “Maybe I should have a pony name too.” He suggests quietly. But his father does not think that’s necessary. “There is no need for that, the ponies are really accepting and if you tell them your name is Logan, then that’s what they will call you.” Maybe but Logan really does not want to take any chances, less so when he will be in this place for quite some time.

Engineer arrives at his partner home and is sort of glad she does not have a customer at the moment. “Rarity?” He calls and moments later the white unicorn arrive from her workshop, she beams seeing him again. “Engineer! It so good to see you again! Oh, and who is this sweet thing with you?” She asks when noticing his son. Engineer smiles lifts his boy back onto the floor. “That’s my son–” About to introduce him but Logan speaks before he can. “I’m Sungust, nice meeting you.” Engineer blinks of this pony name his boy came up with, Rarity did of course not notice this is not Logan’s real name. “Nice meeting you too Sungust, how is Ponyville? I figure you were a bit… eh startled when you first came here.”
Logan nods shyly. “Yeah... thought for a moment dad was someone else.” Engineer watches the two chat and must respect his son wish in not wanting to use his human name, he’s sure his boy has his reasons. “Any chance Sungust can meet your younger sister?” He asks the unicorn, and puts his right claws on his boy's shoulder. “Thought it would be best he got someone on his own age to play with.”

“Oh darling, that’s a kind thought.” Rarity laughs softly, she would probably have done the same if she and Sweetie Bell arrived in a completely new place and have to stay for a while. At least this way Sungust would have somepony to know when starting at school. “Sweetie Bell is not with me, but don’t worry, my parents do not live far.” And after having put away her work glasses, Rarity brings father and son to her parents home. As hoped Sweetie Bell is curious about this possiple new play-mate.

“Hi, I’m Sweetie Belle, wow, I wasn’t aware Engineer has a son. What’s your name?” Sweetie Belle asks excitedly that this other foal-bird hybrid wants to be her friend. She did not notice her strong approach made the other foal take a step back. “Sungust.” He replies somewhat awkwardly. Sweetie Bell then noticed that Sungust here does not have any cutie mark! “You don’t have a cutie mark...” She squeals excitedly. “That means you can be part of the Cutie Mark Crusaders!!”

Not sure what this girl pony is talking about... Logan turns to his father for a bit of help but his father is too busy chatting with the adult ponies. So not wanting to be seen as a fool and really wanting to be part of a group— even if he has to play with a girl, he simply agrees he does not have a cutie mark... whatever that is. “Nope, don’t have one of those.” She squeals again and runs outside the house. “You have to meet the others!” Logan again turns to his father, not wanting to leave without telling. This time his father notices his look, then at Sweetie Belle waiting impatiently for him outside. “Go on, I’ll pick you later.” With a nod, Logan follows Sweetie Belle, however not as fast as he would like. Moving on four legs is harder than he thought, fortunately, Sweetie Belle is kind enough to wait for him and his slower pace did do that they encountered her two friends, both girls but Logan thinks he can deal as they seem very open to welcome him into their group.

“Today is going to be great.” Apple Bloom cheers and explains her unicorn friend. “My cousin Babs Seed is coming on a visit and know what: she doesn't have her cutie mark!” Nodding to the train station. “We’re heading to pick her up, wanna join us?”
Sweetie Belle nods excitedly. “Yeah!” While Sungust is a bit more nervous but still agrees to come with them.

**The train station**

While the three girls are jumping excitedly around, Applejack decides to get a small chat with the nervous colt they brought along. “I take you are Engineer’s son.” The colt nods. “Y-Yeah, I’m Sungust.” He introduces himself. Applejack thought as much, the same species was a huge clue to that, plus Engineer has more than once talked about his son. “Nice meeting ya Sungust. I’m Applejack, a friend of your father. He helped me and my family making a cider machine since the demands for cider have gotten bigger than we can deliver.”

Yeah, his dad really can make life easier for people– or ponies with his machines. But… well he has never gotten the hang of it… “He’s very good at machines.” Logan agrees, feeling sort of a let down when Applejack remarks. “He sure is, some sort of a family thing like mine have with apples.” Fortunately, she does not have time to ask that dreadful question if he is planning on following in his father’s footsteps for about there the train arrives. That puts the three girls into an excited frenzy, more so when another filly appears.

In seconds Apple Bloom is up in her face, crying excitedly. “Babs! Babs! It's me, your cousin, Apple Bloom!” The two other girls swiftly join her, allowing Apple Bloom to introduce them. “And this is Sweetie Belle, and this is Scootaloo, and this over there is Sungust—“ The only boy in this group waves nervously beside a somewhat amused Applejack. “—and we are so, so, so glad you're here!” Apple Bloom finishes with her and her friend practically bursting Babs Seed's personal bubble in their excitement to see her.

“Thanks, I'm happy to–“ Babs Seed tries to speak but in their excitement Sweetie Bell interrupts her. “This is gonna be the best two weeks of your life!” Babs Seed tries again to speak. “Sure hope it's gonna be–“ But again she is interrupted, this time by Scootaloo. “Seriously, we are gonna have a blast!”

Sweetie Belle nods they sure will, for they will now have more members at their club! “There is so much we are going to show both you and Sungust! Oh and the Summer Harvest Parade's going on while you're here! You'll get to ride in a float!” That did catch Babs Seed’s attention. “Really? I've never been on a float before.” Which reminds Scootaloo. “We've got a really big surprise for you, so close your eyes.” She covers Babs Seed’s eyes, not taking notice of how nervous the filly is.
Apple Bloom does the same to Sungust but when he is both bigger and for some reason very unsure on his hooves and uh… talons, she instead snatches her sister’s hat and uses its big size to cover his face while she and Sweetie Bell guide him along.
At the destination, they uncover the two eyes with Apple Bloom introducers their clubhouse. “I give you: the Cutie Mark Crusaders Clubhouse!”

Babs Seed raises a brow of this club name. “The Cutie Mark Crusaders?” The weird colt that seems to be part bird looks around the tree house, way more fascinated than she really feels about this whole thing. And her feelings about this plums down to the bottom when Scootaloo explains. “A club devoted to helping ponies get their cutie marks!” All three show their flanks, revealing they too do not have one. Babs Seed’s is thrown back to her school and the name callings, instantly covering her flank with her tail.

“We're its founding members.” Scootaloo explains, not seeing the scared expression on Babs Seed’s face. “Technically, we're its only members.” Sweetie Bell admits and Apple Bloom is quick to add. “But we're always looking to expand, and you two seems like perfect candidates!”

Logan is still not sure what a cutie mark is, but apparently, these three girls are trying to get something on their– well they are horses so he guesses it’s on their flanks.

Babs Seed does not like this club at all. “I do?” She asks and is starting to ponder coming here was a good idea. Scootaloo walks over to her. “Well, yeah, since you don't have a cutie mark and all.” She points out, hitting their empty flanks together. Babs Seed jerks away but that ends up with her bumping into the weird colt who also is a blank flank. Backing away from him. “Oh, yeah...” She blows parts of her mane away from her eyes. “that…”
The weird colt, however, is way more interested in this than she likes. “What do you do to get a cutie mark?” Much to the three members joy.

“Glad you asked.” Apple Bloom smiles. “Allow me to show you just some of the highlights of our clubhouse.” She eyes her friends and when they did not get the subtle hint, she points at her friends to help her out. They quickly get it and run over to a piece of paper with each of their faces on “This is where we do our role call.” Sungust titles his head at that while Babs Seed frowns lightly. Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo hurry over to the small table, miming they are eating and drinking. Apple Bloom points out in case they did not get it. “This is where we eat our lunch.” Then hurries over to a bullseye carpet with a lamp over it, Sweetie Belle stands under the lamp. “Sometimes we stand here and think of great ideas.” Scootaloo turns on the lamp, Sweetie Belle pretends she got a brilliant idea. Apple Bloom beam when Sungust lets out a small laugh at this show and he looks really interested. Babs Seed on the other hoof... not so much, so after Apple Bloom has called for a small meeting with her friends, she remarks in a hushed voice. “Thought she'd be more impressed...” and Sweetie Bell points out. “She's from Manehattan. If we wanna impress her, we need to really wow her!” The three think of what they can do to really impress the city filly, Scootaloo is the one coming up with an idea. “The float! She can ride with us on our Summer Harvest Parade float!” The two others think that is a brilliant idea, so they take Babs and of course Sungust to the barn where they have the float standing.
“Here it is! The official Cutie Mark Crusaders float for the Summer Harvest Parade!” Scootaloo presents the float they have been working on these past days.

Logan steps closer to this float, he notices this float is not out of tree or Styrofoam. “Is that… a real pumpkin?” He asks awestruck, more so when Apple Bloom nods it sure is. “Yup, it’s grown from the family farm for this very thing.” That is really impressive, no human can do such a thing and they have hands! “That’s so cool!” He cries awestruck to the three girls and turns back to this huge pumpkin that has been turned into a float. “I’ve never seen anything like this before!”

This is a huge victory for the Cutie Mark Crusaders, they beam to one another that this colt is a sure member and turn hopeful to Babs Seed, does fade a bit when the other filly does not seem very impressed. So Scootaloo tells her the perk of being a member. “As a member of the Cutie Mark Crusaders, you'd be able to ride on it with us!” She steers, flapping her wings in her excitement. “It'd be totally fun.”
Babs Seed laughs nervously and just to their luck, the schools bullies decided to drop in and mock them. “More like funny… looking!” Both Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon laugh at their mocking joke.
The two walk inside and Silver Spook asks still in that mocking tone. “What is that thing, a giant orange?”
Apple Bloom tries not to let it bother her and tells the two meanies. “It's a pumpkin.”

“More like a lame-kin.” Diamond Tiara mocks and turns when a male voice points out quietly. “...Like you could do any better…” She raises a brow of what she is seeing. “What are you suppose to be? A pegasus with too much bird?” Silver Spoon laughs at her insult and adds her own insult when this weird Pegasus backs away. “More like a chicken, a chicken brain!” They laugh loudly, then Diamond Tiara notices the fourth filly and notices something is missing. “Who's the new blank flank?“

“She's my cousin, Babs. She's from Manehattan!” Apple Bloom replies, stepping forward in sort of her way showing that she will not let their bullying affect her. Her statement did catch Diamond Tiara’s attention as the other filly remarks Babs Seed. “Manehattan, huh? Well, I guess you have that going for you.” And Silver Spoon asks mockingly. “Suppose you're gonna join their little club? What's it called? The Cutie Mark Crusaders?”

Babs Seed looks carefully at both groups, the group of her cousin, clearly the outsiders of the town, then to the two other earth pony foals, they are bullies but in her mind: the best choice for the moment. She blows her mane away and speaks in a mocking tone. “More like the Cutie Mark Crybabies!” She laughs and joins the two bullies. At least then they won’t be after her and it’s not like she is friends with the three others or part of their insulting group.

“Hey!” Apple Bloom cries in disbelief her own cousin is siding with those two.

Diamond Tiara however really finds this interesting. “Ooooh, heh, big city attitude! I like it!” Silver Spoon nods in agreement. More so when the blank flank says cocky. “Oh, yeah? Well, there's more where that came from! Check this out!” She walks over to the pumpkin float and kicks the front wheel away, much to the shock of the blank flanks and much to the amusement of her. The pumpkin vehicle does falter and they get out of the way, just as the whole thing rolls outside, completely ruining the float. And this new filly gives the three a sick burn. “Looks like somepony's pumpkin just got squashed!” Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon laugh.

Family or not, Apple Bloom is not having a bully in her home! “When I tell Applejack–“

“You gonna tell Applejack what?” Babs Seed stops her menacingly, it helps to be slightly bigger than her cousin as that makes her more threating and the other filly nervous.“W-Well, you know, uh...” and that’s what she wants, and just to be sure these three won’t tell an adult. “What are you, a snitch?”

This filly is interesting, so she can ignore Babs being a blank flank. “Come on, Babs, you should hang with us!” Diamond Tiara suggests and leaves the barn with Silver Spoon close behind. “You know, the cool ponies, not these babies!”
Babs Seed follows them.

“What... just happened?” Apple Bloom asks dumbstruck on how a seemly good day with two new friends has suddenly turned into a bad one with her cousin not only sided with their school bully but destroyed their float!

“I think Babs just went to the dark side.” Scootaloo says. Sweetie Belle points out they should tell Applejack but Scootaloo agrees with Apple Bloom they shouldn’t as that will make them snitches and babies.

Maybe the two got a point and yet… “Then... why do I feel like crying?” Sweetie Belle asks her friends, they don't answer her.

Leaving his spot now that the bullies are gone. “What now?” Logan asks slowly, parts of him really want to seek out his father but the fear that it will only make it worse is greater than the trust that his dad can fix this problem. It’s not like this problem is a machine…

“First, let’s head back to the clubhouse.” Apple Bloom suggests and that’s what they do. After have done some sulking and thinking, she comes with the idea they can’t let the destroyed pumpkin float stop them from joining the parade. “We're gonna build a new float, that's what.” But her determent is blown away by Scootaloo pessimistic remark. “Why bother? She'll probably just ruin that one, too.” She sighs, her winged friend probably right…

Sweetie Belle still thinks they should tell Applejack. “We could always tell Applejack.” But the two others are not on that plan as they both cry a loud “NO!” Which makes Sungust jump, Sweetie Bell feels sort of sorry for him but is glad he didn’t do like Babs Seed and join the bullies.

“We're not gonna be a bunch of tattle-tales!” Apple Bloom points out to Sweetie Belle, no way she will prove Babs Seed right. “Besides, she's only here two weeks.” She closes the tree house door, explaining her old and new friend. “We'll just avoid her like the plague until she goes home.”

“Avoid her. Yeah, how hard can that be?” Scootaloo asks and that soon will be proven to be harder than they thought.

Author's Note:

about time the story got back to Equestria, won't be much of a crossover without the ponies XD

Comments

[Kichi]

Too bad they can't get reinforcements, like Saxton Hale or Merasmus, as I don't think they could be happy with the world being destroyed... Heck, I'm surprised Gray did not mind control Saxton using the Dazzlings.

Even so, with how intelligent are some of the mercenaries, I could think them building some earplugs to filter the voice of the sirens enough to not be affected.

Leaving the rant aside... Liked the fic, and waiting for the next chapter...