3. Fire and Fury
Iron Will’s long legs carried him effortlessly across the inner bailey, his sturdy hooves churning and kicking up dirt and grass in great clods. He snorted and bellowed as he came, looking for all the world like the kind of forest dwelling monster that would send ponies scurrying to hide in their homes.
I have to admit, he certainly committed to the act, Lightning thought as she hovered above the battlefield.
Most of her first round of recruits were frozen in either shock, fear, or both. The cerulean stallion from before was a notable exception however. He charged, paintbrush clutched firmly in his teeth.
“Sky Stinger, wait for me!” the pale green mare shouted, shooting after him.
Iron Will twirled his mop defensively, casually smacking aside Sky Stinger’s strike. He fluttered backwards, throwing himself into what looked like was an attempted flipping loop. It was an ugly little thing, technically effective, but quite capable of leaving his belly wide open if he didn’t finish it quickly. But before Will could exploit the opening, the pale green mare who had called after him swooped in, stabbing at Will’s own belly.
He took a casual step back, letting her fall slightly short of the swing. Still, it had been an effective distraction, as he was barely able to raise his brush up in time to block Stinger’s swooping, over the head strike.
His mare friend came in again, nipping at Iron Will’s legs. But he countered, dancing around her jabs with surprising nimbleness for his size. The pale yellow coated pegasus Lightning had noticed before took the opportunity to call out to the crowd.
“That’s the spirit! We must confound our opponents at every turn!”
Now she charged in, cackling around the handle of her paint brush. She twirled through the air in a corkscrew, aiming right for Iron Will’s head. It was impressive but perhaps a bit to overly flashy in Lightning’s opinion. It was an assessment that quickly turned out to be true as Will turned, swung his mop like a club, and swatted her from the sky. Meanwhile Greenie looked ready to try a new tact, but Will brought his mop down on her head, knocking her away with a splash of lilac.
Sky Stinger came about again only for Will to twirl his mop and block the swing. “Try harder, little pony!” He mocked.
“Try harder? I’m one of the best fighters there is!”
“Maybe,” Iron Will said. He lashed out with a sturdy arm, grabbing the handle of Sky Stinger’s brush. Yanking him forward, Will swung upwards with his mop, striking Stinger in the underside of the barrel. With an absurd amount of ease, Will smacked Sky Stinger to the ground. “But I’m better.”
The other applicants were beginning to shake out of their funk now. The pale yellow coated mare with her previous rallying cry tried to sneak in on Will’s right hand side, crawling low to the ground.
It was the absolute wrong thing to do. Will didn’t even slow his stride, simply twirling his mop about to catch the pegasus on the end of her chin with the handle. The strike sent her toppling away with a surprised yelp of pain. The felling of her seemed to push the others to consider charging, but a bit too late as Will was already among them.
A green coated stallion took a heavy stroke of lilac paint across his right flank. “You’re down,” Iron Will declared. “Club strike across your ribs, crushed them into your lungs.”
“What?” he gaped, but Will was already turning to face a dark blue coated pegasus mare and a sunflower yellow coated earth pony mare.
“You heard him,” Lightning called down. “Take five newbie.”
While he stalked off the field grumbling under his breath, Lightning turned back towards the battle. The blue pegasus was down, having taken three quick thrusts from Iron Will’s mop. The sunflower colored earth pony however was showing a bit more fight. Paintbrush clutched between her teeth, she had latched onto Will’s back and was trying to clamber her way up to his shoulders. Not that Will was going to let that go unchallenged. He whipped his body about, throwing everything he had into dislodging her. The rest of the applicants took advantage of the distraction and came charging in at a full gallop.
Lightning chuckled to herself. Their form was absolutely terrible! But, it was nice to see some enthusiasm beginning to work its way into their efforts. Not that it was doing them much good at the moment. Iron Will remained a flurry of pigment based destruction, striking down attackers with smacks and swipes.
“Stab to the chest, you’re not the best! Paint to the head? You’re already dead!” Will shouted, as his mop caught another attacker across his muzzle.
“Gah! I think that some of it got in my mouth!”
“You’re down! Take a seat!” Lightning shouted.
Not that Will was untouched at this point either. He had picked up a half dozen streaks of different colors in the charge, including two large streaks across the back of his neck from the sunflower coated pony.
“For the glory of house Mist!”
There was that pale yellow pegasus again. A whole new look of determination blazed in her eyes as she swooped in. Iron Will whipped around to face her, finally managing to dislodge the sunflower coated pony from his back in the process. He rushed to meet her, bringing the mop down in an over the head strike. She grinned back, twirling her own paintbrush in a mocking challenge.
“House Mist technique, Flashing Blade!”
She threw the brush right at Will.
It was a fast throw as well. More of a quick snap that zipped past Will’s defenses and dragged a wide red stripe across his belly.
Not exactly a technique, but a nice little trick at least. And she showed enough guts to come back after panicking. Lightning thought as she landed. “All right everypony! I’ve got your scores for this round!” she shouted pointing to a few of them. “Mist, sunflower, Stinger, quiet green! You four, front and center.”
They dutifully trotted forward. “Okay,” Lightning said. “Give me your full names.”
“Icy Mist of House Mist mam,” the yellow one said with a bow.
“Sunflower,” the earth pony said. “Just...Sunflower.”
“Sky Stinger!” the cerulean pegasus said, holding his head high.
“Vapor Trail,” the pale green mare smiled softly.
“You four showed some guts out there today. Keep up that hustle and you’ll be staying with us.”
“Yes!” Sunflower cheered.
“Looking forward to thrashing the trash of the Everfree Forest with you mam!” Icy Mist declared.
“Head on out for now, but don’t go too far.” She raised her voice for the next part. “And no one breathe a word of what you did in here to anypony! You do and you’re out, effective immediately!”
While Will dropped back into said barracks to clean off and prepare for the next round, Lightning followed the first wave back out the gates. Over a hundred pairs of eyes immediately fixed on her.
“Right then! Who’s next?”
- - - -
“Get off of me you unwashed peasant!”
“You’re the one who crashed into me!”
“You impudent cur-”
Lightning rolled her eyes. The noble in question, one Custard Creme, had been casually thrown back into the group after a particularly ill chosen charge. And as he had landed hard on one of the farmers a fight had immediately broken out.
WHAP! WHAP!
Two quick strikes from Iron Will’s mop put an end to that argument. The rest of the group fell backwards and split off in two separate directions, trying to come in on Iron Will from both sides. He whipped about and charged the group coming at him on the right. The group scattered, the momentum of their assault lost. Most fell with heavy paint strokes spread across their bodies, each one a wound that would be fatal in a real world situation. One pony proved a little more resistant however.
She was a pegasus with an orange coat and wild purple mane and tail. What really caught Lightning’s eye though was her cutie-mark, that of a lightning bolt imposed upon a wing. Admittedly, the cutie-mark wouldn’t have been all that remarkable if not for the fact that she wasn’t actually flying.
Sure, she was moving fast, using her slightly smaller than average looking wings to propel herself around Iron Will’s swings. But she rarely took wing and left the ground, instead relying on flips, twirls and other dance-like moves. Will already had a collection of stripes and strikes down his legs from her acrobatics.
But even as she came back around for another round, Will had finally managed to get her measure. When swung her paintbrush in, Will stomped down on the tip of her weapon and thwacked her across the muzzle with his mop.
Lightning waved her over. “What’s your name, recruit?”
“Scootaloo... mam.”
“Good hustle out there. You might go far around here.”
Scootaloo smiled broadly. “Thank you... mam!”
Another few notes were added to Lightning’s mental tally.
- - - -
“AHHHHHH!!!”
“YOU CAN’T ESCAPE ME LITTLE KNIGHT!”
This round wasn’t going well.
Bit of Coin had been all talk when he first strode through the gates, wearing the sturdy plate of a knight. The crowd that had entered with him was mostly made up of commoners and had hung off of every word about what kind of quests he had gone on and the creatures he had banished in single combat.
Lightning had been skeptical from the beginning, noting that the stallions shimmering white coat and wavy blonde mane were both- somehow- more well kept than the gleaming armor that had clearly never seen a day of actual combat in its life.
The minute Iron Will made his appearance, Lightning found that her guess had been correct. Bit of Coin had promptly shrieked in fear and taken off at a full gallop. Now he was being chased around while Will kept laughing at the pony’s cowardice. Even worse, the rest of this round just watched the end effect with jaws hanging open.
“Hey!” Lightning snapped, finally reaching her limit. Jabbing a hoof at those ponies stuck gaping at the display. “You actually have to try and tag Will if you want to go anywhere around here! Will? Stop torturing the poor fool.”
Will gave up the chase, smirking as Bit of Coin collapsed to the ground, chest heaving as he gulped for air. Lightning rolled her eyes again. “Bit? You’re done. Get out of my yard.”
“Ahhh...ahhh..,” he panted. “Just...give me a minute...once this...stitch in my side….”
Before Lightning could yell at him again, one of the other ponies took a step forward. Lightning was pretty sure that she had seen this mare around Ponyville before, with her light tan coat and tannish mane streaked with crimson stripes.
“Mister Minotaur? I challenge you to single combat!”
“The name’s Iron Will,” he responded, raising an eyebrow. “Are you sure you want to do that, miss…?”
“Angel Wings. ...And no, not really...but it seems like it's what knights do in the books I’ve read. It just...seemed like the right thing to do.”
“Technically speaking, we’re not really knights here. We take a little more of a pragmatic view when it comes to combat,” Lightning said.
Iron Will held up a hand before giving Angel Wings an eager grin. “All right little one, Iron Will accepts your challenge!”
With a sweep of his mighty hand the crowd parted, settling into a loose circle around minotaur and unicorn. Will hung back, loosely holding his mop in one hand, keeping his stance loose and fluid. Angel Wings hesitated for a moment, nervously biting her lip. Lightning could tell that she was nervous about how casually Will was handling the situation. It was a good sign. There was a fine line between being brave and being reckless, and the latter tended to get ponies killed.
Eventually though, Angel Wings grew tired of waiting and rushed at Will, twirling her paintbrush through the air before bringing it down in a sweeping strike.
Will caught the handle with his free hand. “Not bad,” he chuckled. “But ponies who aren’t used to fighting tend to swing a bit too wide.”
He thrust back with a straightforward “kill” jab, aimed right for Angel Wing’s head. Lightning was convinced that she was about to be struck down, but to her surprise Angel rapidly shifted her position and rolled under the head of Will’s mop. Angel landed on her back and kicked the handle with all four legs. With the shock almost knocking the mop from his grip, Will was forced to drop Angel’s brush. He jumped back, leaving the two of them staring each other down.
“Ha! Nice improvising! That’ll take you far.”
“Oh! So...I get to stay?”
Will shrugged. “Not my call, but it's a good start.”
Lightning nodded. “A good start indeed.” She shifted her glance towards the rest of the recruits. “What are the rest of you waiting for? Get back in there!”
- - - -
“Yaaaah!”
Will stumbled back as the pink coated pegasus zipped in like an angry hornet. Her blue mane whipped in the breeze as her paintbrush lashed out in flurry of strikes, brilliant yellow paint marks appearing on Will’s blue-gray coat almost faster than the eye could see. Regaining his stance, Will began swinging his mop in sweeping figure eight strokes that forced the pegasus back for a moment.
She barely hesitated before zipping back into the fray, shooting around Iron Will to take a swipe at the back of his head. She was fast too. Will was barely able to swing the handle of his mop around to block the incoming strike. But the pegasus was already planning ahead and flipped over him with a single flap of her wings. She lashed out with a hoof as she went, striking Will on the tip of the snout. Twisting in mid air, she gripped her paintbrush between her forehooves and dragged it down Will’s front as she fell. It was a strike that would have been absolutely mortal if done with real weapons. Yet she didn’t let up, jabbing at the scars and patchy fur sections left by Chroma’s lightning bolt with a ruthless, soldier grade intensity.
“That’s enough,” Lightning said. “You’ve made your point Miss-”
“Firefly,” the pegasus said, her voice low and scratchy. Nodding simply at her own performance, she glanced back at Iron Will. “You okay big guy?”
Iron Will was panting and huffing for the first time since the morning’s training began. Sweat poured off his frame and his limbs were shaking as he rubbed at his tender snout.
“I’m fine. Just been a while since I’ve seen someone fight like that. You have combat experience?”
Firefly chuckled, rubbing the back of her neck. “You could say that. I’ve done some fighting here and there.”
Lightning landed in front of Firefly, giving her an appraising look. She had a lean, speed flyer’s build, her cutie-mark a pair of blue lightning bolts. “Mercenary huh? Surprised to see you looking to join our group. We run things a bit tighter than most mercenary bands here.”
“I know. But I don’t like the work I used to do. Looking to start over. This seemed like the place to do it in.”
Lightning smiled to herself, the memories of her own very similar arrival to the Rangers floating to mind. “Well, this is a place for it. Hopefully you’ll find a place here.”
“I think I’d like that.”
“Everypony! This round is done.”
As Firefly lead the most recent round of recruits out of the lodge, Will began to walk back to the barracks to prepare again. He didn’t get far before Lightning flew to his side, falling into pace alongside him with even wingbeats.
“Hold up Will. I think that we’re going to call it for today.”
He stopped dead in his tracks. “Excuse me?”
“Adagio is going to tan my hide if you over exert yourself. We’ll finish round one of the training tomorrow morning. Get some rest.”
“When the going gets tough, Iron Will gets rough! I’m not some charity case Lightning,” Will growled, crossing his arms.
“Who said anything about you being a charity case? You took a lightning bolt thrown by an alicorn head on! I don’t know anypony who’d still be up and walking around after that, let alone being able to fight! It was one of the most amazing feats of endurance I’ve ever seen in my life!”
“But you want me to take the bench.”
“I want you to not be a dope! Or is your pride so fragile that you can’t take an afternoon break? Besides, Adagio needs her bodyguard to not run himself into the ground.”
Will snorted, then sighed. “Fine. I’ll take a breather. For Adagio’s sake.”
Lightning watched him stomp off again, shaking her head as he went. “I wonder if all minotaurs are that stubborn?”
- - - -
Laughter filled the air.
Lightning joined with it and the laughter of her friends as they were paraded down the central streets of Canterlot. The euphoria that came from cleansing the corrupted alicorns was still flying a fever pitch. She and her friends would be honored for generations and the mirth that flowed through The Heartlands at being free from the danger they represented. Now they’d be free. Free to laugh and frolic under the sun and-
The tone of the celebration shifted.
All of a sudden the cheering began to increase in speed and intensity, a discordant tune floating through the air. All around her, the crowd and her friends began to throw themselves into a frantic dance that seemed to have no end. Faster and faster they cavorted, strained, rictus grins stretched across their muzzles.
“Girls! Stop it!” Lightning shouted. She ran to Aria’s side, throwing her forelegs around her in a desperate attempt to stop the dance. But the chaotic throws of Aria’s movement flung Lightning away.
Onward and onward they went, hooves beginning to crack and muscles twitching with pained spasms as the madness refused to end. It wasn’t long before ponies began to drop. One after another they collapsed, their bodies just giving up from the strain.
But the tune did not stop. It burbled and jabbered onwards, even as a dark shadow fell over Lightning Dust.
HeeehheeehhaaaHEEEheee!
The discordant giggles sent chills down Lightning’s spine. Slowly she turned, craning her neck to stare up at the giant pink shadow of an alicorn that danced and cavorted through Canterlot’s skyline. She was, at once, beautiful and horrible. A figure that inspired mirth and happiness until it literally killed somepony. Lightning clamped her hooves over her ears, trying to drown out the horrible tune and horrible laughter.
It had to stop. It had to stop!
Lightning’s eyes fluttered open.
“That...was a strange dream,” she muttered to herself.
Rubbing her eyes, she flopped out of her barracks bed, stretching her wings a few times to work the kinks out. As she wandered out into the Black Rook courtyard, the details of the dream kept tumbling around her mind. The emotion, the despair...they had been palatable. Real. The despair still clung to her like a foul stench.
She jumped skyward with a flap of her wings, falling into some loose laps around the outer edge of the lodge. She kept gnawing on the question of just what that dream was as she swooped and dove around the buildings. Flying always helped her think. There was just something about the freedom of the wind rushing through her feathers, mane and tail that also freed her mind. Even now, in the depths of the night, it was still exhilarating-
Magic had spoken with Adagio.
This hadn’t been a conversation, true. But the sorrow that had come from the Element of Laughter was unmistakable.
“Poor thing,” she whispered, rubbing at the spot on her neck where the Element normally rested. “It must have really hurt when Harlequin went crazy huh? I’ll have to tell Starlight about this tomorrow.”
With that revelation tucked away for now she turned to head back to the barracks when a scent drifted across her nose. It was the unmistakable smell of burning wood and fabric. She spun about, diving for the tent city. Already, she could see the unmistakable glow of embers along the edge closest to Ponyville.
“Fire! Fire!” she bellowed, skimming just above the tent tops. “Somepony has set the tents ablaze! Everypony out! Fire! Fire!”
Shooting between two of the larger tents, Lightning came upon the edge of the encroaching blaze. A few applicants were rushing ahead of their blaze, the crackle of the flames doing a fine job of chasing the sleep from their eyes as it did them from their beds.
“Create a fire break!” Lightning shouted. “Tear down the tents, rip up the grass! We need to make a gap! Pegasi, get me any clouds you can!” Without waiting for an answer, she threw herself at the closest bit of flammable canvas. Grabbing it with hoof and teeth, Lightning yanked up and beat her wings as fast as she could. Her target tore free, the pegs popping from the ground in a flurry of soil. The offending tent was thrown away and Lightning dove for the next one without missing a beat.
Her efforts were beginning to inspire the other recruits, smaller groups of ponies rushing to throw tents aside and tear at the ground. Soon the sounds of hooves hammering against the ground mixed with the roar and crackle of the fire.
From her vantage point in the air, Lightning could see the advancing blaze as a long serpent of yellow and red. It coiled in a near crescent shape, the wings on the right and left having already slipped past the firebreak they were struggling to put in place.
“Ascarids!” Lightning cursed. “Shift the line! The fire’s moving around the sides!”
More of the crowd were falling in to assist now, though whether due to altruism or sheer self preservation Lightning couldn’t tell. All sense of time was quickly lost in the heat, smoke and sounds of desperate work. With sweat and tired hooves, the new firebreak was ripped into place and they fell back to watch for loose embers or other jumps across the line.
It was only now that Lightning had a moment to truly comprehend the sheer size of the blaze facing them. The wall of flame just across the way roared with an intensity far beyond the fuel sources that had fed it. Three times it surged forward as if fed by an unseen wind, almost managing to jump the hastily constructed gap. It was after the third failure to surge forward that a new sound entered the chaos, rising above the snapping and popping of flames. Bright and brazen, the frantic tolling of a bell reached their ears. Then it was joined by another and yet another. Soon all the watch bells of Ponyville were pealing as those ponies on the walls recognized the blaze for what it was.
Wait...what about the militia that were supposed to be guarding the camp? Where the buck are they? Lightning thought.
She didn’t dare voice those concerns though. She couldn’t let panic spread through the recruits. All she had to do was keep everypony calm until help arrived-
“You!”
Pain exploded across Lightning’s back as something shattered against it. A flood of liquid followed suit, soaking her coat as a familiarly bitter smell filled the air. Alcohol. The pain throbbed both up and down her back, but Lightning pushed through it and turned to face the voice that had, presumably, thrown it.
Bit of Coin stood in a gap of the crowd. Barely stood, at any rate. Judging by the way his legs were swaying, he had clearly indulged in a great deal of drink recently.
“You shtupid mhare! Your training ish gonna kill us all!”
“Training..? You think that this is part of training?”
“You surprish...surprish...tricked us with a damn minotaur! He could have killed ush!”
“Will had a mop! And he’s a professional bodyguard! What exactly are you implying?”
“Come on! Everypony knowsh about the legendary bloodgreed of the minotaursh! One taste...one taste is all it takesh. I was the smart one! I ran away lest I awake hish fury!”
Lightning had no idea what this drunkard was going on about and was quite sure that this was just leftover sour grapes for not even bothering to take a swing back.
“Sit down, Coin. In case you noticed we have a fire to deal with right now!”
“A fire that you caused!”
“Sit. Down,” Lightning growled. Without even realizing it she had already shifted into a dominant stance; head down, wings spread wide, ears pulled back and muscles tensed for a fight. “Before you do something stupid and get a lot of ponies hurt!”
“I am a knight and will be treated with the resphect I deserve!”
“You want respect? Then act like a knight. Step up and help, or at least stop making things worse!”
Bit of Coin blinked drunkenly for a moment, his brow furrowing as he clearly tried to work out if he had just been insulted or not. Then his expression turned hard again.
“You piece of filth!” he roared, before charging.
Clearly, he had figured it out.
Lightning dodged to the side with a flick of her wings, Bit of Coin stampeding past where she had been in a drunken bull rush. It was nowhere near as graceful as it could have been however, as her back screamed with agony from where she had been hit by Bit’s bottle.
“That was a cheap shot you hit me with for a self proclaimed knight!” Lightning spat.
“Oh yeah? I was aiming for your head!”
“...How is that a come back?”
Bit of Coin charged again, this time with a bit more of a drunken spring to his step. Unlike before Lightning wasn’t quite able to avoid the oncoming rush. The impact of Bit’s body into hers sent Lightning stumbling backwards into the crowd. To her surprise, a strong pair of hooves caught her and pushed her upright again.
“You need to put a stop to this and fast,” a deep, raspy voice whispered in her ear.
Lightning blinked, glancing at the pony that had caught her. “Firefly?”
“Come on! If that fire gets out of control again, we can’t have that fool making things worse. Knock him out if you have to! Now go!” she hissed in Lightning’s ear.
Lightning nodded and strode forward, circling Bit. “Come on ‘knight’. Show me what you can really do!”
Bit’s response was more of an inebriated bellow than anything else. This time though, Lightning didn’t even try to dodge. Instead she rolled backwards, dragging Bit of Coin with her as she locked her forelegs around his neck.
“Unhoofsh me!”
Lightning squeezed instead. It was an old hold that Spitfire had taught her when she had first joined the Everfree Rangers. Bit of Coin squirmed with all his might, hind legs kicking out in a desperate flurry, trying to find purchase on anything.
Go to sleep, go to sleep, go to sleep, go to sleep! Lightning thought.
Slowly, Bit of Coin’s struggles grew weaker until they eventually stopped completely. With a disgusted sigh, Lightning let Bit drop to the ground, pausing only long enough to make sure that he was still breathing.
A scream rose from the crowd as the flames surged forward again. This time it managed to sweep across the improvised firebreak and began to bare down on them with a horrible roar. Lightning rushed to start ripping up tents again. She had barely taken a few steps however, when the skies opened up above them.
Rain came down in buckets, dousing the oncoming flames. Lightning Dust could just make out the shapes of clouds being pushed by pegasi illuminated by the parts of the fire that had yet to be quenched.
“Spread out those clouds! I want every inch of this fire out and I want it out yesterday!”
“Aria?” Lightning asked, squinting into the darkness for her friend.
Ponyville’s weather captain landed at her side, wearing a confident smile despite the chaos of the situation. “Heck of a situation you got here. Don’t worry, I got your back.”
“I’m guessing you heard the bells?”
“Yup. Cracked open the cloud silo to come save your sorry flank.”
Lightning opened her mouth to object but Aria raised a hoof, one of her elemental gauntlets glittering in the dying firelight. “Don’t even try it. Soaking up all that extra moisture from Chroma’s little rampage left us with a surplus. Also, this was clearly an emergency.”
Other hoofbeats were coming their way now. A moment later a dozen members of Ponyville’s militia came cantering into the ruined campsite. They stared, wide eyed, at the devastation that spread out all around them and the last few bits of fire being put out. A mixture of fear and embarrassment was evident on their faces. Somepony had screwed up and screwed up badly.
- - -
It had taken hours to get those ponies who lost their tents new places to stay. Adagio had ended up having to pull rank, commanding both the local inns and a few of the owners of the town’s larger homes to take on the extra ponies for the duration. Bit of Coin would be spending the next few days locked up for assaulting Lightning Dust unprovoked and would be facing heavy fines afterwards for causing a general mayhem during a crisis situation. Though Lightning was pretty sure that Adagio had tacked that last bit on out of sheer spite for attacking a friend of hers.
I’ll talk to her about dropping that once we’re done here, she thought. He might deserve it, but I really don’t need Count Copper Coin angry at me. And Adagio even less. He might own the lands around the lodge, but he’s Adagio’s actual liege. Not the the pony you want to force to pay good bits for his idiot relative’s folly.
Carefully, she picked her way past the charred remains of a tent frame. Her head was low to the ground as she examined the ashen ground for any clues. Starlight advanced behind her, her staff glowing as she swept the area for any lingering magical residue.
So far Lightning had found a lot of hoof prints baked into the ground from the fire. The vast majority were from those panicked applicants running away from the advancing wall of fire. But she was convinced that there had to be a set belonging to whoever started this fire somewhere in this mess. It was far too much of a coincidence for her to believe that it could be some kind of random accident.
“Find anything yet Starlight?” she asked.
“Well... it was a magical fire. The ground is practically shimmering with leftover magic,” she said, sweeping her staff left and right like a dowsing rod. “Not that it really means much in and of itself. A bunch of those nobles brought enchanted lanterns with them. I’m just trying to pinpoint the starting...point.” She paused as her staff swung back towards the right and in the loose direction of Ponyville. “Over there!”
Lightning flew towards the spot Starlight pointed towards. It was right on the edge of campsite and would have been easy to overlook without a trained eye or magical detection. Doing a lazy circle around the spot, Lightning smirked to herself as she picked up the glitter of something shiny amongst the pale gray ash. Once again taking caution to not destroy whatever it might be, she brushed the ash aside to reveal...glass. Melted lumps of glass and silver. There were hoof prints as well, moving directly away from the tent city and back towards Ponyville.
“Ah ha!” Lightning declared, jabbing a hoof at the melted lump. “That looks like the remains of a magical vessel to me!”
“You mean like an enchanted lantern?” Starlight asked, peering over Lightning’s shoulder. “...I mean, it could be a bomb or some other kind of magical device. But I’d need more time to examine the remains.”
“Why wouldn’t it be a bomb? That fire last night was really intense! We do know that some ponies were willing to sign on with the Fallen.”
“We still don’t have evidence of that though!”
Lightning glowered. “Somepony’s trying to make sure that my efforts fail! Why? So that a bunch of stuck up nobles can just...destroy a legacy hundreds of years old? So that they can get more land for themselves? Those-”
Further venom was cut off by the sensation of Starlight’s hoof on her back. Lightning looked over at her friend, blinking at the sadness she could see in Starlight’s eyes.
“Come on,” Starlight said after a long stretch of silence. “Let’s go see if Adagio has made any headway interrogating the militia.”
“She’s questioning them?”
“Well, her and Aria. She’s taking this seriously.”
- - -
“How in the name of Scorpan’s twisted tail did you think I’d want that!” Adagio’s voice roared from behind the sturdy wooden door.
Lightning and Starlight exchanged glances.
“She sounds mad,” Lightning said.
“Very mad,” Starlight agreed.
The guard station’s mood had been subdued the moment they entered, so Lightning suspected that each and every member of the militia within its walls had suffered the wrath of Adagio’s current bad mood.
Starlight stepped forward to knock on the door. The door was quickly yanked open, to reveal a very disgruntled looking baroness, a terrified looking guard captain sitting behind a table, and an amused looking Aria sitting in the corner.
“What did we miss?” Lightning asked.
Aria’s grin turned positively catlike. She waved a hoof towards the still shaking guard. “It’s great. Rump for brains over here was slow responding to the fire because he assumed that Adagio was behind it!”
Lightning blinked. “What?”
“He thought that Adagio was behind it! That it was all part of some noble ploy to take control of the lodge for herself!”
Lightning looked at Adagio. Her friend’s anger momentarily melted away when their eyes met, Adagio almost tripping over herself to get the words out.
“You know that I’d never-” she began.
“Come on Adagio. If you were going to stab me in the back, I’d trust you to have a much better plan than this!”
Adagio rolled her eyes. “Thank you for your confidence in my devious nature. But I still want to know why this one thought I’d do that!” She jabbed a hoof at the guard, the fury from before roaring back like last night’s flames.
“Because he’s read ‘your’ laws,” Starlight said.
“I want him clapped in irons!” Adagio growled.
“On what charges?” the guard exclaimed. Lightning had seen him around town before with his sturdy build, simple brown coat and wall based cutie-mark. Barricade, that was his name.
“Not doing your job!” Adagio shouted.
“I am deeply sorry for the mistake Baroness. But it is as Mayor Glimmer says. I’ve seen the laws passed in your name. How was I supposed to know this wasn’t some plot of yours?”
“Because!” Adagio snapped. “Why would I want to do that to my friend?”
“...To take personal control of the lodge’s lands and fortress.”
Adagio’s eyes narrowed. “...You really think I care so little for Lightning Dust?”
Barricade nervously licked his lips and fell silent. Lightning was pretty sure that was exactly what he thought. Judging by the vein throbbing on Adagio’s forehead, Barricade was about to get a firsthand taste in just what kind of legal problems a baroness could cause for a guard captain.
“I know you’re mad Adagio but let’s take a deep breath,” Starlight said. “It was a bad impression that lead to a bad decision. I’ve known Barricade for years. He’s a good pony.”
Adagio huffed but jerked her head towards the door. “Get out Barricade. Starlight bought you a reprieve. But I’ll be keeping an eye on you and if you ever derelict your duty again, I will be more than happy to act the tyrant that you think I am!”
He did just that, pausing onto to nod to Lightning Dust as he passed. “I’m sorry we failed you Ranger. Your work has always been appreciated by my command.” He then slipped out of the room before Adagio could change her mind or unleash another tirade upon him.
Aria chuckled, glancing over at Adagio. “That was impressive. You dragged me in here to look tough, but handled all the anger yourself!”
“Oh, shut up! It was an insult to think that I’d hurt a friend of mine like that! And I’m getting seriously tired of ponies thinking I passed those moronic laws Fancy Pants kept sending out,” she grumbled.
“That’s because he doesn’t know you,” Lightning said, patting her friend on the back. “Just gotta keep working on that reputation.”
Adagio sighed. “In the meantime, we still don’t have any solid leads on who did this.”
“If somepony did this,” Starlight added.
“Either way, I can’t stop the training.”
“We’ll have to keep our guard up then. And Lightning-”
“Work fast. I know.”
- - - -
The final rounds of the Iron Will challenge went by quickly and just didn’t quite have the impact Lightning Dust had been looking for. Thanks to Bit of Coin’s loud blabbing during the fire had completely spoiled the surprise of having an enraged minotaur charging you down. Still, she had been able to weed out a few more ponies that just weren’t suited for the lifestyle. Between those she had cut loose and those who had decided to up and run after the fire, they were down to forty six odd recruits. But if shock was no longer an option, there was always the long, slow grind of hard work.
And so, forty six ponies found themselves standing before forty six bags of rocks.
“Good morning everypony!” Lightning called out. “I’m sure that you’ve all noticed the bags of rocks.”
Sky Stinger raised a hoof. “Why are there bags of rocks?”
“Because you’ll be carrying those rocks. While we run laps around Ponyville.”
“...What?”
“Rocks on backs everypony!” Lightning shouted.
Grunts filled the air as everypony hauled the stones onto their backs. Lightning did a few laps around the assembled group, making sure that the bags were properly balanced and unlikely to fall off.
“All right everypony! MOVE OUT!”
Stats
Page generated in 0.028 seconds
Total duration
1,030 users online
1,752,166 hits today, 2,571,732 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Honestly, I think that Barricade assuming that Adagio would deliberately try to sabotage one of her best friends for her own gain, even if that meant milling other ponies through negligence, says an uncomfortably large amount about him and what he thinks about his "friends."
But what do I know?
Adagio needs to take a look at all the laws "she" passed and see what she can just get rid of. She's got a bit of a temper, and she's not completely selfless, but she's really trying to be helpful.
8755466
Or about most nobility's usual modus operandi. Business as usual.
Okay. The Coin fellow needs to hit the bricks and serve some time. Unfortunately, that idiot may cost Adagio the deal she made with Count Copper Coin. I hope whoever caused the fire gets caught. It also looks like Starlight is going to have to help undo some of the damage those bogus laws did to Adagio.
Once again great work. Nice use of canon secondary characters. Andthe bit between Lightning and Iron Will, always entertaining.
But questions remain,
1. Who or what started the fire?
2. Was that dream a premonitions of things to come?
Also,
You think Starlight would make a public announcement about that.
8755466
50-50, I'd say. Adagio has a reputation as does the Heartlands nobility. He's also something of a cynical old guard on the other side too.
8755506
Technically speaking, they have been gotten rid of, as Starlight never even bothered to enforce them in the first place. But gossip got around Ponyville from ponies working in the mayor's office and so that the town was aware if the insane proclamations, even if they were never enforced.
8755731
There is indeed some of that involved.
8756621
Really, Bit o Coin is far too much of a looser to bother locking up.
8756861
Yeah, Starlight should make an announcement. She's been letting herself get distracted by other things like the other evil alicorn that escaped and the Elements of Harmony.
She will get on it though!
8757515
It only just now occurred to me, but for all the misery she brought, Chroma was the nice evil alicorn when you really get down to it. She was extreme, but at the very least, she offered a path to a life that, while likely extremely restrictive, was at least a life. Living under, say, her or Bitterroot would've at least been possible, and maybe under Luster, Echidna or Midnight too. But life is not possible under Harlequin: She will just come out and murder you, and think nothing of it as long as you die happy.
Yes, I just said that Chroma, who really only lost because our heroes got lucky, was easy mode. Easy mode.
Real Dark Rains begins now.
I should ask. About Harlequin's little prank, was that something you came up with completely on your own, or were you inspired by the dancing mania of Strasbourg 1518? Apparently mass outbreaks of hysteric dancing (sometimes with lethal results) are not exclusive to Equestria.
Other than that, great chapter and great story so far! Looking forward for more.
8757899
The Harlequin dream was largely inspired by a track from the Final Fantasy 6 soundtrack, Dancing Mad. I love that name and fully intend to use it as the title for the inevitable Harlequin fic.
....That being said, the fact that I also happened to reference a historical event by accident is a happy coincidence.
8757556
That's a very interesting take on the matter. Very interesting indeed.
8760179
REAL DARK RAINS BEGINS NOW
You know, I get the feeling I’m missing a lot of references here. On the other hand, it can be kind of nice not knowing these ponies from their Celestiaverse incarnations, it means I get a better feel for their actual selves.