• Published 13th Aug 2012
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Shouldn't Be - Lumadous



When Sgt Castle wakes up in a stange new land, he has to wonder how he can survive in such a place

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Ch 22. Minus One

“What do you mean he’s just ‘gone’?” demanded Applejack downstairs, her desperate cries heard throughout the house, waking the four young fillies who had been sleeping.

“What’s going on?” asked Sweetie Belle groggily.

“Shh.” Fortune made quick motions with her hooves telling them to pretend to sleep.

The Crusaders, used to tricking Fluttershy and Rarity, fell back into their respective sleeping bags and made soft snoring motions as the door crept open.

Rarity, peaking in, stifled her tears as she looked in upon them. Scootaloo, who was watching her carefully, noticed her gaze rested on her for far too long. Rarity, satisfied that the girls were asleep, closed the door softly and they could hear her tip-hoofing down the hallway.

“Come on girls, let’s see what’s up.” said Apple Bloom as she ninja'd her way out of the sleeping bag and across the room, everypony else following close behind.

The girls lead themselves to the upstairs balcony that overlooked the living room, looking down at the scene that was unfolding in front of them. Applejack was clinging to her brother, tears streaming down her face as Mr. Hammer stood stoney faced in the doorway, water streaming off of his flanks, mud covering much of his lower-half. Big Mac stood blank faced, even he lost for words.

“What do you mean? How could he be gone, how do you know he’s gone already? He doesn’t know the area well, he could just be lost.” Applejack reasoned.

“I hope so too ma'am, but we’ve found his clothes and weapons abandoned in the mud. So ve are assuming the vorst and have many squads looking for him on both the ground and air.”

“And I am searching for him with my magics as well.” Luna said soothingly.

“Why haven’t you found him with your mental link thingie?” she demanded, pointing her hoof accusingly, “Why is the Princess powerless to find one lost human?”

“He, ummm, I, ummm, you see.....” she started, holding her hoof to the back of her head, looking nervous and embarrassed.

“‘He ummm’, what?” Applejack screamed, tears streaming down her face.

“We cannot feel him anymore using our mental bridge. T’is like he doesn’t exist anymore.” she admitted, looking ashamed at herself, avoiding the glares from Applejack.

“Girls, shouldn’t you be in bed?” whispered Granny Smith from behind the Crusaders, surprising them.

“Come now, let’s get back to your bedroom.” she insisted, leading the way, her hip creaking loudly.

Re-entering the room, Granny Smith settled in a chair and motioned them to gather around. She waited for them to settle in before clearing her throat.

“I’m sure you little rapscallions already saw too much tonight without knowing the whole story.” she started.

“Cass is missing isn’t he?” Scootaloo interrupted, sounding heartbroken.

Granny, mouth still open to say something before she had been interrupted, closed it slowly and shakily nodded her head.

“Well, yes, that’s exactly what happened.” she said, impressed with her intuition. “An’ we got no clue where he went.”

“Could it be the Changelings?” asked Apple Bloom.

“It could be, dearie, but they found his stuff in the orchard.” Granny Smith explained.

“WHAT?!” Sweetie Belle shouted, eyes wide, overcome with horror.

“Don't you worry your sweet little heads about a thing. We have the guards here to protect us.” She said, making calming motions with her hooves.

“But what about Cass?” asked Fortune, surprising everypony in the room, she had barely spoken a word since the cart incident much earlier in the day, or rather, the day prior.

“They will find him, or rather, knowing that young man, he will escape on his own and be back soon enough.” Granny Smith reassured with a smile. “Now you fillies better be asleep for real when I come back to check on you in a moment.”

The Crusaders, returning to their sleeping bags, weary from a long, fearful day, soon nodded off.

Granny Smith, paused at the door, and gave one last comforting smile before she left.

No pony but Scootaloo noticed the uncertainty in it, or the tears welling up in her eyes.


The next morning was a quiet one. The entire household and their guests were sitting around the kitchen table, pancakes and waffles piled high, heavily laden with syrup and peanut butter, sitting completely forgotten.

There were two empty spots at the table. Applejack had been out all last night with the Lunar guards and refused to be slowed down as she went back out with another of the patrols just a few minutes ago to search for Cass. The other empty spot, which seemed to hold an aura of despair, was Cass’s.

Square pushed his plate away, his pancakes barely touched. He looked a little sick, as did his two brothers.

“Yup, thank you for the food.” Level said after a few moments of silence, pushing away from the table and hastily exiting the room with his two brothers close in tow behind him. The sounds of half-hearted construction soon made their way into the room.

“Shouldn’t you girls be out Crusading?” asked Big Mac, hoping to get them out of their funk.

“Oh, perhaps we can join you today?” Luna said excitedly.

“Um, Princess, we wouldn’t get much Crusading done if we had to dodge everypony in town.” protested Sweetie Belle.

“Huzzah!” announce Luna as a smoke cloud obscured her for a few moments, billowing away to reveal a filly Luna.

The sound of jaws smacking the floor was deafening. The Crusaders looked like their eyes were about to fall out of their heads.

“You can do that?” asked Apple Bloom.

“We would say so, as we did just do ‘that’.” Luna said with a smirk.

Nudging the still shocked Crusaders out of the kitchen, Luna stopped next to Big Mac, hopping up and landing on his shoulders so she could whisper into his ear.

“We will keep the little ones safe and preoccupied. We shall try to keep their minds off of his disappearance.” she whispered quietly so the young fillies wouldn’t hear.

Big Mac nodded slowly, lifting the small princess off of his shoulders and setting her on the ground. Luna ran out of the door, following the dazed Crusaders.

“I hope they find him soon.” Granny Smith said, poking her pancake with her fork.

“Eeyup.”

“It just ain’t right, he was only with us for such a short time, and yet it seems like we’ve lost a family member.” Granny continued.

“Eeyup.” Big Mac agreed forlornly.

Rarity, sitting next to him, put her hoof around him before saying, “He won’t break his promise to Applejack.”


Walking on the path into town, the Crusaders were silent, content to just listen to their hooves clopping into town. Luna, who had been trying to strike up conversations, gave up after Fortune levitated an apple into her mouth, with a good deal of force too.

When they came upon the spot where the cart had veered off the road the previous day Scootaloo paused, looking down at the ground. The other Crusaders continued on for a couple more yards before they stopped and turned to face her.

“Scoot, what’s wrong?” asked Sweetie Belle, concerned.

Scootaloo looked up, a false smile on her face, believable enough that even her friends were tricked.

“Oh, nothing, but I thought we should go see what we can get from the cart crash, maybe we can still throw that romantic dinner for Cass and Applejack when he comes back.” she said before she trotted off into the orchard, leaving her friends chasing after her.

“Scootaloo, stay with us, it’s, ugh, we don’t want to get lost!” Luna called after her.

Scootaloo, ignoring the warning, continued into the woods, running faster, leaving her friends far behind. She skidded next to the cart and looked around on the ground, searching quickly before her friends caught up. She found what she was looking for and drew a quick arrow on the other side of the big tree where it was out of sight.

Trotting back to the other side, she saw her friends skid up, panting. Luna, unused to her much smaller form, had brought up the rear, and looked quite concerned as her horn glowed softly, casting an unknown spell.

“See?” Scootaloo said, pointing at the supplies spread about, most of it still intact, if a bit damp.

“But how are we gonna get this back to the farm?” asked Apple Bloom, prodding the cart with her forehoof, the cart still being stuck in the tree.

“Leave that to us!” Luna said, stepping forward as all the items spread about the area levitated up and towards her, each glowing with a purple aura.

“How is this going to help us? We still have to-” Fortune stopped, wide-eyed as the objects started disappearing with small pops.

“Spike is not the only one able to deliver the mail.” she said proudly.

After a few moments of a rhythmic popping Luna settled on her rump, looking tired, but satisfied. “Huzzah, we can continue on our quest for the cutie marks!”

“Come on then, we’re wasting sunlight!” Scootaloo urged, wearing her smile again.

Apple Bloom started saying something, but Scootaloo wasn't listening, her mind was already busy planning for the night.


After a full day of crusading, which only involved one high speed chase away from an exploding potato cart, the young fillies were back on the road to the Apple’s farm. Luna, who was unused to a full day of excitement, walked in a sleepy daze.

“That was AWESOME!” squeaked Fortune, hopping a little into the air, her worries temporarily forgotten.

“Yeah, until we nearly blew up half the market!” interjected Sweetie Belle, who would be picking potato chunks out of her mane for weeks.

“But we said sorry.” Fortune countered.

“You’re the smart one, can’t you figure the costs of the market stalls that we destroyed?” asked Apple Bloom.

“Eh, most of it’ll buff out, don’t ya agree Scootaloo?” asked Fortune, nudging her silent friend, who merely changed her course a little, until she and a half-asleep Luna ran into each other, knocking each other down.

“Sorry Luna.” Scootaloo muttered, her mind a thousand miles away.

“Mmmmnnnn, popcorn.” said Luna dreamily as she fell asleep on the ground in a sprawl.

Scootaloo, completely oblivious, stepped over her, muttering something under her breath and continued down the road, ignoring her friends as they propped Luna up between themselves and trotted after her.

“Scootaloo! Aren’t you gonna say sorry at least?” demanded Fortune angrily.

“Mrrr.” was her zombie like response as she continued, oblivious to the world.

“She’s taking this hard.” whispered Sweetie Belle.

“Wouldn’t you! I know if I lost Applejack or Big Mac I wouldn’t even be able to walk. She had just found her perfect family too, and then she had it torn away.” Apple Bloom whispered back.

“But she seemed fine earlier! What happened?”

“Earlier we were distracting her, but now that she has time to slow down and think and.....” Apple Bloom paused, unable to think of what to say next.

“It’s all hitting her again, like the waves against the coast. We shall guard her in her dreams tonight, but there is nothing we can do during the day besides providing the distractions.” muttered Luna, who was still hanging limp between Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle.

“Aren’t you asleep?” asked Fortune.

The only response was her snoring slightly, a long string of drool flopping down to the ground, waving back and forth in the motion of their walking.

“Of course, the youngest is left to take care of one of the oldest in the kingdom.” Fortune muttered while kicking a rock.

“Glad to see you supervising so well, maybe you could take a turn carrying her, she weighs a ton!” Sweetie Bell complained.

Fortune, looking at the sleeping ancient filly, looked forwards towards Scootaloo and saw her drifting off towards a ditch, unaware of her imminent drop into the brackish water.

“I’ll help her!” she said, zipping off leaving a small puff of dust as she darted over.

After trotting along for a few more minutes the Apple’s home was coming into view. Sweetie Belle motioned with her head for them to slow down, letting the distance between them and Scootaloo greaten. Fortune, who noticed this, looked back with concern, but continued on when Sweetie Belle waved her on.

“We have to watch her tonight, make sure she doesn’t give herself too many nightmares.” she whispered over to Apple Bloom.

“So no scary stories?” Apple Bloom asked sarcastically.

Sweetie Belle answered her with a venomous glare, one trick she had picked up from Rarity.

“Okay, okay, I was only joking anyways, last thing I want is a repeat of that campin’ trip.” she added quickly.

Approaching the home, they could see the construction ponies had been busy. Up on the third floor they had built another addition, most likely Luna’s room judging from the large telescope that peaked from one of the windows. Luna was bound to be happy about having an actual bed to sleep in tonight, rather than a couch.

From the front door, Big Mac could be seen guiding in Scootaloo, concern written all over his face as he saw the state of mind that Scootaloo was in. Looking around, he also saw the sleeping Princess and the sound of hs facehoof could be heard from Ponyville.

“Please tell me you didn’t break her.” he asked once they were within earshot.

“Popcorn!” Luna yelled, thrusting her left fore hoof into the air before collapsing into a limp again.

“See, she’s fine.” Sweetie Belle squeaked.

“What did they break now?” yelled Rarity from somewhere inside the house.

“The Princess.” Big Mac said after hesitating for a moment.

There was a gasp and the sound of crashing dishes as Rarity stormed into the room, a couple first-aid kits flying behind her as she used her magic to push everypony else aside so she could get at the princess. Grabbing her with her magic, she stormed out of the room as quickly as she had come, a sleeping Luna blissfully unaware of hurricane Rarity that had just destroyed much of the living room.

There was a few moment of silence after the bathroom door slammed shut, followed shortly by the sounds of a tub being filled.

“I wonder if she remembers that she’s about to give the Princess of the Night a bath?” Fortune asked from underneath the couch.

“I’m sure she’s eventually going to figure that out.” Big Mac said as he set his large lazy chair back upright.

“Umm, before she comes back though, can somepony get me down please?” asked Apple Bloom, who was hanging onto the overhead fan, which was thankfully off at the moment.

“Mrrr.” Scootaloo said zombie like as she trudged upstairs, oblivious to the damage in the room.

“Is she okay?” asked Big Mac.

“I hope so, she was fine earlier, but she’s seemed more and more distracted as the day went on.” said Sweetie Belle, who had managed to unbury herself from underneath the mound of couch cushions that had been tossed under one of the large bay windows.

“Come on, lets see what Rarity had managed to cook before she abandoned it.” Big Mac said as he walked into the kitchen.

“Yeah, something smells good!” Fortune said as she followed him.

“It’s getting stuffy in here though, I’ll turn on the fan.” Sweetie Belle said as she followed them, flipping the switch next to the door.

“You forgot me!” yelled Apple Bloom as she started slowly revolving around.


Applejack trotted up to her house, exhausted after looking for Cass all day. The Guard ponies she had taken out with her had proven to be like the last couple. She had worn them easily, and quickly, but had found no trace of Cass in the Everfree.

Thinking back, she grimaced at how easily Sasha had convinced her to get some sleep tonight, how could she sleep knowing that something had its claws on Cass, who knew what dangers he was in.

Pausing at the door she sighed. At least tonight she would be able to spend some time with the girls, make sure that they were okay at least. She didn’t even want to imagine what they were going through, but at least the house would be a calm in the middle of the storm.

Of course, fate, had other plans. As she opened the door she was greeted by a scene of utter chaos. The couch was flipped and all of its cushions thrown under the window, and the coffee table was leaning against the wall.

“GET ME THE BUCK DOWN!” yelled Apple Bloom, holding on for dear life as the fan spun at a moderate pace.

Applejack, stunned, couldn’t move from the spot, staring wide eyed at the spinning filly.

“Hurry or I’ll puke!” she yelled again.

Applejack, blinking a few times, ran over to the switch and flipped it off. She then grabbed the table and flipped it down, hopping on top and reaching up, stopping the fan suddenly with her hoof. Apple Bloom, un-ready for the sudden stop, went tumbling off and knocked Applejack off of the table in a heap.

“I’m okay.” she said as she attempted to stand up, only to canter off sideways and fall on her side, her eyes not looking straight in any one direction.

“Come on, I’ll help you.” Applejack said, picking up her younger sister and placing her on her back.

Walking into the kitchen she saw Big Mac snoring behind a newspaper as Fortune and Sweetie Belle attempted cooking, causing a billowing black cloud of smoke, which somepony had been smart enough to set up a fan in the nearby window to suck it all out.

Looking up from the boiling orange juice, Sweetie Belle smiled, “There you are Apple Bloom! We were looking for you earlier.”

“The fan! For three hours! How could you not hear me?” she demanded.

“Hmm, what?” asked Fortune as she pulled wads of cotton from her ears, “The fire alarms were so loud we had to protect our hearing somehow.”

“Three hours!”

Big Mac, who was snoring before, shot upwards, eyes darting open as he looked around the room before they settled on Apple Bloom and Applejack. He looked at them for a moment before his eyes shot open in realization.

“We forgot you, didn’t we.” he said in horror.

“YES!” she raged.

“Umm, sorry?” said Sweetie Belle.

“Sorry ain’t gonna cut it!”

“Umm, Ah hate to interrupt , but where is the Princess?” asked Applejack.

“She’s with Rarity, we kinda broke her when we were crusading today.” Sweetie Belle explained.

“You, broke the princess?”

“She’s in bed now, I had to give her a thorough bath to wash whatever you had blown her up with out of her fur. Though I do wonder why she did not transform back into her full form at any point.” Rarity said as she stepped into the kitchen.

“But still, you broke the princess? How in tarnation did you manage that? And why should Ah not tan your hide for doing so?” she asked, her anger flaring uncharistically fast.

“Three hours!” Apple Bloom exclaimed, obviously still quite angry.

“An’ why should I not tan your hide Big Mac?” At this, most of the color drained from his face.

“Ah, umm.” Big Mac, unused to dealing with an angry Applejack, was completely lost for words.

“An’ why were you nappin’, don’cha got some work to do? Just because Ah’m not here don’t mean you can just relax!” she said before turning on Sweetie Belle, who was still standing on the stool in front of the stove.

“An’ who let you cook, don’t you know your cooking is the worst in town! Ah’m just lucky the whole place hasn't burnt down yet!” Applejack yelled angrily.

Applejack, not done yet, turned on Rarity who was standing wide-eyed in the doorway, “An’ you! Where were you this entire time? You of all people I would’ve expected to have kept them in line, but no! You’re off playing spa date with the princess, who,” she paused as she turned on Apple Bloom, “you broke!” she accused.

“Now Ah’m gonna go take a bath so please have something ready for me to eat, Ah wanna get back out searching again!” she yelled as she left the room, slamming the half-door shut on her way out.

After Applejack stomped upstairs and they heard the bathroom door slam shut with enough force that the various knickknacks on the shelves bounced around, did they finally take a collected breath of air.

“Is my cooking that bad?” asked Sweetie Belle, tears welling up in the corners of her eyes.

Rarity quickly walked over to her little sister and put her forehoof around her.

“She’s just had a hard day. She didn’t mean anything she said. But if it would mean anything, I’ll ask Pinkie Pie to give you some more lessons.”

“Thanks sis.” she said, some of her smile reappearing.

Meanwhile, Apple Bloom walked over to Big Mac, nudging him with her shoulder.

“Ah’m worried about Applejack.” she said.

“Eeyup, me too.”


As Applejack lowered herself into the steaming tub of water she couldn’t seem to relax, but rather just sat there brooding, only her eyes sitting above the water, and her long blonde mane radiating out around her head like an aura of some aquatic creature.

“Where the hay is he?” she thought to herself, blowing bubbles with her mouth.

Grabbing a bar of soap, she started angrily scrubbing the mud and leaves out of her fur, quickly reducing the bar into a mere sliver. In her anger at using up the soap so quickly, she hurled what remained at the door, where it deformed and stuck to it. As she reached out of the tub and into the nearby cabinet to get another bar of soap, her still soapy hoof slipped out from underneath her, causing her to face-plant into the rug that was sitting next to the tub, her rear stuck over the edge of the tub, leaving her in an undignified position.

“Cass would have some smart-alec comment to say right about now.” she cried into the rug, her tears coming without her wanting them as she pushed herself up.

“And he would probably be very funny also.” said Luna, who was sitting facing away from Applejack on the toilet seat, still in her diminutive filly form.

Applejack, blushed hard as she rapidly pushed herself back into the tub, sinking back into the comforting warmth of the water before she asked, “When did you get in here?”

“Just when we heard thou plaster thy door with a bar of soap. We came in to ensure that you were okay.” Luna said without turning around.

“Ah’m okay!” Applejack blurted out too quickly.

Luna merely half turned her head towards the cabinet that was still sitting open. Using her magic, she lifted another bar of soap out and stripped it of it’s paper packaging and levitated it over to Applejack.

“Thanks.” she said as she reached towards it, only for it to zoom out of her grasp.

“We heard you yelling at your family and friends. That does not sound ‘okay’. That, and thou are the worst liar that we have ever heard.”

“Ah said I was okay! Why doesn’t anypony believe me when Ah say that!” she yelled, standing up and splashing water out onto the floor.

Luna raised one of her eyebrows as she twisted to look at the growing puddle on the floor.

Utilizing her distraction, Applejack reached up and grabbed the soap from the air before plopping back down into the water.

“Thank you for the soap, now if you excuse me, Ah got some cleanin’ up to do.” she said with a huff.

“Would you want Cass to see you like this?” Luna asked, looking away again.

“What? Are you goin’ to start lecturin’ me also about how Ah need to take care of how Ah look? Exactly what Ah nee-”

“Thou knows exactly what we mean.” Luna interrupted quietly.

Applejack looked deflated when Luna turned to look at her. Her head was hung down low forwards and her hair covered her face. Her shoulder were heaving and Luna could also faintly make out the sound of dripping water. She was sure it was not bathwater making the dripping noise.

“Ah have to look for him, he would do the same for me or anyone else here.” she choked out after a few minutes.

“But he is Cass, and you are you. You need to get some rest and you need to relax a little so that when he returns he does not have to nurse you back to health. And what would happen if you were out looking and he came back? Or worse, what if they also captured you? Did you consider what that would do to your sister, and your daughter? They would be devastated! Thou need to stop being so selfish and think about your family!” Luna said quietly, but her words carried power with them.

“I don’t know what to do! Ah just can’t sit here all day and just wait for him to come home on his own.” she sobbed.

“What you can do is be the pillar of support. So when the little ones have nightmares, they can run to you and be swept up in the comforting embrace they surely need.” Luna said as she hopped across the small gap between the toilet and the tub, landing gracefully on the edge where she lifted Applejack’s face up so she could look her in the eyes.

Applejack wiped the tears off the side of her face with one of her wet hooves, leaving a wet streak across her face, and managed a weak smile.

“Ah’ll try to do that.” she said quietly.

“Good, we would have had to resort to locking you in the basement for thy own safety.” Luna said a bit too cheerily as she jumped back down onto the floor with a clop and started walking towards the door.

“Luna!” Applejack cried as Luna used her magic to swing the door open.

“That’s our name.”

“Thank you”

With a genuine smile, Luna nodded and exited the small bathroom, closing the door with a click behind herself, leaving Applejack to soak in the now lukewarm water.


Standing out in the hallway all alone, Luna concentrated again, her horn glowing brightly for a few moments before the small princess collapsed onto the floor, panting.

“What is blocking the majority of my magic?” she wondered to herself after her latest attempt to transform back into her ‘Royal’ size.

“Something is very wrong nearby, I just hope they do not need our help to overcome it.” she said out loud to herself as she stood up and started down the stairs, following the smells of burnt orange juice.