Interviews With Equestrians

by Jmaster49

Subject 242: The Battlefield Is Changing

To give a summary of what happened next: Coloratura decided to stay behind at the farm with Babs and Applebloom to make sure Applejack fully recovered. In the meantime, Cheerilee and I had to get going. That was only one of many skirmishes that were set to take place thanks to Grogar’s influence.

But before we left, I felt Babs nudge me at my side. “Hey, bruddah. You alright?”

I dried my tears, and wiped my face. “Huh? Yeah, just--just something in my eye is all.”

“Look man...if you gots a problem, don’t be tryin’a act tough about it. I’m ya friend--and from the looks of it, yous still feelin’ bad about what the asshole said, eh?” she tilted her head with a soft, sympathetic gaze behind her eyes.

Could never really escape her perceptive self, could I? “Augh...yeah. You’re right. I’m sorry--I need to stay focused.”

She reached out, and put a hoof around my neck. “Don’t be. Whatcha sorry for? We may be in the middle of a massive armed conflict, but that don’t mean we should just pretend our emotions don’t exist, should we?”

The embrace got me to think critically for a while. And she was right once again. Carrying a stone-faced, emotionless visage is what led me down the path to make choices such as killing Svengallop unwarranted in the first place. While it wasn’t good to let emotions drive one’s decisions, to toss them out entirely would also prove to be equally harmful. I needed to keep that in mind as we proceeded.

“You have a point,” I replied, “For the moment, Cheerilee and I will head off to the other side of town and keep helping there. You make sure your cousin recovers, yeah?”

She let go of me, and flashed me that dominant smile of hers. “O’course. But in exchange, you betta invite me to ya weddin’.”

“Wedding? What are you--”

Before she could finish that thought, her cousin had called her name. “Babs! I’mma need yer help carryin’ some appuls to the barn to make some cider!”

“No problem, cuz!” Babs turned to me, and gave me a playful nudge with her hoof. “See ya soon, eh? And don’t you go dyin’ out there.”

Once she left, I had to get up and prepared to get going again. Cheerilee approached me to see how I had held up. “How are you feeling, Pale?”

“My own name pretty much describes it,” I returned with some self-deprecation to try and make light of it, “Or something like that. But no really, I’m starting to feel a bit better knowing that he’s gone and forgotten.”

“There’s no shame in wanting to rest,” she said, “I’m getting a bit tired as well. Even though the war rages on, we still need to make sure that we’re in top condition.”

“Hm…” I shut my eyes for a second. To see if I could sense anything. There wasn’t anything immediate that stood out--until I caught wind of something in the air. Not too far off from the Town Hall with a few innocent bystanders nearby. If that place was threatened, then we could be in for a rough time.

“Is something wrong,” Cheerilee asked.

I had to be honest. “Yeah, I can feel it. A threat not too far from here. If we hurry, we can make it there before anything bad happens.”

“I see...does it come across as something familiar?”

“Yeah...a tad. If what I can feel is true, then someone I know is over there right now. We don’t have much time to mess around, Cheery.”

She looked at me, and nodded. “Alright. Then let’s get a move on.”

And so we did. We bid the farm a safe goodbye as we went on our way. We had managed to recover just enough to where we could keep moving towards the next sign of danger was located.

WOOSH!

SHOOM!

I looked above us both, and saw what appeared to be a familiar teal pegasus fly through the air as she fought with another familiar individual. One who was laced with a green and black aura with no definitie body shape.

That’s when it hit me.

“...Lightning Dust. She’s battling what’s left of Elytra!”

“What??” Cheerilee looked at me, then up at the sky. “Are you sure?”

“Positive,” I replied, “But she won’t last for much longer. We need to find a way to bring that battle down to the ground so we can help her.”

Cheerilee must have caught something rather worrisome. She started to back up with a nervous frown on her face. “Um, Pale...I don’t think that’ll be necessary…”

I was confused for a moment. “Wait a minute, what?” Then I looked up once more--closer. That’s when I saw a pony’s body fly downwards. It dropped out of the sky and plummeted towards the earth. “...Aw shit.”

From across the side of the Town Square we were on, we could hear Lightning Dust scream at the top of her lungs. “NO! LEAVE HER ALONE!”

CRASH!

The body hit the earth with a violent roar of thunderous dirt. Lightning Dust’s teal trail of coloration followed her when she shot downwards like a laser beam. She stopped, and hovered defensively in front of the crater that was made from the impact.

“I’ll never let you touch her! Get away!”

“...L-Lightning…? You’re….”

As the demon mare floated down to greet her, I managed to make out who had hit the ground. Then my heart dropped.

“Scootaloo?!”

Cheerilee shouted right alongside me. “WHAT?!”

Comments

[Neo4K]

As the demon mare floated down to greet her, I managed to make out who had hit the ground. Then my heart dropped.

“Scootaloo?!”

Cheerilee shouted right alongside me. “WHAT?!”

Oh, boy, looks like Scoots in trouble. And she has Lightning to protect her, as opposed to what she tried to do years ago. Thank God she's mature enough to repent. Whoever this familiar demon is, Pale and Cheerilee better deal with it and fast.