Cutie Mark Crusaders Fantasian City-State Historians, YAY!!!!!!

by Dragonborne Fox

First Day, Morning—The Rundown

The following morning, after everyone more or less woke up and gathered in the mess hall to consume breakfast, the Crusaders couldn't help but notice that something was amiss with their military charges. For starters, Anna, a young Fantasian unicorn, wasn't partially covered in wood and vines like the last time they had seen her, let alone in a strange alphabet spread practically across her body for all they knew. For another, said alphabet was silver in color, offsetting the rest of her tan-beige coat in a rather unsettling way that unnerved the trio the more they looked at it. Two scars were stretching across her back between withers and hinds as if something used to be there, but now wasn't. Her viridian mane was unkempt, and she avoided most of everyone even through eye contact, opting to stick close to Lance as if he could hide her.

And speaking of Lance, his wings now seemed okay—fully flighted feathers, large crimson primaries that complimented his burnt orange coat, the whole nine yards. Scootaloo grinned at him, glad that he got the wind back beneath his wings, and her grin broadened when he looked at her and returned the smile. She turned to the other Crusaders, who had been eyeballing a whole group of new ponies seated at their own table and keeping to themselves.

Many of those ponies at that table had green coats and manes, though most had either one or the other. None of the foals of the group, however, seemed keen to play—everypony at that table was sulking for some reason. Stranger still, some adults had that weird alphabet thing going on with their pelts and others didn't. The only exception to the sulking and the alphabet were the infants, either nursing or sleeping quietly in their mothers' forelegs.

Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom both turned back to Scootaloo. "What's with those ponies?" Apple Bloom asked, turning to glance back to the strangers keeping to their own table. "I thought most everybody here was nothing but drafted gryphons and changelings."

"Rarity did say the survivors of Greenwood got rounded up… she wouldn't say how that happened though," Sweetie replied, keeping her voice low enough to avoid letting the sulking ponies hear her, on the off-chance that they were said survivors of Greenwood. She glanced over her shoulder as a golden-eyed changeling paused her trotting to stare at her and her group. "What?"

The golden-eyed changeling sighed. "Listen, kiddos…" she began with a grimace, wings twitching as she took a moment to figure out how best to compose herself. "I'm only gonna say this once, and if I don't, someone else is going to—and chances are they'll be far less friendly than I'm being now." Her wings sagged as she said, "Whatever you do, do not go around touching any of the magitek around here without a grownup supervising you."

The Crusaders shared glances, then looked to the changeling with tilted heads. "Why?" they asked in unison.

The changeling leaned in close to them, glancing at all of them before speaking, "It's powered by a lot of strong magic, enough to make grown wooly mammoths drop dead as a dingbat. It could do almost anything if mishandled, and I mean almost anything. Like… severing your wings or draining your innate magics dry, or things like that." The Crusaders' eyes widened, and they looked at her rather disbelievingly. "Just take my word for it, and make sure you have at least one of our Lieutenant-Generals on standby if you want a demonstration." With that she lifted her head and trotted off to another table.

Sweetie Belle piped up once she was sure the changeling was out of earshot. "Well… that was weird," she muttered.

Scootaloo nodded, glancing at her long-emptied plate for a moment. "Yeah…" She turned to her fellow Crusaders and ruffled her wings. "I get the feeling we're not gonna be Crusading while we do our weeklong homework here, either."

"Well, we probably couldn't Crusade here anyway," Apple Bloom pointed out, lifting a hoof to gesticulate to the unusually high number of changelings and gryphons surrounding them. "This place is more magitek than even Doctor Whooves's weird blue box, and if we even tried Crusading? A soldier's probably gonna stop us 'fore we got any Crusading ideas off the ground."

Apple Bloom then gestured to the sulking ponies, then at a wall that sported suspiciously raised booths, where Lance and his cohorts sat, watching with hawkish eyes. "That's not even thinking about how Fantasians might feel about cutie marks, either. And if I remember right, none of 'em would tell me how they got their marks." She paused for a moment, then finished with, "Just said that it was a long, boring story that would make me cry myself to sleep or something."

Sweetie turned to look at Apple Bloom with a bit of a pout. "So… say we did Crusade, then. How would we do it?" she asked.

Apple Bloom shrugged. "I 'unno, girls. I did have an idea that we could Crusade for our historian cutie marks, but…" She gestured around the mess hall again, and Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo glanced around to find more than a few soldiers watching them as they tossed their ideas to and fro. "How would we get them here?"

Scootaloo lifted a hoof to hold her chin up. "Good point…" she grumbled in agreement. It was at that moment, the group heard a low buzzing noise and glanced around to try and locate the sound.

"I don't care if this breaks my illusion, Godcat-damnit, they're gonna need someling who's already died so they know how bad Fantasia is!" a rather hollow voice snapped as the buzzing started to come closer to the Crusaders. The three glanced up as a shadow fell over Scootaloo, the source shifting just enough to land next to the trio's table. At first, all they could see of the creature were its ears and spread wings, but then it reared up onto the table to greet them as properly as it could.

The Crusaders turned to the entity and collectively shrieked before backing away as much as the table would allow. "No," the creature said, shaking its skeletally-thin head and stringy scarlet mane as it looked at them with glowing orbs housed in empty eye-sockets, "I'm not here to devour you."

Apple Bloom was the first to stop panicking, but she beheld the thing with wide, skeptical eyes. She watched as the thing hauled its body up onto the table, showing off just how… bony it was. There were no two ways about it, the creature could have legitimately passed itself off as a skeleton in a closet for Nightmare Night, even with the thinly-stretched chitin keeping its bones in check. The white-carapaced creature could barely be called a changeling, sporting four wings, unusually long ears, a broken horn and a carved smile that stretched from ear to ear. "Y-ya sure you haven't been cursed?" Apple Bloom squeaked.

The barely-changeling sighed and nodded. "Far as I can tell," it said. "Unless immortality counts as a curse." By now, some members of the crowd surrounding them began to mumble, with heads turned to the table as the scene unfolded.

"Great, she's terrorizing the kids…"

"Can't even be around other little ones without making them fuss…"

"That thing was at Greenwood two nights ago… why is it here?"

"I'm surprised the kids haven't smashed their plates to defend themselves yet…"

"Rarity, should we stop her? I think we should stop her…"

"It's too late to undo the damage, and Lance hasn't done anything yet… you might as well step in, Applejack…"

Apple Bloom still didn't look convinced. "Do you turn others into zombies by touching them?" she asked out of the blue.

The barely-changeling took a step back, a hind hoof dangling off the table as the question caused its ears to rotate. "No!" it replied with widening orbs; the Crusaders noticed a hint of femininity in its dead voice. "I certainly don't do that!" It—no, she—looked at Apple Bloom as incredulously as her mangled face would allow. "What makes you think that?!"

Apple Bloom's brow furrowed, and her ears pinned back as she stared the barely-changeling down. Before she could open her mouth to retort, Applejack trotted over and grabbed the changeling with her forehooves, lifting her up into the air and plopping her onto her backside before reverting to all fours in one smooth motion. Apple Bloom was about to scream, when she paused to take a look at the scene—her sister wasn't affected in any way by the physical touching. No withering, shivering, nothing. In fact, she seemed right as rain, if a bit miffed at the changeling's antics.

Applejack sighed and turned to the barely-changeling. "Listen, I can get you showing them your true face, but could you have been more gentle about it?" she asked.

The changeling shook her head. "How can you be gentle about this?" she retorted, waving at herself with a hoof. "I was under two illusions the last time they saw me!"

Applejack's brow furrowed, but only for a moment. She heaved another sigh. "Oh consarnit, I hate that you have a point…" She turned to the Crusaders with a slight frown. "Y'all remember that red-maned Fantasian filly that came to Ponyville?" The Crusaders shared glances, and nodded to Applejack, who then gestured to the changeling on her back. "Well… this is what that filly really looks like."

A brief bout of staring came and went, eyes glancing between Applejack and the changeling, before Scootaloo piped up. "So… she's actually a zombie?"

"Wraith," the changeling corrected with an irritable snort.

Apple Bloom's brain started going into overdrive as pieces fell into place. She remembered a filly helping her sort apples, and looking at her strangely when offered a chance to join the Crusaders… and then, it suddenly made sense. So that was why the filly declined; she was unable to obtain a mark of her own at all! "So ya couldn't've said something?" she asked.

The changeling shook her head. "Not without getting a rolling pin to the face," she said. She pointed to Applejack and added, "She told me about your grandmother. I didn't want that risk."

Apple Bloom looked to Applejack for confirmation. Alas, her big sister gave her a tired nod. "Granny Smith said to consult the flippin' General, and that's what I done did," Applejack said, still frowning. "Illusions were the only safe way to keep everypony in Ponyville from losing their marbles."

"Because most ponies in Ponyville didn't like the Fantasians?" Apple Bloom asked.

Applejack nodded. "That's exactly why. They didn't need another reason to run around screaming like headless chickens."

A portal opened up above those in the mess hall, plaid-colored and sparking with lightning. Discord poked his head out of it, and turned to the raised booths before using his tail to gently lower a sloshing, closed barrel to the floor. Then, he put a jar of rainbow jam on top of it. "No, I didn't touch your barrel of cider or zap apple jam with chaos. Feel free to enjoy~" With that, he retracted head and tail into the portal, and it grew a zipper to zip shut behind him.

Applejack wryly grinned. "Ah, yeah, the promised goods," she muttered. She glanced up at the raised booths where Lance and his buddies sat, still watching the proceedings like nothing had happened. "Y'all wanna sample the cider?"

Her grin was returned in earnest, and large wings snapped open. "Aw, hell yeah I do!" Lance called with a grin and crimson eyes gleaming.

Even the wraith's orbs shined, somehow. "Is it bad I want in on it too?" she said, licking her chops with a tongue as pale as the rest of her.

Applejack giggle-snorted, and lifted a hoof to cover her mouth. "T'ain't bad at all," she muttered.

~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~-—-~

Later that morning, Applejack stood outside the door to Lance's office with the Crusaders in tow. She was smiling, remembering when Lance told Apple Bloom he loved the cider, and her smile widened upon recalling the excited squee she made as she went to hug his foreleg. She shared a glance with her sister, and her own smile made Applejack's heart melt a little. Who knew Lance could be such a big softie? If she hadn't known Shining Armor before meeting Lance, or if she hadn't known any better at all, she'd have assumed that military generals were incapable of having soft spots and bouts of compassion.

She couldn't help but overhear some things Lance was telling whoever else was with him in his office, but most of it slipped past her attention. When Anna trotted out with Fenrir, who turned to kneel in front of the Crusaders and petted their heads with a large and fuzzy paw. He even wagged his spike-studded tail a little when doing it, yet managed to look calm and collected despite the action. "You three haven't seemed to change that much in the brief passage of time I have known you when we were in Equestria," he said with a slight grin. "Such boundless energy and curiosities should be nourished, and it seems yours have stoked a fire that burns ever brightly."

The Crusaders turned to Applejack with a collective "Huh?" leaving their mouths. Applejack laughed.

"He means y'all's growing up good is all," she translated with a wide grin.

The Crusaders grinned back and replied in tandem, "Thank you Fenrir!" Fenrir smirked, patted them again, then stood to follow Anna as she trotted down the hall.

Behind him was Sarah—who also sported similar scars to Anna, offsetting her tan-beige coat and brown hippogryph claws, with a really nasty one stretching across her pony-faced forehead—and a strange crystal stallion with a brown mane, beige coat and blue eyes. Both the stallion and Sarah turned to share a brief nod before trotting down the hall that lead to a lift at the end. Anna let her group settle into the lift; before the lift could go down, Maria trotted out the office a moment after, and ran to catch up with the four. She was swift and true, with her dusty brown wings flapping and her front claws scritch-scratching as she went.

Apple Bloom called out to Maria, who turned around before she could board the lift, "Hey! You doin' alright?"

Maria frowned, her violet mane rustling a bit as she tilted her head. "Yeah, why?"

"Just wanted to see if y'all was okay." Apple Bloom nudged Scootaloo with a hoof, and Scootaloo bristled before nodding.

"Sorry about last night; it's just… I haven't seen you in a while, and I didn't get the chance to know you better," Scootaloo added, grinning sheepishly.

Maria nodded and smiled back, boarding the lift. "It's okay; daddy says I can't tell you what I know yet anyway," she replied.

Now, it was Scootaloo's turn to tilt her head. "Why not?"

Anna lifted a wood-covered hoof, now ending in sanded beast-like claws, and held it in front of Maria's barrel before she could speak and answered in her stead, "Well… it's not for fillies like you to really know about. She knows things that only grown-ups are supposed to talk about."

The Crusaders wilted with an "Aaaaaaaaaaaaw!"

Anna shook her head. "Now, now, it's one of those… erm..." She looked up at the ceiling briefly, mouth fumbling a bit as she fished for words, "really, really gross things that kids generally shouldn't, wouldn't and couldn't want anything to do with." With that, she pressed a button on the lift with her raised hoof, and the lift shook, closed its glass doors, and down the hatch they went.

Apple Bloom turned to Applejack and asked, "Sis… those weird markings on the twins were…"

Applejack immediately silenced her with a gentle patting of the head, her smile falling and her eyes taking on a distant, haunted look as concern flashed in their retinas. "Bloom, I love you and all… but that's just a question not worth asking," she said oddly darkly, though not threateningly.

"Why not?" Apple Bloom frowned herself, noticing her sister's immediate change in demeanor with the topic. She knew, straight away, that something was up about it.

"It has nothing but bad answers all 'round. Believe me, Twilight gave me what she thinks is the full story, and I know Lance already has the full story. Even I can't help but shiver whenever I think of…" She looked to the lift where the twins had gone, or maybe at a point past it with how distant her gaze grew. "The hell they endured. My mind can't stop wondering 'bout how those scars got there, and fer the life of me, I think I'm better off not knowing those answers m'self."

Apple Bloom sighed, seeing that she wasn't going to get anywhere with her current inquiries. So she changed the subject. "So Sarah's wing got better?"

Applejack nodded, turning back to smile at her sister. Even then, the haunted look in her eyes failed to diminish. "Ayep. She can fly alright, but the doc told her to take it easy just in case something goes wrong." She glanced to the lift again and added, "Although, I think she might disregard the doc's orders this time 'round."

Then something Applejack didn't miss registered in her mind as she heard Lance utter it. "You get to help the Crusaders on their little project," he said, an audible smile in his voice.

Silence held for just a second. Then Applejack heard the wraithling shout out, "Whaaaaaaaaaat?!"

Applejack couldn't hide the snort that left her snout even if she tried. It seemed Lance was about to dabble in the standard brand of Fantasian insanity. And at this rate, well, she couldn't have expected anything less; nothing of the sort could have even gotten under her skin now.

She hated that aspect of herself, of getting used to the overall craziness of things. But then again, wasn't life itself crazy? It threw bitterly-stinging lemons at her all the time, from small annoyances to great tragedies with the same vitriol that it addressed every other living thing on the sister worlds with.

Finally, after an eternity, the wraithling emerged with a tired sigh. "Alright you three... " she began, looking at the Crusaders intently with half-lidded orbs. If she could frown she would've, but unfortunately her lack of cheeks prevented her from doing so. "I'm going to lay down a few ground rules. Simple, easy-to-follow, so don't get your tails in a twist," she said as they groaned in unison.

"Number one: no touching the magitek without adult supervision; Lance stressed that I remind you of this, and even though I'm technically an adult, I don't count as 'proper supervision' on the grounds that I'm not experienced with magitek, so don't go asking me to press the buttons for you."

"Number two: never, ever ask about a soldier's scars. They're not relevant to your reports, even if you somehow go up the chain of command to Lance himself. It's rude, bothersome, and all around an awkward experience." The wraithling gestured to her face for emphasis. "I can barely remember how I got mine, so don't get your hopes up there." At their nod, she continued.

"Number three: If you want to question certain laws that we mention, you can, but chances are you're better off not asking. If the law happens to affect you somehow, ask away, and we'll try to explain it to you." Here, the Crusaders just gave her a strange look, and she shrugged. "I'm as clueless as you are on this one, so chances are I'll be asking other soldiers about it to get the nitty-gritty myself."

"Number four: for the sake of brevity, wit, and soul, if you ask about the Aerie's official religion, it's 'Godcat-aligned.' Not worshiping Her much, but taking Her existence very seriously. Currently, the same holds true of Faust. Long story behind that which will be given to you lot some other time."

"Number five: for the sake of convenience, highest rung here is General, followed by Lieutenant-General, followed by Colonel, Major, Lieutenant, Sergeant, and lastly, Private. I'm that last rank, but we'll do away with formalities with me since I was just inducted into the army."

"Lastly, number six: don't ask too many questions about cutie marks, it's the same deal with scars. Though in most cases, this isn't applicable on the grounds that we have more non-ponies here than ponies. Am I perfectly clear?"

The Crusaders nodded in unison. "Yes ma'am!" they replied, frowning firmly.

The wraithling lifted her hooves and waved them in front of her as if somepony were holding her at knifepoint for some hard bits. "Now, now, now, you're not military yet, no need for that ruckus," she said, shaking her head. "Besides, not many here tolerate foals emulating that behavior, because Plant Tentacles is enough of a hassle, and I heard she was an exception to that rule. We don't need you following in our hoofsteps, m'kay?"

At the Crusaders' more relaxed nods, the wraithling allowed herself to chill. She rubbed the back of her head awkwardly with a bony hoof and added, "And sorry about scaring you three earlier. I was expecting the reaction, but thought you'd bash my face against the floor like so many others who've seen me before."

"Bash you against the… never! Rarity would lecture me if that happened!" Sweetie said, eyes widening. "I take it that wraiths aren't welcome in most parts of Fantasia?" At the wraith's headshake, her frown deepened.

"Applejack would give me a switchin' if I did," Apple Bloom added.

"I'd probably be grounded for months for that, and made to say I was sorry," Scootaloo finished, wings fanning out for a moment.

The wraithling shook her head. "Hasn't seemed to have changed much on Fantasia, since before I got my ass sealed. Just a bunch of new faces to get used to, so even I might mess up names here and there," she said with a shrug. "I guess Mythonians really are different from Fantasians, then."

The Crusaders collectively sighed. "So, about that homework… how are we gonna start…" Scootaloo began.

The wraithling lowered her head and groaned. "I guess we could ask around, see what all's there to take in…" she muttered under her breath. She lifted her head and looked at the trio evenly. "I guess we could start with another soldier of my rank and ask them how the Aerie was formed, because truth be told I have no idea myself."

Sweetie shared glances with Applejack, and then asked, "Did any other changelings come with you to Mythos?" she asked.

The wraithling idly nodded, propped a foreleg on her fetlock, and rubbed her chin with her other hoof. "Yes, yes… yes one did… let's see if we can find Armin and ask," she said, a gleam in her beady orbs as she contemplated her options. "Oh, and do you have your pencils and paper with you? Ya might want to take notes while we're doing this whole shebang. Y'know, helping you girls on your assignment and all."

Apple Bloom grinned awkwardly and rubbed the back of her head nervously. "Well, we kinda left 'em in our rooms… can we take a detour to get them?" she asked.

The wraithling nodded. "May as well. Oh, and for proper introductions…" She extended her hoof. "Stupid-sounding name incoming, but it was given to me because I managed to forget my own somehow. Katie Rubywing, at your service."

The Crusaders extended their hooves and shook hers simultaneously. "Nice to meet you properly, Katie Rubywing!" they cheered in unison, bobbing the wraith up and down with their shaking. Not that she minded; she'd suffered worse during her tenure as one of the undead, after all.

When they let go, she turned to the lift at the end of the hall and pointed that way. "And now, we march to the Lands of Proper Rest and Restoration to retrieve our note-taking apparel!" she declared, taking point at the head of the line. Applejack snickered as she brought up the rear, letting the wraithling lead her and her charges onward.

"So why can't we ask Lance any questions now?" Scootaloo asked as they boarded the lift.

Katie pressed on a downward-pointing button with a shrug. "He said he was planning something strategically or some such like that. Can't interfere, I'm afraid," she replied as the lift closed its doors and took them downward. "Not that it matters much; we can just ask the other soldiers when he's available and take it from there."

Comments

[Comickook]

Excellent job on this chapter. Can't believe it took me this long to get around to discovering it, but the exchanges, characterizations (at least for the characters I recognized and future chapter set-up were all pretty well done in all the right places. Greatly enjoyed the Crusaders meeting a Changeling wraith during their tour of the city as well as Applejack explaining certain things (such as the reasons for the disguises). I also liked the Crusaders admitting the reason they DIDN'T react violently to the scare and the bit of translation concerning certain things.

On to the next chapter.