The morning sun rose over Ponyville, promising a fine, clear day to begin the harvest season. Applejack woke with the dawn and joined her family in the kitchen to breakfast on wholesome griddle cakes and eggs and finalize plans for the first day of full-time Apple-bucking. “I’ll git started in the east fields where everythin’s threatening ta drop,” she said, using her plate as a simplistic map, “Macintosh, you work the south and toward the hills. Apple Bloom, try and git an acre or two harvested before you head off ta school, alright?”
“Ok Applejack,” Apple Bloom said. “I think I saw signs of fruit bats moving in ‘round about the Crusader Clubhouse, so I’ll work there so we don’t lose as many apples to them.”
“What about our ‘guests’ out in the cow barn?” Big Macintosh asked. “Might as well get a little help out of them, if they’re up for it.”
“Already thought of that Mac,” AJ said. “They ain’t exactly farmers, any more than the original Order-naries are,” she chuckled, “so I figured we’d let ‘em get a little more sleep before siccin’ them on our trees.” Macintosh nodded in silent approval and piled more pancakes onto his plate. Apple Bloom finished her breakfast quickly, and then dashed out of the house to get a head start on her applebucking.
Arriving at the clubhouse with a stack of baskets balanced on her head, the young yellow pony started setting the baskets up underneath the trees that looked particularly ready to release their fruit at a firm kick, but then paused when she heard a faint snoring coming from the tree-house. She trotted up the ramp and peered through the window to investigate, and saw an orange pegasus filly with a purple mane and tail stretched out on the floor fast asleep. “Scoo-” Apple Bloom started to exclaim, but then stopped herself as an idea for a prank struck her. Quietly opening the door, she sneaked inside and found some ribbons from a long-abandoned project and a brush, and then proceeded to braid Scootaloo’s tail. She finished that off with a large bow at the end of the braid, and then tried to do something similar with Scootaloo’s mane. By this point, however, Apple Bloom’s ministrations had roused the pegasus, and so Apple Bloom backed off quickly and tried to look innocent as Scootaloo’s eyes opened.
“Apple Bloom?” Scootaloo asked tiredly, and then snapped to full wakefulness and sprang to her hooves. “H-hey,” she said with a poor attempt at nonchalance, “what are you doing here?”
“I’m the one that should ask that question Scoots,” Apple Bloom said. “Did ya seriously spend the night here?”
“Uh,” Scootaloo said, rubbing her head. She glanced away from her friend, and then caught sight of her braided tail. “What the?” she exclaimed, and Apple Bloom broke down laughing. “What’s the big idea?” Scootaloo asked sourly. “You know I don’t like my hair done that way!”
“Well, that’s what ya get fer having a sleepover in the clubhouse without tellin’ me,” Apple Bloom said, smirking.
“I wasn’t having a sleepover,” Scootaloo growled as she attacked the bow in her tail with her teeth, undoing the braid. She spat the ribbons onto the floor, and then slumped. “I just… I dunno, didn’t want to sleep at home last night. I live close to where that monster attacked, and…”
“Yer parents know you’re out here?” Bloom asked.
“Yeah,” Scootaloo answered, “kinda. They think I’m sleeping over at your house though.”
“Scootaloo,” Apple Bloom sighed, shaking her head. “Fine, I’ll go along with it since it’s close enough to th’ truth. Ya want breakfast?”
“Do I?” Scootaloo exclaimed eagerly. Apple Bloom led her outside, and then pointed at one of the trees she’d prepared for harvesting. Scootaloo got the hint immediately, and she was not amused. “I thought getting my tail braided was my punishment,” she said.
“It was,” Apple Bloom said, “but Applebuck Season starts today, so everypony on the farm’s gotta pitch in. I’ll let’cha have one apple fer every three you get outta that tree. Sound fair?”
Scootaloo regarded the plump, red, juicy-looking apples hanging from the branches, and her hunger got the best of her. Even being best friends with Apple Bloom, a Sweet Apple Acres apple plucked right from the tree was an uncommon treat. “All right, you’ve got a deal.” Hopping into the air, she flapped her little wings as hard as she could and with great effort managed to get herself up into the canopy. Hopping from branch to branch, she shook the apples free, keeping a careful count of every one that landed in the baskets below. Satisfied that her friend was engaged in the work, Apple Bloom went on to the next tree and started bucking.
About an hour or so later, the pair of friends emerged onto the main path leading through the orchards and back around to the farmhouse. Scootaloo had earned more apples than she could safely eat, and was thus pushing a basket containing the surplus ahead of her. As they neared the house, the sounds of a heated discussion gave both young ponies pause, and they looked up to see Applejack conversing with an ash-grey unicorn, a golden-yellow unicorn, and a brown earth pony.
Scootaloo’s head cocked to the side in confusion. “Are those guys the good ones or…?”
“They’re t’other group,” Apple Bloom said. “We let ‘em sleep in the cow barn last night, but I’m thinking they ain’t too willing to work it off.”
“We have more important things to do than pick apples!” Traev snapped, proving Apple Bloom’s theory with uncanny timing.
“Oh, like what?” AJ retorted. “Y’all are pretty much dependent on Ash n’ the others to know where ta look fer the Gems, and I ain’t heard anything about them pointing to the next one.”
“You probably won’t until we go ask them,” Carrie pointed out.
“At this time of th’ morning?” Applejack asked. “I’d wager they’re thinking more about breakfast right now. A bit of applebucking would do y’all a lick of good anyway; it’ll help get you in shape and more used ta moving on hooves.”
“I think we got quite enough practice in the battle yesterday, thank you very much,” Traev said coldly.
AJ’s hoof dug at the ground dangerously, and her voice dropped to match. “Your attitude is really starting to bug me,” she said. “I’ve dealt with thick-headed and disagreeable ponies before, but they usually had a halfway decent reason fer being that way. I get the feeling you’re just being difficult for the hay of it.”
“Well excuse us if we don’t fit your little image of community effort,” Traev said sarcastically.
“Uh, Apple Bloom,” Scootaloo said out of the corner of her mouth, “maybe we should get to school now?”
Bloom gave her normally fearless friend a look, and then shook her head. “Mah school bag’s in the house,” she said. “You go on ahead if you want. I’ll catch up ta you and Sweetie Bell, and I’ll bring yer apples with me.”
“Oh. Ok, see you later then Apple Bloom!” Scootaloo galloped off into the trees, skirting well around the arguing ponies and into town. Apple Bloom watched her until she was hidden by the trees, feeling concerned about the orange pegasus. Scootaloo was the only one of the original Cutie Mark Crusader trio who had yet to succeed in discovering her special talent, and now Apple Bloom was starting to suspect she was taking it harder than she let on. She shook the thought off for the moment, and then steeled herself to walk past Applejack and the Bipersonality Team. With luck, perhaps her brief presence would break up the argument, peaceful-like.
Trixie was in a sour mood, contrasting greatly with Barnacle Salt and Harlequin who were actually enjoying their breakfast. Cabbage Patch wanted to enjoy herself as well, but Trixie’s mood and the occasional looks from the other morning customers of Sugar Cube Corner made it difficult. Nopony had said anything yet, but Cabbage was dreading that someone would recognize her as the Changeling from yesterday. Trixie was just waiting for something else to happen in support of her perceived Ponyville curse.
Rainbow Dash strolled into the bakery, fresh from her Wonderbolts-mandated morning workout, and after looking around she made a beeline for Trixie’s table. “Well,” she said, taking a seat across from Trixie, “if it isn’t yesterday’s big hero.”
“What do you want, Rainbow Dash?” Trixie asked, suspiciously.
“I was thinking,” Dash answered. “You seemed really quiet and not at all your usual hammy self yesterday, and from the looks of it a good night’s sleep hasn’t cured you of that.”
“You must feel so accomplished,” Trixie said with dry sarcasm. “Your little town of Ponyville has succeeded where even hitting rock bottom or being attacked by giant rocks has failed. Congratulations, there will be no showboating from Trixie from now until our new wagon is finished. Happy?”
“What? No!” Rainbow exclaimed earnestly. She glared at the other ponies at the table and asked, “Are you guys just going to let her be like this?”
“I gave boosting her spirits a go last night,” Harlequin said. “No dice, so why bother trying again so soon?”
“I… I’d like her to be happier,” Cabbage said in her typical quiet manner, “but she has so many stories of things going badly in this town…”
“I know she does,” Rainbow said. “I was there for pretty much all of them. But why focus on the bad stuff if it only drags you down? I wouldn’t be half as awesome as I am if I bothered to remember every time I crashed, flubbed a trick, or ran afoul of waterfowl.” She thrust a hoof out to within an inch of Trixie’s nose and continued, “And you can talk a bigger game than I can, Great and Powerful Trixie, and back it up on occasion. Remember when you took down Gilda’s griffon gang?”
“Yes, but I had Twilight’s help with that,” the showmare replied.
“You didn’t have her help yesterday,” Rainbow pressed, withdrawing her hoof and smiling expectantly. “I saw the wreckage that Tremolo character did to the road, and you faced that and drove him off for a while. That must have been one hay of an awesome battle; tell me about it.”
“It seems to me you already know the important part,” Trixie said flatly.
“Yeah, but I want details,” Rainbow insisted. She reached across the table and pulled Trixie up onto it. “Come on,” she urged, backing away, “if you’re the Great and Powerful Trixie, prove it. Tell us the tale, and make it outrageous.” Harlequin and Barnacle voiced their encouragement, which was echoed by a couple other patrons, to Trixie’s surprise.
“Oh, well, if you insist,” Trixie said, mood lifting as she soaked up the approval. She conjured up a mirror to check her mane, gave it a toss, and began to spin her story. “It all began in Hoofington, which Trixie’s sworn enemy Tremolo was holding hostage…”
Trixie warmed quickly to storytelling, and her small audience drank in every word. As soon as she had finished relating her troupe’s heroic escape from Tremolo’s rock monster, with everything related to sending Cabbage Patch ahead as a messenger judicially omitted, there were calls for another story, and so she told the story of when a miscast spell had briefly trapped Twilight Sparkle’s mind in Trixie’s head, and after that she went on to more fantastic but fictional tales. Ponies who came into Sugar Cube Corner looking for a treat or to place a larger order were enticed to linger by the azure showmare’s narratives, and soon there was a consensus among the listeners that a proper show by Trixie’s Royal Thespians was in order. The invitation was accepted and Barnacle, Harlequin, and Cabbage excused themselves to get their costumes and props, and perhaps find a more appropriate venue than a bakery.
They had to pass through the town square on their way to the rooms they were renting, and thus happened to witness a minor confrontation between the Bipersonality Team and Ashen Blaze and Gale. They were standing by the Lirin, and Ash and Gale were meeting Traev’s hot impatience with longsuffering calm.
“What do you mean you don’t know where to look next yet?” Traev demanded.
“There aren’t any more Gems in the Ponyville area,” Ash answered, “and that’s about as far as PC can scan from the ground.”
“Well then, do a scan from the air,” Carrie said, pointing at the Lirin. “You’ve got a ship. Use it.”
“The Lirin isn’t quite ready for flight yet,” Gale said. “I don’t know why you can’t trust us, but we are taking the Gem hunt seriously. We’re just being realistic.”
“This whole thing’s about you and Vanatos anyway, right?” Ash asked. “The Gems will come together sooner or later anyway, so why stress about it?”
“Because of what happened yesterday,” Traev said, indicating the entire, mostly empty square. “Or are you as quick to forget as it was for the scars to be healed?”
“Point,” Ash admitted, bowing his head for a moment. “However,” he added, looking his double square in the eye, “yelling at us won’t make reality bend to whims. My ship’s grounded, and until it’s fixed we’re not finding any more Chaotic Gems. If you need something productive to do, why don’t you go help pay off the debt we owe that dragon? The gem fields are that-a-way, if I remember correctly.”
Traev looked off in the direction Ash was pointing, and then back at the grey unicorn with a flat expression. “Fine,” he said, “but the instant you get a clue to the remaining Gems, come and get us.”
“You have my word,” Ash said seriously. The Bipersonality turned and left, and once they were gone Ash breathed a sigh of relief. He then turned to Gale and with a quirked eyebrow said, “My ship seemed to be in pretty decent shape when I went to bed last night. Is there something I’m not aware of?”
“No,” Gale answered, “Lirin’s flight capable, but those guys need a serious dose of chill pills. That said, I don’t want to stress the ship too much, since it’s our only way home.”
“Ah, truth,” Ash said. “I trust its care to very capable hooves, though.” As Gale blushed in surprise at the rare overt compliment, Ash caught sight of the three performers standing a short ways off and gave them a measuring look. “Enjoy the show?” he asked coolly.
Cabbage ducked behind Barnacle Salt, who firmed his stance and met Ash’s gaze. “Just passing by,” he said.
“Good day then,” Ash responded, turning his reflexive avoiding of eye contact into a dismissive turn of his head. Barnacle, Harlequin, and Cabbage resumed walking, keeping a weather eye on the grey unicorn for the first few steps. Ash made a show of examining the Lirin’s hull as the three departed.
“They’re gone now,” Gale said with mild amusement once they’d disappeared down the street. “You can relax.”
“I’m caught in a conflict here,” Ash said, looking at her out of the corner of her eye. “That little one’s a Changeling, a creature that literally thrives on deception and emotive vampirism, but she’s been vouched for by someone Twilight trusts and who I know has changed for the better since we first met her.”
“The evil and the monstrous can reform, given the right incentive,” Gale replied sagaciously, and then punctuated it with a hard jab to Ash’s shoulder and the words, “Meis Thamule.” Ash’s answer to that was a mere sigh. “New topic,” Gale said with a light tone and sly smirk. “You had a date with Rarity last night. How’d that go?”
“We had dinner, skipped out on the Pinkie Party, and talked through the evening,” Ash said shortly. He seemed content to leave it at that and made as if to walk away, but Gale grabbed him and whirled him around to face her, a demand for elaboration on the tip of her tongue. “We didn’t talk about anything serious,” Ash said quickly and with some amusement. “I have to admit though, I’m starting to find her company to be… refreshing. The way she looks at me, the thing she sees, is so detached from the popular image of Ash the Pragmagic, and even from the way most ponies see me… In her eyes, I’m not a mercenary, an alien, not even a mage, first. It’s… I’m not even sure, but it’s nothing that describes me, and yet, I don’t feel like it’s inaccurate.”
“My word,” Gale said with deliberately over-played shock, “the entirely self-made Ash actually validating someone else’s depiction of him? I must be dreaming, or is the world ending?” Ash glowered at her, and then stalked away in silence. “Hey,” Gale called after him, mentally kicking herself, “I’m happy for you, really.”
“Appreciated,” Ash called back sarcastically without slowing down or looking back.
The Changeling hive was literally buzzing with activity, and it was driving Noctus crazy. She hadn’t quite been detected yet, but the little insectoid shape-shifters were aware that something was pushing drones to the brink of mental and physical death as it moved around their home. Noctus had come to the realization that while the typical Changeling could possess ambition and the drive to excel at their assigned tasks, its personality would crumble like old autumn leaves before the will of the Nightmare, leaving her very little to derive more strength from.
My only hope that the Queen’s invasion of Canterlot means she actually has some brains in her head.
The activity wasn’t all due to her though, as she quickly learned. The Queen had finally returned, and so Noctus quickly secured a new, fresh host to allow her to approach the royal chamber without attracting undue attention. She paused outside, briefly confused by the lack of guards stationed by the entrance tunnel. She shrugged it off as something to see to later, and then sneaked in as she heard voices within.
“You’re certain this will be all I require?” the buzzing voice of Queen Chrysalis asked. “It does not look all that impressive.”
“I doubt I need to tell you that appearance can be deceptive,” said another rumbling, hissing, masculine voice. “Bless your children with its power, and then seek your revenge. All I ask in return is that you draw out my enemies and crush them along your way.”
“And how will I know who these enemies of yours are?” Chrysalis asked. Noctus crept forward until the speakers came into view, and then froze.
“You’ll know them,” said the large, bipedal monster that stood before Chrysalis’s throne, its entire form divided into four glowing quarters, each a different color. “Utilize your new power properly and they won’t be able to resist showing themselves.” Chrysalis stared intently at the creature, and then turned her attention down to the stone at her feet. She placed a hoof on it, and a dark shadow began to spread out of it, wrapping itself around her leg and flowing rapidly along the floor in all directions. The glowing creature clapped his hands and vanished in a flare that was quickly consumed by the growing darkness. The darkness reached Notcus, and at its touch she felt strength fill her stolen body.
Oh, this could be very good.