Chapter 5

A squad leader?!? Rainbow Dash is a squad leader?!?

“What’s the matter? Is my pin blinding you with its shininess? I’m sorry, it’s very shiny when it’s polished.” Rainbow Dash boasted.

I felt my face grow hot. I can’t believe her! “Hey, shut up! I have one too!” I claimed, showing her Soarin’s.

“Oh, did Soarin’ give you that?” How did she know? “Yea, it feels a lot better when you actually earn it!”

“Hi Rainbow Dash!” Derpy interjected.

Rainbow Dash looked at Derpy. “Oh, hey Derpy,” she said with a slight look of discomfort, “anyways, where you guys headed?”

“We are on a mission from Princess Celestia.” I said cooly.

“Hmm, that’s strange, I wonder why the Princess didn’t ask me.” Honestly, can she be any more annoying?!?

She swooped down to our campsite and sat on the ground. Derpy and I followed her down.

Without my eyes leaving the pin on her uniform, I asked, “So, whom did you annoy to get that pin.”

“Oh, this bad boy? I earned it myself at the Wonderbolts Academy. Something, the bottom of the class will never do.” She said, giving me a wink.

I am going to buck her in the face so hard… “Hey, I didn’t graduate at the bottom, that was that yellow Pegasus, Flutter-something.” I said as a feeble attempt to defend myself.

“Fluttershy, but that’s different. She found out her special talent was taking care of animals, plus she wasn’t a strong flier to begin with. You on the other hand have no excuse.”

You see, technically, she’s right. I have the capabilities to almost, if not, keep up with Soarin’. I guess I just don’t like the attention as much as some ponies want to hog it. Oh man, if only I would have pushed myself harder… I could easily leave this rainbow-maned jerk in the dust. “How bout a race then, egg-head?” I said with a smirk. She hates being called an Egg-Head.

“Oh you are so ON!” She said shaking a hoof at me. Suddenly, her expression changed and she hung her head, “Aww shoot. I just remembered, I have to be home by tonight. AJ’s having something big at her house tomorrow and she needs help. Maybe some other time Midnight.” Oh sure, conveniently “AJ” needs help. Who in the hay is “AJ”? “I’ll catch you guys later. See ya Derpy! Later Skies.” She said taking off into the sky as a trail of rainbow followed her. It wasn’t fair. How could she be a squad leader?

“Gosh, she is the most annoying Pegasus in the world!” I said, relieved of her presence. Behind me, I heard Derpy giggle. “What’s so Funny?”

Tall Tale. We had finally made it to the small town. Where the thief was headed. We began to ask around town, asking if anypony had seen a mysterious figure in town recently. So far we had had no such luck. Everypony seemed to have been too busy to notice, while others could not recall seeing anyone who seemed out of the ordinary in the past day or so.

I wrote every story we heard into my journal. I wanted to make sure we had everyone’s story straight. It took us a little over an hour to talk to everyone in town. Well, almost everyone.

“Derpy, is that you?” said a strange voice from behind us. Both Derpy turned around to see a tan stallion with a tie. His cutie mark was an hourglass. “I see you’ve made a new friend.”

A big smile appeared on Derpy’s face and she gave the mysteriously familiar stallion a hug. “How have you been? It’s been forever!”

“Only a short while for me my dear. I assume you are on a delivery. Perhaps you can accompany me to my room. I’ve been in town for a few days, and I need some help packing.” The stallion explained to Derpy.

“Excuse me sir, have I met you before?” I interjected. I’m sure I’ve seen this stallion somewhere before.

“No, I believe-“ He stopped after shooting me a double take. He seemed almost frightened. Suddenly he became calm and finished with, “I believe you haven’t.”
Strange.

“Well if you’ll excuse us, we’ll be on our way. Derpy will accompany you shortly.” He explained. The two of them began to walk away, then the stallion stopped, turned to me and asked, “I’m the Doctor by the way, what’s your name?”

“Midnight.” I said confused. What the hay? Now we’re doing introductions?

He hesitated before saying, “Nice to meet you Midnight. Goodbye!” He sort of winced as he said my name. Then the two continued walking in the same direction. I watched them as they turned the corner and were out of sight.
“The Doctor”? Is that supposed to sound impressive?

Okay, I’m on my own for now. I decided that it would be okay if I took the train to Van Hoover. The “Doctor” said Derpy would be along with me shortly, but- wait! He never said where she would meet me! I shook my hoof in the air.

The train ride was only 5-10 minutes to Van Hoover. Thank Celestia they are so close together. Getting off of the train I noticed that a green stallion was arguing with the pony that sold tickets at the ticket booth.

“What do you mean the ticket price went up? It says right there, “five bits”!” The green stallion argued.

“Last ticket is seven bits. Take it or leave it.” The clerk insisted.

“You can’t raise the price just because it’s the last ticket!”

“I just did.”

"Excuse me sir,” I interjected, addressing the clerk, “I believe that the price is three bits.”

“WHAT?!? THREE… BITS?!?” The clerk burst out laughing. “And who are you to make such a stupendous claim?”

“Excuse me, but I just so happen to be a Wonderbolt.” I said, showing off Soarin’s pin. “You wouldn’t want me to report you, would you?”

“I- Oh, I’m sorry sir! No sir!” The pony said nervously. “Yes, three bits it is!” The clerk quickly gave the green stallion the last ticket, “Anything else sir?”

“Hmm…” I put my hoof to my chin. “Take this stallion’s luggage to the VIP Sleeper Car, and maybe I’ll forget any of this happened.”

“Y-y-yes sir!” The clerk ran out of the booth, picked up the stallion’s luggage, and shot in the direction of the car.

“So, are you actually a Wonderbolt?” The green stallion asked me.

“No.” With that, the stallion and I began to laugh.

“Thanks anyways. Who are you then?”

“Me? I’m Midnight Skies. I am the younger brother of Soarin’ Skies.” I explained.

“Oh, okay. So you’re not completely wrong. The name’s Applesnack.” The stallion held out a hoof.

I took the hoof and shook it. We began to exchange stories over the next ten minutes, talking about where we came from and why we were in Van Hoover. Applesnack was gathering supplies to build a house in Appaloosa, where he planned to work on the apple orchard.

Suddenly, the train whistle began to blow.

“ALL ABOARD WHO’S COMING ABOARD!” the conductor sounded.

“Well that looks like me. Thank you again Midnight, I won’t forget it.” Applesnack said as he began to make his way to the train.

“No problem.” I said waving to him

“If you’re ever in Appaloosa, look me up!”

“I will!”

Applesnack disappeared into the crowd of ponies that were boarding the train. I sat down on the bench and took out my notebook. I filled in a page about Applesnack then closed the book. That won’t be a name I will forget.

After leaving the train station, I began to walk down Mane Street in Van Hoover. Ponies were moving past me in all different directions. It was so busy I almost couldn’t move. I began to shuffle through when I saw it. I my jaw almost dropped to the floor. A chill ran down my neck. Everything seemed to grey, as I noticed the dark figure from my dream…

Author's Note

Before anyone says anything, yes, I did use Applesnack from Fallout Equestria. It's kind of a "love note", or whatever you call it, to Kkat, as I am a huge fan of the Fanfic; however, in this fanfic, he serves a different purpose. I loved the way that Kkat beautifully wove in the Applejack and Applesnack story. Applesnack being a mysterious character in the story, doesn't express his feelings, nor does he directly give his story. Instead, through flashbacks, you slowly begin to piece his story together and it is the most heartbreaking story arc I have ever read, only to meet with a tragic end. I wanted him to have a happy ending in this story. Does that mean he will get the girl, setting them in stone as star-crossed lovers? I don't know yet. I don't know. That being said, with this chapter, all the pieces are in place, and the story can begin...