Blooming Talent 2: The Apple Falls Far

Scootaloo arrived in the royal city in less than two hours after receiving the summons. The entire way the orange pegasus' mind tried to think of a reason for this; it was strange enough that she had been promoted to major without really knowing why, and now a strange request for Scootaloo to come before the Princess.

And speaking of strange, Rainbow Dash looked like she was sick to her stomach when she saw the letter. She must be worried about Luna finding out about her plan with Trunks. But if Luna did know, Scootaloo was sure Dash and the others would be in prison by now. And since she was on the topic of that, she herself wasn't sure how to feel about all of it. Shed promised not to reveal the conspiracy to any pony, but to be honest, she only had said that because she thought they might abandon the idea once they'd all calmed down. But if they were still serious...

She decided that was something shed talk to Rainbow about later. For now, she needed to be professional; she was entering the royal palace for an audience with the Princess.

As she entered the throne room, she saluted the guards stationed there and they did the same back. The major trotted into the long large room looking up ahead at the dark blue alicorn sitting on her throne. Her ethereal mane and tail flowed like elegant water through the air; her deep blue eyes watching Scootaloo approach.

She bowed before the Princess, who motioned her to stand up again with a hoof. The major did so and smiled up at her.

"Major Scootaloo." Luna said. "It is fortunate you are available at this time."

"Of course, your highness." Scootaloo replied. "And may I say I much appreciate the promotion."

Luna smiled. "That is good, and you do not have to be so formal, Scootaloo. We have enough history that you may just call me Luna."

"Oh, of course, Luna." The major laughed remembering the many dreams that the two shared over the years.

"Now, to the reason I summoned you." The Princess resumed. "The promotion...I wish I could tell you it was just because of your selfless service in the Wonderbolt, especially during the Sapphic conflict. But there are...extenuating circumstances behind it."

"Hm? What circumstances are those?"

The alicorn looked down at the floor as she spoke. "We have reason to believe...that there are forces within our own circles which may look to be rid of me."

Scootaloo's heart skipped a beat at these words; she knew. She knew of Rainbow and the other's plans. But wait, she hadn't mentioned a name..

"Do...do we know who they are..?" She asked.

There was a short pause in the discussion before Luna spoke, her eyes searching the major. "No. We have no leads on that as of yet..."

That calmed Scootaloo down a great deal; if they didn't have any names, that meant Rainbow was safe, at least for now.

"I hate to lie to one of my own subjects, but if I tell her that Trunks is involved, she may lose her trustworthiness due to her friendship with him and the others..." Luna thought to herself.

"Very well, then." Scootaloo said, regaining her composure. "So, what do you need me to do, Luna?"

"I need you to use your new position to assemble a team of your best Wonderbolts. Ponies you trust with your life."

"OK. And what are we to do? What will be our mission? Personal protection for you?"

"No." Luna stated. "Your team will be responsible...for hunting down and imprisoning the conspirators as you find them."

This time, Scootaloo's heart skipped several beats.

***

Apple Bloom groaned as she started to regain consciousness. Her head was throbbing just as bad as her arm now, and she felt like shed been up drinking too many of Granny Smith's hard cidar last night. As she opened her eyes, her mind formed the question of what had happened; once she opened them fully and tried to move, she got her answer.

She was sitting down, back to a large log and tied up with thick rope; at least, that's what she could tell from the dark lighting inside wherever they were. It looked like a cone shaped tent like the ones the buffalo lived in. Had they been nabbed by a native tribe of some sort?

"Judging by all the rustling of these ropes, I'd say you're awake, lady." Wrath's voice suddenly spoke.

"Wrath?" Apple Bloom queried to be sure.

She turned her head as much as she could to see, and her amber eyes found a shape roped on the other side of the log with the same binds.

"What happened? Where are we?" She asked, hoping he would know.

"Well, while you were distracting me with your mushy talk, we were ambushed." Wrath explained. "I'm not really sure by what or who, but from what I caught before passing out, they seem to be birdlike."

Apple Bloom thought back to before the ambush; she remembered the massive hippogryph they'd defeated, and wondered if it hadn't been feral after all..

"You think they're hippogryphs?" She asked.

"This place reeks of pony and bird." The pup behind her affirmed. "So I'd say its a safe bet."

Not good. If that was the case, they may have just killed someone of importance to these hippogryphs. But if that were the case, why were they not already dead? Why keep them alive and just detain them if they planned on killing them? Public execution?

She decided to focus on more productive things like how to free themselves from their predicament. She figured she could easily break the ropes with her strength, but that might expend far too much of her already waning energy and make life harder for Wrath.

"Can you cut through these ropes, Wrath?" She asked him curiously.

The canine sighed. "Don't you think I wouldve done so already if I could? My paws can't move well restrained like this; there's no way I can get my claws into a position to cut the ropes."

Great, that meant they were stuck. She seriously considered expending some energy, but if a fight broke out during the escape, Wrath might be on his own if she used too much. She had no idea how many hippogryph were here, or what they had for weapons...or if there were anymore large ones like the one they'd killed before being captured.

Once again, she decided against it; she wasn't going to let a child fight a battle by himself on her behalf. She started to think of some other avenue of escape, but as she did so, she heard voices from outside the tent.

"Have they awoken yet?" One very deep sounding voice asked.

"They have been conversing," replied a female voice that carried an edge to it. "so I believe so, Chief."

"Let me see them."

Before Apple Bloom could even think 'uh-oh', the flap opened up in front of her and in strode a large hippogryph with his chest proudly puffed out. He wasn't as big as the beast that had attacked them before, but he was still height wise with Apple Bloom if she were standing. His head was that of an eagle with several long feathers laying like long hair from his temples. The rest of his front half was covered in black feathers with yellow colored talons on his front legs. His folded black wings looked massive, even though they were not spread. His lower half was that of a white pony with the tail of a lion; black on the end. His cutie mark, she noticed, was a tomahawk layer over a red dreamcatcher. What that symbolized, she didn't know, but that wasn't what concerned her at the moment.

What concerned her was the harsh and analyzing stare of his literal eagle-eyes. It was as if he were searching her soul for Celestia-knows-what.

After a tense moment of silence, the supposed Chief spoke; his deep voice rumbling in his throat.

"You are the ones who slayed Aragmanoth eh?" He more stated than asked.

"We're so sorry." Apple Bloom started. "We didn't know he was one of--"

"He wasn't one of our tribe." The Chief interjected, raising a talon to silence her. "He was a spirit beast sent down to our plane for a purpose."

"A spirit beast?" Wrath scoffed.

"Indeed. Every midsummer, the spirits send one of their beasts down to our plane of existence so that those among us who have come of age may venture out and slay it, thus proving they are a warrior. It is a yearly tradition of our people."

Wrath justy huffed and rolled his eyes at how ridiculous it sounded. Apple Bloom on the other hand was now confused.

"Well, if that's the case, why did you capture us? I mean, if he wasn't one of you, what have we done wrong?"

The Chief locked his cold eyes on her amber ones. "As I said, Equestrian; it is customary for our young adults to prove their worth as a warrior by slaying the spirit beast every midsummer. By killing Aragmanoth yourselves, you have deprived my daughter of her right of passage, and that is not something taken lightly."

The southern anthro looked down in shame; she wasn't sure why, but she suddenly felt awful knowing the truth of what the monster was.  Wrath suddenly started chuckling from behind her, drawing curious looks from both of the others.

"You know, Apple Bloom wasn't the one who 'slayed the great spirit beast'." He said with a smirk. "That honor goes to me; I'm the one who cut his throat out."

"Wrath, what are you doing?" Apple Bloom questioned urgently.

"So, you are the one then?" The Chief clarified.

"That's right. I'm responsible." Wrath said.

"Then I shall kill you in Aragmanoth's place, dog!" Cried that same female voice from before.

The flap flew open as a female hippogryph brown feathers all over her upper body charged in with a spear in her talons, aimed for Wrath. The pup watched the point drive closer to his neck in fear before it suddenly halted.

The Chief was standing, wings outstretched magnificently, in front of his daughter; his eyes giving her a condescending look. She returned the gaze with fire in her eyes.

"No, daughter." He said in a commanding tone. "This will not please the spirits."

"But Chief--" she started to protest.

"This young pup is not Aragmanoth's new vessel, and killing him will not earn you your victory." The Chief insisted. "Return outside, daughter. Do not disgrace our ancestors with unnecessary bloodshed."

The young hippogryph scoffed in agitation before turning and moving out of the ternt once more; a very angered and unsatisfied look on her face. Apple Bloom randomly noticed that the girl's pony half had no cutie mark. She was a blank flank still; interesting.

Once again, she stored that thought away for later and returned her attentions to the matter at hand. If the hippogryph's goal wasn't to kill them, then what was it?

"You would do well not to boast, young one." The Chief told Wrath calmly. "Boastfulness is a sign of pride, and too much pride can be a problem."

The pup laughed a little at the irony of his moniker and his supposed pride; perhaps Apple Bloom had named him too soon.

"Sir?" The southern anthro finally asked. "If you're not gonna kill us, why are we here?"

The large eagle-pony hybrid folded his impressive black wings back to his sides. "You have deprived my daughter the chance to slay her spirit beast, so something must be done in the hunt's place. I will tell you the details in length later, but just know that for this substitute right of passage, you two will be tasked with making sure my daughter survives."

"If its her right of passage, isn't it cheating if we're saving her ass?" Wrath mocked.

"No." He bellowed. "You took her chance, now you must insure she at least gets to her next one."

He made his way towards the exit before stopping just short of the flap. Without looking at her, the Chief asked Apple Bloom a question.

"I see you have been touched by Death...tell me one thing, Equestrian; how does one such as you carry such a curse?"

"Touched by Death?" Apple Bloom questioned, not sure what he was talking about.

"The blackness flowing through your arm."

"Oh, the Legacy Killer..." She realized, looking down at it; it had spread up to her shoulder again, she noticed. "Its...a long story..."

The Chief decided to leave it at that and exited the tent with a long stride. Apple Bloom let the wheels start turning in her head; what trial was about to befall them now..?