Chapters The wind blew slowly in the open field next to the Everfree forest. The grass sways slowly in the wind’s dance. A pony is sitting behind a bush. Bloodlust is all you can see in the pony’s eyes. He holds a jagged knife in his mouth, chipped on the edge and stained in blood. A unicorn emerges from the forest. He has an almost lightning like yellow and metallic white mane and an icy blue and dirt brown tail. He has a fiery red coat and his cutie mark is covered by dirt and mud. The passerby trots on passed the bush, stopping a little after passing the bush. He adjusts his saddlebag and his watch, checks the time and starts on. The robber takes this as a good time to strike. The robber jumps for the saddlebag on the passerby, but misses the straps of the saddlebag, but he cuts the passerby instead. The passerby turns around and screams angrily.
“YOU BASTARD, I’M GOING TO KICK YOUR ASS.” With this the passerby kicks the robber in his ribs on the right side, dealing massive pain to the robber. The robber coughs up blood from the savage blow and the knife is between the two ponies. The robber, in so much pain, can’t seem to muster the strength to get the knife. With the opportunity, the passerby takes the knife off the ground in his hoof and trots to the injured robber. The robber knows what is going to happen, and wishes to beg for mercy. He can’t. The robber is paralyzed with fear and pain, now he understands why. The kick broke his ribs and now he is in complete fear that the unicorn will not spare him.
“pl….” the robber can’t must anything other than two weak letters. He is finished. The passerby trots over and without a word slits the robber’s throat with the knife. Then he drops the knife next to the corpse and leaves the sight to continue onto is destination, Ponyville. Now his cutie mark is covered by another layer of something to keep it a secret, blood of a wicked robber.
Things were fine at Ponyville today. The ponies were laughing and playing with each other, happiness and harmony. A beautiful clear sky topped off this fantastic day. Then a dark cloud appeared out of nowhere and darkened all the ponies’ day. All the pegasi that were playing tried to break it, but failed, it just pushed them back. Now they were afraid and called on Rainbow Dash to destroy it. She tried again and again, using all her might and strength, but nothing happened. She was furious and then Twilight Sparkle to use her magic, and again nothing. Both Rainbow and Twilight ran to the library to see if this happened before.
During the commotion, the unicorn finally arrived in Ponyville. He trotted by everypony and disregarded the cloud as anything to be afraid of. The mayor of Ponyville, also worried was running about trying to calm the scared ponies. Catching eyes with each other, Mayor told him where his house was and the unicorn continued on his way. He was tired and wanted rest, but also liked a good book to read. Noticing the library he went inside and was greeted in a very enthusiastic way.
He knocked on the door to request entrance to look for a book to read. No response. He knocks again and is greeted by Spike, the dragon.
“Yeah, what do you want?” Spike was tired because he was sleeping, but was awoken by the frantic ponies. The unicorn looks confused, and a bit tense.
“Why is a dragon in the library, also may I come and borrow a book to read? I’ve just arrived after traveling for a while and wish to relax, may I come in…dragon?” Spike sighed and opened the door, not listening to the protest of the ponies inside. Once in the unicorn was greeted first by Pinkie Pie. She jumped him and started to greet and question him.
“Who are you, why are you here, did you cause this dark cloud thingy, did you have a good trip, was the weather nice when you were traveling, do you like to party, are you hungry, do you have food, how are you?” Her questions start with tense anger, but lighten up into more friendly questions, being Pinkie Pie.
“Umm, can you get off me?” He asked, confused and hoping to leave, screw the book he thought. Another unicorn lifts Pinkie off of him and Spike helps him up.
“Sorry ‘bout that, she is a random pony, you okay?” Rainbow Dash talks to the stranger first and then introduces the Pinkie and herself. “I’m Rainbow Dash, and that was Pinkie Pie.”
“I’m Applejack; it is a pleasure making your acquaintance.” Now the unicorn thinks that they aren’t all bad, even wants the book again.
“……” A yellow Pegasus opens her mouth but nothing comes. She tries again, and again, until finally, “I’m Fluttershy.” As she says this she backs off and hides her face under her mane.
“I’m Twilight Sparkle, I live her inside the library, and did you say you wanted a book?” Twilight tries to get the name out by acting towards his needs.
“Yes, I’m a fan of fantasy and adventure, is there a section I can go to for those?” Trying to escape before another pony shows up or Pinkie interrogates him. Twilight points to the shelf behind her and the he gets straight to work looking for a book. The girls, about to continue their conversation all pause when the stallion turns his back. They all step back and then circle around each other and plan how to ask.
“Hey can I ask a question?” Rainbow is the one voted to ask. As she asks the 5 jump him and hold him down. “Is that blood?” Twilight looks at Rainbow, and she gets the message, “NOT SO BLUNT”. Rainbow sighs and thinking about trying again, chooses to give up and instead thinks up more questions.
“……Yes, it is blood, and before you ask it isn’t mine” The unicorn confesses and decides, if I tell them, they’ll leave me alone.
“My name is Elemental Blade, but please call me Blade. Before arriving, I was attacked by a robber; in the end I killed him.” Blade came clean to the girls, who retracted from Blade. They tell him that they understand and then Twilight asks if he found a book. Luckily he did before getting jumped. They tell him that they understand and then get back to work thinking about the cloud, and Twilight joins them after giving Blade his book. As he exits the library, he smiles thinking he made some friends today, today is a good day.
With the book, Blade’s next destination is his house. Upon arriving he immediately unpacks and takes a well-deserved shower. After the shower, his cutie mark is finally visible; it is two swords crossed over one another. The blades are multi-colored along the swords respectfully. One sword has a red, blue, and yellow blade and the other sword has a white, brown, and black blade. With all the necessary things done to move in, Blade rests on his new bed with the book he checked out. Before he gets to the second page, he hears a shrill scream. Blade rushes out to find that there is a small dragon attacking the city
The dragon is not a child, but nowhere close to fully grown. It has blue scales and a darker blue claws, a water dragon. Blade puts down his book, when he does he sighs thinking he wanted to relax. The girls are outside his door too, before he questions how they knew, they tell him they asked the mayor and she told them. Before long the dragon gets closer to the library. Spike tries to calm it down but is swatted by the older dragon. Twilight grabs Spike, who got a huge claw mark on his side. Blade has had enough.
As Blade’s horn glows, two swords appear which he grabs with his front hooves. He is ready and poses himself as the girls look on in amazement.
“WIND,” Blade yells in a commanding voice and a gust of wind launches him towards the dragon. He swipes at the dragon and gets a clean cut. With this the dragon tries to swat Blade out of the sky. Still calling out wind, Blade uses the wind to avoid the dragon’s attacks. While dodging, Blade consistently strikes at the dragon with his swords. After a while, the dragon is cut up pretty bad and is fed up. The dragon flies upwards, faster than Blade. As Blade slowly lowers himself down to the ground, he smiles. All the on lookers think he is crazy, especially when the dragon turns and prepares to attack. The water dragon launches water at a huge velocity where it would probably break bones, but instead of dodging, Blade uses wind to launch straight at the water being propelled from the dragon.
“Wrong move big guy.” Blade smiles and stops in midair. He breaths and then in a loud commanding voice yells “THUNDER.” With that a flurry of thunder came out of the unicorn’s horn and contested with the water. The electrically charge went through the water straight into the dragon, electrocuting it. As Blade slams again onto the Earth he yells “FIRE.” And hits the water, turning to steam before it could hurt Ponyville. The dragon fell down and died from the thunder. Blade again using wind launched the dragon out of Ponyville towards a mountain to be the dragon’s final resting place.
With that Blade returned to his cottage and once inside was again jumped by the ponies, while Fluttershy locked the door behind him. He wished not to explain his magic, but he had no choice. He wish to live peacefully is ruined again. But he doesn’t feel angry, but glad. He was happy to defend somepony other than himself for once. He wanted to defend.
“Okay how the hell did you do all that… weird magic?” Rainbow Dash asked the first question as the other ponies backed off in partial fear and also so Blade could stand up. The trust Blade thought he had with these ponies at the library feels gone and forsaken as Twilight and Rarity both aim their horns at Blade, they think he’ll try something funny. Even Angel Bunny is at Blade’s hoofs ready to bite him.
“I wish not to explain; OK… to put it simply, the magic is my power.” Blade wished for relaxation. Before Blade could say anything else in defense, Rainbow is on top of him. Rainbow jumped on top of blade pinning him and then yelled at Blade.
“YOU’LL EXPLAIN, WITH OR WITHOUT PAIN!” Rainbow is pissed at the sight of Blade’s avoidance of her question. Blade just stares at Rainbow, now he is also getting angry with Rainbow who won’t listen. He was about to kick off Rainbow when she takes the silence as resistance and lifts one of fore hooves and drops it straight onto Blade’s right rib. Blade, now gasping from the pain caused to him by Rainbow has had enough.
“Fi...n..e…, ple…ase…GET OFF OF ME!” Gasping throughout his words, Blade manages to stress the final command. Rainbow gets off of Blade allowing him to stand up on his 4 hooves, still wobbly from the strike to his rib. He motions to some seats and all the “guests” take a seat near Blade’s bed where he is residing.
“You already know my name, but what I didn’t tell you was that I was a general in an army…” Blade watches the ponies trade glances. Angel hops into Fluttershy’s hair in fear, while Spike backs up closer to Twilight and then Twilight and Spike trade glances of worry. In their minds, they prepare to hear that Blade was a brute and was here to kill all of Ponyville. Rainbow takes this as the time to stop the silence and to end the suspense and demands that Blade continues. “As you can tell, I am a unicorn, but if you look at my cutie mark you will see 2 swords crossed over. I’m an elemental warrior. Each color on the blade of each blade symbolizes an element. I can control the elements, but can also wield swords just as good as any other warrior. But then my commander, Commander Guard, accused me of treason. The evidence brought forward was conclusive to the damned jury. They wiped my mind so I wouldn’t leak “more” secrets to our enemies. In the process, he wiped my mind of most of my magic abilities other than the basic elements. There does that help?” As Blade finishes he sits down and Pinkie stands and questions why he came here. Blade ranted for hours on all the nice information he heard about of Ponyville. He decided he should live here in peace.
“Wait, if they wiped your mind, why can you remember so much?” Rainbow asked, confused.
“They only erased secrets and abilities, they want you to remember all of the armies’ data and who got you discharged. I’ll never forget Guard, that bastard.”
Twilight finally stands and speaks after her long, quiet thought process. She whispered to the others that they should go. And they did. So Blade was left alone in the lonely cottage, all he had was a book, and his thoughts to entertain him. Yet all he could think of was these ponies that seemed to be his “friends”. Probably not though, he thought about how he scared them. He decided he needed rest. And so Blade slept for the first time in Ponyville.
The next morning came quicker than Blade thought it would. He decided he should apologize to the ponies. So he went to the library and before he could knock he heard a conversation between Spike and Twilight.
“How can you believe him, Twilight, he is obviously crazy?” Spike seemed angry, but not towards Twilight, but towards Blade. Blade never trusted Spike, but now he trusts him less.
“Didn’t you see what that pony did? He killed a rampaging dragon by himself without getting hit once!” Twilight’s rebuttal made Blade feel like a sideshow attraction. But also felt the same feeling that he felt after defeating the dragon, purpose. It was his responsibility to defeat the dragon, no one else could. He was going to enter, but instead had a better idea and went back to his cottage.
“I’ll teach them how to be warriors!” Blade declared to himself. Blade had a book that included some basic attacks and abilities that he would need. The main one was the ability to cure wounds. Some of these ponies aren’t…the most…attentive. They might get caught up in a zealous need for power and hurt somepony, most likely, Blade. After studying for hours he finally got Cure down a little bit. He would be able to use it, but not all the time. “Okay, with this I can try to make those 6 ponies warriors.” Blade was proud of himself. Going out of his way to help others is why he joined that damned pony army. And then they betrayed him, the strong trust broken. But now his ability to trust others has been shown through these ponies.
“Twilight, can I talk to you?” Blade asked this as he knocked on the library’s door. Spike answered.
“No, she isn’t here… well she is here, but sleeping in a pile of books and…well I don’t know which pile.” Spike opened the door and Blade almost died by a “bookalanche” but dodged before it killed him. He tried counting the piles and seeing if any move, but they don’t move.
“Umm… you sure she is here, Spike?” Blade doesn’t think Spike is lying, but that he is oblivious, and probably let her slip by, undetected.
“Yeah, all the windows are blocked and other than the windows, there is this door, which I’ve been pinned to for 30 minutes! On that note…HELP!” After freeing Spike from the stranglehold the books put on him, Blade and Spike look through each pile. Blade tries using telekinesis, but fails. Spike looks amazed that he can’t use the simplest unicorn ability. “You can’t use your magic to life the books? I thought all unicorns could use telekinesis?” Spike was more concerned than mocking, but came off as mocking Blade. Blade grabbed Spike, brought him outside and lifted a nearby tree with ease. Then grabbed Spike and brought him back to the library. They both almost faint when they see there are more piles…and yet there are still books on the shelves.
“Okay either she only moves when alone, or she is playing a trick on us.” Blade can only think of those options, and to his dismay, Spike doesn’t rule out either. So they continue lifting and shelving books for about 2 hours, until finally Spike finds Twilights purple tail and then uncovers the resting place of Twilight. She wakes up from the movement of her makeshift covers.
“What Spike, I’m studying?” Twilight was trying to avoid saying she dosed off in the middle of a book pile.
“Blade wants to talk to you.” Spike says whilst still sighing from Twilight’s choice of sleep and the stress she put onto him. At the mention of Blade’s name she jumps up and hits her head on the corner of a bookshelf, and also buries Spike in books. Spike gets out with ease, but by now he notices the blood coming from Twilight’s unconscious body. Before Spike freaks out, he carries the still body of Twilight to her real bed and leaves her there. “Oh damn, damn, damn she is gonna die isn’t she?” Spike has begun his freaking out. Blade tells Spike to shut up and then moves to Twilight’s body.
“Okay hopefully this will work…CURE!” As Blade commands the magic, his horn glows and then the cut is closed shut. Twilight wakes up and winces in severe pain, Blade partially succeed by closing the wound, but not suppressing the pain. With that Twilight runs off, takes a shower, and emerges back in 30 minutes with an icepack on her head. Now Spike is organizing and Blade is reading quietly.
“Sorry for the wait, and thank you very much, but what was it you wanted to talk about?” Twilight is finally ready to listen to Blade.
“Umm… where is the emptiest plain nearest to here? You know no houses, no animals, just an empty field?” Once Twilight answers and shows Blade on a map, Blade demands that she gets those 6 ponies over there ASAP, he’ll be waiting.
So after another hour, all of the ponies have arrived to see the dummies that Blade put up in the field. He welcomes them and then directs them to the table and chairs he set up. They all sit down and then Blade begins his speech.
“So I was hoping to stay and defend Ponyville in case of any danger that might arise. But I will need help, so I wanted to train you 6 into fighters and mages.” Blade bluntly dropped the bomb on the ponies who all sat in silence…until.
“Sure, I’ll learn.” Rainbow sounded eager. Blade smirked and then told Rainbow to walk to the hill for him. Instead she flew and then he got ready.
“Okay Rainbow, come at me with your strongest attack.” Blade was ready though, and kind of wanted to show off. So, his horn lit up and then two swords appeared in his hooves. He wielded them like they were an extension on his hooves. Rainbow flew high into the sky and yelled down.
“I would run.” Rainbow gloated. The other ponies high tailed it for a nearby ditch. The ditch was going to shielded them from Rainbow’s attack. Blade was still standing there, waiting. Then Rainbow decided that now was her chance, for she thought Blade was going to strike back. “Feast your eyes on my…SONIC RAINBOOM!” As she said this, she flew straight downwards at Blade. Blade now raised an eyebrow and stood his ground. Finally Rainbow collided and the other ponies felt the shockwave. When the dust cleared they saw a huge gash on the right side of Blade going all the way from his shoulder to his flank. But, a huge crater was right next to him and Rainbow was nowhere to be seen. Finally she emerged from the crater, but was just as bloody as Blade. Blade shook her hoof and then cured her wounds and, since he was studying before they arrived, was able to dull the pain slightly.
“How did I miss?” Rainbow asked weakly. Blade said nothing all he did was sidestep to the left and looked up. “You dodged? Damn you, I thought I hit you straight on.”
“Don’t worry, I just wanted to see how strong you were and you are damn strong, you’ll make a fine warrior.” Rainbow was about to rebuttal by saying how she missed, but Blade just raised a hoof. “Sometimes, even the greatest fighters miss, it isn’t the end of the entire pony world if you miss with one freaking attack, Rainbow, just practice and you’ll get the hang of it.” Blade now looks towards the worried ponies in the ditch. “I want to see all of your strong suites as well, but now I think you’re more worried with Rainbow, so we’ll take a break.”
The girls ran over and embraced Rainbow, which cheered her up. Blade smirked as he sat down and continued to study his cure spell. He thought if everypony was a good at their craft as Rainbow was, then this team will be unstoppable.
“Alright, let’s continue with the training session.” Blade pronounces. With that the girls, other than Rainbow, all stood up and yelled that they won’t until Rainbow feels better. “Girls, if we wait until each of you feel better to continue, then we will be here for a year.” The girls don’t back down, but instead pick up Rainbow and tell Blade a week is what they want, to think about what he is saying.
So, after a week, Blade heads to the library. He goes to the library because he doesn’t know anywhere else to go. Of course, Twilight is there to greet him and so are the rest of the girls. They all look worried.
“What is wrong?” Blade asks.
“It is Rainbow, she hasn’t fully recovered.” Pinkie says sadly, which almost makes Blade want to apologize. He only know Pinkie as a very bright and peppy pony, seeing her sad burns Blade’s soul.
“She can only fly for a little bit at a time and…” Then Fluttershy continues the explanation. Blade wants to kill himself for hurting Rainbow, but then thinks. Are they trying to get him to apologize, sending their strongest, saddest criers. Damn, these girls are crafty.
“I’m… sorry.” Blade looks like a filly that broke a vase and is apologizing. The girls all look at each other for recognition and laugh at Blade’s apology. “Now can we get to work?” Blade asks, blushing. With those words he opens the door and Rainbow is there to punch him in the face. She really is pissed.
“Okay, let’s go.” Rainbow pronounces. Her wings are wrapped by a bandage to her chest and an obvious scar is across her back. She tries to hide her scarring to look tough, but ends up making Blade laugh at her, earning him another punch, this time to the chest. He is going to have to get used to this type of punishment if he is going to succeed at training these ponies.
Once the group reaches the “training field”, they all look towards the crater and look more worried. Then Blade emerges from the distance with a huge bag other than his book filled saddlebag. He drops the bag and it makes a lot of crackling noises.
“Okay, is everyone ready?” Blade asks like a teacher asking a class if they are ready for a pop quiz, of course they aren’t too enthused by Blade’s peppiness. He takes that as a no and continues. “Fine, well today let’s start with a unicorn.” Blade looks towards Twilight while saying this and she steps forward. Twilight thinks to herself and finally mimics a quote in her head “Put your best hoof forward.” She decides that is how to beat Blade. She continues to think, how he will test her.
“So, what do you want me to do?” Twilight asks, bemused by the situation. Blade looks at the other girls who back off into a ditch, then Blade smiles.
“You are going to battle me.” With this Blade steps forward and jumps in the air. All the girls look worried and so does Twilight, but she notices Blade isn’t going to give her a head start. She lurches at him in the air, but he smiles. “WIND” Blade uses his magic and launches in the air, while knocking Twilight to the ground at a high velocity. Blade continues to conjure up the wind, and uses it to stay in midair. Twilight sees that Blade isn’t going to go easy on her. “You’re a unicorn, right? Use your magic.” Blade tries to guide Twilight down the right path. She looks around and sees a boulder. She calculates in her head and plans to use the boulder as her weapon. But first she needs to find an opening, so she prepares herself to dodge repeatedly so she can analyze Blade’s movements.
“Are you just gonna hang there all day?” Twilight tries mocking Blade, but to no avail. He just continues to use the wind to stay in the air. Twilight spots a smaller rock that could make Blade move. She uses her magic to pick it up and throws it directly at Blade. He doesn’t notice in time and barely dodges, with this Twilight finds more small rocks and continuously hurls them at Blade. Blade can’t dodge them all, and starts to move.
“Fine, we will play it your way.” Blade then lands and sticks his front hooves outwards towards Twilight, who is confused, but prepared to dodge. She notices Blade is whispering to himself. Then he smirks at Twilight and yells. “Come to me my swords.” As Blade says these words two swords appear in his hooves. Twilight is confused and now is very worried. “Perish Twilight Sparkle.” Blade yells as he conjures the wind again to launch himself at Twilight. She sees why Blade was a leader in the army; he truly is a great fighter. She analyzes the attack and dodges, but still gets nicked the sword in his right hoof. The other girls scream and Applejack stands up and is ready to attack Blade, but then Twilight stops her.
“No, AJ this is my battle.” Blade can tell Twilight is very weak from the last slash, he cut her hooves on her left side, the fore hoof and the hind hoof both have an obvious gash through them. He agrees with her stopping her friends and charges again, but notices her analyzing his body, he smirks again.
“Analyzing my attacks, are we?” Blade is very impressed by Twilight’s interest and is happen she is trying to learn an opening. Blade gets close to Twilight but then uses the wind to launch into the air, turns and uses it to launch back to the earth. He starts spinning at Twilight and makes a needle by bringing his swords together. Twilight dodges, but gets another cut, this time on her back. She trips and starts to wince in pain. Twilight looks as if she is going to die. Blade doesn’t stop and prepares for the final attack. Twilight gets to her hooves and can barely stand. Blade makes his swords disappear. Twilight’s eyes open up wide, and then squint in anger.
“Don’t you dare go easy on me you cocky bastard.” Twilight cries these words in vain to make Blade battle.
“I’m not” Blade simply says and attacks again. Blade jumps again using the winds. And while in the air, casts more magic. “WATER” Blade sends a jet of water at Twilight who dodges perfectly, and lands back on her feet without a scar from the attack. Blade smiles and looks down at Twilight who steps back where she was, her hooves in the water. “ THUNDER” Blades sends a bolt down and misses Twilight, but hits the puddle which Twilight was standing in. She stands strong. Upon further inspection, Blade notices that Twilight dug her hooves into the ground; she knew he was trying to combo her. She grounded herself when she trotted back to that spot after the water. Damn, Blade thought, but then started to feel dizzy. He was using too much magic and is out of mana power. He wasn’t going to make it through the rest of the battle. He launched using the last of his magic using wind. Then casting fire in front of him he punched through the fire and using the fire as a punch to Twilight’s side, launching her and sending her into more tears or pain.
“I’m … fine.” Twilight said with a weak breathe.
“I’ve seen enough, you have a lot of magic power, and you analyzed my attacks and saw my combo coming.” Blade called over Rarity.
“I’m not fighting until Twilight is better.” Rarity states towards Blade. He nods and cures Twilights wounds and close most of them. The pain wasn’t softened.
“Read and study this magic Rarity. It is the cure spell.” Blade explains that he wants to make Rarity learn healing magic because of her more caring nature and less aggressive nature. Rarity looks over it and trots off. Pinkie Pie steps forward and throws a pebble at Blade to get his attention. “Yes, Pinkie Pie take this.” Blade gives Pinkie a bow and a quiver filled with arrows. He sets it up on her, while doing this Pinkie blushes. He shows her how to hold the bow and how to fire the arrows. She fires the arrows perfectly towards Blade hitting him directly, and pinning him to a tree. “Okay, you are a natural, please stop.” Blade asks as Pinkie aims another arrow.
“Not until your dead.” Pinkie says in her cheerful nature. Applejack stops her and lets Blade down from the tree and then kicks him against the tree breaking the tree in half and the Fluttershy helped Blade up. Blade spit out blood from the many strikes to his body. Fluttershy asks if he wants to see her powers. Blade asks her to tell a bear to punch him. She does, but stops the bear before it hits him. He falls unconscious and then awakes in the crater surrounded by the girls. He smiles and says that he is done and that he knows what to do. They carry him to his cottage. He sleeps there until he gets enough strength to stand then writes down something in a journal. What is Blade planning to do with the ponies of Ponyville? The journal must be his plan.
The next morning, Blade went to the library to ask Twilight where the other girls lived.
“Why do you need to know that, if I may ask?” Twilight was being curious because of the confusing, out of no-where question.
“Well…for extra training, I guess.” Blade really wasn’t sure why he asked anymore and was prepared to leave when Pinkie Pie entered the scene.
“HELLLLLLLLLOOOOOOOOO TWILIGHT!” Pinkie screamed as she entered the once peaceful library. Then Pinkie turned her head to see Blade and then proceeded to continue her yelling. “AND HELLOOO TO YOU BLADEY!” Pinkie’s whimsical nature and cheerful voice never ceased to amaze Blade who cringed at the nickname which was given to him.
“Hello Pinkie, didn’t I tell you to be quiet when you enter the library and to be quiet whilst still in the library.” Twilight scolded Pinkie’s loud behavior and Pinkie just looked downcast like a puppy that got yelled at. It almost brought Blade to tears.
“Oh, hello Pinkie, I’m still not used to your uh… cheerful mood.” Blade said quietly under his breathe. But Pinkie is amazing and heard him perfectly. “Also, please don’t call me Bladey.” Blade begged.
“NOPEY DOPEY.” Pinkie almost sounded like a mother when she said that. She said it with force and with an aggressive beat, but the –y at the end makes it a Pinkie signature.
“Fine, actually I was looking for you.” Blade finally remembered why he needed the girls’ addresses. He explained to Twilight and she told him where to go. First Applejack.
“Umm… thank you Pinkie for helping me, but I think I’ll do.” Blade was “given” Pinkie watching duties by Twilight (obviously Twilight was too tired from training to deal with the pink joy machine) and Pinkie just kept bouncing and singing.
“I’mmmmm with my new FRIENNDDDDDD … Bladey?” Pinkie stops and looks…confused.
“What?” Blade asks kind of concerned.
“I can’t think of a rhyme.” Pinkie sighed and trotted on. All Blade could think of was the quiet tranquility he could now revel in. For three seconds. The rest of the walk consisted of Pinkie trying to think of rhymes. Once the duo reached Sweet Apple Acres, Blade let out a sigh of relief.
“Is this the farm?” Blade asked Pinkie.
“Yeppy, this is where the Apples live.” Pinkie replied strongly.
“Umm, the rest?” Blade asked. Pinkie explained about the other Apples. Big Mac, Applebloom, and of course, Granny Smith.
“Blade, Pinkie what are you two doing’ here?” Luckily for Blade, the “1st Apple” they meet is Applejack. She trots over to them and gets jumped by Pinkie. They continue to laugh for a few minutes as Blade stands there uncomfortably until a big, red stallion appeared.
“Umm, hello…?” Blade felt very confused by the big stallion’s appearance. After closer inspection, Blade noticed the apple on his flank, he must be an Apple. “Are you Big Mac?” Blade asked the red stallion.
“Eeyup.” Big Mac replied. The reply threw Blade off guard. Big Mac stuck out a hoof and Blade and he shook hooves. Big Mac looked at Blade, which immediately reminded Blade.
“Oh, my apologies, my name is Elemental Blade, I’m Applejack’s friend, it is a pleasure.” Big Mac smiled at Blade’s introduction. Applejack came over, still dragging the laughing Pinkie, who won’t let go of Applejack.
“Welcome to Sweet Apple Acres Blade, so what did you need again?” Applejack’s question almost made Blade punch himself. He got so caught up in introductions and with what was happening, he almost forgot why he was here.
“Right, can you meet me at my cottage this afternoon, Applejack?” Blade finally asked his question. After Applejack agreed, Blade and Pinkie said their goodbyes and the duo was off.
“SOOOOOOOOOO, who next who next?” Pinkie was more hyper after playing with Applejack. Blade thought about it and ran down the possibilities. Fluttershy, Rainbow, and Rarity were left on the list of people they had to meet and the last person Rainbow wants to see is Blade, so Fluttershy or Rarity.
“Who is the closest, Fluttershy or Rarity?” Blade asked his guide, Pinkie.
“Hmm, Fluttershy’s cottage is the closest, we going there next?” Blade nodded and asked Pinkie to lead the way and so Pinkie hopped off towards Fluttershy’s cottage.
Once the two arrived at Fluttershy’s, they were greeted with… a lovely sight. Fluttershy was singing with the birds and hanging clothes on a line. Pinkie grabbed Blade and pulled him into a bush. She whispered to be quiet. Fluttershy sighed and spoke aloud.
“Pinkie I heard you coming a mile away, I think I know your there.” Fluttershy said as her birds dispersed. Blade and Pinkie emerged from the bush. Pinkie sighed, obviously she wanted to listen.
“You THINK you know I’m here, but do you REALLY know I’m here?” Pinkie was trying to confuse Fluttershy with confused logic.
“Pinkie, you are right there.” Fluttershy said and then Pinkie gasped.
“YOU FOUND ME, can we play again?” Pinkie is reared and ready to play again.
“Blade, what are you doing here?” Fluttershy chose to ignore Pinkie for a second to welcome her other guest. Blade explained why he was there and got straight to the point with Fluttershy, he didn’t want the animals coming after him. Fluttershy agreed and got back to work. Unlucky for Blade, Rainbow flew over and caught eyes with her target. She dived straight at Blade. Blade dodged and Rainbow turned and landed next to Fluttershy.
“Stay away you brute.” Rainbow still hates Blade at this point.
“Rainbow, Blade needs us to meet him at his cottage later today, okay?” Fluttershy meekly said okay and waited for a response. Rainbow looked confused and then nodded with a smile. With that she flew off. “You’re welcome.” Fluttershy smiled at Blade and Blade smiled back as he thanked her. Pinkie then led the way to Rarity’s shop. The final pony they had to talk to.
Once Pinkie reached the boutique, she bounced in place while Blade trotted slowly over. It was a challenge to keep up with Pinkie. Rarity was the last pony so Blade guessed that Pinkie was excited, well she is always excited, but more excited than usual. Blade knocked and opened the door to see Rarity running around in circles with fabric flying everywhere. Pinkie prepped herself and launched herself as she screamed.
“RARITYYYYY!” Pinkie landed on the fabric and got up, looking triumphant at her landing. Rarity looked back and lifted the fabric up, flipping Pinkie who just giggled harder than usual.
“What are you and Blade doing here?” a legitimate question.
“I need to talk to all of you, so can you please meet me at my cottage later today, it won’t be for that long if you’re busy?” Blade explained.
“Fine, but I’m busy now, sorry I can’t chat.” Rarity agreed and with that Blade and Pinkie left the boutique.
“See you later, Bladey.” Pinkie giggled like a schoolgirl as she bounced off. Finally peace and quiet, Blade thought. He slowly trotted off to his cottage to make preparations for his guests.
Later on, the girls all arrived at the same time, to Blade’s amazement. He wondered if they all met up and took bets on what they thought was going on. They all sat and looked at Blade. Pinkie was somehow bouncing in place while sitting, which amazed Blade even more, but in a different way. Before they could ask what the reason for the meeting was, a knock was at the door, met with a low, dusty voice.
“Yo, bro what is up?” Blade let him in and the stallion trotted in. He was a pegasus with large, wings and a dark red coat and black and red mane and tail. He had a dark red watch and black sunglasses. Also he was wearing a dark yellow striped shirt. His cutie mark looked like a board.
“Girls, this is Headhunter.” The girls all stepped back. This made Headhunter laugh.
“Hello, I’m no assassin, I’m a helper. People tell me problems and how much they pay for it to be done, and then I go ask some people to do the job.” Headhunter explained his line of work.
“I asked Headhunter if he had a job for us. As a team we need to work on our skills and helping others is a good way to get money. So, Hunter, got a nice simple job for us?” Blade asked Headhunter, but he looked unhappy.
“Sorry, bro, the only jobs I got are hard extermination missions. You guys need more credit and you need to be stronger to get one of those.” Headhunter was displeased with the situation. He left and ended by saying how he would ask around, but no promises.
“So, you want to work for cash, like a job?” Applejack was confused by the situation.
“Yeah, I know Headhunter and he travels all over Equestria getting missions. I expected a simple one.” Blade seemed downcast.
“What is an extermination mission?” Pinkie asked and looked worried.
“It is when the person is asking for something or a group of something to be taken care of. It doesn’t always mean death.” Blade calmed the peppy pony down with the explanation of the mission. The girls all left and were all upset that there was no mission to try their new found abilities on. Rainbow apologized to Blade before leaving. Blade was all alone, so he slept, hopefully Headhunter would find a mission for him and the girls to complete.
“Hello, you awake dude…” Blade awakes to the sound of the knocking and the yelling beyond the door. Blade recognizes the voice and the use of the word “dude”. Blade knows its Headhunter. “Yo, I found something meet me at the library.” Headhunter seems to depart from outside Blade’s door. Blade slowly gets up and gets prepared to leave for the library where Headhunter would be. Blade slowly trots off, taking his time to enjoy the surroundings and atmosphere of Ponyville. When Blade reached the library, he sees Headhunter standing outside. Blade sighs and thinks about telling Headhunter that he looks out of place, but thinks against it because of how tired Blade is.
“So, what did you want this early in the morning, Hunter?” Blade asks, dazed by the early morning with no visible sun. Blade checks his watch and sees its 2 in the morning. He sighs again. Headhunter smiles wildly and gestures to the library door. “It is probably closed, Twilight sleeps here, Hunter.” Blade announces and Hunter ignores him as he approaches the library door and tries to push it open… its locked. Headhunter stops and Blade smirks, as the smile disappears from Headhunter’s face, and it is replaced by an annoyed frown. Headhunter knocks loudly. No response, which was the wrong response. Headhunter turns, then using his back hooves, he kicks the door. Nothing happens, other than a large flash of light. Blade’s mouth is wide open. “What the hell, Hunter?” Blade asks as Headhunter laughs and trots close to the door. “It is still locked, dude.” Blade is surprised at Headhunter’s movements.
“Oh really.” Headhunter pushes the door open and laughs. Blade looks surprised and also afraid.
“Ummm… isn’t this illegal?” Blade points out the obvious. Headhunter just waves off the “ridiculous”
“What, it is a dragon…oh?” Blade nods and Spike goes for the fridge, grabs a snack, then goes back to sleep. The two stallions laugh. This wakes Spike and he screams. This, in turn, wakes Twilight who launches a lightning bolt towards Blade and Headhunter. Blade dodges, but Headhunter strikes the lightning back at Twilight, who dodges.
“Blade, Headhunter how did you two get in?” Blade looks at Headhunter who smiles widely. Twilight seemed to understand the look and since she didn’t know Headhunter, she just went along. Then she looked at the clock and attacked the two intruders. “Why, in the name of Celestia, are you two here this early?” Twilight screamed and yelled as Spike closed the door to stop a mob from forming.
“Oh, right, I found your team a job.” Headhunter declared proudly. He lifted a piece of paper and showed it to Twilight and Blade. The two look at each other and look at the pegasi who looks proud of his accomplishment. They nod and ask Headhunter where and when because the paper only says the request for help. “Don’t worry, I’ve already talked to the pony and she is fine if your team takes the job, it pays well and isn’t too hard.
“By isn’t too hard, you mean cat stuck in a tree?” Blade asks sarcastically.
“Nope cat stuck in an abandoned ruin.” Headhunter’s answer made Twilight and Blade confused. “The pony is an explorer, and her cat followed her and got too deep, passed the light stations. No one can find the cat and they heard noises deep inside so they all ran and the pony came to me.” When Headhunter mentioned himself, he smiled and stood up straighter to show off his “magnificent” body and wings. He tells the two that they need to meet the pony to completely accept the job, and then they can have it.
That morning, the team and Headhunter all met up at the explorer pony’s house and talked about the mission. She explained everything and then walked with the crew to the site. Once the girls see the site, they slow down. Fluttershy tries to run, but Headhunter calms her down. Blade takes charge.
“Ok, let’s do this. COME ON TEAM!” Blade yells and they all gallop in. Once the 7 get in they see many lanterns left around and see that the lanterns make a trail to the area where there aren’t any lanterns. The pony gave us a map that shows the lighted areas. The team stops at a crossroads where there are three passages to take. The map shows two are completed lighted, so the team went down the path that has a dark spot at the end. At the end the darkness envelopes them. The pony asked as to try to fill in the map as much as possible for extra money. The team starts the pace back up, but with a slower pace so not to fall into a pit fall. Then something came right at them.
“Watch out!” Rainbow yelled and everyone dodged. They looked behind themselves and saw a goblin. Blade steps forward and takes charge.
“Let me show you girls firsthand what a real battle is like.” Blade spoke proudly. The girls watched carefully and then Blade got ready. He thought about it and then the goblin charged and slashed the side of Blade’s upper right hoof. “Damn why is it always my hooves.” Blade calls his swords and slashes the goblin. The goblin gushes blood from the wound and then tries to stab Blade. Blade dodges and cuts off the goblins right arm which held the knife. The goblin screamed and was going for the knife with his left hand, but Blade kicks him with his hind hooves and then Blade makes his swords disappear and picks up the goblin’s knife using his magic and launches it at the goblin. The goblin is hit in between the eyes and drops to the floor in a pool of blood. “Hahaha that was nothing” Blade smiles and gets back with the girls.
“Wow that was awesome.” Rainbow complemented Blade on his victory. The girls all continue on the way. Soon enough they hit a wall and Twilight fills in the map as they walk. She was proud to be able to do the job of map maker. Then they hear another goblin farther away.
“Okay, who wants to take this one?” Blade asks.
“I’ll do it.” Rainbow was proud to raise her hoof. Rainbow rushes in and attacks the goblin. The goblin can’t hurt her because of her air advantage. She lifts the goblin, throws it in the air and then before the goblin lands, Rainbow lands a kick to the goblins stomach launching it very far back. The goblin is dead. “How was that, Blade?” Rainbow takes a triumphant stance as she waits for the applause. The girls give her a pat on the back for her kill.
They continue on and then after about an hour they finally come across the sound that made all the ponies yell in happiness. They rush forward and find the cat sitting in a pretty well-lit chamber.
“Umm, why is it so bright Blade?” Fluttershy asked. Blade shrugged and stopped the other, non-cautious ponies from running in. They all slowly enter at once and then the door behind them closes. The girls scream and then Blade turns around to see a goblin standing there with the cat in a cage. He is wearing a crown and wields a huge blade with 4 goblins at his side.
“Girls, get back, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie, get in the back, Rainbow Dash and Applejack, come to the front, Twilight and Rarity between the archers and us.” The girls all act towards Blade’s plan. Blade sweats, he didn’t get the girls weapons yet, so Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie can’t do anything. The girls are ready, but afraid, except for Rainbow who is ready to kick some more ass. “Rainbow, Applejack can both of you take a goblin?” They nod. “Twilight?” She understands and nods.
“I’ll take two of those gob-guys.” Rainbow is ready for battle. Blade smiles and is ready too.
“I’ll take out fatso in the middle.” At that, they disperse. “Rarity, help the wounded, okay.” Rarity nods, and with that Blade goes for the leader.
The goblins stand closely around the crowned goblin, making them look like they have the advantage. They all have knifes, other than the big one with the large bastard sword. Blade summons his swords and goes for the leader. “Twilight, separate them with wind!” Blade needs to concentrate on not dying at the moment to use magic.
“WIND!” Twilight summons a huge gust knocking all the goblins away separating them from the king. The girls take this advantage and strike at their targets. Rainbow uses the air to her advantage and continuously lifts the goblins up to immobilize them for some time. This also gives her time to grab one of their knives that they dropped and swoop down, cutting one of their throats. Then proceeding to toss the knife into the chest of the other goblin and then kicking it through the goblin. Applejack used the walls to her advantage by kicking the goblin into them to daze it. Finally when the goblin was dazed, she jumped and kicked it in the throat, killing it. Twilight was using her magic to burn the goblin she was fighting and surely enough it fell quickly. The goblin king was shocked all his guards were defeated so soon, but he wasn’t distracted enough to miss Blade coming straight at him. The king lifted the blade and dropped it down onto Blade’s swords as Blade tried to slash the king. The blow was huge and knocked Blade back. The others joined him and then all attacked. Twilight launched the king into the air with the wind and then Rainbow kicked the king back to the ground where Applejack met his stomach with a kick. The wounded goblin king staggered and then tried to regain balance, but couldn’t before Blade swiftly launched past him and cut his throat. The goblin king fell and died.
The team was met at the entrance by Headhunter and the client who was overjoyed to meet her cat, held by Fluttershy. Headhunter gave the team a present of his own, some weapons he bought for them. He smiled and admitted to having them before-hand which made Blade almost lose it. Then the client paid for the rescue and the extra for writing the map. The girls all yawned, said their goodbyes, and left with their share of the money and their new weapons. Blade staggered off and slept for hours. He knew his team was good, but now his theory was proved true. He wished that night that they would never break their team.
