Everfree Liberation Army

Fluttershy

Her mind swirling around in her head, Fluttershy started to wake up. The day before had been an eventful day, and none to pleasant either!

"Where... Where am i?"

Her eyes slightly adjusting to the glow of the morning sun, she looks around trying to make sense of what has happened so far. Memories come back slowly and she fights back tears at some of them, but she regains her composure eventually. Climbing out of her hospital bed she moves towards the door, the place being awfully quiet.

"Where is everypony?"

The hallway outside her room being totally empty she decides to walk to the end of it and opens the doors to the main street that leads towards the town hall, looking both ways before exiting the building. The street was as devoid of life as the hospital was, but upon closer inspection she hears what seems to be some sort of argument going on in the direction of the town hall.

"What's going here?"

Her soft frightened voice seemed louder than a tree falling in the quietness of the street. A little startled about how loud her voice sounded, Fluttershy decides to see what in the hay was happening over at the town hall.

Rainbow Dash

The town hall was completely crowded, and Rainbow was still upset about what had happened in the library the previous night.

Twilight had defended that human, even as Rainbow explained what had happened to Applejack, Twilight refused to believe her! Using all her smarty-pants words and stuff, she had told Rainbow that the human had not intentionally destroyed A.J.'s farm. "Who's side is she on!" Rainbow thought gloomily, the look on Applejacks face was not something she was going to forget soon.

"... we are to behave civil and try to help these, um, people, as best as we can." The mayor continued her speech, snapping Rainbow Dash awake from her thoughts. "By order of Princess Celestia."

The crowd of gathered ponies murmured confused at this strange turn of events. First a storm sweeps through town and now they had to feed and help creatures they had never seen before? And with an explicit order from the Princess herself? It was too much for some of Ponyvilles residents. The Princess had left as fast as she had arrived, only stopping to talk to some of the strange men that came into town. Why hadn't she told them this herself?

"Rainbow Dash, i need you and the weather team to fly around town and make sure everypony is all right, ok?"

"No problem."

"Something bothering you?" The mayor raised an eyebrow curiously, noticing Rainbows disheartened response.

"Huh?... Oh, nope nothing. Its just that, you know, with the storm and the... um... Well yeah, you know..."

Not wanting to reveal Twilight had one of the humans with her, she tried to shake free of the mayors questions.

"Right, the storm..." The mayor was not convinced but didn't press the issue any further.

As the mayor left, Rainbow Dash gathered her team members and gave each one of them their orders and flying pattern, then they all set off into the sky.

With the exception of Rainbow. She wanted to pay a visit to Applejack and the others, to try and talk sense into Twilight. But just as she was about to leave for Sweet Apple Acres, a yellow coated pegasus with a pink mane and a lot of bandages called out to her.

"Um... Excuse me Rainbow but, if it isn't much trouble, could you please be so kind as to tell me what's going on?"

Even in the complete state of confusion, the yellow pony could not stop being excessively polite.

"Head over to Twilights place Flutters, I'll meet you there."

"Oh... Ok." Fluttershy said after Rainbow went speeding into the air towards Sweet Apple Acres.

Pinkie Pie

The town seemed quiet, too quiet.

Pinkie squinted, looking for the source of all the quietness.

"Something wrong Pinkie?" The strange human said behind her as he placed one of his strange hooves on the hilt of an abnormally large and pointy kitchen knife he carried on his hip.

"Hmm, this place is too quiet... Agh! Watch out!" Pinkies pinky sense had been activated in a way she knew quite well. "Angry blue pegasus incoming!" She yelled as she took cover behind a small bush.

"What in the gods names are you-" A rainbow trail, an angry face, a pain in his stomach and a loud thud were all Grunthar could make out of the situation before finding himself staring at the sky stunned.

"Pinkie run!"

"Silly Dashie, you crashed into my friend Gunbarr!" The pink pony giggled as she emerged from her hiding spot.

"Not you too!" Rainbow groaned as she backed away from the human.

"Its... Not... Gunbarr, Pinkie, I've told you several times already, Its Grun-thar!" He winced as he slowly regained his breath.

"Nah, Gunbarr fits you nicely!" Pinkie smiled as she walked over to her friends. "This is Rainbow Dash! Rainbow, this is Gunbarr!"

"Grunthar." He corrected.

"Whatever! Pinkie, i was going to ask you to help me with Twilight, but now i see you have the same problem!" Rainbow exclaimed exasperated as she flew away to find Applejack.

"Don't worry Gunbarr, she'll like you eventually." The pony said happily as she continued walking through town. Grunthar, tired of correcting her just tagged along.

Eventually they came across Fluttershy, whom, after recovering from the initial shock of seeing a human (For the third time) asked them what had happened.

"After or before you passed out?" Grunthar said, a little smile crossing his face at the memory.

Fluttershy blushed a little and hid behind her mane, after several seconds had passed she replied in almost a whisper.

"After..."

The trio stood in the middle of the street for a few minutes while Grunthar narrated the events. Once he had finished, Fluttershy explained Rainbow asked her to meet in Twilights place and Pinkie said she'd like to see Twilight, Grunthar held no objections and followed them on their way to the library.

The walk passed by uneventfully, the few ponies that passed by them only stole quick glances at the human before moving on. However Grunthar noticed the shy pony stare at his scars constantly and eventually Fluttershy could not contain her question much longer.

"How... How did you get them?"

Grunthar, fully aware of what she meant, just asked for the fun of it.

"Get what?"

"T-the scars."

Grunthar thought carefully of his reply, he did not want to scare the little pony.

"They've all got their own story, this one for example, was a timberwolf that crept into my fathers farm one night."

"You fought a timberwolf?" Fluttershys eyes were wide with amazement and fright.

"Indeed! And this one in my hand was the result of a wood carving incident." He said with a small chuckle, amused at the pony's reaction.

"And... um... What about your eye? What happened to it?"

Grunthar's mood darkened, he was not so sensible about the loss of his eye as he was of the reason he lost it.

"A fight." He said curtly. But Fluttershy's curiosity got the better of her.

"With whom?"

Resigning himself to the insistence of the shy pony Grunthar told his sad tale.

"There once was a man, a warrior, the best his village had, but he was young and foolish. He fell in love with the wrong woman and her father would not stand by and let scum marry his beloved daughter. She was sent away and married some rich boy back in Frethnkurt castle. It should have ended with that, right there and then, but the foolish warrior followed his stubborn heart. He made a journey similar to those in tales and stories, he faced many dangers and he eventually came to the end of his quest.

But life is not a tale and brave deeds are not awarded with victory! The goddamn bastard in his castle sent out his thugs to beat me senseless! Even as i laid before them covered in blood one of them whispered into my ear that he would send my regards to his lord's children! But no, it could not end like that! In the brave stories the chivalrous knight always rescues the lady! Well I tried Gods damn me! I tried and she only laughed in my face as her guards kicked and spat on me, then the husband came out from his castle dagger in hand, he enjoyed every scream, every ounce of pain that left my body as he tore off my eye." Grunthar was sweating and trembling, rage and frustration overcoming him. "I came back to my family dishonored and cripled."

Pinkie Pie was obviously disturbed by the story, she could do nothing but look to the ground with nothing to say. It was Fluttershy, however, who surprisingly placed a hoof on Grunthar's arm.

"It's okay." Her kind voice was overflowing with compassion and love. "We are your friends and we are here to help you, there's nothing to worry about."

Grunthar was feeling confused, his story always made people sneer at him for his stupidity or feel sorry for the dumb idiot who thought he had a chance.

"Yeah! No worries!" Pinkie said cheering up in an instant.

Grunthar, feeling for the first time in many years the unconditional affection of a friend could do nothing but kneel down and tightly hug the two ponies in front of him. The sentiment from his story and the shock of the acceptance of the two mares had driven him into an emotional overflow, he no longer controlled his actions, his sentiments did.

After a while he let go of the two ponies, who at first were startled but soon enough returned the embrace.

"Thanks, I...I guess i needed that..." He trailed of into silence feeling awkward now that the moment had passed.

"Its alright, now lets hurry over to Twilights place! If... Thats ok with you..."

The three of them then continued on their way to the library.

Applejack

After the celebration at their encampment, Gruthvink had ordered several men to head into town and help repair any damages the storm had caused. As it turned out, aside from a few broken windows and ruined gardens, the only thing there was to repair was the Apple family's farm. In a few hours Applejack could do nothing but stare and wonder at the selflessness of the new strangers that were quickly fixing up her barn, clearing the ground of fallen tree branches and in general cleaning up the entire mess. All in all there were about a hundred men and women helping her out on the farm that day.

"Woohoo! Clear em all up fellas! We get this done now an we might be in time for some field plowing!"

Applejacks smile was radiant, and her mood was contagious, despite having to work under the sun, all of the men helping out seemed happy to do so, of course it helped that the Apple family was actively helping as well instead of just watching.

"Miss Applejack! Miss Applejack!" A small child came running out of the trees with a note on his hand.

"Howdy there pardner! Watcha got there?"

"A note from lord Gruthvink! He said it was important." The boy unfolded the letter and held it up so that Applejack could see. Her reaction was rather surprising for those who could not see the context of the letter. In it, Gruthvink was addressing the 'Owner of Sweet Apple Acres' and offering his most sincere apologies for all troubles his people had caused, and a compensation for the damages that summed up to a total of...

"Five thousand bits!" Applejacks excited shout broke through the crowds of workers on the farm.

"This here is more than enough for the farm! Heck, i could even buy a new farm!"

Her widening smile could barely come to show how happy she was, in a sudden burst of energy she lifted the startled boy from the ground and swung him around in a bear hug, until the joy of the moment had lessened. She quickly gave the small messenger a bucket of apples and rushed to town to tell her friends of the good news!

A mud covered Rarity emerged from the back of the barn. When she had offered her help she didn't think it would involve clearing out mud from the fields. But the display of happiness from her friend made it worth the effort.

"At least she's happy."

Rarity said to herself as she saw her friend sprint off to town with a huge smile. "I better head home as well, my coat could be permanently stained if i don't clear this mud swiftly." Shuddering at the thought she made her way back home, leaving Big Macintosh to help the men repair the farm.

Rainbow's Friend

Rainbow Dash soared through the air above the clouds of Ponyville. Her brain ached from so much weirdness! How could her friends talk to those things! They had destroyed A.J,'s farm and hurt Fluttershy! Heck when Rainbow saw her, she was covered in bandages!

"Bunch of weirdos. Whatever, who needs them... I will prove them that those things they hang out with are dangerous monsters. Just wait and see Rainbow, you'll prove them wrong!"

She suddenly saw the human encampment and readjusted her direction. She wanted proof and she would get it.

As she came closer to it she tried to move stealthily about. Making as little noise as possible. There were several rows of tents with men and women coming in and out of them. Rainbow decided that looking in the tents would be to dangerous so she took a left and then a right and then several more rights until...

"Aw shoot! I'm lost! How the hay am i going to get out!"

At the time Rainbow thought this a rather large man with a beer-drenched shirt stumbled out of the back of his tent and landed next to her. Completely surprised and slightly scared by the proportions of the man in front of her, Rainbow took a step back a bit too quickly and tripped on a small rock, loosing her balance she fell down to a small defensive trench that had been excavated around the camp.

"Whoa! Shoot!"

She landed on her back, no injuries aside from a slight headache.

"Goshdarnit! This day needs to be about seventy percent cooler!"

She said with a slight pint of Rainbow humor only a select group of mares would have understood.

But then she heard faint noises coming from the outside of the trench, they sounded like a metal object hitting wood, but there was panting and heavy breathing as well.

"What in the hay is that?"

She slowly crawled out of the trench and was met with a sight she would not soon forget. In front of her was a young man, possibly seventeen, slashing at a training dummy with an iron sword. His muscles were well marked and he sported an athletically built body, his short dark hair was braided and hung back behind his ears, he panted and grunted as he swiftly changed his stance while slashing at the wood and hay target in front of him. Rainbows jaw dropped, her gaze was fixed on the humans muscles as he landed a final blow to his stationary foe, severing its head.

"He's twenty percent cooler alright..." Rainbows absentminded comment left her lips a tad too loud, and the object of her trance turned around and saw her, Rainbows heart skipped a beat as the human smiled and introduced himself.

"Hey! Name's Edvard, how's it going?"