Ponyserk I- Egg of the High Queen

Authors Note: Hello everyone that I assume to have made it this far in. I feel the need to ask a favor of anyone reading this chapter: Open up a tab to youtube, search for “Susumu Hirasawa Forces” and click the first entry. Wait until a point in the story when a soldier says the words “Enemies!?” is uttered and then start playing the song whilst reading and let your imagination do the rest. You can stop it if you want once it switches to Applejacks P.O.V again (Yay, I finally get a chance to do a P.O.V for her!)

I ask this because Susumu Hirasawa is a great composer who honestly needs to get more recognition. I also ask this because, during this part of the original berserk show, this marks one of two times this song is actually played during a scene of the show itself and it really is a very good song.

That aside, There is another thing I need to discuss. I realise that starting this out I originally only wanted to adapt the story of berserk and throw in ponies but..the more I seem to be writing it the more I'm tempted to slightly change a few things up. Before I go further, let me make one thing clear: I am not going to change the outcome of this story, as everything will still end up having the same outcome and character arcs are going to be mostly similar. But, I'm sort of delving into having a few more additions or slight changes to help this mix of the two universes work better and hopefully make it into something a bit more then just a mash up of the manga, series and films story being told in My Little Ponies universe as a means to advertise and celebrate the original series (Although that is still a big motivation). So while I may be adding in new stuff to keep it a bit fresh and help it meld better, I still intend to keep it feeling like berserk and MLP. But at the same time, I don't intend to change the outcome of a certain eclipse (I won't spoil it for those that don't know what is being talked about here, but...let's just say I imagine some people are going to react rather strongly to that part when and if it's eventually written and posted up here), nor remove the presence of everyone’s favourite skeletal knight as one certain animated adaptation did (Start placing bets on who I plan on placing in that role).
Finally, I also realise this chapter was slow coming out and the others may also start to come out a bit slower. I have been very busy as of late and I also am still in the process of deciding which Ponies can fit the role of which berserk character. If you have any suggestions for who should play which role, or even how I should handle certain...creatures (I am still deciding on how to handle the Elves and some members of this incarnation of the Godhand) by all means speak up and don't ever be afraid to offer constructive criticism of any kind. This story won't improve without it, even if it's a pseudo adaptation of a pre-existing story into a different medium.

Don't ever hesitate to leave a comment, and please enjoy this next Chapter. Thank you for your Patience.

Rainbow Dash

It had been a quiet week until tonight: Not a single job had come for this little band of warriors, the rest just stuck sitting around or travelling along between towns or settlements. Things in the camp had been equally as Quiet though, although the Pegasus knew it was herself to blame for that. Between relocating one of her shoulders and waiting for some wounds to heal, she hadn't taken any time to socialise amongst her..'comrades'. It was a term she used incredibly loosely, not trusting a single one of them as far as she could throw them and all to aware that members of this band still viewed her as an enemy. The unicorn, Rarity as everyone called her, had made another attempt to try to kill her two nights ago.
She had been trying to get to sleep in her tent when she had heard them speaking: Rarity made hushed mutterings to some of her fellow ponies that they would sneak in and kill the pegasus in her sleep, using the deaths of two others as motivation. The names alluded her, but she was sure she heard a Dan in the unicorns list of the dead: She honestly hadn't known the names of her attackers and it had been nobodies fault but their own that they had ended up meeting their ends at the tip of her sword. Why was this so hard for ponies to accept? It was a question she found herself asking more times then not, mainly because it continued to baffle her. It was when somepony called Donnelly had protested to going first that Fluttershy had come to dissuade them. She had gone out to meet the other pegasus and offer some manner of thanks, only to be coldly brushed aside with the justification that it was under Pinkie Pies orders. She had a feeling this was going to be something of a recurring trend.

Pulling her mind back to reality, she surveyed the armoured ponies all standing at attention around her at the border of the forest. The moon was only a crescent in the sky above and the stars all but obscured by the clouds that cast themselves in the blackened sky, further adding to the feel of being stationed in utter darkness.
“On the hill our opponents have their headquarters, manned by approximately two thousand soldiers”. Pinkie pie spoke from the head of the body of mercenaries, donned in her armor. The naïve and bubbly persona had once again fled, leaving the calm and capable warrior in her place to lead them. Even now it seemed like she was two different people in one body, and the pegasus couldn't help but be perplexed. She had heard about how some ponies were born with 'Two souls', normally acting as though a normal person but at a moments notice could become a radically different personality and person. Whether or not this was the case with her current commander remained to be seen, but she was not about to dispel the possibility.”Our Mission is to burn the provisions and other supplies stored behind the hill. Theoretically, our enemies should mass in-front of the hill in order to prepare for a night attack”. The pegasus caught the knowing gleam in the earth ponies eyes as she continued her explaination.”This is my strategy: While the enemy has focused themselves on the front, we will use the river to launch an assault at the rear. After that, we take the shortest route we can back to the castle gate and run through the middle of their forces”

She was going to go through the middle of the enemy forces? Even the Pegasus was surprised by this approach. At first she had assumed this to have just been a simple distraction: They would attack from the rear, while another attacked from the front and sandwiched them. She had done that manuevor a few times before, usually being at the front lines during those kinds of attacks, but to make a back attack in these conditions and make a dash back to the castle? It was like they were just attacking and running rather then staying to fight, something that Rainbow Dash found herself curious about.
“Any reinforcements?” One of the colts at the front asked.
“No. I'm afraid our employers couldn't afford to spare any of their own men”
“Yeah cause their all a bunch of cowards!” Another spoke up with a chuckle, causing the entire mercenary body to erupt into laughter. Pinkie Pie just waited patiently for the laughter to die down before she finally continued.
“The rear guard for tonight, will be Rainbow Dash...that is if you accept”

Rainbow Dash could only stand their in shock, her eyes immediately wide as hushed whispers of awe erupted around her. Some of them were wandering about the sanity of their leader, others about if this was some kind of test. But, the rainbow haired swordponies wings twitched before she found it in her to respond.”You'll have to handle hundreds of enemy calvary on a straight road through the woods. Do you feel you can handle that?”
“Is that an order?”
“It is” The white armored pony smirked playfully.

Fluttershy

“Is she trying to test her?” One of the colts near her voiced up, with another exclaiming sympathies at their newest recruit being given such a harsh task. A quiet chuckle, coming from none other then Rarity, reached the yellow pegasus' ears.
“I guess I won't have to worry about killing that brute after all! I doubt she's going to survive this little test!”
Fluttershy knew immediately this wasn't a test.

Despite how she acted absent mindedly and even bubbly in personality at times, She knew their leader was anything but a fool. Pinkie Pie never wasted time on doing tests in critical moments, and she knew she wouldn't start now by giving this recruit such an important task. It would endanger the mission in leaving just a small, but lethal, possibility of complete failure.which left another, far more horrifying prospect to form in her mind: Pinkie Pie, for whatever reason, truly believed that this Rainbow Dash would be able to perform as the rear guard on her own.

As if on instinct, the pink haired pegasus tied her helmets straps as she put it on her head, watching in interest as everyone begun to do the same or pull their visors down. The last one to pull down their visor was none other then their newest recruit, making the Pegasus start to wander if they had made the right decision in letting this newcomer handle such a dangerous task alone.

Rainbow Dash

The pegasus wasn't entirely comfortable in trecking through the river rather then marching alongside it. Despite them having healed, she still didn't wish to burden her wings and risk infection let alone having them wet and hampered if she had to take flight. Despite the harsh winds and climate, the Pegasus knew she could handle flight in these conditions, but she also knew that to just fly overhead would be compromising: Her wings would have made too much noise if she had flown overhead, far more then any bird could naturally and would no doubt alert anypony with keen enough hearing to her presence. Even if that hadn't caught their attention, the large shadow of her looming overhead would certainly capture the attention of those below, especially if they had a torch in hoof. Which, given the curtain of darkness that this hour bestowed to the world and that the enemies headquarters was in the middle of this forest, gave them all the reason they needed to carry light amidst this night.

Plus, the river meant that they could hide their hoofsteps by using the current of the stream. If they had just walked alongside it they would have no doubt had their approach heard easily, even over the noise of the rushing stream. They also had the large gusts of wind to obscure any sounds their hoof falls made through the trip in such a rapid stream. The enemy wasn't likely to foresee an attack from the rear, especially from such a rapid stream and under such terrible conditions and with the setting of fires combined with the fact they were travelling the direction of the wind...meant that their base would be a smoldering inferno in no time. Pinkie Pie had Calculated for every single element in her mind, managing to rethink her strategy even after the weather had turned out so poorly. There had even been recommendations to not even bother attempting to attack during sudden appearance of poor weather, but she had insisted in that calm way she always did that they would be able to manage finishing the task they had been assigned tonight. And the Pegasus, somehow, found herself believing it.
Up ahead the company suddenly came to a hault as they saw the hoof of one of their scouts go up. She remembered her as the one that had talked to her after she had regained consciousness, being one of “The three siblings”: She was the middle one and the one in charge of the scouts, the one they called Applejack.

AppleJack

Things had been just a bit to easy so far, the scout had felt it as clearly as the chill that now travelled through her very bones. There had yet to be a single enemy patrol out this way, not uncommon given they were likely directing their attention to the castle up ahead and their employers, but to not have a single pony on guard duty? That just stank of stupidity, even for enemies such as these. But, she had spotted a shimmer of a halberd, two in-fact, as two ponies came from the opposite direction, not yet noticing the warriors in the river. But she saw them, and she wasn't about to let them see them or get a word out about possible intruders: Things had been going so well for them up until now, and she didn't wish to see the current trend come to it's conclusion, the actor in her just wouldn't allow it. After all, it didn't make a good story for the lead cast to perish at the first obstacle.

She didn't have the strength of her brother, but in a situation like this she knew that brute force was just going to get them found out quicker. No, she had to drop these guards not just quickly, but silently: It was nights like this she blessed whatever gods or divine entities that existed for her time spent amongst those performers, and for the skills she picked up from them.
Moving her left hoof to a bandolier of small knives, she retracted one of the small blades and clasped it tightly. It was a move she had done a thousand times before and one she would do a thousand times more after as she took a breath and kept both enemy ponies in her gaze before briefly letting her eyes settle on the one on the left. Quickly, she raised her foreleg overhead before throwing the blade she held at the enemy to her left. The blade hit home, embedding itself into the vital artery of her opponents neck and sending out a spurt of vital red liquid as he fell back, the pony letting out a choked gargle as he fell back amidst a puddle of his own blood. In quick succession the earth pony wrapped her right hoof around herself to rest on a small knife sheath at her left hind leg. Retracting it, she spun around in a step forwards before throwing the second blade into the other ponies neck before he could react to his comrades death. The action was fluid, graceful, almost akin to a quick dance. It was a trick she had learned some time back, a rather simple one compared to her comrades but one that never failed to get some applause. Or, in this case, kill unsuspecting enemies.
Seeing no further foes on patrol, she looked back and gave a nod to Pinkie pie who gestured for the others to start moving forwards again towards the enemy camp. If they were lucky, which the earth pony found they seemed to have an endless supply of as of late, they wouldn't encounter any further opposition until they reached the camp. She just hoped that luck wasn't about to fail them just yet.

Various Perspectives

“It's freezing out here! Why did they have to make us draw sticks!?” The colt unfortunate enough to be caught guarding the entrance to the wrapped the cloak he wore around himself more snugly, biting back a sneeze that he felt the urge to release. He was instantly envious of his comrades behind him that were huddled around a campfire whilst he was sitting on an overturned log in the midst of a howling, unrelenting gale of wind. He knew his position was important: After all, they had all their warriors up the front whilst a few stayed behind to guard the ammunition for the canons. Someone had to be on lookout to make sure that nobody made any move to try to catch them off guard by attacking their rear, and if there was any attempt made then he could call out to report it.”I just want to go home!” He shivered again, hating that the night was just so foreboding and creepy when so far from comrades or the camp. It wasn't that far, true, but staring into a dark and empty forest in the middle of such fierce winds naturally had some effects on the psyche. Hell, even now he was seeing several flames beginning to approach him!
Wait...flames?
“Huh?” He squinted, spotting the features of several ponies moving towards him and also the shapes of what he could only assume to be weapons. He knew they hadn't sent out that many ponies on patrol this eve, which meant only one things.”Enemies!?” He sprung to his hooves in shock, backing away as they grew closer.”Why are they coming from that direction!?” Turning to sprint towards his comrades at the camp he heard the hoof-falls of the enemies behind him follow after him, with the horde quickly ovetaking him. Despite how fast he wanted to run he found himself knocked into the dirt by the large body of equines. Before he was trampled, he managed to let out a final cry to his comrades before the mass of enemy hooves crushed him into the ground.”ENEMY RAID!”
“Set the fires!” Pinkie Pie called out as she ran forwards, sword in hoof.

Hearing the cry of their fallen comrade, the two guards at the front of the tent grabbed hold of their weapons and rallied their allies as a white armoured pony made a dash for them.
“We're under atta-” The colts words were cut off as a sabres blade sliced through his neck, silencing any further attempts at speech. The one at his side made an attempt to charge at the pony before his path was blocked by a large red colt, battle-axe in one of his hooves and a flaming torch in the other.
The edge of the ponies axe descended, crushing the head of it's victim underneath as his head caved in, coating his attacker in his blood. Another two made an attempt to flank him in the confusion, one running from the left with a spear in hoof and the other from the right with a shortsword. The sound of beating wings overhead stopped the assailant from the right, who looked up with a horrified expression as he saw a gleam of a greatsword from up above quickly swooping towards him. He barely had time to raise his sword, but by then the enemy had passed him and was already making a rush towards the other parts of the garrison, his upper body seperated and sent flying backwards as he fell back. A cry of horror and intense agony escaped the right attackers lips, using his last breaths to try to vainly stop his organs and blood from decorating the grass. The one on the left was no less lucky, not stopping his assault until a blur of orange crashed into his side, sending him sprawling. With a growl, he made to grasp his recently dropped spear, turning to glare up at his enemy. His eyes soon found themselves staring into the tip of a short-sword held by a lightly armoured mare, who soon thrust the weapon in between his eyes, causing him to fall back.
“Cmon Big Mac!” Applejack urged her elder sibling as she rushed to catch up, her sibling as they made a run to catch up to their comrades. Macintosh stared into the flames briefly, giving a shrug and absently throwing it behind him into the cluster of nearby tents before breaking into a run to catch up to her younger sibling.

Haulting his garrison near one of the burning tents, the lieutenant could only glare at the enemies backs as they made a run through their camp.“Jerry, go to the front and get the commander to bring the heavy infantry down here! This fires going to reach the headquarters in this storm if we aren't careful, and I want them to handle chasing these bastards out so we can make sure these fires get put out” He spoke to the colt at his side who quickly turned and started running for the nearby hill, the lieutenant shaking his head.
“Sir, there's something that I-
”This is a disgrace. The heavy infantries just sitting up their as we get defeated by a bunch of ragtag misfits!” The lieutenant interrupted one of his infantryman before he could continue
“Umm, s-sir..”
“I want the half to my left to chase down and keep some of these bastards at bay while the ones at the right go get to work on getting some water to put this damned fire out”
“Sir!” The private finally put his hoof down, speaking up rather boldly.
“What's the matter Now!?” The lieutenant growled, looking at his subordinate impatiently.”Well cmon pony, spit it out!”

“Uhh, well-”The other pony took a breath, pointing at the burning tent they were all standing beside.”S-s-sir, isn't that tent where we keep all the ammuniti-”

Rainbow Dash

“Disengage. Break for the castle, this is done!” The explosion nearby heralded the words of her commander, causing the entire mercenary force turn tail and start to run towards the castle. The pegasus finished off a few more foes before turning to fly off after them.”Move it, double file!” The mercenaries fleeing all moved themselves into two separate lines that ran alongside one another, likely to aid in the ease of movement to the location without having everyone trip over each-other as they made this rather mad dash to the castle.
The pegasus swooped down behind her comrades and allowed her hooves to meet the ground as she broke into a run herself, surprised at how organised and quick they were moving: Most of the raids she had been apart of were usually very clumsy and inefficient, with typically ninety percent of the entire allied force tripping over their own horse-shoes to try to get out of the enemy base when the call was made. Here though? They all ran side by side at a steady pace, as if they all silently knew they were going to be able to make it to the castle without any casualties. The clamour of hooves against the ground behind her signified that the enemy had now caught up to them. They were more heavily armoured then the ones back at the camp, likely some troops sent down from the hill to try to turn the tides of a battle they had long since lost, moving in a tight formation towards her. The sight just brought a smirk to the pegasus' face as she stared back at the invaders: Now, it was her turn to shine.

She clashed swords with one of the ponies that ran up alongside of her for a moment. His attack had some punch but it wasn't going to be enough to match her strength, let alone the blade she wielded. It was a fact she proved quite quickly by pushing back against her attacker, stumbling him and leaving him open for a diagonal slice, ending the fools life.
In her clash she had failed to notice one of the attackers had gotten by as she clashed with another, alerted to it only by a loud squeaking noise from nearby. Looking behind her, she saw one of the soldiers had started to catch up on one of her allies: A rather small creature, the young filly that was said to be one of “The Three Siblings”. Flaring her wings she propelled herself towards her foe as he raised his sword, raking her sword through the unsuspecting colts chest and sending him falling to the ground with the life gone from his face.
“Get out of here!” The pegasus roared, the young filly giving a nod of understanding before turning to run and for Rainbow Dash to turn to swing her sword in a diagonal arc, cutting through three more of the armoured soldiers before turning to try to catch up with her allies, now noticing she had taken the full attention of her foes. They just had to get a little further, and then they would be in the clear.”Come on, get going already!”

AppleJack

“What are our losses?” Just returned and already questions were being asked by their commander for progress. In truth, she didn't mind all that much but she did certainly appreciate the slight irony to it all: She was meant to be the scout of this band of mercenaries after all.
“Nothin' serious, one or two o' us were slow and some o' th' others havn't shown up but..we pretty much all got through unscathed” She spoke, catching her breath before looking back into the dark forest anxiously: She had lost sight of her younger sister during the raid, and she was quite scared for her safety. She hadn't wanted to have her sibling see any action yet, even Macintosh she worried about given his normally peaceful demeanour off the battlefield. He was strong and could cleave a ponies skull in two if he wanted too, but she still found herself worried about him: If not for his life, then definitely for his continued sanity. But, she knew he could handle himself. Applebloom was still only young and the thought of her possibly being killed, or worse captured and subjected to her captors whims was something that made knots start to tie in her stomach whenever she was set to go onto a battlefield.
“That's good to hear that our losses are so minimal”Pinkie Pie spoke calmly, seeming to be pleased with both the answer and with the outcome.
“It's all thanks to Rainbow Dash really, yah should'a seen her take on a group of heavy infantry all on her own..even though it was on a straight path through the woods!” The scout allowed herself to smile, still impressed with the ease that the pegasus had handled the entire group and called for them to all leave her be. Pinkie Pies expression lightened ever so slightly at the praise whilst Fluttershy, as always found by her commander side, proceeded to narrow her eyes in annoyance.”Boy, she sure's somethin'!”

The sound of somepony rushing towards them made Applejacks concentration break, turning to face the forest entrance. A hoof went to the sheathed short-sword on her back, ready to draw it in-case this turned out to be a surviving enemy that had made their way into their midst and make an attempt. However, the small silhouette and the light footfall of the one coming towards them made it clear as to the identity of this lone pony and for a great amount of relief to swell in the scout as she rushed towards her.
“Applebloom!” She quickly embraced the exhausted younger sibling, glad that she had managed to make it out of the forest safely. However, with the safety of her sister now assured she realised this battle hadn't yet concluded, realising they were still short one other person.”Where's Rainbow Dash?”
“She-”Applebloom took a moment to catch her breath before continuing.”She sent me back without her”
The elder scouts eyes narrowed, looking up towards the forest.”Oh no, I hope she's still alive” The silence of the forest was almost as damning a piece of evidence as the lack of any other person emerging from the darkness of the tree line.

Rainbow Dash

The amount of ponies she had cut down had escaped her as she sliced through anothers neck, soon using her wings to propel herself forwards and take to the air. She strafed to the left as another blade from behind her was swung at where she had been hovering, moving to counter the blow by slamming the base of her swords hilt into the eye-slit of the assailants helmet, sending him plummeting backwards and moving to cover his eye with one of his hooves, momentarily disoriented by the sudden attack and no doubt swelling of pain. She continued forwards as crossbow bolts were fired, the pegasus tilting her wings at moving very slightly to ensure she wasn't hit with any-more bolts: She'd already been grounded once recently thanks to meeting Pinkie Pie and she was in no mood for a repeat experience.
Unfortunately, all it took was a single look back to gauge the distance between herself and her pursuers for her to run head first into a hanging tree branch. A flash of light suddenly overcame her as she found herself sprawled out on the ground, her joints aching, and finally to top it all off was a great thumping noise that echoed about in her head. She shook her head, trying to dispel the sound until a mass of shadow loomed over her and forced her to gaze at it's source: A group of the heavily armoured ponies moved closer, raising their weapons overhead in their approach so they could end the mares life in a single downward stroke.
Damn it all! She had failed yet again, and now she was going to meet her end at the hoof of another pony this night for all her efforts. She was frozen, her disorientation still making it impossible for her to move out of the way with any definite success of dodging the blades. This was it...this was where she was going to die. Raising herself to her feet and holding her sword out infront of her clumsily, she narrowed her eyes in concentration at the rapidly moving wall of enemies. If she was going to die here, she wasn't going to just sit back and be skewered like some coward..and who knows, maybe she might be able to take one of these ponies to Tartarus with her!

Her despair shattered as she observed a volley of crossbow bolts suddenly fire into the ponies that were moving in to slay her, the colts all falling over dead. The pegasus swiftly turned, immediately feeling dizzy from the sudden movement as another crossbow bolt was sent flying into the neck of one of the remaining soldiers. Looking at the three figures before her, she immediately recognized the white armoured mare before her.
“Pinkie-”She didn't get any further time to say anything before the other pony had grabbed her hoof and dragged her over to one of the two others beside her, who had just finished cleaving through another colt with his battle-axe. Immediately grabbing her, he helped the pegasus onto his back.
“Let's go!” Pinkie pie called out, the three immediately breaking into a run as the remaining enemy soldiers behind them gave chase.
“Why did you come back?” The pegasus spoke, still disoriented from the collision and also because of the momentum of having to ride draped over the other colts back.
“Hold your tongue!” The pink mare replied angrily as they continued to run, already noticing that her current mode of transportation was slower then her trot or even her flight: She was weighing her companion down and making him run at a slower pace because he was transporting her. She could tell from how fast they were catching up to them that they wouldn't have long until they were close enough to start slicing at her allies ankles. And when that happened..they were both going to die.
“They're going to catch us, I'm weighing you down!” She could hear them getting closer, almost certain she could see them raising their blades for a chance to attack at the exposed back of both her and the one transporting her. She was distracted by a flicker of light from the edge of the forest, noticing it's yellow color and what it usually meant: Fire. She was starting to get more and more apprehensive about travelling in this direction, not in the mood to be saved only to end up running directly into a forest fire.
“Disperse, now!” Pinkie pie cried out just before they reached the edge of the clearing, causing her and the scout to veer off to the left whilst Rainbow Dash and her current mode of transport veered right sharply, throwing her off balance. It was a good call though, and the sight in-front of her was enough to make a smile, however slightly, spread across her features.

A line of canons were now stationed in-front of the castles gates and pointed directly into the forest, and by extension the large body of enemy soldiers that had now come to an absolute halt thanks to coming face to face with the firearms.
“Oh..shit-”
“Fire!” The colt standing in-front of the canons ordered, pointing his hoof at the entrance of the Forest as the canons all begun to fire one by one. The scene quickly turned into a chaotic blend of gunpowder, cannonballs, blood and dirt. The screams of the soldiers hit as they found themselves in pieces screamed out in a chorus of differing tones: A mix of surprise, horror, fear and even utter agony as they found themselves scattering about as some were torn apart by the giant metal balls propelled at them. One unfortunate victim had his head torn clean off only to have the cannonball that hit him be lodged into the chest of the soldier behind him, rupturing his internal organs and causing him to fall back, the cannonball still lodged partway into his chest. The rest of the soldiers soon understood they stood no chance against the continuous volley of fire and metal, the last few falling into an immediate retreat. They turned tail, rapidly making their way into the safety of the forest behind them and out of range from the Canons.

The screams of the dead were soon replaced with cheers of victory from her allies, The pegasus finally deciding to step down from her saviors back rather quickly. She almost tripped, but quickly got her bearings in spite of the uneven soil beneath her hooves. She may have been grateful to the colt for saving her, but she still didn't enjoy being touched although she understood the need to in that situation. Still, now that the danger was over she had no desire to have him or anybody else in this band of warriors lay so much as a hair on her. She quickly started to shoulder through those that crowded around her, aiming to get away from all these ponies.

AppleJack

It had been a long night, but despite everything it wasn't too late for everyone. Despite their exhaustion, despite how tired some of them happened to be, they still had energy left behind for one thing and one thing alone: Celebrating. They had all been planning something like this for quite some time, particularly in regards to the arrival of their new found comrade. Pinkie Pie had been planning to do it sooner, it had been obvious given how she had a penchant for major celebrations: She had always enjoyed throwing parties over even small accomplishments, or to celebrate occasions such as the arrival of a new group of members into their midst or even for what they were celebrating for tonight aside from as a welcome ceremony: Victory, and also for their new pay.
Fund had been a little bit strapped lately thanks to the lack of any true work, and they had gone through a lot of their money in keeping themselves stocked for both food and also for repairs of weapons and other items. Rarity, who had been granted the roll of the unofficial accountant due to her...less then stellar combat abilities, had been tearing her mane out over the finances as of late and in keeping everything stocked. It was under her suggestion that they stave off any celebrations as advice, something that had probably hurt their leader more then she cared to show.

But, all of that seemed to disappear whenever they celebrated like this. It was like they didn't have a care in the whole of Equestria as they all sat around the various fires, drinking from their mugs and feasting on whatever meat they happened to be roasting over their fires. Everyone reminiscing and celebrating the victory they had achieved, and how they had once again defied the odds of those who had believed them to fail.
Sitting at the fire, she took another piece of solace in something entirely different: The fact she still had her little sister and her brother by her side completely unharmed. She allowed herself to briefly smile at the two as they talked to one another, picking up her sisters talk of how she had managed to repair a crossbow that everyone had said would be beyond disrepair. It was one she had told a thousand times before but there her brother was, sitting and listening patiently as though he was just hearing it for the first time. She briefly spied Pinkie Pie laughing as she reminisced on something with Rarity, who seemed to look incredibly embarassed about the current subject: Likely regailing the tale of how she had secured the unicorns loyalty in the first place. Fluttershy had said she was going to make sure the castles guard dogs weren't disturbed by the celebrations, but she knew it was because she didn't want to be around this many people: She had never been good in social situations, no matter how much of a tough shell she tried to put up and she had always adored other animals, so it seemed only fitting. Taking another sip of her drink she sighed happily, just happy her siblings were safe and sound. She honestly hoped they would be able to always meet up after a victory, no matter how trivial, and just..spend time together. She had a feeling nothing was going to tear them apart, but all the same she cherished every moment of down-time like this whenever she was able to get it.
“Hey, has anyone seen Dash around?” Applebloom spoke up from beside her, distracting the scout from her thoughts. She took a moment to look around before finally spying the Pegasus sitting up on one of the battlements, her sword resting against her.
“She isn't here!? M-m-maybe she didn't know we were having it..Someone should go get her, a parties no fun without the one that it's being celebrated for!” Pinkie Pie spoke up in distress, starting to frantically begin going over what she might have gotten wrong to drive the Pegasus away. Her energy seemed to die down into sadness, an odd sight for the leader of a military band as she just pouted and moped, her happiness all but gone. Applejack had seen her leader like this a few times, and she knew exactly how to fix it.

“Hold on, I'll go an' get 'er! Just keep this party going till then alright?” She looked at her brother, tapping his shoulder before leaning over.”I think I might need your help gettin' her down here..”She whispered to her brother, getting to her feet and making her way towards the stairs, looking back to see not just her brother but also her sister following suit.

Rainbow Dash

Taking the time in her solitude to think, the Pegasus looked up at the sky's longingly, the urge to fly once again taking over her. However, her mind kept turning back to how the battle she had fought in had panned out so successfully and with further thought her mind once again turned back to the mare that lead this band of mercenaries. And now, by extension, the pegasus herself.
Despite her age, Pinkie Pie had the qualities of a great leader. The ponies under her command believed in her completely and were all prepared, at a moments notice, to lay down their lives if it meant the continued survival of their leader. Above all though and in spite of her difficult to pin down personality, she was capable of making split second decisions in the heat of battle. To her, she didn't seem quite like the kind of person to be leading a mercenary band. No, these were more like the qualities of a Queen. She had to shake her head at that thought: She was just a commoner, born into a life of work and struggle that had little effect on the world around her. She couldn't possibly think she could reach that point and become a ruler of a kingdom? She had the qualities, but her station made such a thought nothing more then a dream.
She found herself returning to reality after hearing footsteps coming from behind her, making the rainbow haired mare grasp the hilt of her sword in preparation for being jumped out of nowhere again half expecting that unicorn to try to off her with a crossbow.
But, to her surprise and quiet relief, she saw that it was the two that had saved her in the forest before accompanied by a young filly.
“Hey Dash!” The younger one spoke up cheerfully, making her way over with a smile on her face.
“What're ya doin' up here, gossipin' with the birds?” The mare, Applejack, let out a chuckle as she made her way over appearing to be in high spirits.
“Thank you for helping us out in the fight before, I wouldn't have made it out if you hadn't saved me” Realisation soon dawned on the younger ponies face, quickly inclining her head.”Oops! Sorry, I didn't tell you my name did I? I'm Applebloom!”
Applejack chuckled, ruffling up the younger mares hair.
“Still gotta brush up on your manners! Mercenary or not, we still gotta make sure we don't just act carelessly. I don't think either of us want another talk from ol' Rarity about how to act proper..”This made the younger filly look at her sister in utter despair, shaking her head quickly which got a laugh from the elder sibling who soon looked back to the Pegasus before her.”Still, I owe you one for savin' my dear sister. I still hate having her out on the battlefield but, well..sometimes we just need numbers and in this case she just happened to be needed”
Rainbow Dash shook her head.”Don't...pull this favor for a favor thing on me. I don't owe you anything, really. I did nothing more then my duty, I have no reason to be thanked” She looked over at the other two beside her.”Same goes for you two”
Applejack shrugged, letting out a quiet sigh.
“Well, I won't argue with you about that. Anyhow cmon follow us, a party ain't as lively without it's hero after all!”
This caused a raising of the Pegasus' eyebrows as well as a few other internal alarms, especially as Applejacks smile took on a much more sinister edge.”That Celebration down there's in honour of you!”
“I...w-wait..Hold on! I never asked for anything like that! No way, I am NOT going down there!” Applejack's smirk widened slightly, tapping the red colt beside her that seemed to be her sibling.
“Big Mac, I think our guest 'ere needs a bit of help gettin' to the party we all set up for her. Lend a hoof to her ok?”
“Eeyup!” The larger pony said, making his way over and, rather clumsily, lifted the Pegasus off her feet.
“W-what are you doing!? Put me down you big oaf!” She screamed, flailing about upside down in the larger ponies grasp as she was slumped over one of his shoulders. How dare he go and touch her! NOBODY touched her, let alone him: She had given him a free pass when he had saved her in that battle, but that was a battle this was not. She knew the intention of those that touched her, dark intentions that existed in the souls of every pony, and for him to violate her personal space, especially in such a miraculous way, made her very uncomfortable. Still he seemed to keep her in place well enough, The pegasus realising he had a remarkable degree of strength in him especially given his size.”Put me down!” Rainbow Dash growled, using one of her hooves to smack the colt right in the nose, causing it to start to bleed and him to stop in his tracks. This caused concern to appear on the faces of the two younger siblings, Applejack's brows starting to furrow as if to calm the Pegasus down but soon enough the larger pony started to carry her along once again.
“Let's go” He remarked simply, carrying her down the stairs and into the vast crowd of Ponies gathered around the fires and celebrating.

She felt all eyes suddenly focus on her as she was carried, her discomfort growing into embarrassment as more attention was given to the pegasus that had to be carried through the crowd. Some of them laughed and pointed, others gave a respectful nod whilst others seemed to just give her only a moments notice before she eventually spotted Pinkie pie. She noticed how depressed she seemed to appear, curious about what could be affecting her mood like this, not even seeming to laugh or notice jokes and conversations directed at her. This lasted until she looked up to spot the Pegasus, a large smile of happiness crossing her features as she suddenly sprung to her feet and quickly made her way towards the colt in the middle of the other ponies.
“You made it!” She squealed happily as she made her way over, acting as excited as a child that had just gotten something that they had been after.”I knew you'd come, I knew it!”
“I told you we'd get her here, one way or the other!” Applejack chuckled.
“PUT ME DOWN NOW YOU THICK HEADED BASTARD!” Rainbow Dash screamed at the colt holding her up, who rolled his eyes and clumsily deposited her on the ground.'
“My name is Big Macintosh”
Rainbow Dash's anger had finally reached boiling point: She had made it clearer then a crystal about how she felt about being touched to this dumbass, and he had still carried her around like a ragdoll. And worse yet, everyone else here had seen her so utterly helpless against him.
“Look you Dumbass, I am going to make this as clear to you as I possibly can” She was ready to lay into him with all the fuel of humiliation, anger and frustration built up ever since she had lost that first time. Glaring up at him, she continued her tirade.”Don't. Touch. Me-”She stopped as she suddenly found the colt had a glass of ale in his hand, holding it out to her with a rather sincere smile on his face despite the bleeding nose.
“Drink” And just like that, the anger disappeared and the Pegasus could only stare at the Colt with a look of utter confusion.
“Everyone, a toast to our firey and brash new friend!” Applejack called out, raising her glass into the air as a cheer erupted as if on command which soon descended into happy laughter. An atmosphere that was foreign and above all very strange to the Pegasus: Most of the bands he had been in didn't celebrate like this, most of the time just counting their coins and going to the nearest brothel or tavern to spend their earnings before remembering they had essentials. The only one not enjoying herself seemed to be the Unicorn Rarity, who quickly stood up and left in hurried disgust at the proceedings. A nudge to her shoulder from Macintosh brought her focus back to the cup in his hoof, which she finally took and begun to skull down it's contents, leading to the ponies around her to begin chanting the word “Chug!”. Given the mugs size it was definitely worth the chant, which started to pick up in volume and in speed the longer she kept the cup their until, finally, it's contents were depleted. Letting out a hearty burp, the crowd suddenly started to cheer although some were quick to erupt into laughter at such a loud and rowdy noise coming from a Mare.
It was then some of the others in the crowd of faces stepped forth, smiles on their faces as one of them grabbed her shoulder. The discomfort she felt was there as usual but...it seemed lessened somehow, as if she knew that nobody here was going to try anything sinister towards her.
“I gotta hand it to you, you're probably one of the best fighters we've had in our group so far!” One of them complimented her, slapping her on the back.”You cut off that enemy attack all on your own, even though we were outnumbered!”
“Pinkie Pie was right about you, welcome aboard!” Another spoke, thankfully keeping his interaction with her non-physical and simply offering a nod of approval.
Another approached her, grabbing her shoulder.”YOU are completely out of your mind!” He jammed a hoof right into her chest, smirking at her.”I'm just glad you're on our side and not the enemies!”He laughed, soon moving to wander off into the party to mingle with the others.

Rainbow Dash simply stood their dumbfounded, not used to such positive energy or happiness amongst ponies. And yet, there was something oddly nostalgic about all of this as if she had been in this atmosphere once before.
“What's the matter? You act like you havn't been in a party before!” Pinkie Pie suddenly appeared in-front of her, grinning like a madmare
“I guess...”The pegasus shrugged.”If we're being honest I actually havn't...been in a party. Couple of tavern runs yeah but, well not a party” She heard Pinkie Pie gasp in an overly dramatic manner, as if she had just heard a confession of murder.
“You-You've never been part of a party!?”She literally screamed, making Rainbow Dash wince due to the loud noise. She was dreading the expression she was making, almost as if a plan was formulating in her mind. She almost knew, as if by instinct: Pinkie Pie was going to do something utterly crazy.”Applejack, how much ale and cider have we got left?”
The other earth pony raised an eyebrow at this question out of the blue.
“Why're you goin' an' askin' something like that?”
“Cause we're using all of it. Tonight!” Before the other pony could respond she looked at Rainbow Dash again, a mischevious gleam in her eyes.”Our friend here has never been in a party before...and I intend to make her first ever party one that she's going to remember forever” She took a breath before roaring out and raising her glass.”Has everyone got that? Don't be afraid to go overboard and drink as much as you want! Tonight, we are going to make the royal balls look paltry by comparison!” This resulted in a universal cheer of happiness as everyone started rushing to break open the barrels of ale and other beverages, some even starting to brawl over it.”Now then, I intend to give you a party to remember. I should warn you I'm good at holding my ale, nobodies ever beaten me in a drinking match and I don't expect you to join me..”She suddenly put her forehead dangerously close to the Pegasus', her expression one of overconfidence and her smile suddenly taking a dangerous edge.”That is if you think you can beat me”
Something stirred inside of Rainbow Dash at that moment: A desire to compete, a desire for reward. But, above all, a desire to win. Her own gaze became serious, a frown on her face.
“Bring. It. On!” She declared, the two holding the gaze for some time as some of the others around them watched, the scene getting surprisingly tense. It was only broken by Pinkie Pie bursting into laughter, shaking her head slightly at the display. Even the Pegasus let out a quiet chuckle, a smile now on her face.
“Ohh! I got a smile out of you after all!” Pinkie Pie happily spoke, handing the pegasus a new glass of ale while she herself held a second.”Now, let's get this duel of ours under way...”
“This time, you're going to lose Pinkie” The pegasus declared, starting to quickly chug down her drink before the earth pony followed suit, the crowd starting to urge the two of them on.

As she drank the night away, the pegasus felt surprisingly at peace. She wasn't wanting to fight, or even to find out details on the next mission. She was just happy to drink alongside her newfound comrades and forget her worries. Happiness and company? Suddenly a slight epiphany begun to form in the Pegasus' mind. Maybe, just maybe, this was going to be the start of something great..maybe being happy wasn't such a bad thing after all.