Foals Next Door
Written by TheCrimsonDM
Applebloom had to show them. She'd discovered the best thing in the whole world, and better yet it was only just a little trip into the Everfree Forest. The moment she'd seen it, she knew that she had to show her friends, because if not them, who else would be able to really enjoy the amazing thing she discovered.
So when she finally found Sweetie Bell and Scootaloo sitting at a park bench and looking as bored as ever, she knew it was time she revealed her secret. She jumped onto the table making them jump and exclaimed, "You wanna see something cool!"
The two of them looked up at her. Clearly, they were both bored out of their minds but they didn't seem to hesitate. Scootaloo stood upright. "Sure, I'm heck'n bored anyway."
Sweetie Belle snapped. "Language. If my sister catches you swearing again she said I won't be allowed to be friends with you."
Scootaloo rolled her eyes. "Your sister should butt out of it. Because no one stops being friend with, hoo hah, Scootaloo."
Applebloom shot her a dirty look. "No. You’re not allowed to do that again."
"Awww come on, it was funny the first time."
Sweetie Belle groaned as if in pain. "Yes, the first time, but not the thousandth time."
Scootaloo deflated a little. "Okay, fine, I'll stop. What do you wanna show us anyway."
Applebloom jumped off the table and landed on her hooves. "Follow me, my friends. I will show you the world. So full of wonder."
Sweetie Belle chimed in. "you're getting the lyrics wrong."
Applebloom looked at her. "What lyrics? I was just saying Ah found a cool thing to show you."
She led her little troop toward the Everfree Forest. They had to be careful how they entered it. Not because it was scary and dangerous, but rather because their families, well Applebloom and Sweetie Belle's families were all super uptight about them venturing into the forest. Scootaloo didn't have a family, in fact she was pretty sure that Scootaloo hired ponies to pretend to be her parents sometimes, after all how could hey explain Scootaloo's 'parents' changing species and colors every few years. Unless... they were changelings. A cold shiver ran down her spine, no hired parents were a safer idea.
Applebloom decided to fill the air with some light conversation. "You know how Ah sometimes come up with the most fun ideas on how to get cutie marks?"
Scootaloo pointed her wings, the small tiny things she called wings anyway, at Applebloom. "You know it, filly."
"Well, I borrowed a lot of them from some of the ruins I found. Same with the cool gadgets. In fact, I saw Pinkie Pie picking through the ruins once or twice, I think that's where she got her spy gear from."
Sweetie Belle nearly tripped over a twig. "Wait, you didn't build that stuff yourself?"
"It's fifty fifty. Sometimes the artifacts I find are too damaged to use so I've had to rebuild or repair them. Good news though, their designed to be reverse-engineered so it's easy to do. However, I finally stumbled upon the masterpiece, the ultimate thing, and I had to show you two."
They were a good ways into the forest now. The floor was riddled with weeds, plants and branches. However it was also littered with the occasional statue, now mostly crumbled of some sort of strange monkey creatures wearing clothes. The statues were oftentimes numbered too. From five down to two. A few broken gadgets lay here or there, for example a cannon that shot exclusively toilet paper. Or a gun that shot ketchup. Or even a portal flying machine with broken propellers.
The place had an air of sanctuary to it. A place hidden and safe from the world outside. It was always her favorite place to look for ideas. Usually lost inside of capsules that seemed to last through the ages. Yet she'd never found anything like this and now she had to share.
They all stopped at once as soon as they saw it. Even if she'd seen it before, seeing it a second time took her breath away. It was a massive, giant treehouse. The windows, and doors on the higher surfaces were all blocked by metal shutters. Ruined ketchup and mustard cannons littered the floor around it. There was even a few slingshots she found. The front doors had a humanoid shape melted through the front of it, and she could only imagine that some monkey creature had burned so hot that they walked through the metal of the door.
It was clear that whoever did this had walked into the building. They were also tall, like really, really tall. Maybe even Celestia levels of tall.
Scootaloo whistled. "What is this place?"
Applebloom looked back. "The ultimate treehouse."
Sweetie Belle swallowed. "Is it safe here?"
Applebloom nodded. "I've seen monsters try to enter here, and for some reason, they seem to turn around and leave before coming in too far. It's weird, but it’s safe."
Applebloom walked through the entrance that had been melted in. The inside of the treehouse was massive, even larger than she thought it could be. It was dark in here, and layers of dirt and vines covered the floor. yet it was empty. Her two friends followed quickly enough.
Applebloom swallowed. "So, this is it. This is the place, and this-" She put pushed a round hidden button on the wooden floor. "-is the reason why I asked you two to come."
A hologram came to life in the center of the room. It was of one of the creatures like the statues from outside. Only this one was in black and white, and completely bald. They wore a pair of sunglasses full of swag, and nodded at Applebloom. "Ah, Applebloom, I see you've returned."
The hologram flickered for a moment. Applebloom nodded. "Sure did, how are ya, Numbuh One?"
The hologram frowned. "Well, surprised honestly. You actually brought a full team with you. So in accordance with the rules of the KND you'll all be given numbuhs. With no one else left, I'll have to figure it out myself. What are your names?"
Applebloom pointed to her left. "That's Sweetie Belle." and then to her right. "That's Scoootaloo."
Numbuh One nodded. "I see. Well then, from here on out, Applebloom, you'll be the new Numbuh One, Sweetie Belle you'll be Numbuh Two, and Scootaloo, you'll be Numbuh Three." He breathed a quiet sigh as if something was on his mind. "You know the mission parameters right?"
Applebloom nodded. "Sure do.'
"Good, instruct your team. I will go back to sleep. Wake me if you need me. Until then, welcome to the Kids Next Door. Or... well I guess the Foals Next Door now."
The hologram flickered off and the lights ahead flickered to life. Applebloom looked back at her friends. "We have an important mission."
Scootaloo was giggling. "Sweetie Belle, your numbuh two."
Sweetie Belle glared at her. "That's rude."
Applebloom rolled her eyes. "Listen, that was Numbuh One, the real Numbuh One. He dumped his mind into the computer here so that once his plan succeeded he could instruct the new group of KND. unfortunately, as you can see, his entire race seems to have been forgotten. Along with his war. Yet, it us up to us to determine whether or not the threats he faced still exist. And from what I can tell, they sure do. Threats like, Discord, Queen Chrysalis, Sombra, and Trixie."
Scootaloo blinked. "Why Trixie? She was really nice and pretended to be my mom once, and even without me paying her to do so."
The two of them gave Scootaloo a stare that said they couldn’t believe she just admitted to that. Applebloom quickly shook her head. "Anyway, the point is, it’s up to us to help keep the world safe from evil adults. The Grown Ups, the good ones don't realize the danger the bad ones pose. So it’s up to us to keep the world safe."
Scootaloo shrugged. "Sounds fun."
Sweetie Belle looked back at her bare flank. "Will this get us our cutie marks?"
It was bigger than cutie marks, but that was a primary focus of their lives. So Applebloom smiled. "It'll give us more opportunities to get our cutie marks than ever before."
Sweetie Belle grinned. "Then I'm in."
Just like that, the new team was made. The Foals Next Door were about to start their new mission. To keep the world safe from Devastation, to protect all ponies in Equestria’s nation. Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo that's right, will blast off at the speed of light. The Foals Next Door are born.
C.H.A.N.G.E.
Chrysalis Has A Nagging Grudge Evermore
It was pretty clear that code names were going to fall apart almost immediately after the cow patty hit the fan. Applebloom had hoped it would last longer than it had though. As she stared at both Fluttershy and Sweetie Belle who were cowering behind a hay bail on the farm.
Sweetie looked up at her. "Applebloom!"
Applebloom saw it too. She looked over her own hay bail for a moment to catch a glimpse of it. There she was. Their target. None other than Queen Chrysalis her evil self. Oh, did Applebloom not have such a good feeling about getting back at her. There was a personal grudge here from that one time the Changeling Queen had foalnapped her and her friends.
Having... upgraded a lot of the old KND weaponry, she looked at her apple cannon. Set to rapid fire, she could get thirty apples shot out at a target in under ten seconds. Looking at Sweetie Belle who was holding her satchel filled with glitter bombs. She realized they were not the best challenge for the evil queen.
Chrysalis howled over the farm. "Where are they?"
No other adults were here and the only one who was, had wet herself behind the hay bail... she was hoping that was only a figure of speech. So being the leader of the Foals Next Door Applebloom stuck her head up. "Where is what?"
Chrysalis roared, her horn glowing with a baleful green light. "Karthax, destroyer of worlds! He is missing!"
Applebloom had no idea who, or what this Karthax could be, but it had to be stopped otherwise the already overpowered and evil Chrysalis was going to become much, much worse. Applebloom nodded at Sweetie. “Ready?”
She shook her head. “No.”
Fluttershy looked up at them. “W-what are you two doing?”
Applebloom didn’t have time to waste explaining to Fluttershy what was going on. “Now!”
Both Applebloom and Sweetie Belle jumped over the hay bails at the same time. Sweetie threw several of her glitter bombs, meanwhile Applebloom aimed her apple cannon holding the handle in her mouth. She sprayed a covering fire as the glitter bombs landed at Chrysalis’s hooves.
There were scant few seconds for Chrysalis to realize what was going on before the explosion caught her in a poof of smoke and glitter.
Sweetie cheered. “Trixie said that would work, and it did!”
Well at least Trixie had proven to be a useful adult, selling them… supplies for their weapons and maybe she wasn’t as evil as Applebloom had thought. Scootaloo was onto something there. For a moment the two of them stood still, waiting, anticipating. Then Chrysalis exploded from the smoke coverage. Her entire body covered in sparkling glitter. She landed and coughed a few times, spraying glitter out of her mouth. Applebloom couldn’t waste the opportunity. She aimed her apple cannon and unleashed a full throttle burst of apples. They slammed into Chrysalis’s side and with enough force to knock her over.
For a moment they stood there. The apple farm was rescued.
Scootaloo appeared a moment later. She trotted up to them holding a strange looking teddy bear in her hooves. It was black with white stitches over the eyes and mouth. “Sup fillies?”
Applebloom glared at her. “We’ve been fighting Queen Chrysalis this whole time and where were you with the Boot-to-Scoot weapon?”
Scootaloo blinked. “Wait, that thing was real?”
Applebloom groaned. “And where did you get the creepy teddy bear?”
Scootaloo shrugged. “Found it in the woods. This thing is like super warm and makes me think of my folks.”
“You never knew them.”
“Well… shut up.”
Chrysalis’s head shot upright. “TEDDY!”
Everypony looked at the clearly not defeated and hardly stunned mess of glitter and apples. Chrysalis’s eyes locked onto Scootaloo and the teddy bear. She jumped up, towering above anypony here and marched right over. Just as she got there she glared down at the three of them. “You, took, Karthax?”
Applebloom felt her stomach drop. “Haha, well the uh, thing is…”
Scootaloo looked down at the teddy and then back up to Chrysalis. She let out a sigh and handed the teddy to Chrysalis. “Here.”
Chrysalis took it back and hugged it to her chest, then put it to her nose and gave it a big long sniff. “Hmm… what’s that? Karthax you did what? And she was there?”
Chrysalis spread her wings wide. Her eyes drilled down into Scootaloo’s. “You… Karthax says you saved him from being lost in the scary woods. And you treated him well. So for today I shall grant you and Equestria amnesty. Next time we meet I will not be so easy to defeat, Foals Next Door!”
Off in the distance they could hear Twilight Sparkle practically screaming. “WHO WAS HERE?”
Chrysalis’s eyes widened. “Oh… buck me. Grownups. We’ll have to play later, I mean fight… bye.” She jumped into the air and perhaps faster than even Rainbow dash, Chrysalis flew away, transforming into a copy of Rainbow Dash herself as she flew away.
Applebloom sat down. “Awww, she didn’t get to do her speech this time.”
Scootaloo nodded. “I know, she always looks so happy giving evil monologues.”
Sweetie Belle looked over at Fluttershy. “You might want to go too mister changeling, sir. If the others figure out your not the real Fluttershy and that you’re playing with us, they might get mad.”
Fluttershy blinked. “W-what?”
Twilight Sparkle and friends rounded the corner with their very own Fluttershy who was speaking quickly. “No, no, we should not go this way. I think I saw them in the other direction.”
Applebloom face-hooved. “That’s… ugh. Numbuh Zero’s gonna get a laugh out of this.”
Sweetie spoke up. “Does this mean we failed training?”
Scootaloo laughed. “Not just that, it means you two are grounded. I don’t have parents so I can’t be-“
Rainbow Dash called out. “Scootaloo, you are so grounded. You’re coming home with me right now missy!”
Both Applebloom and Sweetie Belle ended up laughing at that. Oh yeah, they were all going to get grounded but to see Scootaloo being scolded like that after talking so big, was just the best. Hopefully their next training session, would go more smoothly.
