Paradisoby WhellerChaptersChapter 1Chapter 2Chapter 3Chapter 4Chapter 5Chapter 6Chapter 7Chapter 1Chronology notes: Stop! You are reading the Seventh story in the series started by The Kindness of Strangers! Please read The Kindness of Strangers first! http://www.fimfiction.net/story/389/ The second part of the story is Putting the Pieces Back Together found here: http://www.fimfiction.net/story/407/ The third part of the story is Midnight in the Heart of Equestria found here: http://www.fimfiction.net/story/419/ The fourth part of the story is Tomorrow is Always a New Day found here: http://www.fimfiction.net/story/433/ The fifth part of the story is To Each Their Own found here: http://www.fimfiction.net/story/526/ This story is the direct sequel to Imperfect found here: http://www.fimfiction.net/story/600/ Paradiso Chapter 1 Childhood, there is no other time like it, the care free days of self discovery, unburdened by the reality of responsibility, and childhood in the Principality of Equestria was like no other. Equestria was free of the darkness and horror of the world outside it, It was a place where childhood could be a happy time, a place where childhood could be everything it was promised to be. Or, at least, that’s how it used to be. Apple Bloom, Sweetie Bell, and Scootaloo were three young fillies, best friends who didn’t have a care in the world. Unlike their older siblings, they had yet to discover the horrors that lay scant kilometres from Equestria’s border. They did not know that in the far off lands of the Hoofson Bay Area, blood was being spilt by the day, that there was endless fighting between the Twin Gryphon Kingdoms, and the Commonwealth of South Island, nay, the Cutie Mark Crusaders barely knew that these other lands existed. There had been no evidence either, until the day that a kangaroo light tank rolled into town. The Cutie Mark Crusaders had been playing at Sweet Apple Acres when it had driven by, they’d watched as Rainbow Dash flew above it, and Twilight Sparkle and Vinyl Scratch had lain on the back of it, but more importantly, they had seen the creature that had its head out from the tank. At first, they had thought that the tank was a giant creature, and that Sergeant Tebbs, as they later learned the kangaroo’s name, was its head. They had briefly spoken to the kangaroo crew, asking them all sorts of questions about what they were and where they had come from, the kangaroo crew had not had a chance to answer many of them, as Applejack, Apple Bloom’s older sister had stopped them mid way, and forbid them to speak to the kangaroo’s ever again. Naturally, the very young do not always do as they’re told, and the Cutie Mark Crusaders snuck off to speak to Sergeant Tebbs again. Unfortunately for them, the kangaroo was not encouraging of this behaviour, and told them that he did not wish to violate Applejack’s wishes, leaving the Cutie Mark Crusaders extremely disappointed. And now here they were, several months later, running through Whitetail Wood on yet another ill-conceived venture to earn their Cutie Marks. “Did we get ‘em?” Apple Bloom asked, looking at her flank, disappointed when she discovered nothing was there. “Aww, I was sure this was going to work this time!” Scootaloo cried out in disappointment. Sweetie Bell, however said nothing, staring off, looking at something in the distance. “Hey space cadet?” Scootaloo teased. “What’s so important that you’re not looking at your flank?” “I think there’s something over there!” Sweetie Bell said, approaching what she had seen. “What is it?” “It looks kind of like a fake leg!” Scootaloo said. “Tha’s stupid! Its way too small ta be ah fake leg!” Apple Bloom said. The object on the ground was a shining silver object, fifteen centimetres in length there were two pull levers on it, one on top, and one underneath the main part of it, sticking out from the back was a wooden handle. “Ah wonder what it does?” Apple Bloom said, prodding at the top most lever with her hoof, she heard a small click, and noticed that the bottom lever had been pulled back a little as well. Apple Bloom noticed that she wouldn’t be able to operate the bottom lever in the same manner as the top one; it was too small not to mention it had a small ring around it blocking it from being prodded at. She picked it up in her teeth. “Howfsh ngypony schapost ta puah dishf ting!?” Apple Bloom exclaimed, her mouth full of the object. “Try using your tongue!” Scootaloo suggested. “Ew!” Sweetie Bell exclaimed, “That’s so gross!” “You got a better idea?” Scootaloo asked. Sweetie Bell shook her head; Apple Bloom looked at her and shrugged. Gently, she wrapped her tongue around the lever, and pulled it with her tongue. Bang! Scootaloo instinctively covered her ears. “That was loud!” She shouted. Apple Bloom wasn’t looking at Scootaloo; she was looking at Sweetie Bell. Scootaloo looked over where the young unicorn filly was as well. Sweetie Bell had fallen down onto the ground, and her flank had turned a dark red. “No way! Does she have her cutie mark?!” Scootaloo exclaimed in surprise. “Do I?” Apple Bloom looked closer to the dark red spot on Sweetie Bell’s flank, she dropped the metal tube, touching the red spot, Sweetie Bell did not move, and she had her eyes closed, but Apple Bloom felt something warm and sticky on her. Apple Bloom looked at her hoof to discover that it was red too. This was blood. “Scootaloo! That ain’t no cutie mark! She’s hurt!” Apple Bloom exclaimed. “What? What do we do?” Scootaloo shouted in surprise. “Get the wagon!” Apple Bloom shouted back. Scootaloo nodded, rushing back to where she’d left her scooter and wagon, hopping on it and driving close to where Sweetie Bell had fallen. Apple Bloom picked Sweetie Bell up and placed her in the back of the wagon. “Go! Get her back! Ah’ll be right behind ya!” Scootaloo nodded, and took of pulling Sweetie Bell at high speed. Apple Bloom returned to the fallen metal tube, she gently picked it up and placed it in her saddlebag; she didn’t know what it was and didn’t want to take the chance that it could be used to help Sweetie Bell. If they did need it, Apple Bloom didn’t want to leave it out here where she couldn’t necessarily find it again. She took off after Scootaloo, while not as fast on hoof as Scootaloo was on scooter; she raced off as fast as she could, not far behind them. ... “Wha’ happened!” Applejack exclaimed. Scootaloo and Apple Bloom had gotten Sweetie Bell to the Ponyville Clinic. “Ah... ah don’t...” Apple Bloom began, but found herself not able to finish. “Sweetie Bell is hurt bad, if ya’ll care ‘bout her at all, ya best be tellin’ me the truth!” Applejack said. “We were out in Whitetail Wood!” Scootaloo said. “Trying to get our cutie marks when we found something! We didn’t know what it was.” “What did it look like?” Twilight Sparkle asked. Apple Bloom looked around, all of Applejack’s friends, except Rarity, who was in with Sweetie Bell were standing around them, looking at them to explain. “Ah can show ya!” Apple Bloom said, thinking it would be the best way to help. She carefully opened her saddlebags and set the metal tube on the floor. Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash gasped in surprise. “Where did you get that?!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed. Twilight picked it up and snapped it open. “It’s empty.” “We found it in Whitetail Wood! Honest! What is it?” Apple Bloom asked. “This girls, is a kangaroo 11mm Magnum Revolver,” Twilight explained. “As you’ve already found it, it’s very dangerous and you can’t play with these! Sweetie Bell is lucky that she’s alive at all.” Apple Bloom and Scootaloo swallowed hard. “Girls, listen to me, this is very important. If you ever go out and play in Whitetail Wood again, and you find something that you don’t know what it is, don’t touch it, come get someone older and they’ll know what to do with it. Okay?” Twilight said. “We promise!” Scootaloo said. “Go on home now!” Applejack said. “It’s gettin’ late and Apple Bloom ain’t done her chores yet!” “But sis! Can’t we see Sweetie Bell?” Apple Bloom pleaded. “Not tonight, now go on an' get home!” Applejack said sternly. Both Apple Bloom and Scootaloo frowned, but departed without another word. “Tomorrow, we’re going back out there to find out what that revolver was doing there,” Scootaloo said. Apple Bloom frowned. “Ah don’t think that’s a good idea Scoot.” “What’s the matter? You chicken or something?” Scootaloo said. “You used to call me chicken all the time, and now I’m saying we need to do something and you want to back out?!” “You didn’t hurt Sweetie Bell, Scoot, Ah did, Ah just don’t want you ta git hurt either,” Apple Bloom said. “That’s why we need to do it! So nopony else finds something else and gets hurt not knowing what it does!” Scootaloo said. “We know that the stuff we’ll find is dangerous! Somepony else might not!” “Ah guess that makes sense...” Apple Bloom said, her voice trailing off. “Come on Apple Bloom! We need to do it! For Sweetie Bell!” Scootaloo said. Apple Bloom looked at her friend and smiled. “Fer Sweetie Bell!” Chapter 2Chapter 2 Apple Bloom and Scootaloo retraced their steps from the previous day back to approximately the same site that Sweetie Bell had been hurt at... give or take a few hundred metres. In truth, they had no idea where exactly it had been at, but they figured if they looked long enough, they’d find it. It wasn’t until an hour into their search that Apple Bloom discovered a patch of grass that had been stained red that they knew where they were. “This is where we found the revolver at,” Scootaloo said. “There’s got to be more stuff around here!” “Ah don’t know Scoot... should we really be doin’ this? Ah know Applejack’s gonna be cross with me!” Apple Bloom said trying to reason with her friend. “When did that ever bother you in the past?” Scootaloo asked. Apple Bloom figured that she had a point, still, she’d never hurt anypony in the past like this. Apple Bloom was scared that she was going to do something else to hurt somepony, Scootaloo had to remind her that it had been an accident, and that Apple Bloom would never hurt somepony on purpose. Reluctantly, Apple Bloom joined Scootaloo in the search; it didn’t take long before they found other things. Most of the things they found weren’t interesting, lots of small metal tubes for the most part, but they did find two interesting bits. The first was a pair of goggles, and the second one, Apple Bloom could tell was another gun, though she knew it only by the lever that it had on the bottom. “Hey! Cool!” Scootaloo said, picking up the goggles and putting them over her eyes. “Scootaloo! Wha’ are ya doing? Twilight said not ta touch anything we found!” Apple Bloom said. “No! She said not to touch anything that we didn’t know what it was!” Scootaloo corrected. “And these are some goggles, and that’s a gun! We know what they are!” Scootaloo proceeded to pick up the fallen weapon in her teeth, causing Apple Bloom to panic. It was much longer than the revolver had been, and had a long metal box sticking out of the side, but it was still a gun, and the fact that Scootaloo had it worried her. Scootaloo on the other hand wasn’t worried, she looked away from Apple Bloom and pulled the trigger with her tongue. Click! Empty. “It’s safe!” Scootaloo announced proudly, Apple Bloom’s heart was about to explode. “Scootaloo! Stop that!” she called out. “Why? Am I making you nervous?” Scootaloo said grinning, picking the fallen weapon up again. Click! Click! Apple Bloom started to cry, Scootaloo’s nonchalant behaviour towards the gun had hurt her. Scootaloo didn’t have to feel guilty over shooting Sweetie Bell. Apple Bloom did. Scootaloo quickly noticed that she had upset her friend, and instantly felt guilty about it; she dropped the kangaroo submachine gun and sat down next to her friend, giving her a hug. “Hey, I’m sorry!” Scootaloo said sincerely. “I’ll stop, I promise!” Apple Bloom continued to cry, burying her head into Scootaloo’s shoulder. Scootaloo was glad that she had put on the goggles she’d found, as the violet lenses had obscured her eyes, Apple Bloom wasn’t able to see that she had started to cry as well. They sat there for nearly an hour before neither of them was able to cry any more. “Come on Scoot, let’s go look some more!” Apple Bloom said finally. “That’s what I’m talking about!” ... Nothing. Apart from the goggles, and the two guns they’d found, there was nothing that the two Cutie Mark Crusaders had found that had told them anything. Apple Bloom had started looking at the trees for lack of other things to look at. “Hey Scoot? Did ya notice tha’ some o’ the branches on these trees are broken?” Apple Bloom said after a minute of studying them. “So?” Scootaloo said, looking up at the trees that Apple Bloom had pointed out. “Well, how’d they get broken? Branches don’ break themselves!” Apple Bloom said. “So...” “So someone had to break them!” Scootaloo finished, catching on quickly. “Eyup!” Apple Bloom said. “Only some of ‘em are broken, so if we follow the broken ones...” “We might find who broke them!” Scootaloo said. Excitedly the two fillies marched off, following the path with broken tree branches, the thought never occurred to them that they might not want to find whoever had broken the tree branches. They followed it until they discovered a cliff wall, and a cave opening, the two Cutie Mark Crusaders immediately got excited and entered into the cave, they were disappointed to find that there was nothing in here, save for an old camp fire that clearly hadn’t been used in a really long time. The duo took to exploring the cave, finding nothing of interest until they found an incredibly large boulder that was blocking off one part of the tunnel, and next to it was an open path that descended downwards. Eagerly, the Cutie Mark Crusaders went down the path, only to find an exit. “Well that was dumb,” Scootaloo said disappointed. “There was nothing in there!” Apple Bloom nodded in shared disappointment, and the two of them walked out of the cave, stopping only to take notice in a line of ashes that someone had left behind, because they had stepped in it, accidentally kicking some of it out of place. The duo shrugged at each other, not understanding what the ashes were for, or why someone had put them like that, they continued on without a care in the world. ... They continued to walk on the path that led away from the cave formation; Apple Bloom had been particularly disappointed, she was sure that the broken tree branches would have led them where they needed to be, unfortunately, there were no broken tree branches on this side of the cave. They had wandered into a clearing, sitting down on the ground to rest for a moment. Apple Bloom looked over at Scootaloo, still wearing the goggles she’d found, she couldn’t help but smirk; they were too big for her head and made her look incredibly silly. “What?” Scootaloo asked. “Nothin’!” Apple Bloom said, giggling. Scootaloo rolled her eyes, which Apple Bloom had not been able to see. “Maybe we should just go home. We haven’t found anything!” They heard a branch snap. The two fillies looked back, but saw nothing. They both began to tense up, not knowing what it could be. They heard more branches snapping, and through the bushes, a black unicorn pony with glowing amber eyes walked in on them. “Oh... hello!” he said politely. “Hello,” Apple Bloom said, smiling at him. The black unicorn smiled back at them. “Isn’t it... ah, getting a little late for fillies as young as yourself to be out?” “Is it?” Scootaloo asked, she lifted up the goggles and looked at the sky, it was getting late. “Yer not gonna tell Applejack on us are ya?” Apple Bloom asked worriedly. “Please! Ya can’t! Ah haven’t even done mah chores for today!” “Who’s Applejack?” the unicorn asked. “Mah big sister! She’ll be mad if she figures out we were out in the woods late!” “Well don’t worry, my little ponies, I don’t know Applejack, so I can’t very well tell her!” the unicorn said with a smile. “My name is Nightshadow, you are?” “I’m Apple Bloom! This is Scootaloo,” Apple Bloom said with a smile, Scootaloo waved at the unicorn. “Pleased to make your acquaintance,” Nightshadow said with a smile. “It is getting rather late for two young fillies to be out, It’s not safe for you to be walking alone at night, how about I walk you two back to town?” The filles eventually agreed, and began to walk back with the older unicorn. Apple Bloom studied him for several moments, feeling that something was off about him, but she was quick to figure out what. “Hey! You don’ have a cutie mark!” “Huh?” Nightshadow said, “Oh, yes, I suppose I don’t.” “How come?!” Apple Bloom asked. “I couldn’t tell you... my brothers and I never gone one,” Nightshadow said. “A trio of identical triplets.” “Never? You must have gotten made fun of a lot in school?” Scootaloo asked. “We’re the only ones in our class that don’t have ours, and we get made fun of all the time.” “I’m very sorry to hear that,” Nightshadow said. “Children can be so cruel to those that are different; though we were never really picked on... in fact most ponies don’t even notice that we don’t have one for some odd reason, I tend to forget about them entirely.” “But... don’t you want to find out what it is?” Scootaloo asked. “Not particularly, no,” Nightshadow said. “I’m an apothecary, I make potions and elixirs from natural ingredients, I love it, I couldn’t imagine doing anything else... but clearly, my cutie mark did not come from it, I like not having it, it reinforces that you can do anything you want! After all, with my luck, my cutie mark would turn out to be a pail of glue, or a gelatine mold,” Nightshadow chuckled at his own joke, but Apple Bloom and Scootaloo looked at him in confusion, they didn’t understand. “Never mind,” the black unicorn said. ... They walked to the edge of town; Nightshadow stopped in his tracks, and turned to the two Cutie Mark Crusaders. “This is where I leave you, then. I don’t actually live in town anymore,” Nightshadow admitted. “I would like, however to ask a favour of you two?” “Wha’ is it?” Apple Bloom asked. “I would appreciate that you not tell others that you met me. I am not... understood, by the townsfolk. I prefer to live alone outside town, it’s not something that everypony understands,” Nightshadow said. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo didn’t understand, he was really nice and helpful, why wouldn’t they like him? Nevertheless, they agreed to his request, he bid them farewell, and the two Cutie Mark Crusaders dashed off back into town. Nightshadow, on the other hand seemed to just fade away into the darkness. Chapter 3Chapter 3 “Scootaloo? Ah been thinkin.’” Apple Bloom and Scootaloo were camping out in their clubhouse, deep into Sweet Apple Acres; two of the bedrolls were occupied, while another one, Sweetie Bell’s sat empty. “What is it?” Scootaloo asked. Apple Bloom could see her eyes for the first time today, as she had finally taken off the goggles she’d found earlier today. “About Cutie Marks... and what Nightshadow said about ‘em... he’s wrong, right? He’s gotta be!” Scootaloo frowned; she’d been having the same debate in her mind for the last several hours. If cutie marks didn’t matter... “Ah think maybe we should ask Twilight about ‘em, she’s smart! She’s gotta know somethin’!” Apple Bloom said. Scootaloo nodded in agreement, they had almost gone right then and there, but they realised just how late at night it really was, they decided that they’d wait until morning, visit Sweetie Bell first, and then ask Twilight what she knew about them. ... At eight in the morning, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo walked into the Ponyville Clinic. There was a blue unicorn sitting at the desk, reading a magazine, her nameplate said: “Colgate.” “Something I can help you with?” Colgate said uninterestedly. Apple Bloom opened her mouth to speak, however was interrupted by the door opening. “Ah! Toothpaste! There you are!” said a brown earth pony with an hourglass cutie mark. Colgate’s eye twitched slightly in anger. “Doctor, if I have told you once, I’ve told you a thousand times, do not call me toothpaste!” “Yer a doctor?” Apple Bloom said excitedly. “I am a not only a doctor, I am the Doctor!” the Doctor said gleefully. “Something I can help you with?” “Yeah! Our friend Sweetie Bell is a patient here, we came to see her!” Scootaloo said. “Ah I see! Well, Miss Toothpaste can surely direct you to where your friend is,” the Doctor said. “That is more her specialty.” Colgate opened her mouth to say something, but the Doctor merely smiled, pointing at the children, and she promptly shut it again. “Yes... please, follow me children, I can take you to her,” Colgate said. She rose from her desk and walked down a hallway muttering quietly to herself. “And to think, I finally thought I could get away from him here... but no!” Colgate left them at Sweetie Bell’s room, the two fillies went inside. “Oh hey!” Sweetie Bell said. “It’s... you girls!” “Sweetie Bell?” Scootaloo asked. “Who? Oh! Wait, that’s me! I’m Sweetie Bell, I forgot!” Sweetie Bell said enthusiastically. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo glanced at each other, Sweetie Bell had always been a little... spacey, but this was bad for her. “Sweetie Bell... you know who we are, right?” Scootaloo asked. “Of course I do!” Sweetie Bell said. “You’re... Alooscoot! And Bloom Apple! No... Wait, that doesn’t sound right. What’s going on?” Apple Bloom and Scootaloo looked at each other. “Uh... you’re really tired, and were about to go to sleep?” Scootaloo suggested. “Huh? I’m not tired! Actually, now that I mention it... I kind of...” Sweetie Bell dozed off and began snoring very loudly. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo backed out of the room quietly, leaving their friend behind. “Tha’ may ‘ave been the worst moment of mah life,” Apple Bloom said. Scootaloo only nodded in agreement. ... Scootaloo and Apple Bloom knocked on the door to the Library. Twilight Sparkle opened the door. “Oh! Well hello girls! Please come in!” Twilight said stepping aside and allowing the fillies entry. “What can I do for you?” Twilight paused for a moment and looked at Scootaloo oddly. “Where did you get those?” “Get what?” Scootaloo asked, then remembering that she was wearing the goggles she’d found. “Oh you mean these? I found them in Whitetail Wood! Pretty cool huh?” “Uh... yeah, certainly!” Twilight said, looking around nervously, which the fillies did not pick up on. “Is there something I can do for you girls?” “We wanted to ask ya about Cutie Marks!” Apple Bloom said. “You’re not going to try and make them appear with magic are you?” Twilight asked suspiciously. “Nah nothin’ like that! We wanted to know if ya’ll know of any older ponies without Cutie Marks!” Apple Bloom asked. Twilight searched her brain for anything that might be of use. “There are a few cases, yes. It’s usually rare for a pony my age or older to be without a Cutie Mark... come to think of it, I used to have a friend who didn’t have a Cutie Mark... didn’t really notice that he didn’t before...” “Used to have a friend? How come you’re not friends anymore?” Scootaloo asked. Twilight looked up in surprise. “Oh... uh, he... died.” Apple Bloom and Scootaloo were caught in surprise, “Oh! We’re sorry ta hear that,” Apple Bloom said, mimicking a response that Applejack likely would have given at the same bit of information. “Oh, don’t worry about it; it was a long time ago!” Twilight said, “It’s not like... I carry it around with me... every day.” The Cutie Mark Crusaders couldn’t help but notice that Twilight seemed unsure about that, but chose not to press the issue. “I have to ask, what brought this on?” Twilight asked. Scootaloo and Apple Bloom looked at each other, they had made a promise to Nightshadow not to talk about him to anypony... but they couldn’t lie to Twilight either, could they? No, lying was wrong... but so was breaking a promise. “Uh... Twilight, we have a problem,” Scootaloo said. “See, we made a promise not to say, but we don’t want to lie to you either.” Twilight gave the two a worried look, she figured that this was important, she really needed to know, but she had been backed into a corner, if she pressed the issue, and made the crusaders tell her, then it would plant the idea in their minds that promises don’t matter. “I think you should keep your promise, after all, losing a friend's trust is the fastest way to lose a friend,” Twilight said, half expecting Pinkie Pie to burst through the door shouting “forever!” and was ultimately disappointed when she did not. Thought the more she thought about it, it was probably for the best. Pinkie Pie wasn’t exactly stable right now. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo nodded, they thanked Twilight for her help and soon afterwards departed from the Library. Though they had discovered that Twilight hadn’t been nearly as helpful as they had hoped, the fate of Twilight’s friend bothered them very much, he had died without a cutie mark, he would never have one, and never could. It made the two fillies uncomfortable to know that this was even possible. They wandered for a little while throughout town, talking about the day’s events. Still particularly disturbed by Sweetie Bell’s condition, she hadn’t remembered who they were. Eventually they had found themselves wandering through Whitetail Wood again, though neither of them was sure that they’d find anything useful. And then they did. Scootaloo practically tripped over a large metal canteen that was lying on the ground. Upon examining it, it had the letters “CSI” printed in large, white letters on the side. Oddly enough, it was full. “Don’ even think about it!” Apple Bloom said. “You got the last thing we found, ah’m takin’ this one.” “Fine,” Scootaloo said with a huff. “These goggles are way cooler anyway.” Apple Bloom strung the canteen around her neck, noticing that there were more letters on the back. “Tpr. B.W.” “T.P.R.B.W?” Apple Bloom repeated. “What?” Scootaloo asked. Apple Bloom showed her the letters on the back of the canteen. “What does it mean?” “Ah dunno!” Apple Bloom exclaimed. “Maybe Rainbow Dash would know! She’s cool, maybe she’ll know about all kinds of cool stuff that we found!” Scootaloo exclaimed. It was a long shot, but they didn’t really have anything better to be doing, the two fillies departed to find Rainbow Dash. ... “Where did you get those?!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed after looking at Scootaloo, pointing at the goggles. “Oh these? I found them!” Scootaloo said. “Pretty cool huh?” Rainbow Dash frowned, and opened her mouth to say something, but Twilight shushed her. They had once again returned to the Ponyville public library where Rainbow Dash was now living with Twilight. “Girls, we need to take a look at everything you’ve found in Whitetail Wood.” Scootaloo sighed, lifting the goggles off her head; she then opened her saddlebag dumping out 30 brass casings, and the kangaroo submachine gun. Apple Bloom gasped. “Scootaloo! You been walkin’ around with that thing this entire time!?” “Didn’t want to take the chance that we couldn’t find it again!” Scootaloo said justifying her hoarding. Twilight and Rainbow Dash were certainly more worried about a young filly with a submachine gun than anything else. “Didn’t your last experience with guns teach you anything?” Rainbow Dash said condescendingly. “It’s empty! I promise! We checked!” Scootaloo said. “You checked?” Rainbow Dash exclaimed. Twilight lifted the submachine gun up with her magic, she removed the magazine from the submachine gun’s side, and checked it, and it was indeed empty, she pulled back on the bolt to check the chamber. It was in fact empty as Scootaloo had proclaimed. “Girls, despite the fact that this is empty, that doesn’t make it safe!” Twilight said. “Always treat a gun as if it’s fully loaded, because it might be!” “Even if you know it’s empty?” Scootaloo asked. “Especially if you know it’s empty!” Rainbow Dash said. “Wha’ about the other stuff? Do ya know where it came from?” Apple Bloom asked. “Yes,” Twilight said. “These goggles belong to our friend Vinyl Scratch, who left to go to Manehattan a few days ago... I’ve never seen her take them off...” “That gun and canteen are Trooper Willoughby’s. He went with her,” Rainbow Dash added. “Something happened to them.” “Can we help you look for them?!” Scootaloo asked excitedly. “We found their things! We can find them!” “I think you girls have done enough, let us handle it from here,” Twilight said. “We’ll be sure to let you know when we find them though. Vinyl loves these goggles and she’s going to be very happy that you found them.” Twilight smiled at the two fillies, and sent them on home. “I guess we’re done then?” Scootaloo asked. “Don’ be stupid!” Apple Bloom exclaimed. “We ain’t even started!” Chapter 4Chapter 4 That night, the two Cutie Mark Crusaders were thrown awake by the sound of a loud crash, considering how loud it was, it had come from nearby. Scootaloo and Apple Bloom looked out the window of their clubhouse to discover that a large wooden bird like object was lying in the middle of the trees; both of its wings had been sheared off and were lying several dozen metres behind it. “Do you think that you could have possibly made any more noise? Dillingham?” they heard a voice say. “Not like I had a choice sir. It was this or the middle of town,” another called back. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo couldn’t help but notice that the voices sounded funny, like whomever they belonged to weren’t from around here, but the Cutie Mark Crusaders found it too dark to see them. “Captain? Look! Tree house!” another voice said. Scootaloo and Apple Bloom’s hearts skipped a beat. “Right, Lef-tenant Cutting? Take Dillingham and Evans and take a look. Be careful not to break the ramp under your own weight, Dillingham.” The voice belonging to the “Captain” said. “That was one time, sir, and the wood was rotted on that bridge,” said the “Dillingham” voice. “Hide!” Apple Bloom whispered hoarsely, the two of them dashed into a closet and threw a blanket over themselves. The door to the clubhouse opened, and they heard light footsteps, stepping around the main room. “Three bedrolls... two of them look like they’ve been used recently,” the “Dillingham” voice said. “How recent is recent?” said another voice they had not heard before. “They’re warm. Two minutes at most. Their owners haven’t gone far.” “Right then, Dillingham? Check the closet.” Apple Bloom and Scootaloo froze in fear. The closet door opened, and the blanket covering the two was ripped off them. “Got two,” Dillingham said. Dillingham was a kangaroo wearing a funny looking black hat, pointing a gun identical to the one they had found in Whitetail Wood earlier that day. “Ease off the Austin, Dillingham!” said another kangaroo, which Apple Bloom guessed to be Cutting. “First off, those are ponies, not gryphons, second off, they’re kids!” “Yes sir Lef-tennant,” Dillingham said, lowering his submachine gun. Lieutenant Cutting walked over to where the two fillies were laying, cowering in fear. He smiled at them, a genuine smile that began to put the Crusaders at ease. “Hello, come on out! No need to be afraid, that’s just Dillingham, he’s an idiot.” Apple Bloom and Scootaloo smiled back at the Kangaroo’s humour. Apple Bloom’s smile quickly faded. “Mah big sister said Ah wasn’t allowed to talk ta the kangaroos in town!” “There are kangaroos in town?” Cutting asked, cocking his head to the side. “Duh! You’re them aren’t ya?” Apple Bloom asked. “No... We’re not, tell you what though, if you talk to us, we promise not to tell your big sister that you did if you don’t, how’s that sound?” Cutting asked. “Okay then,” Apple Bloom said. She and Scootaloo got up and walked out of the closet. “Ah take it yer Cutting?” “Yes, yes I am, First Lef-tenant William Cutting, No.42 Commando, you are?” “Ah’m Apple Bloom! This is Scootaloo; we’re the Cutie Mark Crusaders!” Apple Bloom said enthusiastically. Cutting cocked his head in surprise at the introduction. “Cutie Mark Crusaders... possible paramilitary? Awful young though,” he said quietly to himself. The kangaroos, crusaders in tow walked down the ramp from the clubhouse towards the wooden bird, there were a total of 10 kangaroos standing around it. “No burning the glider! Remember No.38! They set the whole god-damned forest on fire!” This voice was the first one they had heard, belonging to the “Captain.” “Captain Blackthorn?” Cutting asked of him. “We found two kids... and you’re not going to believe what they told me.” Captain Blackthorn looked at the two Cutie Mark Crusaders. “Oh? What did they tell you Lef-tenat?” “There are kangaroos in town!” Cutting said. “Are there now?” Blackthorn asked, he stepped down to the Crusader’s levels. “I’m Reginald Blackthorn. What can you tell me about the kangaroos in town?” “Ah’m Apple Bloom, this is Scootaloo,” Apple Bloom said. “We were told not to talk to them, there are four of them, and they drove into town in their tank couple months ago!” Scootaloo said. “A couple months ago? And only four?” Blackthorn mused to himself. “Well they’re certainly not No.38... four would make them a light tank crew... meaning that they’re armoured cavalry.” Scootaloo and Apple Bloom looked at the kangaroo with confusion, being children; the older girls had neglected to tell them anything about the kangaroos that rolled into town. “Captain, the trees are too spread out for this to be a forest... this is a farm, we’ll get no cover or concealment here,” Dillingham reported. “If ya’ll are lookin’ for a forest, there’s one right over there a ways,” Apple Bloom said, pointing west. “Ah wouldn’t recommend it though. The Everfree forest ain’t right. Never has been! It’s got all sorts of monsters in it!” “And weather happens on its own! Nasty stuff like hail!” Scootaloo added. Blackthorn looked at them, dismissing their warnings about the Everfree, they could handle it. “We’ll take our chances,” he said finally. “Listen here, this is very important, you can’t tell anyone we were here... If your sister forbids you to talk to kangaroos, well we certainly don’t want to get you in trouble.” Blackthorn smiled at the fillies, who smiled back at him. “We promise!” they said cheerfully. Blackthorn was certainly happy with that answer, he then turned to the glider. “Now what are we going to do with this? Can’t burn it...” “We could get rid of it for you!” Scootaloo said. “We’re real deep on the farm! Nopony comes here except us; we can chop it up and use it in our clubhouse!” “Well, that sounds like a good idea to me,” Blackthorn said with a smile, “It’s yours!” “Yay!” Apple Bloom and Scootaloo cheered. “42nd Commando! Grab your gear! We need to make it to that forest!” Blackthorn said, the kangaroos promptly picked up their gear and hopped off at high speed, within a few minutes, they were gone from sight. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo wasted no time in breaking up the glider, breaking it down into individual planks of wood that they could use to spruce up their clubhouse. The sun rose, and by that time, there was no evidence that the kangaroo commandos had been here at all. ... At nine in the morning, Sweetie Bell wandered into view of Apple Bloom and Scootaloo, who were still sorting out materials. “Apple Bloom! Scootaloo!” She called out cheerfully. The other two Cutie Mark Crusaders looked up and smiled intensely, running towards their friend and giving her the biggest hug ever. “Easy! Easy! Still... sore!” Sweetie Bell gasped. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo backed off slightly, releasing the unicorn filly from their grasp. “How do you feel Sweetie?” Scootaloo asked. “”Great! I’m on Narcotics!” Sweetie Bell proclaimed. “Wha’ are those?” Apple Bloom asked. “I have no idea!” Sweetie Bell exclaimed enthusiastically. “But I feel so good right now! I could probably get shot five times and be fine!” “Let’s not test that,” Scootaloo said. “I don’t want to get my Cutie Mark from shooting anypony.” “So what are we going to do today!?” Sweetie Bell asked. “Well, we’re almost done breaking up all this wood, then... I dunno!” Apple Bloom said. “Don’ matter none, all tha’ does is tha’ the Cutie Mark Crusaders are tagether again!” Chapter 5Chapter 5 “Tell me something Apple Bloom... does Sweetie Bell seem, off, to you?” Scootaloo and Apple Bloom were watching Sweetie Bell from a distance as she helped break up the wings of the kangaroo glider. “Now tha’ ya mention it...” Apple Bloom began. Sweetie Bell had always been spacey, but now it seemed like she was completely out of it, Scootaloo had caught her just standing around, eyes bugged out and mouth wide open several times in the last hour. It seemed that something had happened to Sweetie Bell while she was being treated. “Look, she’s doing it again!” Scootaloo said. Apple Bloom frowned, something was clearly wrong with her friend, and she didn’t like it in the slightest bit. “Sweetie Bell!” Apple Bloom called to her. Sweetie Bell jumped in surprise, blinking several times and looking over to her friends. “Hey Apple Bloom! Scootaloo! What’s going on?” “We were going to go get some lunch! Let’s go!” Scootaloo said, making something up, they were hungry, so might as well do something productive. “Okay!” Sweetie Bell said, turning and walking over to her friends. “You walk in front o’ her, Ah’ll walk behind, tha’ way we don’ lose her!” Apple Bloom said quietly. “I’m hungry, are you hungry? I’m so hungry! Let’s get lunch!” Sweetie Bell said. “Yeah... that’s what we’re doing Sweetie,” Scootaloo said. Sweetie Bell gave Scootaloo a confused look, and then it hit her. “Oh yeah! I forgot!” That was bad, even for her. They walked into town, only having one major hiccup of Sweetie Bell stopping and staring out into the open with her mouth open wide. They got lunch of a nice salad from the local café; Sweetie Bell seemed to be more alert while they were eating. “I was awake you know, when they operated,” Sweetie Bell said. “No way!” Scootaloo called out in surprise. “Yeah! Said that they needed me awake, but that I wouldn’t feel a thing! I didn’t!” Sweetie Bell said. “They also said that there might be some side effects... but I haven’t had any!” Scootaloo and Apple Bloom frowned at that statement. “What?” Sweetie Bell asked. ... Sweetie Bell was much more alert and focused after having food in her. She was perfectly normal for the rest of the day... normal, by Sweetie’s standards of course. Sweetie Bell had always been a little on the slow side, but Apple Bloom and Scootaloo loved her just the way she was, and were exceedingly happy that she was back. For how long was their greatest worry. As day began to turn into night, Sweetie began to get worse, only this time instead of spacing out, it was much worse; she felt a nagging pain in her left hind leg. “I think I need to go home,” Sweetie Bell groaned loudly in pain as Scootaloo and Apple Bloom walked her back to Carousel Boutique. “Sorry girls, I know we said we’d camp out when spring came... but I don’t think I can. I’m really sorry!” “’Sokay Sweetie! Tha’ ain’t important! Wha’ is important is you gettin’ better!” Apple Bloom said. “Thanks,” Sweetie Bell said, managing a smile through her pain. The Cutie Mark Crusaders pushed open the door to Carousel Boutique. “Sweetie? Is that you?” Rarity called out from the other room. “And Scootaloo and Apple Bloom,” Sweetie managed. Rarity trotted into the room and stopped. “Sweetie? What’s wrong?” “It hurts sis! It hurts real bad!” Sweetie said. She’d begun to shake. Rarity frowned, as if she didn’t know what to do. “The Doctors said I can’t give you any more...” “Sis... it hurts!” Sweetie Bell said. Rarity looked as if she was about to cry. “Apple Bloom, Scootaloo? I’m sorry but you need to go home. No buts.” Rarity had beaten Apple Bloom to it, she had just opened her mouth to make an excuse, but quickly closed it again, and she and Scootaloo gave Sweetie Bell a hug and, reluctantly, departed. ... Apple Bloom and Scootaloo laid awake the entire night in silence. Neither of them was able to sleep, and neither of them felt it was right to talk about it. Sweetie Bell was their best friend, and she was suffering right now. Apple Bloom felt her conscious panging, this was her fault. She’d done this to Sweetie Bell, and she would never forgive herself for it. Hours passed, and the Two Crusaders sat, eyes open, looking at the ceiling of their club house, until finally, Scootaloo broke the silence. “Apple Bloom? I can’t sleep.” “Me neither,” Apple Bloom replied. “Let’s go for a walk or something,” Scootaloo said. Apple Bloom nodded in agreement, and the two fillies rose and walked down the ramp to their clubhouse. They walked to the western edge of the farm, over the fence, and along the path that lined the tree line of the Everfree forest. So far, the walk wasn’t helping. “Ah feel terrible. This is all mah fault!” Apple Bloom said. Tears were forming in the young fillies’ eyes. Scootaloo had begun to cry to. Both of them felt so helpless. This wasn’t what childhood was supposed to be like, they used to be happy and care free! Until that fateful day in Whitetail Wood, when a revolver was found, its previous owner had only firing five shots out of six. A twig snapped. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo were shaken out of their thoughts and jumped in surprise. Were Scootaloo’s wings a little stronger, she’d have been 10 metres off the ground by now. Standing in the tree line was a kangaroo, his Austin Submachine gun pointed at the two fillies, they froze in fear. The kangaroo turned on the light that was taped to the underside of the barrel shining it in their eyes. The kangaroo however quickly lowered his submachine gun, he’d recognised them. In turn, the fillies recognised him back. It was Lieutenant Cutting. “Apple Bloom? Scootaloo?” He asked in surprise. “What are you doing out this late? You’re awfully young to be wandering around on your own.” Cutting hopped from the tree line towards the fillies, turning off the light that he’d taped to his gun. He stopped and leaned down to their level. “Lef-tenant Cutting?” Apple Bloom said. “We did somethin’ bad.” Cutting looked incredibly worried at this statement, but put on his best smile for the children. “Why don’t you tell me what happened?” he said sympathetically. “A couple days ago, we found a revolver in the woods... only we didn’t know what it was then... and we accidentally shot our other friend.” “Oh,” Cutting said with a frown. “Is she... all right?” Apple Bloom shook her head. “She was crying that it hurt so bad last time we saw her,” Scootaloo said. “I don’t want to think of what she’s going through right now.” “That’s... terrible,” Cutting said, frowning. “This is why I can’t believe in god. We live in a world where children suffer.” Apple Bloom and Scootaloo looked at him in confusion; they didn’t understand what he meant. They’d never heard the word “god” before. “Is there anything I can do?” Cutting asked. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo liked him, he was kind, genuine, he was asking because he really did care. Apple Bloom didn’t understand why Applejack had forbid her to talk to the kangaroos, they were good folks. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo looked at each other, silently deciding on a course of action. “Well, we were gonna go poke ‘round Whitetail Wood again, see if we can’t figure out wha’ that revolver was doin’ there,” Apple Bloom said. “I’ll come with you, just, give me a moment, I need to tell Captain Blackthorn what I’m doing,” Cutting said. He hopped off, and returned no less than two minutes later, a smile on his face. “Lead the way!” They took the long way around, deciding it would be best not to walk through town where someone might see them. They were more afraid of someone seeing the crusaders than they were of Cutting. The fillies were young, and they didn’t want it getting back to Applejack that they were out this late, they figured that anypony that saw Cutting couldn’t tell one kangaroo from another, and that he would probably be mistaken for one of Sergeant Tebbs’ crew if he was seen. It was nearly sun up, and they were passing Fluttershy’s cottage. The door opened and Cutting dropped to the ground instinctively. Fluttershy stepped out of her cottage, spotting the two Cutie Mark Crusaders instantly and walking over to speak with them. Cutting swore silently to himself, asking what he’d gotten himself into. Quickly thinking, the Cutie Mark Crusaders approached Fluttershy, entering her front garden so that Fluttershy would stop in a place where Cutting wasn’t visible. “Good morning Apple Bloom! Good morning Scootaloo!” Fluttershy said politely. “What are you girls doing up this early?” “Oh, ya know! Busy day of crusadin’ ahead of us!” Apple Bloom said with a smile. “Oh yeah! Real busy! We’re gunna go run around the path the Running of the Leaves follows! Be Cutie Mark Crusader long distance runners!” Scootaloo said, thinking quickly. “Oh that does sound like fun! Just be sure to drink lots of water! Okay?” Fluttershy said with a smile. “’Course we will!” Apple Bloom said. “Actually, we was wonderin’ if maybe you had a canteen we could borrow?” “Oh! Of course! Hold on and I’ll go get it for you!” Fluttershy smiled and went back inside to look for it. Cutting wasted no time; he hopped up and quickly made his way around the house and out of any chance of Fluttershy seeing him. After a few moments, Fluttershy returned, a canteen in her teeth, which she placed around Apple Bloom’s neck. “There you go! I filled it up with water for you; you girls have fun and remember to bring it back when you’re done!” Fluttershy said. “We will! We promise!” Scootaloo said, and with that, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo bid Fluttershy farewell, they rejoined Lieutenant Cutting, and continued on their way to Whitetail Wood. Cutting was, however, somewhat disturbed at how easy it was for these children to lie. Chapter 6Chapter 6 “How many of these are we going to find?!” Scootaloo called out, picking up another brass casing and putting it her bag. Lieutenant Cutting picked up one of them, looking on the bottom of it. “10mm auto, standard chamber for one of these,” he said, holding his Austin submachine gun up. “We did find a gun like yours!” Scootaloo said enthusiastically. “I thought you said that the gun that hurt your friend was a revolver?” Cutting asked. “It was! We found that gun later... what’s it called?” Scootaloo asked. “This? Officially: Carbine, Machine, Austin. It’s a 10mm, Blow-back operated, open bolt, with a 30 round box magazine,” Cutting said proudly, and then he remembered who he was talking to. “You have no idea what any of that means, do you?” “Nope!” Apple Bloom said with a smile. Cutting couldn’t help but smile back. “This Austin that you found, where is it now?” “Twilight Sparkle has it!” Scootaloo explained. “She took it from us when we showed it to her! Said it was too dangerous.” Cutting nodded in agreement. “I’d have likely done the same. Kids shouldn’t play with guns. Let alone a damned machine carbine!” Apple Bloom couldn’t help but feel bad at Cutting’s statement about playing with guns. She hadn’t known better then. Now she did, and she never wanted to touch another gun as long as she lived. ... Cutting kept his eyes up when they approached a ridge; he kept looking at it as if he was expecting someone to be there. “Lef-tenant Cutting? Wha’ are ya doin?” Apple Bloom asked. “Force of habit, that ridge is a good spot for a gryphon airborne infantryman with one of their scoped rifles.” Bang! Apparently, someone else had thought so too. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo heard a bullet whiz by them, cutting through the air and making a terrible noise. Cutting motioned them to get to the side and take cover behind a tree, and to stay there. “That was your only warning! Come any closer and the next one won’t miss!” Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Lieutenant Cutting looked up. That voice was a South Islander accent. “Oi! Dipstick! Care to take a look at who you’re shooting at before you pop ‘em?” Cutting called out. A kangaroo appeared on the ridge, holding a very ornate looking bolt-action rifle that was clearly not of kangaroo origin. “Willoughby you moron!” a female voice called out. “What did you do?” A white unicorn pony with a blue mane and red eyes, and a beamed quaver cutie mark appeared behind him, she was levitating an ornate looking pistol that looked more like a knife than anything else. “Moron! You shot at fillies!” “I couldn’t exactly see who was coming towards us, Vinyl,” the kangaroo said. “Sorry about that! He’s been jumpy ever since we got here,” Vinyl Scratch called out. “There’s a slope around the other side of the ridge, come on up! View’s real nice!” Cutting, Scootaloo, and Apple Bloom got up from their cover and walked around the ridge and found the path up to where the unicorn and kangaroo were located. “Who might you be?” Cutting asked of Willoughby. “Trooper Benjamin Willoughby, King’s Own South Island Dragoons, sorry for shooting at you...” Willoughby said, not knowing what to call Cutting, as he wasn’t wearing anything to identify himself as a member of the Commonwealth of South Island Military. “First Lef-tenant William Cutting, No.38/42 Commando.” “Sir?” Willoughby questioned, “If I may ask, what are commandos doing here?” “Not in front of the kids,” Cutting said quietly, he thought that Apple Bloom and Scootaloo couldn’t hear him, but they did, Cutting looked to Vinyl, who smiled and took to talking to the children so Cutting and Willoughby, could talk. “How you kids doing?” Vinyl said with a grin. Her red eyes shining brightly at Apple Bloom and Scootaloo. “Are you friends with Twilight and Rainbow Dash?” Scootaloo asked. “I am as a matter of fact! How are those two lovebirds doing?” Vinyl asked with a grin, knowing full well that both of them were going to hate her for saying that, and she found it all the more amusing. “’Lovebirds?’ EW! Gross!” Scootaloo said. “Ya got some crazy imagination lady!” Apple Bloom said. “Well that’s not exactly inaccurate...” Vinyl said, her grin growing wider. Scootaloo opened her saddlebag and pulled out the goggles that she’d been carrying around. “Are these yours?” “Hey! You found my goggles! Thanks kid!” Vinyl said smiling brightly; she levitated the goggles over her head, snapping them into place. “Ohhh yeah!” ... “Not in front of the kids,” Cutting said. When Vinyl Scratch had their attention, Cutting leaned in close to inform Willoughby of what was going on. “Rumour has it that there’s a platoon of gryphon airborne infantry that are hiding out in Equestria. Office of Strategic Intelligence’s put heavy stock into these rumours, they sent No.38 Commando in to check them out quietly... there was a problem and they were dropped off course and landed in the wrong place, they took heavy casualties on landing.” “Gryphons?” Willoughby asked. “I bloody wish, it would have been less embarrassing, no they burned their glider in the middle of thick forest, caught the damn place on fire, and killed half the unit. They sent in No.42 with orders to amalgamate No.38 and finish the job... don’t suppose you can shed any light?” Cutting asked. Willoughby nodded. “I can, there are definitely Gryphons hiding in this wood, they’re not airborne infantry though, they seem to be what’s left of an Artillery Platoon we jumped in the Hoofson Bay in December. It’s where I met her actually,” Willoughby said, pointing at Vinyl. “She don’t look like much, but she’s real handy in a pinch.” “Why thank you Willoughby! That’s the nicest thing anyone has ever said about me!” Vinyl said, looking back and grinning at him. “Oh god, she’s got the goggles back,” Willoughby said. “Anyway, we whittled them down... there’s only four or five left, enough to still pose a significant threat to the region.” “I heard that someone dispelled the rumours about Equestria for OSI... but I didn’t think they were that bad of lies!” Cutting exclaimed. “Are you sure that they’re arty?” “That was me, actually. I was the one who reported it to the Op,” Willoughby said casually. “Vinyl? Can I see that officer’s pistol?” Vinyl tossed Willoughby the pistol that she was levitating. He caught it and pointed out the markings on the handgrip. “See these? They denote a… I think that’s Sergeant Major, in an Artillery Brigade. My grasp on gryphon is a little basic, but I know that much.” “Warrant Officer, actually, I’m fluent,” Cutting said. He examined the pistol before handing it back to Vinyl Scratch, which wasn’t so much a hand, more like, a “let-go-and-have-it-float-away.” “Show off!” Willoughby said. “You know me!” Vinyl said with a grin. “These kids have been playing in this wood for days, not knowing how dangerous it really was, we need to get them back to town before someone gets hurt,” Cutting said. Willoughby nodded. He reached into his vest and pulled out several box magazines, handing them to Cutting, “You’ll need these more than I will. I lost my Austin in the wood a few days ago.” “You’ll be happy to know that the kids found it, and it’s in the hands… hooves, of somepony named Twilight Sparkle,” Cutting said casually. “And a magnum revolver too.” “Oh good,” Willoughby said, showing Cutting the gryphon rifle. “I hate using this thing.” Cutting nodded, he gathered everyone up. “All right, Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, we need you to show us the fastest way back to town. I know we took a roundabout way to get here… Well let’s just say that something is in this wood that makes that way unappealing…” Chapter 7Chapter 7 “Eyes up people,” Willoughby said. “That’s where we can expect trouble from.” Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, Vinyl Scratch, Willoughby and Cutting were walked through Whitetail Wood, dividing their attention between the path ahead of them, and the sky above. “They usually only come out at night to harass us, trying to get us to make a mistake so they can swoop in and nab us without a casualty on their side. Airborne infantry are trained to engage at range. These guys? They like getting in close so they can use the blades,” Willoughby said, pointing at the long, incredibly sharp looking blade that ran alongside the barrel of the gryphon rifle, extending out a few centimetres. “Of course, this means that a good shot can hit them while they’re charging. We should thank the gryphons for designing a weapon that can either be a gun, or a sword, but not both at the same time.” Cutting chuckled, causing Willoughby to raise an eyebrow. “And I thought you commando types didn’t have a sense of humour.” “Talk to Captain Blackthorn, then consider that line of thought again,” Cutting said. Up front, Vinyl Scratch was walking with the fillies, levitating the Officer’s pistol above her head, keeping a look out for any signs of trouble. “If yer friends with Twilight an’ all them, how come we ain’t never seen ya before?” Apple Bloom asked. “Well, really I’m only friends with Twilight and Rainbow Dash. Haven’t had the opportunity to meet their other friends, haven’t stuck around town long enough for that,” Vinyl said. “How come?” Scootaloo asked. “Never did like staying in one place too long,” Vinyl said. “Never lived anywhere more than a year when I was your age.” “How come?” Apple Bloom asked. “Dad changed jobs a lot,” Vinyl said. “How come?” Scootaloo asked. “Most of the time, he’d get fed up and quit, or would get fired for not showing up for days on end, said that they were beneath him, drove mum insane. We moved to Manehattan and when it came time for dad to lose his third job and become un-hireable. He said “We’re moving to Fillydelphia pack your things.” Well I packed my things all right, but I told him flat out, ‘I ain’t going to Fillydelphia.’ So I went out and started living on my own. I was probably... two, three years older than you are right now.” “How come ya didn’ go with him?” Apple Bloom asked. Vinyl smiled brightly at the two fillies. “You cats ask a lot of questions don’t ya? Truth of the matter was, I didn’t need my parents, I made my own money, bought my own food, cooked for myself, did my own laundry. So I stayed, got into a bad crowd. Made a bunch of money in a way I’m not proud of. Eventually started DJing at a club, got popular, made a bunch of money. Did things with that money I’m not proud of. Realised I was wasting my life, cleaned up, wandered a bit, Met Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash, and then five months after that, here I am, walking through Whitetail Wood, with two curious fillies and two kangaroos with guns... any more questions?” “Are you crazy?” Scootaloo asked. Vinyl Scratch merely grinned. “Indubitably!” ... They were a hundred metres from the edge of Whitetail Wood. “Anyone else feel that this has been way too easy?” Cutting asked. “Oh yeah,” Vinyl said, looking up, keeping the officer’s pistol pointed towards the sky. “If they plan on jumping us here, then they’re making a big mistake, they’ll hear the gunfire all the way in Ponyville,” Willoughby mused. “Who’s going to do what?” Scootaloo asked. It was at this point that the older members of the group had remembered that they’d been trying to keep the knowledge about the gryphons a secret from the children. The last thing they needed was for them to panic. They didn’t have time to answer. Cutting turned his Austin upwards and pulled the trigger. Silenced submachine gun fire filled the air, and a gryphon fell from the sky. Four more gryphons were diving at them, bladed rifles pointing down. Willoughby pulled the trigger on his rifle. Bang! The bullet went through the gryphon’s wing, sending him toppling to the ground. Vinyl leapt on top of the fillies, trying to shield them from the gryphon’s attack, she fired the officer’s pistol into the air, not necessarily trying to hit anything, just making noise, and praying that someone in Ponyville would hear it and come to their rescue. The two gryphons that were left dodged and weaved between submachine gun fire, Cutting used his ammo sparingly, knowing that the minute he had to reload would be when they charged him. Click! The gryphon dive-bombed Cutting, ready to slash at the kangaroo commando with his rifle, Willoughby, acting quickly pulled the trigger on his rifle; the gryphon’s head exploded, and splattered gore over Apple Bloom and Scootaloo’s faces. Clearly, Vinyl’s call for help had been heard, they heard a low rumble and through the trees, as M3 Light Tank 105 crashed through the trees, catching the last of the gryphon artillery platoon off guard as he was cut down by the hull mounted machine gun. Sergeant Tebbs popped his head out of top hatch. “Bloody hell! What was that all about? And what happened to Manehattan?” “There are children here sergeant,” Cutting said. “Who are you?” Tebbs asked looking at Cutting. “Lef-tenant William Cutting! No. 38/42 Commando,” Cutting said plainly. “Commandos?” Bloody Hell! Tebbs called out. “Children, Sergeant,” Cutting reminded them. “Children who have been traumatised by what they’ve just seen.” Vinyl got off Apple Bloom and Scootaloo, who were shaking horribly, disgusted by the blood covering them. ... Vinyl, Scootaloo, Apple Bloom, and Cutting were sitting on the back of the tank as it drove back into Ponyville, Willoughby had since rejoined his crew on the inside of the tank. Applejack and Big Macintosh were walking along the high street as the tank passed; Applejack looked up, seeing Apple Bloom riding on the back of it. “Apple Bloom!” she called out, galloping after the tank. “Stop the tank sergeant!” Cutting ordered. “Where ya goin’ with mah sister!” Applejack said angrily. “Apple Bloom didn’ ah tell ya not to talk to them kangaroos!” “Ahem,” Cutting said clearing his throat. “You have a problem with kangaroos miss? If so, then get stuffed, four kangaroos just saved her life, and her actions probably saved the lives of everyone in town.” Applejack’s eyes narrowed in confusion. “Wha?” “Hospital, Tebbs,” Cutting said, tapping the tanks turret, it rolled off back towards its destination, the clinic. ... Apple Bloom and Scootaloo were cleaned up by Nurse Redheart and given a private room where they could rest in, physically, they were fine. But mentally was another story. Nurse Redheart was the senior nurse on duty, but they didn’t have anyone trained in psychology, for that, they needed someone from Canterlot to come down at speak with the children. Nurse Redheart considered herself lucky that she’d gotten somepony on such short notice. “They’re only children, I don’t know how bad they are, but since I’m not qualified, I didn’t want to try,” Nurse Redheart explained. “No, no you did the right thing, don’t worry! I’ll be gentile!” said a stallion’s voice. Scootaloo and Apple Bloom were not able to see him since the adults were out talking in the hallway. A pitch-black earth pony doctor in a white coat entered the room smiling at the two fillies as they lay in their beds. “Hello, I’m Doctor Nightcaller. I’m from the Royal Hospital in Canterlot. Nurse Redheart has asked me to come down and speak to you; I certainly hope that’s all right.” Apple Bloom and Scootaloo nodded. Nightcaller smiled warmly at the children. “Excellent! I think we’re going to get along just fine.”
Chapter 1Chronology notes: Stop! You are reading the Seventh story in the series started by The Kindness of Strangers! Please read The Kindness of Strangers first! http://www.fimfiction.net/story/389/ The second part of the story is Putting the Pieces Back Together found here: http://www.fimfiction.net/story/407/ The third part of the story is Midnight in the Heart of Equestria found here: http://www.fimfiction.net/story/419/ The fourth part of the story is Tomorrow is Always a New Day found here: http://www.fimfiction.net/story/433/ The fifth part of the story is To Each Their Own found here: http://www.fimfiction.net/story/526/ This story is the direct sequel to Imperfect found here: http://www.fimfiction.net/story/600/ Paradiso Chapter 1 Childhood, there is no other time like it, the care free days of self discovery, unburdened by the reality of responsibility, and childhood in the Principality of Equestria was like no other. Equestria was free of the darkness and horror of the world outside it, It was a place where childhood could be a happy time, a place where childhood could be everything it was promised to be. Or, at least, that’s how it used to be. Apple Bloom, Sweetie Bell, and Scootaloo were three young fillies, best friends who didn’t have a care in the world. Unlike their older siblings, they had yet to discover the horrors that lay scant kilometres from Equestria’s border. They did not know that in the far off lands of the Hoofson Bay Area, blood was being spilt by the day, that there was endless fighting between the Twin Gryphon Kingdoms, and the Commonwealth of South Island, nay, the Cutie Mark Crusaders barely knew that these other lands existed. There had been no evidence either, until the day that a kangaroo light tank rolled into town. The Cutie Mark Crusaders had been playing at Sweet Apple Acres when it had driven by, they’d watched as Rainbow Dash flew above it, and Twilight Sparkle and Vinyl Scratch had lain on the back of it, but more importantly, they had seen the creature that had its head out from the tank. At first, they had thought that the tank was a giant creature, and that Sergeant Tebbs, as they later learned the kangaroo’s name, was its head. They had briefly spoken to the kangaroo crew, asking them all sorts of questions about what they were and where they had come from, the kangaroo crew had not had a chance to answer many of them, as Applejack, Apple Bloom’s older sister had stopped them mid way, and forbid them to speak to the kangaroo’s ever again. Naturally, the very young do not always do as they’re told, and the Cutie Mark Crusaders snuck off to speak to Sergeant Tebbs again. Unfortunately for them, the kangaroo was not encouraging of this behaviour, and told them that he did not wish to violate Applejack’s wishes, leaving the Cutie Mark Crusaders extremely disappointed. And now here they were, several months later, running through Whitetail Wood on yet another ill-conceived venture to earn their Cutie Marks. “Did we get ‘em?” Apple Bloom asked, looking at her flank, disappointed when she discovered nothing was there. “Aww, I was sure this was going to work this time!” Scootaloo cried out in disappointment. Sweetie Bell, however said nothing, staring off, looking at something in the distance. “Hey space cadet?” Scootaloo teased. “What’s so important that you’re not looking at your flank?” “I think there’s something over there!” Sweetie Bell said, approaching what she had seen. “What is it?” “It looks kind of like a fake leg!” Scootaloo said. “Tha’s stupid! Its way too small ta be ah fake leg!” Apple Bloom said. The object on the ground was a shining silver object, fifteen centimetres in length there were two pull levers on it, one on top, and one underneath the main part of it, sticking out from the back was a wooden handle. “Ah wonder what it does?” Apple Bloom said, prodding at the top most lever with her hoof, she heard a small click, and noticed that the bottom lever had been pulled back a little as well. Apple Bloom noticed that she wouldn’t be able to operate the bottom lever in the same manner as the top one; it was too small not to mention it had a small ring around it blocking it from being prodded at. She picked it up in her teeth. “Howfsh ngypony schapost ta puah dishf ting!?” Apple Bloom exclaimed, her mouth full of the object. “Try using your tongue!” Scootaloo suggested. “Ew!” Sweetie Bell exclaimed, “That’s so gross!” “You got a better idea?” Scootaloo asked. Sweetie Bell shook her head; Apple Bloom looked at her and shrugged. Gently, she wrapped her tongue around the lever, and pulled it with her tongue. Bang! Scootaloo instinctively covered her ears. “That was loud!” She shouted. Apple Bloom wasn’t looking at Scootaloo; she was looking at Sweetie Bell. Scootaloo looked over where the young unicorn filly was as well. Sweetie Bell had fallen down onto the ground, and her flank had turned a dark red. “No way! Does she have her cutie mark?!” Scootaloo exclaimed in surprise. “Do I?” Apple Bloom looked closer to the dark red spot on Sweetie Bell’s flank, she dropped the metal tube, touching the red spot, Sweetie Bell did not move, and she had her eyes closed, but Apple Bloom felt something warm and sticky on her. Apple Bloom looked at her hoof to discover that it was red too. This was blood. “Scootaloo! That ain’t no cutie mark! She’s hurt!” Apple Bloom exclaimed. “What? What do we do?” Scootaloo shouted in surprise. “Get the wagon!” Apple Bloom shouted back. Scootaloo nodded, rushing back to where she’d left her scooter and wagon, hopping on it and driving close to where Sweetie Bell had fallen. Apple Bloom picked Sweetie Bell up and placed her in the back of the wagon. “Go! Get her back! Ah’ll be right behind ya!” Scootaloo nodded, and took of pulling Sweetie Bell at high speed. Apple Bloom returned to the fallen metal tube, she gently picked it up and placed it in her saddlebag; she didn’t know what it was and didn’t want to take the chance that it could be used to help Sweetie Bell. If they did need it, Apple Bloom didn’t want to leave it out here where she couldn’t necessarily find it again. She took off after Scootaloo, while not as fast on hoof as Scootaloo was on scooter; she raced off as fast as she could, not far behind them. ... “Wha’ happened!” Applejack exclaimed. Scootaloo and Apple Bloom had gotten Sweetie Bell to the Ponyville Clinic. “Ah... ah don’t...” Apple Bloom began, but found herself not able to finish. “Sweetie Bell is hurt bad, if ya’ll care ‘bout her at all, ya best be tellin’ me the truth!” Applejack said. “We were out in Whitetail Wood!” Scootaloo said. “Trying to get our cutie marks when we found something! We didn’t know what it was.” “What did it look like?” Twilight Sparkle asked. Apple Bloom looked around, all of Applejack’s friends, except Rarity, who was in with Sweetie Bell were standing around them, looking at them to explain. “Ah can show ya!” Apple Bloom said, thinking it would be the best way to help. She carefully opened her saddlebags and set the metal tube on the floor. Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash gasped in surprise. “Where did you get that?!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed. Twilight picked it up and snapped it open. “It’s empty.” “We found it in Whitetail Wood! Honest! What is it?” Apple Bloom asked. “This girls, is a kangaroo 11mm Magnum Revolver,” Twilight explained. “As you’ve already found it, it’s very dangerous and you can’t play with these! Sweetie Bell is lucky that she’s alive at all.” Apple Bloom and Scootaloo swallowed hard. “Girls, listen to me, this is very important. If you ever go out and play in Whitetail Wood again, and you find something that you don’t know what it is, don’t touch it, come get someone older and they’ll know what to do with it. Okay?” Twilight said. “We promise!” Scootaloo said. “Go on home now!” Applejack said. “It’s gettin’ late and Apple Bloom ain’t done her chores yet!” “But sis! Can’t we see Sweetie Bell?” Apple Bloom pleaded. “Not tonight, now go on an' get home!” Applejack said sternly. Both Apple Bloom and Scootaloo frowned, but departed without another word. “Tomorrow, we’re going back out there to find out what that revolver was doing there,” Scootaloo said. Apple Bloom frowned. “Ah don’t think that’s a good idea Scoot.” “What’s the matter? You chicken or something?” Scootaloo said. “You used to call me chicken all the time, and now I’m saying we need to do something and you want to back out?!” “You didn’t hurt Sweetie Bell, Scoot, Ah did, Ah just don’t want you ta git hurt either,” Apple Bloom said. “That’s why we need to do it! So nopony else finds something else and gets hurt not knowing what it does!” Scootaloo said. “We know that the stuff we’ll find is dangerous! Somepony else might not!” “Ah guess that makes sense...” Apple Bloom said, her voice trailing off. “Come on Apple Bloom! We need to do it! For Sweetie Bell!” Scootaloo said. Apple Bloom looked at her friend and smiled. “Fer Sweetie Bell!”
Chapter 2Chapter 2 Apple Bloom and Scootaloo retraced their steps from the previous day back to approximately the same site that Sweetie Bell had been hurt at... give or take a few hundred metres. In truth, they had no idea where exactly it had been at, but they figured if they looked long enough, they’d find it. It wasn’t until an hour into their search that Apple Bloom discovered a patch of grass that had been stained red that they knew where they were. “This is where we found the revolver at,” Scootaloo said. “There’s got to be more stuff around here!” “Ah don’t know Scoot... should we really be doin’ this? Ah know Applejack’s gonna be cross with me!” Apple Bloom said trying to reason with her friend. “When did that ever bother you in the past?” Scootaloo asked. Apple Bloom figured that she had a point, still, she’d never hurt anypony in the past like this. Apple Bloom was scared that she was going to do something else to hurt somepony, Scootaloo had to remind her that it had been an accident, and that Apple Bloom would never hurt somepony on purpose. Reluctantly, Apple Bloom joined Scootaloo in the search; it didn’t take long before they found other things. Most of the things they found weren’t interesting, lots of small metal tubes for the most part, but they did find two interesting bits. The first was a pair of goggles, and the second one, Apple Bloom could tell was another gun, though she knew it only by the lever that it had on the bottom. “Hey! Cool!” Scootaloo said, picking up the goggles and putting them over her eyes. “Scootaloo! Wha’ are ya doing? Twilight said not ta touch anything we found!” Apple Bloom said. “No! She said not to touch anything that we didn’t know what it was!” Scootaloo corrected. “And these are some goggles, and that’s a gun! We know what they are!” Scootaloo proceeded to pick up the fallen weapon in her teeth, causing Apple Bloom to panic. It was much longer than the revolver had been, and had a long metal box sticking out of the side, but it was still a gun, and the fact that Scootaloo had it worried her. Scootaloo on the other hand wasn’t worried, she looked away from Apple Bloom and pulled the trigger with her tongue. Click! Empty. “It’s safe!” Scootaloo announced proudly, Apple Bloom’s heart was about to explode. “Scootaloo! Stop that!” she called out. “Why? Am I making you nervous?” Scootaloo said grinning, picking the fallen weapon up again. Click! Click! Apple Bloom started to cry, Scootaloo’s nonchalant behaviour towards the gun had hurt her. Scootaloo didn’t have to feel guilty over shooting Sweetie Bell. Apple Bloom did. Scootaloo quickly noticed that she had upset her friend, and instantly felt guilty about it; she dropped the kangaroo submachine gun and sat down next to her friend, giving her a hug. “Hey, I’m sorry!” Scootaloo said sincerely. “I’ll stop, I promise!” Apple Bloom continued to cry, burying her head into Scootaloo’s shoulder. Scootaloo was glad that she had put on the goggles she’d found, as the violet lenses had obscured her eyes, Apple Bloom wasn’t able to see that she had started to cry as well. They sat there for nearly an hour before neither of them was able to cry any more. “Come on Scoot, let’s go look some more!” Apple Bloom said finally. “That’s what I’m talking about!” ... Nothing. Apart from the goggles, and the two guns they’d found, there was nothing that the two Cutie Mark Crusaders had found that had told them anything. Apple Bloom had started looking at the trees for lack of other things to look at. “Hey Scoot? Did ya notice tha’ some o’ the branches on these trees are broken?” Apple Bloom said after a minute of studying them. “So?” Scootaloo said, looking up at the trees that Apple Bloom had pointed out. “Well, how’d they get broken? Branches don’ break themselves!” Apple Bloom said. “So...” “So someone had to break them!” Scootaloo finished, catching on quickly. “Eyup!” Apple Bloom said. “Only some of ‘em are broken, so if we follow the broken ones...” “We might find who broke them!” Scootaloo said. Excitedly the two fillies marched off, following the path with broken tree branches, the thought never occurred to them that they might not want to find whoever had broken the tree branches. They followed it until they discovered a cliff wall, and a cave opening, the two Cutie Mark Crusaders immediately got excited and entered into the cave, they were disappointed to find that there was nothing in here, save for an old camp fire that clearly hadn’t been used in a really long time. The duo took to exploring the cave, finding nothing of interest until they found an incredibly large boulder that was blocking off one part of the tunnel, and next to it was an open path that descended downwards. Eagerly, the Cutie Mark Crusaders went down the path, only to find an exit. “Well that was dumb,” Scootaloo said disappointed. “There was nothing in there!” Apple Bloom nodded in shared disappointment, and the two of them walked out of the cave, stopping only to take notice in a line of ashes that someone had left behind, because they had stepped in it, accidentally kicking some of it out of place. The duo shrugged at each other, not understanding what the ashes were for, or why someone had put them like that, they continued on without a care in the world. ... They continued to walk on the path that led away from the cave formation; Apple Bloom had been particularly disappointed, she was sure that the broken tree branches would have led them where they needed to be, unfortunately, there were no broken tree branches on this side of the cave. They had wandered into a clearing, sitting down on the ground to rest for a moment. Apple Bloom looked over at Scootaloo, still wearing the goggles she’d found, she couldn’t help but smirk; they were too big for her head and made her look incredibly silly. “What?” Scootaloo asked. “Nothin’!” Apple Bloom said, giggling. Scootaloo rolled her eyes, which Apple Bloom had not been able to see. “Maybe we should just go home. We haven’t found anything!” They heard a branch snap. The two fillies looked back, but saw nothing. They both began to tense up, not knowing what it could be. They heard more branches snapping, and through the bushes, a black unicorn pony with glowing amber eyes walked in on them. “Oh... hello!” he said politely. “Hello,” Apple Bloom said, smiling at him. The black unicorn smiled back at them. “Isn’t it... ah, getting a little late for fillies as young as yourself to be out?” “Is it?” Scootaloo asked, she lifted up the goggles and looked at the sky, it was getting late. “Yer not gonna tell Applejack on us are ya?” Apple Bloom asked worriedly. “Please! Ya can’t! Ah haven’t even done mah chores for today!” “Who’s Applejack?” the unicorn asked. “Mah big sister! She’ll be mad if she figures out we were out in the woods late!” “Well don’t worry, my little ponies, I don’t know Applejack, so I can’t very well tell her!” the unicorn said with a smile. “My name is Nightshadow, you are?” “I’m Apple Bloom! This is Scootaloo,” Apple Bloom said with a smile, Scootaloo waved at the unicorn. “Pleased to make your acquaintance,” Nightshadow said with a smile. “It is getting rather late for two young fillies to be out, It’s not safe for you to be walking alone at night, how about I walk you two back to town?” The filles eventually agreed, and began to walk back with the older unicorn. Apple Bloom studied him for several moments, feeling that something was off about him, but she was quick to figure out what. “Hey! You don’ have a cutie mark!” “Huh?” Nightshadow said, “Oh, yes, I suppose I don’t.” “How come?!” Apple Bloom asked. “I couldn’t tell you... my brothers and I never gone one,” Nightshadow said. “A trio of identical triplets.” “Never? You must have gotten made fun of a lot in school?” Scootaloo asked. “We’re the only ones in our class that don’t have ours, and we get made fun of all the time.” “I’m very sorry to hear that,” Nightshadow said. “Children can be so cruel to those that are different; though we were never really picked on... in fact most ponies don’t even notice that we don’t have one for some odd reason, I tend to forget about them entirely.” “But... don’t you want to find out what it is?” Scootaloo asked. “Not particularly, no,” Nightshadow said. “I’m an apothecary, I make potions and elixirs from natural ingredients, I love it, I couldn’t imagine doing anything else... but clearly, my cutie mark did not come from it, I like not having it, it reinforces that you can do anything you want! After all, with my luck, my cutie mark would turn out to be a pail of glue, or a gelatine mold,” Nightshadow chuckled at his own joke, but Apple Bloom and Scootaloo looked at him in confusion, they didn’t understand. “Never mind,” the black unicorn said. ... They walked to the edge of town; Nightshadow stopped in his tracks, and turned to the two Cutie Mark Crusaders. “This is where I leave you, then. I don’t actually live in town anymore,” Nightshadow admitted. “I would like, however to ask a favour of you two?” “Wha’ is it?” Apple Bloom asked. “I would appreciate that you not tell others that you met me. I am not... understood, by the townsfolk. I prefer to live alone outside town, it’s not something that everypony understands,” Nightshadow said. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo didn’t understand, he was really nice and helpful, why wouldn’t they like him? Nevertheless, they agreed to his request, he bid them farewell, and the two Cutie Mark Crusaders dashed off back into town. Nightshadow, on the other hand seemed to just fade away into the darkness.
Chapter 3Chapter 3 “Scootaloo? Ah been thinkin.’” Apple Bloom and Scootaloo were camping out in their clubhouse, deep into Sweet Apple Acres; two of the bedrolls were occupied, while another one, Sweetie Bell’s sat empty. “What is it?” Scootaloo asked. Apple Bloom could see her eyes for the first time today, as she had finally taken off the goggles she’d found earlier today. “About Cutie Marks... and what Nightshadow said about ‘em... he’s wrong, right? He’s gotta be!” Scootaloo frowned; she’d been having the same debate in her mind for the last several hours. If cutie marks didn’t matter... “Ah think maybe we should ask Twilight about ‘em, she’s smart! She’s gotta know somethin’!” Apple Bloom said. Scootaloo nodded in agreement, they had almost gone right then and there, but they realised just how late at night it really was, they decided that they’d wait until morning, visit Sweetie Bell first, and then ask Twilight what she knew about them. ... At eight in the morning, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo walked into the Ponyville Clinic. There was a blue unicorn sitting at the desk, reading a magazine, her nameplate said: “Colgate.” “Something I can help you with?” Colgate said uninterestedly. Apple Bloom opened her mouth to speak, however was interrupted by the door opening. “Ah! Toothpaste! There you are!” said a brown earth pony with an hourglass cutie mark. Colgate’s eye twitched slightly in anger. “Doctor, if I have told you once, I’ve told you a thousand times, do not call me toothpaste!” “Yer a doctor?” Apple Bloom said excitedly. “I am a not only a doctor, I am the Doctor!” the Doctor said gleefully. “Something I can help you with?” “Yeah! Our friend Sweetie Bell is a patient here, we came to see her!” Scootaloo said. “Ah I see! Well, Miss Toothpaste can surely direct you to where your friend is,” the Doctor said. “That is more her specialty.” Colgate opened her mouth to say something, but the Doctor merely smiled, pointing at the children, and she promptly shut it again. “Yes... please, follow me children, I can take you to her,” Colgate said. She rose from her desk and walked down a hallway muttering quietly to herself. “And to think, I finally thought I could get away from him here... but no!” Colgate left them at Sweetie Bell’s room, the two fillies went inside. “Oh hey!” Sweetie Bell said. “It’s... you girls!” “Sweetie Bell?” Scootaloo asked. “Who? Oh! Wait, that’s me! I’m Sweetie Bell, I forgot!” Sweetie Bell said enthusiastically. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo glanced at each other, Sweetie Bell had always been a little... spacey, but this was bad for her. “Sweetie Bell... you know who we are, right?” Scootaloo asked. “Of course I do!” Sweetie Bell said. “You’re... Alooscoot! And Bloom Apple! No... Wait, that doesn’t sound right. What’s going on?” Apple Bloom and Scootaloo looked at each other. “Uh... you’re really tired, and were about to go to sleep?” Scootaloo suggested. “Huh? I’m not tired! Actually, now that I mention it... I kind of...” Sweetie Bell dozed off and began snoring very loudly. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo backed out of the room quietly, leaving their friend behind. “Tha’ may ‘ave been the worst moment of mah life,” Apple Bloom said. Scootaloo only nodded in agreement. ... Scootaloo and Apple Bloom knocked on the door to the Library. Twilight Sparkle opened the door. “Oh! Well hello girls! Please come in!” Twilight said stepping aside and allowing the fillies entry. “What can I do for you?” Twilight paused for a moment and looked at Scootaloo oddly. “Where did you get those?” “Get what?” Scootaloo asked, then remembering that she was wearing the goggles she’d found. “Oh you mean these? I found them in Whitetail Wood! Pretty cool huh?” “Uh... yeah, certainly!” Twilight said, looking around nervously, which the fillies did not pick up on. “Is there something I can do for you girls?” “We wanted to ask ya about Cutie Marks!” Apple Bloom said. “You’re not going to try and make them appear with magic are you?” Twilight asked suspiciously. “Nah nothin’ like that! We wanted to know if ya’ll know of any older ponies without Cutie Marks!” Apple Bloom asked. Twilight searched her brain for anything that might be of use. “There are a few cases, yes. It’s usually rare for a pony my age or older to be without a Cutie Mark... come to think of it, I used to have a friend who didn’t have a Cutie Mark... didn’t really notice that he didn’t before...” “Used to have a friend? How come you’re not friends anymore?” Scootaloo asked. Twilight looked up in surprise. “Oh... uh, he... died.” Apple Bloom and Scootaloo were caught in surprise, “Oh! We’re sorry ta hear that,” Apple Bloom said, mimicking a response that Applejack likely would have given at the same bit of information. “Oh, don’t worry about it; it was a long time ago!” Twilight said, “It’s not like... I carry it around with me... every day.” The Cutie Mark Crusaders couldn’t help but notice that Twilight seemed unsure about that, but chose not to press the issue. “I have to ask, what brought this on?” Twilight asked. Scootaloo and Apple Bloom looked at each other, they had made a promise to Nightshadow not to talk about him to anypony... but they couldn’t lie to Twilight either, could they? No, lying was wrong... but so was breaking a promise. “Uh... Twilight, we have a problem,” Scootaloo said. “See, we made a promise not to say, but we don’t want to lie to you either.” Twilight gave the two a worried look, she figured that this was important, she really needed to know, but she had been backed into a corner, if she pressed the issue, and made the crusaders tell her, then it would plant the idea in their minds that promises don’t matter. “I think you should keep your promise, after all, losing a friend's trust is the fastest way to lose a friend,” Twilight said, half expecting Pinkie Pie to burst through the door shouting “forever!” and was ultimately disappointed when she did not. Thought the more she thought about it, it was probably for the best. Pinkie Pie wasn’t exactly stable right now. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo nodded, they thanked Twilight for her help and soon afterwards departed from the Library. Though they had discovered that Twilight hadn’t been nearly as helpful as they had hoped, the fate of Twilight’s friend bothered them very much, he had died without a cutie mark, he would never have one, and never could. It made the two fillies uncomfortable to know that this was even possible. They wandered for a little while throughout town, talking about the day’s events. Still particularly disturbed by Sweetie Bell’s condition, she hadn’t remembered who they were. Eventually they had found themselves wandering through Whitetail Wood again, though neither of them was sure that they’d find anything useful. And then they did. Scootaloo practically tripped over a large metal canteen that was lying on the ground. Upon examining it, it had the letters “CSI” printed in large, white letters on the side. Oddly enough, it was full. “Don’ even think about it!” Apple Bloom said. “You got the last thing we found, ah’m takin’ this one.” “Fine,” Scootaloo said with a huff. “These goggles are way cooler anyway.” Apple Bloom strung the canteen around her neck, noticing that there were more letters on the back. “Tpr. B.W.” “T.P.R.B.W?” Apple Bloom repeated. “What?” Scootaloo asked. Apple Bloom showed her the letters on the back of the canteen. “What does it mean?” “Ah dunno!” Apple Bloom exclaimed. “Maybe Rainbow Dash would know! She’s cool, maybe she’ll know about all kinds of cool stuff that we found!” Scootaloo exclaimed. It was a long shot, but they didn’t really have anything better to be doing, the two fillies departed to find Rainbow Dash. ... “Where did you get those?!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed after looking at Scootaloo, pointing at the goggles. “Oh these? I found them!” Scootaloo said. “Pretty cool huh?” Rainbow Dash frowned, and opened her mouth to say something, but Twilight shushed her. They had once again returned to the Ponyville public library where Rainbow Dash was now living with Twilight. “Girls, we need to take a look at everything you’ve found in Whitetail Wood.” Scootaloo sighed, lifting the goggles off her head; she then opened her saddlebag dumping out 30 brass casings, and the kangaroo submachine gun. Apple Bloom gasped. “Scootaloo! You been walkin’ around with that thing this entire time!?” “Didn’t want to take the chance that we couldn’t find it again!” Scootaloo said justifying her hoarding. Twilight and Rainbow Dash were certainly more worried about a young filly with a submachine gun than anything else. “Didn’t your last experience with guns teach you anything?” Rainbow Dash said condescendingly. “It’s empty! I promise! We checked!” Scootaloo said. “You checked?” Rainbow Dash exclaimed. Twilight lifted the submachine gun up with her magic, she removed the magazine from the submachine gun’s side, and checked it, and it was indeed empty, she pulled back on the bolt to check the chamber. It was in fact empty as Scootaloo had proclaimed. “Girls, despite the fact that this is empty, that doesn’t make it safe!” Twilight said. “Always treat a gun as if it’s fully loaded, because it might be!” “Even if you know it’s empty?” Scootaloo asked. “Especially if you know it’s empty!” Rainbow Dash said. “Wha’ about the other stuff? Do ya know where it came from?” Apple Bloom asked. “Yes,” Twilight said. “These goggles belong to our friend Vinyl Scratch, who left to go to Manehattan a few days ago... I’ve never seen her take them off...” “That gun and canteen are Trooper Willoughby’s. He went with her,” Rainbow Dash added. “Something happened to them.” “Can we help you look for them?!” Scootaloo asked excitedly. “We found their things! We can find them!” “I think you girls have done enough, let us handle it from here,” Twilight said. “We’ll be sure to let you know when we find them though. Vinyl loves these goggles and she’s going to be very happy that you found them.” Twilight smiled at the two fillies, and sent them on home. “I guess we’re done then?” Scootaloo asked. “Don’ be stupid!” Apple Bloom exclaimed. “We ain’t even started!”
Chapter 4Chapter 4 That night, the two Cutie Mark Crusaders were thrown awake by the sound of a loud crash, considering how loud it was, it had come from nearby. Scootaloo and Apple Bloom looked out the window of their clubhouse to discover that a large wooden bird like object was lying in the middle of the trees; both of its wings had been sheared off and were lying several dozen metres behind it. “Do you think that you could have possibly made any more noise? Dillingham?” they heard a voice say. “Not like I had a choice sir. It was this or the middle of town,” another called back. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo couldn’t help but notice that the voices sounded funny, like whomever they belonged to weren’t from around here, but the Cutie Mark Crusaders found it too dark to see them. “Captain? Look! Tree house!” another voice said. Scootaloo and Apple Bloom’s hearts skipped a beat. “Right, Lef-tenant Cutting? Take Dillingham and Evans and take a look. Be careful not to break the ramp under your own weight, Dillingham.” The voice belonging to the “Captain” said. “That was one time, sir, and the wood was rotted on that bridge,” said the “Dillingham” voice. “Hide!” Apple Bloom whispered hoarsely, the two of them dashed into a closet and threw a blanket over themselves. The door to the clubhouse opened, and they heard light footsteps, stepping around the main room. “Three bedrolls... two of them look like they’ve been used recently,” the “Dillingham” voice said. “How recent is recent?” said another voice they had not heard before. “They’re warm. Two minutes at most. Their owners haven’t gone far.” “Right then, Dillingham? Check the closet.” Apple Bloom and Scootaloo froze in fear. The closet door opened, and the blanket covering the two was ripped off them. “Got two,” Dillingham said. Dillingham was a kangaroo wearing a funny looking black hat, pointing a gun identical to the one they had found in Whitetail Wood earlier that day. “Ease off the Austin, Dillingham!” said another kangaroo, which Apple Bloom guessed to be Cutting. “First off, those are ponies, not gryphons, second off, they’re kids!” “Yes sir Lef-tennant,” Dillingham said, lowering his submachine gun. Lieutenant Cutting walked over to where the two fillies were laying, cowering in fear. He smiled at them, a genuine smile that began to put the Crusaders at ease. “Hello, come on out! No need to be afraid, that’s just Dillingham, he’s an idiot.” Apple Bloom and Scootaloo smiled back at the Kangaroo’s humour. Apple Bloom’s smile quickly faded. “Mah big sister said Ah wasn’t allowed to talk ta the kangaroos in town!” “There are kangaroos in town?” Cutting asked, cocking his head to the side. “Duh! You’re them aren’t ya?” Apple Bloom asked. “No... We’re not, tell you what though, if you talk to us, we promise not to tell your big sister that you did if you don’t, how’s that sound?” Cutting asked. “Okay then,” Apple Bloom said. She and Scootaloo got up and walked out of the closet. “Ah take it yer Cutting?” “Yes, yes I am, First Lef-tenant William Cutting, No.42 Commando, you are?” “Ah’m Apple Bloom! This is Scootaloo; we’re the Cutie Mark Crusaders!” Apple Bloom said enthusiastically. Cutting cocked his head in surprise at the introduction. “Cutie Mark Crusaders... possible paramilitary? Awful young though,” he said quietly to himself. The kangaroos, crusaders in tow walked down the ramp from the clubhouse towards the wooden bird, there were a total of 10 kangaroos standing around it. “No burning the glider! Remember No.38! They set the whole god-damned forest on fire!” This voice was the first one they had heard, belonging to the “Captain.” “Captain Blackthorn?” Cutting asked of him. “We found two kids... and you’re not going to believe what they told me.” Captain Blackthorn looked at the two Cutie Mark Crusaders. “Oh? What did they tell you Lef-tenat?” “There are kangaroos in town!” Cutting said. “Are there now?” Blackthorn asked, he stepped down to the Crusader’s levels. “I’m Reginald Blackthorn. What can you tell me about the kangaroos in town?” “Ah’m Apple Bloom, this is Scootaloo,” Apple Bloom said. “We were told not to talk to them, there are four of them, and they drove into town in their tank couple months ago!” Scootaloo said. “A couple months ago? And only four?” Blackthorn mused to himself. “Well they’re certainly not No.38... four would make them a light tank crew... meaning that they’re armoured cavalry.” Scootaloo and Apple Bloom looked at the kangaroo with confusion, being children; the older girls had neglected to tell them anything about the kangaroos that rolled into town. “Captain, the trees are too spread out for this to be a forest... this is a farm, we’ll get no cover or concealment here,” Dillingham reported. “If ya’ll are lookin’ for a forest, there’s one right over there a ways,” Apple Bloom said, pointing west. “Ah wouldn’t recommend it though. The Everfree forest ain’t right. Never has been! It’s got all sorts of monsters in it!” “And weather happens on its own! Nasty stuff like hail!” Scootaloo added. Blackthorn looked at them, dismissing their warnings about the Everfree, they could handle it. “We’ll take our chances,” he said finally. “Listen here, this is very important, you can’t tell anyone we were here... If your sister forbids you to talk to kangaroos, well we certainly don’t want to get you in trouble.” Blackthorn smiled at the fillies, who smiled back at him. “We promise!” they said cheerfully. Blackthorn was certainly happy with that answer, he then turned to the glider. “Now what are we going to do with this? Can’t burn it...” “We could get rid of it for you!” Scootaloo said. “We’re real deep on the farm! Nopony comes here except us; we can chop it up and use it in our clubhouse!” “Well, that sounds like a good idea to me,” Blackthorn said with a smile, “It’s yours!” “Yay!” Apple Bloom and Scootaloo cheered. “42nd Commando! Grab your gear! We need to make it to that forest!” Blackthorn said, the kangaroos promptly picked up their gear and hopped off at high speed, within a few minutes, they were gone from sight. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo wasted no time in breaking up the glider, breaking it down into individual planks of wood that they could use to spruce up their clubhouse. The sun rose, and by that time, there was no evidence that the kangaroo commandos had been here at all. ... At nine in the morning, Sweetie Bell wandered into view of Apple Bloom and Scootaloo, who were still sorting out materials. “Apple Bloom! Scootaloo!” She called out cheerfully. The other two Cutie Mark Crusaders looked up and smiled intensely, running towards their friend and giving her the biggest hug ever. “Easy! Easy! Still... sore!” Sweetie Bell gasped. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo backed off slightly, releasing the unicorn filly from their grasp. “How do you feel Sweetie?” Scootaloo asked. “”Great! I’m on Narcotics!” Sweetie Bell proclaimed. “Wha’ are those?” Apple Bloom asked. “I have no idea!” Sweetie Bell exclaimed enthusiastically. “But I feel so good right now! I could probably get shot five times and be fine!” “Let’s not test that,” Scootaloo said. “I don’t want to get my Cutie Mark from shooting anypony.” “So what are we going to do today!?” Sweetie Bell asked. “Well, we’re almost done breaking up all this wood, then... I dunno!” Apple Bloom said. “Don’ matter none, all tha’ does is tha’ the Cutie Mark Crusaders are tagether again!”
Chapter 5Chapter 5 “Tell me something Apple Bloom... does Sweetie Bell seem, off, to you?” Scootaloo and Apple Bloom were watching Sweetie Bell from a distance as she helped break up the wings of the kangaroo glider. “Now tha’ ya mention it...” Apple Bloom began. Sweetie Bell had always been spacey, but now it seemed like she was completely out of it, Scootaloo had caught her just standing around, eyes bugged out and mouth wide open several times in the last hour. It seemed that something had happened to Sweetie Bell while she was being treated. “Look, she’s doing it again!” Scootaloo said. Apple Bloom frowned, something was clearly wrong with her friend, and she didn’t like it in the slightest bit. “Sweetie Bell!” Apple Bloom called to her. Sweetie Bell jumped in surprise, blinking several times and looking over to her friends. “Hey Apple Bloom! Scootaloo! What’s going on?” “We were going to go get some lunch! Let’s go!” Scootaloo said, making something up, they were hungry, so might as well do something productive. “Okay!” Sweetie Bell said, turning and walking over to her friends. “You walk in front o’ her, Ah’ll walk behind, tha’ way we don’ lose her!” Apple Bloom said quietly. “I’m hungry, are you hungry? I’m so hungry! Let’s get lunch!” Sweetie Bell said. “Yeah... that’s what we’re doing Sweetie,” Scootaloo said. Sweetie Bell gave Scootaloo a confused look, and then it hit her. “Oh yeah! I forgot!” That was bad, even for her. They walked into town, only having one major hiccup of Sweetie Bell stopping and staring out into the open with her mouth open wide. They got lunch of a nice salad from the local café; Sweetie Bell seemed to be more alert while they were eating. “I was awake you know, when they operated,” Sweetie Bell said. “No way!” Scootaloo called out in surprise. “Yeah! Said that they needed me awake, but that I wouldn’t feel a thing! I didn’t!” Sweetie Bell said. “They also said that there might be some side effects... but I haven’t had any!” Scootaloo and Apple Bloom frowned at that statement. “What?” Sweetie Bell asked. ... Sweetie Bell was much more alert and focused after having food in her. She was perfectly normal for the rest of the day... normal, by Sweetie’s standards of course. Sweetie Bell had always been a little on the slow side, but Apple Bloom and Scootaloo loved her just the way she was, and were exceedingly happy that she was back. For how long was their greatest worry. As day began to turn into night, Sweetie began to get worse, only this time instead of spacing out, it was much worse; she felt a nagging pain in her left hind leg. “I think I need to go home,” Sweetie Bell groaned loudly in pain as Scootaloo and Apple Bloom walked her back to Carousel Boutique. “Sorry girls, I know we said we’d camp out when spring came... but I don’t think I can. I’m really sorry!” “’Sokay Sweetie! Tha’ ain’t important! Wha’ is important is you gettin’ better!” Apple Bloom said. “Thanks,” Sweetie Bell said, managing a smile through her pain. The Cutie Mark Crusaders pushed open the door to Carousel Boutique. “Sweetie? Is that you?” Rarity called out from the other room. “And Scootaloo and Apple Bloom,” Sweetie managed. Rarity trotted into the room and stopped. “Sweetie? What’s wrong?” “It hurts sis! It hurts real bad!” Sweetie said. She’d begun to shake. Rarity frowned, as if she didn’t know what to do. “The Doctors said I can’t give you any more...” “Sis... it hurts!” Sweetie Bell said. Rarity looked as if she was about to cry. “Apple Bloom, Scootaloo? I’m sorry but you need to go home. No buts.” Rarity had beaten Apple Bloom to it, she had just opened her mouth to make an excuse, but quickly closed it again, and she and Scootaloo gave Sweetie Bell a hug and, reluctantly, departed. ... Apple Bloom and Scootaloo laid awake the entire night in silence. Neither of them was able to sleep, and neither of them felt it was right to talk about it. Sweetie Bell was their best friend, and she was suffering right now. Apple Bloom felt her conscious panging, this was her fault. She’d done this to Sweetie Bell, and she would never forgive herself for it. Hours passed, and the Two Crusaders sat, eyes open, looking at the ceiling of their club house, until finally, Scootaloo broke the silence. “Apple Bloom? I can’t sleep.” “Me neither,” Apple Bloom replied. “Let’s go for a walk or something,” Scootaloo said. Apple Bloom nodded in agreement, and the two fillies rose and walked down the ramp to their clubhouse. They walked to the western edge of the farm, over the fence, and along the path that lined the tree line of the Everfree forest. So far, the walk wasn’t helping. “Ah feel terrible. This is all mah fault!” Apple Bloom said. Tears were forming in the young fillies’ eyes. Scootaloo had begun to cry to. Both of them felt so helpless. This wasn’t what childhood was supposed to be like, they used to be happy and care free! Until that fateful day in Whitetail Wood, when a revolver was found, its previous owner had only firing five shots out of six. A twig snapped. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo were shaken out of their thoughts and jumped in surprise. Were Scootaloo’s wings a little stronger, she’d have been 10 metres off the ground by now. Standing in the tree line was a kangaroo, his Austin Submachine gun pointed at the two fillies, they froze in fear. The kangaroo turned on the light that was taped to the underside of the barrel shining it in their eyes. The kangaroo however quickly lowered his submachine gun, he’d recognised them. In turn, the fillies recognised him back. It was Lieutenant Cutting. “Apple Bloom? Scootaloo?” He asked in surprise. “What are you doing out this late? You’re awfully young to be wandering around on your own.” Cutting hopped from the tree line towards the fillies, turning off the light that he’d taped to his gun. He stopped and leaned down to their level. “Lef-tenant Cutting?” Apple Bloom said. “We did somethin’ bad.” Cutting looked incredibly worried at this statement, but put on his best smile for the children. “Why don’t you tell me what happened?” he said sympathetically. “A couple days ago, we found a revolver in the woods... only we didn’t know what it was then... and we accidentally shot our other friend.” “Oh,” Cutting said with a frown. “Is she... all right?” Apple Bloom shook her head. “She was crying that it hurt so bad last time we saw her,” Scootaloo said. “I don’t want to think of what she’s going through right now.” “That’s... terrible,” Cutting said, frowning. “This is why I can’t believe in god. We live in a world where children suffer.” Apple Bloom and Scootaloo looked at him in confusion; they didn’t understand what he meant. They’d never heard the word “god” before. “Is there anything I can do?” Cutting asked. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo liked him, he was kind, genuine, he was asking because he really did care. Apple Bloom didn’t understand why Applejack had forbid her to talk to the kangaroos, they were good folks. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo looked at each other, silently deciding on a course of action. “Well, we were gonna go poke ‘round Whitetail Wood again, see if we can’t figure out wha’ that revolver was doin’ there,” Apple Bloom said. “I’ll come with you, just, give me a moment, I need to tell Captain Blackthorn what I’m doing,” Cutting said. He hopped off, and returned no less than two minutes later, a smile on his face. “Lead the way!” They took the long way around, deciding it would be best not to walk through town where someone might see them. They were more afraid of someone seeing the crusaders than they were of Cutting. The fillies were young, and they didn’t want it getting back to Applejack that they were out this late, they figured that anypony that saw Cutting couldn’t tell one kangaroo from another, and that he would probably be mistaken for one of Sergeant Tebbs’ crew if he was seen. It was nearly sun up, and they were passing Fluttershy’s cottage. The door opened and Cutting dropped to the ground instinctively. Fluttershy stepped out of her cottage, spotting the two Cutie Mark Crusaders instantly and walking over to speak with them. Cutting swore silently to himself, asking what he’d gotten himself into. Quickly thinking, the Cutie Mark Crusaders approached Fluttershy, entering her front garden so that Fluttershy would stop in a place where Cutting wasn’t visible. “Good morning Apple Bloom! Good morning Scootaloo!” Fluttershy said politely. “What are you girls doing up this early?” “Oh, ya know! Busy day of crusadin’ ahead of us!” Apple Bloom said with a smile. “Oh yeah! Real busy! We’re gunna go run around the path the Running of the Leaves follows! Be Cutie Mark Crusader long distance runners!” Scootaloo said, thinking quickly. “Oh that does sound like fun! Just be sure to drink lots of water! Okay?” Fluttershy said with a smile. “’Course we will!” Apple Bloom said. “Actually, we was wonderin’ if maybe you had a canteen we could borrow?” “Oh! Of course! Hold on and I’ll go get it for you!” Fluttershy smiled and went back inside to look for it. Cutting wasted no time; he hopped up and quickly made his way around the house and out of any chance of Fluttershy seeing him. After a few moments, Fluttershy returned, a canteen in her teeth, which she placed around Apple Bloom’s neck. “There you go! I filled it up with water for you; you girls have fun and remember to bring it back when you’re done!” Fluttershy said. “We will! We promise!” Scootaloo said, and with that, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo bid Fluttershy farewell, they rejoined Lieutenant Cutting, and continued on their way to Whitetail Wood. Cutting was, however, somewhat disturbed at how easy it was for these children to lie.
Chapter 6Chapter 6 “How many of these are we going to find?!” Scootaloo called out, picking up another brass casing and putting it her bag. Lieutenant Cutting picked up one of them, looking on the bottom of it. “10mm auto, standard chamber for one of these,” he said, holding his Austin submachine gun up. “We did find a gun like yours!” Scootaloo said enthusiastically. “I thought you said that the gun that hurt your friend was a revolver?” Cutting asked. “It was! We found that gun later... what’s it called?” Scootaloo asked. “This? Officially: Carbine, Machine, Austin. It’s a 10mm, Blow-back operated, open bolt, with a 30 round box magazine,” Cutting said proudly, and then he remembered who he was talking to. “You have no idea what any of that means, do you?” “Nope!” Apple Bloom said with a smile. Cutting couldn’t help but smile back. “This Austin that you found, where is it now?” “Twilight Sparkle has it!” Scootaloo explained. “She took it from us when we showed it to her! Said it was too dangerous.” Cutting nodded in agreement. “I’d have likely done the same. Kids shouldn’t play with guns. Let alone a damned machine carbine!” Apple Bloom couldn’t help but feel bad at Cutting’s statement about playing with guns. She hadn’t known better then. Now she did, and she never wanted to touch another gun as long as she lived. ... Cutting kept his eyes up when they approached a ridge; he kept looking at it as if he was expecting someone to be there. “Lef-tenant Cutting? Wha’ are ya doin?” Apple Bloom asked. “Force of habit, that ridge is a good spot for a gryphon airborne infantryman with one of their scoped rifles.” Bang! Apparently, someone else had thought so too. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo heard a bullet whiz by them, cutting through the air and making a terrible noise. Cutting motioned them to get to the side and take cover behind a tree, and to stay there. “That was your only warning! Come any closer and the next one won’t miss!” Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Lieutenant Cutting looked up. That voice was a South Islander accent. “Oi! Dipstick! Care to take a look at who you’re shooting at before you pop ‘em?” Cutting called out. A kangaroo appeared on the ridge, holding a very ornate looking bolt-action rifle that was clearly not of kangaroo origin. “Willoughby you moron!” a female voice called out. “What did you do?” A white unicorn pony with a blue mane and red eyes, and a beamed quaver cutie mark appeared behind him, she was levitating an ornate looking pistol that looked more like a knife than anything else. “Moron! You shot at fillies!” “I couldn’t exactly see who was coming towards us, Vinyl,” the kangaroo said. “Sorry about that! He’s been jumpy ever since we got here,” Vinyl Scratch called out. “There’s a slope around the other side of the ridge, come on up! View’s real nice!” Cutting, Scootaloo, and Apple Bloom got up from their cover and walked around the ridge and found the path up to where the unicorn and kangaroo were located. “Who might you be?” Cutting asked of Willoughby. “Trooper Benjamin Willoughby, King’s Own South Island Dragoons, sorry for shooting at you...” Willoughby said, not knowing what to call Cutting, as he wasn’t wearing anything to identify himself as a member of the Commonwealth of South Island Military. “First Lef-tenant William Cutting, No.38/42 Commando.” “Sir?” Willoughby questioned, “If I may ask, what are commandos doing here?” “Not in front of the kids,” Cutting said quietly, he thought that Apple Bloom and Scootaloo couldn’t hear him, but they did, Cutting looked to Vinyl, who smiled and took to talking to the children so Cutting and Willoughby, could talk. “How you kids doing?” Vinyl said with a grin. Her red eyes shining brightly at Apple Bloom and Scootaloo. “Are you friends with Twilight and Rainbow Dash?” Scootaloo asked. “I am as a matter of fact! How are those two lovebirds doing?” Vinyl asked with a grin, knowing full well that both of them were going to hate her for saying that, and she found it all the more amusing. “’Lovebirds?’ EW! Gross!” Scootaloo said. “Ya got some crazy imagination lady!” Apple Bloom said. “Well that’s not exactly inaccurate...” Vinyl said, her grin growing wider. Scootaloo opened her saddlebag and pulled out the goggles that she’d been carrying around. “Are these yours?” “Hey! You found my goggles! Thanks kid!” Vinyl said smiling brightly; she levitated the goggles over her head, snapping them into place. “Ohhh yeah!” ... “Not in front of the kids,” Cutting said. When Vinyl Scratch had their attention, Cutting leaned in close to inform Willoughby of what was going on. “Rumour has it that there’s a platoon of gryphon airborne infantry that are hiding out in Equestria. Office of Strategic Intelligence’s put heavy stock into these rumours, they sent No.38 Commando in to check them out quietly... there was a problem and they were dropped off course and landed in the wrong place, they took heavy casualties on landing.” “Gryphons?” Willoughby asked. “I bloody wish, it would have been less embarrassing, no they burned their glider in the middle of thick forest, caught the damn place on fire, and killed half the unit. They sent in No.42 with orders to amalgamate No.38 and finish the job... don’t suppose you can shed any light?” Cutting asked. Willoughby nodded. “I can, there are definitely Gryphons hiding in this wood, they’re not airborne infantry though, they seem to be what’s left of an Artillery Platoon we jumped in the Hoofson Bay in December. It’s where I met her actually,” Willoughby said, pointing at Vinyl. “She don’t look like much, but she’s real handy in a pinch.” “Why thank you Willoughby! That’s the nicest thing anyone has ever said about me!” Vinyl said, looking back and grinning at him. “Oh god, she’s got the goggles back,” Willoughby said. “Anyway, we whittled them down... there’s only four or five left, enough to still pose a significant threat to the region.” “I heard that someone dispelled the rumours about Equestria for OSI... but I didn’t think they were that bad of lies!” Cutting exclaimed. “Are you sure that they’re arty?” “That was me, actually. I was the one who reported it to the Op,” Willoughby said casually. “Vinyl? Can I see that officer’s pistol?” Vinyl tossed Willoughby the pistol that she was levitating. He caught it and pointed out the markings on the handgrip. “See these? They denote a… I think that’s Sergeant Major, in an Artillery Brigade. My grasp on gryphon is a little basic, but I know that much.” “Warrant Officer, actually, I’m fluent,” Cutting said. He examined the pistol before handing it back to Vinyl Scratch, which wasn’t so much a hand, more like, a “let-go-and-have-it-float-away.” “Show off!” Willoughby said. “You know me!” Vinyl said with a grin. “These kids have been playing in this wood for days, not knowing how dangerous it really was, we need to get them back to town before someone gets hurt,” Cutting said. Willoughby nodded. He reached into his vest and pulled out several box magazines, handing them to Cutting, “You’ll need these more than I will. I lost my Austin in the wood a few days ago.” “You’ll be happy to know that the kids found it, and it’s in the hands… hooves, of somepony named Twilight Sparkle,” Cutting said casually. “And a magnum revolver too.” “Oh good,” Willoughby said, showing Cutting the gryphon rifle. “I hate using this thing.” Cutting nodded, he gathered everyone up. “All right, Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, we need you to show us the fastest way back to town. I know we took a roundabout way to get here… Well let’s just say that something is in this wood that makes that way unappealing…”
Chapter 7Chapter 7 “Eyes up people,” Willoughby said. “That’s where we can expect trouble from.” Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, Vinyl Scratch, Willoughby and Cutting were walked through Whitetail Wood, dividing their attention between the path ahead of them, and the sky above. “They usually only come out at night to harass us, trying to get us to make a mistake so they can swoop in and nab us without a casualty on their side. Airborne infantry are trained to engage at range. These guys? They like getting in close so they can use the blades,” Willoughby said, pointing at the long, incredibly sharp looking blade that ran alongside the barrel of the gryphon rifle, extending out a few centimetres. “Of course, this means that a good shot can hit them while they’re charging. We should thank the gryphons for designing a weapon that can either be a gun, or a sword, but not both at the same time.” Cutting chuckled, causing Willoughby to raise an eyebrow. “And I thought you commando types didn’t have a sense of humour.” “Talk to Captain Blackthorn, then consider that line of thought again,” Cutting said. Up front, Vinyl Scratch was walking with the fillies, levitating the Officer’s pistol above her head, keeping a look out for any signs of trouble. “If yer friends with Twilight an’ all them, how come we ain’t never seen ya before?” Apple Bloom asked. “Well, really I’m only friends with Twilight and Rainbow Dash. Haven’t had the opportunity to meet their other friends, haven’t stuck around town long enough for that,” Vinyl said. “How come?” Scootaloo asked. “Never did like staying in one place too long,” Vinyl said. “Never lived anywhere more than a year when I was your age.” “How come?” Apple Bloom asked. “Dad changed jobs a lot,” Vinyl said. “How come?” Scootaloo asked. “Most of the time, he’d get fed up and quit, or would get fired for not showing up for days on end, said that they were beneath him, drove mum insane. We moved to Manehattan and when it came time for dad to lose his third job and become un-hireable. He said “We’re moving to Fillydelphia pack your things.” Well I packed my things all right, but I told him flat out, ‘I ain’t going to Fillydelphia.’ So I went out and started living on my own. I was probably... two, three years older than you are right now.” “How come ya didn’ go with him?” Apple Bloom asked. Vinyl smiled brightly at the two fillies. “You cats ask a lot of questions don’t ya? Truth of the matter was, I didn’t need my parents, I made my own money, bought my own food, cooked for myself, did my own laundry. So I stayed, got into a bad crowd. Made a bunch of money in a way I’m not proud of. Eventually started DJing at a club, got popular, made a bunch of money. Did things with that money I’m not proud of. Realised I was wasting my life, cleaned up, wandered a bit, Met Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash, and then five months after that, here I am, walking through Whitetail Wood, with two curious fillies and two kangaroos with guns... any more questions?” “Are you crazy?” Scootaloo asked. Vinyl Scratch merely grinned. “Indubitably!” ... They were a hundred metres from the edge of Whitetail Wood. “Anyone else feel that this has been way too easy?” Cutting asked. “Oh yeah,” Vinyl said, looking up, keeping the officer’s pistol pointed towards the sky. “If they plan on jumping us here, then they’re making a big mistake, they’ll hear the gunfire all the way in Ponyville,” Willoughby mused. “Who’s going to do what?” Scootaloo asked. It was at this point that the older members of the group had remembered that they’d been trying to keep the knowledge about the gryphons a secret from the children. The last thing they needed was for them to panic. They didn’t have time to answer. Cutting turned his Austin upwards and pulled the trigger. Silenced submachine gun fire filled the air, and a gryphon fell from the sky. Four more gryphons were diving at them, bladed rifles pointing down. Willoughby pulled the trigger on his rifle. Bang! The bullet went through the gryphon’s wing, sending him toppling to the ground. Vinyl leapt on top of the fillies, trying to shield them from the gryphon’s attack, she fired the officer’s pistol into the air, not necessarily trying to hit anything, just making noise, and praying that someone in Ponyville would hear it and come to their rescue. The two gryphons that were left dodged and weaved between submachine gun fire, Cutting used his ammo sparingly, knowing that the minute he had to reload would be when they charged him. Click! The gryphon dive-bombed Cutting, ready to slash at the kangaroo commando with his rifle, Willoughby, acting quickly pulled the trigger on his rifle; the gryphon’s head exploded, and splattered gore over Apple Bloom and Scootaloo’s faces. Clearly, Vinyl’s call for help had been heard, they heard a low rumble and through the trees, as M3 Light Tank 105 crashed through the trees, catching the last of the gryphon artillery platoon off guard as he was cut down by the hull mounted machine gun. Sergeant Tebbs popped his head out of top hatch. “Bloody hell! What was that all about? And what happened to Manehattan?” “There are children here sergeant,” Cutting said. “Who are you?” Tebbs asked looking at Cutting. “Lef-tenant William Cutting! No. 38/42 Commando,” Cutting said plainly. “Commandos?” Bloody Hell! Tebbs called out. “Children, Sergeant,” Cutting reminded them. “Children who have been traumatised by what they’ve just seen.” Vinyl got off Apple Bloom and Scootaloo, who were shaking horribly, disgusted by the blood covering them. ... Vinyl, Scootaloo, Apple Bloom, and Cutting were sitting on the back of the tank as it drove back into Ponyville, Willoughby had since rejoined his crew on the inside of the tank. Applejack and Big Macintosh were walking along the high street as the tank passed; Applejack looked up, seeing Apple Bloom riding on the back of it. “Apple Bloom!” she called out, galloping after the tank. “Stop the tank sergeant!” Cutting ordered. “Where ya goin’ with mah sister!” Applejack said angrily. “Apple Bloom didn’ ah tell ya not to talk to them kangaroos!” “Ahem,” Cutting said clearing his throat. “You have a problem with kangaroos miss? If so, then get stuffed, four kangaroos just saved her life, and her actions probably saved the lives of everyone in town.” Applejack’s eyes narrowed in confusion. “Wha?” “Hospital, Tebbs,” Cutting said, tapping the tanks turret, it rolled off back towards its destination, the clinic. ... Apple Bloom and Scootaloo were cleaned up by Nurse Redheart and given a private room where they could rest in, physically, they were fine. But mentally was another story. Nurse Redheart was the senior nurse on duty, but they didn’t have anyone trained in psychology, for that, they needed someone from Canterlot to come down at speak with the children. Nurse Redheart considered herself lucky that she’d gotten somepony on such short notice. “They’re only children, I don’t know how bad they are, but since I’m not qualified, I didn’t want to try,” Nurse Redheart explained. “No, no you did the right thing, don’t worry! I’ll be gentile!” said a stallion’s voice. Scootaloo and Apple Bloom were not able to see him since the adults were out talking in the hallway. A pitch-black earth pony doctor in a white coat entered the room smiling at the two fillies as they lay in their beds. “Hello, I’m Doctor Nightcaller. I’m from the Royal Hospital in Canterlot. Nurse Redheart has asked me to come down and speak to you; I certainly hope that’s all right.” Apple Bloom and Scootaloo nodded. Nightcaller smiled warmly at the children. “Excellent! I think we’re going to get along just fine.”
