The Crusades End

Chapters

1 The Crusade Begins
2 The Search Begins
3 Journeys
4 Meet the Crusaders
5 Nightmares and Realities
6 Memories
7 Training Begins
8 Muscle Ache
9 Injury time
10 Raid
11 Debrief and Downtime
12 Problems and Solutions
13 Goodbyes
14 The Crusades End

1 The Crusade Begins

“You know, I think I might be becoming part tree” moaned Scootaloo as she attempted to remove the last annoying flecks of tree sap and splinters from her mane.

“I don’t even understand how we managed to get covered in tree sap!” complained Sweetie Belle having just finished removing the last pieces of sap from her mane and starting to help Apple Bloom, who was still covered. They were alone on a small island in the middle of Ponyville lake, the island was desolate not even a tree on it until a large explosion, a splash and three filly’s landed, covered in a surprising amount of tree sap, and pieces of an ,until recently, sea worthy fishing boat.

The island was at the center of the Ponyville town lake, which was normally a calm and serene place, with beautiful flower bushes spread along the edge at surprisingly regular intervals. There was a path that encircled the lake for ponies to walk on, which most did during their lunch breaks or in the evening, and during winter it froze solid, so ponies (like a certain pink mare) often ice skated on top of it, although now it was thankfully deserted.

“Yeah, ah mean we was just trying to get a fishin’ cutie mark then, BAM tree sap.” Said Apple Bloom straining against Sweetie Belle as the unicorn attempted to remove a small section of their former boat, which had become attached to her friends face. “Although, it might have had something to do with that thing you threw in the water to ‘speed things up’ Scoots”, said the yellow pony, now slightly yellower from the tree sap.

“Yeah what was that? all I saw was you through something red off the side and say ‘This’ll speed things up a bit’” agreed Sweetie Belle, still trying to work out how to remove the piece of boat from her friends face.

“Well that fisherpony told us the fastest way to fish was using dynamite, so he gave me some and I used it.” Scootaloo said cheerfully as the Pegasus came to the aid of her two friends, “heh, I had no idea that would happen” she said as she strained with Sweetie Belle. They stained together for a few minutes before the plank of wood finally, and suddenly, came free sending unicorn, Pegasus and earth pony alike back into the lake they had just climbed out of.

“Ah think we need to come at this from a different angle” stated Apple Bloom once she and the other two had climbed back out of the lake and dried off a little helped by Scootaloo’s wings. “Like, maybe we should try to find-“

“If you suggest we listen to more cutie mark stories I’m pushing you in the lake” Scootaloo interrupted, “unless you want to listen to Rainbow’s again then I’m fine with that.” She smiled she would never tire of listening to that story.

“Ah was gonna suggest we try and find out if anypony’s had this kind of problem before. And if they have how they fixed it.” Apple Bloom said glaring at Scootaloo.

“How will we do that though?” asked Sweetie Belle as she flailed, trying to remove the plank that was now firmly attached to her hooves.

“Well we can’t ask ponies about it, because we will just get more stories, and I could really do without them right now.” Huffed Scootaloo grabbing the board between her teeth and pulling one way while Sweetie pulled the other, after a few seconds the board came loose and Sweetie Belle was free, Scootaloo decided to throw the plank away so it didn’t get attached to anyone again.

“We could try the library” piped up Sweetie Belle. Scootaloo groaned she hated the library, it was dull and boring and eerily quiet, and Twilight always tried to lecture her on the importance of a good education and the value of knowledge. “Well anything is better than this” Sweetie Belle said a look of disgust on her face as she rose a newly tree sap covered hoof.

“I guess” admitted Scootaloo

“And we can try to get our cutie marks as librarians” chimed in Apple Bloom “again”.

“I suppose, it can’t be that bad.”Scootaloo conceded. “Alright let’s go, once we get back to dry land.” Scootaloo said in a resigned tone before bursting into a fit of giggles, when she saw the state she and her friends were in, and when they saw what she was laughing at they joined in too.

Sometime later, when they had all washed the remaining sap out of their coats and manes, the three crusaders met outside the library. After all the usual greetings and gestures Scootaloo stepped out in front of the door to the library and turned to face the other two “OK, I want to work out what we need from in there right now so that we don’t have to spend too long in there giving Twilight more of a chance to lecture me.”

“Well we need to find out if any other ponies have ever had this problem before and if they have how they solved it” said Sweetie Belle looking thoughtful, “So I suppose we will want books on history and maybe cutie marks.”

“Yeah and ah’ve been thinking, I’m sure I’ve seen the name ‘Cutie Mark Crusaders’ before but I can’t remember where.” Said Apple Bloom thoughtfully her face contorted as though it was physically hurting her trying to remember. “Ah think we might need a book on wars, and maybe on old secret societies?” she continued in the same thoughtful tone with a hint of confusion mixing in at the end.

“Right, so we need books on History, cutie marks, wars and secret societies.” Scootaloo confirmed looking top the others to be sure there wasn’t anything they were missing.

“Right” agree the other two.

“OK then, here goes” said the orange Pegasus as she turned around to face the door.

“CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS LIBRARIANS! YAY” they shouted together as they walked up to the door and Scootaloo knocked.

After a few moments of silence Scootaloo knocked again harder, this time they were surprised by the bottom of the door opening and a small purple and green blur shooting past them.

“SPIKE, where are you going?!” Apple Bloom shouted after the blur which stopped revealing itself to be Spike, Twilight’s number 1 assistant, in his usually scaly form.

“Oh it’s just you three, I thought you were…, never mind what can I do for you?” asked Spike a little sheepishly, with small red patches starting to appear on his cheeks, which is quite impressive considering his cheeks are obscured by thick scales.

“Did you think we were Twilight?” asked Apple Bloom as a look of confusion slipped on to her face.

“Why were you worried that we might be Twilight.” Sweetie Belle asked also slightly puzzled

“No reason.” Said Spike quickly almost shouting, trying to look as innocent as possible. “Now was there something you wanted or –“

“It wouldn’t have anything to do with this, would it Spike?” asked Scootaloo as she swung the door to the library open to reveal chaos that Discord would have been proud of. All the books in the library, it appeared, were thrown haphazardly into one corner of the room, most of the chairs were tipped over and some were broken, and there was the occasional party hat or streamer lying on the floor, all in all it looked like Spike had thrown one heck of a party.

“OK you caught me! I was a little down because I have been on my own for a while because Twilight is out running errands so pinkie helped me throw a party and, this happened.” Spike confessed practically crying as he did so.

“Calm down Spike, Jeez, anypony would think we were torturing you, look if we help you tidy will you help us find some books we need?” said Sweetie Belle earning a look of disgust for Scootaloo and an eye roll from Apple Bloom. Spike just nodded. “OK then Apple Bloom you stand the chairs back up, the ones that can at least, Scootaloo pick up the streamers, party hats and broken chairs and pile them near the door, Spike you and me are going to sort out these books.” Sweetie Belle commanded as she surveyed the situation. A few minutes later with some grumbling a few splinters and more than a few paper cuts, the job was almost done; all that was left were the books. Sweetie Belle was having trouble finding the books they needed while Spike was trying to remember where they all went.

“What do you have so far Sweetie?” asked Scootaloo, looking up to the white and purple unicorn, who was now rummaging around in the pile of books. She pulled her saddle-bags out of the depths and looked through them.

“We’ve got, some history books, one on obscure history just in case, a book on wars, most of those wars are mentioned in the history books, a few books on cutie marks and the theories for how they work, the only one we’re missing is on secret societies.” She listed carefully, a look of concentration on her face.
“Could this be the one we’re lookin’ for scoots?” asked Apple Bloom holding up a copy of ‘society – the secrets of the equestrian elite’

“No, that looks like a psychology book, not what we need.” Replied Sweetie Belle before Scootaloo could even open her mouth.

“Darn” muttered Apple Bloom as she threw the book away, looking annoyed. “What about this one?” She asked holding a black covered book that was nearly the same size as her head entitled ‘Secret Societies of Equestria’ between her teeth.

“That’s the one!” exclaimed Scootaloo jumping and fluttering her wings happily.

“Perfect!” said Sweetie Belle watching as her friends faces lit up as they completed their objective. “Now all we have to do is finish sorting out the rest of these books.” She stated matter-of-factly while the others groaned.

After half an hour of work the place looked to have barely changed there were a few more books on the shelves but the majority were still in a large pile on the floor.

“We have to hurry” moaned Spike, “Twilight could be back any minute, and if she sees the place like this she’ll make Owlouisous the number one assistant!” he was starting to look hysterical so Apple Bloom sent him over to stand by the door, partly as a look out and partly to calm him down as he tended to snort small amounts of fire when he was agitated like this, and she wasn’t particularly curious as to what the inside of an inferno was like. A few seconds later they heard a yelp as Spike turned and in a terrified voice whimpered, “she’s coming” this was not received quite as he had expected it to though, as the only reply he got was from Scootaloo who simply said “we are definitely not librarians”

“I should think not-“ Spike didn’t get chance to finish his statement as Twilight Sparkle and Cherilee walked in at that moment each wearing their saddle bags. “What’s going on here?” asked an annoyed Twilight as she saw the pile of books and the heads of the three fillies.

“I had nothing to do with this” Spike said quickly, motioning to the pile of books. Scootaloo saw what he was trying to do and she wasn’t about to stick around and get blamed for this mess, most of which she and her friends had cleaned up.

“WOW, is that the time we had better get back home.” She said in her most innocent (and slightly sarcastic) voice and with that she jumped out of the pile of books and made a beeline the for exit only pausing to give Spike an angry look before leaving, followed closely by Apple Bloom with Sweetie Belle bringing up the rear as she was weighed down with all the books they had collected. The three moved as quickly as they could to try to avoid Twilight or Miss Cherilee calling them back. They stopped once they reached the Ponyville town well, while they where there they split the books up between them so that Sweetie Belle wasn’t carrying all the weight. When Apple Bloom looked up in the sky she saw that it was just starting to go orange.

“Wow, it actually is gettin’ pretty late, I should get back to the farm” she said looking to the other two, they both nodded in agreement.

“We’ll meet at the clubhouse tomorrow, after school, and we’ll all bring the books with us.” Scootaloo said with a small amount of enthusiasm, not so much from the thought of reading the books as from spending more time with her friends, and maybe finally earning her cutie mark.

“Yeah” the others to exclaimed, before they went their separate ways home. Sweetie Belle headed in the direction of Carousel Boutique, while Apple Bloom and Scootaloo walked a little way together. They reached a crossroads, Apple Bloom turned down one road and Scootaloo down another.

“See you tomorrow” Scootaloo said to Apple Bloom as they started to walk down their chosen paths.

“Yeah, see ya” Apple Bloom replied. And with that the two went their separate ways home.

The next day the three fillies hurried home to drop their books off and collect the books from the library. They then made their way to the Cutie Mark Crusaders club house. Apple Bloom was the first to arrive since she didn’t actually have to go anywhere so she decided she would start on the books she had taken from the library; she looked to see which ones she had and laughed, naturally she had the two she had told them they should get one on ancient pony wars, and ‘Secret societies of Equestria’ she put the other book down and settled down to start reading. About 20 minutes later Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle showed up.

“Now, what took y’all so long to get here?” asked Apple Bloom in a slightly irritable tone, she had been trying to read the book for twenty minutes and had barely gotten past the first three pages, and two of those were the contents.

“Well I stopped to pick up Sweetie Belle” Scootaloo started

“Then we went to sugar cube corner and got muffins” Sweetie Belle continued “we got you one as well Apple Bloom”

“Well, OK then” said Apple Bloom brightening up at the prospect of a muffin. “I don’t know how you manage it Sweetie Belle, I’ve been trying to read this book for nearly half an hour and I have barely gotten past the contents.” She continued looking at the book as if it had offended her in some way. Sweetie Belle started laughing.

“What’s so funny” Scootaloo and Apple Bloom asked in unison, a look of confusion on Scootaloo’s face, one of annoyance on Apple Bloom’s.

“Y-You don’t read this type of book” Sweetie Belle managed after her laughing fit subsided slightly “It’s a reference book you use the contents and the index to find something specific and then you read that.” She said while suppressing chortles.

“Oh, well that makes more sense, where’s the index”

“At the back”

Apple Bloom flipped to the back of the book while the other crusaders got settled she then started to look through the index until something jumped out at her. She did a double take then slowly made her way to the page number the book told her, as she read her mouth fell open in awe. When she finished she looked at the other two who were reading like she was, or had been. Quietly with a shaky voice she said to her friends “Girls y’all need to read this, we weren’t the first”

2 The Search Begins

“What do you mean we weren’t the first?” asked Scootaloo looking annoyed that Apple Bloom suggested she read a book.

“During the war between the princesses (also known as the celestial wars) a band of knights worked together to destroy all evil and prevent any harm befalling the civilians of whichever town they inhabited at the time (most often and notably Canterlot)” read Sweetie Belle over Apple Blooms shoulder “These knights were special, and highly revered, because they were so diverse. Their members had a large range of skills including sabotage, aerial and naval combat and archery. This however was not what made them infamous, that is attributed to each members ability to use any weapon virtually without training, this arose as a side effect of their lack of cutie marks and this lack of a cutie mark was the reason that other warriors referred to them ironically as the ‘Cutie Mark Crusaders’.”

“WOW, so the people we named our club after were heroes, and they didn’t have cutie marks either” exclaimed Scootaloo bouncing and fluttering her wings in excitement.

“The Cutie Mark Crusaders lasted until long after the war but have disappeared from recent history” Sweetie continued “their last known base was in Trottingham.”

“Trottingham!” cried Scootaloo “that’s really, really far away.”

“Well we should try finding a little more information first. We don’t want to get our hopes up over nothing, and I don’t’ want to waste time on a wild goose chase when we could be finding our cutie marks” Sweetie Belle stated looking concerned at her friends excitement.

“But if we’re right, then we won’t ever get our Cutie Marks” Apple Bloom said looking her friend in the eye.

“How are we going to find more information about an ancient and secret band of warriors?” asked Scootaloo thinking practically for once.

“Ah could ask Granny Smith, she was a settler pony so she has seen lots of things, and she’s heard loads of stories about the things she hasn’t seen herself, ah’m certain she will have heard of them.”

“Good idea Apple Bloom. I could ask Rarity, and Twilight is coming to have tea with her later, I could ask them both!”

“Well then, I guess while you do that I’ll” Scootaloo paused and shuddered “read, to see if there is anything in these books on the crusaders, I’ll meet you both back here later” and with that Sweetie left the Cutie Mark Crusaders clubhouse. Just then the two friends left in the club house heard a distant “SOUPS ON EVERYPONY” in the characteristic southern drawl of Apple Bloom’s older sister Applejack. “Perfect timing ah’m starved, and I can ask Granny Smith now as well before she goes for her nap. Do you want to come too Scootaloo? You know there’s always room for more at the Apple family table.” She paused, thinking “actually won’t your dad be worrying about where you are? It’s gettin’ pretty late?” Apple Bloom asked looking slightly concerned.

“No, I’m fine thanks Apple Bloom I had a bite when I went to get my books and dad knows I’m here, he doesn’t even mind if I stay in the clubhouse overnight he knows I’ve done it before and that I’ll be fine; I’ll stay here and read there might be something useful in here.”

Scootaloo turned around and pulled the war books towards her, she turned her head to ask to her friend as she was leaving“would you mind saving me a slice of that amazing apple pie Granny Smith makes, I’m never to full for that.”

“Ok if we’re having it today ah’ll save you a slice,” Apple Bloom laughed “but ya aren’t sleeping here, at the very least you’ll come to the house to go to sleep.” She continued as she walked down the gangplanks to the grass below the club house.

“THANKS” Scootaloo shouted at the quickly disappearing form of her friend, with that she turned back to the books she had pulled towards her and opened one at the contents and started scanning, “nothing, horseapples” she pulled another closer, then another, then another when she had searched the index and contents of all the books she stood up stretched her legs and stepped out to walk around the club house, thinking she needed some fresh air.
When she returned from her walk she sat down looking at the books “well if it doesn’t mention them in the index I guess I’ll have to read them. I’m not reading all of them though, what was it ‘during the war between the princesses’ GREAT all I have to read is the bits about the…” she opened a book at the contents to check the name and groaned “the celestial wars” she looked at the amount of the book that was dedicated to the celestial wars and felt tears in her eyes, there had to be at least three quarters of this book on that war. As she looked around she noticed the name of the first book she had looked in ‘The Princesses are fighting! – A documentary of the celestial wars’ “oh horseapples, there’s an entire book dedicated to the war? I guess I had better start reading” she sighed as she sat down for what was starting to look like a long, boring evening.

“Come on Apple Bloom! We’re waiting” Applejack shouted looking annoyed and impatient as her sister rounded the barn, clearly having just come from the Cutie Mark Crusaders clubhouse. Applejack was beginning to wonder if they should even bother making them food, might as well put a stove in there, they spend enough time in that tree house and ah know they have all slept in there at some point. Wait a minute “Apple Bloom is Scootaloo still in your clubhouse?”
“Yes, but I did ask if she wanted to come to dinner with me and she said no, and she said her dad knows where she is. Oh and I told her she couldn’t sleep in there again, she will come to the house at the very least, and I need to save her a slice of pie.” Apple Bloom replied quickly adding in a concerned tone “Why, has her dad been asking for her?”
“No, I was just wondering is all, on account of I saw all of y’all go up that road and so far only two have come back down it”

“OK then, you had me worrying that Scootaloo was in some kind of trouble then.” Apple Bloom said reproachfully.

“Sorry lil sis” Applejack chuckled “come on, let’s get some grub before Big Mac and Granny Smith eat it all.” Said Applejack turning and entering the house Apple Bloom following close behind. As they entered Apple Bloom saw Granny Smith and her brother sat at the table with plates piled high with various different foods from apple fritters to slices of Granny Smiths world famous apple pie.”OK everypony you can start now” Applejack said as she placed a similarly piled plate in her place at the table and a smaller pile of food for Apple Bloom, she also placed a plate of food on a table near the door that Apple Bloom guessed was for Scootaloo. Apple Bloom walked to her seat at the table, sat down and ate everything as fast as she possibly could, the others took that as a sign that they should start but they all wondered how it was possible for such a small filly to eat that much that fast.

When they had all finished Applejack and Big Mac cleared the table and they heard a soft knock at the door they looked out and saw Scootaloo stood on the door step, Applejack let her in and gave her the plate of food.
“Thanks Applejack” said Scootaloo looking less energetic than usual, gladly accepting the still steaming plate of food. She placed the plate on the table next to Apple Bloom who paused in her apple massacre just long enough to take notice of Scootaloo before returning to her food, and Scootaloo followed suit. After a few minutes of eating and when their plates were nearly empty Scootaloo looked up at Apple Bloom who had just finished and asked “well, did you ask her then?”

“No, ah’ve just finished dinner, and so has she.” Was the reply she got “but ah’m going to ask her now, you coming?” Apple Bloom asked, “oh, and did you bring those books with you?”

“Yes I do want to come here this story, and they’re in my saddlebags” Scootaloo motioned to the bags propped against the wall next to the door, that were practically bursting at the seams with books. “Well, you’ll be in my room so I’ll help you carry them up the stairs and then we’ll ask Granny Smith about the Crusaders.”

“Sounds good.”

“Come on then” and with that Apple Bloom walked to Scootaloo’s bags took half the books out and started for the stairs to her room.

Meanwhile, as Sweetie Belle walked along the path from the farm she became lost in thought, she was so busy thinking about all they had learned that she nearly walked right into somepony, “Sorry” she mumbled not looking at the pony still thinking.

“It’s ok Sweetie Belle, where are Apple Bloom and Scootaloo? You three go everywhere together” said a familiar voice that made Sweetie Belle look up at the purple mare she had nearly walked into.

“Oh, hi Twilight, they’re still in the clubhouse I was on my way home, you’re coming for tea today aren’t you? Want to walk together?” She asked

“Yes, I would love to walk with you” Twilight replied, Sweetie Belle fell in step with her and they walked together in silence for a while before Sweetie realised that Rarity would probably have never heard of the ‘Crusaders’, and for that matter Twilight may not have either, so she asked “Twilight, have you ever heard of the Cutie Mark Crusaders?”

“Do you mean you’re not-so-secret-society?” Twilight asked an amused look on her face “I don’t think there’s a pony in Ponyville that hasn’t heard of you three.”

“No” Sweetie replied a small look of annoyance on her face what’s the point of a secret society that everyone knows about she thought, “I meant before us”

“Oh, I think so but I’m not sure, sorry Sweetie” said Twilight a looking and sounding thoughtful “I’ll have a look for you in the library when I get back. Oh and next time you visit, check the books out please it took a lot of work finding out which ones you took.”

“Thanks Twilight, and sorry it won’t happen again” said the unicorn filly looking like she meant it.

“It’s ok, come on let’s get to the boutique before your sister starts wondering whether we’ve dropped off the face of Equestria.” They both picked up the pace and 10 minutes later they arrived at Carousel Boutique.

As Twilight and Sweetie Belle enter the shop the bell chimed and Rarity looked around the door of her ‘inspiration room’ “Oh, Twilight your early, come in I’ll be with you in one moment.” Her head disappeared back around the door and the sewing machine resumed it’s wiring as she finished, Twilight followed Sweetie Belle down the hall to the kitchen. A short while later Rarity entered the kitchen to find Twilight and Sweetie Belle talking.
“I promise you Sweetie Belle if there is anything at the library I will find it and tell you about it.”

“Ok, Thanks Twilight”

“You’re welcome Sweetie Belle”

“What are you two talking about?” Rarity inquired politely, as she searched through the cupboards to make tea, finding some scones and biscuits and placing them on a plate, she then placed the teapot on the hob of the cooker, and some tea cups on the table.

“Well Apple Bloom and Scootaloo and I found a book in the library that says there was another group called the cutie mark crusaders long ago and I wanted to know if anypony had heard about them but I don’t think they have.” Sweetie Belle replied looking disappointed that her efforts to gather information were failing.

“And I have told her that when I get back to the library I will look for any references to them” Twilight added helping Rarity by levitating the plate of cakes and biscuits over to the table.

“Actually, I think I might have heard of them. I thought they were just stories, don’t you remember the bedtime stories mother used to read to us Sweetie Belle?” Rarity asked while levitating the whistling teapot from the fireplace and pouring tea for Twilight, Sweetie Belle and herself.

“No, what stories. I was probably too young you’re a few years older than me remember.”

“The Cutie Mark Crusaders, vanquishers of evil, protectors of the weak and helpless, they were our mothers favourite stories.” Answered Rarity

“Oh, I think I might have heard that one, my parents used to tell Shining and me stories about ponies fighting evil creatures and helping people.” Twilight interjected excitedly. “But I don’t remember any of them sorry.”

“Neither do I unfortunately”

“It’s ok I know more than I did, before and Apple Bloom and Scootaloo will probably find some more information from the books, or maybe from Granny Smith.”

“If there’s one pony who will know those stories, it will be Granny Smith” Twilight stated confidently, “if I ever need information on folklore that I can’t find in the library I ask Granny Smith.”

“That’s good a least they will find something out” Sweetie Belle said brightening up, and with that the conversation drifted from the Crusaders to gossip, so Sweetie Belle quickly drank her tea and excused herself.

As Scootaloo followed Apple Bloom back down the stairs they heard laughter coming from the kitchen they had vacated only a few minutes ago. Curious they looked around the door and saw Applejack and Big Mac relaxing in the kitchen, with bottles of something that looked suspiciously like Big Mac’s secret reserve of cider. He took great pride in his cider and aged it purposefully to bring out the taste, he only brought it out on special occasions as it was much more expensive than the cider they sold to everypony else (and tasted better to if that’s possible) and only the apple family and their close friends knew that he made it. They looked the other way into the living room of the old farm house and saw that Granny Smith was sat in her favourite chair that had been moved to be by the fire and was staring into the flames.

“Hi Granny” Apple Bloom said just loud enough for Granny to hear them as they entered.

“Hey there smelly belly” said Granny Smith in greeting to her youngest grandchild. “What can I do fer ya?” she asked looking at Apple Bloom oddly.

“We were wonderin’ if you had ever heard of the Cutie Mark Crusaders” Apple Bloom asked hopeful that she might get some answers, “before us I mean” she added.

“Hmm, if ya mean them old stories that I used to tell you, then I think I can remember one of them, but other than that ah have no idea.” Granny answered looking thoughtful.

“Yeah, that’s what we’re talking about” Scootaloo said excitedly, “and I always love a story before bed” she added quietly to Apple Bloom.

“Alright then, sit yer-selves down and I’ll try to remember one of them.” Apple Bloom and Scootaloo walked over to the fire place and sat down across from the old mare and waited for her to remember the story. Applejack walked in from the other room and stood by the door. Granny cleared here throat.

“A long time ago when the two royal pony sisters fought each other, there was a town called Trottingham. Now this town wasn’t big, it was smaller than Ponyville but it was a very important place because of the magic in the area, because you see there are many forms of magic and not all require a unicorn or alicorn to cast them, some places have magic in the ground around them like parts of the Everfree forest. So the royal sisters fought over it because whoever controlled it would gain more power than the other and would win the war. Celestia’s warriors fought nightmare moons monsters and the little town was caught in the middle. A few days into the battle three pony warriors appeared in Trottingham, they looked odd because, while they were wearing full armour and looked like they had seen battle, and were ready for more, they had no weapons and their armour had no crest unlike the armies of princess Celestia and Nightmare moon. When they entered the town the first thing they did was ask for rooms at the local inn, but at first they were refused because the inn keeper wouldn’t have one army or another in his establishment and risk becoming a target of the other army.

“It’s OK we understand that you don’t want to make yourselves a target but we aren’t part of either army, we serve Celestia but we also serve Luna, and we promise no harm will come to you for letting us stay, we’ll make sure of that.” The leader assured the owner.

“How can you possibly protect us from those monsters you don’t have any weapons, and you can’t serve Luna or you would have been transformed as well.”

“We don’t carry weapons because we use the ones we find. And we serve Luna we are not a part of her army, so we weren’t transformed.” The leader explained

“Prove that you can protect us then I will give you all rooms” the inn keeper said his eyes on the three unusual warriors.

“Deal”

“That Evening a group of nightmare moons monsters charged through the town destroying everything in their path until they reached the inn where the three warriors stood ready they each picked their first target carefully searching for one that was slightly apart from the main group had a weapon they each knew how to use and looked quite weak. They communicated they had picked their targets with nods, and then as one attacked striking vital parts of the creatures with lighting jabs and swift brutal kicks. The first three were disarmed and down in seconds, the rest turned on the new warriors but didn’t have chance to do more than wail before their lives were ended. After that the ones at the back started to run trying to escape any way they could, but it was of no use the three strange warriors were always there everywhere they turned. Less than five minutes after the battle had started it was over and the warriors stood alone in a small square bordered by shops and houses and backed by the inn the only entrance to which was the bridge across the river. Before the square had looked like any other and now it was filled with the bodies of the grotesque monsters that the three ponies had once called friends. They paid their respects to the ones they had vanquished and returned to the inn on whose door the leader knocked. After a few moments it opened and the inn keeper allowed them to enter, and gave them their rooms in return for their continued protection.

“We would protect you anyway that is our job but thank you for the rooms.”

The local smith who was taking shelter in the inn and had seen their fight, offered to make them three ponies some new armour, to replace the damaged pieces they were wearing. The three warriors agreed to his kind offer.

“After that night the small town of Trottingham has always been protected from harm. Nopony knows why but people that have less than the purest of intentions disappear after their first night in the town’s only inn. That my little ponies is the story of the Cutie Mark Crusaders.”

“Wow” Scootaloo yawned. “The crusaders were awesome.”

“Alright you two time for bed.” Applejack said after waiting for Granny Smith to finish her story, Apple Bloom hadn’t even heard her enter so jumped slightly when she heard her sister’s voice behind her. She and Scootaloo stood without comment thanked Granny for the story and left to go to bed.

In Apple Blooms room the crusaders got into their respective beds, Apple Bloom in her normal bed and Scootaloo in a camp bed Applejack had set up for her. After Applejack had left to go back downstairs Apple Bloom turned to face Scootaloo and asked “So, why have you been staying in the clubhouse so much recently?”

“Because I want to.” She replied defensively, not looking at her friend “Why do you care anyway, I don’t bother anyone” she sounded upset, even a little angry.

“Ah’m just worried is all, that clubhouse can get real cold at night and we don’t actually spend that much time inside it so it might not be entirely safe. I just don’t want to wake up one morning and find you’ve been hurt because you slept in our clubhouse and it collapsed or something.”

“It’s OK Apple Bloom, I don’t stay in there all the time only sometimes, and I have blankets stashed in there. The safest part is that observatory thing we’ve got in the roof space so I sleep there.”

“Alright so you won’t get too hurt if you stay in there, but why are you staying there in the first place?” it seemed to Apple Bloom that Scootaloo really didn’t want to tell her “C’mon now you can tell me, I promise to keep it a secret if you want me to”

“It’s my dad” Scootaloo sighed “When I got home today I couldn’t see him but I could see three empty wine bottles and a few bottles of cider, so I just got what I would need until tomorrow and left, he’s been that way a lot, ever since mum left. I just leave him alone and come back when he’s back to normal.” She finally looked at Apple Bloom “I’m only telling you this because I have to tell somepony and you promised not to tell anypony”

“It’s OK Scootaloo I promised so ah won’t tell a soul. But you still shouldn’t sleep in the clubhouse, especially when we could be having a sleepover here.” A smile grew on Apple Bloom’s face “So just come here there’s always space.”
“Thanks Apple Bloom, I’ll remember that. We’d better get some sleep we have to tell Sweetie Belle that story tomorrow and find out what she learned so we can make a decision, I don’t know about you but I can’t think straight when I’m tired.” She yawned and turned over so she was facing away from Apple Bloom “Good night Apple Bloom”

“Good night Scootaloo” Apple Bloom turned the lamp that was the rooms only light source off and went to sleep. She didn’t see the tear that leaked out of the corner of Scootaloo’s eye as she thought of her mother, the state her farther was in, and what a good friend she had found in the little yellow Earth pony filly she was sharing a room with.

The next day Sweetie Belle hurried to Sweet Apple Acres to find out what Apple Bloom and Scootaloo had found out and to tell them what she had learned. As she ran up the road she noticed that Scootaloo was already there, which she thought would speed things up as they wouldn’t be waiting for anyone. She walked up to them “Hi girls” she greeted them to which they responded with “Hi Sweetie Belle” Sweetie noticed they both had saddle bags full of books and guessed from that and the fact that Scootaloo hadn’t passed her on her way that she had stayed the night. Scootaloo suggested they go to the clubhouse, so since no one had any better ideas that was where they went.

“Sweetie Belle why don’t you start” Apple Bloom suggested, thinking that she and Scootaloo had gained practically the same information.

“OK, well as I was walking home I bumped into Twilight and I asked her but she didn’t know anything and she also said she would look in the library to try to find something there.” from there Sweetie Belle told them about her walk home with Twilight and helping prepare tea, “and then I asked Rarity about them and she said they were our mothers favourite bedtime stories!”

“Yeah, Granny Smith told us one last night” Scootaloo admitted confirming Sweetie Belle’s suspicions that she had stayed the night. So Scootaloo told Sweetie Belle the story with occasional input from Apple Bloom if she missed anything. When she finished Sweetie Belle was staring open mouthed.

“Wow, that’s cool. Rarity said she couldn’t remember any of the stories, but she thought Granny Smith would.” She thought for a second before it hit her, she was so surprised by the thought that she jumped up and accidently hit the lamp that hung in the room, turning it on. “Didn’t that book say that the last place the Cutie Mark Crusaders were ever seen was Trottingham?”

“Oh yeah” Scootaloo said excitedly as she went to turn off the lamp. “and I don’t think it was just a story because there are references to three unknown warriors around Trottingham, and other references to the CMC in lots of the history and war books we got from the library.”

“Well Applejack is going to Trottingham soon to make a delivery to a cousin we have up there. Ah might be able to get her to take me and maybe you too Scootaloo, and it’s during the holidays so we won’t miss much crusading time if we’re wrong.”

“That’s a great idea” Scootaloo agreed “I can get there on my own if you can’t get Applejack to take us both”

“Perfect, Rarity has to make a trip to Trottingham soon to deliver an order and there is a big fashion show at the same time so she will be staying for that, I might be able to come with her and maybe you too Scootaloo if you can’t go with Applejack and Apple Bloom.”

“It’s settled then, we’re going to Trottingham during the holidays if we can get your sisters to take us.” Scootaloo said looking excited “Crusaders today crusading is not our top priority” the young Pegasus took on an air of command reminiscent of the leader in the story she and Apple Bloom had heard the night before “Today our top priority is to convince your sisters to take us to Trottingham, and if we can’t, to form a plan to get there on our own.”

The three fillies decided their best first move was to speak to Applejack. They left the clubhouse and walked down the path Apple Bloom leading and the others following, they passed five fields before Scootaloo asked where they were going.

“We’re going to the south field, Applejack and Big Mac are bucking the red delicious today” she informed them “They gotta be quick or them catterpillers’ll get ‘em” they carried on walking for a few minutes until they came to a field filled with trees that were covered in big red apples and had buckets at their bases, a few rows of the trees had their fruit in the buckets instead of on their branches so it was pretty clear where Applejack and Big Mac would be. As the crusaders walked through the orchard they picked a few apples out of the buckets and ate them to stave off their growing hunger. They eventually found Big Mac preparing to buck one of the biggest trees on the farm, most trees he only needed one leg to buck but this one was special it had been planted when he was born and now was one of the oldest trees on the farm not counting the zap apple trees.

“Hi Big Mac, is ma sister around” Apple Bloom asked as they approached the stallion.

“Eeyup” he replied gesturing with one of his fore hooves to a spot a few meters away where one of the trees suddenly shook from an impact strong enough to loosen all the apples on the tree and cause them to fall into the baskets standing ready at the trees base.

“Thanks Big Mac” all three fillies said in unison as they hurried over to the recently de-appled tree, Big Mac simply nodded rolled his eyes and returned to his task. The three crusaders rounded the corner to come face to face with Applejack

“Howdy Applejack, can we ask you a question?”

“You can ask me anything you want, but it don’t mean ah’ll answer you.” The orange pony stated, before she broke into a smile “I’m only joking with ya, what do you three need?” she asked as she leaned against the tree she had just been bucking.

“Do you know when we will be leaving for Trottingham?” Apple Bloom asked.

“Ah do, why do you want to know?”

“Well, we really want to go to Trottingham because we’ve never been before” Apple Bloom started

“And then I remembered Rarity is going to be up there all week starting the week after next” Sweetie Belle continued.

“And then Apple Bloom remembered you had to make a delivery to your cousin who lives there” Scootaloo added.

“So ah wondered if maybe I could come with you?” Apple Bloom finished hopefully, pleading with her eyes.

“Ah guess, you could come with us Apple Bloom, ah'm going in two weeks, but we can’t afford to take anyone else sorry.” Applejack answered apologetically not quite looking towards Scootaloo as she said it.

“No sweat AJ, I wouldn’t have asked you anyway you’re too kind to me as it is.” Scootaloo responded taking the hint from Applejacks indirect apology.

“It’s OK Scoots we like having you here and we would do the same for anypony.” Applejack gave the orange Pegasus a warm smile before turning away to buck the next tree along. “Was that – ungh – all?” She asked grunting with the effort of bucking the apples from their lofty perches.

“Yeah, thanks Applejack” Apple Bloom shouted over her shoulder as she and the other crusaders ran off towards Ponyville.

“Ok, that’s Apple Bloom’s travel arrangements sorted. Next is Sweetie Belle’s” Scootaloo said as they ran through Ponyville. Just as they were running past Sugar Cube Corner the combination of smells and their already rumbling stomachs, despite it being ten o’clock, seemed to team up on them and they stopped in their tracks unable to simply walk past the door to the confectionary shop. “OK new plan, let’s get a muffin and a shake then go and sort out Sweetie Belles travel plan.” They all agreed on this without the need for words and entered the shop.

As they entered they were hit by the smell of muffins cakes and other sweets, they were paralysed once again, by the combination of smells and their hunger. After a few seconds Apple Bloom recovered enough to ask Mr Cake, who was manning the shop, for three muffins and three milkshakes. He nodded turned and walked through the saloon doors behind him to make the milkshakes and to fetch more muffins; after he had passed through the doors Apple Bloom turned to her friends and asked “whose turn is it?”

“I paid for them yesterday” Scootaloo reminded her, thinking back “and you paid for them the time before that so I think it’s Sweetie Belle’s”

“That sounds right” Sweetie agreed as she handed a few bits over to Apple Bloom. Apple Bloom thanked her and handed them to Mr Cake when he returned with three milkshakes and three muffins on the tray on his head and a pile as high as a foal on a tray he had balanced on his tail.

“We’re doing a buy one get one free offer on muffins today” he said as he placed the tray of muffins carefully on the counter, took three of the pasties from the pile and added them to the tray with the milkshakes “that’ll be three bits please” he said smiling at the look of delight on their faces, not only was that more muffins it was also a discount on the price of the goods they had ordered, only one bit but it was enough.

“Thanks Mr Cake!” the crusaders exclaimed in unison, Sweetie took the muffins and shakes with Scootaloo as Apple Bloom paid Mr Cake and thanked him again.

"So,” Scootaloo said through a mouthful of muffin, “we’ve got Apple Bloom sorted, she’s going to Trottingham in two weeks with Applejack” she surmised before swallowing and taking a gulp of milkshake “but I think Rarity will take some more convincing.”

“I think she will to.” Sweetie Belle agreed “If she even notices us, she has a habit of not noticing me, or anypony else, when she’s busy.”

“Right, so we need to think of a cover so she won’t be suspicious and Apple Bloom can tell Applejack if she gets curious.”

“We should really have thought of this before we asked Applejack” Apple Bloom pointed out “and it has to be close to the truth, we can’t lie to Applejack she’s the element of honesty after all”

“Ok so we told her that we really wanted to go to Trottingham, we need to think of an excuse for that” Scootaloo said thinking out loud, “how about we want to visit so we can see if we can get our cutie marks as travellers.”

“That’s stupid who’s ever heard of a travelling cutie mark” Apple Bloom said

“Oooh, how about a cutie mark in languages” Sweetie Belle squealed almost jumping off her chair.

“The ponies in Trottingham speak the same language we do, all of Equestria does” Scootaloo reminded her

“But Trottingham has a large library on the languages of other countries, and different dialects are a part of the study of languages” Sweetie Belle informed her friends, who were stunned that she knew anything about Trottingham or languages.

“Well then, I guess that solves that problem” Scootaloo said finishing her muffin “and if Rarity says that I can’t come with you I’ll pay to get there on my own.”

“How are ya gonna do that?” Apple Bloom asked confused

“Well if I don’t have enough money saved I’ll borrow some of my dad’s” She answered her face blank; I’m not going to ask him for it though. I would have taken some of his money anyway, what’s he going to do with it get even more drunk? Even if I just threw it in the street when we get to Trottingham it’s a better use than he has for it.

“Well then, let’s go try and sweet talk Rarity” Apple Bloom said seeing that Sweetie was just about to ask a question about Scootaloo’s statement, thankfully she decided just to go with the group and left the shop placing the second muffin in their bags. They turned left outside the shop and very soon arrived at their destination.

Sweetie Belle opened the door and allowed the others to enter; she knew exactly where Rarity would be since she was always there if the shop was open so she led her friends through the shop and up the stairs at the back to Rarity’s work room.

When they entered they were met with what others would normally explain as a failed cutie mark acquisition attempt but that Sweetie Belle knew was her sisters ‘inspiration’. There were pieces of fabric all over the room, feathers and ribbons spread in a similar fashion. Some of the marenaquines were placed against the far wall and had half finished designs, including the one that made Sweetie shiver remembering being forced into the feathered headdress that one time when she joined the newspaper team, the others were scattered around the room some stood others laid. If they were any more lifelike the crusaders might have been worried that Rarity had finally snapped. As the crusaders surveyed the scene they saw against the wall to their right the back of a white unicorn mare, her usually immaculately kept hair was starting to look unkempt and dishevelled this Sweetie knew was due to her sisters focus on her work, she was sat on a stool hunched over her sewing machine which they could hear working.

“Hi Rarity, are you busy?” asked Sweetie Belle as sweetly as possible.

“Very” replied Rarity before turning around on her stool “But I have a few seconds spare, what is it Sweetie?”

“I was wondering about your trip to Trottingham, when are you going?”

“In a couple of weeks why?” the older unicorn replied looking slightly confused at the interest

“Well Apple Bloom is going to Trottingham in two weeks with her sister and me and Scoots here were wondering if we could come with you, we would really like to come.” When she finished Sweetie pulled a face that made her eyes appear to grow till they nearly filled her head, pleading with her older sister.

“Don’t use that look on me Sweetie Belle, I know when you are manipulating me” she replied an unimpressed look on her face “but I will let you come anyway” she said relenting.

“YES” Sweetie and Scootaloo shouted together, high hooving each other with big grins on their faces, this had been easier than they thought it would be.

“On one condition” she said the two fillies’ faces falling “I can’t afford to take you with me on my own but I can if you are my assistants, which means that you will have to help me carry my things and set up”

“OK Rarity, thank you” Sweetie Belle said looking cheerful if not quite as excited as she had a few seconds ago.

“Come on crusaders back to the club house we’ve got planning to do” Scootaloo said “Thanks Rarity”
The three ponies left Rarity's Shop and were half way down the street when Apple Bloom asked what they were going to do.

“Well we have all got a way to get to Trottingham in two weeks, so I don’t think that we have anything else to do” Sweetie commented thinking out loud.

“Of course we do!” Scootaloo said urgently Even if we can’t actually get them we might as well try “we have to crusade for our cutie marks!” and with that the three ran to try a new activity that was sure to earn them their cutie marks.

3 Journeys

Two weeks later

The crusaders together with their respective guardians were gathered on the small platform of the Ponyville train station. It was early morning so there was nopony else around, a point the crusaders were quick to point out their breath fogging in the early morning air.

“We are here so early because I want to get settled into my accommodations well before I go to the fashion show or perform any of my other tasks in the city.” Rarity explained to her sister and Scootaloo “and this is the only train to leave for Trottingham before midday.”

“Besides y’all can sleep on the train if ya’ want” Applejack added looking to Scootaloo who looked dead on her hooves.

Just as she finished they heard the whistle of the train, followed soon after by its chugging along the tracks as it rounded the bend into the station. It stopped at the platform in a cloud of steam. As the steam cleared the group saw a pony slouch out of one of the doors and look at them. His body was lean, well muscled and as grey as the tracks the train rode on, his lime green mane was long and appeared to naturally fall so it just covered one side of his face so they could only see one of his light green eyes, he wore the uniform of a conductor. “You lot getting on or what?” he asked looking at them. Rarity nodded and walked up and into the train carriage, with the others following suit.

The train’s interior was almost reminiscent of hospitals in how bland it was there was nothing but seats which were a dark shade of blue and had just enough padding to be slightly more comfortable than the floor. Rarity found the most comfy seat about halfway down the carriage and sat there while Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo helped with her luggage, which appeared to be half her boutique. Applejack sat on the other side of the small aisle between the two halves of the carriage so that she would be able to talk to Rarity, Apple Bloom sat on the seat behind her sister and waited for the other crusaders.

Scootaloo was the first to rejoin them and quickly found and sat next to Apple Bloom.

“You alright Scoots?” Apple Bloom asked looking at her friend “Have you told your pa where we’re goin’?”

“I’m fine Apple Bloom” the orange Pegasus snapped “you don’t need to keep checking up on me”

“OK ah’m sorry, I’m just concerned that’s all” she said in placating tone “but you didn’t answer my second question”

Scootaloo looked at her with a warning in her look “What do you think; I would be unlucky if I saw him more than once a week”

“And if you’re lucky?”

“I don’t see him at all”

“Ah just don’t want the whole town looking for you ‘cause you came with us that’s all”

“Don’t worry I left a message” she said after a second, thinking of the sack of bits in her saddlebags. They sat in silence after that until Sweetie Belle climbed into the carriage looking like she had just attempted the iron pony competition. She sat down next to Scootaloo just as the train began to move.

Now that they were all together they could begin to plan how they were going to find the crusaders in Trottingham if they were still there and if they weren’t where they had gone. Sweetie suggested they go to the main library in Trottingham to see if there was anything there on them.

“You always suggest the library” Scootaloo complained

“Actually, that might not be too bad an idea the library is pretty much on the other side of the city to the train station we could look around for the crusaders mark while we walk there” Apple Bloom informed them.

“Care to explain how you know this?” Scootaloo asked

“The magic of tourism” Apple Bloom responded holding up a tourist brochure “AJ got me it to make sure I didn’t get lost if we got separated.”

“Well we won’t need it anyway”

“What? Why?” Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom asked looking confused

“The conductor” she answered as if that made it clear as crystal

“What about him?” the other two asked

“You didn’t notice?” she asked incredulous

“Notice what?”

She leaned in to be sure no one but they could hear “He doesn’t have a Cutie Mark”

“How can you tell? He’s wearing a uniform” Apple Bloom asked

“As he was getting back on the train behind Rarity it shifted so I could see his flank.”

“He moved so quickly I barely noticed him getting back on” Apple Bloom told her “It’s not that surprising that I didn’t notice.”

“Pegasi have a natural resistance to cold and their eyes pick up on smaller details at higher speeds than other ponies so we can fly at high speeds and not crash into clouds and birds and things.” Scootaloo explained.

“Oh yeah, right” Apple Bloom agreed “why don’t we follow him when we get off the train.” The rest of the journey passed with the three friends chatting excitedly about finding the crusaders and looking as innocent as possible whenever their guardians looked back to check on them.

Halfway through the journey an idea hit Scootaloo “Girls, how are we going to get away from Rarity and AJ?”

“Rarity is going to a fashion shoot pretty much straight away, we can slip away then.” Sweetie informed her sounding bored, her tone grew concerned “I don’t know about how Apple Bloom will get away though”

Apple Bloom thought for a moment, looking out of the window and watching the scenery flashing by. Then the thought struck her “that’s easy, I’ll just tell her I want to go spend time with you two, and look around the city a bit”

Scootaloo looked a little sceptical “will that work? You can’t lie to her I tried that before”

“Sure it will ah’m not lying” she responded “watch” she turned and leaned over the back of the bench in front so she was next to her sister, “AJ can I go with Sweetie and Scoots and explore a little of the city?”

“No, you can go with the others but you can’t go anywhere without me or Rarity.”

“WHAT, why?” she asked shocked

“I trust you Apple Bloom but Trottingham is a big city and it’s real easy to get lost, I don’t want to lose you”

“But we only want to go to the library, and I’ll take the map you gave me, and I promise we’ll stay on the main roads.

“No Apple Bloom, you and your friends can’t go anywhere without me or Rarity” Applejack said sternly her eyes warning Apple Bloom that any more argument would result in the removal of even that privilege.

“Fine, but you said I can go with Scoots and Sweetie right?” she asked with an almost pleading tone

“Sure, but only with Rarity or in the hotel room.” Apple Bloom sat back on her chair and stared out the window obviously upset.

Sweetie leaning around Scootaloo placed her hoof on Apple Blooms shoulder and whispered “don’t worry your still coming with us and we can escape when Rarity leaves”

“Yeah, I guess” she sighed still looking out the window not really seeing anything. The rest of the journey passed with quite chatter between Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, with Apple Bloom eventually coming out of her sulky mood and joining back in.

When they reached the station the stallion that had met them in Ponyville came back into the carriage and shouted “TROTTINGHAM STATION END OF THE LINE” unnecessarily as they were the only ones in that car, indeed from what they saw the only ones on the train. They got up Rarity the first to leave with Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo to collect her bags. She thanked the conductor who ignored her and disembarked.

“Look Apple Bloom, ah know ya wanted to come because you wanted to explore but this place can be dangerous if you lose track of where ya are. It’s really big and not even a map can always help you find your way.”

Apple Bloom looked a little crestfallen “It’s OK Applejack I know your only lookin’ out for me”

“I’m glad you understand, now let’s get off this train so I can deliver these apples and you can go with your friends.” Applejack said smiling at her sister. Apple Bloom just hugged her sister and ran off the train; Applejack shook her head and followed her.

As the group stepped out of the train station they were greeted by an awe inspiring sight, at least for the three fillies that had only ever seen Ponyville and Canterlot before. They saw mountains of concrete that spread for miles in every direction carriages containing wealthy ponies pulled by other ponies. When Scootaloo asked what the mountains with lights were for Rarity laughed softly and told her they were called skyscrapers “Ponies live in them, instead of spreading out anymore the ponies who built this city decided to built up” she informed them “It saves space”

“Cool” Scootaloo said eyes the size of dinner plates, there was just so much to see. Apple bloom moved to stand next to the other crusaders and reminded them to be sure they remembered the place they were and look for the conductor to see where he went, while this was going on Rarity bid farewell to Applejack and arranged to meet her later to catch up, she then told Scootaloo and Sweetie to stay close to her and started to walk towards her hotel.

Rarity led them through a market like the one in Ponyville but much larger, everypony was shouting trying to catch the attention of the shoppers, the stalls had so much on them and were placed so randomly it was hard to find a path through. When they had finally jostled their way through they found themselves facing a skyscraper similar to the ones they had seen when they arrived, what made this one different was they sign on the front that read ‘Dormir Poney’ lit up in gold on a red background.

“This is the hotel we’ll be staying in” Rarity in formed them.

When they entered they were greeted with a spacious foyer lined with pillars, there were large chairs set off to the right that looked like they each had more padding than all the chairs in the train they had just ridden on put together. The lighting was provided by a few chandeliers spaced to light the room evenly. The counter at the other end of the room was marble, polished to the point it was hard to tell what it was made of through all the light reflecting off it. The stallion behind the counter was well groomed, his golden hair expertly quaffed. He wore a white shirt under a red jacket. Rarity wondered if he was picked for the colours of his mane and coat as they were both gold.

“How may I be of service madam?” he asked his accent reminding Rarity somewhat of Jetset the pony she met while staying in the castle in Canterlot.

“I have a reservation, under Rarity” she answered watching as he looked through a book behind the counter.

“Ah yes, Room number 203. Would you like somepony to take your bags up for you?”

“Yes please”

“Your key ma’am” he said before handing her a small key with 203 stamped in gold on the red fob.

“Thank you, have a good day” she replied

“To you as well ma’am” he responded smiling

Rarity turned around to see the crusaders huddled together and whispering. She walked over to them, Sweetie saw her coming and they all turned around quickly to form a line and look as innocent as possible, small halo’s of light actually seemed to form around their heads.

“We’re all sorted, we will be staying in room 203” she told them “let’s go and get settled shall we?” and with that she turned and made for a pair of double doors to the right of the reception desk, the crusaders hurrying to keep up. Rarity pressed a button to the left of the doors that had an arrow pointing up on it, after a few seconds the doors opened to show a small room, just big enough to fit 5 ponies if they really squashed together. Rarity stepped in, the crusaders cautiously followed her when they were all in Rarity pressed another button this one with a small 7 on it and the doors closed. The crusaders were surprised when they felt a slight pressure pressing them down. A few more seconds later and the doors opened with a small ‘ding’ and they were shocked to see they were no longer in the reception of the hotel.

Rarity stepped out looking to a sign on the wall at the other end of the corridor they found themselves in, it was shaped like a pair of arrows one pointed left that read ‘Rooms 225 – 250’. And the other pointed right with ‘Rooms 200 – 224’ inscribed on its face. Rarity walked right the crusaders keeping pace. She looked at the room numbers as she passed them; stopping at the third she turned the key in the lock and walked inside.

“Come on girls” she called from inside “you need to get settled in”

The crusaders walked in to see a spacious room with three beds, there was a doorway in the far right corner that led to the bathroom. The room they were in was well decorated a painting of a pony wearing a green shirt and hat with a longbow and a quiver of arrows on his back. Rarity was sat on the bed nearest the door “Well, how do you like the room?”

“It’s really nice.” Sweetie Belle answered “but how will we get settled in if our luggage is still in the reception?” just as she finished asking the question there was a knock at the door, which was enveloped in a light blue glow as Rarity opened it with her magic.

“Your luggage ma’am” said a light blue unicorn stallion

“Just leave it by the door, thank you” Rarity answered levitating two bits to him as her bags were levitated into the room surrounded by a darker blue aura.

“Have a nice day ma’am” the stallion said as he shut the door and walked back down the corridor.

“That’s how Sweetie” Rarity said looking at her sister, who was busy digging through the pile of luggage to find her saddle bags. After a few minutes of finding and unpacking some of Rarity’s belongings, and finding Scootaloo’s saddlebag, Rarity decided to go and get ready for the fashion show. She asked the crusaders if they wanted to come with her but they all declined, she shrugged and walked out the door closing it behind her, the crusaders thought they would easily be able to escape then they heard the click of the lock.

They waited to hear Rarity’s hoofsteps recede down the hallway then Sweetie Belle cried “Now what are we going to do?”

“We could climb out the window” Apple Bloom suggested

“Too high up” Scootaloo responded matter-of-factly “I got this” she walked towards the door and pulled a hair pin from her saddle bags then stood on her hind legs with her forehooves against the door and fiddled with the lock. A few seconds later the lock clicked and she got back onto all fours, put the hair clip back in her bags and pushed the door open.

“How did you do that? How did you know how to do that?” Sweetie Belle asked incredulous

“Sometimes my dad locks me out of the house by accident.” Scootaloo replied not looking and the unicorn.

“Well we’re free to wander now, how long you think before your sister comes back?” Apple Bloom asked, quickly changing the subject.

“A few hours, probably late this afternoon maybe not until this evening” The unicorn filly answered.

“Let’s go then, but we’ll have to be careful I don’t want anyone seeing us and I don’t want to get lost here.” Apple Bloom said taking the lead out of the door.

They snuck out the door and down the hallway to the magic room and pressed the button with a down arrow, the doors opened and they stepped in. Scootaloo looked at the buttons inside the doors and saw the one at the bottom with a large G printed on it; she pressed it thinking they were on the lowest floor when they entered, the doors closed. This time they felt a slight sensation pushing them up. When the doors opened they were in the reception area again. The three fillies quickly and quietly walked across the reception floor expecting at any second to hear the voice of the receptionist calling them. They reached the door without incident walked outside and at the end of the street they saw Rarity just as she disappeared into the market they had passed through. They breathed a collective sigh of relief that she hadn’t looked back and seen them; they hurried along the road back towards the train station.

“We can’t go through the market Rarity might see us” Apple Bloom moaned as they neared it.

“This way” Scootaloo commanded turning and sprinting right down a road before they reached the market.

“Scootaloo!” Sweetie Belle panted as she ran to keep up “Where…are you…going?”

“I saw something” she said over her shoulder, still running her wings kicking in giving her a small boost. They followed her as she zipped through allies and across busy roads almost getting run over several times by carriages the pony’s pulling them shouting angrily after the three.

“What did you see?” asked Apple Bloom when Scootaloo stopped suddenly to avoid being hit by a carriage.

“The conductor, I saw him running this way” she explained taking off again as soon as she could, speeding across the road and down another alley the others trailing her. She flew down alleys turning this way and that so fast it was difficult for the little unicorn and earth pony to keep up. All of a sudden the alleys they had been running through opened up into a sort of courtyard area bordered by buildings on all sides small alleys leading off deeper into the city. There was no sign of the grey and green train conductor. As they realised this Sweetie Belle realised something else.

“I have no idea where we are” she said on the verge of tears “we’re lost” she started panicking slightly as she tried to remember all the turns they took to get where they were. As her friends tried to do the same they came to the same conclusion and started to worry that they would never find a way home.

Author's Note

Please comment I want to feel loved.

4 Meet the Crusaders

As night started to draw in the Crusaders really started to worry. They were lost cold and hungry. The cold and the hunger made them uncomfortable. Their being lost scared them, one of them at least. Sweetie was feeling distinctly miserable. She was lost in a strange city that was much bigger and more complex than anywhere she had been before, while she had been to Canterlot it was much easier to navigate than Trottingham. To top it all she didn’t have her crusaders cape to hide under as it had been packed in one of Rarity’s suitcases. The others didn’t seem to be having a problem, Apple Bloom looked a little worried but Scootaloo just looked annoyed.

Scootaloo hadn’t paid attention to her surroundings as she ran, there hadn’t been time she had focused on the grey stallion totally or she would have risked losing him. How could he have just disappeared? She had been gaining on him, then she turned the corner and he was gone she had checked the sky remembering that he was a pegasus but had seen nothing. There was no sign of him, there were no doorways that he could have hidden in so where was he? When she gave up the search as hopeless she started to worry and get a little angry with herself. She worried because she had led her friends here and now they were lost. She was angry with herself because she couldn’t fly, if she could she would have got a birds-eye view and directed her friends to the nearest road then they could have been out of here in a few seconds. She was responsible for getting her friends lost with no way of getting back.

Apple Bloom for her part was quite calm. While she was worried that she was completely lost, she knew she wouldn’t be able to think straight if she was panicking, so she forced herself to stay calm and look at her surroundings. They were in a courtyard formed by the walls of buildings that on closer inspection turned out to be boarded up shops. A courtyard bordered by shops in Trottingham, where have I heard that before? She thought. She carried on taking in her surroundings looking for a clue to get to the hotel. As she turned she noticed a small bridge like structure that they must have crossed. This place looked like it had been abandoned for a long time the shop signs were faded, there was litter all over the place. Her eyes passed over a plaque with imprinted letters covered in grime, she walked over to get a closer look. She brushed off some of the grime with her hoof and read “Dedicated to the memory of those who died during the Celestial Wars and to the memory of the saviours of Trottingham, the Cutie Mark Crusaders.”

“What did you say Apple Bloom?” Sweetie Belle asked trying to calm herself; Scootaloo looked over as well breaking from internally berating herself.

“This plaque is dedicated to the Crusaders” Apple Bloom replied turning to look at her friends. As she did she froze looking past her friends, a smile spreading across her face. She ran across the courtyard, past her friends who got up to see where she was running to. When she reached the other side she cried in delight.

“What is it? What have you found?” asked Scootaloo urgently

“Scoots, do you remember what the courtyard in the story looked like?”

“Sure, there were shops along the edges, a bridge at the front and…”

“Exactly!”

“What? What is it?” asked Sweetie Belle her worry being replaced by curiosity and annoyance.

“The courtyard was backed by an inn” Scootaloo finished gesturing at the name of the building in front of them printed in large red letters above the doorway “Celestia’s Sun inn”

“Ah’m going in” Apple Bloom said a note of steel to her tone, “Are you gals coming?” she looked back to her friends, Scootaloo immediately nodded her assent and fell into step on the Earth pony’s right flank. Sweetie Belle looked a little nervous.

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” She asked a slight quaver in her voice “I mean we don’t know if it’s safe in there, and if there is somepony in there how do we know they are friendly?”

“Well we will be carful, and it didn’t look like there was anypony there when I looked through the window, but if there are ponies in there then they will be able to tell us how to get to the train station, we can find the hotel from there.” She stated reassuringly, smiling slightly to the scared little unicorn filly.”

“Well,” she said her voice more confident, yet it retained its slight tremor “OK, let’s go in” She got up from her sitting position and walked over to her friends instinctively and subconsciously formed up on Apple Bloom’s left flank. With that the three friends took three short steps forwards to the door. Apple Bloom rested her hoof on the bare wood and pushed lightly, the door swung open easily to reveal a large room with benches and chairs huddled around tables, most of the chairs were placed upside down on top of their respective tables and had a thick layer of dust covering them. Some chairs were down around the tables indicating the place wasn’t completely abandoned. The right wall was taken up by a long counter with lots of different (mostly empty) bottles of drinks. Sat at the far end of the room with a glass of orangey liquid and his back turned to them was the green haired grey bodied stallion they had met at the station and had chased through town. Sitting next to him in profile from their point of view was another stallion, this one a unicorn, that the crusaders had never seen before; he was teal with a short and spiky red and yellow mane.

Evidently he was watching the door because as the crusaders entered he nudged his friend and nodded in their direction. The Pegasus turned to look where his friend had indicated. As he saw the three fillies a look of surprise crossed his face before he could hide it, his gaze settled on the young orange Pegasus “You’re fast” he said his voice deep “Why did you chase me?”

“We’re looking for the Cutie Mark Crusaders” Apple Bloom said confidently

“Try a library” he didn’t look at her as he spoke, he just continued his staring contest with Scootaloo.

“We thought you might be able to help us more than a library.” Scootaloo returned with a smirk. “Since you don’t have a Cutie Mark.”

He smiled slightly at that, he turned back to the table he had been sat at “I can’t help you” he said before he sat down again.

“We think we may be new recruits” Apple Bloom told the unicorn who was still watching them “we are much older than any others in our class and we haven’t found our ‘special talent’ yet” the unicorn just stared at them “we’ll prove that we are the crusaders” she said Sweetie Belle looked at her worriedly.

“How do you plan to do that?” the Pegasus asked turning his head slightly. This caused Apple Bloom to pause, she hadn’t considered this, how could she and her friends prove that they were the new Cutie Mark Crusaders?

“A test” Apple Bloom jumped slightly she had been thinking so hard she didn’t notice the other unicorn stand up and move to the bar on her right, his voice was higher pitched than the other stallions but only slightly, a little rough and gravely but quite, like he was trying to not be heard by anyone but those in the room with him. He was placing empty bottles on the counter; he stepped through an opening in the bar and pulled something covered in cloth from underneath. He stepped to a place on the other side of the bar and indicated for them to stand over by the other stallion, who was now watching with interest. The crusaders obliged when they were standing watching intently he unwrapped the cloth to reveal a long thin chain, on the end was a large piece of silvery metal shaped to look like a hammer head with a vicious looking spike on one side. He unwound the chain wrapping the excess around his left hoof with his right he held the chain about 2 feet from the hammer, “this is a Meteor Hammer” he told them “If each of you can use it to hit the bottles on the counter I will believe you” He then started rotating his right hoof spinning the hammer in circles making it spin faster and faster, until it was nothing but a blur of silver around his hoof. With a flick the hammer flew like a bullet, the chain unwinding from his left hoof slightly before he caught it, the hammer struck the left most bottle shattering it, for a second time seemed to slow down the hammer hanging in the air before falling to the counter with a thud. He wound the hammer back to him before turning to the three fillies with a smile “Who wants to go first?”

Scootaloo stepped forward looking excited she took the Meteor hammer from the unicorn placing her left hoof through the coil of chain like he had, when she had gotten a hold of it he backed away to stand with the others. The young Pegasus looked to her friends once, then turned back to her target and started rotating her hoof the heavy hammer following the motion speeding up much slower than it had in the hands of the unicorn, after a minute the hammer was at nearly the same speed as it had been in the stallions hoof, she stared ahead fixing her target. She flicked her hoof. Time seemed to slow down to her as the hammer flew from her across the room heading straight for its target. It hit the right most bottle, shattering it, and continued on across the counter and buried itself in the back wall. Time resumed its normal flow as her friends shouted in congratulations, she herself pumped her arm before turning to the two stallions “Sorry about the wall” she apologised blushing slightly. The unicorn shook his head with a smile, before stepping up to reel in the hammer and telling the telling the next pony to try.

Apple Bloom gave Scootaloo a wink as she walked passed her “Just like a lasso” she whispered as she took the hammer and prepared to use the weapon, she waited for her fellow crusader and the stallion to retreat and started spinning the hammer, it took a few seconds to reach the speed that the stallion had used “just like a lasso” she thought as she aimed for her target and with a quick flick of her hoof sent the weapon flying, less than a second later there was the crash of a bottle shattering and a small thud as the hammer buried itself once again in the right wall. She handed the chain to the unicorn as he stepped towards her taking the chain with one hoof and pulling the hammer from the back wall with magic. It was Sweetie Belles turn, she stepped closer to the stallion as he held out the hammer. She took it, her hooves shaking slightly the unicorn smiled at her before walking back to join the others. Sweetie took a deep breath and swallowed before she slowly started to rotate her hoof causing the heavy hammer to follow, it took her considerably longer to build up enough speed to use the hammer when she was spinning it at half the speed the stallion used she started to aim at the last remaining bottle, she flicked her hoof as the others before her had,closing her eyes as she did so. There was the crash of glass smashing, she opened her eyes, the bottle was still standing she looked around confused, the hammer was sticking out of the wall a few inches to the left of the bottle, the remnants of a different bottle (this one happening to have had some liquid in it) lay around the shelf.

“I’ll give you that one, since you closed your eyes” said the older unicorn who was stood next to her. He took the hammer in his magic and pulled it from the wall. The Pegasus stepped forward while he was putting his hammer away.

“It’s late you should rest” the Pegasus said looking blankly at them “you still have my test to complete” he threw 3 keys to them which Apple Bloom caught he walked to the door and opened it, revealing a set of stairs.

“We already have a place to stay for tonight” Sweetie Belle informed him “actually, we could use directions, we got lost chasing you”

“I’ll take you there, Trottingham isn’t too safe after dark, where were you staying?” he asked

“The ‘Dormir Poney’”

“Ooh posh, I know where that is come with me.” He closed the door to the staircase and walked to the door at the other end of the bar, opening it to reveal the courtyard beyond. He stepped out then looked back over his shoulder at the crusaders, who hurried to catch up.

They walked in silence for a time the crusaders memorising the route they were taking, some time passed before Scootaloo decided to break the silence asking “So, what should we call you?”

“My names Tail Wind” he said not looking at her continuing to lead them towards their hotel, “the chatty unicorn is Meteor Storm” and once more silence reined. They reached the hotel without incident except one drunken stallion shouting to them from across a busy street. Tail Wind stopped outside bidding them goodnight, and saying he would be there at ten the next morning, they said good bye and entered the hotel.

When they reached their room they instantly knew they were in trouble, the door was open and they could hear Rarity’s voice drifting into the hall. “Yes three fillies one is a light yellow earthpony with a red mane and tail, one is an orange pegasus with a messy purple mane and tail and the third is my sister, she is white with a purple mane lighter than the pegasus.” The crusaders walked up to the door “I left them here while I went to see a client for my business then I went to see the fashion show I locked the door behind me” she continued her voice quivering “then when I came back the door was unlocked and they were gone” they heard her crying as she finished. Sweetie Belle ran around the corner into the room, she shouted Rarity’s name before she jumped and tackled her with a hug. The other two rounded the corner to see Rarity and her sister hugging each other, Applejack was stood next to her tear tracks on her face and another pony, a mare in a police uniform. When Applejack saw her sister she ran to her wrapping her in a fierce embrace.

“Don’t ever do that again you stupid filly” Applejack admonished in a teary voice, she broke off her hug with her sister and hugged Scootaloo in a similar embrace. “Where have you three been? And how did you get out of the room?”

“We were exploring the town and we got a little lost but we met a nice stallion who showed us the way back here.” Scootaloo told her when she pulled away from the crusader, fabricating a believable story as quickly as possible, filling it with half truths instead of trying to lie to a pony who would spot a lie instantly “we’re sorry that we scared you.”

“It’s ok, Ah’m just glad you’re all safe” she said in a softer voice.

“It seems I’m not needed here.” The uniformed pony said as she walked to the door. “Have a goodnight.”

“Thank you officer, the same to you” Rarity replied breaking her hug with Sweetie Belle. “Now where is the kind gentlecolt who brought you back here?” she asked the crusaders when the mare had left.

“His name is Tail Wind and he said he would come back tomorrow if ya say yes so that we could explore some more without getting lost again” Apple Bloom answered “He was the conductor of the train that we rode here on” She added.

“Well that was nice of him” Rarity said “but I think we should leave in the morning.

“NO” Sweetie shouted before she could stop herself “I mean we can’t leave yet”

“Well I have no further business in this city and I’m not letting you three get lost again”

“Ah agree, ah’m certainly not going to trust the word of a pony ah don’t know, even if he was nice enough to help you find your way back here” Applejack agreed looking sternly at her sister.

Apple Bloom sighed “It’s no use girls, we’re gonna have to explain” she looked at Sweetie Belle then to Scootaloo, finally she looked at her sister “you should sit down” Applejack walked over to sit on the bed next to Rarity as Sweetie walked to stand next to Apple Bloom.

Scootaloo closed the door then walked up to Apple Bloom “Are you sure this is a good idea? There must be a reason the crusaders are a secret” she whispered looking nervous.

“Ah’m sure they can take care of themselves and if we don’t we won’t get the chance to join them” she replied also in a whisper trying to reassure the young Pegasus.

“Well we don’t have to tell them the whole story do we?”

“I guess not, but we’ll have to tell them most of it”

“Ok, let’s get this over with” they both turned back to look at Rarity and Applejack sitting on the bed, then Apple Bloom started telling them about the ill fated fishing trip and the idea to try researching their problem, the discovery of the true Cutie Mark Crusaders and their decision to search Trottingham, then Scootaloo took up the story telling the two mares of seeing the conductors lack of a cutie mark then of the chase through the city and finding the two stallions, leaving out how the fillies escaped the room and the test.

“Well that was quite the tale”

“You three sure have an imagination” Applejack looked sceptical

“We’ll prove that we’re telling the truth when Tail Wind come here tomorrow, he’ll be here around ten” Apple Bloom protested looking angry.

“What is it with you and proving things?” Sweetie Belle hissed at her, Apple Bloom gave her a look that said ‘be quite I’m trying to do something here’, Scootaloo looked on keeping quite.

“And just how do you plan to prove what you say is true darling?” Rarity asked.

“He doesn’t have a Cutie Mark, you’ll see when he arrives”

“Well that would lend credence to your story” Rarity said thoughtfully “But none of that matters, for now let’s just be happy that we are all together again” she crossed the room to stand close to Sweetie Belle once more.

“Yes, why don’t we all go and get some grub, ah’m starvin’” Applejack suggested.

“I’m up for that” Scootaloo agreed, followed a few seconds later by the other crusaders.

Scootaloo walked through the narrow hallway nervously. She seemed to have been walking for hours towards the black door. As she walked she could see it getting steadily closer yet always the same distance away. Time seemed to have little meaning in this place, there were no windows, no way of telling the time at all except the rhythmic pounding of her heart and other than that and her hoofsteps no sound. She was closer to the door now. She could see the black paint peeling off in places revealing crimson underneath. The door opened, she looked through but could see nothing in the darkness, she walked in. The door closed behind her with a snap. She felt a pain in her back. Turning quickly she saw what looked like a pony whose coat was closer to the fur of a dog and ears like a bats. She only saw the other pony for a few seconds before they melted back into the darkness. Then she started to fall.

Scootaloo woke with a start. She was back in her bed, in the room she shared with Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle. The former of who was looking at her. It was just starting to get light outside, the sun just about to crest the horizon. Apple Bloom walked over to her bed quietly.

“Bad dream?” she asked softly so as not to wake the white unicorn sleeping in the bed next to Scootaloo with her sister.

“Kind of” she answered

“Me too, what was yours about?”

“I was walking down a hallway, towards this door but it took forever because it was always far away, eventually I got close to it and it opened.”

“Was the door black with red paint underneath?”

“Yeah why?” Scootaloo asked surprised

“Because that’s what the door in my dream looked like, you just described my dream perfectly.”

“Well after I got in the room I felt a pain in my back and turned around-”

“To see a pony with a dog’s fur and a bat’s ears” the voice made the two fillies jump. Apple Bloom turned around to see Sweetie Belle eyes open and staring at them fearfully.

“You to huh?” Apple Bloom stepped over to her bed.

“What do you think it means?” Sweetie asked sounding scared.

“I don’t know, but what I do know is it can’t hurt us. We can tell your sisters if it would make you feel better” Scootaloo said getting out of her bed.

“Not yet it’s way too early” Sweetie said sounding more confident “I can tell you something, waking Rarity up will is a nightmare much worse than that one.” This gained a chuckle from her friends.

“Well I can’t go back to sleep now” Scootaloo complained.

“Me either” Sweetie Belle agreed, she sat up in bed “what are we going to do though, we can tell Rarity and Applejack in a few hours when they wake up and Tail Wind doesn’t come until ten”

“Well when ah can’t sleep around dawn, ah like to watch the sunrise.” Apple Bloom told them. “Why don’t we go and watch the sunrise over the roof?”

“Of course you like to watch the sun rise; the sun feeds plants which earth pony magic is linked to, since historically they were farmers.” Sweetie Belle said “Do you pay any attention during our classes?”

“Some you sound like the textbooks. Now come on lets go to the roof” Apple Bloom walked to the door and opened it while Sweetie Belle pulled a piece of paper and a pencil towards her and wrote a note telling her sister where they were in case they weren’t back by the time their siblings awoke, then joined her friends by the door. They crept down the corridor to the ‘magic room’ and pressed the button, the doors opened and when they were all inside Scootaloo, using her wings to gain a little height, pressed the topmost button and the doors closed.

When they opened again there were stairs leading a short way to a door, they opened it to reveal the roof, a flat expanse of concrete with a small raised lip around the edge. They walked to the east side and sat down to watch as the sun crested the horizon to sit just above the tops of the sky scrapers.

They got back to their beds a few minutes before Rarity and Applejack came in and told them it was time for breakfast. They ate in the hotel’s restaurant as they had the night before. When they had all finished it was nearly half past ten.

“So how did you three sleep last night?” Rarity asked pleasantly.

“Badly” they answered in unison. They told Rarity of their shared nightmare, about the hallway, the door and the pony beyond it.

“Oh my, that sounds simply horrid” Rarity looked distressed after the three had finished recounting the nightmare “But it was just a dream, it can’t hurt you”

“We know that, we were just confused because we all had the same exact one.” Sweetie Belle answered sounding exasperated.

“Well ah don’t know what to tell you sugar cube, all ah can say is dreams pass in time.” Applejack said looking to her sister and Scootaloo. Their conversation drifted after that to various subjects until it was nearly ten o’clock. The five ponies stood outside the hotel and a few minutes until a stallion walked around the corner of one of the streets feeding into the road they were on. As he got closer they saw that it wasn’t the pony they were expecting to greet.

“I thought Tail Wind was going to meet us” Scootaloo called to the unicorn. He carried on walking and when he got closer he said “He had to do something so he sent me to pick you up instead”

“Oh ok then” Apple Bloom turned to her sister and Rarity, “Rarity, Applejack this is Meteor Storm, he is the other Crusader.”

“Hello, are you two relatives of these three?” he asked and then suddenly turning to Sweetie Belle with a shocked look asked. “What do you mean ‘the other Crusader’?”

“Yes Apple Bloom there is my sister” Applejack answered.

“And Sweetie Belle is mine. I’m Rarity, a pleasure to meet you.” Rarity answered.

“Hello Rarity the pleasure is all mine, and good morning to you Applejack, my name is Meteor Storm as Sweetie Belle told you, but you can call me Storm” Storm said then looked back at Sweetie Belle “Please elaborate on your previous statement” he asked her giving her a hard look.

“We had to tell them everything, the original crusaders, you and Tail Wind, everything. If we didn’t they would have taken us back home already.”

“We were expecting Tail Wind to meet us, that’s what she meant by ‘other’ Crusader” Scootaloo interjected. Storm placed a hoof to his face.

“There is a reason that we are a secret. You’re not supposed to go telling everypony that you meet. That being said I guess you two don’t believe their story, I wouldn’t.”

“Not for a second, they said they could prove it, that ‘Tail Wind’ didn’t have a Cutie Mark and ah assume from the way Sweetie here introduced y’all you don’t either.” Applejack responded, looking at him sceptically.

“Well I’m sorry to rob you of an ‘I told you so’ but…” he turned and moved the cloak he was wearing to reveal his flank which lacked a Cutie Mark “You three are lucky that I didn’t decide to wear a patch today.” He said to the Crusaders as he hid his flank from view again. “We manage to hide from most of Equestria for 50 years and then three fillies come along bringing their sisters with them, the only way this could get much worse is if the nightmares start” he muttered to himself.

“You know it is terribly rude to mutter to oneself” Rarity admonished.

“Wait, what was that about nightmares?” Apple Bloom asked, looking concerned.

“Please tell me you haven’t all had one involving a pony with bat ears and -”

“Dog fur? Sorry they have” Applejack answered

“Fine you had all best come with me, I’ll explain everything when we get somewhere safe.” With that he turned on his rear hoof and led them back the way they had come, watching the side streets much more carefully than before.

Author's Note

Comments please, how do you expect me to improve a story without criticism? ;)

5 Nightmares and Realities

He stood staring out over the army he had built up slowly, over centuries. He smiled down at them imagining once again his victory over the day, plunging the world into eternal night thus appeasing his goddess and allowing his children to feast. Moon Shadow allowed himself a small smile, it wouldn't be long now, he had waited almost one thousand years what was a few more days? “The new ones may still pose a problem” he thought, his sanguine eyes passing over the trophies he had taken from his most worthy opponents “I will have to watch them” he muttered to himself.

The six ponies stood in the middle of the courtyard that the Crusaders found the day before. Meteor Storm barely pausing proceeded to nearly ram the door to the Inn off its hinges, the five following him confused as to his urgency.

“TAIL WIND” he shouted as loud as he could. No reply. “Come in quickly” he said looking to them, closing the door as soon as the last tail crossed the threshold. He trotted quickly to the door that Tail Wind had opened the night before and shouted up the stairs “TAIL WIND” still getting no answer he slammed the door muttering “he must still be out.”

“What is going on?” Applejack asked looking annoyed, her expression mirrored in Rarity’s face. The Crusaders looked at him in confusion. He sighed.

“I guess I can at least try to explain parts of this by myself,” He said in a resigned tone, he gestured to the other ponies to find a seat. They pulled some chairs off the tables and sat in a small circle in the centre of the Inn. “First of all I’m sure you have all heard the story of this Inn that we are using, three warriors fighting off a large group of ‘monsters’ to protect the civilians inside.” He looked at them seeing all their heads nodding he continued “Good and another thing before I start, the only reason you two are here for this is because you are in a lot of danger, there is no doubt now that you three” he gestured to the Crusaders “are true Crusaders and possibly our successors.” this caused the three fillies faces to light up. A few seconds after he had finished his sentence the door opened to reveal a pegasus with a green mane wearing a long cloak that covered most of his body. “Tail Wind finally. There’s no doubt about it now, they all had a nightmare.” Tail Wind sighed.

“I guess these are their family then, how far have you got with that explanation you prepared?” he asked

“Yes this is Rarity Sweetie Belle’s sister, and this is Applejack, Apple Blooms sister,” he answered gesturing to Rarity and Applejack respectively “This is Tail Wind my fellow Crusader, and I’ve just started.”

“Charmed.”

“Howdy.”

“Hi” he didn’t break eye contact with Meteor “need some help? You don’t normally do this part so well.” the pegasus asked his friend.

“Sure thanks, but I don’t think I started out that badly. Maybe just jump in if I miss something?” he suggested. Tail Wind shrugged and walked over to the bar, leaning against it on his rear hooves with one hoof on the surface he gestured with his free hoof for Meteor to continue. “As I was saying the story is mostly fact but some of the details were altered by our predecessors to prevent panic and keep our existence secret. The ‘monsters’ were the most changed portion of this story. Before the start of the Celestial Wars, Nightmare Moon decided that instead of being angry at the ponies that slept through her night she would make some that would only stay out at night. She took some of the creatures that revel in the night wolves and bats were the main ones but there were others to. She blended them originally with ponies. Unfortunately pony physiology won’t allow this and they died in excruciating pain. The nightmare alicorn was determined though, and she soon found the solution.” The unicorn looked to Tail Wind.

“There is a race of beings similar to ponies in almost every respect. The only difference being their physiology is extremely malleable so much so that they are able to change form at will this ability has lead to their name, Changelings.”

“So Nightmare moon tried again, she blended bats, wolves and changelings with other creatures that live their lives in the darkness of night. This time while they could be formed and didn’t die immediately they grew weaker over a period of days and eventually died, this is because all living things are born with a certain amount of ‘life-force’ this life-force grows as we do and is used in everything we do, unicorns like me, Rarity and Sweetie Belle can tap directly into this and project it to cast magic.”

Tail Wind jumped in saying “While we are all born with life-force one of the fundamental rules about it is that under no circumstances can it be created, it’s absolutely impossible. All things that are born are given enough to survive because some is given to them from their mother, the amount you use during the day is replaced when you sleep and eat that is why you’ll almost never see Meteor without some form of snack. These creatures grew weaker over time because they had no mother to give them life-force; they were forced to use what was left over from the Changelings after most of it was used to prevent them from dying and converted their own bodies into it to keep themselves alive. They found a way around this though, it’s possible to steal life-force. So they stole it from ponies during the night, they will die during the daylight if exposed for too long as sunlight is formed of solar magic the exact opposite of the magic that created them. They came to be known as Vampires.”

“And it was the Crusaders duty to destroy them, after the higher ups learned that we can use any weapon we want.” Meteor Storm continued nodding thanks to Tail Wind “But Nightmare Moon wasn’t the only one to try this Celestia did a little dabbling but not to the extent of her deranged sister. So our forebears decided to alter their orders to destroy all the abominations the war had generated, they weren’t entirely successful. They got a great number of them but they were eventually overwhelmed, they died in a blaze of glory, but not before they recruited some apprentices.”

“Why us?” Sweetie Belles voice cut through the silence that followed the older Crusaders statements like butter.

“What do you mean?” Meteor asked confused.

“Why don’t we have Cutie Marks I thought they ran in families”

“They normally do, but we honestly have no idea why some people become Crusaders it appears to be random” Tail Wind answered.

“So the Crusaders are Vampire slayers” Apple Bloom said thoughtfully

“Not originally, but the vampires were in the greatest numbers and they are the hardest to kill so it soon became that way.” Meteor answered

“What was that about the nightmares, why did you suddenly change your mind about us when you heard about our nightmares?” Scootaloo asked.

“Because that’s been a curse of the Crusaders since the wars. Some of the oldest vampires have the ability to see dreams like Luna can now the most powerful of these can actually alter them, something Luna herself either can’t or won’t do. Some of these Vampires have learnt how to find the dreams of Crusaders specifically, they have used this in the past to lead some Crusaders to do things like tell the vampires secrets, and giving them information then used to kill the Crusaders, in some cases entire chapters, they have also used them to lead others to their deaths or betray and kill their fellows in their sleep. It’s very important that you tell us everything you saw in your dream. It also means that now you can’t stay anywhere too long until the vampire stops attempting to track you.”

“Not to be rude or anythin’” Applejack said looking at Tail Wind “but that is the biggest load of horseapples I have ever heard”

“I must say that I agree with Applejack dear, even if I would have worded it differently” Rarity commented looking towards Storm.

“You don’t believe us then?” Storm asked with a small smile.

“Not even as far as ah could throw you.”

“Storm, I think we need to bring ‘it’ up from the basement” Wind said frowning at his friend

“You know if we do they will know we are here again”

“If we do they will believe us and we will have to leave anyway if we don’t you know what will happen.”

Storm opened his mouth trying to find an argument against the pegasus. Eventually he sighed “fine, I still don’t understand why you are the one who suggests speaking to it when you’re the one who hates it the most,” he said as he walked towards the door at the rear of the inn. He disappeared through it and they heard his hoofsteps descending a set of stairs. They heard another door open followed by the sounds of something heavy being dragged. Tail wind walked to a small hatch set into the wall and opened it to reveal a dumbwaiter shaft. After a few minutes of scraping the dumbwaiter started moving.

“Don’t under any circumstances look into this things eyes; it can take over your mind almost instantly.” As the dumbwaiter was raised the top of a cage came into view, the dumbwaiter kept rising until the cage filled the space in the wall. When it stopped Storm started back up the stairs. In the cage was a pony, but it wasn’t quite right. It had no mane or tail, it was black as night except for its face which was grey fading to white around its eyes and mouth. Its mouth caught Applejacks attention; it had fangs similar to those of the changelings they had fought at the wedding. Rarity had noticed its lack of a mane and tail but were attracted (against the warnings of Tail Wind) to the things eyes; they were red not ruby red like Vinyl Scratches but more of a deep crimson, the colour of blood.

“Are you making an exhibit of me now Wind?” the thing asked. Its voice was scratchy but still obviously that of a mare.

“Don’t talk to me, you’re lucky you’re even still alive, if it was up to me you wouldn’t be.” Tail Wind was starting to get visibly agitated, he had started pacing and throwing dirty looks towards the cage when he passed it. Eventually Meteor Storm re-entered the room and took up a position near the cage. Tail walked out of the inn.

“He doesn’t like talking to her.” Meteor informed them.

“No, really?” Scootaloo said her voice dripping with sarcasm.

“He used to like talking to me, but then I changed.” the Vampire told them

“This is a Vampire, it’s still alive because we occasionally feed it a chicken,” Meteor Storm informed them, “It is also the reason there are only two of us here.”

Apple Bloom thought about that for a second “Why would he stop likin’ talking to ya, and what is the reason there are only two of you?” she asked. Rarity shuffled in her seat.

“They are the same thing, this is the third member of the Trottingham chapter of the crusaders.” This statement was met with a stunned silence.

“Ah thought you said the Vampires were made by Nightmare moon.” Applejack commented looking slightly confused.

“They were, but any moderate level Vampire can sire more, we don’t know how the process works but we do know not to get bitten by one.” He answered; Rarity was at the edge of her seat. “Do you believe us now Applejack?” he asked.

Applejack nodded “A bit more, it doesn’t mean ah believe everything or trust you much yet, but ah do believe more now.”

“Alright, I’ll put her back.” he reached into the dumbwaiter beside the cage and was just about to flip the switch there when Rarity moved so fast she was little more than a white and purple blur. She grabbed the unicorn stallion while his arm was trapped, eliciting a shout of surprise from the stallion, and forced his face into the cage. Applejack jumped up and grabbed Rarity pulling her away from the cage and Storm, who quickly pulled away less than a second before a pair of fangs whistled through the space his neck and chest had occupied.

“What’s gotten into ya girl?” Applejack asked a struggling Rarity. She moved her head so her horn was pointing towards the lock on the cage. In a flash Meteor Storm had raised a barrier between her and the lock. Tail Wind charged through the door, a pair of swords affixed to bracers on his hooves.

“Hi there Tail, You mind taking it back into the basement I’ve got my hooves full.”

“Sure, I guess you don’t want me to put an end to her then.”

“No just the basement thanks.” Tail Wind removed the bracer from one of his hooves, and flapped over their heads to the door the basement. He opened it with his free hoof and flapped down, a few seconds later the dumbwaiter started to move down out of sight. Rarity was struggling harder now.

“Scoots, Apple Bloom get her legs,”

“Don ’t worry you’ll only have to hold her for a few more seconds.” Storm said looking at the top of the cage as it disappeared, as soon as the Vampire was below the edge of the shaft Rarity stopped struggling and Storm slid the hatch down.

“What was that?” Rarity asked holding a hoof to her head “I feel like somepony has passed a wet sponge through my head.”

“You looked into her eyes didn’t you?” Storm asked looking at Rarity, who nodded. “We told you not to but that is further proof what we are telling you is true.”

“You alright Rare?” Applejack asked the look of concern on her face mirrored by that of the other crusaders.

“Yes I shall be alright, thank you for your concern Applejack” The white unicorn replied a reassuring look on her face. “And yes I do believe you now, mister Storm”

“Well since she has seen all of your faces now, and you are related to these three, I think we will have to take you with us for your own safety. Also we could use cooks and medics and other support while we train your sisters” He said with a smile.

“What? What do y’all mean support roles? And we are very capable of defending ourselves.” Applejack groused indignantly.

“While I don’t doubt that last part I doubt you have fought something that is more than five times stronger than the strongest Earth pony, and support roles to keep you away from the front lines so that the crusaders don’t have to worry about you getting hurt.” Storm explained.

Tail Wind continued forestalling another protest from Applejack “Also it will allow you to keep an eye on your sisters and us, since you still have doubts. And we can’t train here for two reasons, the first is this place lacks the facilities and secondly-”

“That Vampire has seen us and this place so her sire will know we are here” Storm finished “and you don’t want to meet him,” he added in an undertone.

“OK so you can’t stay here, not that I trust you yet, but if we are coming with you then I guess I can allow it depending on where you are taking us.”

“We’ll be going up north near the Crystal Empire.” Storm answered

“We’re going to the Crystal Empire!” Sweetie Belle nearly shouted in her excitement.

“No, we’re not going to the Crystal Empire we will be close, however, we need to train your resistance to cold and you need to be able to fight effectively in it.” He responded quickly. “The crusaders have a training post a day’s travel to the north.” There was a collective “Aww” from the three fillies. “We have to go as soon as possible so all of you collect your things and meet us at the train station. You can tell your families you won’t be coming home for a while but not where you’re going.”

“Well I suppose ah could tell them ah was acomanyin’ ma cousin to Appaloosa with Apple Bloom”

“I’m not expected back for a while either, and I can say I’m going to the Crystal Empire to observe their fashions if anyone asks” Rarity said thoughtfully.

“Ok, Tail will meet us at the train station; I will accompany you and help with your bags,” Storm informed them.

“We’ve got 30 minutes until the next train to the Crystal Empire leaves, we will be on it, see you in a few” and with that the grey pegasus left the Inn.

When the three Crusaders together with their siblings and Meteor Storm reached their hotel room they began to pack hurriedly, Meteor Storm helping them find their things with magic.

“Why do we need to hurry anyway?” asked Apple Bloom as she sat on one of Rarity’s suitcases forcing it closed while Storm closed it with magic.

“We need to hurry because a Vampire can track your mind now they have entered your dreams, and one has seen our hideout so any Vampires that are nearby will have seen us there and will be moving in.” He explained helping the yellow earth pony down off the case, and watching as she went to her saddlebags.

“How could they have all seen us?” Apple Bloom asked turning to look at him “there was only one there”

“They are part changeling; they have a hive mind structure. Each is as intelligent as a pony but they can become more effective within proximity to each other. So that one could alert others to where she is and where we are and they would know how many of us there are and our positions without communication that we can detect.” When he finished there was silence, he looked around to see the others had been listening and where now staring at him. “We have had a long time to study them.”

“Ah’ve just had a thought” Applejack said looking curious “why don’t y’all just talk ta’ Princess Luna and ask her to stop them?”

“We would but the Vampires were created by Nightmare Moon, they see her as a sort of god and think of Luna as a usurper. They won’t listen to her.” He explained looking to the orange mare “also we don’t trust her much.” he added as an afterthought.

“What do you mean you don’t trust the princess?” Rarity asked in a worried tone.

“She has betrayed us all before and is the cause of a lingering evil.” He answered simply “It’s nothing against her, if Celestia had done something similar we would be mistrusting of her too.” Applejack just shook her head as she went back to helping Rarity pack.

Less than ten minutes later they exited the hotel, Storm helping carry Rarity’s cases.

“You know Tail will make you drop a lot of this stuff don’t you, if you’re not travelling light yet he will force you to.” Storm told the alabaster unicorn mare.

“He wouldn’t dare!” She exclaimed

“Oh believe me he would, the other crusader was similar to you at one point then she met Tail and learned how to make do with a tooth brush a towel and a blanket, when she was lucky.”

“How horrid.” Storm just chuckled and continued walking towards the train station.

They arrived to see the station completely empty, surprising for a city that large and especially for that particular train. They spotted Tail Wind at the other end of the station; he spotted them and walked over shaking his head. “I called in a few favours and got the station to ourselves, the train too.” He told them. He then turned to Rarity motioning to the hovering suitcases with a hoof he asked “are all these yours?”

“Yes, just a few necessities” she replied smiling towards Sweetie Belle who giggled at the inside joke.

“Well we shall see if we can’t make that even fewer necessities,” he replied a smile coming to his lips. “What exactly do you have in there?”

Ten minutes later He had managed to reduce the amount of luggage Rarity had brought to one large suitcase. Rarity held it in her light blue aura looking like she was about to cry. “We still have to get rid of all this when we arrive but you have the entire train ride to help you adjust to the loss.” Tail said with a grin, just as the train pulled into the station.

Author's Note

Please leave comments (especially constructive criticism), I really love comments.

6 Memories

“OK how did y’all get a train to the Crystal Empire to yer’selves?” Apple Bloom asked “The Crystal Empire is a massive tourist attraction.”

“I called in a few favours.” Tail wind replied after coming back into their section from the drivers cab. “Nopony will bother us; to everyone else the train has been cancelled.”

“That is impressive. I wish I could do that whenever I have to travel.” Rarity said.

“These are special circumstances, we don’t normally do this either.”

“What do ya mean, and wouldn’t it be less obvious to travel with a large group of other ponies?” Applejack asked.

“Exactly, it would be easier to hide but it is also easier for a pony under a vampires influence to overhear us.” The green haired Pegasus replied.

“What do we need to talk about?” Scootaloo asked looking confused.

“I’m sure you have questions, and I know he wants to get them out of the way before we get to the training grounds.” Meteor Storm said facing the window looking at the scenery the train was passing. They were chugging through rolling hills of green countryside, with very little else to see.

“Well I have a question, what did you mean by support roles?” Rarity asked

“Things like medical treatments, cooking, helping with the training and keeping the armour and weapons in good order. That last one you won’t be doing regularly as we train to look after our equipment almost as well as we do ourselves and we don’t tend to carry weapons with us.”

“Why do we have to do all that? Why can’t you do it?” Applejack asked indignantly

“You have to because we won’t let you fight and we have allowed you to come with us.” Tail Wind answered looking slightly annoyed.

“The cooking is mostly because the only time either of us cooks we spend the night in the infirmary.” Storm chuckled earning a glare from Tail. “And we won’t let you fight because we are much more adaptable than you are, and better trained than you without spending much time with the weapons.”

“Ok, I guess cooking and medical would be good places for me,” Applejack admitted relenting.

“And I could help with the training and keeping armour in good condition.” Rarity admitted.

“Any other questions?” Tail asked.

“Yeah, where are we going?” Apple Bloom asked.

“To the Crusader Training grounds near the Crystal Empire” He replied.

“Why, can’t you train us where we were?”

“No, there wasn’t enough space, the required equipment wasn’t there and we need the climate there.”

“What do you mean ‘we need the climate’? What’s wrong with this climate?” Applejack asked perplexed.

“This is what I wanted to talk about, amongst other things. Vampires will die in the sunlight. This is because Ponies represent balance and harmony so the two Princesses are the exact opposite of each other. Not by just their personalities but fundamentally, their magic’s are opposite like night and day. Vampires were made using Luna’s magic and so Celestia’s magic will completely negate it and destroy them. It doesn’t happen with most things because, while they are opposite they are also in harmony so their pure magic will be left untouched but the Vampires were made with corrupted magic. The sun is made of fire so it naturally follows that vampires won’t like that much either; they prefer the opposite, ice, so we train to be resistant to the cold, more of a problem for you Earth ponies and unicorns than for us Pegasi.”

“Wow that is the most I have heard you say all at once I think.” Apple Bloom said, Tail sighed.

“Are there any other questions … you know what no, no more questions until I have made my speech.” He looked a little annoyed as he said this. He cleared his throat and began.

“As I have already told you we are heading for the secret training grounds of the Cutie Mark Crusaders in the far north of Equestria, near the Crystal Empire. We are going there for a few reasons, firstly as I have already told you all the training equipment we need is there. Secondly, it is really cold up there and we need you all to be comfortable to fight for prolonged periods of time at low temperatures. Thirdly, due to its fortunate placement the Crystal Empire (and specifically the Crystal Castle) refracts the sunlight to cover the area keeping it lit almost constantly, which makes it one of the safest places to train.

“When we reach the Crystal Empire on this train we will have 20 minutes to find enough food for two days, then we will leave heading west. You will follow us closely because we know the way and if you stray from the path you will be lost and we won’t find you. Is that clear?” A round of nods followed his statement “Good, now your training begins the morning we arrive.

“We will teach you about our enemy, and any other enemies you are likely to face. We will teach you how to fight as a group and individually, the individual segments focusing on hoof-to-hoof combat and improving your skill with certain weapons. The group training sessions will be focused on how to fight as a group, covering each other’s weak points and the other tactics involved in group fighting. We are going to the arctic because as I have said we need you all to be able to function in the cold. Was that everything Storm?”

“Think so” The unicorn replied.

“Good, any questions?”

“Yeah, why do we need to train with any weapons at all?” Sweetie asked.

“Because while we can use any weapon we find we are more effective if we have trained with them first. Our enemy has ponies that have Cutie marks in most weapons and have trained for years within its ranks. Without training you would put up a fight but not much else, anything else?” A round of shaking heads. “OK then I’m done, if you want anything talk to me or Storm.”

“Wait, why can’t we start training now?” Scootaloo asked a hopeful look in her eye.

“Well I suppose I could try and teach you a few hoof-to-hoof moves.” Storm said looking over.

“Hold a sec, you teach hoof-to-hoof? I thought that unicorns preferred to use magic?” Apple Bloom asked looking confused.

“Two reasons One: Crusader we all have to learn for the times we don’t carry weapons, two: We lost our close quarter’s specialist so me and Tail have had to cover as best we can. Now do you want to start training or just flap your gums all day?”

“Sure!” Scootaloo answered quickly. The three fillies lined up on one side of the aisle facing the teal stallion.

“Widen your stances, move your rear hooves apart slightly and crouch a little.” He watched as they followed his instructions. “That’s good Apple Bloom. Just spread your fore hooves a little more, Sweetie you need to be lower and Scootaloo you’re a little too low and your hooves aren’t far enough apart.” When they were all in roughly the correct stances he began “Okay now these are the basics first punching, kicking and blocking. You need to know how to do those three properly or you will lose every fight. Now with your fore hoof punch me.” He stood directly in front of them. “Don’t worry, I can take it.” He stood in front of Scootaloo who after a second shrugged and punched him square in the chest with her right fore hoof. A somewhat awkward manoeuvre due to the difference in their heights. Storm felt her hit him with a decent amount of force, enough to hurt but he wasn’t even winded. He had shrugged off worse. “Okay you have decent power. Try to pivot more on the hoof you’re not attacking with to give yourself more power.” He stepped to his left in front of Apple Bloom, who wasted no time in punching him. This punch had more power but it was pretty wild. If she had aimed it properly he would be severally winded but he was hurt only a little more than when Scoots had punched him. “Work on your aim. You could have done much more damage to me if you had aimed that right, try for the centre of the chest over the sternum, that’s a good shot to open with because it will force your opponent away from you, you can gauge his strength compared to yours and you may knock him off balance.” He moved over to stand in front of Sweetie Belle, who looked at him before swinging her left fore hoof at him. ‘Has she hit me yet?’ He wondered to himself as he watched her. His eyes answering for him when he looked closer to his chest, seeing she had stopped less than a hair from his chest. “Why did you stop? I told you I can take it.” He asked looking at her quizzically.

“I don’t want to hurt you” She told him looking up at him.

“I’ll be fine; I’m much tougher than I look.”

“Come on Sweetie we can’t learn how to fight if we won’t even punch each other!” Apple Bloom said moving out of the ready stance.

“Fine, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.” Sweetie retracted her arm launching it out again a few seconds later. Storm was knocked completely off his feet, landing on his back on the seat he had occupied before starting to teach them.

“Did anyone get the licence plate of that cart?” Storm asked slightly dazed, his statement being followed by raucous laughter from everyone except Sweetie Belle who just grinned at him sheepishly. “You have a lot of power there and you are very accurate, you hit in the centre of my sternum. Now punching is good but I want to see how you block before we get on to kicking.”

Half an hour later after going through blocking and kicking assessing their form and power and teaching them a few moves to use in a variety of situations, Storm concluded their first hoof-to-hoof training session. They all returned to their seats and waited for the train to pull into the station.

They disembarked to the Crystal Empire train station. Tail grabbed their bags handing them out to their owners while he talked. “Okay, I’m going to get some supplies together. You five and Storm are free to wander and buy things you will need, only buy the things you are willing to carry in your saddle bags” he directed the last part at Rarity giving her a look before continuing. “We’ll meet up on the north side of town in 20 minutes then head off north. You all understand?” Hearing affirmative acknowledgements from them all he turned and took wing heading to the west side of town.

“I suggest we find some blankets, food and possibly some medical supplies.” Storm said as the five of them began to trot into the market in the centre of town.

“Tail just said he was gonna get all that” Applejack pointed out.

“Yes but he was referring to supplies for the training grounds, they have been abandoned since we finished our training. It’s a good idea to have snacks and medical supplies on hoof anyway.”

“Fair enough.” Applejack responded. They stopped at the edge of the market; it wasn’t anywhere near as busy as the one in Trottingham had been but it was still much bigger than Ponyville’s market. Most of the stalls were selling souvenirs like ‘genuine’ crystal heart replica pendants, but some were selling things that could be of use to them. Applejack quickly found some food stalls and bought a few pies, biscuits, cakes and a few berries. Not long after did Rarity find some blankets and near to that Storm found some medical supplies.

“OK now that we have all of these, we have 10 minutes still so you can go buy whatever you want, just remember what Tail said, only things you can carry. I’ll wait by the other side of the market come to me when you’re done and we’ll go meet Tail”

“Alright I’m going to buy some rope; I just don’t feel right without it.” Applejack said as she walked off through the market.

5 minutes later Applejack returned with a length of rope attached to her right side and a larger bulge on her left. “What you got in there?” Storm asked indicating the left saddle bag.

“A little more food, ah found some apples and a little hay. Oh and ah found a har-mon-ica.” She said slowly stumbling a little around the new word, “Ah have no idea what it does but it looks interesting so I picked it up.”

“May I have a look?” He asked.

“Sure, one sec.” she rummaged around in her bag for a second before pulling out the instrument.

“Here ya are sugar cube.” she said hoofing it over.

“This is quite well made.” He said holding it in his magic. He levitated it closer to himself and blew into it creating a high C note “Very nice.” He said hoofing it back. “It is an instrument you blow through it like I just did and move it around and you can play songs on it.”

“Well that’s interesting.” The orange mare responded before dropping it back into her bag. They stood in silence for a while until Rarity and the three Crusaders appeared out of the market.

“Come on, if we don’t go now we’ll be late.” Storm said as they got up to him. The unicorn stallion turned on his rear hoof and led the way through the streets, avoiding the main roads until they reached the northern most point of the city. They stood there for a few minutes until they saw a familiar figure trotting towards them from the opposite road. As he got closer however they noticed something. He had a massive black eye.

“Nice shiner, how’d you get it?” Applejack asked when he was close enough. The Pegasus looked at her grumpily. “I ran into an old friend.” He answered. Rarity looked shocked.

“I think you and I have different ideas of what a friend is darling.”

“No doubt” he replied

“Which one was it?” Storm asked

“Orange pegasus from Las Pegasus.” He answered “What? You know I can’t remember most of their names, most of the time I was drunk.” He said in response to the disapproving stare Strom was giving him “You weren’t much better around that time. Come on let’s get moving.”

Storm chuckled and let the subject drop, the others figuring this was the best thing to do as well just followed the two stallions as they led the way north.

They had walked roughly half the distance to the Crusaders training grounds when they came across something unexpected. They were in a valley forged by the passage of a glacier centuries before any of them were born. The steep walls were covered in ice and some of the over hangs where the wind had blown the snow almost formed bridges across the top, as if they were walking along a dry river bed in a land of giants. This was not what caught the attention of the young crusaders and their guardians, but what they could see inside the one of the ice covered walls. It appeared to have once been a cave but it had been completely frozen over. Very quickly it would appear as the occupant didn’t appear to have awoken while it was frozen inside the cave and now was stuck there in an eternal slumber. The creature inside was one of the strangest things that any of the young crusaders had ever seen, it had the head and front paws of a lion, the body and rear legs of a goat and its tail which was curled around it while it slept was a snakes head. The creature was huge, twice the size of either of the princesses and three times as wide.

“What is it?” Sweetie asked. Her voice not more than a whisper.

“It’s called a Chimera” Tail Wind informed them. He had seen where they had stopped and walked over to stand behind them. “They were amazing creatures once, as dangerous as a Manticore and as intelligent as a pony. They had a mighty empire that spanned the whole of Equestria and beyond. When the Ponies appeared they allowed them to settle some of their lands in return for a tribute of food and other goods. Their armies were a sight that struck fear into the hearts of any that opposed our ancestors, can you imagine it? An army of ponies all working together and then these come over the horizon covered from head to toe in armour? While some may not like to admit it the main reason Equestria hasn’t been invaded for longer than any text has existed is because of these creatures.”

“Then what happened to them? If they were so powerful why aren’t there any now?” Scootaloo asked, walking closer to the ice.

“Nightmare Moon. She knew that when she took over the Chimera’s would fight on the side of her sister to restore order, so she killed them all. This one we found out after a lot of research was the commander of an entire battalion in their army. Nightmare Moon came here while he was sleeping and froze him there. We’ve tried to break him out hoping that he might join us, they were promoted based on strength and merit so the more they commanded the more powerful and intelligent they were, but we can’t. The ice is enchanted, nothing can break it. And even if it could the ice would re-grow.” He sighed. “Come on, we have much further to go and I want to get their as soon as possible.” He headed off at a trot to catch up to Storm who stood a little further down the valley. The others tearing their eyes away from the strange sight followed him.

When they exited the valley they found their way blocked by darkness. There was a strange band of darkness that covered the ground for miles in front of them. They were stood all together at the top of a small hill, with the darkness starting at its base.

“I had hoped to get further from the city, oh well” Storm muttered to Tail who looked troubled by the band of night “Come on everyone! We won’t get there by standing and staring!” He said raising his voice and looking to the others.

“I thought you said that the Crystal Empire made it light all the time around here.” Scootaloo said looking confusedly at Tail Wind and Meteor Storm.

“I did, unfortunately there is a band of night as you can see. Its position changes and we had hoped that it would be further away from the city so we would be safer crossing it. If a vampire has fed recently they can use magic to allow them brief amounts of time in direct sunlight and much longer if they stay in the shade. In any case Strom is right; we need to cross as quickly as possible.” The Pegasus stallion looked around, a little way to their right was a small ice cave “We’ll rest in there for a while then we will cross the night band as fast as possible, the training grounds shouldn’t be very far from the other side.” Tail led the way into the cave, carefully he and Storm walked in checking every nook, cranny and shadow to be sure it was abandoned.

Once they were sure the cave was abandoned, Storm turned to Sweetie Belle “Help me get a fire going.” he instructed. Sweetie walked over to some stalactites and started pulling the mosses she found there, gathering the fuel. “Why not just use magic?” Storm asked after watching her struggle for a couple of minutes, his horn lit up and he collected twice the amount that Sweetie had in a few seconds.

“I can’t.” Sweetie spat looking angry with herself.

“Ah, now I understand.” Storm said as he looked back at her. “Tell me, were you sick when you were very young?” he asked.

“Yes, she was” Rarity answered for her sister.

“So sick you were unable to move?” He pressed.

“Yes I was; it was horrible I could barely move my eyes.” Sweetie was on the brink of tears now; Rarity not far behind her.

“Why do you want to know this? Why do you have to bring up these memories?” The white mare asked hugging her sister.

“Please forgive me it was not my intention to upset you. I have been trying to work out how your sister is so strong ever since the train; and I have just worked it out. You can’t use magic like other unicorns because you are using it constantly. When you grew sick you instinctively used your magic to help heal yourself, when you lost your ability to move your magic was diverted to your muscles to give them strength again. You just never knew about it so you were never able to control it, you were never able to stop using it.” He explained “unfortunately I believe that now you will be completely unable to control it, without serious training you may never be able to use magic like other unicorns. In time with lots and lots of careful and dedicated training you may become strong enough to cast alongside this strengthening or maybe you’ll learn how to divert magic from it into other spells.”

“That is so awesome.” Scootaloo breathed as she stared at her friend.

“Wait, I might never be able to cast spells like you and Rarity?” Sweetie asked recovering slightly.

“Like he said if you train hard enough for long enough you will become stronger, well more like you will learn how to cast spells with less energy. There are some unicorn monks that can nearly move mountains without breaking a sweat they are masters of a unicorn martial art that I can’t remember the name of, something along the lines of movement or stillness or something like that, I didn’t pay too much attention when it was explained. But they were responsible for the tunnel for the train around Canterlot mountain. I’ve even heard they sometimes cast spells in their sleep because they use so little energy to power them.” Tail told her walking over “now can we please get that fire going? I’m cold, hungry and tired.” Storm laughed and set fire to the pile of mosses they had collected. Everyone gathered around huddling against the cold. Applejack pulled a few apples from her saddlebag and passed them around, everyone accepting them gratefully. When they had eaten and warmed themselves by the fire for a time Storm pulled a few of the blankets from his bag and passed them to the others “You should all get some sleep we’ll take turns keeping watch.” He walked and sat down near the entrance to the cave.

After a little while Sweetie Belle and Rarity decided to do as Storm suggested, lying down together close to the fire to keep warm, Applejack joining them not long after. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo sat on the other side of the fire to Tail who was staring into it, losing himself in the flames.

“So what’s your story?” Apple Bloom asked after being uncharacteristically quiet for the most part of the day.

“Hmm… What do you mean ‘What’s my story?’” He asked looking at them through the flames.

“How did you become a Crusader?” Scootaloo clarified.

“Oh that. Well I guess you have a right to know since you are both Crusaders.” He leaned back slightly, resting his chin on his barrel so that he could continue to stare into the dancing flames. “I once lived in a house near a small town in the Canterlot valley called Ponyville.”

“You’re from Ponyville? So are we!” Apple Bloom exclaimed.

“That’s interesting, now back to the story. I grew up near Ponyville. I was always trying to get my Cutie mark I spent years of my life trying everything I could, but I never got it. Eventually I just gave up. Then one day the royal guard came out to my families little… it was kind of a farm but not really a farm it was just a really big garden. Anyway, they came out looking for recruits, I had always admired them, they were some of the most important ponies that I could think of; they guard the princess and protect our borders from groups like the changelings. I joined up in a heartbeat I was shipped off to basic a few weeks later; I never got to see my family again.

“Basic was Tartarus on Equestria but I learned everything I needed to become a royal guard so I gritted my teeth and got on with it. When I left I was a scout and very good at it, I was strong enough to take most resistance I came across but I was small and fast enough to either stay undetected or to get out of there if it got too hot, and the thing that set me apart was I knew how to use myself, I knew for instance not to take a group of Diamond Dogs head on, I knew to take out their leader quietly then when they were searching pick them off. The higher ups noticed that and thought I would be better suited to direct more forces, turns out they were right I rose quickly after I first learned how to direct forces as effectively as I did myself.

“I reached the rank of lieutenant under Captain Silver Shield, the Captain Shining Armour replaced. Then my tour was up and I could go home, so I did. I was so excited, it would be the first time I had seen my family for years so I flew as fast as I could home. I was too late. When I got there the house looked abandoned, the doors and windows were all open or smashed and there wasn’t anything or anypony to be seen outside. I did what anypony would do in that situation I used my combat training and experience to search the house, top to bottom always aware of the potential to be assaulted when walking the hallways or entering a room. I checked the dining room at the back of the house last; to this day I wish I hadn’t.

“Inside I found my family my mother, father, my two younger sisters and my new born brother. They were all dead. I always wished it was just that, but they were shrivelled like someone has sucked everything that wasn’t skin and bone off of them. They all had puncture marks on their barrels, right over their hearts. I was devastated and angry, so angry. I swore that day that I would never rest until I found the one responsible for this atrocity against me and the peaceful ponies of Equestria and I would destroy them. I would make them pay a thousand fold for every second that my family suffered. I started searching, the only clue I had were the strange marks on their chest and a patch of black fur that one of my sisters caught in her teeth.

“I found the nest of vampires eventually, a year of searching and false leads leading right to them, I went in during the day when I knew they would be asleep; I went in with the sword I had used to fight hundreds of threats to Equestrian peace, I normally prefer larger weapons but I could use that one just fine, I brought an invention of mine a device that explodes to produce sunlight. I went in and within minutes I was over halfway done; I had destroyed half of them before they awoke the rest fled deeper into the cave to regroup and come at me from the shadows. I got to this large chamber in the cave without any resistance I thought it was the last so I didn’t waste any time I threw my sunlight explosives around the corner and after the flash I charged in. There were three ponies surrounded by ash piles rubbing their eyes trying to get their vision back I knew they weren’t Vampires because they were still standing and I had tried that device earlier and it had worked. I asked what they were doing, told them the place was dangerous. They all laughed at me and said they knew, that it was their job to do this. They had come in through another entrance, I had known it was there but the other was closer and harder to spot so I had used that one.

“They asked if I had met anypony else in there. So I told them ‘just these abominations’ and that I had killed them all. They noticed that I didn’t have a Cutie mark about the time I noticed they didn’t either. When I asked about it they told me that they were the Cutie Mark Crusaders and that I was one of them. They took me in, gave me a home and taught me how to direct my anger. I had never learned how to do that I had always just repressed it, became indifferent towards my enemy. That’s how I met Storm, he had joined about a year before me. We trained together became the soldiers that we needed to be, we became Crusaders together, and we became friends.” Tail finished his story looking up from the fire and staring into the eyes of the two fillies across from him. Scootaloo couldn’t look at him for long and quickly allowed her eyes to drift into the heart of the fire. Apple Bloom on the other hoof, held his gaze and said in a quite understanding tone “Ah’m sorry about your family, ah didn’t mean to bring up bad memories. Ah know what it feels like to lose your family though, and I don’t know which of us is luckier, me because ah didn’t really know my parents that well. Or you because you got to make memories with them.”

“If either of us were lucky, we wouldn’t have lost them in the first place.” He said quietly, not taking his eyes away from hers. “You should get some sleep, you will want to be well rested by the time we get there, training starts immediately.” He watched as they walked dragging their blankets closer to where Rarity and Applejack were laid. Apple Bloom resting close to her sister with Scootaloo very close by. “Oh, don’t ask Storm about his past, it upsets him and he has some anger management issues.” With that he turned and walked to the mouth of the cave to join his friend.

Author's Note

Please comment I love comments.

Special thanks to Conker my new pre-reader, this chapter would not be half as good with out you!

7 Training Begins

They woke a few hours later to find the fire still burning and Meteor Storm sat in front of it, levitating some apples over the flames.

“Here, they just finished.” He said, levitating the cooked fruits over to the Crusaders, Applejack and Rarity. They ate in silence then packed up and left the cave. Tail Wind was waiting for them, his bags packed and looking like he was ready for a fight. He was wearing a small amount of barding, less than the royal guard but still more than anyone else. He also had some metal resting over his wings, it rested over the bones and his flight muscles on his back, but appeared segmented to allow him to move normally, he also appeared to have feathers made of a bright silvery metal.

“You ready to go?” the grey Pegasus asked looking to the Crusaders, “We are going through that band of darkness. We are going to move as fast as possible and we can’t stop until we are on the other side.”

“Yeah ah think we’re good to go” Applejack answered.

“You look so cool, what are those metal feathers for?” Scootaloo gushed.

“They’re called Steel Wings; don’t let their appearance deceive you they are sharp as razors, and the silver feathers?” He paused looking around, he spotted a piece of moss that Sweetie and Storm had missed the night before. He stood taking careful aim, and then with a flick of his right wing sent one of the metal feathers flying faster than the eyes of any but a Pegasus could track. It cut cleanly through the moss embedding itself in a stalactite behind it.

“So awesome!” Scootaloo exclaimed. Tail chuckled retrieving his feather and replacing it on his wing.

“They also help prevent his wings from taking damage in a fight. We need to get moving.” Meteor Storm led them away from the cave with Applejack bringing up the rear, Tail Wind took wing gliding beside them.

It took them ten minutes to reach where the band of darkness had been the day before. Everything was the same as it had been the last time they were there, except the darkness was gone. “Must be daytime, alright we move as fast as possible and we don’t stop until we reach the Training area.” Storm told them before setting off at a brisk trot.

After about half an hour of this Tail slowed landing next to Scootaloo, “Why don’t you fly? We could scout ahead together.” He asked looking puzzled that a Pegasus wouldn’t fly if given the option. Scootaloo’s response was a muttered “Can’t” as she kept walking, her head lowering slightly.

“You can’t fly?” Tail asked slightly less confused.

“No, I can’t fly!” Scootaloo answered moving away from him. Apple Bloom shifted to walk between Scootaloo and the other Pegasus, looking at him out of the corner of her eye. Scootaloo sped up a little, walking closer to Rarity.

“Did I say something to upset her?” Tail quietly asked the little earth pony he found himself walking with.

“She is always like that if she has to tell someone that, luckily ah’ve never had to. Ah met her and Sweetie at the same time and just listened when Sweetie asked.” Apple Bloom looked to her friend with a look of concern on her face. “She was born prematurely so her wings were underdeveloped. There are ways to train that mean her wing size don’t make a difference but her pa doesn’t have enough money to buy the special equipment or the trainers she would need. She could fly if she builds up the flight muscles, so she tries by pulling us behind her in a wagon with just her wings.”

“I didn’t know. I’ve met some Pegasi with underdeveloped wings before but they could all fly just fine. They must have had all that training you talked about.”

“Yeah, she’s pretty fast on her scooter but she can’t hold herself in the air for much more than a second.”

“When we get there I want you to come see me, I want to know all about this special equipment. Oh and don’t tell Scootaloo.”

“Deal. Oh, and just so’s you know Tail, she prefers Scoots.” Apple Bloom answered before Tail nodded and took wing again and flew over their heads.

A few hours later the area around them started to become dark. Tail Wind landed next to Storm and they shared a few quick words before he took off again. Tail started hovering above them so he could speak to them all at the same time. “Okay everyone, it’s getting dark as you can see, and we have already said we aren’t stopping. You all need to be on guard nothing lives out here naturally anymore so if you see movement shout, Rarity if you know a light spell and any combat spells use them without hesitation on anything that moves. Stay together everyone whatever you do.”

“Alright, I want to know now why do y’all keep telling us to stick together here? Why can’t we rest in this dark area? And why do we have to watch for movement?” Applejack asked annoyed at being kept in the dark.

“The same reason we are out here: Vampires” Storm answered looking around carefully at the areas in front of him and to his sides.

“I’ll be watching our backs; you all need to watch our sides.”

“Got it.” Applejack answered starting to watch the area to her right, with Scootaloo. Rarity cast a spell making a small light appear over her head. They continued in a tight formation with Meteor leading, Applejack and Scoots watching right, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle watching left with Rarity between the two groups while Tail continued to fly circles above them watching their backs and flanks.

After another half an hour it was pitch black except for the light cast by Rarity’s werelight. There was no sound except for their hoofsteps. There came a slight buzzing sound. Everyone tensed up while Meteor started charging up a spell and Tail prepared to fire his lethal feathers.

“What was that?” Sweetie asked. The buzzing stopped.

“Sorry a little nervous I guess.” came Scootaloo’s voice. They all relaxed a little. A few seconds later Scootaloo spoke again “I think I saw something move out there.” She said nervously squinting to see.

“Keep moving we’re nearly out.” Tail Wind told them as he passed over head. A few seconds later all Tartarus broke loose.

Three black shadows detached themselves from the surrounding darkness and flew at the group. One aimed itself straight at Rarity while the others went after the two stallions. Years of training and honing his skills gave Tail Wind the ability to launch three of his silver feathers at the first shadow forcing him to the ground before he hit Rarity. While he fired he covered his body with his wings turning them into a shield and spinning to deflect the shadow jumping at him. After feeling the impact to his reinforced wings he continued his spin unfurling his wings, turning them into a deadly blade that sliced cleanly through the neck of the flying shadow. The shadow paused in midair before falling to the ground as ash.

Meteor jumped lithely to his right dodging the shadow, he then calmly turned his head and quietly spoke. “Hello Moon Shadow. It was foolish of you to attack us here, what did you hope to gain?” The shadow got to its hooves and looked at the unicorn with his crimson eyes. He opened his fanged mouth and gave a fierce battle cry as he charged at his prey. Storm quickly conjured a shield of light watching as his foe impacted it then pulled away quickly his face smoking.

Moon Shadow stood staring at Storm “I had hoped to take a few more trophies.” he answered, before charging his horn and firing a ray of black energy at the shield. It with stood for a few seconds before collapsing, “You have improved, maybe you are worth the effort now. Your wife didn’t even struggle.” He said, a wicked smile growing on his face.

“I will destroy you for what you have done you monster!” Storm screamed as he charged his horn firing volleys of spells directly at the creature that had attacked him. Each of his spells hit, far too fast for even a Pegasus to follow. He fired spells in an almost continuous stream for nearly a minute before he had to stop, his horn smoking slightly. When the dust cleared a little the unicorn could see his foe still standing, slightly dazed and smoking but standing. A second after Storm finished his attack one of Tail Winds feathers found a home in the shadows side, followed up quickly by a pair of orange hooves bucking it clear of the light provided by the Rarity’s werelight.

Tail landed next to his friend, put a hoof on his shoulder and offered him a biscuit from his pack. Storm took it with a grunt of thanks and started to eat it as he walked. It took them a minute to reach the edge of the darkness. They all crossed it and the three fillies collapsed in the sunlight, while Rarity allowed the werelight to fade and sat down next to Applejack.

“Alright, now what the heck just happened?” Applejack asked looking to the two Crusaders.

“We just got attacked by Vampires. Eat this Rarity, it’ll help.” Tail replied giving a biscuit to Rarity similar to the one he had passed to Storm. Storm said nothing; he sat staring into the band of night a look of pure undiluted rage and loathing on his face. “I’ll explain everything when we get to the training grounds I promise. We’re nearly there we should keep moving.”

“Alright, let’s get moving; ah don’t feel safe out here. Storm? You alright partner?” She asked looking to the unicorn who hadn’t moved a single muscle since he had stopped.

“No” he answered after a short pause. He proceeded to stand up turn away from them and continue to walk towards their destination.

“Don’t worry about him, he always gets like this after a battle with that particular… thing. Its name is Moon Shadow, they have a history; we both have a history with him. Sorry I can’t tell you much more than that.” Tail told the other five “We should catch up to him.” The six of them broke into a trot to catch up to the unicorn stallion.

The Crusaders walked as they had been for the past hour, between Rarity and Applejack following Meteor Storm while Tail Wind flapped lazily overhead. Storm stopped outside the entrance to a cave, which he promptly entered.

“This, is the place?” Rarity asked, looking askance at the arch of stone.

“What did you expect of the secret training grounds of a secret order of soldiers, a palace lit up in neon perhaps?” Tail asked as he flew past her landing just in front of the entrance and trotting in, his comments earning him a laugh from the other four ponies on the surface. Rarity huffed before walking in behind him, followed by the Applejack and the three fillies.

Their jaws dropped. After a short tunnel they turned the corner to find what was, essentially, an underground city. There were buildings all around a central courtyard area with targets set up on one side, a practice field in the centre and racks of weapons on the far side. They descended a flight of stairs to stand on the practice field facing Tail Wind and Meteor Storm who stood shoulder to shoulder facing them.

“Welcome to ‘The Candle’ the secret training grounds, and sometimes headquarters, of the Cutie Mark Crusaders. May it always provide a light in the darkness.” Storm announced to the five ponies.

“Your quarters are to the right of this practice field, the medical rooms are to the left.” Tail said indicating the respective buildings. “The armoury is at the back, there is a forge back there too.” He gestured to the rear of the field, then to a building behind him. “Mess hall is behind you. Our ops room or command centre, if you prefer, is up the staircase behind us, that’s where I’ll be when I’m not training you.” He told them “Or sleeping.” He added as an afterthought.

“Find your bunks and drop off your things, you have thirty minutes. Report back here for the start of your training. Rarity and Applejack I want to speak to you in the command centre when you’re done in the barracks.” Storm turned and marched over to the stairs behind him, before climbing and leaving their sight as he entered a large building formed from the rock of the cave. Tail turned and entered the armoury while the rest walked to the barracks to find their bunks.

Apple Bloom would have described the barracks as utilitarian, if she knew what that meant or even knew it was a word. The only way any of them, with the exception of Rarity, could think to describe the place was bland. There were rows of single beds with footlockers at the bottom. Nothing else at all was in the room.

“Why don’t you three go and pick your beds” Rarity suggested, looking to her sister. The three young Crusaders walked off to find the three identical bunks that were most to their liking. Once those were picked the two older sisters chose to find beds far enough away to allow them their privacy but close enough to keep an eye on them. They all got to putting their belongings in their footlockers. Ten minutes later they exited the barracks.

Tail Wind was stood in the same place as he had before, this time wearing a set of much heavier barding than he had previously. He looked to them as they left their barracks.

“Rarity, Applejack Storm needs to speak to you in the command centre. Training begins for you three now.”

“Gotcha” Applejack responded as she and Rarity turned to climb the stairs that they had watched Storm climb earlier.

“Alright, this is the only warning you will get so listen up. We are part of the Equestrian military I am a commander and you are recruits, as such you will address me as commander Wind or sir, is that understood?”

“SIR YES SIR” the three fillies chorused excitedly.

“Good now I need to get you all outfitted in your armour before we start. You will learn how to fight in and out of your armour. You will then be conditioned to fight even in the most extreme of environments. Follow me and I will measure you up for it.” He paused, waiting for the expected response from the young ones in front of him. Nothing came. “When I give an order you are supposed to respond with ‘yes sir’” he informed them.

“SIR YES SIR”

“Better, now come on.” He turned on his rear hoof marching stiffly to the building he had entered when they arrived.

“You asked to see us Storm?” Rarity asked as she entered the command building. The building was one room with a large map of Equestria on a table in the centre. There were books on the shelves all around small cupboards that stood low to the ground along the back below a large board covered in pictures of Vampires and notes. Strom was stood by the room’s only window looking out over the practice area.

“Yes, I wanted to discuss your roles here.” He answered turning to them, his eyes still held all the rage that had shown after the darkness, but it was now tempered like the fires of a forge, forced into something constructive. “We need to find the specific jobs that would suit you two since you can’t just pick up skills like we can. So what jobs did you have before you got caught up in this?”

“Well I was a seamstress; my clothes were worn by all the elite of Canterlot.” Rarity answered.

“Ah was an apple farmer but I did occasionally do the catering at some big events, like the wedding in Canterlot not too long ago. Ah can bake anything from fritters to pies in the blink of an eye.” The earth pony answered.

“OK, good we can put you in charge of the food and maybe the supply chains as I’m sure you will have experience with that sort of thing.” Storm said to Applejack before turning to the other unicorn “As for you Rarity I wonder, have you ever worked with metal at all?”

“On occasion when I needed a piece of jewellery to accent one of my pieces. But I have never made anything bigger than a necklace”

“It doesn’t matter I can teach you how to make our armour, I have taught ponies before I can do it again.” As he said the last part the fire behind his eyes that had lasted for hours flickered slightly as if someone had blown lightly on the flame of a candle, a second later and it was gone like it had been snuffed out. “OK so you are both equally responsible for the care of the weapons but as I said we train to look after our weapons, just because we can find them anywhere doesn’t mean it’s a good idea. Rarity you’ll be in charge of the armour and repairs and whichever of you two is most qualified to do so will be in charge of medical the other their assistant, anyone who isn’t injured is expected to aid in the care of those that are.”

“That would be me then; years of work on the farm’ll teach you how to treat most serious injuries.”

“Tail is our medical chief at the minute; I’ll make sure he knows to teach you everything you need to know. That’s everything, report to your stations, Applejack the mess hall is yours unless somepony comes in injured. Rarity you and I will go to the armoury when Tail and the others are done in there.”

“What are they doing in there?” Rarity asked immediately.

“They’re getting outfitted with their first sets of armour. Oh, in the future refer to me as captain, captain Storm or just sir; we are still part of the Equestrian military. You count as civilian contractors so you don’t have technically have ranks but you still answer to us. Rarity I’ll come and get you when you are needed. Until then dismissed.” The two mares gave a salute before leaving. Rarity turned before she left.

“One more question captain, who is Moon Shadow?”

Meteor Storm sighed “He is a Vampire a powerful and old one. He has affected both my life and Commander Wind’s. Dismissed.”

Realising that the conversation was over Rarity turned and continued on out of the room, leaving Storm to stand alone. “And so it begins, you will not escape again Moon Shadow.” A shadow detached itself from the surroundings and stepped out along the wall next to Storm “Or maybe it is you who won’t escape young one.” The shadow said before a small piece of it broke off, fleeing into the darkness. Storm watched unsurprised.

“ARRRGH” the dark pony screamed as one of the three pieces of metal embedded in his back was removed.

“Be quite you fool, you know you can’t heal without these coming out so just grin and bear it.” Moon shadow admonished, looking angrily at the only other survivor of his hastily planned attack. He pulled both the remaining silver feathers from his soldiers back “Done, leave.” The other pony wasted no time in getting up and leaving his sire’s sight.

“SON OF A DIAMOND DOG” Moon Shadow screamed kicking at the wall which crumbled under the force of his anger. “Every time I get close something happens.” the dark unicorn fumed. He took a deep, calming breath of cool air, the earthy scents of the cave he called home tickling the back of his nose.

“At least we learned something.” The voice came from nowhere, and everywhere at the same time.

The Vampire didn’t even flinch “There are three new Crusaders and they have family with them, but I already knew that didn’t I?” he asked the voice.

“That we did. We didn’t know, however, that the three were but foals.” The voice answered this time from one direction, as it finished its sentence the body of a black unicorn with crimson eyes, a dog’s fur and bat ears stepped from the shadows to Moon Shadow’s left. The new pony was an exact replica of the one that had been alone a second ago. Most would just say that all Vampires look the same but Moon Shadow new that this pony looked the same as him for one simple reason. The shadow took two steps forward and fused into the dark unicorn. “It feels so nice to be whole again.”

Author's Note

That shadow next to you moved, it's mouth opened and it told you to comment. I think you should do what it says, you never know what it might do.

8 Muscle Ache

"Alright fillies, take 5." Tail Wind barked. After he had gotten them measured for Storm to make them a set of armour, he had taken them out onto the practice field again and ordered them over to a small out of the way stone outhouse like structure. Inside they found various different weights from dumbbells to some strange device shaped like a Pegasus’ wing. They had taken a few of the dumbbells and a few weighted saddles each, Commander Storm had then put the heaviest that they could possibly carry on each of them and ordered them to gallop around the training ground for half an hour. Needless to say when the order to stop came the three young crusaders dropped like so many sacks of potatoes. That had been a couple of weeks ago. They had just finished a similar drill when Captain Wind had told them to take a break. Today they were practicing stealth. The cave was darkened and Storm had erected walls around the place to form a maze like structure. The crusaders then had the weighted saddles placed on them by Tail and Rarity. The saddles this time came with an assortment of pots and pans as well as other pieces of metal attached that made loud clattering sounds whenever they moved. After the five minute break was over Tail called them to attention. They all stood up, quickly standing to attention giving him smart salutes. “At ease recruits.” He said giving them a salute in return. “Today as you already know we are practicing stealth, Vampires have increased night vision and hearing, a few benefits from the bats and wolves, they also have a slightly more acute sense of smell than a pony.”

“We need to be able to sneak up on them without them noticing and not allow them the same chance, we got lucky the last time, they didn’t even try stealth.” said a strangely echoing voice from right behind the three fillies. They spun around quickly to find Meteor Storm had crept up behind them without making a sound even though he was in his full Crusader armour. The armour was made of a dull metal that was surprisingly light considering how much there was, it was still incredibly heavy though the only time they had wore a piece they each had put on one of the boots, and had been stuck to the ground until they took them off. Storm wore his Champron with its strange reflective covering over the eyes, it was crystal clear on the inside and mirror like on the out. The thickened Criniere that protected his neck had been an adaptation the oldest of the Crusaders had made to their standard armour, along with a thickened Peytral protecting his chest.

“Right. Now you will all go in from the same point and we will both go in from two other points. Your job is to get to the centre without running into us. You all get that?” Commander Wind explained.

“Sir, yes sir!” The three fillies answered.

“Good. Actually I’m feeling confident; you can have a minute’s head start on us. Starting now.” The three fillies gave him a salute then hurried into the entrance to the maze.

“How do we do this? A maze I could deal with but while avoiding those two?” Scootaloo asked shaking her head slightly.

“Well, if we move slowly then we can reduce the noise we make, and then we can focus more on the maze.” Apple Bloom answered.

“I doubt Captain Storm will have set up a really hard maze in only a few hours, he probably used a rule to help him like ‘right is up left is down’.”

“So you’re saying we just have to find the rule he used then we can focus on avoiding them?” Scootaloo asked. “How do we find the rule?”

“That’s the thing, to find it I would have to observe the whole of the maze.” Sweetie answered looking sheepish and a little crestfallen. “Or I could just ask Storm.”

“Mind explaining how you know these things?” Apple Bloom asked inquisitively.

“I like puzzles okay.” Sweetie answered defensively. “We could go by trial and error, why don’t we start with right takes you to the centre and left away?”

“Good a plan as any, ah guess.” The yellow Earth pony answered. So they set off forward taking care not to walk to closely together or too quickly to reduce the noise from the saddles they wore. Three turns later they found an exit, and quickly moved back around the corner they came around.

“How long has it been?” asked Scootaloo.

“A couple minutes by now.” Apple Bloom answered in a whisper.

“Right so we know that there are at least three entrances to this maze, and we have found two. That must also mean we aren’t getting closer to the centre. So we can rule the right is closer rule out.” Sweetie said thoughtfully.

“We don’t even know if there is a rule.” Scootaloo pointed out. “Why don’t we just try to find the – look out.” She hissed pulling Sweetie and Apple Bloom roughly to the right wall, there saddles clanking loudly.

“Scoots what’s gotten into you?” Sweetie muttered pulling away from the Pegasus.

“Tail. I saw him flying over the maze, looking for us.”

“Dirty cheater.” Apple Bloom muttered. “Do you think he saw us?”

“I don’t think it will matter that much, we made a lot of noise just then.” Sweetie observed, nervously looking to the sky.

“Well we can’t just sit here waiting for him to find us.” Scootaloo said. “I have an idea. Sweetie how strong are you?”

“Pretty strong, it depends sometimes if I’m scared I might be as strong as Big Mac. Why?”

“In a second. Apple Bloom, I assume you’re pretty strong to?”

“Ah don’t like to toot my own horn but I’m not much weaker than AJ.” She answered.

“Good, here’s what I think we should do…”

“You find them?” Storm asked his comrade as he flew a slow circle over the maze.

“I think so. I think I saw the unicorn and then I heard their saddles. They’re over by your entrance.” The Pegasus answered. He started to move circling over the area he had indicated.

“I owe you a drink.” Storm grumbled ass he teleported over to the area specified. He exited into a massive cloud of dust. Coughing after inhaling a large amount he lit his horn and quickly cast a spell to filter the air in front of him and another to clear the dust. He heard Scootaloo shouting something as his coughing fit died down. He quickly sent a couple of stunning spells into the rapidly disappearing dust cloud.

Sweetie bucked the wall feeling it crumble into dust beneath her hooves. She felt Apple Bloom pass her a few seconds later running through the hole she had made into the clean air on the other side she, ran up to the next wall pivoting on her front hooves as she reached it giving a mighty buck with nearly the same effect, she didn’t make as big a hole as Sweetie had made but it was enough. There was a flash from behind them, followed by the sound of Scootaloo’s wings buzzing, sending the dust the other two had kicked up towards the area the flash had come from.

“Storm’s here! Get moving.” she yelled at them. Sweetie Belle charged forward, head lowered and broke through the next wall and kept going, Apple Bloom struggling to keep pace behind her with Scootaloo binging up the rear blowing the dust behind them creating a smokescreen. It took Sweetie a few seconds to realize when the other two stopped, frozen in their tracks. She looked back to ask what was wrong and jumped to the right, just barely avoiding a third stunning spell that shot through the dust cloud. A second after she landed she felt something crash into her back pushing her to the floor and pining her there, another weight pressing on her head preventing her from moving and concentrating enough to cast a spell, not that she could if she wanted to.

A pair of hooves entered her vision before a bright flash and a feeling like she had attempted the Running of the leaves with the weighted saddle on. A second later she was lifted and placed on her hooves, where she stood not able to move a muscle, not even lift her head. She heard wings flapping away and then return a soft clopping noise as three sets of hooves touched down two either side of her and the third behind them. There was another flash and she was able to move again.

“Do you know what you did wrong?”

“We panicked and gave up on stealth.” Sweetie answered, tired and disappointed that they had been caught so quickly.

“That was actually the point that you work together the best. You and Apple Bloom used your strength to smash walls, while Scootaloo used her wings to blow the dust away to make sure that the dust was clear of you and formed a large smoke screen to stop us from targeting you.” The voice of Tail told her from behind.

“Don’t worry, you’ll all feel really worn out that’s a side effect of the spell, it’ll wear off in a few minutes.” Storm informed them. “Now what you should have done is utilised your unique abilities to help you. For example all Earth ponies can sense the ground for a certain distance around them, so you Apple Bloom would be able to find your way through the maze and avoid me easily. You Scootaloo should have used your naturally fast reflexes and enhanced spatial awareness to keep watch for potential threats, which you did, well done.” Despite her muscles aching Scootaloo swelled slightly with pride at the praise. “You should have worked together using these abilities to help you avoid us.”

“Ah didn’t know ah could sense the ground around me.” Apple Bloom remarked.

“You’d have to ask your sister about that. Scootaloo I can teach you how to sense the air properly if you don’t know already.” Tail informed the Pegasus and Earth pony.

“I’ll work with you until you can cast properly Sweetie.” Storm added. “But this wasn’t really important, it was just a way to test your skills individually and how you work as a group.”

“Alright that’s enough of a rest, get yourselves to the showers then meet me in the classroom.” Tail ordered walking past them and taking off, flying toward their classroom.

“The first thing you will learn is how to destroy a vampire. Notice I said ‘destroy’ not ‘kill’. This is because vampires are no longer living how do we know this?” Captain Wind asked looking to his pupils. Sweetie, naturally, was the first hoof in the air. “Sweetie?”

“It’s because they can’t make or regenerate their own life-force, they have to steal it from others.”

“A perfect answer. So the Vampires have a few weaknesses most are well known, anyone want to hazard a guess?” Sweetie’s hoof was not the only one in the air, this time it was joined by those of her two friends. “Apple Bloom?”

“Sunlight.”

“Good, Scootaloo?”

“Fire?” She asked hesitantly.

“Yes, very good. Sweetie?”

“Err… Silver?”

“Yes, silver is one of the few metals that can harm them. A few things that are told to people are garlic and rosewood stakes dipped in water blessed by Celestia; these are all false with the exception of the last one the blessed water will weaken them but it being water they normally just freeze it before it gets to them. What do you think you have to do to destroy a Vampire?” he asked pointing to Scootaloo.

“Make them stand in sunlight.” her answer came immediately.

“Very good, that would destroy them but not very useable unless they are particularly stupid. any others?”

“Burn them?” Apple Bloom asked.

“Yes that is one way although that is normally a unicorn tactic as they can focus the heat in their surroundings into fire, that it? Can’t think of any other ways?” He looked around the room to see a three heads shaking. “OK, well there are; one other way is to cut their heads off, this effectively separates the majority of their stolen life force from the brain which directs it. Another way is to force enough silver into their system, silver actually transforms life-force into other forms of energy to make it as un-reactive as gold, it’s not effective against living ponies because we can regenerate our life-force quicker than it can be stolen, it is also why we use silver and gemstones as magic batteries to fuel spells without unicorns being around all the time. So, to recap, the main ways to destroy Vampires are?”

“Burn them.” Scootaloo answered.

“Cut their heads off.” Apple Bloom answered.

“Put silver in them or lead them into sunlight.” Sweetie answered.

“All good answers. Now let’s go over ways to spot a Vampire or a Vampire’s thrall.”

“Thralls are practically zombies, they have no free will and aren’t technically sentient like ponies.” Sweetie rattled off.

“Oh come on Sweetie, you keep this up and you’ll make us look bad!” Scootaloo cried in a playfully exasperated way. The Commander chuckled.

“Yes that was a completely textbook answer Sweetie Belle. But do any of you remember how to spot a Vampire?” The grey Pegasus asked. No hooves were raised. “No one? Okay then, there are a few ways to spot a Vampire, one is that they won’t be outside during the day, and if they are they will be avoiding direct contact with sunlight as much as possible. They have a problem with crossing running water, so it’s a good way to discover a Vampire. It also provides a good way to avoid them, if you need to escape one then just run over a bridge. There are a few other detection techniques but they are more specific to individuals or are less reliable or really complex so those are the main ones we use. Any questions?”

“Why would Vampires be scared of the river Styx?” Scootaloo asked hoof raised.

“Vampires tend to have lived longer than most ponies should, this is all speculation we have no real ideas like I said we haven’t really looked into it that much. Their unnaturally long life leads them to fear that the river Styx will take them and carry them away to Tartarus. Anyone else got a question before lunch?” The stallion asked looking around to see that no hooves were raised. “Good I’m starving.” With that he took wing gliding over the heads of the three fillies to the door. “Before I forget Apple Bloom I still need to speak to you in the command centre, go there after lunch.” He added as he left.

“What did you need me for Commander?” Apple Bloom asked as she entered the Command centre. Tail Wind had taken up a position by the window watching the other two fillies train with Meteor Storm.

“Do you remember what we talked about on our journey over here?” he asked without looking away from the orange Pegasus who was currently sparing with Storm using a retractable hoof blade. Similar to the ones he liked to use. The hoof blade consisted of a Vambrace strapped to her hoof. The blade was attached to a mechanism that allowed it to be extended or retracted with precise movements; this was attached to the top of the Vambrace to allow the full range of motion for the hoof.

“You mean Scootaloo not bein’ able to fly?” she asked.

“Yes, you said there was special equipment that could help her fly like other Pegasi.”

“Yeah but it’s really expensive, only really rich ponies can afford it.”

“We can make pretty much anything we need, how do you think we maintain this place?”

“Well I guess I could give you the specifications, me and my sister once tried to make a set of it for Scoots; but we didn’t have a forge like you do or your skills with it so it didn’t end so well.”

“Thank you. Just write them down on a piece of paper and leave it on the table, then get back to your friends you still need to train like them.” The yellow filly gave a salute before setting to work.

THUNK…THUNK

“Ha, you call that a hit? I’ve had a harder time fighting flies!” Storm crowed after successfully blocking two more of Scootaloo’s strikes. They had been sparing for twenty minutes and the orange filly hadn’t gotten anywhere near to touching the stallion. She was however very close to exploding with anger. In the last few minutes she had been hit no less than fifteen times by the wooden unicorn sword that the Captain was holding in his magic. She was bruised from head to toe, she was getting tired both physically and mentally of Storm and Sweetie Belle who was sat on the sidelines, sniggering quietly at Storm’s jokes. In short her fuse was about to be burnt up.

“RRRAAAWWR!” She screamed diving into another attack swinging as hard and fast as she could. She started her wings buzzing reducing her weight and increasing her agility. She jumped from side to side dodging a few of his swings. She dodged a swing to her right by jumping left; realizing too late that it was a feint when the wooden sword quickly flicked around to come from her right. She just raised her sword in time to block the strike, she didn’t, however, stop flapping her wings. Her reduced body mass combined with the power of the strike sent her flying across the arena.

“That,” Storm said rising to walk over and offer a hoof, he had been sat in the same spot on the floor for ten minutes; “is why you shouldn’t forsake stability for agility.” Scootaloo reached up for his hoof. Then, with a quick buzz of her wings she flipped over to bring her sword singing to his right side.

THUNK…BANG…THUNK…click-clack

The sword was stopped an inch from Storms neck by his own sword. He then proceeded to flip the orange Pegasus over his head while spinning to land in exactly the same position as the were before the manoeuvre, this time though Scootaloo was on her back with her sword a few feet away and Storm’s sword pressed against her throat.

“A surprise attack, I’m impressed. You used your position to hide your intentions until the last second but you lost your balance when I lifted you. If you had recovered then this duel would have lasted longer.” He remarked casually as if he were commenting on the weather, and didn’t have a sword pressed to the throat of a young Pegasus. He removed his sword from her throat and once again offered her his hoof. She took it allowing him to pull her to her hooves.

“So when are you planning on teaching us to fight? At the minute it just looks like you enjoy an excuse to beat me up.”

“I have been teaching you, there would be no merit in just giving you the information. This way you learn how to fight but you also learn how to adapt to the ever changing situation of a true battle.” Storm informed her proudly. “Now I think we have sparred long enough. Sweetie Belle you’re up, pick your weapon!”

“Ouch”

“You can say that again Scoots”

“Ouch”

“Very funny, Apple Bloom how are you not as hurt as me and Scoots?”

“Ah am ah just don’t complain about it.” The filly in question replied as she dropped into her waiting bed

“She also didn’t take as much of a beating as we did, again.” A distinctly more purple Scootaloo added as she found her own bed and promptly collapsed into it.

“Ah did to. Ah fought Storm for near an hour with those weighted shoes, those things are heavy.” Apple Bloom responded, her voice muffled by the pillow her face was pressed into.

“Yeah, but he didn’t hit you as many times as he did me and Sweetie. He hit me clear across the room!” Scootaloo argued.

“That’s because she didn’t give him many chances, Apple Bloom was quick on her hooves and kept blocking his sword, whereas you just charged in screaming your head off.” Sweetie commented already in her bed with her eyes closed.

“What time is it?” Came Scootaloo’s voice a few minutes later. Apple Bloom mustered her strength and rolled her aching body over to face the clock that hung at the far end of the room, above the door that lead to the site of their most recent torture at the hooves of the unicorn Captain.

“It’s half seven, why?” She asked.

“Dinner gets served at eight.” Scootaloo informed her staring at the ceiling.

“Well if you two go can you bring me something back, I don’t think I can move from this bed.”

“No, you didn’t even fight Storm for ten minutes before you gave up. If any of us should stay here, it’s me I got hit the most, at least thirty times.” Scootaloo complained.

“Fine we’ll all go. But I want to sleep for a little while first.”

“That’s not a good idea.” Apple Bloom told her looking in the direction of her bed.

“Why not? Sleep sounds good right about now.” Scootaloo said.

“Your muscles will get stiff and it’ll be even harder to get up at eight. Trust me, this is something you learn when you try to buck apples all day.” She answered rolling over again onto her hooves.

“Alright then what do you think we should do Bloom?” Scootaloo asked as she rolled onto her hooves.

“Ah don’t know just something to keep us moving until dinner, after that we don’t have to go anywhere.”

“Fine, any suggestions Sweetie Belle?” No response came from the third bed, the two friends turned to look back for the third member of their group.

“Sweetie Belle?” Scootaloo asked again, moving to the bed under whose covers a small lump betrayed the presence of Sweetie Belle. As Scootaloo got closer she heard quiet breathing and occasional mumbles. “She asleep, I don’t believe it.”

“Just leave her, Ah reckon she must have been mighty tired to fall asleep so quick. We’ll bring her a plate of food later so she don’t starve.” Apple Bloom told her as she walked out the door, soon joined by Scootaloo.

“So what are we going to do?” Scootaloo asked again.

“Ah don’t know, ah’m just gunna walk.” She replied setting off in a random direction.

“Sounds good to me.” Scootaloo said hurrying a little to catch up.

The two walked around ‘The Candle’ for a time. They did a lap of the practice field, and were walking between some of the older buildings when Apple Bloom decided to break the silence.

“You alright Scoots?”

“Sure, why wouldn’t I be?” She asked looking at her friend. They were walking between two of the buildings that were used as store houses. The Commander had left again the day after they got to ‘The Candle’ and had returned a little later with a cart load of food which he had told them to help put away in the storehouses they were walking between.

“You just seem quiet is all, and ah don’t think ah’ve seen a smile on your face since we started the journey here.”

“Yeah, I’m fine” she replied not looking at Apple Bloom. The yellow Earth pony stopped and held out a hoof to stop Scootaloo and make her look.

“Scoots you know you can talk to me about anything right? Ah promise if you don’t want me to tell someone else then ah will take it to my grave.”

“Yeah, I know I can talk to you and trust you to keep my secrets Bloom.” She started walking again and Apple Bloom resumed her course next to her friend. “It’s just…” She said a few seconds later.

“What is it?”

“I stole that money from my dad. I do it all the time, but normally it’s just to make sure we have food instead of letting him spend it on drinks.”

“You’re worried about him?” Apple Bloom asked.

“Yeah, he’s been a drunken slob since mum, but I’ve always taken care of him because he couldn’t take care of me. He drinks because he’s sad, sad that mum’s gone. Now I’ve gone too.”

“He’ll be fine; you told him you were leaving right?”

“Yeah I left him a note so I know he would know I left when he was sober enough to read. But that’s only one thing I’m worried about.” She looked at Apple Bloom stopping once again. “Do you think we are really doing the right thing? Becoming Crusaders like this?”

Apple Bloom stopped for a second contemplating her answer. “Yes.” she said eventually “Well more like ah don’t think we’re doing the wrong thing. You still havin’ the nightmares?”

“Yeah.”

“Me too, Tail and Storm both say that’s a sign that we really are Crusaders. We’ve seen our ability with various skills like the forge or your swords. We were attacked by the Vampires so we know we have to fight them if only to prevent others from fighting them. So yeah I think that we are doing the right thing.” The young Earth pony smiled at her friend.

“Thanks Apple Bloom, I feel a lot better now. Maybe don’t tell anyone else about this?”

“If you don’t want me to tell anyone else, I’ll take this conversation to my grave.”

“Thanks. Come on dinner must be ready by now.”

“Right behind you.” The two fillies turned around and retraced their steps to the mess hall, where they sat down and ate, talked and Scootaloo smiled.

9 Injury time

“Focus recruit, there’s no point in attempting this if you can’t focus on it.” Captain Meteor Storm berated his young student.

“How can you be so calm and focused when Commander Wind and the others are out there?” Sweetie Belle asked her voice strained from concentration and exhaustion. They had spent almost the entire day training. What they were doing wasn’t actually physically draining, but having her magic completely blocked was straining on Sweetie’s system.

“I am so calm because I know Tail can take care of himself, in fact without using magic I’m a much weaker soldier than he is.” He informed her without opening his eyes. “It probably helps that we are meditating.” He added as an afterthought.

“Fine.” Sweetie conceded before closing her eyes again and focusing on taking the stone that her captain was holding in his magic. This is how her and Storms training sessions had been since a week after they had arrived in the candle. Sweetie wore a helmet that blocked all but the faintest possible trickle of her magic; this meant that she could feel her magic properly and from there direct it. She was then to attempt to direct this into taking a stone that Storm was levitating in his magic away from him. She had succeeded once or twice for a few seconds to hold the stone very unsteadily in the air.

She focused herself reaching out with her senses feeling the world around her sensing the unique feel of another unicorns magic. She felt the stone and directed her tiny trickle of magic to pick it up. It was like suddenly losing all the muscle in her front legs then being told to stand upside down on them while they were positioned over a bed of nails, in other words very difficult and quite painful. She reached out with her magic like it was another hoof. She carefully enveloped the other magic with the stone inside it then gently pushed it away from the stone, this felt kind of like squeezing yoghurt out of a tube. When the last of Storm’s magic was gone from the stone Sweetie opened her eyes. The stone was now floating in an aura of light blue magic, and it was stable.

Just then the door opened, slamming loudly against the wall making Sweetie jump, lose her focus and drop the stone. Scootaloo stood in the door way. She was much taller than when they had arrived, a year and a half ago. They had all had growth spurts and she now stood a little short of Applejacks height. However, she had retained her stockiness; they all had to some degree, in the thick corded muscles that rippled softly beneath her skin. Nowhere was the change in her physique more noticeable than around her chest and between her shoulders, they were now thick with bulging flight muscle.

“Apple Bloom’s hurt, she’s in the infirmary.” She told the two unicorns.

“What?! This is why I was worried!” Sweetie shouted at Scootaloo and Storm.

“Report recruit!” The captain ordered.

Scootaloo snapped to attention. “We were all walking back through the dark zone after having delivered all outgoing mail and picked up the supplies and some incoming mail from the Crystal Empire. Apple Bloom was on guard while I pulled the cart and the commander flew air support. As we were walking through the dark band we were attacked by five Vampires. Commander Wind took two down before they reached us then proceeded to engage a third, Apple Bloom engaged the fourth and fifth while I continued forward under the commander’s orders. Apple Bloom destroyed one a little before the commander destroyed his target, unfortunately Apple Bloom’s other target got a good hit in before commander Wind could assist. He helped her onto the wagon and we made for ‘the Candle as fast as possible. We got her to the infirmary before I left to find you two.”

“I assume that Commander Wind has started medical treatment?” Storm asked.

“Yes, sir.”

“Good. Come with me, both of you.” With that Storm stood and left the two young mares hurrying to catch up.

When they reached the infirmary they saw Rarity stood outside with a foreleg over Applejack’s shoulder. Applejack turned away from the door she was staring at when she heard their approach. She stood and almost knocked Storm down as she charged straight at him.

“Why won’t he let me in to see her? To help her?!” She shouted at him, worry and fear present in her voice and on her face.

“He won’t let you in because your related, you aren’t thinking clearly and you could make a mistake. At this point a mistake could cost Apple Bloom her life. Tail Wind is one of the best, I can’t count the number of times he’s patched me up.” Storm told her in a calm, placating voice. “Don’t worry she’ll be fine. I’m going in to see if and how I or anyone else can help. Sweetie Belle Scootaloo stay out here and take care of them.”

“Sir.” They threw a salute before moving to comfort the two mares. Storm turned and pushed through the doors.

“Tail, what happened?” He asked the other stallion, who was busy checking over a small yellow form on a stone table covered in a white cloth.

“We were attacked, Bloom here was fighting two at once, and she got hit in the side with a hammer.”

“A hammer? That’s an unusual weapon, not many ponies use them.”

“Yeah well, she’s got a couple cracked ribs and her right foreleg is shattered, she’ll be fine if I can set it, she needs time off while the ribs heal.”

“Good, do you need any help?”

“No, I don’t think there’s any internal bleeding and I can set legs easily. She needs to stop training or doing anything for the next month at the minimum.”

“Alright, I’ll tell them the news they’re waiting outside. When will she be able to see visitors, when the sleep rune wears off? She won’t be able to say much she will need a lot of painkillers.”

“Okay so tomorrow earliest right?”

“Looks about, which reminds me, need you to charge another crystal for me, I like to keep the runes ready to use.”

“Alright I’ll do it later.” Storm turned and exited the infirmary. Stepping back outside he was instantly barraged with questions. “Okay everyone calm down, I’ll tell you everything. First Apple Bloom has two cracked ribs and her right foreleg was shattered by a Vampire’s hammer. Second you will be able to see her tomorrow at the earliest, when the sleep rune that’s in effect has worn off. Third, she won’t be training, or even, I suspect, leaving the medical wing for the next few weeks to a month at least. Finally when you do visit her don’t expect much conversation, Tail is going to have to have her swimming in painkillers.”

That silenced everyone except Applejack. “Well, you can’t keep me from staying with her while she recovers; she’s my sister after all.”

“No I guess I can’t, but only you and you can’t touch her, she needs rest and she needs to stay still. You can’t stay in there the whole time anyway, you’re our head chef.” He told her sternly.

“Fine.” She sighed.‘At least ah can stay with her.’ She thought. “Will the commander tell me where she’s going to be staying?”

“He’ll pass you taking her to the medical rooms they’re over there.” He informed her pointing to a set of rooms adjacent to the medical room they were all standing in front of. “As soon as she’s stable and just needs time to recuperate he’ll move her over there.” Applejack nodded thanking him. “As for the rest of you, Rarity I want you to help out by starting to prepare lunch. Sweetie you’re to continue with our exercises. Use the 20 kilo weight. Scootaloo come with me to the ops centre, we need to debrief.” Sweetie patted Applejack on the back and left back to the room she and Storm had left. Scootaloo followed Storm into the ops centre leaving Rarity and Applejack alone.

Back in their training room Sweetie looked over the equipment they had been using, trying to relax a little. The stone she had been holding earlier was on the floor where it had been left, the ‘stone’ was made of a special blend of Iron and Rodan, which made it extremely difficult to hold in a levitation field. Rodan is an extremely unreactive material making it very hard to control with magic, the Iron in the stone made it extremely heavy increasing the difficulty of lifting it. It was designed to improve fine magical manipulative skills as the Rodan would only move if the right amount of force was applied in the right way. The ‘stone’ wouldn’t stay completely still without those forces however, it wobbled when held in a levitation field unless it was stabilised by small tendrils of force provided by the unicorn. She looked to the weight set, it was similar to the stone in that they were all Iron and Rodan, they were trapeziums with a ring at the top and their weight stamped onto the front. These were designed to increase a unicorn’s strength, not specifically the amount of power they could produce but reduce the amount of power required to lift the weights. An example of this being that Sweetie could now lift the fifteen kilo weight with the effort that most unicorns require to lift a particularly heavy book. She set to work lifting the twenty kilogram weight.

Scootaloo walked into the command centre following captain Storm. They walked to the table with a map of the area laid out on top a few places marked and notes on pieces of paper around the edges.

“Trace your route; mark all the points of interest. Where you entered the city where you left and where the fight took place.” The teal stallion instructed. Scootaloo picked up the pencil in her mouth and immediately set to tracing the route they had taken on the map. The route wound south of the entrance to the candle before sweeping around to enter the Crystal city from the east, it then exited the city at the north western side and took a similar route they had used on the way ‘The Candle’ for the first time passing the ice canyon that housed the sleeping Chimera. She looked over the route and drew a large cross on the route line a little way after the Chimera’s resting place. She also drew two lines one before and one after the cross.

“Done,” she stated calmly.

Storm walked over to her looking down at the map, tracing the line with his eyes. “What are these lines for?” He asked indicating the ones either side of the cross.

“That’s where the dark zone was this time, sir”

“I see,” he said. “Good work, very thorough.” he looked over the map again then took a few steps around the table to pick up a few pieces of paper then walked back. Picking up the pencil he started to draw shapes on the map. When he was done he took a step back to observe his handiwork. “What did they look like?” He asked Scootaloo.

“The Vampires that attacked us?” The young Pegasus asked. Storm nodded. “Long dog like fur, bat ears and green eyes, why?”

Storm didn’t answer he looked at the papers he had brought again then back to the map, he leaned against it to get a better view. “Hmm, it looks like Samael is making a move. This could be interesting.” He muttered as he pushed away from the map landing on all four hooves again. “You didn’t look them directly in the eyes did you?” He asked turning to look at Scootaloo.

“No sir.” she responded.

“Good. You are dismissed; go about your training as normal.”

“Yes sir.” she replied before she left the room.

Left alone he looked at the map again. “What are you up to Samael? Will you help me destroy him?” He asked his voice not far above a whisper.

The next day Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle and Rarity stood outside the medical room that housed the two Crusaders comrade. Rarity stepped forwards and knocked on the door. There was a shuffling from inside then the door opened and they were greeted by Applejack.

“Hello darling, I brought you some breakfast.” Rarity greeted her friend hovering over a small basket.

“Well thank you kindly Rarity.” Applejack said with a smile as she took the basket and the light blue aura that surrounded it faded away. “Would oo ike oo come in?” she asked around the basket handle.

“If ‘Bloom is awake sure.” Scootaloo answered the orange mare. Applejack nodded then turned and walked back into the room, leaving the door open inviting the three ponies outside in. The three mares entered. The room was empty of furniture except for the bed and a chair. There was a blanket over the chair indicating where Applejack had been all night.

Sat up in the bed staring at her friends was a young earth pony mare, with a butter yellow coat and a red mane held up in an ever present bow. Apple Bloom looked quite different from the little filly that was bullied at school by Diamond Tiara and Silverspoon. She was now almost twice her previous height and built like Big Macintosh, She had large hooves attached to equally large, well muscled legs. Her chest was the size of a rain barrel and every piece of her was toned and powerful. One of her legs was currently covered in bandages with the end of a splint poking out near the hoof.

“Hi girls.” she called to her friends waving her undamaged leg. Her speech was slurred slightly and her eyes only half open.

“Don’t move too much Apple Bloom, Doctors orders.” Applejack admonished her sister.

“Aw fine.” She sulked. Applejack placed some of the food from the basket onto a plate that Rarity had packed, and placed it into the small table in front of her sister. She then passed some food to the others before finally getting the food herself. They ate for a little while, quietly talking.

"She's dosed up to her eyes on painkillers. Doc said that's the best he can do. ribs're only cracked so they'll heal on their own but it'll hurt a lot until they finish." Applejack explained between bites.

"Is that why she's so...?" Scootaloo waved a hoof in front of her face.

"I believe the word is vacant, darling." Rarity corrected.

"Yes, she woke up a few hours ago and Storm walked in with a crystal, it's just there above her bed." The orange mare pointed to a softly glowing green crystal that was hanging a few feet above her sisters head, well out of Apple Bloom's reach.

They sat and talked for a little while before it was time for the two healthy Crusaders to leave to begin their training for the day, and Rarity had to help in the smithy. They said their goodbyes to Applejack and Apple Bloom, the latter of which waved with a goofy grin on her face. Sweetie and Scootaloo walked to the practice field together. Today was the day they were supposed to learn how to fight multiple enemies at once. Commander Wind and captain Storm had moved that portion of their training forwards in light of recent developments. They reached the practice field in good time and had nearly finished donning their armour by the time the commander and captain showed up, already wearing their own sets of armour.

"Atten-tion!" Storm shouted. The two young mares quickly snapped to attention saluting their superiors. Commander Wind saluted back.

"At ease recruits. As we have told you we're going to be fighting more than one opponent today. To that end you will be fighting each other and us at the same time. There will never be less than two Vampires to fight in the field, so you will not fight less than two people at once in training from now on. Pick your weapons and we will begin." Storm informed his pupils as he walked over to the weapon storehouse and unlocked it.

Scootaloo was the first to emerge with a hoofblade on each foreleg, followed soon after by Sweetie Belle who carried a large battleaxe and a bow on her back. They returned to their previous position, standing shoulder to shoulder at attention, hooves raised in a salute.

"Okay, first we'll have a little sparring match to assess both of your skills then I will teach you the best way to fight groups of similar pony tribe." Storm told them readying his meteor hammer in his magic, while Tail Wind did the same with his Steel Wings and hoof blades, taking off and hovering a foot above his previous position.

"Sir, yes sir." The two Crusaders declared in unison, dropping down into fighting stances and readying their own weapons.

"Welcome to Know your enemy 101. My name is captain Meteor Storm and today I will be teaching you both the strengths and weaknesses of the three pony tribes. Lets start with an easy one, What is the major weak point on a Pegasus?" The teal stallion looked at his slightly sore students who were sat on the ground to the right of the practice field. Scootaloo's hoof raise lazily into the air. After receiving a nod from Storm she answered.

"The wings, they are easy to break and if they are the Pegasus will be grounded and in a load of pain. They won't be able to think clearly and their major advantage over the other tribes will be gone until they heal."

"Correct, Scootaloo. Earth ponies have no defense against Pegasi, due to their ground based nature. However, if the Pegasi were to be grounded a strong earth pony would have very little trouble. Unicorns next I think."

Sweetie raised a hoof. "Aim for a unicorns horn, while they are channeling a spell it can become incredibly sensitive. They can also be disrupted by having a Rodan sheath placed over the horn, it will weaken or totally stop most unicorns magic."

"Correct, I expected you would know about the sheaths usual purpose after we trained with it." The captain smiled at his pupil. "Now how about Earth ponies? What's their weakness?" No hooves were raised right away at this question. Slowly Scootaloo raised her hoof, slightly unsure of her answer.

"They are grounded so... Pegasi could do flyovers and damage them that way, and unicorns can blast them with magic."

"That is correct, other than their unique strength and durability they have no innate strengths," Storm informed them. "The best way to deal with Earth ponies is to take them at a distance with magic or ranged weapons. All the tribes have weaknesses but they also have strengths, when three ponies from each of the tribes work together in absolute harmony they have no weakness."

Six weeks later.

Apple Bloom ducked under a wide swing from Scootaloo's sword, moving quickly she twisted it round so the Pegasus couldn't place it back on the floor. She kept running side stepping quickly as three razor sharp metallic feathers landed in a rough triangle, right where her neck had been only moments before. She looked up to see Tail Wind turning quickly to make another pass. She ran as fast as she could for Sweetie Belle who began to charge up a spell. Just as the white mare was about to release the spell and put an end to the young Earth pony Apple Bloom grabbed her roughly and turned her head so it was pointing at the commander. Shocked at this Sweetie panicked and did the only thing she could think of, she released her spell. The ball of magical energy with a comets tail flew with the speed of Rainbow Dash after a sonic Rainboom, impacting the commander in the place where his neck met his shoulders. He locked up and plummeted to the ground. Apple Bloom turned from the falling stallion long enough to slip a Rodan sheath over Sweetie's horn and bind her front legs. She returned her gaze to the Commander to see him floating in a teal aura of magic ten feet away from the floor.

"Well done Apple Bloom. That was some quick thinking, redirecting Sweetie Belle's horn to takeout Commander Wind." Captain Storm commented as he walked around a corner, his horn glowing as he lowered the stricken Pegasus he was holding to the floor and undid the stun spell Sweetie had cast. "However, you pretty much left Scootaloo to disappear and attack you at another time."

Just as he finished speaking there was a flurry of movement in the corner of Apple Blooms eye, she turned quickly to find her eye an inch away from the tip of Scootaloo's sword.

"Apart from that one mistake though you passed with flying colours, just like your friends." Storm smiled as he delivered his news. "Welcome to the Cutie Mark Crusaders, Captain Bloom."

10 Raid

The three ponies stood atop the hill, looking down on the cave entrance. All three were clad in specially made armour that covered almost all of their bodies, only the wings of the Pegasus and the unicorns horn were visible. They stood silently surveying the area. After a few minutes they retreated back to the other side of the hill.

"Ya think they're in there?" The Earth pony asked.

"I didn't see any sight of movement around the entrance. What about you, did you sense any magic in the area Sweetie?" She asked turning to the unicorn.

"A little. Nowhere near as much as normal though." She replied, as they walked back down the hill. At the base was a campsite that had two other ponies, dressed in a similar manner to the three returning ponies. The armour was a construct of overlapping dull grey plates of steel, that prevented any flesh from showing. The only section that wasn't like this was the small emblem that covered the area the Cutie Mark would be, the emblem was a yellow pony rearing against a blue background.

The two ponies around the campfire turned to look at the new arrivals. The Pegasus walked over to them and they saluted. "What's the report?" He asked.

"There's a small cave over the other side of the hill. Hoof marks on the ground around the entrance suggest recent activity. Apple Bloom reports sensing life-signs inside the cave and Sweetie Belle can sense some magic, however it is much weaker than usual." Scootaloo reported from underneath her helmet.

"Good work. What you say about the strength of the magic is a little worrisome but it's not of great concern. Get some food, we attack in a few hours."

"Sir, yes sir." The three Crusaders chorus saluting their superior smartly before they walk over to the fire and start helping themselves to the cooking stew.

All five Crusaders stood in their armour under the bright midday sun. They crept down the hill to the entrance of the cave the young ones had spotted earlier. They moved like shadows down the hill to form up on either side of the cave, the three young Crusaders on the one side and the two older on the other. Sweetie's horn lit up faintly for a second, Apple Bloom closed her eyes and Scootaloo opened her wings. Sweetie nodded confirming there were no magical traps in the entrance, Scootaloo and Apple Bloom nodded confirming that nopony was walking around or stood still inside the entrance. The two leaders nodded and Tail lifted a hoof, he tapped it against the ground once, twice, three times. On the third tap Apple Bloom swept through the entrance, silent as a ghost, followed immediately by Sweetie Belle and Meteor Storm with Tail Wind and Scootaloo flying overhead.

"Okay Sweetie, set it up." Storm commanded after they had swept the interior of the entrance chamber. Sweetie nodded and started to channel a spell. Her horn glowed faintly as she worked. When she finished she asked "did it work?"

"Yes, flawlessly done Sweetie Belle." Storms voice entered her mind through the newly established telepathic link.

"Wow, this is so cool." Scootaloo thought.

"Alright, there are two tunnels leading off from this chamber. Apple Bloom, Storm and Sweetie take the right hoof one, me and Scoots get the left."

"On it." Apple Bloom replied, speaking for all her assigned team. She joined Storm and Sweetie by the tunnel entrance before they disappeared like ghosts into the darkness.

"Looks like it's just us, little bird." Tail said aloud to the other Pegasus.

"Yeah, lets go kick some Vampire flank." She responded before taking to the air and hovering by the other end. Tail Wind chuckled and joined her, they shared a look before disappearing into the darkness, like wraiths.

They crept along just like they had been taught, making no noise in their heavy armour and hiding in the shadows. Storm led the way along the side of the tunnel. They didn't meet anypony until they had nearly left the tunnel, The Vampire looked just like every other one they had met, black mane-less and bright red eyes. It was facing away from them, so they continued until Apple Bloom was directly behind it. In less than the time it took her heart to beat she had jumped onto it's back and driven one of her weighted and bladed horseshoes through the back of his neck completely separating it's head from it's body before it had a chance to feel the pain. She dropped back to the floor with a muffled thud in a pile of ashes.

"Well done 'Bloom, that was amazing!" Sweetie enthused directing her thoughts through the link to her team mates.

"Thanks, I just trusted my trainin'." She told them, as they moved into the chamber at the end of the tunnel. They emerged behind a stalagmite in a large chamber that housed a large number of beds, most of which were occupied.

"Wind, we made it to the first chamber without incident. There are a lot Vampires in here most are asleep." Storm informed the commander.

"Alright, me and Scoots are coming up on our first chamber now. If you can't take them out one at a time use a sun bomb." Tail instructed.

"Okay, Apple Bloom move around to that entrance over there and take a peek through." Storm told the Earth pony aloud, quite enough that a mouse wouldn't be disturbed by the noise. Apple Bloom nodded her acknowledgment and moved off sticking to the shadow. A minute passed before Apple Bloom reached the other doorway undetected. She flattened herself to the wall next to it closing her eyes and sensing anyone standing on the far side, when she didn't she risked a look around the door.

"It's empty." She informed her leader and team mate.

"Good, stay there and you may want to cover your eyes." He warned his horn lighting up as he began to work a spell. He stored the power pulling it from deep within himself and pushing it into a pool just behind his horn. When he had gathered enough he started to force the raw energy into a form that he could use. It took him a few seconds to prepare the spell. When he was done he launched a small point of light from his horn to float near the ceiling of the cave, then with a final flourish he released the spell and the small ball of light exploded. The explosion was soundless and had no shock wave, but it did bring an intense heat and an almost blinding light, as if someone had concentrated sunlight and shined it directly into their eyes.

When the heat and light subsided Apple Bloom looked around to see the destruction that had been wreaked by Storm's spell. Ash covered everything, beds, tables and chairs. Nothing was burned but the ash was everywhere, the remnants of over thirty Vampires. Storm strode through the destruction, pulling a biscuit out of one of the pockets inside his armour as he did so.

"I hate that spell. I really need to refine it so that it takes less energy to cast. Perhaps reducing the amount of heat produced?" he muttered to himself as he ate. He finished his snack and looked to the two other Crusaders. "Come on, there are more further in." He told them before he walked through the door he had sent Apple Bloom to check less than three minutes previous.

They had cleared the first two chambers they had met in seconds. There had been four Vampires in the first, they had fallen to a triplet of silver feathers in the back each. Six in the second, that had taken a little more work and planning. They had stopped by the entrance to assess the situation, three were sleeping two were playing cards and one was reading.

"Are there normally this many awake? I thought they were nocturnal." Scootaloo asked.

Sweetie paused to look through her friends eyes. "What do you do when you can't sleep? I read a book." She answered returning to her own eyes.

"I guess. It really freaks me out when you do that you know."

"Sorry, but how else was I supposed to know what you were talking about?" Scootaloo grumbled quietly, her friend was right even if it did feel horrible to have a second conciseness using her eyes.

"We'll move in and take out the three that are awake first, I'll take the two playing cards you take the one with the book." Tail told her in a voice almost less than a whisper.

"Got it, we take them out on the move and we can get to the beds before those two get out if they aren't actually asleep." The other Pegasus returned, eyeing her target.

"Good call, on my word." He told her preparing to move, wings raised and poised to throw the blades strapped to his wings, half crouching to allow for a faster take off. She emulated him on the other side of the entrance. "Mark."

She pumped her legs, throwing herself through the entrance faster than a diamond dog with it's tail on fire. she lined up her target as she was moving, only needing to slow down a fraction to throw her feathers while maintaining her heading, she landed by one of the beds and twisted so that the leading edge of her right wing met and passed through the neck of the sleeping Vampire. The whole thing took ten seconds. Tail looked at her smiling "Just like we practiced." He said, then jerked his head to another chamber.

They entered to find something they hadn't expected. They were in a room, that looked almost like a temple. There were pillars and statues and at the far end a shrine. A shrine that had a picture of a purple cloud and a pure white crescent moon as the centre piece. From an entrance further along the wall to their own came a pair of Vampires, they took three steps before spotting the two Pegasi. They were just about to shout awakening every Vampire that still slept within the caves when they turned into ash. Sweetie stood behind them her horn glowing as she levitated two razor sharp swords with a silver edge.

"Good timing." Tail commented, nodding to Storm. The group moved down the right side of the hall towards a door that stood at the far end.

As they walked, looking out for anymore restless Vampires, Scootaloo inspected some of the statues. Some of them looked like Nightmare Moon. that was to be expected in a place dedicated to worshiping the dark mare, but some looked like strange alien creatures, similar to diamond dogs but not quite, and a few looked like regular ponies turned into stone, like Twilight after she met the cockatrice. The thing that freaked her out the most however was the ones that looked like regular ponies seemed to be moving, never while she was looking at them but every time she looked back at one after looking away to check for Vampires, they appeared to be in a slightly different position. There was nothing she could say for definite as it was subtle, a slight shift of an eyebrow here, down turned corner of a mouth there, but she was sure it was happening.

They reached the door at the far side, three young Crusaders to the right, their older counterparts to the left. "Okay, the leader of this group should be in here somewhere." Tail informed them, in a whisper. "We go in and we kill him, if there are any other true Vampires in this cave they will notice and we may have to fight our way out, Everypony ready?" He asked receiving nods in reply from everybody. "Lets do this then." He said opening the door and slipping silently into the room on the other side.

The room appeared to have been mined out as apposed to the naturally formed caves they had been fighting through. The walls were smooth with tapestries hung around, there were rugs on the floor, large comfy looking chairs, a fire sat in a fire place against the right wall, Storm informed them through their psychic link that it was enchanted to remove the smoke and transform it into water and coal. At the far side of the room was a large four poster bed that took up the whole wall, at least six ponies could easily fit in its silk sheets and not touch the sides. On the bed lay a Vampire, just as Tail had said there would be. "I'll cast a silencing spell on you all so you can sneak up on him." Storm said retreating back out the door so the light of his horn would not wake their target. He re-entered a few seconds later.

"Good, Sweetie you and Storm stay back here, Scoots you and me will hide near the ceiling and Apple Bloom, you'll have to get close to make sure you can finish him if we don't." Tail instructed flaring his wings in preparation for take off. Apple Bloom nodded and started forwards, sticking to the shadows. Scootaloo took off slowly, not making a noise or disturbing the ground with her down draft. The two Pegasi flew along the ceiling until they were five feet away from the Vampires bed.

Apple Bloom reached the side of the Vampires bed in a few seconds, crouching down ready to jump out with her razor sharp shoes at the slightest movement from the sleeping monster. Tail carefully landed on one of the bedposts, wings flared for balance. Scootaloo did the same on the other side, there was a soft 'thunk' as her hooves touched down. Everyone tensed up as the Vampire moved grunting quietly, relaxing again when he stared softly snoring.

"Ready." Scootaloo said aiming her wings to give the creature six razor sharp silver daggers to the heart.

"Ready" Storm and Sweetie Belle said together, swords raised and spell already in their minds.

"Ready" Apple Bloom said after checking the edges of her shoes, making sure they were all still sharp.

"Do it." Tail ordered, flicking both his wings, causing him to rise back into the air and sending six feathers flying straight at the Vampire, Scootaloo did the same from her perch. A total of twelve silver feathers with blades that could slice the hair in a ponies mane flew at the Vampire.

They all embedded themselves in the pillow and mattress of the bed.

"It was an illusion, we have to get out of here they know!" Tail roared turning and flying straight at the two unicorns and the door behind them. He was joined not long after by Apple Bloom and Scootaloo. They charged out the door to face a half circle of the stone ponies. "How did I not notice Golems." The Pegasus stallion complained.

"Don't beat yourself up. We haven't seen them for years." Storm consoled his friend while using telekinesis to smash two of the Golems together. Apple Bloom reared bringing her fore hooves down on the head of one of the constructs as it charged her. Scootaloo took off Tail close on her heels and together they strafed the line of Golems while Storm attacked with equal parts magic and hoof-to-hoof when the got to close and Sweetie sliced them to ribbons with her swords, protected from close range encounters by Apple Bloom. Apple Bloom dodged a right hook from one of the Golems causing its fist to crash through the skull of another that was running at her from the left. She grabbed the Golems outstretched arm with her forehoof and pulled it right while twisting anticlockwise shattering the arm halfway. She discarded the broken remains before driving her hoof into the creatures neck. Sweetie brought her swords round again in a wide arc, doing damage to a large number of the Golems. When her swords met up again she picked one Golem sneaking behind Storm, she brought one sword straight, firing it into the constructs chest and pinning it in place while she brought it's partner around in a devastating overhead swing that completely shattered it's whole upper half.

"Scootaloo, we should use the Whirlwind." Tail called to his younger counterpart through their link.

"Good idea. Everyone get to cover." She called, turning in mid-air to face the other Pegasus. Tail rose straight up while Scootaloo started forwards on an intercept course. They both reached a hoof out and as they passed locked forehooves, causeing Scootaloo to spin around Tail like the sails on a windmill. A second later and they let go of each other, Scootaloo back winging wildly to bleed as much speed as she could. Tail continued his spin, however, and as he spun he released the metal feathers on his wings, causing them to fly off in all directions. The silver darts landed amongst the Golems striking everywhere, decimating them.

When the barrage finished none of the Golems were standing. They all stood panting for a second, the Golems were little more than rocks on the ground. "We need to move, me and Scoots can only do that once more and the Golems will reform soon." Tail told them, starting to lead the way.

A few seconds later and Apple Bloom who was bringing up the rear was attacked. The Golem ran at her with a spear attached to its side that was made of the remains of another Golems leg. Apple Bloom swept her leg in an arc across her body knocking the spear to her right exposing the Golems left side. She swung her left hoof round decapitating the construct. "They've reformed, we need to move faster." She called before setting off at a full gallop after her friends.

She caught up to them halfway down the tunnel Scootaloo and Tail Wind had used during the infiltration. They had slowed due to the sudden appearance of what looked to be twenty or more Vampire thralls with a few piles of ash covering the floor around the four comrades. Sweetie was swinging her sword round in an arc in front of her slicing through the necks of a five ponies and cutting lines into the chest of three others. They were quickly taken out by Storm using hoof-to-hoof or one of the Pegasi. Suddenly, a trio of Pegasus thralls sprung up, crossbows attached to their hooves and fired at them. Sweetie screamed as one bolt found it's mark deep in her right flank, at a point between two segments of her armour.

"They've done it now" Tail muttered as Storm stopped the small movements that indicated he was watching his targets or casting a spell, and stood still. His horn lit up and the air around him began to shimmer and roil like the air over a fire. Then the thralls, every single one at the exact same time except for the Pegasi, exploded in a shower of blood and gore.

"Half the time and twice the energy it takes to sneeze." The enraged Stallion muttered. He gripped the Pegasus trio in his magic, and with a thought broke their wings. He then proceeded to smash them into the ground over and over again like he was using their faces to flatten the uneven subterranean passage. When he was finished there was barely enough to distinguish them as ponies. He casually tossed the mangled corpses into a pile to one side. He turned to the other Crusaders. Tail was bent over Sweetie, he had removed the bolt and drew his medical supplies from the compartments hidden in the linings of his armour, Apple Bloom was facing the opposite direction in a ready stance, while Scootaloo stood to the side of Tail assisting where required.

"Stand aside Tail, I'll do this myself." Storm commanded. Tail did as instructed, partially out of fear but mostly because he knew what Storm was about to do would be faster and they needed to get out of the caves as fast as possible. Storm bent low over the injured Unicorn, his horn still lit. The edges of the wound were surrounded in his blue aura and skin seemed to form across the gap, it appeared to anyone watching that the wound was healing at a greatly accelerated speed. When he drew away the area looked as if nothing had happened to it. The teal stallion staggered to the side, drawing a biscuit out of a pocket by hoof, rather than his magic as he normally did.

"You used to much energy, you can't fight in this state. Eating only replenishes so much you need to rest." Tail told him, helping the now healed Sweetie Belle to her feet, Scootaloo gave her a quick hug before turning around to watch the tunnel behind them, occasionally flicking a few feathers so her Earth pony friend didn't get overrun.

"I can rest later. Lets get moving before to many Golems get here." He argued.

"Fine, but you are not using magic." Tail told him, placing an inhibitor sheath on his horn and locking it to his helmet. Storm grumbled a little but didn't move to remove the cone that now covered his horn. Tail turned helping Scootaloo and Apple Bloom push the Golems back before they all moved off for the cave entrance and freedom.

They exited the cave and ran, moving as quickly as the could for a river that they had found while scouting the area. They knew the Vampires wouldn't be chasing them but they wanted to cross a river to be certain. It took them a while to get their bearings and head in the right direction. Tail and Scootaloo took off flying in wide circles over head like they were trying to create a low speed tornado, in reality they were searching both for the river and to be sure they were not being followed by any thralls that had escaped Meteor Storms ire or by Golems. It took them seven minutes to find the river and cross it, Storm standing guard while Sweetie Scootaloo and the others rested for a second.

"I told you to rest Storm." Tail wind admonished. "I will order you if I have to." he threatened when the Unicorn showed no sign of having heard him.

"Fine." The stallion turned towards the group, found a patch of grass and collapsed onto it. "Happy?" he asked.

"Very." Tail replied. He looked to the sky tracking the suns position, it was now half way towards the horizon, they had only been in the caves a few hours and they still had plenty of daylight left. "We'll set off again in an hour." he informed them before resting his head on his hooves and closing his eyes to sleep. Half an hour later and Storm removed the cone from his horn, immediately lighting it up and casting a spell to hide their hoofprints from view. He replaced the cover on his horn and returned to his dreams. They got up and set off cantering west at a steady clip, putting as much distance as they could between them and the cave that they had attacked. It took them four days traveling at that speed to reach the entrance to the cave that had become all their homes.

"Get some food then some rest everyone, full debrief in the command centre at eight hundred hours tomorrow." Tail commanded as he walked towards the designated building, Storm not far behind. The three Crusaders headed for the mess hall. They entered and sat down looking around for Applejack or Rarity, but neither was anywhere to be seen. A series of explosions filed the room covering the tables with confetti, and sent the Crusaders into defensive stances, Apple Bloom crouched, Sweetie horn lit holding her swords and preparing a combat spell, and Scootaloo in the air with her wings ready to fling her sharpened feathers at whoever decided to attack them. A figure moved towards them in the darkness that covered a small corner of the room. Scootaloo reacted on instinct and sent six feathers directly at the creatures head. It jumped to the right with a cry, the feathers whistling past, missing by less than a hair.

"Ah'm friendly! Ah'm friendly!" Applejack's voice shouted, the figure took a step towards them and into the light revealing itself to be the owner of the voice.

"AJ, I could have killed you!" Scootaloo shouted. "Why would you think it was a good idea to surprise us after we spent the past week fighting things that can sneak up and kill us in seconds?!"

"It's alright Scoots ah'm fine, no harm done. We were trying to throw you a surprise party, guess we didn't think that you might still be jumpy from the raid." Applejack calmly explained.

"Where's Rarity?" Sweetie Belle asked looking for her sister sheathing one of her swords. Just as she was about to slide the second into the sheath on her back a voice came from behind her.

"Right behind you darling!" Rarity shouted, expecting Sweetie to jump turn around and maybe give her a hug.

What she didn't expect was to be pinned against the wall that was behind her with a sword across her neck. "Rarity! Why did you sneak up on me after you saw what almost happened to AJ?!" Sweetie cried.

"Well I didn't see what almost happened to Applejack, but I can guess that it was similar to this. Now if you could please let me down."

"Sorry." Sweetie apologized, sheathing her sword and releasing her sister.

"Nothing to apologize for for dear, I shouldn't have snuck up on you. I guessed you would all be a little jumpy but when I saw you all talking to Applejack I thought it would be alright."

"We almost killed the both of ya" Apple Bloom told them sternly. "It may be a good idea to approach us from the front under the lights in future. Now enough chit-chat, I want to eat." Three stomachs grumbled in agreement with her words and the five ponies sat down to the food Applejack and Rarity had prepared.

"Three ponies stand before us today. They have been trained and tested in the fires of battle. They have returned from the battlefield whole and have proven themselves to be strong of character and spirit, I will vouch for them, are there any others who will do the same?" Tail Wind asked of the assembled ponies. Rarity and Applejack stood looking on while the three young Crusaders stood in a line in front of them wearing a set of bright, shining silver ceremonial armour. Captain Storm and Commander Wind were wearing the same as they faced the Crusaders.

"I will vouch for their character." Storm proclaimed. "I have fought beside these three young warriors, I have led them and in every order I gave they excelled. They have demonstrated to me their loyalty to both the crown and each other. I have also witnessed their great bravery in the face of the unknown, when we fought an enemy nopony has seen for several years I ordered them to destroy it and was not left wanting."

"In light of these statements, it is my honour to welcome these three young ponies into the order of the Cutie Mark Crusaders. May the sun always guide your path and warm your backs." Tail smiled as he looked at the three proud faces, his pupils, his comrades and in no small way his friends.

"May the moon hide you from your enemies and guard your dreams." Storm proclaimed next also smiling. "Welcome to the order. Captain Sweetie Belle and Captain Apple Bloom I pronounce you both knight-errant and Lieutenant Scootaloo I pronounce you Knight Sergeant. May your shields stand ever ready to protect the innocent and your swords to vanquish those that threaten the safety of all Equestrians!" Storm proclaimed stamping a hoof. Applejack and Rarity stamped their hooves in applause while the three young ponies shouted and jumped in celebration.

The stallion smiled. His shadow had returned from a cave he had set up only a few weeks ago.

"They attacked I take it?" He asked.

"Yes, the cave was completely wiped out." The shadow answered.

"But they fell for the illusion?"

"Of course, they didn't realize it was an illusion until they had attacked."

"Not that one, I already knew they would fall for that one. Have they realized the whole thing was an illusion? That I am not extending my reach west?" Moon Shadow asked, turning to face the pony that was as much a part of him as not.

"No, i don't believed they do." It replied.

"Good". The dark stallion smiled and turned to face his army as his shadow rejoined him. "They won't know I'm coming until it is far to late. But when they do they will have no choice but to die and join me in creating the eternal night our mistress wants."

Author's Note

Sorry this one took so long to be released I was waiting on the AWESOME cover art, made by the very talented Conker. Please leave some comments I really like to see them.

11 Debrief and Downtime

Storm walked through the doors to the Crusaders' command centre, closely followed by Tail Wind and the three now formally welcomed Crusaders. Tail walked to one end of the table, Storm to his right and the other Crusaders crowding around the rest of the table. It had been a couple of days since the three Crusaders formal induction.

"We never had a debrief, I let it slip because we were all celebrating your induction." Tail told the three Crusaders with a small smile. His face dropped into a more serious expression, "From now on we will debrief at the earliest opportunity. We will go over what happened. We will assess what we could have done differently, what went wrong and how." He looked around the table his gaze landing on Apple Bloom at the other end of the table.

"Me, Storm and Sweetie started out down the right hoof passage. We met one Vampire which I destroyed quietly with my bladed shoes, We entered the first chamber which contained around thirty Vampires, Storm dispatched them all with a spell that created a small sun in the cavern for a few seconds. We met three more Vampires after that before meeting up with you two and taking that pair out who were about to scream the cave down." Apple Bloom reported, with nods of confirmation from Storm and Sweetie Belle. Storm shifted his gaze to Scoots who nodded and began their story.

"Me and Tail took the left passage, we came to the first chamber and took out a pair of Vamps. We continued through another chamber taking out another three before we reached the last chamber where there were... five, two playing poker one reading and two sleeping. Me and Tail took out the three awake Vampires first using our metal feathers, Tail took the two gamblers and I took the reader. We used the blades on the leading edge of our Steel Wings to decapitate the two sleepers, after that we met up with you three." Scootaloo reported, Tail nodded his confirmation.

"Any questions about the mission?" he asked a slight smirk on his face. 'I bet they ask about the Golems.'

"The heck were those stone ponies that attacked us? They were waiting for us when we left that last chamber, in the weird shrine to Nightmare Moon" Scootaloo and Apple Bloom asked at the same time.

"That's another question," Sweetie said quietly, "what was that shrine?"

"Those stone Ponies were called Golems." Storm told the three young mares gathered around the table. "They are magical constructs. A Unicorn uses their magic to give energy to a statue and then they give it instructions. I can't give you a very accurate description of the process, as the trick to making them was lost to ponies long ago."

Scootaloo raised her hoof, like they were back in Cheerilee's classroom. After a nod from Storm she asked "If the trick to making them was lost, how do the Vampires have them?"

"One way is they could have stolen them and given them new orders, You saw they reformed after a while? That's the trick that was lost, we can make the statues, we can give them energy to move about, but we can't make them reform like that and the statues break because they aren't designed to move." Storm explained.

"Another reason could be that they have one of the first Vampires with them and that Cave was going to be very important." Tail added. "After we entered the room at the far end of the shrine, we snuck up to the bed attempted to kill the master Vampire who turned out to be an illusion, we exited the room, fought the Golems retreated up the hall and were blocked by at least fifty thralls and a couple of Vampires, we fought them and Sweetie got hit. Storm took out the thralls left with magic then healed Sweetie, we retreated and returned back to base."

"Now we're all caught up it's time to discuss any problems you three had so we can train more in those areas later, and then we'll discuss next steps." Storm told the assembled ponies looking over a hoof full of notes. "So I noticed you and Tail almost got detected Scootaloo, I'm upping the amount of time you spend in stealth training." Scootaloo nodded her acknowledgement. "Sweetie Belle I noticed you are still having troubles concentrating on more than one thing at once, specifically you can't use your blades away from your body while protecting yourself with hoof to hoof or another close range technique."

"I was thinking about that, Perhaps if we increased my magic training to reduce the amount of energy I use while using the blades and add an exercise where I perform two or more tasks at the same time, say weight lifting while holding a stone steady in a levitation field, I could increase my ability to multitask without doing extra training sessions."

Storm nodded thinking, he had been thinking something like that would be necessary in the future and he had some ideas of his own about it. "Those are some good ideas, we will also do more training with your swords to get you used to them, you can train against your two team-mates, at the same time." He said, looking to Sweetie's two team-mates, who nodded their agreement. "Good now, next steps, did any of you hear anything that could possibly be intelligence on the Vampire's plans?"

"I saw a lack of intelligence, one of them left out a map with a couple of crosses here and here." Scootaloo said pointing to two places on the map to the west of Trottingham.

"Okay, those look like they're new caves, we could ambush them at this one. Haven't they been in this one before Storm?" Tail asked, with a thoughtful frown on his face.

"No I think they were one cave over." Storm said his voice dripping sarcasm. "It's the only cave in a mile radius," he deadpanned.

"Alright, so they are extending out that way, why?" He asked nopony in particular, his frown deepening.

"Does it matter? We can just set up somewhere in Trottingham and take them out when they arrive." Scootaloo asked looking to her commander.

"It matters because they rarely go back to a cave we've cleared out. That and Vampires aren't stupid, they don't make mistakes like this. In fact the only time I've seen them make a mistake like this was the last raid we went in as three Crusaders."

"Ah'm not sure ah follow." Apple Bloom asked.

"The last raid we went on as three Crusaders was a trap that turned one of us into a Vampire." Storm answered.

"We have to locate the main cave, the one where the oldest Vampire of this clan, Moon Shadow, resides if we destroy him they will all die, and those that don't will be much weaker, after that it's just a clean up operation. The only problem is we only find out about their caves due to sudden spikes in disappearances or intel we find in the caves." Tail informed them.

"I've received reports a while ago that showed Samael moving into Moon Shadows territory from the North. Perhaps we can use that to our advantage." Storm told the commander. "Maybe we could allow him to push up until he reaches Shadow, we know Sam won't beat him so we just prevent Shadow from retreating and then take him out while he's weakened."

"That would work if we had an army to prevent him from retreating." Tail reminded him.

"We don't need an army, when we can make it look like we have one. If we attack multiple targets at the same time then we will look like we have a much larger force. Nopony holds their ground against a large force of ponies who's soul goal is top wipe you out, so he'll move up towards Samael, they fight, Sameal loses and we take Shadow while he's weak." Storm outlined swinging his head from side to side while he detailed the last section.

"What about if Samael actually does manage to destroy Moon Shadow?" Sweetie asked.

"Then we take him out while he's weak.either way so long as the first part works we are almost garanteed to destroy two of the last original Vampires."

"The only fault I can find in your tactic is that we would have to split up to attack so many targets."

"We can split and take two targets simultaneously then move on to another target before regrouping. You three have trained the same as us and will continue to train until you match or surpass our skill and me and you can take a cave by ourselves easily."

"I wouldn't say easily but I guess if we keep those three together and we take another then yes it could work." Tail conceded. "However, we all deserve some down time, so you three can go back to Ponyville with your sisters and take a break while we sort out the specifics. When we're done you'll be called back and then we'll carry on our training for a short time before we set this plan in motion." Tail told all assembled, he looked away from the map. "Any questions before I dismiss you three?"

"No." Scootaloo and Apple Bloom answered together.

"Dismissed then, get your bags packed and tell your sisters to do the same, you all leave at noon tomorrow." The Crusaders saluted their superiors and turning on their heels they left. One however, did not.

"Something you need Sweetie?" Storm asked after a second, noticing she was looking at him.

"Yes, I want to know why you haven't taught me the spell you used in the cave to destroy all those Vampires."

"The Sun bomb?" Sweetie nodded her confirmation. Storm sighed, walking around the table to stand in front of her. "Lets take a walk." He said indicating for her to go ahead of him. Sweetie nodded and walked out of the command centre. A few seconds later Storm joined her and they set off around the training fields.

"So why haven't you taught me that spell? There are plenty of others you've taught me that I can't quite cast yet." The white Unicorn asked not taking her eyes off the older Unicorn beside her.

"Fine, I haven't taught you a spell like that because casting them doesn't take much energy at all. They are so easy to cast that even a foal can cast them in their sleep."

"So your worried that I'll what? Kill everyone in my sleep?"

"Yes, I know you have a high degree of control, more than most Unicorns but you will not be able to control these spells. I am a Pyromancer --"

"A fire mage? I thought they were myths." Sweetie asked confusedly, stopping and looking at him.

"They are anything but, I became one when I joined the Crusaders. Pyromancers have an affinity for fire, I'm fireproof while I'm concise and I find that fire spells are easier to cast than any other. I can control natural fire like other Unicorns but I can also produce it unlike most."

"What do you mean 'produce it'?" Sweetie asked, resuming her trot at his side.

"To set something on fire a Unicorn normally focuses heat onto an object, I can just will fire into existence." They were walking around the practice field heading for the recruit barracks. "So like I was saying as a Pyromancer I have a much greater natural control of fire and fire based spells, you are not and so they would be harder for you to control."

"Well why can't I become a Pyromancer like you?"

"Because it takes years to become even an eighth as powerful as I am, and I am by no means the strongest. Fire magic is the most destructive and the most dangerous. Not just because of the potential for physical damage but for mental damage too. The more powerful a spell is the more of yourself you have to put into it, that's one of the rules of magic. Fire burns and destroys everything replacing whatever it touches with itself. Fire magic is the same anypony can cast little spells to heat up food or drink or light a fire, but only a Pyromage can cast high power fire spells without becoming an abomination." They were taking a route through the various buildings that dotted the edges of the training field. Sweetie stopped again.

"What's an abomination? apart from another name for the Vampires."

"In this case it's the term used when a fire spell completely takes over someponies life-force. They become a being of fire that wants nothing but to watch the world burn. It's one of the reasons Pyromancy's banned in Equestria. You would have to learn the way I did, from the race that spawned Pryromancy. Dragons. Before you ask, Pyromancy is part of a dragons blood, to become a Pyromancer you have to study and hone your mind for years, then you have to take into yourself the blood of one that controls fire without thought."

"You mean that you've...?"

"Drank a dragons blood? Yes, the dragons blood is the ultimate test of any Pyromancer, a dragons blood is liquid fire that can burn for three years without fuel or oxygen, if a Pyromancer hasn't learned to control fire properly without it consuming them the fire will burn them from the inside out. There is still a danger that the pony that becomes a Pyromancer will use their power to destroy but if they pass the test it's of their own free will."

"How long ago did you take the test?" Sweetie asked a little nervously. Storm stopped for a second in thought, then lent down and started to convulse like he was going to throw up. He kept it up for half a minute before straightening and turning back to face his young friend. Sweetie gasped.

Storms face was different, his hair brushed into it's usual style was waving like it was made of fire, his eyes had changed from their usual turquoise to orange like the sunset. Heat poured off of his body like water from Nieghagra Falls. His mouth was the biggest change, instead of the regular flat pony teeth there was a pit of purple fire, with small tongues of the inferno shaped to form sharp fangs. "Depends, on what you mean. When was the first time or how long ago was the last time?" he asked. "I took the test first when I was about twenty and the last time was last year." He doubled over again and when he stood back up he was back to his normal self. "That is why I won't teach you those spells, because even Pyromancers can lose control of them."

Sweetie was stunned, she stood still for a few minutes trying, and failing, to compute what she had seen. Storm looked away.

"Why didn't you tell me earlier?" the young Unicorn asked.

"I knew you wouldn't understand. Actually I know you still don't, but you are more likely to now." He answered.

"I understand why you won't -- can't teach me the spells, but this Pyromancy stuff will take a while." She told him.

"I know, I will teach you like we have been it really isn't that important all it means is that I can use spells that you can't."

"Story of my life." Storm chuckled at that, rubbing her head.

"Alright, was that everything?" He asked. They were stood outside the Crusaders barracks, Sweetie glanced at the door then returned her gaze to Meteor Storm and nodded. "Okay then, I'll see you later Sweetie."

"Bye Storm."

The next morning dawned with the Crusaders busily packing their bags in the manner of everyone who packs last minute, throwing everything into one bag and making it fit. After a few minutes searching for one of Rarity's brushes and a horseshoe for Apple Bloom they were ready to go. The three young Crusaders stood shoulder to shoulder at attention, facing their leaders and comrades.

"Your leave starts today, unless there is a problem you will return here in three weeks to continue your training. If there is a problem we will come and find you in Ponyville. Good bye Crusaders. Dismissed." Tail Wind dismissed the young Crusaders. They saluted before turning to leave with their sisters.

"Alright, Apple Bloom you lead. Sweetie you take the rear. Applejack and Rarity your in the middle. I'll fly a circling pattern overhead. we move until we drop got it?" Scootaloo ordered. After receiving nods from all present she took of and began flying circles overhead. The others got into formation and set out on a march across the frozen tundra that they had called home for the past year and a half.

They passed through the band of night without incident, the Crusaders relaxed afterwards, there were other things out there that would happily attack ponies but none were more dangerous than Vampires, if the Crusaders could destroy the Vampires then what hope did anything else have. They walked and talked about various everyday topics like what they would do when they got to Ponyville and what they missed most. Scootaloo stayed quite through the last section.

They boarded the train to Ponyville at the station and the three Crusaders took turns sleeping, just in case.

"Hey Applejack, who's working the farm with both of us here? Ah doubt our brother can handle the whole thing on his own." Apple Bloom asked about a third of the way into the train ride. It was her turn to stay awake and stand guard while Sweetie and Scootaloo slept and relaxed.

"Ah told Granny and Mac to hire Caramel, since I would be up in the Crystal Empire for a while learning how they do things." The older Apple replied.

"Ah can't believe that it didn't occur to me until now that I didn't know who was working the farm."

"Don't worry about it sis, you've had a lot on your mind this last year and a half."

"Ah guess." Was the reply from the yellow mare.

"Either of you heard anything about my father?" Scoots asked nothing moving but her mouth from her position on the seat across from Sweetie.

"I heard he was a upset that you left, he took a job on the weather patrol. Rainbow Dash is always looking for extra hooves so she can go off practicing some more." Rarity answered. Scootaloo smiled a little and went to sleep.

Two of their three weeks passed quickly. Scootaloo stayed with her father, they'd had a teary reunion he apologizing continuously for everything he had ever done, she cried tears of happiness that he had stopped drinking and was finally recovering. Sweetie Belle helped her sister complete her orders in the Boutique and spending time with their parents. Apple Bloom had spent her days working the fields alongside her sister and brother smiling the whole time. All three Crusaders were happy to be home and safe with their families and friends, they weren't even bothered by Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon when they decided to try insulting them. Silver Spoon discovered first hand how strong Scootaloo had gotten when she made a snide comment about the Pegasus' mother, and Scootaloo had punched her squarely in the nose.

On the Friday of the second week the Apple family had just got up from the table after the usual dinner of various apple products, when there was a knock at the door.

"I'll get it!" Apple Bloom called to her family, crossing the hall from the kitchen to the door. She opened it to reveal two very familiar faces.

"Apple Bloom we have a problem, we need to find the others." Storm told the yellow Earth pony. "We know where Moon Shadow is."

12 Problems and Solutions

"What do you mean 'We have a problem'?" Apple Bloom asked moving to one side so that Meteor Storm and Tail Wind could enter. The two Crusaders stepped into the house quickly checking behind them to be sure they weren't being followed.

"We'll tell you later, but we have to find the other two Crusaders now." Tail told her urgently.

"We can't now, ah don't know where they are at the moment, but they're both coming here in the mornin' so you can talk then."

"It would be better if they came here on their own, it would look less suspicious." Storm agreed, looking at his grey friend.

"Y'all can stay here for the night, there'll be enough room." Apple Bloom offered.

"Thanks 'Bloom, we shouldn't be outside to much right now, and we definitely don't want to be seen coming and going between yours and your friends houses." Tail said. Neither stallion was wearing his armour or were visibly carrying weapons, but the did both have a large pair of saddle bags on that nearly covered up their Cutie Marks. Storm had a Cutie Mark of a crossed hammer and wrench and Tail Winds Cutie Mark was a whirlwind. Apple Bloom noticed but didn't say anything. "The rest of my family are just through there," She told them pointing to a doorway on the right further down the hallway. "Why don't you go introduce yourselves." She quietly slipped on her shoes while they weren't looking, sliding the razor edge out in preparation.

"Sounds like a good idea, come on Storm." The two stallions walked away down the hall with Apple Bloom walking behind them.

"Hey Applejack!" Apple Bloom called to her sister who was relaxing in the next room with her brother. "We got some friends who need a place to stay for the night, why don't you come say Hi."

Applejack rose from her place by the fire, recognizing the tone and certain words Apple Bloom had spoken she put on a bladed shoe, normally used for cutting wheat, and walked out into the hall. "Meteor Storm? Tail Wind? What are you two doing here?" She asked as she moved closer. She looked at her sister behind the stallions. Apple Bloom raised a hoof to herself and pointed it at Tail Wind, she then made a swinging motion to her forehead and pointed at Applejack and then at Storm. She silently commanded her sister before getting into position.

"We found a problem and we need to speak to all three Crusaders. Apple Bloom here was kind enough to offer us a place to stay for the night because they are meeting in the mor--" Apple Bloom chose that moment to pounce on Tail Wind pinning his wings to his sides and forcing his head flat against the floor. As her sister jumped Applejack took a step forward raising her right hoof she hit Storm right across the horn before using her left to throw him to the floor and placing the blade of her shoe against the Unicorns throat.

"Alright, ah will give you one chance to save yourselves, answer my question and ah may think of letting you go. Where are Meteor Storm and Tail Wind?" Apple Bloom asked quietly talking to the Pegasus laid flat beneath her. "Answer me!" She shouted when they didn't respond quickly enough.

"It's us Apple Bloom. You did well with that surprise attack, take out your opponents natural advantages and they become weaker earth ponies, very clever." Tail praised her, Storm unable to say or do much with the pain his horn was now causing him.

"Don't lie to me, Storm and Wind don't have cutie marks and they would never have allowed themselves to be captured so easily." The yellow mare hissed at her captive. "Now what have you done to them."

"We haven't done anything to them. We are them! We are wearing patches with cutie marks on them, we use them for infiltrating towns and cities. You captured us because you took us by surprise, in a confined space, and we let our guards down because we are among friends." Tail told her quickly when he felt the blade on Apple Bloom's shoe press against his throat.

Big Mac, wondering what all the fuss was wandered out of the living room and out into the hallway, to be greeted with the sight of his two sisters stood over a pair of stallions.

"Oh Big Mac can y'all come over her for a second, ah need some help." Apple Bloom said looking up to see the red stallion looking very confused in the doorway to the living room. He shrugged and walked up to where the four ponies were. "How do ya remove the patches?" Apple Bloom asked the grey Pegasus.

"A little tab in the top right corner under the saddle bags. Pull it an the whole thing comes off." Tail calmly instructed.

"You get that brother? Can y'all go make sure this ones tellin' the truth, please?" Apple Bloom asked.

Big Mac looked confused for a second before shrugging and replying "Eeyup" and walking between the pairs of ponies and looking at the one Apple Bloom was stood over. He lifted the bags clear placing them down behind the stricken Pegasus, he then began inspecting the pony's cutie mark for the tab. A second later he found it, pulled on it and widened his eyes in shock when it came away to reveal the Pegasus had no cutie mark at all. "It comes off alright Apple Bloom, but ah think there's something wrong."

"What?" Apple Bloom asked.

"He don't have a cutie mark." The big stallion rumbled. Apple Bloom sighed and relaxed her stance, getting off and helping Tail Wind to his feet while her sister did the same with Meteor Storm, who was only just recovering from the blow to his horn. Apple Bloom removed the bladed shoes and returned them to their place by the door. When she returned the three Stallions were stood looking at each other awkwardly.

"Big Macintosh meet Meteor Storm and Tail Wind, they are Crusaders like me and my friends." The two Stallions in question stepped forwards and offered their right hooves to shake. Big Mac raised his hoof and shook.

"Lets go in there and I'll explain."

"So, you three are all in a secret order of warrior knights, who fight Vampires because you don't have cutie marks and can use any weapon like a pony with a cutie mark for using that weapon?" Big Mac asked looking confusedly at the three Crusaders sat across the room from him. After they had entered the room Storm and Tail Wind had explained everything to the confused farmer, in a similar manner to their explanation to Applejack and Rarity.

"Yes, that about sums it up except that Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo are both Crusaders like us." Meteor Storm confirmed gesturing to himself, Apple Bloom and Tail.

"And you knew about this? This is why y'all stayed in the Crystal Empire for nearly two years isn't it?" Big Mac asked Applejack. He didn't talk much but because of this he had more time to think making him much more perceptive than most gave him credit for.

"Yes ah did. Ah'm sorry ah didn't tell you brother but it was for your own good, ah swear." Applejack answered clearly feeling guilty, the apologetic notes in her voice confirming as much.

"We'll talk about this another time." The big stallion muttered to his sister, before looking to the two other stallions in the room. "Ah'll go get you two a blanket, y'all can sleep in here for the night." He told them before getting up and walking out of the room.

"Wow." Apple Bloom breathed. "Ah've only seen Big Mac this angry once before and he shouted at me then, ah kind of wish he would."

"I know what you mean AB." Applejack agreed. "Our brother don't tend to say much unless he feels strongly about something." She informed the two stallions.

"We're sorry if we caused any tension between your family members." Storm said, the blue stallion ducking his head apologetically, Tail Wind nodding in agreement.

"We're a strong family, this won't cause much of a problem for long." Applejack said, giving the two stallions a small smile.

"Hey, Storm? Why did you wear the patches now when you haven't before?" Apple Bloom asked.

"Because we are trying to stay undetected in a major settlement. We don't in the Crystal Empire because we're not trying to hide. The Vampires know we have a base around there but they can't access it." The blue stallion answered.

"Right we need to hit the hay, ah'm bushed." Applejack said, turning to look at her sister and smiling a little.

"Yeah me too. Night Storm. Night Tail. Night AJ." Apple Bloom said as she left the room and climbed the stairs to her room. Big Mac entered the room briefly to drop the blankets and a couple of pillows off before bidding all three ponies a goodnight and leaving to go to his own room.

"So what is the problem you've run into?" Applejack asked when she heard the door to her brothers bedroom close.

"You might as well know, we've found Moon Shadows primary hive." Tail told her. His face showing resignation and worry. "It's near to Ponyville. We'll give out all the details tomorrow, right now I want to sleep." He told her pointedly.

"Alright, ah'll leave you in peace. Night fellas." She called as she walked up the stair to the second floor that held the families bedrooms.

Scootaloo lamented the loss of her scooter. She had returned home to find it perfectly cared for, by her father she assumed, but had found that she was now much too big to ride it properly. So she was forced to walk to Carousel Boutique to pick Sweetie Belle up.

She knocked on the door and waited. It was quite early in the morning, well before opening hours so the door was most likely locked, a theory that was proven a few minutes later when the sound of a bolt sliding back was heard from the far side. Rarity poked her head out, looking for the one that had knocked. She spotted Scootaloo immediately and opened the door wider to allow the Pegasus entry.

"Come in, dear. Sweetie and I were just about to have a quick bite of breakfast would you like to join us?" Rarity asked politely, closing the door behind Scootaloo.

"No thanks Rarity, I've already had quite a big breakfast. I'll just wait for Sweetie Belle in here." The orange mare gestured to the room she was in.

"Well if you're sure, you don't want anything that's fine but I must insist you come along and at least wait in the lounge area I have at the back." Rarity told her, gesturing with a hoof to a door on the right of the hallway. Scootaloo knowing resistance was futile allowed herself to be led into the comfy room and sat upon one of the cushions that were scattered around.

"I'll tell Sweetie to come and get you when we're done." The elder mare told her.

"Alright, I'll just relax in here." Rarity left the room, leaving Scootaloo to her own devices. Needless to say it took her less than a minute to grow bored with the room she was in. It was comfy but there was nothing to do, she didn't have anything to work her wings out with on her and there was nothing she could use in the room, there was nothing interesting to read which was unsurprising, reading was boring anyway.

"What does Rainbow Dash do when she doesn't have anything she needs to do?" Scootaloo asked herself. The answer came to her a second later, sleep. It had been a long time since Scootaloo had thought about her rainbow maned idol. So Scootaloo stretched out onto a fainting couch, closed her eyes and went to sleep.

Scootaloo was woken ten minutes later by Sweetie Belle gently prodding and shaking her. "Wake up Scoots we need to get to Sweet Apple Acres remember?" The Unicorn asked as she helped her friend up off the couch.

"Sorry, I didn't have anything to do so I went to sleep." Scootaloo explained with a sheepish smile.

"Right, well we should hurry if we want to get to Sweet Apple Acres. We can't use you scooter and wagon anymore can we?" Sweetie asked, slightly confused at Scootaloo's explanation but deciding it was better not to ask about it.

"No, I can't fit on the scooter anymore and I don't know about you and the wagon, but I doubt that we will all be moving around Ponyville in it like we used to anymore." Scootaloo informed her.

"Alright, lets hurry then." Sweetie said turning and leading the way out of the Boutique, and then at a brisk trot to the farm.

"Hi girls we're meeting in here." Apple Bloom greeted her friends opening the door wider to allow them entry. "We can't meet in the clubhouse anymore, it's too small." She explained before closing the door. They took a few steps away from the door before Apple Bloom stopped them. "Storm and Tail are here, in the living room, there's a problem and they want to speak to all of us. They arrived last night in disguise." The youngest Apple told her friends a, note of worry in her voice. They all exchanged worried looks, they knew the Crusaders wouldn't come down to Ponyville for no reason, especially since there was only a few days of their leave left. Whatever this was it was big, very big.

Apple Bloom showed them into the living room where Meteor Storm, Tail Wind and Applejack were waiting. Applejack had helped move the table from the dining room and the two Crusaders had spread maps and pieces of paper over it.

"Ah good, you're all here." Tail greeted them while Applejack and Storm talked quietly off to one side. "We have a problem, come over here and we'll explain." The Crusaders nodded and gathered around one side of the table with Tail Wind on the other with Applejack and Storm who had broken off their conversation just as Tail had finished speaking.

"Alright, we have searched through all our intelligence on Moon Shadow and on Samael and we have looked at their recent movements. After processing all of this we have found that Samael is moving his minions towards Ponyville, and we believe Moon Shadow has his primary base here." Tail Wind informed them, silence answering his last statement.

"This is extremely fortuitous as these two are the last two and most powerful of the original Vampires, for the first time in the history of the Cutie Mark Crusaders will we have a chance to take out these two Vampires and end our crusade for good." Meteor Storm put in, causing looks of excited determination to appear on the faces of his young friends.

"Exactly, we have seen Samael send his Vampires out to fight before but he almost never enters the frey himself. In the time that me and Storm have been Crusaders we have seen it twice, both time to destroy another leader, one of the original Vampires. Over the years he has made several attacks against Shadow but not gone into battle himself, we think these were just to keep his forces low. This time we have confirmation that Samael is with his Vampires." Tail continued getting visibly excited at the thought of destroying these Vampires and finally ending the last remnants of the Celestial War.

"The cave complex that we think Moon Shadow is hiding in is here." Storm pointed to a cave on the map that was several miles to the east of the town. "The plan is to wait for Samael to attack, then we slip in through this side entrance here, Samael is approaching from the south so we will go in from the west where we will be obscured by these hills." Storm indicated the features he was referring to on the map. "Tail Wind is going to use some explosives to destroy these three entrances here when the attack starts to force Moon Shadow to fight, our entrance is much too small for more than a few Ponies to escape at a time so it is unlikely that we will encounter resistance and if we do it will be quite light. From our entry point we will move to find the largest chamber which is where the bulk of the fighting will be, we will utilize stealth to avoid the Vampires and to find Samael who will be fighting Moon Shadow, we wait for one of them to win then we attack together overwhelming whichever one wins before they can recover. After that it's a simple mop up of any Vampires strong enough to survive the death of their masters." Storm looked up after he finished outlining the plan. "Samael should arrive around this time next week, we have four days to prepare and set up for the attack. Any questions?"

"Yeah, What are we supposed to use as armour? We didn't bring any with us from 'The candle'." Scootaloo asked.

"I have your armour in my saddle bags, Tail has some basic weapons for you all, Scootaloo your primary weapons are the steal wings which are part of your armour so I have them but Tail is carrying the swords you normally use as well. Sweetie I have one of your swords, Tail has the other and Apple Bloom you have your primary but we brought a second set. If you require anything else it's procure on site." Storm informed them.

"How can y'all carry all our armour in those saddle bags?" Apple Bloom asked, unsurprisingly confused due to the low weight of the bags and the fact that if the armour took up a lot of space.

"Enchanted saddle bags, the interior can store anything up to ten sets of full combat armour. I also used a gravity spell on it to reduce the weight until the armour weighed almost nothing, it'll wear off when the armour is removed from the bags." The Unicorn explained. "Same with Tail's bags."

"What about these explosives, where are they and how are we using them?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"I'll make them, and you're not going to use them only I have the necessary training, they aren't like normal weapons so you can't pick them up like we usually do." Tail Wind explained.

"You seem to have thought a lot about the entry but once we're in you're a little light on the details." Scootaloo observed.

"There are only three outcomes of this plan. One, we destroy all the Vampires and walk out the front door. Two, all or some of us die and we take down all the Vampires. Three, the Vampire that survives kills us and escapes. Obviously we are trying to stack the odds favour of the first outcome." Storm replied. Sweetie gulped.

"H-how likely are the other two outcomes?" She asked hesitantly.

"About twenty percent for each if we're under prepared." He replied honestly. "Don't worry we have been training you for this type of thing for nearly two years on the trot, you are among the most elite fighters I have ever met, which reduces the risk to about twenty percent combined." Tail Wind quickly reassured, he walked around the table to stand next to the three Crusaders. "Look, we will be fine, we have trained and fought multiple times in these conditions and only once have we not come back completely and utterly unscathed, and even then it was only a minor injury and we were caught completely by surprise. We know so much more now and we will be much more careful. We will be fine."

"Alright, thanks Tail." Sweetie said, feeling much better after his speech.

"More than welcome Sweetie Belle, more than welcome."

"Alright, we need some things still, after we have got them we will need a place to train. After that it's just general pre-attack preparations, weapon and armour care and rest." Storm informed them pushing a list across the table to them. "Get ready Crusaders this is the Crusades end."

The Crusaders split up outside the farmhouse, returning only ten minutes later. Tail Wind and Meteor Storm were surprised to find that the Crusaders already knew where they could find all the ingredients for explosives, but when they asked the only reply they received were sore ears and the words "Cutie Mark Crusaders Demolitions Experts!" Applejack allowed them to use the barn to train in relative secrecy.

As the days passed the Crusaders honed their skills to the highest they had ever been, always conscious of the chance that any slip up could cause them all to die. They trained like that for four days, Storm tutoring Sweetie Belle on magic in the spare hours while Tail flew with Scootaloo and Apple Bloom lifted weights and worked on stealth tactics. On the fifth day the Crusaders checked their weapons and armour were clean and in good condition. They made sure they could sneak around in them and ensured their weapons were sharp and strong.

Storm stood looking at his four friends. "Well then, we have nothing left to do, we are as prepared as we can be. It's time to end this."

13 Goodbyes

The Crusaders moved quickly and quietly along the paths hidden behind some hills. It had been five days since Storm and Tail Wind had shown up on Apple Bloom's doorstep, and now they were making their way down the paths to scout the area around the caves they would be attacking at some point in the next few hours. As they moved Apple Bloom thought about her parting with her family.

"Well sis, looks like ah've got to go." Apple Bloom said to her sister looking upon her with sad eyes.

"Seems you do." Applejack agreed. "Just promise y'all are comin' back from this."Apple Bloom couldn't look her sister in the eye.

"Ah, promise." She took a few seconds to make sure she wouldn't cry, she wouldn't let what could be Applejack's last view of her be her crying like a foal. "You sure your alright with this?"

"No ah'm not, but ah can't stop ya and y'all are the best trained and most likely to live when you fight these things so ah have to let ya go." The elder sister reasoned. "Don't mean ah'm happy about it, but ah won't stop ya doin' what ya have ta do."

"Thanks AJ. Ah promise to come back safe and sound." Apple Bloom said hugging her, putting as much feeling as she could into the action.

"Good luck AB, come home safe." Applejack released her sister watching her walk to her brother, give him a hug and say goodbye before moving on and doing the same with Granny Smith. When she was done saying goodbye she walked to the gate that separated the farm from the rest of Ponyville. The other Crusaders were there waiting for her. Big Macintosh sidled up to his sister.

"Ya know she lied when she made that promise to ya don't ya." The big stallion said sadly.

"Of course ah know." Applejack retorted.

It saddened the young Earth pony that she had to lie to her sister, and what made it worse was knowing that her sister wouldn't be able to believe it for even a second. She raised her head looking into the midday sky sending a silent prayer to the princesses that she and her friends would come out unharmed, or at the very least alive.

Scootaloo was flying in circles hidden in some clouds on her own. Tail Wind had flown off a few minutes ago to scout the land ahead of them. She was only there to make sure nopony escaped if the other Crusaders got noticed, they were traveling in daylight so the chance of that happening was very low. This also meant she had time to think. She sat on her cloud flapping her wings every so often to keep it moving and allowed her mind to wander, right back to her dad and the teary farewell they had shared.

"What do you mean you're leaving? You only just got back." The old stallion asked as he watched his daughter busy herself with packing a saddlebag with food, blankets and worryingly medical supplies.

"I mean there was a reason I left for nearly two years dad. Now it's come to Ponyville and me and my friends aren't just the only ones who can stop it we're the only ones who know about it. This is literally the only time stopping it will be as easy as this, if we miss this chance then I will probably have to spend the rest of my life moving around." Scootaloo explained as she finished packing and turned to face her father. "Don't worry dad." She told him with a smile. "I'll be back before you know it and then you can show me your new job and we can fly together."

The old Pegasus smiled sadly as he looked at his daughter, all grown up. A tear escaped his eye. "I know but I just got you back and now your leaving again..." He jumped forward and grabbed her in a hug using his wings and his hooves. "Just promise me you're coming back Scoots. I can't bare to loose you now. Not again."

Scootaloo jumped at the sudden display of emotion but quickly returned the hug. "I promise dad, I will come back. And when I do I promise I won't leave you alone again." The young mare whispered into the ear of her father, allowing a few tears to escape herself. "Alright that's enough of the sappy stuff I've got to get going I'm meeting Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle at Sweet Apple Acres, I'll see you really soon alright dad?" Scootaloo said as she broke the hug.

The old stallion sniffed and nodded, "Alright, I'll see you soon Scootaloo, stay safe."

Sweetie trotted alongside Meteor Storm in front of Apple Bloom. She was watching her surroundings, scanning for any possible threats. She was also practicing a very useful trick taught to all Unicorn battlemages, the Unicorn would partition their mind so that they could cast spells while fighting hoof to hoof and avoid enemy spells. Sweetie was using this to think about her sister.

"So the captain and commander found Moon Shadow. Who is now hiding in a cave near Ponyville and another Vampire called Samael is coming, with an army, to fight him. And it's the job of you five to go into the cave where Moon Shadow is hiding and wait for him to defeat Samael so that he will be weak enough for you five to finish him off." Rarity said summing up all that Sweetie had just told her. The younger Unicorn had returned home to Rarity and told her everything that had happened in the farm house.

"That about sums it up. Shadow has always lived in that cave as far as we can tell. Samael and Moon Shadow are the last of the original Vampires, all the Vampires that exist today are connected to those two, and they hate each other. Samael is finally making his move on Moon Shadow which means that he'll be at his weakest in nearly five hundred years after the battle. This is the only chance we have, if we don't go now whichever Vampire wins will be at their weakest for the last time ever, after this there won't be a single Vampire strong enough to challenge them and we would have to hunt them down one at a time." Sweetie explained, as she sipped the tea her sister had served her.

"Will you be safe?" Rarity asked.

"Much less than normal, we're going into a massive cave system with two rival armies of Vampires. But Storm plans on forcing them to fight while we slip in through a small side entrance. Their attention will be directed towards the front while we get in and sneak up to the leaders."

"Okay, well I guess it's a matter of the closer to danger the further from harm. Just make sure you come back Sweetie Belle, I can't bare to think what my life would be like if you were not in it."

"I would imagine quiet, and you would get more work done because I wouldn't be stealing your fabric to make capes for the Crusaders and we wouldn't be trying to get Cutie Marks in fashion or something like that." Sweetie and Rarity shared a laugh at that.

"Regardless, I wouldn't trade a single second of the time we have spent together, except maybe that time when we weren't sisters, and I look forward to seeing you return home the triumphant hero." Rarity smiled at her sister. "Have you been practising the way Meteor Storm taught you?" She asked loosing her smile, replacing it with a concerned frown.

"Yes, I'm much stronger with it now than I have ever been. I've also been practising shield spells, I can cast a few strong ones at the same time as well as having them all set up differently." Sweetie answered.

"I confess I don't know much about magic, I didn't even know that there were different set ups for shields." Rarity said impressed.

"Yeah, a regular shield like the one that Twilight used to keep us out of the library during that Gabby Gums thing, they can be modified to be weaker overall but resistant to different elements like fire, ice and earth. They are used if you don't know what you'll be facing exactly like a Unicorn could cast a spell that turns part of you to stone or throw a rock at you and an earth resistant shield will block both. If you know that you won't be facing Unicorns a shield that is stronger against physical attacks is a good bet, they actually pulse on a certain frequency so that the Unicorn can still cast out but nothing physical can enter. Anti-magic shields are the same but they pulse on a frequency that disrupts all magic so no Unicorn can cast out of them."

"That's very an impressive amount of knowledge Sweetie Belle." Rarity enthused.

"Just because I couldn't cast before doesn't mean I couldn't read about magic." The young Unicorn dead panned.

"Very true." Her sister forced a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. "Well if you even think that you are going to be attacked I want you to throw a shield around yourself you hear me?" Sweetie laughed at her sister.

"All right sis, I promise."

"Good, now drink up your tea quickly or you'll be late." Rarity said after checking the clock. "I packed your bag for you." she added as Sweetie placed her cup back on it's saucer.

"Thank you Rarity, I'll see you soon." The young mare said hugging her elder sister, before turning and putting her saddlebags on.

"I'll be waiting." Rarity replied as she walked her to the door. Rarity waved as she watched her sister walk down the road.

I'm not worried. She told herself. I know Sweetie will be as careful as she can be and she can cast spells now so she can defend herself even better than before. She's got her friends and Storm and Tail Wind, all of them will look out for each other. She reasoned as she closed the door. A few seconds later, Rarity fell to her knees crying.

The Crusaders continued in silence for a short while until they caught up to Tail Wind. He suggested they stop where they were and set up a small camp to rest and prepare for the coming battle.

They took a few minutes to rest and eat after which Storm started delegating tasks. Scootaloo got sentry duty with him while the other Crusaders were sent to plant the explosives in the tunnels. "Keep an eye to the sky, red sparks mean Samael is here and we need to blow the bombs." he told them before running off to a nearby cliff that he could use to see most of the surrounding area. Scootaloo flying after him.

The three Crusaders crept around the side of the small hill that marked the entrance to the tunnel that required collapsing. Sweetie ignited her horn scanning for magic. "I can't tell. There's a ton of magical interference here somepony could cast right next to me and I wouldn't be able to tell unless I saw it." The young mare told her comrades. "And that would only tell me if there was a Unicorn present the area could be filled with Earth ponies or Pegasi and I would have no idea."

Tail Wind raised his wings slightly feeling the air currents shift. There were no erratic shifts telling him at the least nopony was moving. "I can't feel anything." He whispered to the other two. "What about you 'Bloom?" he asked.

Apple Bloom closed her eyes, feeling the magic in the earth concentrating on any vibrations that could be coming from within the cave, whenever a pony or other creature took a step it sent vibrations through the earth that resonated with the magic therein. A skilled Earth pony geomancer could sense those vibrations to within a millimetre of the actual step and bend the earth to their will. Apple Bloom wasn't that skilled she could sense movement within a general area but that was the extent of her skill. "Nothing,we should be safe for a quick look-see." She told the stallion. He nodded stepping forward so he was at the very edge of the entrance. Very carefully he lent his body around so that he could see the inside of the cave. Nothing moving, it looked like it was clear. He risked leaning a bit more to allow himself a better view. He saw it stood just inside the entrance, a pony made of stone. He quickly pulled back around the corner.

"I think there's a Golem in there." He whispered. "I can't take it out, it'll see me and I'll never get close enough. Sweetie, you may be able to, if you reach in with your magic you can break the plate off it's chest and pull the crystal that powers it out." Tail explained talking quickly and quietly.

"OK I'll try." Sweetie told him nodding. She closed her eyes and lit her horn. She reached with her magic placing herself in it's grip, she reached around the wall 'saw' the Golem and the small fracture like lines around a plate on it's chest. She found the small piece of stone that kept it closed. Her magic gripped a stone and raised it over the latch, she dropped it breaking the piece of stone clean off. The plate swung loose slightly. Sweetie reached through the small opening to find a medium sized diamond, pulsing with energy. She gripped it and pulled ripping it out of the Golems chest, which promptly turned to a small pile of rocks. "Done." She said coming back to herself, bringing the diamond with her. "What should I do with this?" She asked.

"Keep it if it has power still. They are useful to power spells or recharge your energy levels after large spells or a long time casting." The older stallion told her. "Lets go we have a few more charges to plant after this cave. Apple Bloom stay out here and keep an eye out." Tail Wind instructed before entering the cave with Sweetie Belle.

Scootaloo sat next to Storm surveying the area. They were hidden from the land below them by some rocks at the mouth of a cave at the top of a cliff that stood to the left of the group of hills that hid the cave system belonging to their enemy. The area was quite rocky with many small cliffs and very little greenery, because of this there were many places where a group of Vampires could easily walk in the shade. Forcing the Crusaders to maintain a constant watch.

"Hey Storm?" The orange Pegasus asked glancing briefly to the stallion on her left.

"What is it Scoots?" He responded.

"Can I ask you a question?" She asked a little nervously.

The older Crusader chuckled softly. "You've just asked two, I don't see how one more could hurt, go ahead."

"Heh yeah. Well, when we were going to 'The Candle' and we stopped to rest in that cave, me and Apple Bloom were awake with Tail Wind and we were curious so we asked how he became a Crusader." She explained taking her gaze away from the landscape to focus on Storm.

"He told you, and now I'm guessing you want to know mine?" He asked with a sigh.

"Yeah, if you don't mind. Tail told us it was quite upsetting and that you didn't like talking about it so if you don't want to that's fine." She said watching him carefully.

"You have a right to know." He responded glancing her way briefly. "But that's hard for me to talk about. I promise to tell you after this battle, when this is all over."

"Okay, I get it. Everyone has a story they don't want to tell." The orange mare told him. "But I want you to give me your word that you'll tell someone, it isn't good to keep things bottled up for too long."

"Who?" He asked.

"My Mum." she answered, instantly understanding the question.

"Okay, I give you my word that after this battle I will tell you my story." Scootaloo smiled a little at that. "If." She lost the smile, listening. "If you tell me about your Mum."

"How can I be sure you'll keep your promise if I keep mine?" She asked a little defensively.

"You don't trust me Scoots? I'm hurt." He chuckled. "One, this is more than a fair deal. Two, I always keep my promises. Three, in the Command Centre in 'The Candle' there is a cabinet to the right of the door as you enter, in the second row down, third draw from the left there is a letter under a false bottom. That tells my story, it also has instructions in case of my death."

"Thank you Storm. For the record I do trust you, but Applejack tried to run form her friends instead of telling the truth once, so I want to make sure there isn't a way out that I've overlooked."

The sun was just about to set so he turned back to Scootaloo. "They should have finished planting the explosives now go back to camp and tell them that Sam is most likely going to arrive at midnight." The young Pegasus saluted before turning to take off. "Goodnight, little bird."

Scootaloo stopped and looked back angrily at the Unicorn. "Only Tail Wind is allowed to call me that." She told him.

"My apologies. If I may ask, why are you so defensive of that nickname?"

The young Pegasus sighed. "It's the nickname my mum gave me."

"I see. I'm sorry. Goodnight Scootaloo."

"Goodnight Storm." She replied before taking off, and flying back to camp.

A few hours later a group of six red sparks flew into the night sky. The battle was about to start, the Crusaders who were already wearing their armour checked their weapons over and performed some other last minute checks on their equipment, then they waited for the attack to begin in earnest.

14 The Crusades End

The Crusaders lined up, they had prepared for this for the past two years. All their preparation, all their training leading up to this one final battle. Tail Wind prepared the detonator, linking all the bombs in so that one press on the lever and all of them would explode.

They stood outside the entrance they were going to use. The three young Crusaders checking over each others weapons and armour one final time, using their abilities to check the tunnel to be sure their entry would be undetected. Finally, Meteor Storm joined them, checking over his armour he told Tail Wind to begin his final preparations. A minute passed of them all standing, waiting, like coiled snakes ready to strike.

"Do it." Storm commanded. Tail Wind pressed the detonator then hurried to the side of the entrance with the others. After a few seconds they heard the explosions in the distance and felt the ground shiver underneath them. "Move in." Storm said quietly, tapping Apple Bloom on the shoulder. Apple Bloom ran around the corner quickly checking a few corners before moving to a position at the side of the tunnel, being followed by the rest of the Crusaders. "Set it up, Sweetie." Storm whispered to the white mare. Sweetie Belle's horn glowed, small tendrils of light touching the centre of each of her comrades foreheads.

"Done." She thought, projecting her thoughts to the others.

"Well done Sweetie Belle, you've improved the spell." The blue stallion commented before getting down to business. "Moon Shadow will be in the central chamber, it's likely to be the largest so he can have the most protection. All the tunnels meet there so we just keep going forward and down and we'll reach it." Storm said, setting off quickly and quietly down the tunnel, the others following, keeping to the shadows.

Silent Runner was a Vampire. He had been for nearly one hundred years, he'd grown used to the dark of night, a fact helped by his newly enhanced night vision. He had been a painter before, he'd been painting a beautiful young mare when one night he'd gone to sleep and woken up with a large black stallion with yellow eyes standing over him, biting his neck. He'd then passed out. He woke up later with the same pony in a cave. The pony explained that he was now a Vampire, that he'd given him a gift. He had to leave his old life behind, so he picked a new name.

Now that same pony, the one he called master or on occasion father, had ordered him and two of his new brothers to secure the western entrance tunnel. They had set themselves up nicely in an old armoury, plenty of weapons and armour, no-one was going to get passed them. A few hours ago they had heard a loud rumble and the earth beneath their hooves shook. Thinking they were under attack they had decided to check it out.

Silent Runner was putting on his armour, he always had trouble putting his Croupiere on. One of his brothers was picking up their weapons. Just as he was about to walk over and get his weapon a yellow blur appeared between him and his brother, who was also going to get his weapon. Not more than a second after a line of fire traced itself along his throat, he tried to scream in pain but that only increased the pain, and resulted in a gurgle. He was forced to watch as the yellow blur, which resolved itself into a pony jumped onto his brothers back and separated his head from his body with a bladed shoe. A few seconds later Silent Runner felt a twinge in the back of his neck, saw the tip of a sword protrude through his neck and his world went black. He fell to the floor, not as a pony, but as a pile of ash.

The Crusaders exited the tunnel into a chamber with three Vampires preparing to fight putting on armour and picking up weapons. They wasted no time, Apple Bloom ran forward silently, jumping and slashing she cut the throats of two of the Vampires, jumping on the last Vampire's back and driving her hoof through it's neck. Sweetie Belle drew her swords and finished the other two with a stab to the neck, before they could react.

"Good work, lets keep moving." Tail said, he carried on through the room with Storm and Scootaloo, the pair of mares joining them not long after. Together the five Crusaders glided down the tunnel towards another larger chamber. Their hooves making almost no noise as they jogged, sticking to the sides of the cave where the shadows were darkest.

Scootaloo and Tail Wind entered first, gliding on silent wings through the entrance before flapping once and ascending to the ceiling. "Your clear." Scootaloo thought to the others waiting outside. They began to enter one at a time, quickly moving around the sides of the room to make space for the next to enter. Once they were all inside they moved slowly and quietly to the far side of the room checking to make sure there were no Vampires hiding and waiting to ambush them.

Apple Bloom poked her head around the door, quickly pulling it back a few seconds later. "Alright, looks like this here is the last tunnel before a major chamber. There's guards on the door facing us." The Earth pony reported to the others.

"Okay, Scootaloo, Tail Wind. Use your feathers to destroy them and secure the door. When you've done that, we'll move up and we'll use our sensory abilities to plan our next move." Storm ordered. Scootaloo nodded, taking off lightly. Making as little noise as possible she lined up with Tail Wind preparing to launch herself and the metal feathers attached to her wings.

"Ready." She thought to Tail as she finished her preparations.

"On my go." Tail replied. "3. 2. 1. Go." Both Pegasi jumped forward, turning sideways so they could both pass through the door at the same time, they flicked their wings launching a pair of feathers at each of their targets before they could react. landing quietly on the former Vampires positions they pressed themselves to the wall, hiding in the shadows once more. "Clear, move up"

The three Crusaders hiding around the corner came out running on silent hooves up to the door and took up positions on either side of it. Apple Bloom was the first to check the next chamber as the Pegasi would have trouble sensing anything with the door closed. She closed her eyes, forcing herself to feel the vibrations of the earth beneath her hooves. On the other side of the door Apple Bloom could feel many vibrations, a feeling that indicated many pairs of hooves moving about. There were also a few spots where the vibrations were reflected back, indicating something stood still. She reported her findings to the group.

"Well, it sounds like we have a few Golems on the other side of the door." Storm commented before his horn began to glow slightly while he sensed the area on the other side of the door. "Yep, definately got Golems out there. We'll wait for the Vampires to leave then we'll move in and take the Golems out." He said.

"How?" Sweetie asked, looking and sounding worried.

"They are the same as normal ponies. They're just made of stone." The stallion responded, settling down for the wait. "We'll just sneak around them."

It took the vampires twenty minutes to organise themselves, and leave to join the growing battle. Three times the Crusaders had to move quickly in order to hide and avoid a group of vampires sent to secure a section of tunnel the Crusaders had cleared or passed by. Once all the Vampires that were going to leave had done so, the Crusaders slipped in through the door, moving in the dark around the edge of the room.

Six Vampires had stayed behind along with three Golems to guard the room. Two were sitting in the centre of the room checking armour and generally preparing for a battle, they appeared to be preparing the room to fall back to if their main force was defeated. The other four Vampires were guarding two doors leading deeper into the cave complex, while the Golems were patrolling the room.

"I expected some resistance but this seems a little high. We must be close to the centre now. We can't fight this lot, too many in too confined an area. Lets just pass through and carry on." Storm said.

"Got it. Which door are we taking?" Scootaloo asked looking at the two guarded doors from around the stalagmite she was using for cover.

"Moon Shadow will stay out of the fight as much as possible. He'll likely only join it to fight Samael. He'll be somewhere he can see the fight but will still be away from most of it." Tail informed them, pointing to the door on the left. "There. It looks like it leads deeper but to a higher level of the chamber. He'll probably have a room where he can look over the main chamber."

"Yeah, he'd enjoy being able to look out over his army." Storm thought-spoke. “No matter what we’ll have to fight at least two Vampires. Unless...” The teal stallion trailed off, looking on the ground to see a stone. Picking it up he tested it’s weight, bouncing it on the bottom of his hoof a few times. He then stopped, wound up, and threw the stone. It bounced off the wall between the Vampires guarding the door they needed to go down and a small access tunnel to their right barely big enough for a pony to fit through.

“What was that?!” The closest Vampire snapped, turning to face the disturbance.

“Sounded like it came from that tunnel.” The other said walking next to his companion.

“What should we do? The Golems can’t fit through there.” The first asked, glancing at the second.

“Well we can’t just ignore it. We’re under attack, we can’t let them take this chamber.” The second reminded him. “We’ll have to check it out ourselves.”

“Fine, but you’re going first.” The Vampires looked at the tunnel. Not noticing the shadows moving behind them, the first trotted into the tunnel. “Well? Anything in there?”

“Two things if you join him.” Tail thought to the others.

“No, I don’t see- OW!” The Stallion called before a dull thud and his exclamation of pain. Storm, from his place in the shadows had thrown another stone that had hit the Vampire.

“I’m coming, hold on!” The first Vampire called charging into the tunnel.

“Now while they're distracted.” Storm commanded. The other Crusaders looking around quickly to make sure nopony was looking darted between bunks and cabinets to the door.

“Why didn’t we destroy those two?” Scootaloo asked. Creeping along the tunnel the Crusaders could see, through small portholes in the wall, a massive subterranean battle. Two factions of Vampire, distinguishable only by the colour of their eyes. In the centre and moving rapidly towards them was a single Vampire, larger than the others, his eyes glowing a slightly brighter yellow. “Is that Samael?” The young pegasus whispered.

“Yes.” Meteor Storm replied, using the mind link. “Moon Shadow looks similar but he’s much more powerful. Samael is just really determined.” As he talked Samael slew three Vampires using a blood red sword, whether it was naturally that colour or it was the blood covering it was impossible to determine. “We didn’t destroy those two because it was unnecessary.” Storm told her. “It would also be counter-productive. Those Vampires will be missed eventually and an alarm raised after a while. If Sam’s Vampires attack there I don’t want to be flanked before we get a shot at their leaders.” Scootaloo made an affirmative nod of her head. It didn’t take them long after that to reach the next chamber.

From the entrance they could see it lead out onto a balcony that overlooked the main chamber of the cave system. In the centre of the balcony facing away from them was a high backed throne, made of ebony and decorated with white marble.

“What’s that?” Scootaloo asked, pointing to a pair of shrines.

“Just Moon Shadows personal shrine to Nightmare Moon.” Tail told her dismissively.

“Then why are there two?” Sweetie asked, pointing to the second shrine.

“Two?” Storm asked, turning from the throne and balcony to look at them. Squinting to see better, he saw that the second wasn’t a shrine to Nightmare Moon, but to the ones Moon Shadow had personally killed or turned.

He could see a gold band, designed to go around the hoof of a mare, it had a few diamonds and sapphires embedded in it’s face. Upon seeing this the air around him became hot, he became much more agitated and beginning to fidget slightly. “He’ll pay for this. I’ll make him pay. He’ll pay. I’ll make him pay.” The stallion began to repeat, over and over again in his head. If it weren’t for the mind link spell they wouldn’t have heard him.

“Storm snap out of it. You’ll get your chance but only if you calm down.” Tail admonished. Directing his attention to the other Crusaders he said. “The Gold band belonged to someone close to him. Check how many Vampires are out there and make sure Moon Shadow is there.” Snapping a quick salute Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom took off to the other side of the room. moving silently as they crossed the room.

On the balcony there were three Vampires. All of them larger than the average, but one stood above them all. He was black as the void save for his eyes which were a deep, hypnotizing shade of crimson and glowed like lanterns in the night. He stood half again the height of the two mares, he may have been even taller than Big Macintosh. The other two while smaller were still tall and stood up to the largests shoulders. They were facing away from the balcony, watching the battle. one of the smaller spoke, his voice a deep baritone. “Why do we not join the battle, Moon Shadow? We could easily drive them out if we did.”

From their vantage point the five observers could see the large yellow eyed vampire moving quickly closer cutting down any that got in his way. A few seconds later a Vampire with yellow eyes jumped up to the ledge. He lept forward, bat-like wings sheathed in metal and a sword extended from a vambrace attached to his right forehoof. He’d covered about half the distance when he flew straight into a sword, held perpendicular to the floor in a magical levitation field, splitting himself in half.

The Vampire to Moon Shadow’s left returned his sword to its sheath, it’s twins not having moved. Deciding they’d seen enough, the Crusaders moved back from the balcony and relayed what they saw to the others. “Then we just have to sit back and watch the fight. Samael is quite impatient.” Tail Wind commented, turning to the balcony.

A group of six Vampires jumped onto the balcony, landing quietly in a V formation in front of Moon Shadow and his bodyguards. The one at the front was as big as Moon Shadow, the only difference between them being the colour of their eyes, the new Vampire’s eyes being yellow. Samael had finally arrived.

Moon Shadow waved dismissively at the other group. “Destroy them.” He said in a bored tone, sitting on his throne to watch the fight. The bodyguards leaped forwards striking the two ponies closest to Samael. The Earth Pony striking with bladed hooves, and the Unicorn levitating all four swords and swirling them around him, like a slow moving, razor sharp tornado. Two charged the Unicorn from opposite sides attempting to split his concentration. The Unicorn yawned, jumped and sent his blades into the back of their necks pausing for a second as he landed he then ripped the blades through the side of their necks and into a third trying to attack the Earth Pony.

The Earth Pony was using himself as a battering ram, charging a Vampire knocking him to the ground before he trampled him, cutting him to pieces with the blades on his shoes. He’d done that to one already but the one he was fighting was smarter and had quicker reflexes, when he’d gone to charge the other Vampire had just sidestepped and the Earth pony had nearly run off the edge. Now he was using a different tactic, moving quickly around the other Vampire and delivering quick jabs with his bladed hooves to the pegasus’s wings to remove his flight advantage. Until he was surprised by an Earth pony charging him and knocking him to the side. The Pegasus, seeing his chance, opened his bat-like wings and flapped launching himself up above the fight.

The two Earth ponies squared off against each other. Samael’s was smaller and using the bladed vambraces usually used by Pegasi, while Moon Shadow’s was larger, preferring to use his brute strength to cripple his enemy with small aid lended by the blades on his shoes.

The larger stuck first lunging, putting his considerable weight behind the blow to add a little more damage. The other Earth pony turned to the side dodging the attack and slashing along the others side, opening up a large gash. Moon Shadow’s Earth pony hissed in pain clutching his side. He heard a commotion behind him and hoped his brother would be alright, but couldn’t spare the time to check as the other Earth pony was already on top of him, slashing with his swords and beating him with his hooves. The larger Earth pony was forced on the defensive, dodging attacks and blocking the ones he couldn’t, being forced back further every second. When he had his back against the railing preventing anypony from accidently walking off the edge the other pony paused, savoring his victory.

He didn’t see the swords as they surrounded him, nor hear when they began to move but he did feel them as two slipped between his ribs tearing into his organs another blocking his swords that were aimed for the other Earth ponies neck, the final sword stabbing into his neck, and slicing his head off.

The Unicorn stood behind him his horn glowing as he returned two of his swords to their sheaths, floating the other pair in front of himself. He extended a hoof silently to help his brother up. Then choked and fell to the floor, his neck having been slit by one of his own swords. The other, still floating in the air dove for the Earth pony, sliding into his forehead. He froze for a second before he crumpled to the floor. Samael smiled. “Don’t you have any tougher fighters? I honestly expected more Moony, This might not even have been worth the bother of coming here.” he remarked, turning to the pony on the throne. Moon Shadow had not moved from his bored slouch on his throne. He had regarded the entire fight with little more than a raised eyebrow.

“Well if you insist. I will provide you with a greater challenge. You might even entertain me for a few seconds.” He said as he got up from his seat and walked down, forming a pair of swords out of his magic.

“Clash of the titans.” Scootaloo thought to the others.

Samael smiled, his horn glowing as he raised his sword. “You shouldn’t underestimate my strength Moony.” he said as he lowered himself, bending his knees slightly prepared to dodge or lunge. Moon Shadow stopped in front of him, his swords floating before him waiting for an attack, the larger Vampire not bothering to adopt a combat stance.

“I think I may be overestimating your abilities actually.” Moon Shadow replied in a bored tone. Moon Shadow struck first swinging his blades from different directions one aiming at Samael’s neck while the other went low to cut at his legs.

Seeing the blade coming for his neck he ducked, but not low enough as the blade still cuts deep into the back of his neck. Not seeing the blade coming from the other side he didn’t try to dodge it, the blade sinking deep into the flesh of his right leg. Moon Shadow’s attack left him defenseless and Samael struck out, however the sword impacting his leg threw his aim off and he only succeeded in cutting Moon Shadows cheek.

Moon Shadow touched his cheek, looking at the blood on his hoof. “Pathetic. I’ve had worse from my sons when we’ve spared.” He said, swinging his free sword around again to stab into Samael’s chest. Samael ducked and rolled to the side not taking more than a cut to his fur as he did so. He swung his sword around slashing at Moon Shadows neck, pulling the sword from his leg he sent it straight at Moon shadows chest. Moon shadow caught his blade just as it cut his skin, he didn’t receive more than a paper cut from the wound. Bringing his other sword up, he deflected Samael’s sword away from his neck, but he couldn’t deflect it properly and it sunk deep into his left shoulder.

Roaring with rage and pain Moon Shadow swung both his swords at Samael’s left side. Both swords struck deep into Samaels shoulder leaving long, deep gashes as Moon Shadow withdrew them. Samael seeing that Moon Shadow was defenseless again stabbed towards his chest with his sword. One of Moon Shadows swords deflected the blade just as it reached him causing a long but shallow cut across his chest. Samael, his right leg not able to hold him up any longer, falls to his right. He sends a blast of ice at Moon Shadow to distract him before turning his magic on his leg.

Moon Shadow got struck by the ice, but used his own magic to remove it before it could do much more than hit him. Samael formed a boot of ice surrounding the cut, freezing the gash and supporting his leg, allowing him to stand once more. Before he could stand though, Moon shadow swung a sword across his side opening a deep gash the length of his body. Samael desperately stabbed upwards towards Moon Shadow’s chin. The blow landed a deep gash along Moon Shadows neck. He knocked the sword away from Samael’s magical grasp with one of his own and a strong kick to his horn. Moon Shadow raised his sword above his head. “Time to finish this. Once and for all.” He said in his deep whispering voice. He plunged the sword down, into Samael’s neck separating it from his head. Moon Shadow turned from the pile of dust on the floor and returned to his throne.

“That was a pretty awesome fight.” Scootaloo thought to the other Crusaders. They had been able to watch the entire fight from their hiding place at the right side of the partial wall that separated the two rooms.

“Yeah, they sure gave each other a beating.” Apple Bloom agreed.

“Good, that’ll make Moon Shadow weaker. Much easier to fight.” Storm thought to the others. “It’s time we ended this. It’s time we ended this Crusade.” Storm said, allowing his face to be consumed by fire as he called on the dragon blood that enhanced his pyromancy. Tail Wind joined him opening his wings slightly, preparing to use the blades on their edges or the silver feathers. Scootaloo also stepped forwards flicking the blades hidden in the vambraces out. Apple Bloom checked her shoes over before stepping forward. Sweetie Belle drew her swords, checking their edges and bringing a few spells to the front of her mind, she stepped forwards ready to fight to the death to protect her friends, her family and the whole of equestria. They all were.

They stepped forwards all of them together. The two pegasi taking off to land quietly above the throne. Sweetie Belle stopped behind the throne holding her blades ready on either side. Storm and Apple Bloom walked around the throne to confront Moon Shadow.

“You have caused much grief Moon Shadow. You have killed many and lived far too long. We are here to rectify the mistake that has been your extended life.” Storm said, his voice like the roar of a forge. Apple Bloom stood by his side ready for the fight.

“Ugh, not you lot, I can’t be bothered with this charade. Just leave before I get mad.” He said, his tone bored. He lit his horn and froze some of the small cuts on his chest.

“Your mistake.” Apple Bloom said. “Now!” She called. Sweetie Belle, hearing the call swung her swords around the side of the throne at roughly the height she thought Moon Shadows head would be. Tail Wind and Scootaloo both fired the bladed silver feathers on their wings at the top of his head. Moon Shadow launched himself forwards dodging the feathers, but was unable to dodge Sweetie Belle’s swords totally, gaining large gashes on both sides of his body. He raised his swords as he flew towards Storm, pointing them straight at the other stallions chest.

Storm attempted to dodge but couldn’t move fast enough the blade slicing and cutting his chest plate off, leaving a deep long cut on his chest. Apple Bloom struck out at his legs cutting deep into his right rear leg as he landed. Hissing in pain, Moon Shadow sent a blast of ice at the young Earth pony. Storm recovering from his wound heated the ice so it was little more than cold water hitting her in the face, causing her to pause for a second while she cleared her vision. Scootaloo took off launching herself at Moon Shadow, turning to allow the bladed edge of her wing to strike the Vampire. Moon Shadow sidestepped the attack bucking Scootaloo as she passed sending her crashing into Apple Bloom, injuring her wing as it hit the Earth pony’s armoured hide.Tail Wind, not moving from his perch as Scootaloo had, launched three feathers at the Vampire, who caught them in his magic, sending them straight back at Tail and forcing him to barrel roll to the side, unfurling his wings to prevent himself from falling. Sweetie Belle started spinning her swords like the blade of a circular saw, she sent both at Moon Shadow. He tried to block but because they were spinning succeeded in doing nothing, many cuts being opened on his side and back.

Moon Shadow, angered beyond belief that they were winning, that they had the nerve to attack him in his own home, sent his blade at Meteor Storm. Storm deflected the sword with a shield before leaping forward and slamming his hooves down on Moon Shadows head. The Vampire’s head hit the floor with the force of the punch. He rolled quickly away shaking his head to clear the dizziness and ringing in his ears. He saw Storm charging him and prepared for one of the unicorns specialities: hoof to hoof combat. Storm stopped in front of the Vampire transfering his speed into a punishing uppercut, that Moon shadow deflected with a weak shield, designed to last a few seconds and deflect a blow. Storm recovered quickly and began to pepper Moon with blows, Moon shadow dodging some but deflecting most with his shields.

Storm stumbled as a particularly powerful blow was deflected by a shield, he was off balance leaving an opening that Moon Shadow took advantage of. Storm was pushed to the right with the force of his blow, leaving his ribs exposed to the Vampire, wasting no time, his forelegs moving like pistons, Moon Shadow punched Storm in the chest, accompanied by the sickening crack of breaking bones. The large pony followed this up with an uppercut to the gut, knocking the wind out of Storm and ended by pushing the Unicorn away.

Scootaloo, recovering from her last attack, flicked out the swords mounted on her forelegs as she took off and aimed herself at Moon Shadow, diving in to slice at him when Storm stumbled backwards. Moon Shadow caught the movement out of the corner of his eye and turned just in time to catch Scootaloo’s hooves in his own; He smiled at her before sharply twisting the right ankle, breaking it and throwing her to the left into Storm where they tumbled across the floor together. Seeing his opening Tail Wind kicks off a nearby wall accelerating himself, wings spread, bladed edge glinting, straight at Moon Shadow. Moon Shadow growled having to duck and roll to dodge the attack, receiving yet another cut across his side. He jumped backwards into the shadows where none could see him.

The Crusaders formed a semicircle around the area he had been. “You can’t hide Moon Shadow. We know you’re there.” Storm called into the darkness.

A figure shifted in the darkness. It took a step forwards, a black hoof appearing out of the darkness quickly followed by another until a pony, black as night with eyes the colour of blood. “Then how do you explain this Stormy?” He said, causing the Crusaders to jump and wheel around to see their enemy stood on the other side of the room.

Had he been thinking clearly, Storm would have noticed that Moon Shadow couldn’t have got over there without someone seeing, the patch of shadow he was hiding in had no unbroken line to that side of the room and Moon Shadow was big enough to be noticed in the light. He couldn’t teleport and even if he could there was no flash of magic to indicate a teleportation. Storm, however, was not thinking clearly, he was angry. Kicking against the floor he traveled at an incredible clip across the room. “No one calls me that!” He yelled. When he was a second away from attacking Moon Shadow disappeared.

A pained scream behind him alerted Storm to Moon Shadows reappearance. He turned around to see Apple Bloom, her chest plate on the floor, with a massive cut across her back. Moon Shadow stood over her, sword dripping in her blood held in the fell grasp of his magic. He brought the sword to his tongue sliding it across, collecting some of the blood. “Delicious.” He said before he launched himself at Tail Wind. He was too close and moving too fast for the pegasus to react and they went tumbling across the floor, Moon Shadow focusing his blows on Tail Wind’s, still armoured, wings. There was the screech of metal rubbing against metal, the crack of bone splitting and the scream of an injured stallion as Moon shadow brought his hoof down a final time to launch himself back into the shadows.

“Apple Bloom!” Sweetie shouted, running to the young Earth pony, horn alight and spells running through her mind. As she reached the young pony though, Moon Shadow jumped from the shadows to Sweetie Belle’s right, forcing her to turn to shield herself from an attack that never came. Moon Shadow disappeared, Sweetie’s eyes widening as she realised the mistake she made. The real Moon Shadow stepped out of the darkness behind her, slashing his sword across the back of her legs as he jumped past her and stabbed his sword into Storm’s rear left leg, twisting it as he pulled it out, not breaking his stride while he ran between the shadow he had been hiding in and another on the other side of the room.

“Everyone! To the centre! Form a circle!” Tail Wind shouted, he and Scootaloo helping the injured Earth pony and unicorn mares. Tail staunched the bleeding of both mares wounds, putting small pieces of metal in Sweetie’s rear leg braces, locking them and turning them into splints.

“Can you stand?” He asked. Apple Bloom gritted her teeth and rose laboriously on her hooves.

“It hurts, but yes.” She replied.

Sweetie Belle tried but the combination of the wound and her locked armour prevented her from moving from her position. Tail and Apple Bloom stood behind her, Scootaloo covering them, raised her from her side onto her hooves like they were righting a stack of chairs. “Can you walk like that Sweetie?” Tail asked worriedly. Behind Tail Wind, Storm was going berserk. Blasting every shadow in range with fire, receiving many more cuts from the Vampires sword, that he seemed to be completely ignoring. Sweetie took a step forward then lifted one of her rear legs and awkwardly moved it forward.

“Not very easy and I won’t be winning any races anytime soon, but I can.” She affirmed, nodding.

“Good.”Tail said.

Storm fell back into the centre of the room, horn glowing the flames that made up his face had spread now making up his entire torso too. “Form a circle.” He said. ‘I have a plan’ He sent over the mental link, that was still up but until that point had gone forgotten. The others complied with his order quickly forming a circle and watching, waiting for Moon Shadow to make his move.

The dark stallion blasted out of the shadows, flying on course to pass between Storm and Tail Wind. Storm turned quickly on his uninjured leg holding up a gemstone between himself and the Vampire. There was a bright flash and Moon Shadow cried out in pain, his body flying into the middle of the circle of ponies.

Moon Shadow landed on his hooves, large stretches of his fur had been burned off, the edges smoking slightly. He was covered in cuts, some deep others shallow, all looked painful. His red eyes searched for a pair of theirs, searched to control one of them and force them to fight for him. But they knew better than to allow eye contact keeping their eyes low. Tail bucked him in the side, disrupting the moment of silence. Scootaloo flicked her good wing forward launching a trio of feathers into his legs. Apple Bloom, whom the Vampire was now facing, Use the strength she had built up over years of working on the farm to use. Even injured her buck was more formidable than most, and she hit him right in the face with all the strength she could muster, breaking his nose badly. Sweetie Belle brought her twin swords around behind him cutting deep into his legs as he stumbled backwards, forcing him to sit down in the centre of them again.

Storm stepped up, standing a few feet from the Vampire, his horn aglow. He built up a vast amount of power forcing it into his horn as he began to cast a spell. “YOU WILL BURN!” He roared, the flames growing as he released the spell. A ball of fire and light, centred on Moon Shadow, grew before condensing, growing hotter and brighter the more it did so. Tail Wind, who had been helping Scootaloo and Apple Bloom, started to fire feathers into the ball. Storm cut the spell off dropping to the floor due to the energy used. Moon Shadow stood, smoking, his hide covered in deep cuts and a few feathers, partially melted into the skin along his side.

Sweetie Belle stepped forwards, swinging one of her swords over her head and brought it down with a cry into the large Vampires neck, again, and again. She hacked at his neck until his head dropped to the floor and his body dissolved into ash.

“It’s done.” She said not quite believing it. “We’ve won. He’s been destroyed. We’ve done it Storm!” She cried looking to the stallion. “Storm? You can drop the flames now.”

Storm stood, his body covered in flames, his face formed of fire. “You. Will. All. Burn!” He yelled, loosing a torrent of fire at the other Crusaders. Sweetie, thinking quickly, raised a shield weaving fire resistance into it as she extended it around the others.

“What’s going on? Why is he attacking us?” She asked Tail Wind, scared out of her mind.

Tail Wind sighed, hanging his head. “He told you about his pyromancy right? Well, it allows him to use more powerful spells than other spellcasters but his strongest can still take parts of his mind when he casts them. The spell he used was more powerful than anything I have ever seen before. He’s gone now, he may return eventually but I can’t let him out of here like that.” He said turning to the others. “Run, when he stops attacking drop the shield and run. I’ll subdue him and bring him to the surface, then I’ll start treating him in ‘the candle’.”He said, turning to where Storm had been and lowered into a combat stance.

“I’m not leaving you here to fight him alone!” Scootaloo shouted.

“That wasn’t a request Scootaloo! It was an order from your superior. Retreat to the cave mouth and await further instruction.” He said angrily.

“No, Tail I can’t just leave you.”

“You can and will. Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle retreat to the cave mouth and take Scootaloo with you.” He said, the others nodding solemnly taking the younger pegasus and pulling her away from Tail and the danger. When Storm could not keep the fire burning any longer and had to stop, Sweetie dropped the shield and, pulling Scootaloo behind her, fled down the tunnels that led to the safety of the world outside.

Tail Wind sighed as he walked up to Storm who was panting from exhaustion on the floor. “You know you shouldn’t cast such powerful spells, small wounds great in number can still bring low even the mightiest of foe.” he said. Storm attempted to rise, Tail kicked his horn. “You told me that. That’s how you convinced me to learn how to use the Steel Wings and the feathers. They’re not the most powerful of weapons but I can use my speed to cause much more damage that’s harder to dodge than one big swing with the big sword I used to use.” He said, kicking Storm in the stomach as he tried to rise again.

“Burn. Burn in the fires of your hate and rage.” Storm groaned from his position in the floor.

“So why did you feel the need to use a spell so powerful that you sacrificed your mind to finish it. We were winning, we could have done it without any of your magic at all. Well, I’ll ask you again when you’re capable of stringing two thoughts not directly related to fire, hate and anger together.” Tail sighed again preparing to cover Storm’s horn, tie him up and drag him to the surface.

Storm knocked away the metal sheath. “I did it... because I’m... doing something that’s... never been done before. I’m... purging the dragon blood...from my body.” He said struggling to maintain his control. His face gradually lost it’s flickering appearance very slowly returning to it’s usual shade of teal.

“What will happen when you do? Why are you doing it?” Tail Wind asked thoroughly confused.

“It’s never been... done before, I have no clue.” Storm struggled. “We’ve won there is no point in me having these abilities anymore. I went too far and... now this is the only way-hngh.. for me to stay sane.” The flames across his back and body died down, just his mouth was left.

“Do you have to do it now? Can’t you wait until we get somewhere safer?” Tail asked.

“I can’t hold the... flames in my mind back... for long. This will eliminate the... insanity I accidently called... I’ll lose my fire magic but I don’t want it anyway. Sorry brother, but shut up it’s taking me a lot of concentration to maintain this control.” He said his face screwed up in pain.

Instead of dying out like the other fires had done the flames of his mouth extended, pouring out of his mouth and onto the floor, forming a pool. When this was done he collapsed again, Tail Wind rushing over to his side. “Stay back. I think I’ve found out why no one ever-ack!” He cried as he clutched at his chest, the pool on the floor glowing brighter.

"I'm never getting that drink you owe me am I?" Tail asked.

"I'm sorry Tail Wind. Goodbye, my brother." Storm said, reaching his hoof out weakly to the Pegasus. Tail wind gripped it firmly, locking their ankles together and smiling sadly at his leader, mentor and his most loyal friend.

Sweetie Belle exited the cave and kept running up to the top of a nearby hill. She stood facing the cave. All three of them together stood looking down at the cave.

“How long do you think it’ll take him?” Scootaloo asked the other two, her tone and actions indicating worry. She was flicking her wings, causing the metal feathers to rustle and jangle together.

“Ah don’t know, shouldn’t be long now. Calm down Scoots, he’ll be fine. He can fight better than you can and you know you could get out of a cave like that.” Apple Bloom consoled, placing a hoof on her friends shoulder. “Besides, that’s getting real annoying.” she added.

“Okay.” she said standing still once more. A minute passed before the Crusaders felt and heard a low rumbling in the earth.

“I’m feeling a massive amount of magic.” Sweetie Belle said. “It’s coming from inside the cave. It’s Storm?” A few seconds after she said that, the earth that separated the cave from the sky began to rise, like their was a massive balloon under it and somepony was blowing it up. It grew and grew, rocks cracking and falling, fire bursting out of fissures. Then,less than a second after it started, the whole thing collapsed, rocks and dust mixed with fire shooting out the sides and from the tunnels they’d just escaped from, turning them into naturally formed cannons.

Sweetie Belle threw up a shield around herself and her friends, quickly moulding it so it parted the dirt and rock while they passed.“What’s happening?” Scootaloo asked, very scared for the two Crusaders who weren’t with them.

“We’re in the middle of an explosion.” Sweetie Belle said concentrating as much as she could to prevent them being swept away by the blast. A small tear leaking from the corner of her eye at the thought of the other Crusaders.

Author's Note

Wow, that's a long chapter. Sorry this one took so long guys and girls. As always a big thanks to Conker for being my pre-reader, the quality of this story has gone up immeasurably thanks to him. If you have any questions for me ask in the comments, PM me or try telepathy (Note the last isn't guaranteed to reach me so you should probably try one of the other options.