Victory Apple

The sudden announcement about more food raised a few questions, but everypony was desperately hoping for it to be true. They desperately needed the food, and perhaps more than one of them was secretly hoping to see some unicorn tail get whipped. The bandits must have had a pony on the inside, because it wasn't long after the town awoke to discover the fliers that three new figures joined their midst.

Ponies stood in their doorways as the cart made its way down the main road, unaware that it was actually filled with vegetables collected from their own town farm. The farmer had not been pleased at being woken up so late, or at the prospect of giving up his vital crop, but Fey was just as convincing in her approach to the situation as Victory herself would have been. In the end, the farmer was more than happy to agree with their plan.

The hushed silence as Pinkie Pie dragged the cart down the heart of the town was broken only by whispers that floated through the air. Still, she strove onward with a smile on her face, completely oblivious to the tension in the air.

A unicorn bounded out of an alleyway, ramming the side of the cart and causing Pinkie to fumble with her footing. The attacker was immediately joined by two other unicorns, one of whom tore Pinkie from the riggings and made to grab the cart with its magic.

“Oh no you don't!”

The bandits were quite surprised to see a cyan pegasus leaping out from under the foodstuff. It didn't take a genius to
realize they had been tricked either. Rainbow Dash came down on the leader, tackling her to the ground, while the other two grabbed the cart in their magic and made to tug it back out of town. They stopped at the sight of Rarity and Twilight, who had emerged and now blocked the main road.

“Now y'all hold it right there!”

Victory and Fey had appeared on the other side of the bandits, and now both sides of the main road were cut off. The surrounding ponies cried out in triumph. The ringleader of the bandits threw Rainbow Dash off of her and looked around. They were securely trapped.

“Escape formation four!” she cried out, and the three each cast a blast of magic at their ambushers.

Rainbow Dash was the closest. She just barely had time for her eyes to widen before she was hit. Her screech filled the air, followed closely by the scent of burning feathers. As she hit the ground, Pinkie cried out and leapt over to her.

Twilight was able to protect her and Rarity with a magical bubble, but when the blast hit she became dizzy from the concentration required to keep the spell from failing. It had been a powerful attack, to be sure. Twi dropped the bubble and followed Rarity as she ran forward.

Fey was only barely able to push the sheriff out of the way before getting hit herself. The shot burned her side and sent her flying back into the dust. Victory leapt to her feet just in time to see her deputy go sprawling across the ground. Blinded by rage, she turned to attack those responsible.

The attacking unicorns had begun to run towards a nearby alleyway. Nopony was moving to intercept, and Twilight knew that they wouldn't be able to capture the bandits if they made it into the winding network of backroads that sprawled across the town. She sent a magical blast of her own towards them, a concussive blast that would have knocked them right out. But in her anger, her aim suffered and her spell ended up splintering the wooden column that supported the overhang of a nearby building.

Rarity took a different approach. She grabbed the stallions tail with her magic and held firm. From so far away, and as strong as he was, she almost couldn't hold him. But his companions went on without him instead of turning to help, and by some stroke of luck Rarity was able to hold her in place until Victory reached him and tackled him to the ground, where he lay still.

The cheers were deafening. Rarity rushed forward and exclaimed, “Applejack, that was fantastic!”

“Thank's Rarity,” she chirped back before quickly frowning. Just there, she had felt something, something familiar. There was something about this pony, this unicorn... she did know her, had... fought beside her before. But before this revelation could break her, she caught sight of Twi and Pinkie Pie huddled over Rainbow's lying form.

“Fey!” she cried, abandoning the unconscious bandit and rushing over to her fallen partner. She was still awake, but breathing heavily. Victory crouched down and asked, “Fey? Are you alright, Fey?”

The deputy coughed once. “I'm... fine,” she struggled to say.

“No you're not,” Victory decided. She turned to one of the nearby ponies and said, “Get the doctor out here, now!”

***

Per Victory's request, Rainbow Dash and Fey were set down to rest on the two beds in her office instead of being taken to the doctor's office itself. They had to carry the two injured ponies in the cart, even though Fey was still conscious and Rainbow Dash woke up on the ride over. They were just too weak to move. Twilight recognized the damage from her studies into magical maladies, though she had never seen such a spell in real life. She asserted that they would be fine, but they should keep from moving or talking until they were feeling better.

As soon as they were both in bed, Twilight began magically healing their wounds the best she could. She was no doctor, and healing spells had never been high on her list of priorities. Why risk practicing them when there were always doctors nearby who could be reached in a moment's notice? But this was not Ponyville, and their doctor was not a unicorn. He had no experience with magical damage and no methods of treating it.

The injuries would have healed on their own soon enough, but Twilight used her limited knowledge to do what she could. As long as there was anything within her power to make the recovery any faster, she was going to use it. All the while she did this, Rarity stood off to the side, wishing she knew the magic to help.

When she had done all she could, Twilight stepped aside and let the others come near. Rainbow Dash was breathing easier, but many of her feathers had been burned away and her fur still had a charred appearance. Her internal organs were unharmed, but she still wasn't able to speak beyond a faint rasp. Fey, on the other hoof, while burned on one side, was talking freely and could almost muster the energy to sit up. Her head hurt a little, but more than anything she found herself needing a glass of water.

“What in tarnation did they do?” Victory demanded of Twilight when they had entered the front room again.

“It's an offensive spell,” Twilight said, sitting on one of the pillows to rest. The healing magic took a lot out of her. “Relatively harmless, originally devised by Canterlot scientists several hundred years ago in an attempt to find an effective stunning spell, but abandoned when they couldn't make it any less painful. The burns will have to heal on their own, I'm afraid. Rainbow Dash won't be flying for a few weeks, unless I can get home and find a spell that will regenerate her feathers.”

Victory glanced into the other room at Fey, who, thanks to Twilight's magic, was able to reach over and lap up the water from the glass Fluttershy was holding out to her. “I guess unicorn magic ain't all bad, then,” she told Twilight, eliciting a smile.

It was short lived, vanishing from Twilight's face before she asked, “What do we do now?”

They both looked at the occupied cell. The bandit was sitting inside, awake now but not saying anything. While he was still unconscious, Victory and Pinkie had affixed the silver collar on him. Seeing it send a small shiver down Twilight's spine. Even if it was for their safety, she didn't like it.

“Now we interrogate,” Victory said, “Get some answers finally. Y'all should go rest up at the inn; I'll watch over Rainbow Dash. I don't want y'all to be here to see this. And there's not enough room for all of us to stay here anyhow.”

Twilight nodded, adding, “I think Fluttershy and Winona should stay. I've done what I can to make the two feel better, but Fluttershy can offer them the bedside manner they need.”

“And ya won't take the dog?”

“I don't think she'd follow anypony but you or Fluttershy.”

Victory sighed, “Okay.”

As Twilight, Pinkie, and Rarity filed out, Victory took a good hard look at her prisoner. She wasn't entirely sure how to perform an interrogation, but she was going to get the information out of him somehow.

Fluttershy locked the door to the cell behind her as she entered.

“You won't get me to talk,” the unicorn snarled.

“We'll just see about that,” Victory told him.

***

When the other three finally returned a few hours later, it was to see Victory sitting at her table clutching a keg of root beer. Rainbow Dash was with her, out of bed and sitting up, but clearly struggling to keep her balance. She said nothing as they came in. Fey was walking around, normal again except for the burn across her body.

“Nothin',” Victory told them sadly as they entered, “I couldn't get him to say a word.”

“Nothing?” Twilight asked.

“Well he talked, but I could tell it was all lies.”

The other three exchanged a worried glance at this. Then, to Twilight's surprise, Rarity and Pinkie locked eyes and smirked.

“Let us in there,” Rarity offered, catching the entire room by surprise.

“You two? in there?” Victory asked, stunned, “Well I'll be darned if I let you two inside the cell with a criminal. It's not safe.”

Rarity explained, “I think you'll find that we're more than capable of handling ourselves, aren't we, Pinkie!”

“Oh yes yessiry!” Pinkie exclaimed, bouncing up and down.

Victory looked at Fey and Dash, who seemed as confused as she was, and then back to Twilight, who was the same. Finally she threw up her hooves and said, “Fine by me. Deputy, unlock the door.”

As soon as the door clanged shut behind them, the two interrogators took their place on either side of the prisoner, who refused to look at either of them. He seemed unfazed by this whole turn of events.

Rarity spoke first. “Now deary,” she said, “I know you want to be helpful and tell us where your friends are hiding, right?” He said nothing.

“Well you're going to tell us!” Pinkie asserted, taking on a more aggressive stance. Still no change in the prisoner.

“We'll let you off nice and easy if you cooperate,” Rarity cooed.

“And if you don't, we'll... we'll...” Pinkie Pie couldn't find anything threatening to say. She and Rarity exchanged a worried glance of their own, before Pinkie got a bright idea. “Hey,” she told the captured unicorn, “If you help us out I'll let you try out my famous desert. I call it my Cherychanga. Or maybe I should call it my Chimicherry. What do you think? Chimicherry, or Cherrychanga? Chimicherry? Cherrychanga? Chimicherry...?”

While she did this, Rarity scooted in as close as she could and begged, “Oh please, you just have to tell us where your friends went. It's so important that we know so we can convince our friend to let us restore her memory. If you don't, we will be just devastated...”

The others watched on as the unicorn, surrounded by the two most annoying voices in the known universe, began to sweat and twitch.

“Would you like some pie!? I can make apple pie, chocolate pie, orange pie, cherry pie, chimicherry pie, pinkie pie...”

“Your hooves are so dirty, when was the last time you had a bath...?!”

“...and it was raining chocolate rain! And I was like, 'Hold on guys! Chaos comes with chocolate rain!'...”

“...and that mane of yours needs a real good scrubbing; I wouldn't be surprised if you had ticks...”

“ENOUGH!” the stallion shrieked, his eyes wide in fear, “I'll talk! I'll talk, just please, no more!”

Satisfied with their job, Rarity and Pinkie exited the cell and allowed a stunned Victory back in.

“So...” she said, quickly regaining her composure, “Let's talk.”

***

Half an hour later a map of the area was spread out on the table. Victory had chosen to let her deputy take over while she sat to the side and nursed her migraine, watching on. The deputy had circled the area the bandits were located, and was going through all that she knew.

“...we're dealing with a group of nine unicorns, if he's to be believed. Now, they're settled right up against this canyon here, which means their back's against the wall- so to speak.”

Rainbow Dash piped up, “I could fly over top of that and... oh, right...”

Twilight said, “I'm sorry Rainbow Dash. If there was anything I could do-”

“You'd have already done it,” Dash assured her. Twilight nodded.

The deputy cast a worried glance at Victory before continuing, “Apprehending a number like that would be tricky, especially if they're all capable of this stunning spell. The seven of us could only capture one, with several casualties. And there's no telling how far they'll go if they feel cornered.”

“Our best bet,” Victory said, “is to scout out the area first- see what we're really dealin' with. If it's too much... well, I hate to say this, but if there's enough uni-... enough of them bandits out there to be a serious threat to my town, we just may have to call in those royal forces for backup.”

“I agree,” Twilight said, “But now that we've captured one of them, I'd imagine that they'd be prepared for him to talk, and may already planning retaliation.”

“He was hard to break,” Rarity reminded her, “He's been trained well.”

“And he won't say why,” the deputy pointed out, “a simple bandit should not have that kind of loyalty to his partners to stay so quiet, especially with the promise of amnesty that we gave him. He was trained to sustain interrogation, and probably torture too. There's more going on here than we know.”

Rainbow Dash cried out, “He's probably lying to us about the camp!” She then coughed once. Her body had not fully recovered to the point of making random outbursts feasible.

Victory shook her head, explaining, “I don't know why, but I can just tell: he's tellin' the truth. He was lyin' earlier when I talked to him, but he's tellin' the truth about this.”

“Ooh! It's the element of honesty, Applejack!” Pinkie squealed.

“Well, whatever it is,” Victory countered, “I think we can trust this information.” She had gone back to rubbing her temple with her hooves, and Fey scooted a little closer so she could reach up and start gently massaging her back. A few concerned glances were shared around the table by the others, but nopony said a thing.

“A scouting party?” Twilight asked, pulling the discussion full circle, “Who would go?”

“I'll go-” Fey began to offer, but Victory cut her off.

“I'll go. It's my responsibility, as is you're safety. I won't send you blindly into danger. From what I understand, Fluttershy isn't exactly the most athletic. Rainbow Dash, you can't fly yet but you're almost healed. I'll take you, and the dog- Winona- too. She can probably help detect if we're about to run into anypony we shouldn't.”

“I'll come too,” Twilight offered.

Victory hesitated, but shook her head. “No,” she said, “You stay here. We're not going to confront them, just get an idea of what we're in for.”

“But-”

“Trust me, Twilight,” Victory said, “If y'all are going to ask for trust, you should at least be willing to give it.”

Twilight paused, but slowly nodded.

“Good,” Victory said, taking Fey's hoof and gently removing it from her shoulder, “We'll leave immediately.”

“However will you find them in this dark?” Rarity asked.

“It gets cold in the desert at night,” Rainbow Dash pointed out, “They wouldn't risk the cold without a fire. Isn't that right, Applejack?”

Victory nodded, eying the map. “And I can get there easy enough,” she said, “Come on, you two. Fey, you're in charge for the night. Sleep well, ya hear?”

“Good luck,” Fey replied, watching as her boss and mentor left with her little group.

When they were gone, Rarity leaned in and whispered, “Now, miss Fey, I don't mean to pry, but what exactly is the extant of your relationship with our friend?”

“What... what do you mean?” Fey asked, a little shocked by the question.

“It's just...”

“Rarity,” Twilight interrupted, “Is this really appropriate?”

“Well I simply must know.”

“I think that's enough out of you two,” Fey said, stunning them all with her sudden assertion. Adopting a softer tone, she told them, “You're all free to stay here, but I'm afraid that there's only one bed other than mine.”

“Well I do need my beauty sleep...” Rarity began.

“Actually,” Twilight said, “I was hoping I could spend maybe an hour and teach you a few combat spells, just in case things do get out of hand.”

“Oh. Well, Twilight, I must say that's a really kind offer, but-”

Before she could get the chance to politely refuse, Pinkie Pie had leapt up and dashed for the bedroom, claiming the bed as her own. Sadly, it was the deputy's bed, and she had to go try and convince Pinkie to switch to the other one.
Rarity and Twilight looked to Fluttershy, who said simply, “I think I'll just sleep here,” before curling up on the pillow she sat on.

Rarity turned to Twilight and offered, “I guess we can practice a little bit, since I no longer have a place to sleep.”

“We could go back to the inn,” Twilight told her.

“And leave that poor girl alone?” Rarity asked, “You see how devoted she is to Applejack. The thought of seeing her run off into the night alone must be eating her up inside! Oh, now don't give me that look, I had to say something. You saw how they were.”

“I'd rather not think about it,” Twilight said, “All I know is that it's going to be hard on her when Applejack gets her memory back.”

“And suppose she never does, Twilight? What do we do then? We can't stay her forever, and we can't return to Sweet Apple Acres without her, can we?”

Twilight didn't have a response for that. All she could do was shake her head and change the topic. “First I was to teach you how to conjure a magical bubble for protection. It won't be as strong as mine, but...”

From where she lay in the sheriff's bed, Fey had heard their entire conversation. She turned over and clutched the pillow tightly in her hooves. It was all she could do not to break into loud sobs, but tears ran down her muzzle and onto Victory's pillow anyway.