The road to Sanctuary was harsh. This place was home to Big Mac and Twi. Me? I didn't have a home, not on this planet anyway. There were little to no clouds, no need for a Pegasus pony such as myself here, especially now that the Crimson Pegasai were gone too. I was just reflecting on the past week, what with all the craziness and odd happenings, when static appeared on my H.U.D. Once again, the beautiful blue pony appeared before me.
"Good. I see you found who I was talking about. I should have told you this earlier but I assumed you knew by now. Applejack is looking for The Stable too. Look, I don't mean to rush you, but Applejack has had enough of waiting for The Stable entrance to appear. She's already begun to drill a massive hole into the planet's crust to directly access The Stable. I can't stop her, but it will take her a long time to do it. You need to be aware, however, that time is still of the essence. I'd say you have maybe three to four months, at the most. Get Trixie to tell you everything she knows about The Stable and soon......Good luck."
As she disappeared from my eyes, I began to think. 'Who was this pony who kept contacting me? Was she some sort of Deity? Or a protector of The Stable? Some rival faction against Applejack maybe? And why, of all ponies, would she help me?' I wanted answers!
"You ok Dash? You look kind of....out of it," Twilight said, giving me a concerning look.
"Yeah. I'm fine.....It's just....nothing."
"Hey. We've only known each other for a few months now, but I think I know when there's something troubling you. You've been like this for a week, and it's beginning to worry me. If it's about Applejack, I know how you feel. We almost died because of her, and that would be enough to traumatize anypony. Try not to think about it much. Just focus on The Stable for now for the sake of us all."
"Ok Twi," I said bleakly. I couldn't let them know I was seeing and hearing a pony on my H.U.D. with no user signal, no ID, no trace or even profile. They would think I was crazy...well, more crazy than anypony has to be to continue on this rock anyway. I was in a tricky situation...still, better than them looking at me like I'm a Bandit.
*Bang!*
Speak of the devil, or in this case, the Bandits.
Another car rammed into ours.
"Goddamn Bandit ponies!!! Just fuck off! I'm on the gun, I'm sick and tired of these assholes by now!!" Big Mac said climbing into the gunner seat. Me and Twilight started firing at them, and killing the side passengers while Fluttershy took the wheel.
"Shit this is getting pretty rough! Fluttershy how long until we're at Sanctuary?" Twilight shouted over to Fluttershy, trying to fire at the same time.
"Not long," Fluttershy said in an almost bored manner.
Big Mac shot at the enemy driver's seat, and put several bullets into the cabin's ponies. "Nice! Take that you sons a bitches!"
Their car began to swerve left and right, finally careening off by itself into a nearby rock, exploding on impact. Me, Big Mac, and Twi cheered in victory. I noticed that Trixie had been huddled in a ball, and just now stood up with a look of anger on her face
"Oh are you all so barbaric?" Trixie questioned loudly. "Most of those 'Bandits' were former colleges of mine you know. Granted I would never talk to them because I despise social interaction...and also because Audiobook got jealous when I did, but I still respected them. You're no better than the locals. Pure monsters!"
"Now you look here Trixie! I don't care whether you live or die. It's all up to how we feel about you as a group, and right now things aren't looking so good for you!" Big Mac threatened, one eye twitching as one hoof reached for his gun.
"Look I don't want you to die, so just stay down and keep your mouth shut," I said sternly to her. She saw the serious look in my eyes and sat back down. The car did an almost perfect 180 degree spin, and we were all flung to one side. I landed on top of Trixie, Twilight on top of me, Mac luckily missed us by a good margin. I banged my head, but it was nothing I couldn't shake off.
"We're here," Fluttershy announced. She let out a distinct chuckle, the first time I'd heard her laugh, and it was disturbing.
We got out of the vehicle and walked toward Sanctuary. Meanwhile, Fluttershy drove on into the city, likely heading to a hanger for repair. This was the last bastion of resistance against Handsome Applejack, home of the Crimson Alicorns...aaaand anypony who hates Applejack. This city was a great example of how the Derp corporation tried to introduce ponies to a new environment on Calamity, and how they all almost lost their sanity in the process. It had been a long time since I'd been here. I almost forgot the feeling of an actually functioning, all-pony society. There was a very famous building just north of the center of town, where the leaders of the Crimson Alicorns resided and planned their assaults on Applejack. I'd never met any of them, but they were supposed to be some of the greatest Stable Hunters who had ever lived. The ones who opened the first Stable.
"Hey, follow me. I know a place where she can crash," Twilight said pointing at Trixie.
We walked towards the buildings. I noticed where Fluttershy had 'Parked' the car. Twi and Big Mac walked over and popped their heads in quickly. Fluttershy joined us inside.
"Hey Braeburn, how's it hangin'? You still working on those modifications to my baby?" Big Mac asked the oil-soaked pony, who's head was in the bonnet of a car. He looked up and saw us
"Why shoot Mac. Y'all can't expect me to be so fast on something this beautiful. You got to treat her gentle if you want her to purr," He said stroking the side of the car. "Who's that feller there with y'all? "
"Oh, this is Rainbow Dash, and that other mare is Trixie," Big Mac said smiling.
Braeburn approached me, "Nice to me ya! I'm Braeburn," he said shaking my hoof violently.
"Hello," I replied with my hoof still violently being swung up and down. I tried to stop him, but he had a surprising grip and strength for a grease-pony.
"Anyway, we're gonna head up to the base now. Give us a shout if you need anything," Twilight said trying to rush us out as fast as possible.
We walked to the center of town, headed to the Crimson Alicorn's building. I was confused at first, but realized that Twilight had mentioned a 'base', not a home. We walked inside, and it wasn't exactly what you would call a stronghold. It was very makeshift and untidy, and I hadn't even seen the second floor yet!! Trixie pushed past me.
"Well........Where am I staying?"
"Here, you can have this area," Twilight said outlining a corner of the room with her hoof.
"Well, this is hardly a home, but I'll make do with it. I assume you want me to tell you about The Stable?" Trixie asked.
"Not yet, just give us a second. Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy. There's a few ponies I'd like y'all to meet," Big Mac said leading us upstairs. We entered a room with a holographic map in the center. The walls were covered in posters and complex technology. I saw a purple and green dragon sleeping in a lounge chair in one corner, holding a bottle of cider. There was a beautiful and stunning looking white unicorn male, with an amazing blue and cyan mane looking out from a balcony just across the room. This had to be the war room without a doubt.
"Shining Armor!" Twilight called out to the blue pony.
He turned around. "Twili!!" He exclaimed with joy galloping to her, and giving her a hug. He looked at Fluttershy and then me. I blushed as he examined me.
"Who are your friends?" He asked.
"Oh! This is Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash. Guys, this is my brother, Shining Armor," Twilight said.
"And this is Spike. Spike get up!" she shouted, pushing him with her hoof.
"Wha? Where? I don't wanna go," Spike moaned, head turning away from the noise.
"Ugh. Never mind. This is his pet Philomena," Twilight pointed her hoof at a majestic looking bird. It was a phoenix, very rare and beautiful to look at.
"Welcome, Stable Hunters, to the Crimson Alicorns," Shining Armor said to us.
It just fully clicked in my mind what was going on, why Twi and Mac had seemed familiar somehow.
"Wait. You're one of the founders Twilight? Your one of the Stable Hunters that opened the First Stable?"
"Yup. Me, Big Mac, Shining Armor, and Spike all opened that Stable as a team. We're the Original Stable Hunters."
"Remarkable," Fluttershy said in a soft tone.
"Enough chit-chat, time to get serious. Applejack is still trying to locate The Stable, so we still have more than enough time to prepare," Shining Armor stated in a serious tone.
"Actually, Applejack found the entrance already, and from what I gather, she plans to drill her way into it instead of waiting for it to reveal itself." I said this knowing I'd just dug a bit hole for myself.
"What?! Where did you get this information? This will be a massive problem, totally pushes our plans ahead of schedule!!" Shining Armor exclaimed. He took a deep breath, Twilight's hoof on his back rubbing gently, "but even if Applejack reaches that Stable there is still hope. She doesn't have the Stable Key so there's no way to unlock it's power." Shining Armor appeared to be stressed about the information, running a hoof through his mane while Twi tried to keep him calm. I wanted to tell him otherwise, but it was the truth as far as I knew. Besides, better to operate on the assumption that Applejack was winning, then think were ahead when we weren't even close.
"Ok, we need answers, and now would be a good time to ask a certain unicorn what she knows," Twilight said with a devilish grin.
end of chapter 6

Author's Note

Thanks again to Isumo1489 for editing :)