Chapter 21: Appleloosa
The barren landscape of the desert that they were speeding through flashed past at a decently fast rate, the green cacti and tumbleweed leaving as soon as they appeared. The sun was just beginning to rise, painting the sky with hues of pink, orange and blue. There wasn't a cloud in the sky, cotton candy or regular, leaving Canterlot easily visible in the distance.
Outside the carriage, the wind howled relentlessly, constantly trying to exploit any openings in the sides. The sunlight was very bright, probably leaving any onlooker that was outside for an extended period of time with terrible headaches and dehydration.
John drew back the crimson curtain with his magic; he now had full control of his abilities again. Almost as soon as he had awoken, he had traveled into the Everfree Forest with Twilight as his guide, to visit Zecora. After a brief conversation that was unfortunately riddled with rhyme, he asked for his armour, which had been supplied by Luna for his quest. Upon returning to the Library, Twilight had conducted an extensive investigation into every enchantment that Luna had placed upon the set.
She had confirmed everything that Luna had told him, and discovered several she hadn't told him about. Amongst the confirmation pile were the resistance to fire, and being able to draw energy from Luna's moon and stars. Thankfully, Twilight had gone into more depth about each of the two, carefully explaining each in precise detail.
However, there was one enchantment that she couldn't explain, no matter how hard she tried. It was his blades. Similar in design and very accurate in terms of use, to the hidden blade from Assassin's Creed, a game of which John was very fond of, she had examined them for most of the night, completely puzzled as to how they were created, not to mention how they actually worked.
She had eventually came to the conclusion that they concentrated absorbed energy from the moon and stars, forming a powerful beam of energy that could be audjusted to dissipate at certain lengths. Their enchantment was no easier to decode than to find out how they were made, taking another handful of hours to evaluate. True to Luna's word, they countered or destroyed any form of magic that was within the use of a regular unicorn, borderlining with Twilight's magical abilities. They worked just the same as regular steel blades, so in reality, everything else was just for aesthetics.
With a sigh of exhaustion, he threw himself backwards onto the supplied bed, bouncing gently with the momentum. Creaking, the bed strained to hold him up, as it was on the top bunk. He was sharing a carriage with the girls, and thankfully, too deep in thought to actually regard them, instead opting to concentrate on his tools. His armour and weapons were stacked neatly in a pile, leaning against the rickety walls of the Friendship Express.
As the bed creaked as if in pain and the girls' heads all snapped upwards from their conversation, focusing their gaze on the oblivious John. When they saw that he had only moved, they returned to talking. As they restarted their chatter, John felt himself beginning to nod off, only to forcefully keep himself awake. Growling in resentment of the waiting, he trained an ear on the girls' conversation.
/br/
"Excuse me, Twilight? Don't you think that we are being a little too brash here? I mean, how in Equestria are we going to get to Canterlot without being seen by Discord?"
Twilight grimaced slightly, tightly pulling in the corners of her mouth. Shaded hadn't told them how he was planning to do that yet.
"To be honest Rarity, I have absolutely no idea. I can think of a few ways that may work, but..."
"But what, sugarcube?" Applejack frowned in concentration, looking directly at Twilight expectantly. Before she could respond, the orange earth pony cut in again. "Ah can't even believe that ya'll trust him so much!"
Rarity nodded in agreement. "Yes, he may have apologised, and yes, he may regret his actions, but it was no excuse to act as such...such a ruffian!" She whispered.
They all heard an ominous growl from above, the very air around them seeming to vibrate as they looked upwards in fear. Shaded Comet was looking over the bed, staring at Rarity with an eerily blank facial expression, his blue and cyan mane shadowing his head.
"I would have thought that by now, you would have forgiven me. Do you not think that I regret it? Do you seriously think that I enjoyed doing the stuff I did?" He asked calmly, choosing his words carefully, as to not anger or scare Rarity. His electric blue eyes didn't move from Rarity's equally blue eyes as the two regarded each other and, from Twilight's perspective, sized each other up.
Rarity hung her head, and looked down at the floor, mumbling to herself. Shaded wordlessly moved his head back over, and stared at the ceiling, deep in thought. Twilight swallowed hard, and laughed nervously, glancing across outside the window at the rapidly approaching frontier town of Appleloosa.
"Hey, we're here!" She shouted in excitement, trying to ignore the nagging feeling in her stomach.
/br/
John's hoof threw up a small storm of sand and dust as it made contact with the barren ground. A few dry and dead bushes dotted the landscape, with a large amount of apple trees in the distance. The train pulled away from the station, leaving the six ponies standing on the platform.
Beyond the incredibly small station was the frontier town. John glanced upwards at the clock tower that was roughly in the center of the town. "Ten thirty. Nice." he muttered, gazing around at the buildings. It looked completely different to what it looked like in the show, and upon hearing the girls' gasps of awe, he guessed that it had been a while since they were here. Hang on.
"Twilight? When was the last time you came to Appleloosa?" Looking across at her, she put a hoof to her chin, thinking.
"I think it was about two years ago. I'm not quite sure."
Their conversation was interrupted by a loud "YEEEHAAAAW!", and a light yellow stallion earth pony popped up behind them. "Hey there! Welcome to", he paused for dramatic effect, making John and the girls facehoof, "APPLELOOOOOSA!"
"Okay. Girls. You can go catch up with Braeburn for a while, I'm going to have a look around." John walked off without saying a word, focusing on the task at hand. Setting off at a brisk trot, his eyes fell upon the very first building he saw. It had no sign, but it was obviously some sort of bar. Several pegusus drunkards lolled about outside, lazily regarding him as he walked past.
Pushing the door open, he found himself staring at a roomfull of stallions and mares all regarding him with icy glares. Shaking off their stares, he shrugged and trotted slowly over to the counter. The barpony turned around from polishing a glass, and smiled at him.
"Welcome to The Watering Hole, what can I get you, sir?" John sighed, and looked upwards at the list of drinks. Apart from a select few, they all sounded alcoholic, so he chose some mineral water. Whilst the barpony served his drink, he looked around the room. There was a massive amount of tension in the air, such to the point of making John incredibly wary of his surroundings. It felt as if he wasn't welcome here.
With another warm but nervous smile, the barpony placed the glass of water on the counter in front of John, and turned to serve another customer. Levitating it, he took a sip, savouring the cold beverage. As he did so, the entire bar went completely silent, and John followed their eyes to the floating glass.
"Ponyfeathers." Setting the more or less full glass down, he slid a few bits to the barpony, and tried to exit. His path was blocked by the pegusai from outside, who were pounding their hooves together whilst floating bipedal, occasionally teetering from side to side.
"Where do you think you're going, you little freak?" One of them sneered, making the others guffaw. Soon enough, the entire bar was in hysterics, pointing at John and falling over, rolling on the floor.
"Please move." John tried to keep his tone level and calm, but the laughter was angering him. Taking a step forwards, he found himself being pulled backwards by the tail. Looking round, he saw a dull orange earth pony stallion with a red and yellow mane. But what caught his attention was the jet black eyepatch over the stallion's right eye.
Shaking his head, the pony moved in front of him, glaring at the drunkards. Without warning, a more bolder and possibly foolish member of the drunks swung a sloppy left hook at him with his fore hoof. The pony in front of him nimbly dodged the hoof, ducked under his forelegs and delivered a crippling, bone crunching kick to the stomach.
The entire bar exploded into chaos, swinging puches, kicks and chucking ponies into tables and chairs, making the wood splinter. John moved forwards, and jabbed another drunkard in the jaw. The pegasus fell through the air as if it were syrup, collapsing to the floor with a moan. Turning round and ducking, he dodged a kick from another stallion, and punched him in the ribs.
The fight continued on for another couple of minutes, slowly losing intensity and fighters as the orange stallion and John worked as a duo to knock out anypony who attacked them. Eventually, there were none left standing in the decimated bar. Covered in small cuts and bruises, John sighed in relief.
Looking around at the damage, the stallion swore in anger. His speech was slurred, but still very understandable. Calming down, the stallion chucked a bag of bits to the barpony, and motioned for John to follow him. Leading him outside, the orange stallion snorted and turned around.
"That was fun. What's your name?"
John glanced into the one good eye that the orange stallion had.
"Shaded Comet. Thanks for helping me...?"
Upon hearing the first two words, the stallion frowned. "Shaded Comet?" He asked, and John nodded. "But...you're dead. You died! Unless..." Adopting a troubled expression, his face becoming wrinkled, he glanced towards Canterlot.
"My name is Iron Heart, and you my friend, have a lot of explaining to do."
/br/
Twilight and her friends were watching, well, attending, a competition of some sorts. Instead of watching the contenders, they sat further back, whispering furiously outside of the earshot of anypony save for them, including Braeburn.
"How in the name of Celestia does he know who Braeburn is? We didn't introduce them to each other!" Twilight hissed, keeping an eye trained on the light yellow stallion, who was giving the competition his undivided attention.
"I fear there may be more to Shaded than we know. There's just something I can't put my hoof on. If I remember correctly, he had amnesia. So how did he know who we are?" Rarity whispered back, also keeping an eye on Braeburn.
"Ah agree with Rarity. There's somethin' he's keepin' from us." Applejack added, her cowpony hat perched atop her blonde mane. Twilight looked thoughtful for a moment, placing a hoof underneath her chin.
Shaking her head, she turned to Fluttershy. "No, that can't be it. He wouldn't lie. Fluttershy, what do you think?"
The butter yellow mare could only mumble something and hide behind her heart shaped mane. Sighing, Twilight looked round at Pinkie Pie expectantly. She always had an idea, no matter how crazy it sounded, it still worked. Most of the time.
To her shock, the pink party pony was completely silent, staring instead at the royal blue earth pony who stood over the group, frowning down at Twilight. The purple unicorn glanced behind her and gasped in shock, jumping backards into Applejack, who didn't even protest, pushing her upright again.
"I know you...You're that rainbow maned pegusus' friends, aren't you?" Twilight looked closer at the stallion, and realised that he was dripping with sweat, his brow shining in the sunlight. She tried to distract herself.Chrysalis is sneaky. She knows that by keeping everything normal, nopony will suspect anything. Shaking her head, she motioned for him to sit with a nod of her head, her horn sparking fiercely.
"Huh?" She went cross eyed as she looked up at it, frantically shaking her head to rid herself of the sparks. To her shock, Rarity began to giggle knowingly, and Twilight glared at her.
"Forgive me for asking ma'am, but what's your name?" The stallion tossed his forest green mane backwards, and held out a hoof to Twilight. She took it cautiously, and shook it. Not letting her hoof go, the stallion leaned down and pressed his lips against her hoof, kissing it gently.
Twilight's breath caught in her throat, and her head began to spin, her horn sparkling even more. Muttering, she smiled widely and fell backwards, the silly grin still plastered on her face. Seeing that she had fainted, Rarity answered for her.
"Sorry about that, her name's Twilight Sparkle."
The stallion's wide eyes decreased, and he released her hoof, lowering to the floor. With a small smile, he looked over at Rarity, confused.
"I take it this happens often, miss...?"
"Rarity, darling, and no, I can assure you that this is the first time. Allow me to introduce my friends here."
The white unicorn looked across at her friends, smiling. They all gasped simultaneously, and stared at the stallion in silence.
"Okaaaaay..." The stallion said, raising an eyebrow and wiping the accumulated sweat from his brow with his hoof.
Rarity glared at the group until they responded.
Pinkie Pie exploded into action, bursting in front of him with a shower of confetti. "Hey! My name's Pinkie Pie! Nice to meet you! You know, I've never seen you before, which must mean that you don't know my friends, which means I need to throw a party to introduce you! *Gasp* I'll be right back!" The Element of Laughter disappeared from the stallions vision whilst he was collecting his shattered thoughts.
Applejack stepped forwards next, smiling nervously. Giggling slightly, she just about managed to say "Ahm Applejack..." before she blushed profusely and backed away, turning around so he couldn't see her face.
Fluttershy just hid behind her mane, cowering slightly. The stallion lowered himself down to the quivering mare, and politely asked her her name. She managed a very quiet "My name is...Flu...er...hy..." before squeeing and hiding even farther behind her mane.
Rarity rolled her eyes, and turned around to the stallion. "And what about you sir, what is your name?" She questioned, nudging him lightly with her hoof.
"My name's Speedy. Speedy Recovery. I'm a-"
"Speedy?"
/br/
John watched Shaded's, no his, brother turn around and glare at him. Gulping, he flinched as the stallion stepped forward, a fiery rage burning behind his eyes.
"What...The bucking hay...Were...You...Thinking?" he growled at him.
Smiling weakly, he looked behind him to the girls, his eyes begging for help. Rarity nudged Twilight, who looked as if she was asleep, aside from the massive smile she had on her face. She awoke stuttering, looking up at her horn, sighing in relief.
Iron Heart looked over at Twilight, and his eye opened in surprise. He mouthed something to her, and she nodded. Immediately he bowed down gracefully.
John and Speedy watched as he bowed, and began to snicker, but in Speedy's case, he continued to glare at John. Shooting them a nastier glare, Iron Heart turned around quickly, raising himself back up to his full height. Well, they are the Elements of Harmony. And she is royalty.
Motioning for them all to sit down, John began to tell them the story so far. Noticing that Iron Heart was ever so slightly nervous sitting next to Applejack, he chuckled before starting.
/br/
Rainbow Dash held the filly close to her, sharing her body warmth with her. The poor pegasus was shaking violently, but at least they had had some food given to them earlier. Not much, but enough. Stroking her mane, she let the filly cuddle closer to her, gripping her tightly.
There had been no more tears shed from either of them. They had found comfort and sanctuary in each other, sharing all of their interests and thoughts about their futures. Their personalities were shockingly similar to the other's, and that made them all the more closer.
Rainbow Dash felt strangely content, lying here, letting the filly snuggle close to her for reassurance. But there was one thing that kept her confused about the filly. She didn't know her name. Still stroking her mane, she looked into the pegasus filly's rose eyes. They were the exact shade that Rainbow's were.
"You still haven't told me your name. Would you mind telling me what it is?" Strangely, her question held none of it's usual brashness and pride, instead holding a lighter, almost motherly tone. The white filly smiled a small, sad smile and opened her mouth to answer.
The cell door burst open, and Rainbow Dash was gripped by the two Changlings from yesterday. What were their names? Oh well.
With all the meager strength she could muster, she fought against them, twisting and turning in their grasp. But, alas, their grip was too powerful, but she didn't give up. Almost screaming in frustration, she bit down on her lip, drawing blood as she tried to concentrate.
With a yell, she twisted again, only to be wrenched viciously to the side, which was swiftly followed up with a shockingly strong kick. Moaning in pain, she was dropped unceremoniously to the floor with a thud.
Trying to catch her breath, she looked up to see them retreating through the door. With a feral growl, she charged at the door, only to have it slam closed inches away from her nose.
With a sigh, she limped over to the filly, who was crying again. Ignoring the pain, Rainbow Dash pulled her into a tight hug, letting the filly cry into her shoulder. Eventually, the sobs subsided, and the filly looked up into Rainbow Dash's bloodshot eyes. Not saying a word, the filly snuggled into a sleeping position, and began to lightly breathe.
Thinking that it was just the stress of today, Rainbow Dash smiled. Then one thought caught her attention, begging to be released. It had been troubling her since she met the filly, so why not ask it now?
Nudging the sleeping filly, she whispered into her ear.
"You never did tell me your dad's name. What is it? I might know him."
The filly yawned, smiled contently and opened her eyes a fraction of an inch.
"John. He's called John."
Rainbow Dash's mouth dropped open.
A/N-
'Sup?
I want to thank all of you amazing people for all the OC submissions. You're really helping me out here. I do believe, however, that that is Appleloosa over. No more submissions to be found in Appleloosa. But there's still openings for Manehatten, Cloudsdale and Fillydelphia.
Saying that, I've decided to cut out Baltimare. I don't even know how to bloody describe it.
Right, getting back on track. Notices... Hmmm...
1) I've settled on regular updates, I think starting today, every Monday. If not possible, for any reason, every two Mondays.
2) I'm rather annoyed that none of you spotted my hints. I'm rather disappointed. Well, there we go, clear as crystal, in black and white, what I was trying to point out. I try to use as much actual show information as possible, and you all seemed to forget, even after I put it in the last chapter, DISCORD DOES NOT TURN PONIES INTO STONE! JOHN'S DAUGHER IS ALIVE!
3) Rant over. Okay. As a friendly request, if you like PoE fictions, go onto Chief Wolfee's profile on this fantastic site and read My Little Pony: Life Is Magic. It's very good, written by a bloody fantastic author, and it is based around Octavia *squee*! Check it out.
4) If anyone would be as kind as to provide me with a story cover, I'll be exceptionally grateful. If you want to go one step further, and like Azure Scythe OC, actually go and do some fanart, I'll be sure to credit you. Just link me to it on deviantART. Same profile name. Some of you have already seen the crap I've uploaded from paint sessions from where I've been bored, so... yeah.
5) Brohoofs to ya'll. /)
Signing off until nest week,
Jadazzle1994