Once Twilight, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash got back to Ponyville, the very first thing they did was check into Luna's workshop. Low and behold, she was there in her normal attire, hammering away at some sort of red-hot sword that just came out of the furnace. She looked at the trio as they entered, dirt still on her face from working too hard. She let out a kind smile.

"Dearest Twilight! Good to see you once again!" Luna nodded before looking at the people behind her friend "Ah, and who might these be? Bodyguards, perhaps? Maybe friends met along the way?"

"Friends, I assure you, Luna" Twilight grinned. However, once Rainbow heard Luna's name, her eyes widened and looked right at Twilight, her emotions going out of control.

"Luna?!" she grinned from cheek to cheek "THE Princess Luna?! Dude, how many princesses do you know?!"

"O-Only Celestia and Luna" Twilight was slightly taken aback by Rainbow's sudden outburst, but soon let out a sigh as to try and recollect herself "Sorry about that, Princess Luna. Rainbow Dash here can be a little... loud. On the exact opposite of the spectrum, however, we have Fluttershy, who is literally the sweetest mare you'll ever meet."

"Um... hello..." Fluttershy nervously said, scared to fully introduce herself to the princess.

"By the way, Luna," Twilight began again "we've completed Celestia's request to go out and check on the wind crystal. Everything was totally okay! Haha! Yep! Nothing out of the ordinary!"

"Twilight, everyone in Equestria heard the boom of Cloudsdale unto the earth" Luna deadpanned before giving the three a kind smile again "But, it's good to know nothing truly bad has happened to the crystal. Did you do anything else on your journey?"

"Well..." Rainbow began, giving a cocky grin "You mean besides taking on the most dangerous bounty hunter in Equestria, killing a corrupted crystal guardian, felling a city of jerks, fighting and killing an asshole coward who used said bounty hunter to take over Cloudsdale under its nose, fighting and killing the asshole coward's ungodly, eldritch, undead soul, meeting one of the original heroes that took on Sombra, and me becoming the new vestal of wind like said hero, nah, we had a pretty normal day."

"W-What?" Luna was at a loss for words.

"In short, we discovered Sombra has broken free of his banishment, and we need the power of the heroes again" Twilight summarized "But since they're dead, we need six new heroes to take their power and stop Sombra once and for all!"

"I... I see..." it was a lot for Luna to take in, but she got the gist of it "In that case, may I suggest heading off to the Apple Kingdom due north of here? It is where the earth crystal lies and protects the land, quite literally! I have heard many reports of the soil there starting to fade away and become infertile. This is perhaps the best place to start."

"Thank you, Luna" Twilight bowed before a question popped into her head "But, wait, isn't the Apple Kingdom a good walk from here? It might take a day or so to get there by foot."

"Which is exactly why I'm giving you... this" she tossed Twilight a key, to which the latter's eyes immediately lit up like a Christmas light "Try not to get any scratches on her."

"L-Luna!" Twilight looked back at her friend to make sure she wasn't joking around "I... um, thank you!"

"W-What is it?" Fluttershy asked curiously.

"The keys for this!" Twilight showed her friend to the back of Luna's workshop, to where a large airship was waiting for them.

The airship's hull was made of standard oak wood as most ships are, as well as three engines that all connected to three propellers at the back of the ship. The deck was flat and completely made out of a lighter shade of wood with a single steering wheel at the near back of it to control the propellers. Overhead the airship was the thing that actually made it an airship; the giant white balloon filled with helium. Naturally, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash stared in awe.

"How did we not see this when we entered Princess Luna's workshop?!" Rainbow exclaimed.

"It's so big..." Fluttershy pointed out before turning to Twilight and asking a question "Twilight, are you sure this will get us there... you know, fast enough?"

"Fluttershy, this is the fastest airship in Equestria" Twilight smiled "It was custom-built by Luna from a S-27-Gabbiani class airship, the now second fastest airship in the world. It has three seven-piston engines that can get this baby up to 128 kph in just a few seconds, as well as a balloon sewn by Luna herself. Everything has been smoothed out to perfection, and I remember Luna saying it took her about 12 years just to make sure the engines worked. Ladies and, um... ladies, I give you, the Nightgazer!"

"And we can use it?" Rainbow was slightly skeptical "Just like that? She's spent her life building this thing, and we're just gonna-"

"I know how to fly an airship, silly" Twilight rolled her eyes as she climbed up the ladder to the deck of the ship "Now c'mon! This thing isn't going to fly itself, you know! Fluttershy, you aren't afraid of heights, are you?"

"N-No, of course not" Fluttershy assured with a weak smile "Even Pegasai like me aren't afraid of heights. We kind of... just get used to it, I guess..."

"Rightio! Then let's get this show on the road!" Twilight grabbed the wheel and let out a pleasurable sigh "Ooohh~ The smoothed-out wood feels so gooooood~"

"Okay, before you have twenty ship-gasms, Twi," Rainbow Dash joked "could you please get this baby started? I haven't really been anywhere outside of Cloudsdale, and I want to see the world for what it truly is! Not some stupid sexist hellhole that I was forced to be cooped up in."

"Alright, alright" Twilight rolled her eyes before inserting the ship's keys into the slot next to the steering wheel and hearing the blissful noises of the engines starting up. After making sure everyone was on-board, she pulled a lever on the other side of the wheel and slowly but surely lifted the beast of an airship. Finally, it was fully in the air, but before Twilight went straight to the Apple Kingdom, she flew around the land like a maniac.

"Whoa! Twilight! What are you doing!" Rainbow Dash shouted over the wind.

"I'm doing what everyone does when they first get their airship" Twilight shrugged "Don't worry, I'll only be a few more seconds."

"Oh... ohhhh..." Fluttershy had begun to feel sick. One thing lead to another and...

"Oh... That was a new paint coat too..." Twilight finally stopped and headed to her destination "Well, I had my fun. I'm going to get punished up the ass by Luna, but it was worth it."

"And they say I'm the smart-ass..." Rainbow shook her head.

After a bit more time on the Nightgazer, the trio finally landed safely on the airship dock of the Apple Kingdom, where two knights in full grey steel armor with gold highlights and swords by their sides had already approached them. They had no horns on their head, nor wings on their back, meaning they were Earth people, proud and true. Before they could even start talking, Fluttershy descended from the ship and quite literally hugged the ground, a small smile appearing on her face.

"Ground..." she whispered "I missed you so..."

"Sorry about her" Twilight assured the knights "She can get a bit airsick, I guess."

"Of course" one of the knights nodded "Allow us to introduce ourselves. We are two of the knights of the royal Apple court. It is customary that we greet all of our guests with respect, honor..." he pulled out a small sheet of paper "...and a landing permit."

"Oh, sorry" Twilight quickly signed the sheet. As she finished, the knight then nodded and walked away, motioning for the three to follow him and his partner. Without reluctance, they followed.

"You came at truly the most inopportune time" the other knight began "The Apple Kingdom is unfortunately dealing with a hard blight that has caused our soils to wither and our crops to die out. Forward apologies if our realm looks like, for lack of a better term: a dump."

"Duh, why do you think we're here?" Rainbow laughed, causing the knights to stop and look at her like she had five eyes and two heads "What? Why the faces? We're here to save your earth crystal! Isn't that the reason why your soil is going to shit?"

"Y-Yes, but..." the first knight stuttered "Um... Perhaps it would be best if you spoke to our captain of the guard on the matter. She is well taught on-"

"Wait... She?!" Rainbow's eyes lit up "The captain of the knights and stuff here is a woman?!"

"Um... yes?"

"Excuse her" Twilight seemed to be pardoning a lot of people recently "She comes from Cloudsdale, otherwise known as the most sexist place in Equestria."

"I was taught that Cloudsdale was a paradise beyond-"

"It's not" all the women present interrupted him "It's really not."

"Well, okay then..." the second knight nodded "In any case, please, follow me to the captain's quarters."

"Oh, how exciting" Fluttershy pleasantly stated "Perhaps this will be done quicker than I thought?"

"Don't get your hopes up, Fluttershy" Twilight sighed "Remember, anything could go wrong by this point."

"Well, I guess you're right..." Fluttershy agreed.

"Aw, don't make her feel down, Twi" Rainbow laughed "You're supposed to be the encouraging friend when actual encouraging friend is in need of encouragement! So... encourage her!"

"...and here we are" one of the knights said, looking up at the rectangular-shaped stone castle with two giant wooden doors leading inside to where the leaders of the land rested on their thrones. With each knight grabbing onto either handle on the two doors, they slowly opened it up to let the visitors inside.

"Huh... That was a quick walk" Rainbow pointed out before stepping inside the grand building.

"Wow..." Twilight's eyes sparkled at all the old architecture donned around the castle "All these designs are so archaic... So smooth yet sharp around the edges at the same time. Why haven't I been here sooner?"

"Well, howdy, y'all!" spoke a voice unfamiliar to the trio. They all looked forward at towards the thrown room and saw a woman standing right dead in the middle of the room.

She had blonde hair and orange skin with cute freckles on her cheeks. Her eyes were a piercing green that showed she was in total command of just about everything. Her armor was silver with gold highlights like the normal knights of the castle, only she wore a red vest over two straps over her belly area, as well as a brown belt and a waist cape that went over the front and back of her legs. On her side was an iron sword neatly tucked away in its sheath, and she obviously wore no helmet. Her face was kind and welcoming, but also seemed to want to get to the point.

"So you're this woman knight I've been hearing about so much, hmm?" Rainbow Dash flew right up next to the woman and analyzed her closely "Sturdy build... Strong arms... Good armor... Very interesting..."

"Um... 'scuse me?" the woman raised an eyebrow, a country accent escaping her mouth "Why are y'all curious 'bout me bein' a knight who also happens ta be a woman?"

"It's a long story..." Twilight assured "Anyway, my name is Twilight Sparkle. The creepy one over there is Rainbow Dash, and the sweet and innocent one here is Fluttershy."

"Um... hello..." Fluttershy nervously spoke, impressing Twilight.

"Hey, good job! You didn't stay quiet!" she smiled and patted Fluttershy on the back "Good job, Fluttershy."

"Howdy! Mah name's Applejack, the captain of this here Apple knight table or another!" the woman grinned, happy to help her guests "Well, what can ah do y'all fer?"

"You might not like our request..." Rainbow mentioned.

"Why? It's not like yer going after-"

(Music Stop)

"The earth crystal..." Twilight admitted "Sorry, but we need to check on it to-"

"Ah thought y'all might be here 'cause of it..." Applejack sighed "Ah dun like talkin' 'bout the earth crystal all that much. But, ah know yer all here ta help us git our soil back... Alrighty, ah've made up mah mind. When yer ready ta talk, meet me in mah quarters just ta the left of the throne. Ya can't miss it."

"Thank you, Applejack" Twilight nodded, just before Rainbow began flying up next to Applejack again and speaking to her.

"So, um... You're really the captain of the guard?"

Fluttershy smiled at this, seeing Rainbow Dash have a chance to talk about something she was really interested in. Before she could enjoy the scene any longer, Twilight pulled her aside.

"Fluttershy, I don't like where this is going..." Twilight mentioned "I don't know all that much of house Apple lore, but I do know enough to know that we're going to be asked to do something really, really difficult. Just a fair warning."

"Well, you never know, Twilight" Fluttershy brought up "Maybe she could... um... well, perhaps... oh..."

"See?" Twilight had begun to freak out "Who knows what from here?!"

"Maybe we should just see Applejack now..." Fluttershy politely suggested "Perhaps that will allow you to relax?"

"Relax? Can't you see I'm perfectly... CALM!!!" Twilight shouted, clearly unstable.

"Oh... um..." Fluttershy just slowly backed away towards Applejack's office.

"FINE!! I'LL GO!!" Twilight shouted, soon following her friend.

Finally, after Fluttershy calmed Twilight down enough, they stepped inside the rather small office with a wooden desk at the back with Applejack sitting behind it on a chair. Around the room were bookshelves filled with dusty old books no one has read in clearly a long time, which made Twilight question why such books were even there in the first place. At the far back wall was a complete map of both the Apple realm and another realm none of the three friends could quite make out what it was.

"Ah suppose at the end of the day, ah'm glad y'all came down ta the Apple Kingdom" Applejack stated "The princess, also known as mah sister, is too young ta govern the country, leavin' me and mah brother ta do so."

"Whoa! A knight AND a princess!" Rainbow Dash's eyes lit up "You're like, seven things in one!"

"As ah was sayin', ah need ta git outta this castle and back onto the battlefield" Applejack stated.

"Battlefield?" Twilight wondered "Is the house of Apple at war with another country?"

"Fer as long as ah could remember, the Apple Kingdom and the Black Mage settlement near it have been at it ferever..." Applejack let out a sigh "We've been fightin' a war over the earth crystal fer what seems like generations. Ah want ta call them mah enemy, but ah'm not stubborn enough not ta realize there might be another side ta it all."

"What are you thinking?" Rainbow asked.

"Well... Ah dunno..." Applejack sighed "Maybe it's got somethin' ta do with the crystal, maybe not. Either way, ah plan on stoppin' this war before even more lives are lost. The unfortunate thin' is... no one in the kingdom agrees with me."

"But, you're, um... a princess, right?" Fluttershy wondered.

"Ah gave up mah position as a princess 'cause ah wanted ta live mah life as a knight" Applejack explained "Ya can't have one or the other, and now 'at ah'm just a normal, everyday knight, not too many people really listen ta ya."

"So what you're asking us is that get ourselves into your war, is that right?" Rainbow rudely questioned "Since you don't have an army, you want us to do this."

"Yeah... Along with me as well" Applejack grinned, clearly not having any of Rainbow's attitude "Oh, ah also have another comin' with us. She's a mercenary, or in other words, a Thief, but her experience has certainly caught mah attention."

"A mercenary thief?" Rainbow laughed "Yeah, okay, sure. Last one I ever met kicked my ass when she stole something of mine. There's no way you could be talking about-"

"Hey, Dash" another female voice chuckled behind the team of three. They all looked behind them and saw that another woman with feathers instead of skin had gotten herself into the room.

She was a Gryphe, or a bird person if one wanted to get technical. Her head feathers were white, but purple around her yellow eyes, and the rest of her body feathers were brown. Her hands had claws of an eagle as opposed to feathers, a beak donned her face instead of a nose or mouth, and on her back was a pair of wings about the same size as Rainbow Dash's. She wore a white tie-up shirt, a brown jacket, blue pants, leather boots and a purple scarf around her neck. Around her forehead was a purple bandanna, and on her hip were two daggers; standard for any thief. A tuff of white feathers with purple tips went down over her face, acting as hair of sorts for her. She looked at everyone with slight disappointment, but stared at Rainbow with a cocky grin.

"Gilda..." Rainbow muttered "What are you doing here?"

"Here to give you this" she threw her something, which she was thankfully able to catch. It was a brand-new Dragoon helmet with a mask fixed in place as to show the person's face while wearing it.

"I guess I should thank you..." Rainbow rolled her eyes.

"Heh..." Gilda chuckled darkly "I'd die before I heard you thank me. Anyway, I'm not here to fuck around with anyone. I was paid a good amount to help some dweebs with their stupid war, so this better be worth my time."

"L-Language!" Fluttershy called Gilda out on her choice of words immediately.

"Try and hold me back, dweeb" Gilda placed a hand on one of her daggers while looking at Fluttershy with a smug grin on her beak "I dare you."

"Enough" Applejack ceased the conflict "Ah hired ya ta do some work, not threaten yer team. Ya can't work alone on this one this time, Gilda, and ah'm damn sure these guys couldn't do it without ya."

"H-Hey!" Twilight exclaimed and not Rainbow Dash, much to the latter's surprise "We beat up an abomination created by-"

"WAIT!! Twilight!" Rainbow stopped her "Not yet."

"Oh... right..." Twilight nodded. Now wasn't a good time to be talking about Sombra, especially now that a war was still being waged between two countries.

"Well, go and git yerselves ready fer tomorrow" Applejack nodded "Ah'll make sure y'all git some rest before we do anythin'. In the mornin' ah'll have a plan ready."

"Thanks, Applejack" Twilight nodded before leaving the area, with Fluttershy, trying to get as far away as possible from Gilda as she could. Eventually, Gilda and Rainbow Dash left the office as well, but both looked at each other like they were sworn enemies. Finally, they split off, hoping to find their rooms by themselves.

It wasn't until later when Rainbow Dash realized she needed help after getting herself lost in the castle hallways.

"This is going to be a long quest..." she muttered to herself.

Author's Notes:

And done! Whew! That took some time! I would have gotten it out sooner, but I have life to do and things to play... And secret bosses to beat after 11 tries. UGH!!

This chapter felt slow, I won't lie. But don't worry; the next chapter should be slightly more exciting than this one. In any case, we now have two new members of the team, meaning I'll eventually have to go back to the credits and change them around a bit as to make way for the future! You're welcome.

Be sure to Like, Comment, Favourite and Follow, and until then, dream on everyone!