Rumble and Thunderlane were playing a game of hoofball in the skies above a vacant field close to Ponyville. Though they both enjoyed the spa session with the Elements of Harmony, they were Pegasi, and Pegasi were all about movement and bettering themselves in any way they saw fit. And while sitting around for two to three hours being pampered was great, they felt the need to exercise their bodies, particularly their wings.

Rumble had just caught the ball and was about to throw it to his brother, when he heard something. The sudden noise brought Rumble to a halt.

“Big brother,” Called out Rumble, “Do you hear that?”

Thunderlane brought himself to a halt as he focused on his surroundings instead of his brother and the ball they passing to each other.

The two started to look left and right until they realized they were at least fifty meters in the air, possibly higher, and looked down.

The duo clearly saw a yellow Pony with a red mane and tail against the bright green grass they were hovering above. Though they were too far away to tell the Pony's age or gender, but they could tell that the Pony was crying.

The brothers descended slowly as to not scare the Pony. As they got closer they could tell that it was a cream colored Earth Pony filly with a red mane and tail, they could also see the dark pink bow in her mane that complemented her natural colors.

Immediately Thunderlane's thoughts went to a dark place. In his time a guard pony, both in Ponyville and his home city of Cloud Spire, he had seen things like this. Strangely enough, the only rape cases he had every worked in his decade long career were all in Ponyville. As few as they were, Thunderlane knew what signs to look for.

By the time the brothers landed, the distressed yellow filly had fainted. The guard captain took this opportunity to examine the filly's hindquarters, in hopes of either disproving or confirming his fears. The wind had moved the filly's tail out of the way, but the exact position that she had fallen in concealed the inward sides of her hind legs as well as her privates. Though Thunderlane could see that her rump wasn't bruised or bloodied, he wasn't ready to dismiss the negative thoughts going through his mind.

Rumble had laid down beside of the unconscious filly and spread one his wings over her, this both provided a little comfort as well as partially shielded her from the the chill of the wind. Thunderlane smiled at the quick thinking and compassion his younger brother showed just now.

While Thunderlane's examination of the filly hadn't dismissed his worries, he had gathered much information from the filly's physical condition.

Whoever this filly was, was most likely a farm filly given her impressive muscular structure (impressive for a filly her age any way).

“Rumble, I need you to look over this filly while I go get help, okay.” Thunderlane words suggested that this was a question, the worry and authority in his tone did not.

Rumble nodded and Thunderlane took to the air.

Thunderlane was thanking fate that he had just made a friend who was both outgoing and the head of the Agricultural Union. If Applejack didn't know who the filly was in person, she would probably know who she was by her description. It's not like there were many Ponies with cream colored coats, even fewer that constantly used fashion accessories in a small farm town like Ponyville. With that, Thunderlane headed for Sweet Apple Acres as fast as he could.

It was well known that the most sensitive part of any Pegasus’s anatomy was their wings. So even as Rumble watched his brother fly off to destinations unknown, he found himself admiring the filly's well defined muscles.

The filly had obviously spent countless hours exercising the muscles throughout her body. Rumble looked over the filly he was tasked with safeguarding. Noting that her most impressive muscles were clear on her hind legs.

When Rumble realized he was staring at the filly's hindquarters, he looked away with an embarrassed blush turning his near white face scarlet.

Rumble then examined the filly's the face. Rumble could see the darkened lines down the filly's cheeks from where she had been crying. But aside from the tear tracks darkening parts of the filly's face, Rumble could tell that the filly was not only impressive in musculature but in appearance as well. Rumble couldn't help but admire her natural beauty. Who is this filly? The question quickly consumed Rumble's thoughts as he awaited for his brother's return.

Loud cracks echoed throughout the orchards of Sweet Apple Acres as Applejack and Big Macintosh got to their chores.

Applejack had thought it was a waste to so quickly undo Aloe and Lotus' efforts, but there was work to be done.

Fluttershy had accompanied Applejack to their farmstead as their dog, Winona, was expecting puppies soon. Though Fluttershy had another reason to visit her friend.

Though Fluttershy had not been the only one to notice Applejack's concerns with Noblesse Oblige, she had been the only one to notice how the farm filly was brooding during the ride back to Ponyville from Canterlot. And despite her nervous nature, she was determined to get to the bottom of it.

“And um, why does his generosity concern you?” Fluttershy had been asking her friend questions after she had finished examining the dog.

“'Cause if he could've just had 'is servants fly us back to Ponyville, why didn't he do that in the first place? The sun hadn't even begun to set when he offered to house us and even the Princesses were surprised at his offer. Ah think he wants something from us,” Explained Applejack.

“Uh, by us, do you mean Apple Bloom?” Thanks to her friends' efforts, she had become slightly more bold and was willing to make jokes. Though her question was serious.

Applejack struck the tree next to her and she thought about how to articulate her response as the fruits of her labors rained down into strategically placed baskets, “Maybe,” Was all she could say.

Fluttershy giggled at how obvious her friend was being. Just then a familiar gray stallion landed close to them.

“Hey Applejack!” Thunderlane called out urgently.

“Oh, Hey Thunderlane,” Applejack called back wondering what was so urgent, "What's wrong?"

“Well, Rumble and I were playing together out in a field west of here, when this filly came out of nowhere crying,” Explained Thunderlane, “I am almost certain that she either works or live on a farm and thought you might know who it was.”

While Applejack wasn't familiar with every foal that worked in their families' farms, she did know that very few had fillies old enough to do any actual work, “'aight, what does she look like?”

Thunderlane had opened his mouth to speak, but was silenced by somepony's yelling.

“Applejack! Applejack!” A pale brown Pegasus colt with a red mane and tail landed in between the adult Ponies.

Applejack instantly recognized Sky High as he was one of few Pegasi born into the farm families of Ponyville, “What is it little one?”

“Today at recess, Diamond Tiara said something really mean and made Apple Bloom run off crying.” The colt was quick to explain as he understood the urgency of the situation and was still afraid of the emerald green teacher.

This caught the attention of the adult Ponies instantly, “Applejack, what does this Apple Bloom look like?”

“Have you seen a school age filly run by here? She has a light yellow coat, red tail and mane, and a pink bow?” Time Turner had been question passerbies on the streets of Ponyville for the last fifteen minutes with most of the town guard.

An orange colt with a dark blue tail and mane rushed his way into the usually quiet guard station and was quick to explain what happened at the schoolhouse.

As Lieutenant-Captain of the Ponyville Peacekeeper Corps, Time Turner quickly organized several teams of search parties to look for the distraught filly.

“Of all of the days for the Captain to be out,” Muttered the brown stallion as looked down an alleyway in hopes of finding the famous filly.

Thunderlane usually stayed in the office seven days a week in case something like this happened. And of course the one day he takes off to spend time with his little brother, those rich brats would go too far. The Captain would have words with their families after they found the poor filly.

In addition to Apple Bloom, the town guard was also looking for the other two Cutie Mark Crusaders as they disappeared going after their heart broken friend.

There was one team looking inside the town itself as the other ten looked in the surrounding areas. Though they weren't making as much progress as they hoped too. Time Turner ordered the only five Pegasi in the town guard into the same squadron and sent them to the boarders of the Everfree Forest in case the filly aimlessly ran into the notorious forest and became lost, or worst.

“Apple Bloom! Apple Bloom!” Called out a pair of foals.

Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle quickly lost track of Apple Bloom as she was the most fit of their group, and thus left them in the dust. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle doubled back to the schoolhouse to retrieve the Cutie Mark Crusaders' transport wagon and raced down the direction that Apple Bloom ran down.

They had been outside of the city limits and had been systemically looking for their friend in the areas both inside and outside of Ponyville. The adults who had seen them before just thought they were on a Crusade as they were ignorant of the situation at hoof.

When the guard asked them where the Crusaders were, they got nothing but conflicting reports. Scootaloo was an engine of flesh and bone that could rival those of steel and steam when carrying light loads, this forced the search team inside of Ponyville to go around in circles.

Because the two foals were on wheels and the town guard currently had no Pegasi actively searching the surrounding areas, the Crusaders had made much more progress than the guard search teams. It didn't hurt that they knew what general direction that Apple Bloom had run off in the first place.

The foals found themselves deep in the western fields of Ponyville as they searched for their lost leader and friend.

“Who's that?” Asked Scootaloo. There were in the middle of nowhere, so the only Pony they should have seen was their lost friend who ran this way.

Sweetie Belle turned her gaze directly in front of them. She saw a light gray Pony looking away from them. At this distance, they couldn't even tell if it was a Pony they were looking at.

Excited that they had found someone who might have seen their friend, Scootaloo sped up rapidly.

“Scootaloo! Waaiiit!” Screamed Sweetie Belle, afraid of hitting whatever it was they had come across.

Rumble turned his head in the direction of the screaming he had just heard. While he did see the orange Pegasus driving and her white Unicorn passenger, Rumble was more focused on the scooter and wagon barreling towards him.

While the meridians (spiritual blood veins that carry magic throughout the body) in Scootaloo's wings were undeveloped, they weren't quite useless. Scootaloo channeled her magic through her wings in conjunction with her front hoofs to break almost instantly, as she had done many times before.

Rumble however underestimated the orange filly's magical prowess and sent heavy gust of magically agitated wind towards the wagon, not realizing it would've stopped on it's own.

Rumble accidentally used too much mana in his haste and fear of being run over so the gust was visible to the naked eye, meaning that it was much more powerful than it should've been.

Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle saw a gray wall headed towards them and bailed in opposite directions. The magical gust totaled the Crusaders' wagon and Scootaloo's scooter.

The two fillies were horrified at how close they just were to being hurt. But Rumble was more horrified at how close he came to hurting two Ponies that didn't do anything to him.

“I'm sorry,” Started Rumble, “I didn't mean to use that much power. You two aren't hurt are you?” Rumble left Apple Bloom's side to check on the two new fillies.

When Rumble left, Scootaloo and Sweetie could see the unmoving form of Apple Bloom, “Apple Bloom!” The two fillies went from their prone positions to racing past Rumble and to their friend.

Rumble was genuinely concerned that he hurt the two fillies, and his young mind was still trying to comprehend how those two could have gone from being completely still staring aghast at some wreckage they were almost apart of, to being blurs rushing past him.

The yelling and the two forms that had just rammed into Apple Bloom had started to wake her from her slumber, “Ugh, what?”

“Apple Bloom! We were so worried!” Sweetie Belle was grappling Apple Bloom with a hug that would've crushed her bones if her muscles were any less defined.

“Gaaah, air-” Though Apple Bloom wasn't instantly crushed by her white friend's hug, she still couldn't breath.

Scootaloo being less openly affectionate than her two friends, didn't instinctively hug her found friend and immediately saw Apple Bloom's distress, “Let go of her Sweetie Belle, or you might actually kill her!”

“Who are you three?” Rumble asked, totally not ready for the incoming explosion.

The three fillies got up off of the ground and introduced themselves in the manor that most of Ponyville was familiar with, “Who 'er we?” Started Apple Bloom.

The three then put their heads together, “WE ARE THE CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS,” as the three of them yelled at the top of their lungs, Rumble was overcome with an inexplicable sense of dread. He wasn't the only one of course.

Applejack and Thunderlane were on their way to where Thunderlane had left his brother and Apple Bloom. The pair of them heard the Crusaders' yell, and the two of them winced.

Though Thunderlane had never meet either of the Crusaders before, he being the Captain of the town guard knew the three by reputation.

Applejack adjusted her hat before speaking, “We aint go much time.”

Oh gods, Thunderlane warned me about these three. For the three years that Rumble was at Flight School, his brother had of course wrote to him from Ponyville. So Rumble knew well who the Crusaders were.

“Hey! You don't have your Cutie Mark!” Sweetie Belle pointed out excitedly, “Do you want to join our club?”

“I think a better question is what she was doing with Apple Bloom,” Scootaloo spoke in a matter-of-fact tone of voice.

Rumble had opened his mouth to speak when he was interrupted by a farm matron in the distance, “Apple Bloom!”

“Big sister!” Apple Bloom shot past Rumble just as quickly as her friends had and she collided with Applejack.

Thunderlane flew over to his brother and picked him up, “Thanks for watching her for me, but it's getting dark and we should head home.”

Rumble nodded and the two brothers were off.

Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle didn't see the two fly off as they were more concerned about their friend. The three told Applejack what had caused her sister to run off in the first place, “Girls, Ah want you to get Apple Bloom home. Ah have two fillies to put intah line,” Applejack practically stomped off towards the Rich estate.

When Applejack arrived at the home of her oft business partner, she saw something she did not expect. Ponies in armor escorting the two fillies she sought away, “Please, they're just children!” Screamed Diamond Tiara's mother, Spoiled Rich.

Applejack recognized the Ponies as being members of Ponyville's town guard as indicated by their tan colored metal armor with pink highlights. The Pony leading them however, was a stranger in a different set of armor. The Pony in question was a faded purple Unicorn mare wearing dark silver armor with royal purple highlights. The armor colors belonged not to any town guard heraldry, but to the knights sworn to the descendants of House Platinum.

“I apologize for the inconvenience Miss Rich,” Said the armored mare in a neutral tone of voice, as though she really didn't care, “But Lord Noblesse Oblige has already made his decision. His court found these two guilty of verbal assault, illegal use of private family information, and knowingly endangering the life of a minor. Had Dame Apple Bloom actually been hurt, I can assure you that my master would have ordered their execution,” The mare turned away from the distraught mother as Filthy Rich stepped from the side of his wife.

“Then what is to be done with my daughter?” Filthy Rich spoke with a shaky voice.

“As ordained from the Lord, these two are to serve two weeks in community service and will only be let off to eat, sleep, and attend school. These two will also be sleeping in the dungeons of the newly named Everfree Palace for the duration of their sentence,” The guard mare didn't even stop walking away as explained the bullies' court ordered punishment.

With her business at the Rich estate done with she went on her way. She noticed Applejack close by, “Ah, Dame Applejack. It is an honor to meet you,” The mare politely bowed her head.

“Er, nice to meet ya'll too. But who are you?" Asked Applejack.

The mare raised her head, and in the moon light, Applejack could tell that the mare's mane was a deep blue. The mare finally introduced herself, “I am named Top Priority, and I am the Commandant of House Platinum's mares-at-arms.”

“And what 'er ya doing here?” It was a reasonable question, as most of House Platinum resided in Canterlot.

“I had the honor being hoof picked by Lord Noblesse Oblige to serve as both the head of his honor guard and the palace guard,” the mare replied with gusto and pride.

“Ah heard ya mention some'in called 'The Everfree Palace?”

“When the Diarchs gave the Lord permission to use the Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters, they also went ahead and gave him the deed. And my master saw it fit to rename the estate as it no longer houses our honored Princesses,” Priority spoke with a cold yet jovial tone that chilled Applejack to the bone.

This mare seemed to be more loyal to Noblesse Oblige than to the Princesses. And Applejack did not know what to make of that.

“Please excuse me, I have to return to my master. I will leave you to whatever business brought you here,” The cold and happy mare left for the 'Everfree Palace.'

Applejack scoffed. Even if Noblesse Oblige lacked the sense of self-superiority that most nobleponies had, he still had eccentricity in spades.

Applejack approached her friends and business partners to comfort them. Despite coming here to discipline those two brats herself, she now found herself felling sympathy for them both. Applejack then recalled Top Priority's words. 'Had Dame Apple Bloom actually been hurt, I can assure you my master would have ordered their execution,' Those words sent caused Applejack's fears to redouble. This colt not only lacked reservations in taking another Pony's life, but had an army of loyal knights to do it with, and it didn't look like the town guard was in a position to resist them. Ponyville was in a heap of trouble, and there was nothing anypony could do about it.

Author's Notes:

And chapter 5 is complete! I know that this story has centered on Applejack a lot recently, but I promise to remedy that starting next chapter. Speaking of Applejack she has valid reasons to fear Noblesse Oblige and to fear for her friends and family, yet only time will tell if her concerns are valid. And if Applejack wasn't so afraid of the colt, she would probably remember that the Princesses of Day and Night asked to help fix all of the problems with Noblesse Oblige. I'd love to hear the input of you, the readers. Tell me if love my story so far or if you hate it, I don't care as long as you tell me why.