Applejack walked down the road from her family farm to Ponyville, smiling happily as she let the warm wind blow through her mane as it bounced on her back. Beowulf clopped against the dirt of the road with every step. Berial hung at her hip, and Cerberus kept his usual position braided into her tail. Nevan and Sparda rested in her ether space, ready to be pulled out at a moment's notice if need be.

It wasn't that she expected trouble. Here in Ponyville, she really didn't expect to encounter anything that would require her to wield her full power. It was just that years hunting devils - and fighting those who were friendly rivals - had left her with a habit of going everywhere fully armed. Besides, she thought the combination of Beowulf and Berial with her hat looked quite nice.

However, today she walked with purpose. She hadn't actually gone back into Ponyville proper since she'd returned to Equestria, and she needed to show her friends how she had changed. Hopefully, Rarity and Rainbow wouldn't be too upset about what had happened with the CMC. (Having been unable to find a demon to hunt, they had decided to try Dragon Hunting. Spike had been most unamused.)

The one she really needed to talk to, though, was Twilight. She needed to figure out what materials were available here to build a hellgate, whether it could be done on a smaller scale than what she had outside her restaurant back on Earth, and how to make sure it would connect through the same Hell. After all, Twilight knew the most about that transdimensional stuff from her time going through that mirror portal, so she would know what Applejack would have to do to get the whole Apple Family to her farm for the next Family Reunion.

...then again, maybe the mirror portal wasn't the best choice to base the new hellgate off of. It would be very awkward for Dante if Lady came through a pony instead of her human self. Although now Applejack was curious about what the rest of her human/demonic relatives would look like as ponies.

As she was lost in thought on this, she failed to notice several things as she entered Ponyville proper. The first was the dead silence of the town, save for a few ponies here and there, lying on the ground groaning, their colors faded and their Cutie Marks missing. The second thing she missed was those ponies lying here and there, groaning from weakness.

The third was the giant red centaur that she walked right into.

"Oops!" she said, backing up. "Sorry, didn't see ya there. Heh, guess ah was wool gathering a bit." She smiled up at him, though only received a frown in return. "Mah name's Applejack. Ya new ta Ponyville?"

The red, horned centaur looked down at her, nearly double Dante's height. He opened his mouth and took a deep breath. Applejack felt a tickle on her magic, but it was barely noticeable. The centaur frowned. "You have a great deal of magical strength...for an Earth Pony."

Applejack frowned. "Ah don't like your tone," she complained. "Or yer implications. Just who do ya think ya are?"

The centaur drew himself. "Fear me, foolish pony, for I am Tirek! I have escaped from the bowels of Tartarus to resume my conquest of Equestria! I shall devour all of its magic, from every earth pony, pegasus, unicorn, and alicorn! And there is nothing you can do to stop-"

"Does that mean yer a demon?" Applejack interrupted.

"Come again?"

Applejack chuckled, deciding not to use one of many bad taste jokes Dante would have used in this situation. "Ya said ya escaped from Tartarus. Does that mean yer a demon?"

"Well..." Tirek scratched his skull between his horns. "I suppose technically..."

"And yer eatin' ponies?" Applejack asked for clarification.

"Well, their magic," Tirek clarified, a bit confused.

Applejack smiled. "Good!"

"Good?" Tirek looked at her in consternation. "How is that good?"

"It means I ain't gotta be polite to ya!" Applejack stated, grinning eagerly. "Cause I get ta kill ya instead."

Tirek laughed. "Foolish pony! Do you truly think you can-"

"But I'm kinda in a hurry, so I ain't gonna play fair," Applejack replied, hauling out Sparda.

"What the-"

Further speech was cut off as Applejack began slashing away at Tirek with Sparda. He staggered back as he took massive damage, but he eventually was able to send a bolt of red lightning that sent the sword out of Applejack's grip, sending it flying into the air. "And without your sword, you are-" A black, gold, and electric purple scythe cut him off as it sheered the top half of his left horn off before entering a whirling blade dance. "Oh, come on!"

After spinning Nevan around for a time, slashing chunks out of Tirek, Applejack realized he was regenerating himself with the magic inside him. Jumping back, she switched Nevan to guitar mode and synched her magic with the Devil Arm Death Scythe completely, performing her Dirge of Despair, draining the magic right out of Tirek. She then smacked the now wizened Tirek into the air with the flat of Nevan's guitar form, and released the stolen magic in a single blast sending Tirek shooting up into the air.

Putting Nevan away, Applejack charged Beowulf's energies and released the Sacred Light. As the beam punched through the sphere of magic that Nevan had released, it burst into rainbow colors, scattering across Equestria. The blast also exploded on Tirek...but wasn't enough to finish him off.

Grinning widely, Applejack triggered her Devil Trigger, leaping into the air to catch up to Tirek before he started to fall. Yanking out Berial and Cerberus, she began delivering blows of heavily charged ice and fire magic, alternately freezing and burning him, before smashing him down with a double over-hoof strike to the back of his head. She then blurred back to the ground.

As Tirek came down atop her, she spun...causing him to impale himself on the manticore sting of her demonic tail. He gasped, blood pouring from his mouth as he stared at her in disbelief. Then, as the sword came down, he recognized the power. "S...Sparda..."

It was his last word. Catching her grandfather's sword in her teeth as it came down, Applejack spun and beheaded the demonic centaur.

Achievement Unlocked
SSStylish Kill!
This achievement is required to unlock the My Little PWNY New Game + storyline.

Applejack put her weapons away as she shifted back to pony form. "...what did he say his name was? Tea-rekt? He ain't dissolving...hope he wasn't important..." Shrugging, she picked up his severed head by the hair. "Twilight'll know who he was. Great way to tell her about mah demon hunting, and everything else."

Whistling happily, she marched up to the Pony Oaks and knocked.

End