Ba-Dum. Ba-Dum. Ba-Dum.

Pinkie's closed eyes twitch.

Ba-Dum. Beep. Ba-Dum. Beep. Ba-Dum. Beep.

Pinkie's eyes gradually open, and her fingers dig into the ground as she turns her head, trying to see what is happening through the pink locks that have fallen in her line of sight. It is all blurry, and every muscle aches and every bone hurts. She's sure her ear is bleeding since there is a warm liquid pooling in it and trickling down her neck and collar.

Aura Low! Recharge Needed! flashes in front of her eyes with bright red borders and her upper aura bar completely gone. Pinkie Pie's eyes drift over the smoldering, crater filled landscape, and through the haze of smoke and floating dirt she sees Flash carrying Octavia away and Rainbow Dash covering them with sporadic gunfire directed at the Thunderbird. All three are bloody and dirty, but Octavia is limp, her clothes are torn and blood drips from her body in clumps. Rainbow Dash has Octavia's weapon slung over her shoulder and Flash is barking an order that Pinkie Pie cannot make out, mostly due to the ringing in her ears.

Though, after Flash finishes, Pinkie sees Twilight disappear into one of the buildings, and seconds later she appears on its balcony. Twilight props herself, takes aim, and fires well placed slivers of purple at the Thunderbird's chest and head, but the attacks are mostly harmless. The Thunderbird turns towards her and she leaps off of the balcony before it can snatch her, but the building is reduced to rubble in the process and she narrowly avoids the avalanche of rubble. She is covered in a gratuitous amount of dust, however, and scrambles for cover behind a ruined statue.

Not too far from Twilight, Trixie creates a portal link that leads above the Thunderbird, and Rarity curls up in her ball and zooms inside, popping out above the Thunderbird and striking it in the head. It squawks and dips, and Rarity keeps on hitting it a few more times, bringing it lower with each strike, before she unrolls with both of her gauntlets sprouting blades and stabs it between the shoulders.

The Thunderbird screeches and crashes into the ground, creating a gash and a cloud of dust. It stops when it hits another building, but it trashes, flailing its wings wildly, which cut into the ground and buildings like giant blades, flinging stone and dirt everywhere. As this happens, Trixie switches her gem to green and creates a path that leads towards the Thunderbird, then she sprouts her blade, and in a flash she has the blade in its chest and her feet are pressed against it.

The Thunderbird starts falling backwards, and Rarity backflips off and rolls out of the way when it hits the ground. Applejack then launches fireballs at it, blowing off shavings of feathers with each strike, and Flash and Rainbow Dash focus their firepower on it.

The Thunderbird flips back to its feet right as Pinkie Pie manages to stand up with help of her hammer, and it runs straight towards another building with Trixie still attached to it. Pinkie's heart jumps to her throat when it rams the building, blowing in its wall and pushing out a thick cloud of dust, and she starts running forward, wanting to call for her teammate. Though, when Trixie runs out of the dust cloud, tripping over herself, she slows down with a smile of relief. That smiles goes when the building explodes and the Thunderbird soars into the sky with a trail of grayish-brown following it.

The group dodges the falling rubble, and after the Thunderbird curves and dives towards them Pinkie sees only one target separated and out in the open. Applejack.

Pinkie Pie activates her cannon and runs towards Applejack, chest and throat hurting and legs feeling like they are about to snap apart. “Applejack, move!”

Applejack looks over her shoulder, swears and brings her hands up right as the Thunderbird dives into her. It lifts its head up, flexing its beak, which is held open by Applejack, and Pinkie Pie screams and shoots at it with an unrelenting, nigh useless barrage of energy orbs.

“Let her go, you jerk!” says Pinkie Pie, her eyes and cheeks burning from the tears.

Flash's team also shoots at the Thunderbird, and this time Octavia joins in, albeit with very unsteady legs and needing Twilight's help to keep her up. Just like the previous times, their shots do nothing but annoy the Thunderbird, and with a distorted caw it rockets into the sky, pushing everyone back with a burst of air.

Pinkie Pie has to shield her eyes from the flying grass, but when she opens her eyes she sees the Thunderbird is way high up, going well past a hundred feet, with Applejack still in its mouth. The bird adjusts its body, and then dives down.

Pinkie's eyes widen and one word leaves her lips. “No.”

An electrical explosion rips apart the ground when Thunderbird dives down, and the shock wave knocks everyone off of their feet and covers them in a choking cloud. But Pinkie Pie doesn't care. She jumps to her feet and runs, coughing and sputtering all the way with her hammer held tight and the cannon charging.

The Thunderbird takes flight again and Pinkie Pie screams furiously and shoots a blue beam at it as she slides to a stop at the edge of the crater. The beam hits the Thunderbird and it squawks and is knocked off course, but it does not turn to attack. Instead it keeps evading the continuous shots against, and Pinkie Pie slides down the crater, stumbling to a stop and falling on her knees next to Applejack's limp figure.

Blood seeps out from underneath Applejack, and her eyes remain closed with her mouth barely open. Smoke rises from her cousin, and all of Pinkie Pie shuts down. All she feels is a cold and a pain in her heart and eyes. A burning pain, a crushing pain, a void inside her sucking away everything, even the very air in her lungs. Her chest becomes heavy and her lips tremble from her whimpering as tears bleed out from her red, puffy eyes and splatter below.

“Applejack,” whimpers Pinkie Pie.

There is no reply, no sign of movement, and Pinkie Pie squeezes her eyes shut and hunches over, gripping at her hair and seething. Her chest heaves as the pain inside her grows like a tumor and more tears splatter below. Then she screams and punches the ground, uncaring of how it leaves her hand throbbing.

“Dang it! Why!? Why is this happening!?” Pinkie Pie grabs Applejack's head and turns it so that she can look into the eyepiece, face red and wet, and having to swallow for air. “Hey, you buttheads! Are you blind? Applejack needs to get out of here! Do your magic crap and get her out right now! Please!”

Applejack's hand suddenly snatches Pinkie's arm, making her yelp and jump back, leading her to land on her back, but after sitting up she sees Applejack looking at her with drooping eyes. Her cousin is gasping for air and her coughing is raspy, and she tries to get up, but Pinkie Pie grabs her gauntlet and holds her steady. Despite her cousin's condition, Pinkie Pie cannot help but smile and the tears of sorrow turn to tears of joy.

“Hey, Applejack, you need to stay down for a moment. You don't look so good,” says Pinkie Pie. “I'm sure the Academy will teleport you out any second and you'll get a nice bed and food and great T.V. shows.”

“Get me out of this hole,” orders Applejack, speaking through gritted, bloody teeth.

Pinkie Pie hesitates, then nods and wraps her arms around Applejack to help her stand. Her cousins legs are wobbling and her fingers can barely hold on to Pinkie Pie. Every steps brings a seethe or grunt of pain from Applejack, and dots and lines of blood trail her from her blood soaked back. Halfway up the crater, Trixie and Rarity slide down and help carry Applejack out, and once they are out, Applejack collapses to her knees and hunches over, coughing and shivering.

“Hey, are you all right?” asks Trixie.

Applejack looks at Trixie out of the corner of her eye. “I'm fine.”

Applejack then punches the ground, popping out a small circle of cracks and grinds her teeth as she pushes herself up. This prompts Pinkie's jaw to drop and Rarity to gasp with horror while Trixie's eyes widen with an impressed glint.

“What in the world is wrong with you? You should be resting!” says Rarity.

Once Applejack has stabilized herself she looks at the circling Thunderbird, panting with a gash of red from her forehead down to her cheek, which bleeds past her collar and on to her chest.

“Ain't no time to rest,” says Applejack, her voice weak, but minatory as her body is encased in slithering beams of orange. “Now get back, y'all. This bird's mine.”

Pinkie Pie obediently backs away, far away, and Rarity stays put for the most part until Trixie drags her away, despite her protests.

“Applejack, you're going to hurt yourself!” cries Rarity.

Applejack ignores her and closes her eyes, takes a deep, ragged breath and when she opens them they are bright red and her hands are engulfed in flames. Applejack then stomps her feet as she spreads her legs for a more sturdy stance. Upon stomping, her boots sprout hooks that dig into the ground, and Applejack places her flaming hands together, which now has a ball of flames growing in between her palms, and she turns her body slightly and eyes the Thunderbird's path like a predator. In seconds, the fireball grows to be the size of her torso and smoke rises from the burning the vegetation around her. A growl leaves her, and as soon as the Thunderbird turns towards her she fires.

The fireball that leaves her hands sounds like an artillery blast, and the shock wave that comes from it blows away everything around Applejack, leaving just a small, unaffected area. All of the stones, the grass, dirt, the ancient bricks are gone, leaving a circle of hard dirt that has cracked and popped.

The fireball reaches the Thunderbird in the blink of an eye and hits it in the chest. It squawks and is pushed into the tower. The pillars snap and the whole thing crumbles on top of it in a thick cloud of dust with snapping and shattering rocks hurting their ears and echoing over the forest. In seconds time, the tower is but a pile of stone with a shroud of dust surrounding it. The dust bleeds out and falls over the canyon's edge, and the group cheers and waves their weapons high. All except for Applejack since she falls to a kneel, panting and shaking with bloody sweat dripping off of her. But this does not stop Pinkie Pie from wrapping her in a tight hug and lifting her off the ground with a triumphant yell, thus causing Applejack's face to twist from the pain that is signaled by faint cracks and pops.

“You did it, Applejack! You did it! You killed a kind-of grown up Thunderbird!” says Pinkie Pie.

“Yeah,” says Applejack. With her arms pressed against her side, all she can do it tap Pinkie's thighs with her fingertips. “Can you let go? Its getting hard to breathe.”

Pinkie Pie releases Applejack and smiles apologetically, giving her cousin enough room to hunch over and swallow some much needed air.

“Sorry about that,” says Pinkie Pie.

“You are so crazy!” says Rarity as she stomps towards Applejack, but when she is by the farmer her hostile expression fades to a relieved smile. “But, I think I will treat you to the best steak house in Canterlot. You deserve it.”

“I'm just doing my job,” says Applejack.

Rarity chuckles and pats her on the shoulder. “Of course you are.”

Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash runs around, hollering ecstatically and giving everybody a round of high fives. Trixie and Flash enthusiastically return it, Rarity and Twilight are mediocre about it, and Octavia is a prude and barely lifts her hand for one. Then, with Rainbow Dash done, Flash hugs Twilight and spins her around, getting a surprised squeal and giggle from her. As this goes on, Trixie runs to Applejack's side, grabs her shoulders and turns her so that they are face to face.

With her being so close, Pinkie can see that her teammate's eyes are glittering like stars and that she is barely able to keep still. Pinkie Pie gets a warm feeling in her chest, and she balls her hands up, dawing, whereas Applejack tries to keep some composure with her simple smile.

“Such raw power and discipline of your craft,” says Trixie. “Trixie can feel her heart racing and this sense of joy and glee and happiness and this pressure building up in her chest and throat that makes her want to scream and prance like a happy pony! And it is all focused on you. Trixie thinks she has found levels of adoration never felt for any other person before! Trixie believe she loves you, Applejack!”

Pinkie's lips pucker and her brows scrunch as she blinks, and the others stop celebrating and look at each other, shrugging or scratching or shaking their heads in their state of confusion. However, Applejack sighs and averts her eyes as she rubs the back of her head, only to look back at Trixie with a nervous smile.

“Well, that's nice and all, but I'm asexual,” says Applejack.

“What?” says Trixie, her smile gone in a blink.

“I'm asexual. I don't got any sexual or romantic feelings towards any gender. I'm just here and don't want anything to do with anybody. I just wanna live my life and that's it.”

Trixie nods and speaks slowly. “Oh, well, that's okay, because I'm totally straight.” She awkwardly glides her hand forward. “Like an arrow.”

Applejack returns the nod and gives her a thumbs up. “Good to hear.”

Wind blows a bundle of tangled plants past the group, and no one speaks as Trixie and Applejack stare at each other. Not even the bird makes a sound. The first sound anyone actually makes is Flash forcing a cough, and Rainbow Dash clicks her tongue and shifts in her spot.

“Well, this got awkward pretty quick,” says Rainbow Dash.

“Agreed,” says Octavia.

Then there is a distant rumble, followed by crumbling stone, and then another explosion with stones crashing into the ground or toppling over the edge. The Thunderbird screeches soon after, but it is raspy, and Trixie whips around, fists clenched, teeth gritted and flaming eyes of hatred aimed at the beast. Everybody else is more afraid than angry and quickly reload their weapons and aim it at the Thunderbird as it hobbles forward, coughing strings of blood and ruffling its feathers, which sounds like thousands of blades sliding against each other. Once it is at the edge of the bridge it aims its wings at them, and they all step back.

“Oh, for Pete's sake! How is that thing not dead!?” yells Trixie.

Flash growls and cocks his weapon. “Yeah, seriously. What's it take to kill that thing?”

The feathers are launched towards them, and the group leaps out of the way, even though most of the sharp projectiles fall short, and the explosions for them are weak puffs. This attack leads to the Thunderbird coughing again, and while the others recuperate, Pinkie Pie studies the creature's wound, blinking every so often. Then she looks at Trixie's wand, blinks again, and she looks at Rarity and blinks one last time.

“Rarity! Trixie! Here! Now!” orders Pinkie Pie.

The severity of her tone wisely informs them not to question her, so they run to her side, and as they do this, Pinkie Pie looks at Twilight's weapon. After a blink, she whistles, getting Twilight's attention, and she waves her over.

“You, too, Missy!” says Pinkie Pie.

Twilight points at herself, her expression blank, and jogs over when Pinkie nods and waves her over. Once Twilight is by her side, she grabs hers and Rarity's should and tugs them close for a huddle, and Trixie leans in without objection.

“All right, listen up. I got an idea,” says Pinkie Pie.

A couple of minutes later Pinkie Pie runs and slides to a stop directly in front of the Thunderbird, glaring fiery daggers at it with her hammer held tight. Trixie stands next to her, wand at the ready, and Rarity takes the other side, shifting and nibbling her lips nervously.

“Are you sure this will work?” asks Rarity.

Twilight's spear soars overhead, and gets a jet boost that impales the Thunderbird's talon into the ground. The beast shrieks and flaps its wings, trying to take flight, but an ice blue glow appears from around the spear and its talon is covered in a jagged block of ice, trapping it. The Thunderbird, however, is quick to start pecking at the ice, occasionally crying out in pain.

Seeing this, Pinkie Pie narrows her eyes and nods. “Oh, yeah. Get ready, Rarity and Trixie. We're ending this fight, right now.”

Rarity nods and curls up in her ball, spinning into a blur, and Trixie takes a couple of paces ahead, and flicks her wand, creating a green path marked by arrows that leads directly to the Thunderbird. After that, Pinkie Pie walks behind Rarity and flicks a switch on her hammer. Her weapon hums and clicks, and its gems glow bright while a chubby exhaust pipe sprouts from the back of its head. Pinkie Pie then braces herself and eyes the path leading up to the Thunderbird. Long seconds later, she flashes a demented grin and swings her hammer, creating a sonic boom and two streaks of blue. One for her hammer and one for Rarity.

“Fore!” hollers Pinkie Pie.

Though, her call is of little use since as soon as the word leaves her lips Rarity has already blown clean through the Thunderird's wound and has popped out on the other side. Blood, bone and feathers splatter on the landscape, and Rarity bounces off of the cliff wall, leaving a crater of her own, and soars into the sky as a blue blur. Everybody looks up with various levels of intrigue, but when she comes back down like a whistling missile they all scream and scatter.

There is another explosion of broken stone and dirt, and Rarity's blue streak bounces off of pillars and trees and the ground like a pinball, flinging more shrapnel everywhere. The two teams narrowly avoid the out-of-control Rarity, all screaming and scrambling around, occasionally tripping over their own feet or each other, and unfortunately for Pinkie, she runs straight into Trixie. The two bounce off of each other and stumble around, eyes spinning and feet unable to work, but when Pinkie sees the blue ball of death coming right towards her she shrieks and swings her hammer with her eyes closed. Only to hit air.

She cracks an eye open, and then other, and finally she blinks at Rarity's ball form, which is still spinning, but considerable slower and is stuck in the air by a purple hue. Rarity stops spinning seconds later, and off to the side, Pinkie Pie sees a purple mist dissipating around Twilight's hand. With the mist gone, Rarity's hold disappears and she belly flops on the ground, green in the cheeks and groaning.

“I think I'm going to be sick,” says Rarity, her voice muffled by the grass her face is squished into.

Pinkie Pie giggles, sits next to Rarity and pats her on the shoulder. “You'll be fine. We won, by the way.”

“Yay... Can I just lay here for a moment?”

“You sure can, Rarity. You earned it.” Pinkie Pie takes a deep sniff and stares dramatically at the sun set with a single tear rolling down her cheek. “We all earned it.”