"...and then I said 'we're totally going to have a moon colony!' and she said 'nuh-uh, there's no space economy!' and I was all like 'just you wait' and we have a moon colony now and people are talking about going to Ares and--"

Applejack hit the brakes, shoving her truck to a standstill. "Well, this is it."

"It is?" Zipporwhill looked out the window. "I didn't even notice!"

"We're at tha city limits, actually." Applejack opened her door. "Now what have Ah said?"

"Stay at least ten meters away from whatever you're doing, try to fly high enough that I can dodge anything thrown, and only three meters above the ground maximum, and do whatever you tell me to do without asking why."

"That's right." The farmer gave the little girl a final look, before turning to glance at the cause of the issue. "Now let's see what we've got here..."

The creature that was just clambering down the mountain was... well, visible from a distance, which was worrisome. Mountains were big, and this thing wasn't nearly as big, but gauging its size based on the relative area covered it could easily rub shoulders with the tops of some of the larger skyscrapers. Well the top of its bulging body could, anyway--the thing's twelve clawed fins emerged from a thick loop around the oblong central form, slowly tugging it across the ground, while three stalks with multitudes of bulging branches wavered from the sphere on the front.

It did sort of look like a weevil. In outline. Actually, it looked more like the pair of weevils she had stumbled upon when she was six, and had THAT led to an awkward conversation with her parents, but the point was there were too many limbs and suckers for it to be called just a weevil. Maybe a gigaweevil.

With a deep breath, Applejack strode forward, tapping the bracelet on her wrist. A potent power, one that by all rights should not even be in her universe, began to seep into her bones, and her eyes glowed green as she forced her body to accept it. Each stride she took was longer then the last--one half meter, one meter, two, four, ten, twenty...

By the time she had reached the giant bug, the farmer was about eye-level with the creature's lack of shoulders. This close, she could see that the striations on its back were actually some sort of venting system, rising and falling in a breathing pattern. One of the stalks twisted, the bulbs all bending toward her--they didn't quite look like eyes of any creature she had seen, but she realized easily enough she was being examined.

"Now look," Applejack began, "Ah don't know what you are or what ya want, but a lotta people would be on mah back if Ah didn't give ya the benefit o' tha doubt. So, if yer' willin' ta talk with me 'bout what you want--"

Her arm shot up as she willed a thick layer of bark onto it, blocking the sudden jab of the stalk's point. "Gonna take that as a no."

She grabbed the stalk with her other hand, wrenching it out of her sudden armor and dragging it forward; the giant creature stumbled just a bit, giving an earth-rattling screech as she tore one of the bulbs off. The other two stalks lunged at her, forcing her to leap up in order to dodge their sharp points. With skill gained from two years as a rodeo enthusiast, she spun in midair and used the great appendage she was holding to rope together the other two stalks, all three twitching in confusion when she landed.

"Right, that otta take care o' WHOA NELLY!"

The beast swung her side to side, up and down, twirling its long stalks in an attempt to shake Applejack's grip. Her eyes glowed again as she focused, vines extending from the surface of her hand and entangling the great stingers, but that wasn't enough--her grip broke as she was flung into the air, the knotted stalks breaking free from the vine confines and arch toward her in chittering rage. With a sudden surge of willpower, she grew again, bringing her boots together as she fell toward the tangled tendrils.

Her smile grew vicious as she landed, one foot holding down the screeching stalks while the other stomped a bulb into gory orange bits. "Just like smashin' pumpkins," she mused. "If tha pumpkins were long and attached ta a whippin' vine, Ah mean." She glanced down just in time to see the tendrils wrapping around her ankle. "Well, shoot."

The creature reared back, whipping her into the air and smashing her into the mountain once, twice, thrice. Only her rapid reaction--and the sudden formation of wooden armor--kept Applejack from gaining more scrapes then she actually did. The beast lunged backward with a final scream, smashing her into the ground hard enough to leave an impact and leave her momentarily dazed; she managed to shake it off just as it jumped up, and her eyes widened when she realized the round mass blotting out the sun was falling right at her.

Legs and arms both shot out, just catching the thing as it landed, and the farmer grunted with effort as the great mass pushed her further into the earth. For a moment it seemed certain she would be buried, forced to sink into the pit her body formed.

Her eyes glowed once more, and she grit her teeth.

She pushed back against the mass, wriggling left and right even as the tangled stalks reached under to lash at her, even as her body was pushed further into the earth. The deeper she was pressed, the more leverage she got, and the more power seemed to flow through her; the very thing that might have crushed a lesser woman gave Applejack a dangerous strength. With a mighty groan, she managed to flip the being off and over, gripping the sides of the pit and pulling herself out.

The great beast still dwarfed her, but looking on as it rocked back and forth on its rotund back with its clawed flippers flailing about she didn't exactly feel intimidated. Cracking her knuckles methodically, she approached one of the rotating limbs, bracing herself against the body of the creature with one hand and grabbing the flipper with another. A great screech accompanied her tearing it out of its socket, and she gave a grim smirk.

"Now, see, if ya'll had talked 'bout this instead'a just attackin' me, ya wouldn't have gotten--"

Apparently the creature had had enough. With an odd.... twisting motion, it warped and vanished from reality.

"...Huh." Applejack looked at the clawed flipper still twitching in her hand, laying it carefully down next to the large pit and dusting herself off. "Alright then. Hope that's tha last o' that." She turned back to the city, striding back and shrinking with every step.

She was still twice her usual height when she reached her truck, but that wasn't any problem for Zipporwhill--the little girl just buzzed eagerly about her head. "Ohmygosh that was so super duper crazy awesome you turned into a giant and you grabbed the big bug's whipthing and whipped around its other whip things and then you flipped it over and you were a tree at some point I think and ohmygosh that was just so incredible you really are the bestest saint ever!"

"Ah don't know 'bout that," Applejack drawled, waiting for her body to go back to its usual size. "Ah'm gonna be cuttin' it awful close gettin' back to tha wedding, and Ah gotta get mah dress cleaned on top o' that--Rares will probably be able to do that super quick with magic, but she might gripe about it."

Zipporwhill blinked. "You just fought a giant bug and that's what you're worried about?"

"Eh." Applejack shrugged, opening her truck door. "Ah'm a farmer. Pest control comes easy to me. Now come on, yer pas are probably super worried about'cha."