“So, finally gave in, huh?” Autumn Blaze chuckled as she sat a dinner table within the halls of the Wall of Paradise, the room around her and Applejack a dingy mess of cracked stone and chipped wood, practically falling apart at the seams.

“I’ll bleed Rarity dry for every resource she can give me,” Applejack growled, digging he claws into the table and looking Autumn dead in the eye, “if it means I can get my revenge.”

“Right, right, right,” Autumn sighed, the salamander batting her hand dismissively as her tail swished back and forth, flecks of ash spitting off her charred fur. “Revenge this, revenge that. Life’d be a lot simpler if you didn’t have such an axe to grind.”

“Didn’t ask you,” Applejack growled, Autumn’s smirk only getting wider.

“Autumn,” Coloratura sighed as she entered the room, bottle of wine and three glasses in her arms before she put them on the table and wrapped her arms around Applejack’s shoulders, “please don’t give Applejack a hard time right now.”

Applejack turned to face Coloratura and the siren smiled at her, Applejack looking away irritably and scratching her nose.

“You’re doing the right thing,” Coloratura said softly.

“I’m gettin’ my revenge,” Applejack fumed, gritting her teeth as she pushed Coloratura away from her and walked toward the window, where she could see the empty plains of filth and decay that made up so much of the First Circle. “I’ll do whatever it takes.”

“Except let Rarity lead,” Autumn spat, “or let us help you.”

“You ain’t interested in helpin’ me,” Applejack snarled at Autumn Blaze, cuz she just couldn’t believe the damn nerve she had to say shit like that to Applejack’s face. “All yer interested in is helpin’ yer own self!”

“Oh well ain’t that just the pot throwing glass stones at the kettle house!” Autumn got up and stomped toward Applejack.

“That don’t make any damn sense!” Applejack growled.

“You don’t make any sense!” Autumn shrieked. “You stubborn ass!”

“Ladies, please,” Coloratura stepped between the two women, both of ‘em burning with rage— though one a little more literally than the other. They’d been through this song and dance before, and Applejack was real tired of it.

“You don’t give a damn about my revenge, Autumn,” Applejack growled. “You don’t care about the family I lost to those bastard brothers!”

“Yeah, I don’t actually!” Autumn shot back. “I mean, of course I care about the people you lost. But we’ve all lost family, Applejack! Some of us move on! Some of us don’t drag our friends through the mud or throw them into a ditch cuz we can’t let go of one shitty thing that happened to us!”

“So what would you have me do, huh!?” Applejack yelled, stomping toward Autumn and making Coloratura flinch. “Just forget my family?! Forget the blood spilled for those damn brothers’ greed?! Just let bygones be bygones with them?!”

“Rarity will let you kill them—”

“She’ll let me,” Applejack scoffed, her voice dripping with disgust. “She’ll ‘let’ me. Not all of us are content to live a life of slavery, Autumn Blaze! I’m my own woman! You ain’t my damn keeper, you ain’t even my damn family! You want Rarity to lead you by your dick the rest of your life, be my damn guest! But I ain’t interested!”

“You’re so damn selfish,” Autumn muttered through gritted teeth, and Applejack was about ready to snap her damn neck, so instead she stormed off.

Applejack stomped away, leaving the wall behind her and taking a few steps into the dirt and ash of the First Circle. Her hands were shaking— no, her whole body was trembling. She wanted to break down, to fall on her knees, cup her face and cry, but if anyone saw her she’d die on the spot, so she held it in.

She looked up to the sky. A mass of greyish, tannish fog that illuminated the first circle. Applejack wished it wasn’t so hot and muggy. Used to be sometimes water would fall from the fog, and it’d give some kinda life to the Circle. Not anymore though.

Applejack heard the door to the wall open up behind her and she drew herself up, looking over her shoulder to see Autumn gently closing the door behind her with her tail.

“Hey,” she said as she walked up beside Applejack, “sorry about what happened back there.”

“Coloratura put you up to—”

“No!” Autumn balked. “No, she didn’t! She talked me down, sure, but no one put me up to anything. I just— I— I feel like you aren’t listening to us. Can you at least see where I’m coming from, Applejack?”

“Can’t you see where I—”

“Of course I can!” Autumn interjected, Applejack biting down the rest of her rebuttal with a snarl. “Of course! What happened to you was beyond shitty! It was completely unfair and horrible! But your revenge means going up against the Empress herself! Can’t you see that?! You’re gonna drag us into war with the Empress!”

“I’m not askin’ you to help me,” Applejack muttered.

“And that’s why you’re selfish,” Autumn sighed. “Cuz you’re making us choose between watching a dear friend march to her death, or marching to death with her, and you think that’s an easy choice to make. Like watching you get yourself killed is so damn easy for us, like that wouldn’t hurt us.

“But I get it,” Autumn exhaled slowly, steam rising from below her eyes, “all you care about, is your revenge.”

Applejack chose not to correct her.

“So!” Autumn took a deep breath and sighed, shaking her hands and body to try and hype herself up. “You told Rarity you’d get her the soul just to get her off yer back, right?”

“Eeyup,” Applejack nodded, her arms crossed.

“You have no intention of giving it to her,” Autumn stated, and Applejack smirked as she noted that Autumn didn’t phrase that as a question.

“’course not,” Applejack let out a single laugh. “Though don’t get me wrong, I’m also hedgin’ my bets. Cuz yer right, I do think Rarity’ll let me take my revenge if I help her get the soul.”

“So if she gets it before you,” Autumn hummed.

“I’ll still get ahead,” Applejack grinned.

“That’s good, that’s good,” Autumn Blaze nodded, her arms crossed to mirror Applejack. “In that case, let’s see which of us can get the soul first, huh?”

“Yer really gonna try and challenge me?” Applejack chuckled, but her laughter stopped when she saw the confident grin on Autumn’s face, and Applejack did her best to match it.

“What’s the matter, Applejack?” Autumn asked, walking away from Applejack and flicking her tail up at the wolf. “Afraid of a little competition?”

If you enjoyed this chapter, please let me know by leaving a comment! I absolutely adore reading them!
Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoyed!