Twilight Sparkle must’ve had rocks for brains.

It was probably her most notable trait, or at least the only way that Sunset Shimmer could think to explain the constant horrible decisions Twilight was always making every second of every day.

Twilight’s bad decision making is what led her to throw herself into battle against Grand Pear in order to defend some girl she barely knew, and who was technically her enemy. And now, that same bad decision making had her standing in front of Grand Pear himself not one hour later with her shield raised, defending him.

Maybe there was something endearing about the way she wanted to believe the best in everyone. And when she threw herself into battle with Pear, that was whatever cuz Sunset knew she could take him.

But this? Standing with her weapons raised against a giant muscular werewolf who worked as the Paradise’s guardian, the woman whose job it was to keep the ‘riff-raff’ out, and who Sunset knew neither she nor Twilight had a shot against, this was different.

This wasn’t just another bad decision, this was practically self-destruction.

Twilight stood on the stone steps leading up to the gate to the Wall of Paradise, lance raised and pointing it at the werewolf who stood at the top of the steps.

“You challengin’ me, hon?” Applejack let out a scoffing laugh. “That’s cute.”

“I’ve said it more times than I care to count,” Twilight declared, “but I’ll protect anyone in need! Those who use their power and authority to oppress and harm others cannot be considered good, and I will always stand up against them!”

“Twilight,” Sunset walked up beside Twilight, hands in her coat pockets to keep her trembling fingers out of Applejack or Twilight’s view, “do you know who we’re up against here?”

“I don’t,” Twilight said calmly.

“That’s Applejack,” Sunset said, gritting her teeth as she watched Applejack crack her knuckles and flex her muscles. She looked like she was getting ready for nothing more than a warmup, and the worst thing about it was that Sunset knew that Applejack was powerful enough for her flippant dismissal of the two women to be justified. “She’s the gatekeeper to Paradise. The one whose sole job it is to keep weaker monsters out.”

“When you put it like that,” Twilight gave an aside grin to Sunset, which made Sunset glower and raise an eyebrow, “we’d have had to fight her inevitably anyway. No time like the present.”

“I… guess,” Sunset sighed under her breath.

Truthfully, she… hadn't come up with a plan yet to get through the wall. She honestly hadn’t considered the possibility that they would actually make it to the wall, and now that they were standing face to face with the wall’s guardian, it was hard not to get cold hooves.

“Look, it’s nothin’ personal,” Applejack lifted her arms above her head and stretched, and for whatever it was worth Sunset did appreciate Applejack’s physique; they may have been enemies but Sunset was still a lesbian. “My guy Grand Pear here, stuff’s personal for him, he probably has a real bone to pick with me. But I could care less. All I’m interested in is gettin’ that soul of yers so I can do my own thing.

“So if we’re gonna fight, let’s go already!” Applejack snarled, shattering her calm demeanor and baring her fangs. “Get the trash outta here and let’s get to fightin’! I hate waitin’ and being jerked around!”

Grand Pear and his gang, for their part, didn’t need to be told twice. With Applejack thoroughly distracted by Twilight and her soul, the werewolf had no reason to bother scraping up the trash as they escaped from the area with their tails between their legs.

In a way, Sunset envied them.

“You talk about people like they’re trash,” Twilight growled, “and all you’re here for is to keep them from the resources that your bosses are selfishly hoarding! And you have the damn nerve to act so casual and carefree! As if that horrible job doesn’t burden you with guilt at all!”

“It doesn’t,” Applejack shrugged, confident smile on her face.

“That’s it?” Twilight asked, taking a furious step forward. “That’s all you have to say?!”

“Yep,” Applejack said, “and if you have anything else you wanna say, you better say it with your weapons.”

“I don’t know why I keep sticking my neck out for you,” Sunset chuckled, taking her hands out of her pockets and flicking her fingers, specks of flame sparking off of them.

“I don’t know either,” Twilight laughed softly and smiled at Sunset, “but I really appreciate it.”

Twilight took a deep breath and looked up at Applejack, offering a good-natured smile.

“This is your last chance to surrender, Applejack,” Twilight said calmly. “We don’t have to fight at all. Just join us and revoke this horrible job of keeping monsters out of the Paradise. Open the gate and let everyone share in the resources that should belong to everyone.”

“Tempting, hon,” Applejack put her hands on her hips, “but no dice. Got my reasons, you know how it is.”

“Alright then,” Twilight sighed and looked at Sunset, who nodded. “I’m sorry to hear tha—”

Sunset cut off Twilight’s weakass apology by throwing sparks of flame at Applejack, but the werewolf was unfazed as she snatched them out of the air and crushed them. Sunset’s attack doing seemingly less than nothing was a bit concerning, but at least it provided ample distraction.

Applejack’s overconfidence made her completely miss that Twilight had thrown her lance behind Applejack, until Twilight had already warped to it and Applejack turned her head in shock, which gave Sunset the perfect opportunity to rush Applejack from the other side.

That said, Applejack was quick on her paws, and she grabbed Twilight’s hand and Sunset’s fist and held both of them back from actually landing their attacks. Worse than that, Sunset could feel her magic being siphoned out of her by Applejack’s touch, so she jerked away and jumped back.

Twilight followed Sunset’s lead, warping to her shield that she left at the bottom of the steps. She turned her head back and laughed.

“Wow, Grand Pear and his friends really bailed, huh?” Twilight said, and Sunset scoffed at the idea that Twilight thought her observation was a revelation.

“Yeah, no shit,” Sunset chuckled. “Did you think they were gonna help us?”

“No,” Twilight said, “I’m just glad they’re not going to get hurt.”

“Like I toldja, I don’t care about them,” Applejack shrugged. “Right now all that matters is that pony soul.”

Sunset brandished two blades of flame and charged at Applejack, who just blocked Sunset’s strikes with her hands. Sunset’s horn flashed and a field of fiery spikes appeared behind Applejack, Sunset sweeping at the wolf’s legs to try and knock her into the spikes.

Applejack jumped over Sunset’s kick and landed a kick of her own to Sunset’s stomach, forcing her to reel back, but before Applejack could touch the ground, she was struck in her own stomach by Twilight’s lance.

Twilight warped to her lance and slammed Applejack’s head with her shield, dropping the airborne werewolf directly into the field of spikes on her back, Applejack letting out a pained grunt as Sunset turned up the intensity, the spikes burning holes all throughout Applejack’s back.

Applejack got herself up off the spikes and jumped back to the top of the steps with a sardonic laugh, and Sunset could see Twilight gritting her teeth, which was nice cuz Sunset was about to go apeshit. This girl was so annoying.

“Not bad, ladies,” Applejack said.

“This isn’t a game,” Twilight said flatly.

“Oh yeah?” Applejack’s smile took on a sinister note, and Sunset had a bad feeling in her stomach. “You wanna see me get serious? Fine then, let’s do it, sugarcube.”

Applejack’s cricked her neck and scraped her claws against the ground; if she was even remotely fazed by Sunset’s attack, she wasn’t showing it. Sunset could see the blood dripping off the werewolf’s back, she knew her attack connected, but Applejack just didn’t seem to care.

Applejack threw herself at Twilight and Sunset with frightening speed, and Sunset realized that she could try and protect Twilight, or she could dodge and save herself, but she couldn’t do both; naturally, the choice was obvious, and the werewolf’s claws were met by Sunset bringing out her soul sword and cutting through them, forcing Applejack to back off.

“Th-thank you!” Twilight said, sighing in relief.

“Don’t mention it,” Sunset said coolly, but internally there was a part of her going ‘hell yes, she thanked me!’. Sunset turned back to Twilight and grinned. “I promised I’d protect you. If nothing else, I’m a mare of my word.”

“Oh?” Applejack’s grin grew wider as she flicked blood off her fingers. “Now things are gettin’ interesting. That ain’t no ordinary magic you got there, is it, bacon horse? That’s the power of a soul.”

“We can’t get through that gate without getting through her,” Sunset said.

“I know,” Twilight sighed.

“She might be killed,” Sunset said.

“I know that too,” Twilight replied. “But if that happens, so be it. There’s a world of difference between killing an enemy in battle and murdering an opponent who surrenders.”

“Sounds good to me!” Sunset grinned, knowing she didn’t have to hold back. “Let’s finish this!”

“Right behind you!” Twilight declared.

Sunset charged at Applejack; if she had to cleave the woman in half to get into Paradise, then so be it. She laid down a coat of spikes all around Applejack and even under her paws, trapping the wolf in place as Sunset jumped in an attempt to slice her down the middle.

Applejack stomped forward, undeterred by the spikes, and slammed Sunset in the gut with her fist, knocking the wind out of her. Not only that, but Sunset could feel the magic getting sucked out of her as she fell to her knees, her spikes disappearing.

“You’re never getting through to me with a one track mind like that,” Applejack whispered as she grabbed Sunset by her shirt collar, putting her hand on Sunset’s chest to yank the soul out of her body.

Twilight’s lance came careening through the air, but Applejack’s body just grabbed the weapon with her bare hand and shattered it to pieces. Twilight let out a terrified gasp but Sunset wasn’t about to go down without one hell of a fight, getting her second wind and slashing her sword at Applejack.

Applejack didn’t even flinch as the sword’s flames brushed harmlessly against her body, just glaring at Sunset before punching her hard in the head, the entire world spinning around Sunset as she fell to the stone steps on her face.

Before Applejack could grab Sunset again, Twilight got to her, teleporting the pair to the bottom of the steps where Twilight’s shield rested.

“Sunset,” Twilight took Sunset’s hands and looked her in the eye, though one of Sunset’s eyes was pretty banged up at this point so it was hard to focus. “If we’re going to win this, we need to work together.”

“Isn’t that what we’ve been doing?” Sunset griped. “Hasn’t been working out.”

“No, I mean we need to work as one,” Twilight said. “Let me touch my own soul. Let it resonate with me, inside you.”

“I don’t know what that means,” Sunset groaned. “And I’m pretty sure you don’t either.”

“Well, it’s experimental,” Twilight shakily admitted, laughing and pushing up her glasses. “But I’ve done a lot of theorizing on souls and magic, and if I’m right about this, then… we might be able to win this.”

“Whatever,” Sunset said and bared her chest to Twilight. “Do whatever you gotta do.”

Twilight put her hand on Sunset’s chest and Sunset felt a warmth glowing inside her. It was different from when she just used the soul, this was like it was resonating with her very heartbeat, like her heart and Twilight’s were beating in harmony.

It was surreal, and a little uncomfortable, but it was exhilarating at the same time. Sunset stood up like a shot and faced Applejack, who was still waiting at the top of the stairs.

“You gals done?” she chirped.

“You’re gonna regret giving us that time,” Sunset growled.

“Just seemed right,” Applejack shrugged with a self-satisfied smirk on her face. “But I promise, it won’t happen again.”

Sunset’s flaming sword crystallized until she was wielding a blade of frozen crystal, shimmering and sparkling with magical power. She charged Applejack, knowing that she needed to stay out of range of Applejack’s fists but with Twilight’s power backing her up that would be no problem.

“Hm,” Applejack hummed, “I see how it is.”

Suddenly, magical energy erupted from behind Applejack and blue smog covered the battlefield that stripped Sunset of her strength to stand or lift her sword. She fell to the ground, eyes wide in shock as she struggled and failed to move.

“There’s more to a battle than just magic!” a cheerful voice said as another woman walked up beside Applejack, who didn’t look terribly enthused to see the woman whose entire body shimmered and glowed like it was made from pure flame. “There’s stamina too!”

“Autumn Blaze,” Applejack growled.

“What?” Autumn Blaze replied innocently. “You didn’t think I was just gonna stand back and let you have all the fun, did you?”

Sunset looked over to see Twilight collapse to Autumn’s attack as well, and the sword in Sunset’s hand disappeared as she tried to muster up some kind of attack. She couldn’t believe this was happening. That everything she’d worked for led up to this, being defeated by a dumbass, happy-go-lucky woman who appeared out of nowhere and couldn’t be bothered to take her seriously.

“Now we just gotta take ‘em back to Rarity,” Autumn Blaze said triumphantly.

“You think I’m gonna let that happen?” Applejack scoffed, and that caught Sunset’s attention. It may have been a small glimmer of hope, but if there was some unrest or a conflict of loyalty between their enemies, Sunset may still have had a chance to turn things around.

It wasn’t much, but for now that looked to be the only hope her and Twilight had left.

man, two L's in a row for our girls tsk tsk. tho i guess both this fight and the last one still count as wins for the mane seven as a whole lmao

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