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The Irony of Applejack

by Mister Friendly

Chapter 12: Chapter 12: Changing of the Guard

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Chapter 12: Changing of the Guard

It was a dull, gloomy morning in Equestria, one that robbed the little ponies of one last warm sunny day before winter.

Roiling storm clouds had swallowed that prospect whole. Flashes of lightning lurking in the storm overhead lit up the grey morning like the flashes from cannons, followed almost immediately by the reports.

Despite the best efforts of the beleaguered weather team, the storm had stampeded on-course. It was just too big, and the scrambled team of pegasi was spread too thin.

Rain was starting to drone against the earth, rising from a sporadic pitter-pattering sound to a constant, quiet drawl. But if the fast-approaching dark curtain was anything to judge by, there was more than just a light drizzle in store. A lot more.

That was the first thing Applejack saw when she rounded one last thicket and found herself standing where the untamed Everfree and a gently rolling pasture met. To her left stretched a wall of forbidding trees and brush, in complete defiance to the tranquil, tamed land on Applejack’s right.

It was a slight disappointment, not being met with the sight of a resplendent Equestria morning sun, but Applejack had far more important things on her mind than inclement weather.

“Alright,” Applejack said, nodding to herself. “Sweet Apple Acres ain't that far off now, and you can bet Vigil’s gonna be there waitin’ for us.”

Applejack could practically feel the presence of the pony standing beside her – exactly where she’d been for their entire trek through the wild forest.

Yet, despite having walked a small marathon on her tired hooves, the cyan pegasus seemed in surprisingly high spirits.

“Scared?” Rainbow teased, her smirk clear on her voice.

“Not even a little bit,” Applejack said back, her expression hard.

“Good,” Rainbow said, smirking confidently, “cuz we got a lot of changeling butt to kick, and if you’re quick enough, I may just leave some for you.”

Applejack’s expression cracked at that, replacing itself with a rueful grin. “Usual wager, then?”

Rainbow’s confident smirk only grew at that. “You’re on.”

Both mares smacked their hooves together, sealing the deal.

“But Ah should tell ya now,” Applejack said, adjusting her new Stetson a bit, “Ah ain't losin’.”

“Bring it on, bug brain,” Rainbow teased before she could catch herself.

Thankfully, Applejack only hesitated for a moment before jabbing Rainbow in the ribs. “My sentiments exactly, ya stubborn mule.”

Rainbow just snickered, jabbing a hoof back at her, the smile on her face one of the most genuine of the long, trying night.

“I hate to interrupt,” quipped Hyacinth, who’d been standing quietly behind them the whole time, “but I have to ask; do you two actually have a plan?”

Both mares stared uncomprehendingly back at her, like she’d just spouted in an alien tongue at them.

“Lady,” Rainbow scoffed, smirking at her, “When you’re this awesome, you don’t need a plan.”

With that, Rainbow crouched low, wings flashing open, and a split second later she rocketed up into the sky with a boom to match any thunderclap.

Applejack and Hyacinth watched as she arced her trajectory, leaving a rainbow in the rainy sky as she tore off towards Sweet Apple Acres.

“Welp, we best be after her,” Applejack said, squaring her shoulders, “’fore she hurts herself too much.”

“Just a moment, Applejack,” Hyacinth said abruptly, catching her niece’s shoulder just as she was heading off.

When Applejack turned to look questioningly at her, Hyacinth gave her a searching look. “You know that if you go back, the chances of you keeping your secret aren’t going to be in your favor.”

Applejack looked at her for a moment, then offered Hyacinth one of the most gentle smiles she’d seen in… years.

“Well… Ah guess we’ll just have ta cross that bridge when we get to it.”

Hyacinth could only stare at Applejack in surprise, momentarily at a loss for words.

Applejack smiled a bit bigger before jerking her head in the direction of her friends. “Come on. Those changelin’s ain't gonna buck themselves off my farm.”

But as Applejack started off again, the old changeling bodyguard hesitated, watching her go.

You really are her daughter… aren’t you?

Hyacinth smiled, but she made no move to follow Applejack. She just watched her go, and she too lost in thought to realize she was walking alone.

Hyacinth breathed a breath, savoring it for a moment. And then the smile drifted from her features.

“You go on ahead, dear,” she said. “There’s something I need to do first.”

Applejack hesitated and turned around, a question already on her lips, but when she looked, Hyacinth was already gone. It was like she’d never been there to begin with.

Applejack looked around for a moment longer, frowning. But even as she turned back around and started to trot away, she couldn’t help but feel a curl of unease in her gut. And no matter what she did, she couldn’t rid herself of the feeling.

~~***~~

Meanwhile, on a scarred apple orchard, one pony remained motionless in the open, her purple eyes watching the horizon with deep worry.

Twilight Sparkle ignored the rain that was starting to fall on her head and back. She just kept her eyes trained in the same direction, her thoughts complicated and altogether unpleasant.

Rainbow Dash… Just what did you mean?

Twilight frowned to herself, turning her gaze back to that spot on the horizon – the one that’d been glowing up until recently.

Are you trying to tell me what I think you’re trying to tell me…?

Behind her, her three remaining friends watched with equal parts wonder and trepidation. “I must say, Twilight,” Rarity spoke up, forcing a smile, “You certainly seem to have outdone yourself this time.”

But Twilight didn’t rise to the chance of conversation. She didn’t really react at all, really.

All three of her friends exchanged nervous looks. Even Pinkie Pie looked uncertain as she bit her lip.

“Twilight, darling, are you alright?” Rarity ventured again, this time not bothering to attempt to cover up her concern.

Still nothing.

“…Is it something Cloudkicker said?” Rarity asked, Though she didn’t expect an answer to that question.

It’d been a rhetorical one, after all; of course Twilight was bothered by the news Cloudkicker had given them. They all were bothered by it.

But something the weather pony said had struck Twilight especially. One line from Cloudkicker about recalling some past conversation that left Rarity baffled had apparently left Twilight thunderstruck.

She hadn’t said a word since.

Behind the lavender mare, a dome of brilliant lavender magic glowed like a gigantic neon light. Its surface momentarily flared and spat every time a rain drop had the misfortune of coming into contact with it, leaving momentary flares of light and wisps of steam as the droplets sizzled away.

Inside, the emerald flicker of changeling fire continued, eating away at nothing but a pile of ash and cinders. By rights, it shouldn’t have anything left to burn, and yet it refused to die.

It was guttering as it consumed the last of the air inside the magical prison, but everypony present knew that that wouldn’t keep it down forever.

And yet, the conundrum of such a strange spell hardly seemed to distract Twilight at all. It was like something far worse had presented itself to her, and now she was throwing all of her considerable faculties to make sense of it.

… Hypothetically speaking…

Twilight bit her lip. Something very uncomfortable was stirring in her heart – a possibility she dared not touch.

But all possibilities exist to be explored…

“Twilight Sparkle, you turn around right this instant!”

The unicorn in question finally snapped back to reality, jarred back to the here and now thanks to the anger in her friend’s voice.

She turned around to find a livid Rarity glaring at her with such intensity that Twilight took half a step back, all pretenses gone, her patience at its utmost, dangerous limits.

“I have been standing out in the rain all morning,” Rarity snarled, assuming quite the threatening pose for somepony who prided herself on her feminine grace. Having her mane ruined first thing tended to do that to the mare. “Not to mention losing an entire night of beauty sleep on top of everything else, so you. Will. Not. Ignore. Me!”

Twilight took a full step back now, feeling quite small all of a sudden. “Uh, s-sorry?”

Rarity’s eye twitched. “I don’t want ‘sorry’, Twilight!”

“What do you want, then,” Twilight squeaked nervously.

“A lot,” Rarity said stiffly, “not the least of which being a hot shower and a nice cup of chamomile tea. But what I really want right now is the same thing I think we all want.”

“Yeah!” piped up Pinkie Pie all of a sudden, raising a hoof in declaration. “More party cannons, less sanctions! What does ‘menace to society’ even mean?!”

All three just stared at her for a moment, then to one another, then for the sake of their sanity, gave up on the matter.

But Pinkie's outburst managed to derail Rarity’s frustration, even if somewhat. She at least didn’t seem on the verge of springing on Twilight like a rabid Timber Wolf.

“I… was talking about finding Rainbow Dash and Applejack, darling,” Rarity said slowly, eying Pinkie dubiously.

“Ooooh… Yeah, that, too!”

Twilight bit her lip, however. “I know, but…”

“No buts,” Rarity said sharply, swiping a hoof to emphasize her point. “There’s no telling where those changelings are, or what they’re up to!”

“I know!” Twilight said, louder this time, grimacing. “I know that, but…”

Twilight glanced away, her eyes being drawn to the flickering emerald light contained within her spell.

“… Why are they doing this?”

Nopony had an answer for that, not immediately.

“Did that matter at the wedding?” Rarity asked.

Twilight didn’t move for a moment. She stood still, her eyes locked on the flames but unseeing.

“No… it didn’t.”

Twilight’s expression bent into a scowl then, the uncertainty in her eyes replaced with a hard glint. “You’re right, Rarity. Of course you're right… sorry; I don’t know what got into me.”

She turned around to meet the expectant gazes of her friends, her head held high. “Let’s go find our friends!”

“Well, it’s about time,” Pinkie exclaimed so loudly that all three ponies jumped back – Fluttershy especially, “I was getting bored with just standing around doing nothing! That’s, like, my second least favorite thing to do! Right after watching paint dry, but really, who would do that?”

Twilight couldn’t help a small, apologetic smile. “Sorry, Pinkie. It won’t happen again.”

Pinkie’s smile subdued slightly, turning surprisingly understanding for such a small shift. “Yes it will, because that’s what you do. But that’s okay! That’s what we’re here for; to get your rear in gear!”

Twilight chuckled slightly under her breath, a smile growing despite herself. “Thanks, Pinkie. Now, let’s get mov–”

“Hold it.”

All four ponies jumped and whipped around. Fluttershy practically went airborne with an audible squeal before darting behind Rarity for cover, vanishing behind her dainty frame in a way only the timid pony could.

The first thing Twilight heard was the clanking of metal and the splash of hooves in shallow puddles. Only then did she notice the platoon of Royal Guards bearing down on them.

Armored stallions stood in a half-circle around them, boxing Twilight and her friends against the shield she herself had erected. Each guard was carrying a sharp spear – each of which was currently being leveled straight at the four startled mares.

And at the head of the troop stood a familiar vermillion unicorn.

“I’m afraid you four aren’t going anywhere.”

Twilight stared down the shaft of a spear at the guard on the other end, feeling a cold chill run down her spine that had nothing to do with the building rain.

“What do you guys think you’re doing?” she asked, trying to sound a lot braver than she was feeling at the moment.

The vermillion stallion opposite her merely gave her a cold look. “All four of you are being charged with conspiring to aid the fugitive Applejack and her changeling accomplices.”

“What?!” all four mares cried in almost perfect unison. Even Fluttershy sounded flabbergasted, her voice turning shrill. But the stallion went on like he hadn’t heard them.

“By order of Royal Investigator Vigil and Steel Shod, Captain of the Ponyville Guard Division, you are all to be taken in for questioning.”

“Applejack isn’t a bad guy!” Pinkie Pie shot loudly. “She’s the most un-bad guy good guy I know! And I know a lot, pal!”

Unfortunately, the stallions with the razor-sharp spears weren’t on their side. They advanced a step or two, forcing the mares back.

All except Twilight.

She stayed exactly where she stood, a small quirk to her lips as an idea struck her.

“By my authority as Princess Celestia’s personal student and bearer of the Element of Magic, I order you all to stand down!”

The encircling group of guards hesitated, pausing in their advance. Every one of them turned to look at one another, confused and frankly rather worried, before turning towards their leader.

The vermillion stallion had frozen in place, his eyes growing wide in surprise. “What?”

“Yeah, that’s right,” Twilight shot, her smirk broadening, “and I hate to break it to ya, but my authority beats out yours.”

“Y-you can’t be serious,” one of the guards muttered, looking edgy. “Are you telling me she could do that all along? Hey, Moth! You ever hear of this?”

The vermillion stallion could only blink, sweating. “No… I didn’t know the Elements of Harmony had any official authority.”

He licked his lips, suddenly feeling panicked. He had been hoping to do this without resorting to violence; he was no fighter, after all.

Before he could recover, however, he suddenly became aware of the rather ominous grin spreading across Twilight’s face.

“That’s because we don’t.”

Moth could only blink, completely thrown out of whack. “What?”

“Of course, any real Guard would know that,” Twilight stated, still smiling victoriously. “I know one or two, and they know official regulations better than the back of their own hooves!”

Moth’s eyes got wide, suddenly feeling very uneasy.

“As the Princess would say,” Twilight said almost benignly, cleared her throat, then added smugly, “Gotchya.”

In a lavender flash, all four mares disappeared, winking out of existence.

And before Moth could react in any way, the wall of light directly in front of him split open wide.

The changeling fire let out a deafening roar as it erupted back to life with all the viciousness of a bomb detonating. Green flames swelled violently and raged outwards, rampantly chasing after its new fuel source; fresh air.

Before Moth and his troops could as much as twitch in reaction, they vanished in a wall of magical flame and smoke as the explosive backlash swallowed them whole, shooting nearly twenty feet straight out like the muzzle flash of some gargantuan cannon.

Almost immediately the barrier was sealed shut again, choking the contained fire out before it could truly take hold. But the damage was done. Numerous figures laid in the grass, twitching and groaning in pain.

Twilight surveyed the damage from her position slightly to the left of where she’d been before – just far enough to be clear of the blast.

The first thought that crossed Twilight’s mind when she saw how black they’d become was that she may have gotten a little too carried away.

It wasn’t until she saw one of the creatures crack open one of his glowing blue eyes that she saw the truth.

“They… they’re all changelings,” Rarity gasped, her normally white complexion somehow turning whiter as the blood drained away.

“Oh… my,” Fluttershy squeaked, peeking around the fashionista’s frame with utterly terrified eyes. “Does this mean…?”

Twilight’s heart was pounding, too as she nodded stiffly. “It means Applejack and Rainbow Dash are in some serious trouble,” she said.

“Not to mention all of Ponyville,” Pinkie cried, her usual energy easily translating over to panic. “They could be rounding up everypony right now!”

Twilight’s heart seized for a moment. A flash of Princess Celestia – confined in a jade cocoon and suspended high in the air by her captors – raced across her mind.

“We won’t let it come to that!” she stated. “Come o—”

As Twilight started to turn around, she just barely caught sight of a bright flash out of the corner of her eye.

Something searing hot and blinding emerald shot across her eyes, missing them by a hair’s breadth.

Her nose was not so lucky.

Twilight cried out in pain, staggering back a step as her hooves flew up to her muzzle.

“Twilight!” Cried out her friends in alarm, rushing to her aid.

But the unicorn only had eyes for the one that’d attacked her, and just the sight of his mustard coat was sending an even colder chill running down her spine.

“I’m afraid, Miss Sparkle,” stated Vigil in a cold, calculated tone, his horn still hissing with emerald magic, “that is no longer an option for you to make.”

~~***~~

The Guard was everywhere.

Ponyville virtually crawled with golden-clad stallions. Every street corner, every thoroughfare – even the dingy alleyways; every conceivable road in or out of the sleepy village was supervised by a stern glare or two.

Street by street, block by block, Ponyville was locked down. Any pony found out of their homes were quickly detained and dragged off to the Guard post on the edge of town without exception, ID cards or not.

The post office was shut down. Every road in and out of the city was already in the process of being barricaded. Nothing would be getting into town unnoticed… or getting out, for that matter.

Terrified ponies watched from the corners of windows as an entire military column moved through the streets, the flashes of lightning illuminating the gleam of their armor and the wicked edges on their spears.

They just kept coming – more and more, seemingly an endless stream of ponies outfitted for war, all pouring from the guard station on the edge of town.

And in every street and every alley, penetrating through doors and homes, the voices of official criers filled the ears of every pony, and their message filled their hearts with dread.

“Attention Ponyville! By the authority of the Royal Princesses, the Royal Guard has declared martial law! All ponies are to remain indoors at all times; no exceptions! Any pony caught outside will be detained! Any pony caught interfering with the Royal Guard in any way will be detained! Any pony caught aiding the changeling fugitives will be detained forcibly!”

Again and again they belted out their message, leaving nothing to interpretation.

Ponies cowered in their residences, shushing scared children and trying to keep out of sight of any windows for fear of being spotted.

Through it all, the sound of marching droned on and on; an entire army marching through the streets, every hoof moving with a singular destination in mind.

Rain beat against armor. Thunder boomed overhead like a war drum. But nothing fazed them.

The marching column remained ignorant of the worsening storm, and kept their eyes fixated straight ahead, towards their destination; Sweet Apple Acres.

~~***~~

“Twilight! Twilight, are you alright?”

The unicorn in question wasn’t entirely sure which of her friends had spoken; her attention was fixated on the force bearing down on her.

What must’ve been two dozen fully armed and armored stallions stood opposite her, their polished golden armor flashing in the light of a thunderbolt.

Every single spear was pointed straight at her and her friends. Every horn was similarly aimed; too many to hope to outmaneuver.

At its head stood two ponies; a massive, steel grey earth pony and a less impressive – yet somehow far more intimidating – mustard unicorn.

“I’m fine,” Twilight grunted, rising to all fours. The tip of her muzzle was blackened and throbbing painfully, the smell of burnt fur and ionized magic clogging her nostrils like acrid smoke. But she knew it could’ve been much, much worse. “It was only a warning shot.”

“Correct,” Vigil said almost factually. “And in the interest of self-preservation, I’d suggest not testing my aim further.”

Twilight narrowed her eyes, but she remained where she stood, her three friends crowding protectively around her.

“Vigil… I should’ve known you were a changeling,” she shot angrily.

To her surprise, however, Vigil hardly even batted an eyelash at being called out, and that fact alone unsettled her even further.

“I wouldn’t be doing my job very well if you did,” Vigil stated coolly, “and I’ve had a lifetime of practice.”

Twilight’s glare intensified, as did her friends’.

“So you’re the one who attacked Sweet Apple Acres,” Rarity accused.

“Not to mention burned down Applejack’s family’s barn,” Pinkie Pie shot, glaring. “How could you do such a thing? What did Applejack ever do to you?”

Vigil himself rolled his eyes while sporadic chuckling and snickering broke out among the ranks behind him.

“You ponies never did have much tactical sense,” he said, his tone flat with incredulity. “After all, the secret to any good plan is a measure of preparation.”

Vigil glanced towards the muscle-bound stallion standing beside him. “And I’m afraid, Twilight, you’ll find that I’m quite prepared.”

The stallion beside him didn’t react in the slightest. He just kept his steely eyes staring straight ahead, standing at rigid attention.

He was a truly huge fellow; a brute of a pony, built like a living steamroller. Silver and brown armor clad his burly frame, matching his brown-and-gray tail.

Clasped against his breast was an insignia unlike the Royal Guards behind him; one of an upright crimson sword superimposed over a stormy grey shield.

Instantly Twilight recognized him; most ponies in town would’ve. “Captain Steel Shod,” she breathed, dread creeping into her voice.

The standing commander of the Ponyville Guard didn’t react in the slightest to the young mare’s voice, only further increasing her unease.

He’d been a rather humorless pony when Shining Armor had introduced him to Twilight, true, but this… this was borderline scary, and it was making Twilight feel a whole lot colder all of a sudden.

“H-Hey, Captain?” Twilight ventured, nervously taking a step forward. “Captain, can you hear me? I’m Shining’s sister, Twilight Sparkle. Remember?”

Nothing. Not so much as a blink. The stallion just stood there, as still as a statue.

“It seems he doesn’t remember you,” Vigil noted uncaringly.

“He doesn’t remember a lot of things,” cackled a voice in the crowd, followed by a sickening wave of laughter from the masses.

Twilight paled as the truth sunk in. “You… what did you do to him?”

Vigil glanced towards the hopelessly outnumbered group of companions, his emerald eyes indifferent. “I already told you, Twilight,” he said flatly. “I prepared. Isn’t that right, Captain?”

“Yes,” grunted the huge stallion, his eyes shining with hazy green light for but a moment. It was enough.

Twilight inhaled sharply, feeling like the wind had just been knocked out of her. That was the same look that’d filled her brother’s eyes at the wedding, along with Cadance’s bridesmaids.

And now, right before her eyes, it was happening again. The changelings had already gotten to the captain of the Ponyville Division before she could—

The Division…

Oh no…

Horror wracked through Twilight as at last, she realized why there were so many guards at Vigil’s disposal. They weren’t just changelings, nor were they just ponies.

They were both.

Vigil watched the dawning realization cross Twilight’s features for a moment before speaking. “It seems you’re starting to grasp the situation you’re in,” he stated. “Surely you know now that fighting isn’t an option, unless you wish to harm innocent ponies in the process.”

Twilight’s insides squirmed, and she and her friends moved just a little closer together.

“What do you want,” Twilight asked. She was still scowling, but with decidedly less fire than before.

“For you and your friends to come quietly,” Vigil stated. “I have no intention of killing any of you, but it is up to you whether you leave here unbroken or not.”

Another flash of lightning raced through the sky overhead, followed immediately by an explosive boom as the floodgates in the heavens opened wide.

Rain, cold and plentiful, crashed down upon their heads in vast quantities. Visibility dropped, the world seeming to constrict down around the four mares, pressing mercilessly down on them.

For the longest time, nopony moved. Twilight stood in place, already soaked to the bone, glaring at Vigil.

Vigil stared back, his gaze ice cold and unyielding. He knew Twilight wouldn’t try to escape; she was no coward, and she’d sooner die than leave innocent ponies behind.

She only had one option left open to her. Twilight had already lost the chess match before she’d even known she was playing.

And then Vigil would have all the pieces he’d need to teach Applejack some obedience. After all, there were far, far worse ways to hurt someone than physical punishment…

The rain crashed down on them for a small eternity, inevitability slow to take hold.

Finally, slowly, Twilight’s mouth opened, her shoulders slumping…

Only for her to hesitate. Vigil noticed her eye flick to some spot overhead for just the barest moment, just a split second after a blinding flash of lightning lit up the sky once more.

“Vigil,” she said suddenly, her voice abruptly quite steady. “I want to ask you something.”

Vigil cocked an eyebrow, scrutinizing Twilight’s expression. “And that is?”

His confusion, however, only deepened when he saw her start to smile.

“Guy who gets squashed like a bug says what?”

Vigil blinked, nonplussed. “What?”

And with a mighty boom, Rainbow Dash crashed down out of the sky like a meteor, hooves first.

Captain Steel Shod didn’t stand a chance. One second, he was standing tall and mindless. The next, he was pancaked against the ground so hard he left a crater.

Vigil turned, stunned beyond belief, to see a pair of seething magenta eyes glaring daggers straight at him from way too close for comfort.

“Sup,” Rainbow growled through clenched teeth, grinning savagely.

“Rainbow!” Twilight and company both cheered and gasped in shock.

“You,” hissed Vigil through tight lips, eyes flashing with hate.

Rainbow Dash grinned mockingly, still crouched low from her impact. “Sorry, I missed. Let me fix that!”

Before Vigil could even react, Rainbow suddenly rocketed back into the air, flipping so fast that she only left a rainbow blur across the changeling’s vision.

That and stars, when she flashed out a hoof towards his jaw, launching him through the air.

But instead of crashing hard to the ground, possibly rolling through the mud a couple times, Vigil’s horn ignited. In a flash of changeling fire, he fell through the wet earth when it came up to meet him, disappearing from sight for a moment.

When he reappeared, he burst into being atop the Apple family house, some fifty yards back.

And for the first time in his life, Vigil’s composure slipped.

“Kill her!” Vigil shouted furiously, ignoring the cut on his lip.

As one, every single guard lunged towards the pegasus, spears flashing through the air as they struck out with lethal intent.

But their target was already a dozen feet up, well out of the reach of their spears.

Rainbow stuck out her tongue and blew a raspberry back down at them as she went still higher. “Come get me, chumps!”

The Guard below was all too happy to oblige. With a great clattering of metal and the rustle of feathers, pegasi rocketed up after Dash in droves, moving like a flock of angry birds armed with murderously sharp spears.

But at the same time, as Rainbow looked down below her, she noticed a small galaxy of lights starting to glow in the gloom beneath her. Blues, purples, golds… and lots and lots of greens.

“Uh oh.”

Dozens of unicorns aimed their horns skyward, spells crackling to life and forming fast.

“Hey!”

For a moment, the guards at the front of the formation paused, glancing down. What they saw, however, was a rather perplexing sight.

Before them stood a pink pony, standing rather threateningly on her hind legs. She appeared to be holding onto her unicorn friend with both front hooves, and yet it didn’t seem like she was using her for support. And most strangely, she appeared to be holding onto the unicorn’s tail.

“Say hello to my purple friend!”

And then the spells started to fly.

Bolts of violet magic tore from Twilight’s horn as Pinkie cranked her tail around at a blistering pace. Dozens of guards dropped before they even knew what hit them, ballistic unicorn magic smashing into them hard enough to throw them off their hooves.

The lucky ones were only knocked unconscious. The less fortunate found themselves suddenly… less pony-like. Or animate, for that matter.

Within moments, potted flowers, throw pillows and pleather chairs littered the battlefield like ludicrous tombstones.

The entire formation broke under the suppressing fire, whole squads diving for cover this way and that under a hailstorm of magic, lest they, too, join the menagerie of random objects littering the farmyard.

At the exact same time, the five friends scattered.

Rarity grabbed ahold of Fluttershy, and together the two darted away into the orchard, a contingent of faux and real Royal Guards hot on their tails.

Rainbow streaked up into the sky, leading a whole swarm of pegasi straight up into the awaiting underbelly of the thunderstorm, heedless of the bright flashes of light that lurked within.

Finally, Twilight yanked her tail free of Pinkie’s grip, threw a displeased look over her shoulder at the party pony, before beating a hasty retreat as well, firing spells over her shoulder as they raced after their friends into the interior of the orchard.

Vigil ground his teeth hard, his form flickering with angry emerald light. He flicked his eyes this way and that, following each mare as they fled every which way, entire platoons of guards in hot pursuit.

Broken it is, then.

~~***~~

Applejack galloped at full speed, heedless of the slippery path beneath her hooves.

She’d heard the sounds of explosions and spells detonating coming from the front of the farm from halfway back.

Her heart thundered almost painfully in her chest. The rain’s chill seeped beneath her skin like creeping dread, making her run still faster.

Everypony better be alright…

As she ran, she saw dark shapes on the horizon; a swarm of shadows racing up into the clouds, chasing after a prismatic comet tail.

Well, that answers that question, Applejack thought ruefully. Dagnabit, Rainbow. Would it kill ya ta slow down a bit and wait for me?

She tore her eyes off of her friend as she skidded down a gently sloping hill. Her hooves were already splattered up to her knees with mud, making them slipperier than ever.

A thunderclap detonated overhead so loudly that Applejack actually jumped, nearly losing her balance before sliding to a stop and looking up, this time in worry.

Lightning undulated through the purple clouds, crossing from horizon to horizon in a great fan of spindly light that lit up the darkened morning like an artificial sun.

Applejack bit her lip, her heart clamping tight in her chest.

Rainbow… Ah hope ya know what yer doin’…

She had to take her eyes off the sky. She couldn’t afford to let herself get distracted now; If she stopped to let herself worry every time the pegasus did something reckless, she’d be a nervous wreck by now.

But as Applejack turned to leave, her eyes fell on something. Something that hung in a serpentine coil around a nearby tree branch, right over a shovel.

And the sight of that something caused her to hesitate… and then break out in a big, malicious grin. “Well howdy there. Fancy meetin' you here."

~~***~~

The wind howled in Rainbow’s ears. Rain stung at her face like a million hailstones. Wind punched at her, trying furiously to knock her out of the air.

But Rainbow was no stranger to flying through storms. No weather pony would be, and she was no exception. She knew how to fight turbulence, regardless of how stiff her body felt.

Once more, she glanced over her shoulder to find the guards from before gaining on her, surging forward with almost frightening hast. Each had their spear lowered towards the mare, aiming straight for her vitals.

“Hey!” Rainbow shouted over the howling wind and thunderous rumblings in the clouds around them, “You guys might not want to do that!”

“Shut up!” roared the pegasus closest to her, glaring dangerously at her.

“Suit yourself,” Rainbow called with a shrug, then angled herself up and started to climb further.

And the pegasus made the mistake of trying to cut her off. He angled his nose higher, leveling his spear upwards, leading his target.

He never knew what hit him.

With a deafening explosion louder than anything anyone present had ever heard before, the storm let loose its fury. A flash of blinding electric light, and the guard found out exactly what a couple hundred gigawatts felt like.

Rainbow glanced over her shoulder again to see a smoking form streaking back to earth, shimmering in emerald light.

The guards behind her stared in shock as their comrade dropped like a fly, then glanced back and forth between each other.

“Hey,” Rainbow shouted, catching their attentions. “You guys ever play chicken with a lightning bolt?”

Another flash of lightning, another spear-tip struck with such force it shattered, and another guard fell from the sky. “Guess not!” Rainbow laughed, and kept going.

The guards exchanged irritated looks, just before the storm was lit up by new flashes – emerald ones.

Rainbow glanced over her shoulder once more, only now she found herself met by the sight of over a dozen furious icy blue eyes gleaming in the dark of the storm cloud. Dribbles of molten gold fell off their frames as their armor melted away, leaving the changelings bare and unadorned.

That still didn’t save one of them from getting turned into a living florescent light bulb.

“Wow, that was a big one,” Rainbow cackled, rolling onto her back to watch their antics. “You guys doing alright back there?”

The changelings snarled and hissed, wings buzzing furiously as they continued to give chase.

Then their horns started glowing.

Yet Rainbow only gave them an unimpressed look. To their surprise, Rainbow suddenly veered to one side, wound up a hoof, and kicked the side of the storm cloud.

Ka-BOOM!

“Wow, three at once! Ha ha, that was awesome!”

~~***~~

Twilight dove into a ditch with reckless abandon, narrowly avoiding a veritable cascade of spells. She slid down to the bottom on her stomach, splattering herself up to her neck in mud and debris.

But she had more problems than a filthy coat.

Spells were striking all around the lip of ditch, detonating with loud bangs and pops. All manner of colors strobed in the air above her; pinks, blues, reds – all colors of the rainbow, even if the predominant shade was the same sickly green.

“Keep her pinned down!” she heard someone bellowing at the top of his lungs from a safe distance. “Don’t give her a second to cast her magic!”

And they weren’t. The ditch was too shallow for Twilight to take a proper stance for casting anything more than the simplest of spells without getting struck from every direction.

True, she could probably just teleport, but all she could see were a few tree tops and the length of the ditch itself; unless she raised her head to locate a destination, she wouldn’t be going far, and doing that was veritably suicide at this point.

A green ball of acidic magic detonated on the edge of the ditch, scooping out a chunk of dirt and mud and spraying it in every direction; including all over Twilight.

All she could do was shield her head with her hooves to keep the worst of it out of her eyes.

“So much for being taken alive,” Twilight muttered sourly. She wasn’t panicking or as afraid as some might be in her situation. Mostly, she was just annoyed.

She started inching along on her belly, trying to keep as low of a profile as possible while the guards rained spells down on where they thought she was. They were hitting the same spot with such ferocity, in fact, that they were turning it from a drop off to a ramp with each explosive impact.

If I can just get around them, she thought to herself, I might be able to take them by surprise. There sure were a lot of them, though… And where the hay did Pinkie go?

The moment she thought that, she heard someone scream, followed almost immediately by an alarmingly heavy thud.

“W-where did that come from?!” someone shouted in alarm.

Something came whistling in over Twilight’s head like a cannonball, moving so fast that no one saw it coming until it was far too late.

Twilight heard another cry of alarm, only for it to be cut short by another impact.

The spells had almost completely let up by that point. The Guard's ranks were in complete disarray, running for cover as another projectile whistled through the air, arched high through the air, and struck true.

Finally, Twilight had to risk it. She just had to see what was going on beyond her hiding place.

She peeked her eyes over the rim of the ditch, scanning. Yet what she saw defied explanation.

Guards were retreating, pulling back to a safe distance in a panic. That part she could understand easily enough.

What she couldn’t understand was the mounds of cake debris littering the field she was in, more than one sprouting hooves from their bases.

These were no small confections, either; each pile of cake and frosting mush was nearly as tall as Twilight was. Whatever they’d been, they’d probably have been more at home at a wedding reception, rather than a battlefield.

While Twilight just stared, trying to fathom what she was seeing, she became aware of cheering in the trees behind her.

“Yeah that’s right! You’d better run!”

Twilight turned around, overwhelmed by disbelief. “Pinkie?”

Despite being drenched from ear-tip to hoof, the pink party pony smiled hugely at her just as always, bright and sunny even if the weather was anything but. Her usually bouncy mane was so soaked that it hung in a limp, drenched tangle, somewhere between depressingly flaccid and goofy poof.

“Yahuh?” she asked, blinking inquisitively like it were any other day.

Twilight glanced back towards the confectionery-devastated battlefield, not entirely sure where to begin.

“How did you do that?”

“Catapult.”

Twilight turned back around, at a loss for words. “What?”

Pinkie turned her head and pointed back behind her; towards, to Twilight’s complete and utter disbelief, an honest-to-Celestia catapult made from logs lashed together by rope.

“Isn’t it just the neatest thing?” Pinkie gushed, bouncing in place. “I found it in the trees back there, just sitting around!”

Twilight just gaped at the construct before getting up, but stepping closer didn’t make it shimmer out of existence, no matter how improbable the thing was. It was crude, true, but a catapult was still a catapult.

“I mean, I didn’t even know Applejack had a catapult,” Pinkie continued to jabber, zipping over to inspect her prize. “It’s no party cannon, but mine’s in the shop, and as my granny Pie always said, when life gives you lemons, make war machines! Or… something like that. She got a little wacky after a while.”

Twilight had to focus on her breathing; anything to distract her away from the edge of insanity that she was getting precariously close to.

“Okay… Okay, you found a catapult. That happened… But where’d you get so much cake?” Twilight asked, gesturing behind her.

Pinkie snorted at that, bemused. “Where’d I get cake… pfft.”

Twilight’s eye twitched. She’s just being Pinkie Pie… she’s just being Pinkie Pie…

But after the night she’d been having, it was getting a lot harder to just push that aside.

“Oookay, I’m just gonna… Look, we gotta find our friends,” Twilight said slowly, struggling to get the gears in her head moving again.

To her surprise, however, Pinkie’s expression fell a little. “…Does that mean I gotta leave the Partypult behind?”

“Yes,” Twilight said bluntly.

“Aw…”

Twilight’s expression softened. If she wasn’t so covered in mud, she might’ve patted her friend’s head reassuringly. She just looked that distraught at being parted from her new toy. “Come on, Pinkie. It’ll be there when we get back. We just gotta –”

“Hold it right there!”

“Oh for the love of Celestia,” Twilight growled, spun around, and blew a charging guard clean off his hooves with an irritated blast from her horn.

In a flash of emerald, the guard’s disguise fell, leaving a discombobulated changeling lying in the wet grass.

“I am not in the mood right now!” shouted Twilight, her patience fraying dangerously thin.

But the guards were already rushing back in droves.

Three more had already vaulted over the ditch Twilight have been taking cover in and were closing fast, spears leading the way.

Before either mare could do anything to protect themselves, however, yet another projectile hissed by, this time missing Twilight’s ear by a fraction of an inch.

But this time, it was no frosted treat.

The guards ground to a halt in alarm as the body of an unconscious changeling sergeant sailed into two of them, scattering them like bowling pins.

The third also managed to skid to a standstill, but he made no move towards the two ponies. He was staring at some point behind Twilight; a point slightly taller than she was.

He wasn’t the only one, either. Several guards had paused, taken aback, their eyes fixed on something in the trees behind Twilight.

Even Pinkie was looking back, eyes wide with shock. Only, she was starting to smile excitedly.

So, Twilight had to ask.

“Is there somepony behind me?”

“Eeyup.”

~~***~~

“No… no… hmm… no…”

“Um, Rarity? Maybe we should…”

Rarity waved a hoof at her friend without turning away from her work.

She and Fluttershy were standing in the relative cover of a tree, taking shelter from the storm as best they could. Rarity’s horn was glowing with light blue light, her magic enveloping a myriad of items floating in the air in front of her, and she was going over those objects with a practiced, critical eye.

“Too small… too short… ugh, too filthy… Does Applejack not care for the condition of her own tools?”

Fluttershy fidgeted nervously, looking over her shoulder. They weren’t very far away from the farmyard; she could still make out the shapes of the chicken coops through the sheeting rain, outlined quite well by the dome of light Twilight had made where the barn should've been.

Flashes of magic were just barely visible not far off; the signs of a pitched battle on the opposite side of the farmyard from them.

But even over the sounds of thundering rain, Fluttershy could easily detect another sound – that of dozens of hooves charging towards them, and they were getting closer with truly alarming speed.

“Rarity, I think… we really should…,” Fluttershy squeaked, her voice easily lost to the deafening drawl of the storm.

“Too heavy… What does this thing even do?” Rarity muttered, oblivious to the sounds of fast-approaching guards.

But the guards were not so oblivious to them.

“Halt in the name of the law,” shouted a voice behind them, a guard locked on and homing in like a heat-seeking missile.

Fluttershy saw him coming and started to hyperventilate. Her hooves flew up to tug on Rarity’s side, trying desperately to draw her attention.

The guard lowered his spear, charging full tilt straight for his prey, unimpeded…

“Aha!” Rarity cried happily, beaming. “Perfect!”

And with that declaration, Rarity spun on the spot and brought a shiny, perfectly shaped spade down on the guard’s head, producing a loud clang of metal on metal.

Before the guard could stop the world from spinning, he found himself smacked again; this time by a full frontal blow to the face, striking him so hard that it dented the metal, imprinting the stallion’s vaguely startled expression right onto the thing that’d rendered him unconscious.

“Oh, goodness,” Rarity muttered to herself, inspecting the ruined shovel with a remorseful eye. “I certainly hope Applejack wasn’t too fond of this.”

She didn’t have too long to consider how she’d pay her friend back, however.

A flash of emerald lit up the gloom, and the next thing Rarity knew, a bolt of acidic light had struck her improvised weapon, crumbling it to dust.

She yelped and jumped back, jittering back a step as a trio of guards stepped forward, chuckling darkly to themselves.

“End of the line, little ponies,” the center-most stallion growled as he advanced, glaring, spear tip aimed straight at his quarries.

More guards emerged from the stormy gloom, stalking towards the two mares from all directions.

There were well over a dozen of them, both unicorns and earth ponies. Most moved dispassionately forward, legs carrying them towards their targets almost mechanically.

Others stalked towards Rarity and Flutteryshy like predators, hunched threateningly low as they menaced closer and closer.

Both mares clung together, eyes wide with fright.

The stallions only looked back with mixtures of stern glares and malevolent sneers. “Time to come with u—”

Before he could finish, something bound tight around the faux guard’s neck, constricting him into silence.

His eyes bulged in shock as the same thing yanked him clean off his hooves, launching him backwards through the air. He barely managed to get his head around in time to see the length of braided rope wrapped around him and an orange hoof winding up, and the last thing he remembered was the sensation of his snout inverting into his skull.

Even over the rain, everyone present heard the sound of the impact of hoof-on-face clear as day as it rang out with a nasty crack.

The guard’s helmet was launched clean off his head from the force of the blow, clattering to the ground in front of Rarity’s hooves.

But she didn’t pay it even a little attention. She’d just caught sight of her savior.

“Applejack!”

The farm pony grinned, tension releasing in her shoulders at the sight of her unharmed friends. “You two alright?”

“Us?” Rarity gasped, flabbergasted. “What about you?”

Before Applejack could answer, the stallions on all sides started shouting.

“There she is! Get her!”

“Hold that thought, sugarcube,” Applejack said, a scowl on her face as she rounded on her first assailant. “Ah got a bet ta win.”

~~***~~

Vigil stood atop the Apple family roof, a simple veil of magic shielding him from the rain.

He surveyed the chaos gripping the farm; the distant flashes of spells detonating, the shouts and cries of ponies locked in fierce battle.

But even as he watched, a fresh battalion of troops was marching through the front gates, ready to join the fight.

Vigil couldn’t help but grin to himself. Such a hefty security force for such a small town… the princesses certainly didn’t want anything happening to their most favorite six subjects.

Of course, now they were his security force. For a last minute improvisation, the results had certainly paid off in spades.

Twilight had to know – or at least be able to guess at – the forces Vigil had at his disposal. And yet she and her friends chose to fight it out to the bitter end.

If she wishes to put some of her own kind in the hospital, she’s free to it, Vigil thought. but unlike her, I have all day…

“Captain Vigil!”

The disguised changeling looked down from his perch to find an out of breath guard standing in the yard below. “What is it?”

The stallion struggled to gain his breath for a moment, then straightened up. “We found her! Applejack’s in the west orchard!”

Vigil felt a new rush of energy fill his body, but he fought to hide his excitement. “Good. Bring her in.”

But the stallion hesitated for a moment. “We’re… trying, sir.”

Vigil quirked an eyebrow at him. “And why is that?”

“Well, she’s armed, sir.”

That took Vigil very much by surprise. Applejack? Armed? “With what?”

The stallion looked reluctant to answer, like he half expected to be vaporized if he did.

“A… lasso.”

~~***~~

“And that’s five,” Applejack said, grinning with satisfaction. After all, seeing the fruits of her labor always made her feel accomplished.

True, work rarely involved beating the ever-living daylights out of a never-ending stream of bad guys. But really, Applejack wasn’t feeling particularly nitpicky at the moment.

She stood on all fours in a circle of incapacitated guards – some changelings, some not.

Her tail twirled in the air, whipping a lasso over her head as she watched the next wave of enemies rush forward.

But rather of throwing her weapon at them, she instead snapped it down towards something more on ground level.

With a practiced yank, she cinched the lasso’s loop shut around a hoof-sized rock lying in the mud before tugging the cord back towards her.

Now she stood up on her hind legs, using her stronger forelegs to control the now-weighted end of her lasso through the air.

The first guard to reach her found out why.

With a precise tug, she sent the cord of rope shooting forward at the exact right moment in its rotation, snapping it forward like a whip to strike the guard full in the face before he even saw it coming.

“Six,” Applejack counted, grinning to herself as she yanked the rope again, sending it flying back to her.

But instead of catching it, she let it keep going, sending it straight into a flanking guard’s face and dropping him, too, to the mud.

“Seven.”

But when she saw neither pony shimmer with emerald light, she hesitated.

Two regular ponies lay unconscious in front and behind her. That fact alone made her chest squeeze.

It shouldn’ta come ta this…

She bit her lip, her heart heavy. As much as she knew it was necessary, beating up even manipulated ponies wasn’t going to be the highlight of her day.

But she also knew who was responsible, and she had every intention of getting even.

The guards were coming again, rushing her from every direction. Contemplation time was over.

Rarity and Fluttershy watched from a few feet away with a mix of amazement and worry as Applejack proceeded to demolish an entire squad with nothing more than a length of rope and a lot of physical power.

She moved as if dancing, jumping to and fro to evade spears and hooves while lashing out with her own weapons. Anyone getting too close didn’t stay there for long, usually with some assistance from a pair of hind legs and all the power they contained.

And that lasso of hers just kept working past the guards’ defenses. Whether by addled minds or simple inexperience with weaponry, the guards found themselves hard pressed to protect themselves from the weighted end of Applejack’s weapon.

But more guards were rushing in from all directions. The word had gotten out, and now a small army was converging on the same spot.

Applejack, however, wasn’t going to make it easy for them. She was tired, true, but she was a whole lot more determined, not to mention furious.

She didn’t seem to notice that she was slowly losing ground, inch by shallow inch. She didn’t seem to care that she started to find herself on the defensive more than offensive as the vast numbers of guards slowly but surely put more and more pressure on her.

She just kept fighting for all she was worth, fighting through the rain and mud and thunder.

Applejack swung her lasso low, sweeping it hard and fast an inch over the ground. One guard managed to jump over it, but his companion never even saw it coming.

He felt the course braid hit him in the hoof before it bent around the sudden obstruction, going round and round his legs, going faster and faster as the length shortened. It spun around his neck in a dizzying whirl before finally the lasso ran out of rope entirely, and the rock wrapped in the end was smashed against the side of the guard’s head hard enough to knock him out cold even through his helmet.

The rock hit the stallion in the head so hard, in fact, it shattered into a thousand pieces on contact.

Applejack bit back a curse as she tried to yank her lasso back, only to find it stuck fast as the stallion hit the ground, pinning the rope under his burly body.

And not a single guard missed it.

“Now! She’s stuck!” someone shouted, already rushing forward.

Before Applejack could spin around to face her aggressor, however, she heard a loud, gong-like clang that rang through the air.

When she turned around, she found the stallion crumpling to the floor, the imprint of a shovel’s spade smashed into his face.

That very same shovel was floating several feet in the air on a sheen of soft blue light.

Only then did Applejack realize that the battlefield wasn’t hers alone, if the multitudes of unconscious ponies and changelings were anything to go by.

“Technical difficulties, darling?” asked Rarity, uncharacteristically out of breath as she stepped up beside her friend, her horn alight. “Don’t worry; it happens to the best of us.”

She was a mess. Mud was splattered all over her usually immaculately groomed coat, and her prized mane was soaked and dirty. Really, it was a wonder she wasn’t losing her mind at the moment.

“Thanks, Rarity,” Applejack grunted, stepping up beside her friend. Of all the ponies Applejack imagined she’d find herself back-to-back with in the heart of a brawl, the fashionista had certainly not been one of them.

“You doin’ alright, sugarcube?” Applejack asked, casting an eye over her friend’s tarnished appearance.

“Oh, I’ve been better,” Rarity grumbled bitterly, “but I’m finding my own way to vent –,” she struck another guard with the flat side of her spade, hitting him so hard he cartwheeled through the air, “—my frustrations.”

Applejack made a note to never anger Rarity within reach of weighted objects.

“Where’d Fluttershy get off to,” Applejack asked, dodging another spear thrust.

Another loud clang, and that guard, too, hit the ground with a goose egg sprouting on his forehead.

Before Rarity could respond, however, Applejack heard another scream behind her.

She never made it around before spotting a stallion flying through the air – one with a distinct lack of wings.

“Oh, she’s doing alright, I think,” Rarity said, sounding unconcerned while continuing to magic her weapons into the faces of her enemies.

And when Applejack turned around, she saw why.

How Fluttershy had managed to find a bear, Applejack would never know. And yet there she was, and there the bear was; a little yellow bundle cradled carefully in one of the hulking beast’s muscle-bound arms.

And the bear was not amused.

He was snapping spear shafts like twigs with a single swipe of his claws while roaring with fury, denting armor and helmets with each furious blow he connected, and he was connecting a lot of them.

When Applejack looked, she thought she could just make out the reason for the bear’s fury.

Fluttershy was tenderly clutching at one hoof, ringing it gently. “Oh, oh ow,” she bemoaned softly, “that really hurt. Ow…”

If she actually sounded hurt, Applejack might’ve bought it, too.

Of course, the bear didn’t know any better, and he was in full on Papa-Bear-Mode now. Even with one claw filled by a little yellow pony, he was scattering guards left and right, either through fright or a punishing impact.

But even as he worked at pounding every living thing within reach into the ground, Applejack noticed several unicorn guards standing back and taking aim at his sides.

Everyone heard the loud boom as something came screaming in low and fast from the sky, punching a hole straight through the storm clouds overhead.

Rainbow Dash made her grand entrance on the fray by tackling one unicorn, then another and another, wiping out an entire row in one go.

“Twenty nine!” she cheered, flipping through the air before landing beside Applejack and Rarity, popping up on her hind legs to free up her front hooves.

“Thirty,” Applejack stated smugly, just as she got done smashing a guard into her knee.

Rarity could only give them an exasperated look. “Please don’t tell me you’re competing for the larger body count.”

“Okay,” Rainbow snickered, snatching up a spear to fend off her thirty-first opponent.

“Some things never change,” Rarity sighed, just as she floored yet another guard of unknown number.

Both Applejack and Rainbow exchanged looks, rolled their eyes, and went back to work.

That was when they heard the sound of buzzing wings in the sky.

“Oh yeah, I forgot about those guys,” Rainbow remarked with dawning recollection, just as they turned to look at the darkening sky.

“That’s just what we don’t need,” Applejack grumbled, trying to wrestle a spear from number thirty three.

A swarm of changelings came diving out of the sky, wings pinned to their sides as they careened straight towards the battle.

Almost in unison, each and every one of them put their heads down, and suddenly the sky was filled with meteors of emerald fire.

“Oh ponyfeathers,” Rainbow cursed, grabbing for her friends before it was too late.

Yet she never got the chance to play the hero.

A ceiling of violet light exploded into being over their heads, turning from arcane energy into a solid, unyielding barrier in a split second.

None of the bombarding changelings ever saw the obstruction in front of them. They just plowed straight into it at speed, splatting against the magical wall of light and stopping dead.

“I learned that one from my brother!” shouted a familiar voice in the distance.

“Twilight!”

Twilight was running down a nearby hill as fast as she could, a pink party pony right on her heels, charging full tilt for the warzone between her and her friends.

But as Applejack watched, she witnessed another pony stampeding along behind her, moving a lot faster than she’d ever seen him move before.

“Macintosh…”

The big red stallion certainly looked worse for wear, but there was a fire in his eyes she’d never seen before as he put his head down and charged straight into the unsuspecting flank of the enemy, crashing into their ranks like a bulldozer.

Twilight, too, was trying to make it across the battlefield towards her friends, but there were a lot of bodies between her and them, and more were on the way.

“We gotta get to her!” Rainbow shouted over the din of battle, upper cutting her fortieth adversary into the air.

“That would be lovely, wouldn’t it,” Rarity snapped as she send another guard flying. She hit him so hard that the spade handle finally gave out, snapping in half from the force of the impact.

Ignoring the disapproving frown Applejack was giving her, Rarity simply grabbed ahold of the shovel’s end in her telekinetic grip and went back to work.

She tossed the splintered handle towards Applejack, who immediately used it to parry a spear thrust from her thirty eighth enemy.

The three friends were at the very epicenter of the battle, cut off from both Fluttershy’s rampaging bear and Twilight’s group. They were where the opposition was thickest, and all three of them were starting to wear down.

“We have to get out of here,” Rainbow cut in again, fending off two stallions at once with a broken spear shaft.

As Applejack turned to look at her, her incredulity fell away at the sight of her friend staring at her meaningfully.

“We got a lot to talk about,” Rainbow said with just as much implications. “Don’t we, AJ?”

Applejack bit her lip, suddenly feeling very uneasy. “Now ain't the best time,” she snapped, bludgeoning number forty two with her improvised bat.

“And when is?” shot Rainbow while focusing on avoiding getting impaled.

Applejack opened her mouth, intending to say something… only for it to fade.

Don’t be afraid…

She was chickening out again. Everything was falling apart around her; innocent ponies were getting hurt, her entire hometown was likely in danger, and all because she’d kept the truth from the ones that mattered most; her friends.

If she’d just told them the truth, things wouldn’t have gotten this bad…

But now they were running out of options. A sea of guards surrounded them, obscuring their view of their friends. It seemed like every capable stallion in a ten mile radius around the farm had come running.

Applejack, Rainbow and Rarity were standing with their backs together just to keep from getting flanked, each covering the other, but it was only a matter of time before they were overwhelmed.

Unconscious stallions and changelings littered the ground around them, making precarious footing in the mud even more treacherous.

But Applejack could feel her friends standing back to back with her, fighting for all they were worth.

Why things had devolved so far mattered little at the moment. Her friends were here, in danger right now. There would be time for everything else later.

That didn’t change the fact that they were running low of escape routes…

“Applejack! Rarity! Rainbow!”

All three mares turned in the direction of the voice, looking in the general direction of Twilight and her group.

“Get to Fluttershy!” she ordered, followed by a bright flash of violet and a loud bang. “If you can, get to Fluttershy right now!”

“And how exactly does she expect us to do that,” Rarity complained, catching a spear tip on her dented and cracked spade head before it could stab her in the shoulder.

She never noticed Applejack and Rainbow exchange looks.

“Rainbow,” Applejack said levelly, “get Rarity to Fluttershy.”

Rainbow hesitated, however, before pressing harder against her back, bullheadedly refusing. “I’m not leaving you alone down here! You'll get torn to pieces!”

“Ah’ll be fine, sugarcube,” Applejack countered evenly.

She could still see the profile of Fluttershy’s bear friend, and with a quick judging of distances, she placed them at about twenty yards away.

That was twenty yards riddled with back-to-back armored stallions and lots of spears.

Rainbow seemed to be more than a little aware of that fact.

“I can carry both of you,” she said, while at the same time trying desperately to keep a stallion from throwing her over. They were running out of time, and Rainbow’s stubbornness was robbing them of what precious few seconds they had.

Applejack knew that if they went together, they’d provide a single target to hit. Rainbow was fast, but not untouchable. They needed an element of surprise and confusion.

The guards were pressing in, narrowing the gap even further, spears leveled like a bulwark straight at the three.

Applejack ground her teeth, frustrated. “We ain't,” she snapped as she spun around and grabbed ahold of her friends, “got time,” she tensed every muscle in her body, squeezing every bit of strength she could out of her weary body, “ta argue!”

And with that, she flung Rainbow Dash and Rarity into the air, tossing them clean over the heads of every stallion bearing down on them.

For just a moment, every eye turned up when Rarity started screaming in panic in the split second before Rainbow grabbed ahold of her and snapped open her wings.

That split second was all Applejack needed.

She braced her forelegs, digging them into the mud around her hooves as she lifted her hind legs, taking aim at one of the unconscious bodies lying near her.

She ground her teeth, forcing every ounce of strength out of her body as she cocked each hind leg back like pistol hammers.

For just the barest moment, her form flickered, tongues of green flame licking off of her body. And then she kicked her legs with explosive force, bucking out with all the strength she possessed.

Her intended victim, an unconscious changeling lying behind her, was struck with so much force that he was launched clean off the ground like a missile, plowing through an entire column of stallions before they ever knew what’d hit them.

Without wasting a moment, Applejack spun back around and bolted down her newly created avenue, narrowly avoiding a latticework of spears as they fell where she’d been standing.

Immediately, guards started trying to closing the gap around Applejack, bodies pressing together in their attempts to tackle or grab the earth pony.

She dodged as best she could, lunging as fast as she could down the seemingly endless twenty-yard-long stretch she’d created.

When a stallion jumped out in front of her, Applejack summersaulted, pushed off with her forelegs, and planted a flying kick straight into the stallion’s chest, launching him like a missile.

He made it only a few feet before a powerful limb swatted him aside, tossing his limp body out across the mob.

Finally, Applejack could see it; a clearing, hewn from the army of changeling-possessed guards and their possessors by a massive pair of bear claws.

Rainbow and Rarity were already waiting for her, though they were sprawled in the mud – much to Rarity’s horror.

Rainbow, however, was focusing hard on Applejack, motioning desperately for her to hurry.

And Applejack very nearly made it.

She felt a painful tug on her rear, her tail going taut. Her traction failed her as she was forced to a standstill. Her legs milled through the mud for a second, and then she went muzzle-first into the mud.

“Applejack!” Rainbow cried, lurching forward automatically.

Applejack herself whipped around to find a stallion with her tail in his mouth. And he was starting to drag her back into the throng.

The apple farmer instinctively dug her hooves into the dirt, burying them up to her ankles in her desperate bid to keep from sliding back into the sea of bodies behind her.

Her tail was too long for her to buck the guard off it, but with every one of her legs locked in the mud, he wasn’t making much headway, either.

Of course, he did have friends.

Applejack felt a hoof trying to wrap around her barrel, intent on yanking her clean off her hooves and away from her friends.

She could see Rainbow charging across the clearing towards her, fearless of the forbidding spears aiming towards her. "Get your hooves OFF HER!" she roared, practically spitting fire.

But just as Applejack’s hooves started to leave the ground, just as Rainbow leapt at her in a desperate bid to save her, Applejack saw a blinding flash of violet light.

She barely made out three new ponies standing in the clearing, followed by a flare of purple magic.

And suddenly, everything ceased to exist around her.

~~***~~

Vigil watched from the nearby hill, his hooves freezing midstride as he saw the flare from Twilight’s horn. He saw the exact moment when all seven ponies and one forest creature disappeared in a flash of magic, leaving behind a scene of chaos and devastation.

Vigil paused for a moment, his teeth ground together so hard it was a wonder any of them hadn’t fractured. But then he whipped around, motioning towards a nearby guard.

“Get everyone to Ponyville,” he stated. “Do not give them a single moment to rest or recuperate.”

“Sir?” asked the guard, sounding nervous.

Vigil wasn’t bothering to hide his irritation, and he wore a truly murderous look on his face. Yet, there was also a steely focus as sharp as a razor’s edge. He hadn’t lost his temper yet.

"Applejack and her friends cannot be allowed to catch their breath," he seethed. "We have to keep the pressure on them before they can come up with a plan."

The guard hastened to follow his superior, who was clearly moving with a goal in mind.

“Sir, they could be anywhere right now,” he pointed out.

“No,” Vigil said through clenched teeth, “not anywhere. Ponies need to visualize the destinations of their teleportation spells, and there is only one place Twilight Sparkle would know well enough to reach from this range.”

He glanced back at the guard beside him, making him quail. “They are not getting away. Not now, not ever. And there is nothing they can do to stop us except relent."

Vigil started walking again, fury rolling off of him. "It's about time we taught them that."

~~***~~

With an explosive blast of steam and heavy grinding of gears and machinery, the train engine hauled itself and its forty cars out of the Canterlot train station, picking up speed with every yard.

Before the last laden car passed the end of the platform, the locomotive had already picked up an incredible head of speed as it roared down the tracks, barreling towards a small, besieged village in the distance...

Author's Notes:

This chapter... this freaking chapter...
This has to be the single most frustrating thing I've ever worked on. The edits, the massive rewrites... I am so glad it's over with.
And like I knew I would, I ended up cutting this one in half.
However, that means that for certain there are two chapters left for sure now, plus a short epilogue if I decide to make a sequel.

Anyway, I hope you folks like it. Lord knows I slaved away at it long enough...

As usual, tell me your thoughts, questions, critiques; whatever, and I'll see you in the next one.

Next Chapter: Chapter 13: On the Brink Estimated time remaining: 4 Hours, 50 Minutes
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