True Victor: Winning for Farmponies

by HapHazred

The Night of the Canterlot Three Games

The cable-car slowly raised Applejack above the rocky cliffside, the stadium falling away beneath her. Above, Canterlot mountain continued to loom. It occurred to Applejack that she had spent the past month in Victor Valiance's shadow. Training in the darkness beneath his stupid temple. Lied to by his mother, and finally, ignored by him during the Canterlot Three race.

Tomorrow, there would be more events, but Applejack knew Victor wouldn't deign to appear. He was like a king, or an emperor, who only bothered to turn up to wave, and leave. Applejack deserved more than a wave, and Rainbow deserved more than being crushed by somepony like him.

If Victor needed a challenge to feel alive, then Applejack was going to give him one.

The sun set on the opposite side of the mountain, plunging the cable-car into darkness. A chill rose from the ground as Winter caught up with her. Outside, snow began to fall.

Applejack didn't care for the beautiful scenery of the mountainside. She kept staring up, straight up, at the temple above, where Victor would have been taken.

---

The temple looked more foreboding than before. Perhaps it was because now, Applejack knew what kind of pony lurked inside. She could barely believe she had slept in the same building as him without realising.

Harshwhinny might have wanted her to be a challenge, but she did a bad job of preparing her. Perhaps she was ashamed. Victor was a monster of her creation, after all. More than that, she was so close to being like him. How do you explain that to somepony?

Applejack pushed the large doors open, revealing the stone interior lit by only a handful of candles. Two ponies were escorting the practically lifeless Victor Valiance to his room. He looked straight ahead with a blank, expressionless stare.

"Stop," Applejack said. "I want to talk to him."

One of the doctors looked at Applejack. "He can't hear you. He's—"

"He'll hear me," Applejack said, and moved in front of Victor's dull green eyes. There was a hint of orange in them, she noticed. From close up, she could see he had freckles just like hers. How similar they were. How unlike how she would have pictured a pony who's only enjoyment came from breaking other athlete's dreams. She would have pictured a dark coated monster, perhaps. Not an average stallion who wouldn’t have looked out of place at an Apple family reunion. "You want a challenge, huh?"

Victor didn't say anything. He simply stared. Applejack was taken aback. A proud, stuck-up snob she could have dealt with. This emptiness, though... Harshwhinny hadn't been lying. The disease certainly was a disease of the soul. It was like nopony existed inside that body.

"You remember that pony you beat today," Applejack asked.

There was a flicker of life inside Victor's eyes.

"You remember, huh? She's my friend." Applejack jabbed Victor in the chest. "You really hurt her today."

For the first time, Victor's lips moved. His voice was soft and composed. He might look similar to Applejack, but he talked like a scholar.

"Would she have preferred I hold back?"

"Don't play games. You don't get to crush ponies like that for kicks," Applejack said. "You want to go? I'll take you o—"

"You wouldn't even last a minute," Victor said. "Your friend was in her element, and I was not. How do you expect to win?"

"Let me prove it, and you'll see."

The doctors realised that Victor was now standing on his own. Victor was awake, now.

"Yes," he said. "I will." He turned to the doctors. "A table."

Applejack looked confused. "A table?"

The doctors quickly pulled up a small, sturdy table, and slid it between the pair. Victor sat down, and rested his elbow on it.

"You can hoof-wrestle, I assume?"

Applejack sat down. "Sure I can."

Victor's mouth split into the faintest hint of a smile, but it was to predatory to be genuine.

"Good."

Their hooves locked together. Victor's cutie-mark flashed bright red.

"Go," Victor said, without any real energy.

Applejack put as much strength as she could into her foreleg. She strained and groaned, but she could barely get the stallion to yield even a little.

"I said," Victor snarled, "Go."

Applejack looked up at Victor, panic in her eyes. Her hoof then shot towards the table, where it landed with a crunch. Applejack yelped in pain. Victor released her hoof, and reset his own. Applejack examined her foreleg.

"You're wasted talent," Victor said.

Applejack looked at Victor with bared teeth. She shook her hoof, getting the blood flowing again, and locked it with Victor's.

"How d'you figure?" She growled. "Go!"

Victor's hoof refused to budge.

"Because, I've seen ponies move like you do," he said. "My mother does it. For a time, I did. You move very smoothly, in harmony with the air around you. You move like a pegasus."

Applejack growled as her hoof hit the table again. Victor reset his hoof, waiting for Applejack to lose again.

"Yeah," she said, locking hooves with Victor once more. "My friend taught me. Your ma got me to train in her slow waters."

Victor nodded, and almost playfully began to exert pressure on Applejack's hoof.

"I can tell. But here's the thing: you're an Earth pony."

Applejack's eyes widened as once again she couldn't get Victor's hoof to move towards his side of the table. "What do you—"

"How do you expect to be the best you can be when you're not even able to move like what you are?" Victor began to push Applejack back again. "You're a parody of a pegasus. You've spent so long practising to move like them that you've forgotten how to be an Earth pony."

This time, when Applejack's hoof hit the table, she felt something crack. She gasped. Victor's mouth became a grimace, and he tauntingly reset his hoof.

Applejack examined her hoof. It wasn't serious, but it hurt. She breathed out. Victor truly was some kind of beast in pony’s clothing.

No, she thought. Turning him into some kind of villain was distancing herself from what he was. Understanding wasn't vilification. She breathed in. Appearance aside, there was one pony he reminded her of. The cool confidence and ego was something she had seen in Rainbow Dash far too often. Was this how she might have turned out if all her fanciful claims about being the best were actually true?

He wasn’t a monster, Applejack thought. He was just a pony who had realised his lifelong fantasies, and had lost touch as a result. She breathed out. If she wanted to reconnect, she needed to think.

Was he right in that she had forgotten to move like an Earth pony? What had she stopped doing? What had changed during Harshwhinny's training that she hadn't realised?

What was she missing?

Pegasi were about speed. Agility. Grace. They needed all of those to fly. Applejack looked at Victor Valiance. What did she see?

She saw a pony built for heavy lifting. Like Big Macintosh, perhaps, if Big Macintosh bench-pressed oak trees. As understanding came, Applejack nearly swore. Of course he'd be beating her at a hoof-wrestle. She was trying to move with the flow, instead of use her body like she was used to.

She locked hooves with Victor. This time, Victor's grimace turned serious.

"Ready?" Applejack asked, her position shifting.

That's all Victor was. He was a pony who could read your weaknesses and knew how to apply his own strengths flawlessly. He didn’t just win: he made you lose. However, you didn't necessarily have to keep those weaknesses. Like him, you could change. Adjust. Turn the tables.

Victor snarled. "Go."

This time, both hooves stayed still. Victor grunted, for the first time showing visible exertion. Applejack's damaged hoof clicked, but she ignored the pain. This was for Rainbow. She had come too far with her friend to let some egocentric lunatic stomp all over her hard work. Their hard work.

Victor's hoof slowly moved down as Applejack pushed it, bent it. Her entire weight was shifted through into her hoof. She leaned into it. She wasn't like a leaf blowing through the air anymore. She was more like a boulder tumbling down a mountainside.

Victor's hoof touched the table.

Applejack breathed in, and pulled her hoof back.

"I win."

Victor examined his hoof, disbelieving. For a few moments, they stayed like that, Applejack looking at her opponent and Victor deciding on what to do next.

Suddenly, Victor stared right into Applejack's eyes, like he was devouring her soul.

"You have my attention," he said, in the kind of voice that implied you never wanted his attention. "You ever play ponyball?"

---

The outside was freezing, but Victor Valiance didn't seem to notice. He ran his hoof through his mane, getting it out of his eyes and allowing him to see clearly. He then stroked the surface of a ball he had acquired from the temple, and bounced it between his hooves at lightning-fast speed.

Applejack walked into the court, and began setting up the net surrounding it. "Y'know ponyball tends to be played with six ponies?"

"If you find any more ponies, feel free to let them join. I find they slow me down."

Applejack was almost bowled over by the sheer arrogance that oozed out of Victor's every pore. It didn't seem to cross his mind that other ponies might help him. Maybe he knew from experience. Applejack didn't know if they really would slow him down, or whether he was just insane. It might have been both.

Victor cracked his neck, returning to his usual expressionless state. The surprise he had evidently felt earlier was replaced by cool confidence. Applejack had returned to being merely an ant to crush.

"I hope you realise a hoof-wrestle is somewhat less complex than a game of ponyball?"

Applejack nodded.

"Bring it."

She wanted to see that smug face of his wiped clean and replaced with something more appropriate. Like an apologetic one.

Once the net was set, Victor quickly tested the ball by bouncing it on the ground.

"Are you ready?" he asked.

"Ready when you a—"

Victor hurtled towards her like a cannonball, his eyes flashing with fire that was at odds with his crisp green eyes. Applejack couldn't help but flinch. It looked like he was going to kill her.

He disappeared behind her, and the ball passed through the hoop before Applejack had even gotten her bearings.

"You said ‘ready’," Victor stated. "Were you just surprised, or are you slower than I anticipated?"

Applejack grit her teeth.

"That's against the rules," she said. "The ref' needs to toss it."

The ball fell back down to the court. Victor caught it.

"I was testing you. Why should I play you if you can't move?"

Applejack marched towards Victor.

"Why should I play you if you don't know the rules?"

"I know the rules."

"Prove it."

Victor's mouth curled in a scowl. "Very well. Doctor!"

The little doctor who had been their referee back when it had been Applejack, Rainbow, Harshwhinny and Spitfire scurried towards them. He took the ball, and gave Applejack a look.

"I hope you know what you're doing. Ponies in his condition tend to... well, they get worse before they get better."

"I don't care."

"I care," the doctor said, but made his way to the centre of the court regardless.

Both Victor and Applejack got into position.

"Scared?" Victor asked.

"You?"

Victor gave Applejack a look like he wasn't sure if she was stupid or worth taking seriously.

"Go!" the doctor exclaimed, and the ball shot into the air.

The ball was almost immediately snatched by Victor, who soared straight over Applejack like a bird. Applejack had known she couldn't beat her opponent on speed alone, but she might have been able to outmanoeuvre him.

Jumping backwards, she shot her hoof up to try and steal the ball. She didn't need to control it, just get Victor to lose control. He was flying with more power than Applejack, and she might be able to recover faster than him, if only by a little.

Her hoof bounced off the ball. Victor's grip was almost made of iron, but the move did enough to disturb him, though not enough to actually lose the ball. Applejack's face fell.

Put off, Victor landed heavily behind Applejack, and even the powerful stallion needed a second to recover. His perfect jump had been damaged, but not broken.

Applejack, the lighter of the two, was already lunging for a second attempt at a steal.

"Quick," Victor said, and watched as Applejack knocked the ball out of his hoof, sending it flying behind Applejack, and towards Victor's hoop.

Both ponies had a mad dash in front of them. Applejack realised her disadvantage. Victor was by far the faster pony. Applejack couldn't even dream of managing to pull off the amount of power it would have taken for Victor to leap from cloud to cloud.

She needed to think ahead. Both ponies shot towards the ball, but Applejack angled her bolt behind Victor.

In one, powerful leap, the stallion had accelerated behind the ball. Applejack then realised a chink in Victor's armour: in order to catch the ball securely, he couldn't leap at full strength. Both of Victor's hooves wrapped around the ball, and his legs bunched for a leap backwards.

A leap he couldn't make because Applejack was in the way.

Victor said nothing, and lowered his front body instead. He was going to drive around Applejack. Applejack would have to contend with that iron grip once again if she wanted to steal the ball.

Or... she could once again try and predict Victor's movements.

Think... she knew how a pegasus moved. She also ought to have an intuitive knowledge about how Earth ponies moved. Victor was somewhere in-between, definitely, but right now he was acting distinctly more pegasus than Earth pony, because now, it suited him better.

Applejack remembered Rainbow's hooves and wings adjusting her body into positions optimal for flying. For cutting through air. She examined Victor's own position, and made her choice. He was going to go left.

Both ponies stood still. Victor must have seen the subtle shift in her stance, and realised he was going to be blocked again. In turn, Applejack saw he had stopped, and never made her move.

Victor bounced the ball in-between his hoof and the floor. If Applejack was fast enough, she could catch it... but she wasn't fast enough.

She needed to be flawless. No errors. Better still, she needed to get Victor to make a mistake.

She crouched by a hair's breadth. Harshwhinny had tricked her into thinking she'd jump before... If she could get Victor to think she was going to steal the ball mid-dribble...

Victor didn't move.

"Mother tried that on me, once," he said. "It didn't work then, either."

The stallion then spun on his rear hooves, showing his back to Applejack. His body now in-between her and the ball, Applejack could no longer move in for a steal. Her mind raced with thoughts. If he got past her, she couldn't catch up.

But she couldn't move to stop him in time, either...

Applejack knew Victor had scored then and there. The stallion moved past her and darted to the hoop. Applejack gave chase out of habit.

Victor took the first point.

"You're smarter than I gave you credit for," Victor said. "But the best you can manage is to merely slow me down." His eyes narrowed. "You're not able to score. I won't allow it. Your level won't allow it."

Applejack ground her teeth. Whilst she wasn't broken enough to admit he was right, she couldn't figure out how to beat him one-on-one as a slower, weaker pony. Victor could be predicted, and the gap wasn't so wide that her strategies failed to have any effect, but neither were her strategies able to fully close that gap.

"Round two?" Victor asked, smiling. He didn't just possess confidence: he possessed certainty.

Applejack and Victor both got back into position.

"Read—" the doctor began, but was interrupted by a flash of light on the horizon, followed by a loud, familiar boom.

Victor raised his eyebrow, displaying surprise for the second time that night.

"Ah. It seems I have a new challenger."

Applejack craned her neck upwards. A flash of rainbow-coloured light streaked across the outline of the moon. Applejack grinned.

"Looks like you do," she said, as Rainbow circled the court before landing next to Applejack.

She brushed snow from her mane, and cracked her neck.

"Room for one more?"

Victor's eyes narrowed.

"Ah, number… eleven, was it? I could have sworn I broke you," he said.

"You did," Rainbow said, stretching her forelegs. "For about five minutes." Rainbow then approached Applejack, still looking straight at Victor. "Hey there. Haywire said you'd be here."

"Did he now?"

"Yup. Good thing, too, because otherwise I'd have to be here alone."

"I imagine you want to join your friend's team?" Victor asked.

Rainbow nodded. "Yeah. Problem with that?"

Victor shook his head. "None. If you want teammates to get in your way, don't let me stop you."

Rainbow scoffed. "Woah. Is this what it's like to be around me?"

"He's less endearin'," Applejack said. "I'm glad you could make it."

"Yeah," Rainbow replied. "Thanks for being there. You know. Earlier."

"No problem, sugarcube."

Victor, Applejack, and Rainbow each took their positions.

"Anything else to say, number eleven?"

"Yeah. You're a jerk."

"Scathing."

Rainbow flapped her wings, hovering in position. "Your face is scathing."

"RD, this guy ain't no joke," Applejack said. "He's faster than me, and stronger. Thing is, I reckon his biggest weakness is his pride."

"I... don't know what that's like."

"It means he can't back down." Applejack looked up at Rainbow. "I need you."

Rainbow’s eyes widened.

“Whoa, now, I know we were getting cosy during training, but you could give me some warning before you lay that on me,” She said, her wings flaring. “I mean, sure, I’m super glad we’re on the same page, it’s just I was expecting to be buttered up a bit more first.”

Applejack stood still for a moment. Victor stared at Rainbow with a blank expression.

“Was it when I was teaching you to move like a pegasus?” Rainbow asked. “‘Cause I figured that might happen. There isn’t a pony alive who can resist these hooves.”

Victor’s eyes narrowed. “Are you done?”

“Hey, jerkface, we’re confessing. Give us some space!”

Applejack held her hoof up. "RD, I meant I need you to beat this guy."

Rainbow bit her lip.

"Ah."

"But that don't mean I ain't interested in hearing more later..."

"No, it's cool. Focus, right?"

"Yeah. Exactly."

Rainbow shook her head. "Right. Time to show him what we can do together."

“Because science, right?”

Applejack nodded. “Because, based on ‘scientific observation…”

Rainbow grinned. “There’s nothing we can’t do together,” she finished, and focussed her magenta eyes on Victor. “There’s no arguing with science.”

Both Rainbow and Applejack watched the doctor step in-between Applejack and Victor. Applejack knew that Victor could still accelerate faster than Rainbow was able to in the air, thanks to those unnaturally strong kicks of his, but there was a chance that Rainbow might be faster once she got going.

So long as Victor couldn't do that strange air disturbance whilst he was on the ground. Applejack reckoned that would be their biggest problem...

"Go!"

The ball rose. This time, Applejack only jumped to slow Victor down. Get in his way. Disturb his movements.

It worked well enough. Victor's hoof curled around the ball, and he began to descend, but not before Rainbow, slightly slower, was able to contest it. Her own hoof grappled with Victor's for control. Rainbow's face turned into a grimace.

Victor was the stronger pony. He pulled the ball away from Rainbow, just barely able to escape the daring pegasus's grip.

The distraction was enough for Applejack to forcefully tap the ball out of his hoof, ejecting it up into the air. Victor's eyes turned up, a million strategies rushing through his trained mind.

Rainbow might have been thrown off from her earlier attempt at a steal, but unlike Victor, she could change direction mid-air.

"Nice try," Victor said, and Applejack felt the air begin to distort around her. It was an alien feeling.

The sum of all of Victor's small movements warped the wind currents and wrapped around Rainbow's wings, dragging her back down. The ball began to fall back down towards Victor.

"Yeah," Rainbow said with a smirk, "I figured that one out earlier."

She shot through the air and snatched the ball before it fell. Victor's face fell, and Applejack's split into a grin.

"I have a pretty good memory," Rainbow told Victor as she threw the ball to Applejack, who was by now shooting towards Victor's hoop at breakneck pace. "I was working on countering that little trick on the flight up here. You shouldn’t have spent your whole race demonstrating it not a few feet away from me."

Victor adjusted almost immediately, and kicked on his hind legs, shooting past Applejack faster than the farmpony had ever seen him go. Black burn marks were present where his hooves had pressed against the court floor. He caught the ball in his forelegs, and flipping over his head, he landed on his hind legs, absorbing the impact with a grunt.

Applejack threw her hoof in front of her to try and block the stallion from moving towards their hoop. She needed to give Rainbow time to steal the ball again.

Instead, Victor fired the ball in-between his hind legs, passing under both him and Applejack. The brief moment of surprise Applejack felt was enough for Victor to spin around after the ball before Applejack had time to react.

Applejack grit her teeth together and turned.

The ball disappeared from the court. Victor leaped straight up. Rainbow Dash, who now held the ball, flinched. There was murder in Victor's eyes.

She managed to pass the ball back towards Applejack, but not before Victor's hoof brushed against the side, sending the pass off-course.

Applejack's body catapulted into motion, and she darted towards the ball, intent on catching it. Victor was still high in the air, and couldn't fall faster than gravity allowed. She had less than a second, but it would be enough.

She grabbed the ball, and in a clean, sweeping motion, scored her first hoop against Victor Valiance.

Victor landed heavily, and stared straight at Applejack. If looks could kill, Applejack would have been six feet under.

Applejack couldn't help but poke the hornet's nest.

"You can't keep up with both of us," she said.

Victor walked back into his starting position. Applejack and Rainbow followed suit. The doctor swallowed, looking at the increasingly perturbed Victor Valiance, and Applejack.

She then threw the ball up into the air. "Go!"

Faster than ever, Victor soared up and slammed both hooves into the side of the ball, sending it shooting into the net on the outside.

"Number eleven might be faster than me," he growled as the ball shot from one net to another like a pinball, "But even she's not fast enough to catch this throw.”

Victor had a point. The ball was travelling at such high velocities Rainbow could never accelerate after it quick enough. Whenever it began to slow, Victor would be there, hitting it again and increasing its speed even further. Victor growled, his mouth curling into a victorious smile.

Rainbow couldn’t even follow the ball with her eyes properly. Only Victor could plot its course, and he seemingly had complete control of the ball, and the court.

Seemingly.

The ball slammed into Applejack's waiting hooves, directly under the hoop. The sheer force pushed her back a few feet, causing her to grunt in pain. Victor's smile vanished.

"It might be fast," Applejack said, and threw the ball back towards Rainbow, "But there's only one place you can send it: towards our hoop. And you're not fast enough to be there before it gets here, either."

Rainbow caught the ball before Victor had a chance to even react, and shot towards his hoop. Victor rallied, and tried to leap after Rainbow, accelerating faster than ever before, but Rainbow was nearing her top speed, and he couldn't match it.

Rainbow landed under the hoop and shot. The ball went through moments before Victor arrived to catch it.

Applejack breathed a sigh of relief. Victor was well and truly on the ropes. He was losing two to one, and that one he had only gotten because Rainbow hadn't been there. He couldn't insist to face only one of them, either, not after he had pridefully boasted that teammates only slowed him down. He was cornered.

Victor's eye twitched. He was desperate for a victory, now. Winning was like a drug. Without it, he was broken, but now he had a taste of a meaningful win again, he needed it. He needed more.

"Want to switch things up?" Applejack taunted.

Victor eyed Applejack out the corner of his eyes.

"Race," he said, as if every word spoken took energy he could be spending on winning.

Applejack smirked. "You want to race, now? This to try and get us separated?" she taunted.

Victor grit his teeth. "I don't need you separated. Relay race."

Rainbow looked over at Applejack. "You're nowhere near as fast as him," she said. "And I can't move as fast as him on the ground either. I won't be able to make up for lost time." She bit her lip. “It’d take a soni—”

"Trust me," Applejack said. "I have an idea."

---

The race course was made up on the spot. The halfway point was going to be a peak about three-quarters of a mile away. Rainbow was already there. Waiting for Applejack to hand her their makeshift relay: a small stick.

Victor had his own relay, but he wouldn't be handing it to any teammate. For him to win, in his mind, he had to beat both of them at once. Applejack was well aware of this, and was determined to use it to her advantage. She had already wiped the smug confidence off his face, but she still needed to keep going. She needed to make it clear that he wasn't omnipotent, and that he needed other ponies to win.

Applejack needed Rainbow Dash, and Harshwhinny, and Spitfire, and even in a way her mother and father to win. Victor thought he could do it all alone. No wonder he was broken.

"Ready," Victor growled, biting down on the relay.

Applejack prepared to sprint. She knew Victor was faster. He had made that amply clear all throughout the evening. But if she could just be fast enough...

"Set..."

Applejack breathed in, and out. She didn't know if her mother and father would have gone this far to prove themselves, but she didn't care. She knew they'd be proud of her so long as she did her best, and if they wouldn't be, then they weren't the parents she remembered from the scattered memories of her foalhood.

"Go!"

Applejack accelerated like a bullet, shooting across the snowy mountainside after Victor. The sheer speed of that pony... Applejack couldn't have reached that level even if she spent an entire year in the slow-water chamber.

A couple of weeks would have to be enough.

The wind rushed on her face. No longer was she moving like a pegasus, absorbing the changes in the air as she ran, but instead she was racing like the Earth pony she was. The power in her legs kicked up snow, gravel and mud as she raced down the track. She had the strength and weight to plough through the air barrier in front of her. Victor had turned her into something more like himself. Aside from making Applejack angry by hurting Rainbow, that was perhaps his biggest mistake.

She darted along the path, beginning her ascent to the peak Rainbow was waiting on.

Victor, by contrast, was almost at the top. Each bound he took took him further than every two Applejack took. His eyes were more alive than ever. He was less a pony, and more a blur, or a flash of orange fur.

He reached the top. Applejack summoned as much strength into her legs as possible to close the gap as he turned on his heels to begin the return trip.

Rainbow bounced on her hooves. "Come on!" she urged as Applejack made it up to the top, and Victor blasted down the mountainside back to the temple.

Rainbow couldn't perform a Rainboom whilst running. Spitfire had said so. Rainbow herself had admitted to it, and she was loathe to confess an inability to do anything. She simply didn't have enough power in her legs to break through this close to the ground. She needed time to accelerate properly.

Of course, Applejack did have enough power in her legs.

"Catch!" Applejack exclaimed, and tossed the relay to Rainbow, who caught it in her mouth.

Rainbow then sprinted as fast as she could, and leaped. Applejack caught her rear legs in her forehooves, and span. The stress on her muscles and bones made her feel like she was about to tear herself apart, but she kept it up, accelerating her friend around her until she could no longer hold on.

When she let go, Rainbow was travelling at a speed far faster than she could ever have managed on her own. Her hooves landed on the track, and she pushed.

The flash of multicoloured light lit up the mountain. Halfway back to the temple, Victor turned to look at the source.

Rainbow took that very moment to overtake him. Her hooves were dancing across the track, and the rainbow trail she left behind was blinding in the dark. Her wings were plastered to her side, as for once, she didn't need them to perform her legendary sonic rainboom.

Victor tried slowing her down by disturbing the air around her, but even if Rainbow hadn't adjusted to his trick, she was travelling with too much force to stop, or even slow down meaningfully.

She crossed their arbitrary finish line well before her opponent.

Applejack grinned, panting on the solitary peak. She couldn't see his expression, but she knew Victor would be very nettled indeed.

---

Rainbow couldn’t resist poking the bear.

“Y’know, in Canterlot, Luna has this telescope that can see super far into space. She told us about this one planet which is absolutely huge.”

Victor’s teeth were grinding together.

“It’s so huge, you could put more than one hundred of our planet’s inside it. Probably more. I dunno. I wasn’t really listening. My point is that even on this distant planet, you wouldn’t be able to contain half our awesome.” She grinned. “How’s it feel to come second?”

Victor was quivering, less out of rage, and more out of some kind of withdrawal. When Applejack returned, tired from her recent sprint, he practically lunged at her. He was a twisted shadow of his former calm, collected self. He had been so close to victory, close enough to taste it, but had it repeatedly taken away from him.

Applejack swallowed, but didn't flinch. She found it for some reason harder to be afraid of this broken, battered pony, twisted though he might be.

"I'm going to crush you," he declared, spit and foam running down his lips.

"Oh yeah?" Applejack asked, putting on a far cooler expression than she expected she could. "At what, big guy?"

The doctor bit his lip. "Don't push him too far..."

"Boxing!" Victor growled. "I'll show you how small you are..."

"Miss Applejack, please..." the doctor exclaimed, but Applejack held her hoof up.

"No. He wants to box, fine." She narrowed her eyes, and gave Victor a small smile. "He can get what he wants."

Rainbow trotted up behind Applejack.

"You want me to take this one first?" she asked. "I do have a black belt in karate, y'know." She looked into Applejack's eyes. "And I don't want you to get hurt."

Applejack cracked her neck. "I appreciate the concern, sugar," she said, "But I ain't afraid of him hurtin' me." She stepped towards the frothing stallion. "You won't get to take a crack at him today, I'm afraid."

Victor grinned an insane, shattered grin. His eyes were bloodshot, and his cutie-mark... his cutie-mark looked like it was about to peel clean off. He rose onto his hind legs, beginning to laugh. And laugh, and laugh, and laugh.

Applejack followed suit, her expression humourless.

"You've been beaten a quite a bit today," she said. "You sure you wanna go home with a black eye, too?"

Victor was beyond speaking. He lunged at Applejack, his hooves moving faster than the average eye could track. Applejack brought her own forelegs up in a hasty guard.

Their hooves connected. Applejack heard a sickening crack. The doctor winced.

“AJ!” Rainbow exclaimed.

Victor stumbled back, one of his hooves bent at a wrong angle.

"Gah! What..." he began, but Applejack was already on him.

"I kick trees," she said simply, and knocked her right hoof into Victor's guard. "Every day."

Victor stumbled, visibly hurt. "You… What?!"

"Trees are harder than you," Applejack pointed out. "Come on. Hit me again. Hard as you can."

Victor snapped. He tried to smash Applejack's ribs with his undamaged hoof, but Applejack caught it. There was another crunch as Victor broke his other hoof. He crumpled backwards, unable to stand properly. His cutie-mark began to flake away.

"I'll try and be gentle," Applejack said, and in one clean, smooth motion, knocked Victor out cold. The stallion toppled, the lights in his maddened eyes going out.

Applejack sucked in air through her teeth, and shook some feeling back into her hoof before trotting away. The doctor, shellshocked, tended to his patient.

"Can't believe he asked for boxin'."

Rainbow stared at Victor. "Jeez. If he went for a grab, he might have got you."

"He was beyond strategisin'," Applejack said, “And besides, grabs ain’t allowed in boxin’.” She turned back to Rainbow. "Let’s go, miss ‘irresistible hooves’."

Rainbow’s face went bright red. “What? They are.”

As the pair left the temple, the tattered remains of Victor's unhealthy cutie mark flaked away into dead skin, revealing the outline of a trophy... this one whole.

---

***

---

Author's Note:

Since I've been super busy, I haven't had time just yet to reread the epilogue, so I'm afraid I'll only be able to release it separately from this chapter. It is, for all intents and purposes, the last piece of this story, though, so rest assured, you're almost done.

I hope you enjoyed the story so far, and I'm sorry for making you gents wait for the epilogue and conclusion.

See you later,

Hap

Comments

[Seether00]

So is he better now? Pony magic is messed up stuff.

[HapHazred]

7775019 Probably.

I rather like pony magic. Lots of weird stuff can happen with it.

[TwilightUCrazy]

Love how Rainbow gets some of the best face-hoof moments.

[HapHazred]

7776359 It's the contrast between 'I am the best' and the 'I very evidently am not' that makes her character so compelling.

At least, for little old me.

[Rune Soldier Dan]

This has been a really excellent read. Reading both this and The One Week Year at the same time has at least temporarily sold me on Appledash - two stories of "doer" ponies engaging in a very hardworking, high-effort task that somehow manages to become a ship without the usual romantic frivolities. Your Harshwhinny is also very enjoyable, though you don't need to work hard to sell me on Harshwhinny.

I thought this was the last chapter at first, and thought "wow, what a sudden, but poignant end." Really looking forward to (what I presume to be) the epilogue. :)

[HapHazred]

7778815 Just an epilogue, just tying to get some closure.

It frankly isn't even that long, and I don't think it's that difficult to enjoy the ending of chapter six without it, although I do like it enough to want to publish it.

I've always liked AppleDash as a pairing, for a large amount of reasons. Frankly, I can see a lot of ships working out quite well, provided there's some decent storytelling there, but the stories I want to tell and the themes I want to talk (at least these days) about tend to suit both Applejack and Rainbow Dash very well. Rainbow in particular: she's been my favourite pony for a long time, since she's the character that reminds me the most of myself, for some of the good reasons and pretty much all of the bad ones.

Harshwhinny was one of my preferred side-characters, and whilst I feel I took some liberties with her here, I hope they're worthwhile. I really liked the idea that her talent was winning, and wanted to kind of play around with how that would work and affect others. At one brief period, the story was going to centre around her and Victor much more, but for various reasons I didn't think it would work as well.