Crusader Ponies (Romance of the Six Counties)

by swirlstar

Chapter 17: Peace is Sought by War

Peace is Sought by War

Applejack of Ponyville, Applejack the Countess, Applejack the orange-coated pony with blonde mane thrashing wild in the wind; Applejack galloping and leaping through eternal darkness, breath dry, mouth gasping, sweat running darkly down her barrel.

“Please! I… I didn’t want it! I didn’t do it! I-it’s not my fault!”

No response from her surroundings save for the echoes reverberating throughout, like some dread chorus.

“I didn’t! It wasn’t me! They were doing it: Twilight! Pinkie! Rarity! They were all in it! It wasn’t me… it never was me!”

Painful tears squirting past her reddened eyes to match the throbbing aching from within her limbs. Applejack continued to run, silent voices pursuing her through another terrible night.

*

Braeburn stealthily crept up to the orange commander, observing with some combination of curiosity and fear as Applejack, yet again, groaned and shifted position against the old tree. The whole army knew of the Countess’ sleeping issues – nopony could answer why, though stress was probably a good guess – and they also knew better than to wake her up at inopportune moments, lest they get a hoof to their face. But Applejack would never do that to her own cousin… right?

“Yeah, right,” the stallion muttered sourly.

He paused next to Applejack, now moaning fitful incomprehensions. Braeburn gave a passing glance back, a final attempt to purchase more time – the plains before him bathed in morning light, grayed considerably by battlefield dust; birds singing sweet songs about love and life, supplemented with distant cannon and the clashes of a thousand swords; the soothing smell of lavender and sagebrush, mixed in with the acrid scent of sulphur and death…

Enough dallyin’. Braeburn’s grace had run out. He remembered the commander’s orders. The time was now. No more delays.

Gingerly, he reached over and poked – prodded – shook the sleeping pony awake. “Applejack… ”

“W-wha- ?” Green pupils shot open, pained and tired. “Oh. Braeburn.”

The cousin saluted. “My Countess.”

Quickly, as if avoiding something, the rustic pony leapt up and began dusting herself off. “Right. Anythin’ to report?”

“Yes, Ma’am. A message from Commander Orange. He says that ‘it’s time.’”

“’It’s time…’” Applejack turned her eyes towards the view before her, a thousand thoughts sweeping into her mind. “Left and right fully engaged, I reckon. She’ll be weak in the center,” she mumbled. “Well thanks for telling me, Brae’. You go down and let Orange know I agree.”

A faint glimmer of a smile, a slight perk of the ears. Applejack was anticipating.

Another salute. “Yes, Ma’am.”

The Countess continued to stare. “Almost over, Braeburn,” Applejack mumbled softly. “Almost over.”

*

Atop a hill surmounting the other end of the plain, a pegasus was staring with equal intent.

“Re-port!” The cry raced up before the actual pony emerged over into view.

“My Duchess, General Mane is making progress at the Bridleway Cut. Request more ponies to throw them out of the Marehouse Farmstead!”

“Right.” Rainbow Dash lowered her head for a second. “Tell him the ‘Screamin’ Pegasi’ will assist.”

“Yes, Ma’am- “

“My Duchess.” Some general – the athletic pony couldn’t remember the name – raised his forehoof in suggestion. “My Duchess, may I suggest sending your brigade over.”

“Why.”

Brief diagrams hastily scratched onto the earth. “Marehouse Farmstead – here – is key to the rebel left flank. We flush them out there, we can roll up their army from the left.”

The prismatic mare considered it but for a moment. “No.”

The commander was insistent, jabbing his battle plan with gusto. “My Duchess, it’s a rare opportunity- “

“I make the decisions here, General,” Rainbow Dash snapped.

The general shut up.

“Besides,” the cyan pony elaborated. “I haven’t seen that horse’s personal army either. She might come at our center. Split us into two.”

“I see,” the medaled soldier shrank back. “Apologies, My Duchess. I was foolish.”

The Duchess decided to punish this subordinate. “Go. ‘Screamin’ Pegasi’. You move them.”

Salute. “Yes, Ma’am.”

The general turned and galloped out of sight, messenger in tow, Rainbow Dash smirking behind them. Of course she was lying: her force wasn’t staying put because of military reasons. To be honest, everything had developed up to a point where Rainbow Dash was no longer interested in the outcome. She was interested in the fight.

The fight that involved only two ponies.

“We’ll fight today, Applejack,” she stared across the desolate plain. “Today.”

*

Applejack clambered up onto the crumbling stone wall, her eyes and armor glinting in the harsh sunlight.

The assembly bugles stopped. Everypony was here.

“Ponies!” the Countess shouted, a sea of Apple banners, weapons and armor before her. “You ponies! Y’all know why you are here! Y’all know what you must do!”

Strident echoes gradually fading into the crispy air. The crowd was listening intently. The distant noise of battle punctuated the stillness, desperately seeking attention. But the soldiers would be joining them soon enough.

“Y’all are the finest this land offers! Y’all are the finest this land will offer!”

The distant rumbling of some irrelevant cannon in some irrelevant sector.

The orange mare swung her entire body sideways, jabbing her hoof in the direction of a faded promontory – that which she had gazed at for days, over and over again; that which filled her with unbridled desire. “That hill, ponies! That’s where she stands: where she is now! Where she is so desperately waiting for your swords! Focus all your energy on that hill – the last thing standing between us, and victory!”

The cue for a belligerent cheer from the soldiers. “Ap-ple-jack! Vic-tor-y! Ap-ple-jack! Vic-tor-y!...”

The country pony was fast falling into the thrall of her own mania. “No quarter!” she bellowed, slashing at the air with her hat. “No prisoners! Kill them all!”

The flames of war were being stoked to a climax. “Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill!...”

Applejack’s voice crested over the enraged din. “This day will be the end of the war, ponies! The day you go home to your families! The day we all live, forever! The. Last. Day!”

The promise of peace stoked the ponies to ever more to war, soldiers now banging pikes against their shields, screaming and yelling with all abandon. “Ap-ple-jack! Vic-tor-y! Ap-ple-jack! Vic-tor-y!...”

*

“Flags.” The sentry looked back, visage equal parts fear and anticipation. “Flags… My Duchess, she’s moving! The rebels are coming!”

All eyes turned to Duchess Rainbow Dash, the leader, the ultimate decider.

“Flag!” the cyan pegasus ordered. “Raise the flag! Assemble all ponies!”

“Ma’am!” Commanders saluted as they dashed off, the red banner slowly rising over the peak.

The pegasus swiftly turned towards her right, a row of cannons in her sights. “Ordnance Master! Guns!”

“Readying, Ma’am!”

The First Call blared strident below, urgently summoning all personnel to arms. The camp scrambled into life, ponies dashing around anxiously, overturning pots and pans and other useless things, armor being worn, guns being lifted off the ground… a scene Rainbow Dash had seen so many times before, in so many different occasions. She would miss the frenetic scene when this was all over.

In a moment, Applejack would be marching into a veritable wall of death, just how Rainbow Dash had planned it. No doubt the orange horse thought that the pegasus would be overstretched, with fights on both her left and right, too stupid to realize what she was about to do… well, Applejack was wrong. Because Rainbow Dash didn’t care about the battle. She cared about the fight.

The light blue mare cantered back to her own force, now almost assembled save for a few stragglers – the age-old ‘Sky Divers’ regiment, formed ever since she came here, seemingly forever ago. They would be the ones to finish this story.

“Ponies!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed, leaping into the air. “You’ve been with me ever since I came here! You’ve all bled and hurt, for me!”

“Rah!”

“You know I’m not going to pretend, like that evil horse who’s coming towards us!” Rainbow Dash pointed an accusatory hoof at the black trail, faintly emerging from the smoke-filled plains. “You know I’d trust every one of you with my own life!”

“All hail, to Duchess Rainbow Dash!”

“And this is it, ponies!” the prismatic mare screamed, ascending ever higher as her wings beat more and more violently with rage and excitement. “Everything we’ve worked for: it comes down to this, today! You soldiers: bleed, one more time! Be hurt, just one more time!”

“We die for the Duchess, and for Equestria!”

“Today’s the last day, soldiers! The day these lands will be free!” Rainbow Dash whipped the crowd up to its climax, adrenalin pumping through her every vein. “No more tyrants! No more fighting! I’ll darn well make sure of that myself!”

The pegasi roared with approval. “Rain-bow-Dash! Vic-tor-y! Rain-bow-Dash! Vic-tor-y!...”

“So no prisoners!” the athletic pony thrust her hooves up into the air, posing as if she was holding up the glorious weight of the Sun herself. “No mercy to the rebels! Kill. Them. All!”

“Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill!...”

Rainbow Dash herself, sliding into her own megalomaniac fantasy: a bloody and wounded Applejack being dragged before her, begging ever so wretchedly for her miserable life; the prismatic mare laying a hoof on her, pressing her into the mud, hoof at the ready to conduct her much-desired execution...

“My Duchess!” the Ordnance Master called out through the dreams of victory. “Cannons at the ready!”

*

The blinding flash of white from the far-off hill, the whizz of the ripping air-

“Down!” Applejack yelled as she flattened herself onto the ground, fast enough to just catch an iron shadow scraping off the head of a yellow stallion some ways up front, serum bursting out in a gory fountain– Btsh!

A tense silence as the dust settled, itches developing on the orange pony’s back. Pitter-patter as rocks and damp – bits of pony, likely – rained forth. Rainbow Dash had cannons – not unexpected – and too late to turn back now. Press on, press on for the win.

“Spread the word,” Applejack muttered to the pony nearest her. “Stay down. Wait for my order.”

The country mare saw the flashes. Rainbow Dash had foolishly put her cannons at the very top of the hill. Only a few more shots and Applejack’s force would cross below their arc of fire. A few more shots. Pace yourself, nopony gets hurt.

Waiting waxed eternal. Wind whistled through the feathery grasses. The sound of war surrounding her, distant enough to sound no different to any normal bazaar-day. The groaning beat of her heart, feverishly exerting itself, conscious that each palpitation might be its last – darn it, Applejack, don’t THINK that, not now!

A red spray-like mist hung lazily in the air. It was getting impossible to ignore that gory scene in front, still gargling and sputtering red like some awful fountain.. wait. Was that pony-.

A not-so-distant rumble broke through the speculation.

Fffzzz….

The zip of iron wind overhead-

Btsh!

The country mare glanced back. Rainbow Dash was overshooting terribly.

Now's the time! Applejack propelled back onto her hooves, bits of dirt and grass hitting her ever-so-gently. “Up, up!” she cried, thrusting her forelegs upwards with as much strength as Celestia would grant her. “Now, ponies, now! Quick trot, stay in formation!”

Quickly, quietly, the anticipation of the clash hot in everyone’s hearts, Applejack’s brigade scrambled up onto their hooves, lances and flags held high in defiance of the enemy, scattered ponies hastily re-entering the formation from all directions… “Pick up the speed, ponies, pick up the speed!”

The trotting grew faster, each pony looking ever forward, trying not to think too much about death, about the gore, each taking comfort from the row after row next to him and around him, the formations beside them, the co-ordinated clanging of armor and weapons, the mesmerizing step of the march-

Fffzz… btsh! Yet another fountain of dirt blasting out, causing some of the greener ponies to bolt or jump in the air, threatening to break up the brigade. “Hold steady, ponies, hold steady!” Applejack called out from the front, walking backwards at great risk, ushering the lines of lancers along, weapons strapped to the sides of her armor. “Faster, ponies, faster if you want to live!” she said, picking up her own pace into a quicker trot. Glance back: the hill loomed, growing more and ever more out of the horizon, minute after minute, second after second… please, Celestia, a few more minutes; please, Celestia, a few more minutes!

*

“Three furlongs!” the Ordnance Master called out from the top of the hill, his nervous tones the only sound from the tensed-up army. The cannons had long since stopped their assault: Rainbow Dash, would punish the pony responsible later. But for now, Applejack’s force was fast approaching, the black lines materializing into gray lines materializing into individuals with shapes and forms… nothing left to do now but go down to the foot of the hill, behind the front lines, and wait, with barely concealed impatience; wait for it to begin.

Rainbow Dash huffed angrily, pawing the crumbly ground below her. Darn it, time around her seemed to run so slow – too slow! Each soft breeze, each timid chirp, each grassy sway… “Get on with it, get on with it already!” she muttered darkly.

The rebels were marching in tight formation, close enough to prevent any effective pegasi attack. Darn it. But it’s not like Rainbow Dash hadn’t succeeded against them before: Twilight had employed the same tactics, to no avail. So perhaps- the prismatic mare glanced up at the sky, eyes instinctively narrowing with the glare of the Sun. Rainbow Dash cursed and stomped the ground some more. Applejack had prepared herself well. The pegasus would have to go defensive. Darn it.

The cyan pony took solace in the row of uniformed ponies before her. The front row was set on a low stone wall, grasping their bayonetted muskets and waiting for orders; behind them, rows of prone equines, ready to surge up and take the place of their fallen comrades. Reserves at the back, ready to rush in whenever needed. Applejack wasn't getting past this.

“Two-and-a-half furlongs!”

The prismatic mare squinted ahead, vision still somewhat clouded from the light. Fuzzy, moving shadows, clearing up slowly in the distance, advancing – that must be the army. Her army. The mere thought was enough to send Rainbow Dash’s heart pounding.

She was here. She really was here. After all the arguing, the bluffing and posturing, the temporarily deals and the mutual insults, Applejack and Rainbow Dash were finally going to meet on the field, a final contest for superiority, a duel to the death, once and for all. Everything prior to this moment slowly melted into a dream, an unreality – this was it. Nothing before mattered. Nothing else mattered. This place, here and now – the final struggle, the End of Story.

And by Celestia, this pegasus was going to teach that horse a lesson she’ll never remember.

“Two furlongs!”

“Load!” Rainbow Dash hollered out, voice reaching the skies above, thundering towards the enemy beyond. A look to the Sun – Celestia, protect me this day! – and back to the rebels, eyes fiery with determination, teeth gritting for the slaughter. The fight. It was here. The fight. It was here.

The tense atmosphere exploded into life. The soldiers, wound up for too long – instinct seized ahold of them, knocking out vestigial memories of friends or relatives or loved ones. Swift, decisive, automatic action: charge, ball, ramrod; powder, trigger, aim.

Back to silence in fifteen seconds, a gleaming row of death resting on the low stone wall, a line of primed automata behind them.

The shadows ahead continued to advance. “One-and-a-half furlongs!”

The Duchess shivered involuntarily at the sound: fear or excitement? She didn’t really know nor care. She had anticipated for so long, and now it was here, loud and clear: decision time. Here that horse was, fast bearing down on her position, heart filled with nothing but rage and death and blood.

Feel it too, Rainbow Dash, feel it too in all of its impending glory: the blood coursing within, the air sparkling without, the world rotating on this one moment, the one moment they will talk about for eternity… the here and now, where her honor needed protecting; the here and now, where the enemy needed killing!

“Soldiers!” Rainbow Dash raised her hoof to the sky. “Fire!”

*

Applejack barely noticed the cold vortices streaking so near her orange fur, blood spraying onto her left cheek, flowing down like iron rain; soldiers around her falling, screaming, stumbling, pouring out all they had onto the grass below; the flag-bearer beside the Countess slamming into her flank, red hissing out of his punctured neck the flag falling unwanted onto the crimson grasses. Applejack unceremoniously shoved him away: unable to keep his balance, the vexillarius fell over and impaled himself on a half-broken spear, his whimpers comingling unnoticed with the others.

The enemy was close by – she was close by – glory, sweet glory, so closely by – and with the rebel forces having exhausted their only volley before the approach… let them know fear!

“That’s it, ponies!” she roared towards the sunlit heavens, rearing up, lance seized with her right hoof. “CHARGE!”

Stoked to a raging boil, bloodlust and adrenalin driving them ever onwards, the brigade burst forth in one grand move, ready for the ultimate assault. Slow plods, a walk – a trot – a canter, a gallop tearing across the field, a mass of rage tearing up the grasses of this once-innocent plain, so close to the enemy, just a few seconds more, a few seconds more!

Apple banners unfurled and revealed themselves amidst the racing wind, the sound of sword and shield, the tremendous clangs, the fearsome yells, the sudden bursts of light as armors traversed the Sun’s rays; already, colored streaks of blue and orange zooming into the sky, magical energy slamming and bursting amidst the hated enemy fast approaching, red and green balls of energy slamming down in response, blowing pony-sized holes in the formation, fast covered up; the hostile line in front of them, once so far, so tantalizingly far, now growing, rising, separating into a wall and a row of Rainbow Dash’s rebels, bayonets gleaming, more shadows behind them, more menacing, more important…

Applejack’s lance lowered in a graceful arc, silver tip pointing straight in front of her, destiny ever approaching, glory ever nearing. “NOW!” she bellowed to the heavens, kicking her legs forward with every might, zipping ahead of her army, consumed with basic hatred, eyes closed tightly to the world, ears catching the shrieking wind and the clanking metal and the ominous thud of hooves, feeling soldiers catching up with their Countess in a bid to close in the gap as soon a-

Applejack's lance thrust forth with all the momentum and force of its owner right into soft face, the sudden strain snapping it in two, the jagged stump plowing yet again into the meat and bones of the unfortunate victim, warm insides spewing all across the mare's front in an instant. A split-second- a Tartaros-raising crash as the rest of the unit followed, the rusty sky trembling and ringing with the songs of war and death, the flesh and skin of the weak crumpling and spreading before the slippery earth. Applejack's eyes flashed open, brightening diabolically at the destroyed figures of three ponies, slumped and dead against the wall, joined in the heads by a single piece of wood.

Applejack rapidly discarded the broken utensil and reached for her mace. "Over the top, ponies; over the top!" she cried, vaulting over the stone masonry. "Kill them, kill them, y’all!"

Landing deftly on her hooves, crashing through the skull of another pony, the orange mare began searching, half-heartedly casting aside all opponents who dared obstruct her quest. Group activity ended with the charge: ponies left, right, front, back, breaking out of formation, swords and maces and muskets and bayonets all being brought to the fight, seeking out a dueling partner, words and mottos degenerating into primal screams, the swish-swoosh of iron, the hissing and squelching of the near-dead – this was now the melee, the one-on-one, the struggle of vigor and strength; the fight to the death.

And there was only one pony to whom Applejack was going to have it with.

“Rainbow Dash!” the orange-red pony snarled, crashing through armor and flesh, anxiously searching for her prey, her world collapsing into a screaming, raging whirlpool. “Rainbow Dash! You coward! Face me!”

*

Rainbow Dash saw it all: the smoke from the muskets clearing, the bright orange streak colliding with the front lines, the tidal wave of ponies surging over the stone wall and pouring into her defenses, the concurrent roar of her own forces as they rose up, blades and muskets in hand against the invader, the plethora of armies and divisions and brigades pouring into this all-or-nothing: the pegasus saw everything in this apocalypse, earth and sky trembling and howling, the world reddening, bleeding…

The cyan pegasus dove right into the action as soon as it began, running through ponies with her saber, biting, kicking, hitting anything that even remotely looked like an enemy, diving into impossible packs and hacking like a madpony until her coat and wings were dripping deep-red with viscera; her bodyguards slowly disappearing into the chaos, one-by-one: alive or dead, nopony knew...

She couldn’t care less. Where was she? WHERE WAS SHE?

Amid the swirling gray and red that enveloped every bit of her line of sight, the prismatic mare would see a dash of red-blonde, a smear of orange darting in and around of the maelstrom, the faint calls of her own name – they were seeking each other out, their paths remaining infuriatingly apart, tangled in the utter chaos around them, distracted by the various ponies that dared come across them…

That thought alone made Rainbow Dash’s blood boil as yet another mare collapsed before her, already-dead before half her leg hit the mud below. Applejack wasn’t fighting her! How dare Applejack not fight her! That horse – that pony who was the cause of every misfortune: how dare she try and run away, like some old hag in some fairy tale!

No! Applejack will not run away from me, I swear to Celestia, Applejack isn’t goin-

“RAINBOW DASH!” a chillingly distorted voice howled from her rear, too late for the cyan pegasus to just turn back and-

The cool momentary kiss of cold steel on sensitive wing bone before everything abruptly exploded into a virtual hell of fire and pain – Applejack, careening over several other ponies, Stetson missing on her red-streaked mane, had pinpointed Rainbow Dash’s weak point; she brought her advantage down to its fullest extent. The pegasus let out a pained roar, tears abruptly drowning her eyes, body stumbling back in absolute agony, her broken right wing trailing uselessly in the churning mud, irreplaceably put out of action.

Applejack, eerily calm amid the terror and violence surrounding her, was less than sympathetic, eyes flashing darkly at the end of her sworn enemy’s life. “Let’s see how you fly now, Rainbow Dash!” she mocked, readying her mace for another go as she circled the trembling pegasus like a salivating timberwolf.

The cyan pony’s right hoof remained firmly fixated on her sword, and now Rainbow Dash pointed it at the orange mare desperately, tremblingly as she sought to retract her destroyed limb back into her flank, eyes wincing with the unimaginable throbs of pain screeching through every thought and every nerve. “Y-you’ll d-die today, A-applejack,” she retorted and sputtered, glaring at her worst nightmare, her scorn barely visible above the waterfall of tears, her voice barely a whisper above the maelstrom surrounding them.

The orange-red pony cackled, eyes going over the pegasus’ bowed but deadly form. “You’re wrong, Rainbow Dash. You’ll be the one who dies… NOW!” she shrieked as she lunged at the pegasus, ready for the finishing blow.

Rainbow Dash instinctively spun around, dodging her head out of the mace’s arc and positioning her rear hooves for an almighty buck against Applejack’s face; yet she miscalculated, the country pony’s backhoofed swing colliding with the pegasus’ left hindquarters instead, the earth pony rolling left to avoid the right leg's deadly strike.

Another explosion of pain rocked the prismatic mare’s body: Rainbow Dash’s flank armor caved in from the impact and pierced through her sensitive cutie mark, blood oozing out of the impact wound, her left hindleg buckling under the unexpected pressure; unable to keep her balance, the prismatic mare wildly keeled left, instinctively swinging her saber sideways as she did so, rotating downwards as she lost control and-

The tempered blade cleaved through the armor on Applejack’s right foreleg, drawing blood deep within the muscle, Applejack baying and howling from her taste of battle’s pain. The heavy mace dropped into the mud, its owner stumbling back by reflex, blood flowing hard from the newly-formed gash, whimpering and whining continuously as pain surged through her every being.

Grinding her teeth together and recovering fast, the pegasus now wheeled over to face the orange mare, blood-stained saber flashing as dangerously as her triumphant sneer. “My turn, Applejack,” she scowled as she broke into a canter, preparing to-

Applejack dove and ducked as Rainbow Dash turned sideways for the killing blow, skidding under the pegasus’ body and finding herself lying face-up in the mud, her nemesis’ body stood over her, a split-second stunned by this sudden turn of events. Applejack was not so indecisive: with a “Nyarrgh!” cursed through clenched jaw, the earth pony leant upwards, clamped down onto Rainbow Dash’s retracted right wing with her teeth, and, with all rage, pulled.

Tears once again drenched the entirety of a screaming Rainbow Dash’s vision, no pain in the world possibly comparing to an already-broken wing having its feathers torn out, the world reduced once more into a confused, screeching world of throbbing agony, pure, pure agony – in a blind frenzy Rainbow Dash reared up, Applejack wrenching even more bloody feathers from this move, and the cyan pony came down hard on whatever was lying under her; whether it be mud, pony or anything else: the pain, just make the pain go away!-

Applejack could only manage a panicked wheeze before every sinew of the pegasus’ athletic prowess came down on her abdomen. A jet of iron blood blew out of Applejack’s mouth, the sudden impact loosening her grip on the pegasus’ now-bare wing and allowing Rainbow Dash to stagger away from the country mare, the latter remaining face-up on the muddy ground, wheezing, utterly dazed and unable to react, her eyes flitting left and right to the scenes of gore and destruction around her…

Rainbow Dash soon limped back, her eyes wincing and crying and blazing with the unadulterated desire for revenge and death on this horse; grasping her saber in hoof, raising it, giving the orange mare the grace of a second’s brutal eye contact before swinging it down on her-

The country mare seized her chance to grasp the mace half-buried in mud with her left hoof and smashed it right into Rainbow Dash’s right foreleg, the cyan pony giving another scream, stumbling forwards as another bolt of unimagineable pain crashed into her mind; her sword swing thrown off balance and crashing into Applejack’s right hindquarters, the armor and the apples on her cutie mark parting before the steel and disgorging a stream of apple-red blood. Wailing and convulsing with the pain – it was so much worse than anything Applejack had ever experienced, her nerves overloading her mind with panic and agony and – she was a farm pony, for Celestia’s sake get a hold of yourself! – Applejack rolled away into a prone position, trying desperately, viciously to struggle back up, both injured right limbs bowing and screaming ungodly pain under her weight.

Battle continued to swirl around them, giving not a whit that the two army commanders were now duelling themselves to the death – every pony had their own issues to deal with; all sense of fighting as a group, fighting for others having long disappeared. Ponies were devolving all around them – swords to maces to legs to teeth to jagged pieces of battlefield debris, not once letting up on their hatred, their bloodlust, screaming and yelling and killing each other, fresh blood rushing in every moment to be sacrificed to the scarlet-stained earth all around.

Their two commanders stumbled into separation, breathing heavily, the din and swirling violence of war separating them from all else in the world that was good and normal and happy. Applejack and Rainbow Dash glared at each other, gasping and breathing from the previous round’s exertions, both sizing up the other’s injuries: Applejack listing heavily to the right, both injured right limbs bleeding profusely, shaking with the weight they were supposed to carry, blood flowing free from her mouth and nose; Rainbow Dash, left hindquarter and right foreleg bleeding out, right wing torn and broken, retracted only through the greatest pain and difficulty.

For a moment the two rulers stared at each other long and hard, a million hateful words within their gazes.

No.

They had both badly disabled each other – but no, neither had any intention of ending the fight. They both had gone too far, sacrificed too much, for this to end in a draw now… death, death shall be the sole ending!

“Rainbow Dash… “ Applejack grimaced and clenched her bloody jaw, tone hissing forth nothing but the greatest hatred for her erstwhile friend, left hoof gingerly picking up the mace for the final duel. “This is going to be for everything you’ve done. For Twilight… Rarity… Fluttershy… Pinkie… I’ll kill you today, I swear to Celestia; I’ll kill you for their sake!”

Rainbow Dash groaned and pointed her saber at her sworn enemy, her blood boiling over with unspoken anger and vengeance. “Applejack… liar… murderer: you were the one who killed everypony! You were the one who destroyed everything!… oh Applejack, I’ll kill you today, and I’ll have so much fun cutting your stupid orange head off… ”

“RAAGH!” Applejack, needled into a blind fury, bolted towards Rainbow Dash, mace raised, now caring less about her own ruined body, now caring less about the outcome of this battle, only concerned with getting rid of Rainbow Dash from Equestria, killing this horse once and for all-

The orange mare leapt, attempting to vault over Rainbow Dash’s head, mace in left hoof extending downwards towards Rainbow Dash’s spine – but the cyan mare’s head instinctively leant right, and the iron ball careening right into Rainbow Dash’s forehead; a sickening crack as it collided, the pegasus’ helmet falling off in a sudden burst of red, Rainbow Dash’s head thrown backwards- a sudden coldness in Applejack’s barrel, the swish of a saber on the orange pony’s side – before Applejack’s mace finally found its target and came down hard onto the rear end of Rainbow Dash’s spine, caving in the already-brutalized rear of the pegasus.

Applejack landed and quickly whipping round to view her handiwork, head feeling strangely light, the world around her spinning and blurring - but Rainbow Dash was in utter shock, blood from her forehead racing over her eyes, mouth slack in terrible horror, body swaying uncontrollably, greater and greater oscillations until the pegasus could no longer control herself; her hind legs keeling backwards, her form collapsing rear-first onto the wet mud, her twitches unable to rouse her from her incapacitated form…

“Yesss…” Applejack, delirious with joy, exclaimed in a raspy whimper, the victorious adrenalin fading away as she realized- as she realized that her barrel was in horrific pain, Rainbow's sword half-protruding from her side, and she was now bleeding out profusely, the world around her spinning and spinning and-

“NO!” Applejack screamed as she desperately lunged at Rainbow Dash’s reddening form, her entire body squealing and squelching and hurting, every step of hers an absolute agony to take; Applejack walking and stumbling and crawling towards the pegasus; Applejack groveling and spluttering and burbling, begging Celestia, Luna, anypony out there not to deprive her of her victory…

“Chaaarge!” Action now having ceased in this arena, fresh ponies quickly surged in to take advantage of the vacant killing grounds. In a blink of an eye, the muddy, lonesome ground on which Rainbow Dash and Applejack had duelled so savagely was now re-populated with fresh meat, each one duelling no less savagely than the two commanders had just done, screaming, hollering, dying for these few inches of land…

“No, no, no, no, no…!” Applejack pleaded, mouth filling up with red, as Rainbow Dash’s form was swept out of her view, swept out of sight by the surge of newcomers – the reason for this battle, the reason for her existence, the reason for everything fast disappearing forever…

A renewed burst of pain rocked across Applejack’s entire body, her legs buckling, flailing, dropping uselessly into the mud. The world moved of its own accord, none of Applejack’s feeble movements doing anything to halt her demise. Just as the new ponies swept Rainbow Dash away in their haste to fight each other; now they were sweeping Applejack away from the field, her body buffeted by numerous ponies now stronger and faster moving around her, carrying her numbing body away, even the slightest hint of cyan soon covered by a new daub of red and gray…

Author's Note:

Peace is Sought by War - Motto of the Commonwealth of England

Comments

[Seether00]

So everypony died in the end. Celestia is going to have to find new Element Bearers. Finally the epic last battle! Hooray!

[Mikemarksman]

Holy crap! UPDATE <:D

After reading:
I was hoping Applejack would've won Ah well, they both had it coming I guess. Still, I can't help but wonder...

Where is Celestia? Surely she's caught wind of what's happening - happened - by now?

[Starlight Nova]

Will Discord actually be appearing in this story, or is the picture just misleading?

[swirlstar]

3498454 He won't, I was just posting random pictures I was drawing at the time.

Sorry for being misleading.

3497336 I literally had to tell myself "alright, if I don't finish this fic I am not starting anything new" in order to finish it. Battle scenes are wayyyy harder to write than I previously thought.

[Yami Vizzini]

I figured they'd kill each other. I didn't expect them to be rendered irrelevant by their own armies. But you know what? They deserved it.