//------------------------------// // Wings of the Wind VIII // Story: Applejack Gets Lost // by MagicS //------------------------------// Applejack and Night Storm clashed. The two ponies, both disciples of an ancient fighting art, made their best attack at one another. Night Storm flew in spinning like a tornado while Applejack jumped at him with a simple straightforward punch. The wind blew fiercely against Applejack, her hat flapping, her mane and tail whipping about, but she kept on course. The drill that was Night Storm was right in front of her face, he would plow right through her. Applejack turned in midair to avoid simply hitting him head-on but still reached her hoof out to try and strike him. The clash was over in an instant. The two ponies flew by each other with the window of opportunity for the both of them closing faster than a lightning bolt would take to hit the ground. Applejack bounced off the ground, hard, but jumped up to her hooves and skidded to a stop, turning to face Night Storm. Night Storm stopped spinning, the wind around him disappeared and he floated to the ground, landing with his wings unfurled he turned around as well to face Applejack. A lock of hair from her mane fell to the ground and the smallest of cuts opened up on Applejack’s cheek. Night Storm was unharmed. But he frowned at her, still standing there before him. “Very well, I’ll finish this on the next pass.” He raised his wings in preparation for another attack. The wind gathering slowly beneath him. Applejack, however, merely shook her head at his statement. “No, you were right, that was the final pass.” She raised her hoof in front of her face, looking at it and the small cut on it briefly before returning her eyes to him. “You didn’t feel it? I touched your wing.” Night Storm smirked. “Nice bluff, but that’s impossib-” He stopped as he felt a tingling sensation in his wings, Night Storm’s cold black eyes grew wider as the vibration grew stronger and his wings began to shake. “No! Wait!” There was a sickening pop and crunch as the tremor peaked and every muscle, tendon and bone in his wings snapped. Applejack even flinched and recoiled when she heard it. Night Storm’s wings fell limp at his sides like a puppet that had its strings cut and he howled in agony and fear. “MY WIIIIIIIIIINGS!” She could see the shocked and horrified look on his face as he tried to flap his wings, but they didn’t even budge, there wasn’t even a slight twitch. His days of flying and using Wings of the Wind were over. Applejack sighed and started to walk towards him. “That’s it then. You lose.” His face snapped to her, his eyes darting around in fear. “You… you took my wings from me.” Night Storm’s legs trembled so badly Applejack wouldn’t have been surprised if he collapsed right then and there. He wasn’t as angry as she expected, fear and surprise had overwritten everything else. “I did.” She replied evenly to him, her face blank as she continued to walk towards him. Night Storm looked like he wanted to back up, to get away from the pony who crippled him, but his trembling legs kept him glued in place. His mouth opened and closed but no sound came out aside from a low whimper. Applejack was only a few steps away from him now. Night Storm screwed his eyes shut, waiting for the inevitable as her hoofsteps grew louder. It never came. Night Storm opened his eyes to see Applejack walking past him, making for the edge of the summit. “W-What are you doing?!” He exclaimed in surprise. She looked over her shoulder and raised an eyebrow at him. “What’s it look like? I’m leaving. Got no business with you anymore.” “You’re not going to kill me?” His jaw hung open, the tips of his limp wings dragged across the ground. “Why? You can’t fight or even fly anymore, I’m not the type to kill a pony like this. You should be thankful I guess.” Applejack made it to the edge, looking for a good way to climb down. “Thankful? Thankful!?” Night Storm yelled at her back, though the base fear still in him kept his hooves from moving to confront her. “What you’ve done to me is torture, living like this is worse than death!” At that Applejack spun around, eyes narrowed and intense anger written plain on her face, pointing her hoof at his chest. “No it aint! You only think that because you’ve spent your whole life doing nothing but hurting others! Well now you’re gonna have to live. I aint some vicious killer like you. You’re just gonna have to learn to deal with it.” Applejack frowned and turned back around, leaving Night Storm there to sputter and even start to cry a bit. As she was settling to climb back down the cliff her two hairbands snapped, letting her mane and tail flow free while she groaned. “Great, where am I gonna find some of those out here?” Applejack shimmied off the edge of the cliff, slowly finding a safe purchase so she could carefully climb down one hoof at a time. She gave one last look to Night Storm to see him helplessly shaking his wings with his hooves, trying to get any sort of response out of them. “Hey you!” She called out to him, getting his crying face to snap to her in attention. “By the way, while I might not kill you there’s a big mob out looking for ya by now, and I don’t think they have the same reservations as me. You should probably get out of here pretty fast.” Not waiting for any response from him or to even see the reaction on his face Applejack fully lowered herself over the edge of the cliff and began the slow descent. Night Storm and Wings of the Wind would never hurt anypony again. It was noon now, Applejack stood well past the monastery of Hoof of the Earth. The forest had let up a bit in this area, making it much easier to move through. It was too bad about her saddlebag and other items but all in all she felt things had turned out pretty well. The hair falling about her neck and shoulders was a bit uncomfortable and not something she was used to though. She yawned and took a great big stretch, trying to get all the kinks out of her body. Already the day had been long enough and it was barely halfway done. And she should probably get a lot more walking done today. To her right, to the east through the trees, Applejack knew the boxed in valley was there. The village of Deep Green where Tropic Twist lived, that nice but standoffish mare that Applejack only got to meet once. That Applejack still owed for the map. There was also Dry Den, the other village that Applejack never ended up going to. She wondered what it was like. The ponies of Brooksville and her four friends already lay behind her as well. She could go back to see them. A part of her wanted to. It was also bothering her that she was leaving without doing anything for Tropic Twist. A part of her wanted to go to Deep Green to fix that. She really should give a proper goodbye to Quartz, Obsidian, Marble and Bedrock, even though at this point she didn’t really owe them one. It would just be the nice thing to do. A part of her wanted to hang out with them some more, put all the bad things behind them and celebrate. Brooksville probably had some alcohol lying around somewhere. A part of her wanted to stay longer and get to know them all better, get to relax and have fun too. And maybe even practice her Hoof of the Earth more. There was certainly adventure there if she went back. For all she knew another grand event would open up for her the moment she set foot in Dry Den, or Quartz would find something that his “Do-gooder” nature wouldn’t let him leave alone. And then Applejack would be swept up in it all and some more craziness would happen. A part of her wanted that. The rest of her knew she needed to head back home already. It was time to get back on the road home, even if it meant leaving like this with so much unsaid and undone. Applejack was curious about Dry Den, she wanted to pay back Tropic Twist, she wanted to say goodbye to her friends, but overriding all of that she wanted to get home. Applejack walked away from the boxed in valley, heading back west. Too much time had been spent around here and if she didn’t take this opportunity to leave now it would just be all the more difficult in the future. It was time to get back to her farm, her family, her friends, and her apples. After all this and all this time without one she really, really, wanted an apple.