The first thing Applejack noticed when Fort Appleloosa finally came into clear enough view to make out the details is that it was far more impressive than Fort Chestnut. It was a star fort much like that one, but it was built up with concrete and steel rather than palisades and wood. Its walls were broad and spanned out in all directions, but even when they terminated she made a note that trenches had been dug, barbed wire spread, and soldiers were everywhere busy digging for more emplacements for artillery and infantrymen. The fortress itself was well situated behind several lines of these; rising up out of the landscape on the sole rocky hilltop standing out among an otherwise flat set of surroundings. It stretched a good three levels high, and as their group drew nearer she saw it was armed on every level with multiple artillery emplacements. A formidable, immobile pillar rising out of the landscape.
By the time she, Pinkie Pie, and the others arrived, they found they weren’t alone. Their own tired, sore, hungry, and beaten company was being joined by a half dozen others, to say nothing of large groups of civilians, on the roads to the fort. When they finally merged into the one single road leading up to it, they noticed numerous soldiers standing by with heavy tools and plowhorses. They were apparently ready to raze the road as soon as they felt they had everyone they could.
From then on in, they had to slowly worm their way through the trenches up to the surrounding walls of the fort, then maneuver around until they were led to the nearest opening. On passing through, Applejack noticed that the already formidable stone walls had been plated with iron and were topped with more cannons. The same with the second set of walls they had to pass through. Finally, after crossing through that they began to approach the fortress proper.
The main entrance was already closed and reinforced. Soldiers that were gesturing everyone on separated the civilians from the servicemen and women, telling the former to move on toward the city further west while the soldiers and militia were to stay put. It was there, however, that things grew chaotic. Tens of thousands of displaced soldiers had already poured into the fortress grounds, and now they were massing all over it with nowhere to go. While most of the companies were at least putting themselves into small groups and staying in one general spot, the area all around the fort was turning into a mess. Even when the Civilian Corps 39th finally made it to the fort entrance, they were turned away as the inside was already overcrowded.
Having nothing better to do, the group found the nearest unoccupied stretch of ground within the second wall, moved over, and finally came to a halt.
“Well, ain’t this a fine basket of apples…” Applejack grumbled as the exhausted members of her group practically collapsed to the ground putting down their weapons and gear. In all honesty, she was glad for a chance to get off her feet. Her leg was still throbbing and was hurting even more now that her Anima Viri was gone, and she needed the rest. “Looks like the whole army is comin’ here…”
“Yipee!” Pinkie cheered. “That means we can all fight Trottingham together, right?”
Applejack, along with several other members of the group close enough to hear, frowned back. “Not exactly… More like everyone else got run outta wherever they were hidin’ and had ta’ come here.” She glanced around at the other crowds, with far more still coming in, and frowned. “Thought someone would’ve done better than us…”
“Eeyup…” Big Macintosh answered as he dropped his own load to the ground before wiping at his forehead.
“I don’t know how long we’ll be in the clear even here, cousin,” Candy Apples spoke up with a sigh as she let her own rifle and spare ammunition fall. “We’re all rounded up here like doggies in a corral…”
Applejack sighed. “Yeah, I know it. And the last time I was in a fort wasn’t all that great neither…”
“Aw, cheer up, Applejack,” Pinkie suggested, moving over to her side. “Once we turned around, we got everyone else past those big goons and to the fort. And after everything that’s happened, we’re sure to get some good news soon!”
The farmer kept frowning. “I’m not really sure that’s how it works, Pinkie.”
“Cousin…cousin Applejack?”
Applejack’s eyes widened and her frown disappeared on hearing the familiar voice. She turned and looked. Through the crowds of militia and soldiers that were still arriving and messing about with the groups already present, she saw one militiaman coming through with a hat similar to hers and looking astonished. Her eyes widened more on spotting his face and recognizing him.
“Braeburn!”
The recognition was mutual, as her cousin’s own eyes lit up as well. A moment later, both rushed out from their respective sides and ran to each other to embrace.
“There ya’ are, ya’ son of a gun!” Applejack shouted as she hugged tightly. “Where the hell ya’ been?”
“Where the… Where the hell have I been?” Braeburn, half-compressed by the hug and still stunned at everything, half-choked back. “Where the hell have you been! You disappeared with that hitchhiker over a month ago! We’ve been worried sick!”
Applejack hugged a bit longer before stepping back, rubbing at her nose and eyes a little. “It’s a long story…a really long story… Are the others here?”
Braeburn took a moment to catch his breath and adjust his own hat. “Sure we are!” He frowned slightly. “We had no place left to go after we got whooped up at Peach Bottom Flats… Even with some of us havin’ those funny circles on their hands…”
Applejack and Pinkie alike both looked up at that. “Beg yer pardon?”
Braeburn instantly winced, as if he had just spilled a secret. “Uh…uh…well…” He cringed for a moment, trying to think of an excuse.
Applejack answered by leveling a glare at him. “Braeburn, you know how I get when kinfolk start lyin’.”
He sighed in resignation. “Awright, cousin, ya’ got me.” He looked around for a moment, then glanced back at her. “I don’t wanna make ya’ nervous or nothin’…not after what happened with me and back at Fort Chestnut…but we got a couple folks over in our corps who got the same funny circles that I had and you got on your hand. Now…” He held his hands up in a stopping gesture. “I know you might think they’re all bad…and I certainly can’t blame you after what I did…but I’m thinkin’ that maybe you oughtta give them a bit of a chance, ‘cause they’re really-”
“Braeburn! It is you!”
Applejack’s cousin found himself cut off and looked up. By now, the rest of the Apple family had noticed his arrival and had rapidly rose again to greet him, complete with Pinkie Pie also cheerfully waving at the new face. His eyes spotted Apple Split’s hand as he waved, soon noticing the sigil on it. He nearly said something until he noticed the same on Apple Brown Betty, Candy Apples, and Big Macintosh as well as the ones on Pinkie Pie and Applejack.
He ended up staring a bit open-mouthed at the sight. Applejack herself gave a bit of a weak smile. “Um…I think we may have already figured that part out, Braeburn.”
“Then after things with south in Deadwood, we all packed up and headed here as fast as we could get…and looks like we made it. That’s about it.”
The Apple family, along with anyone else from the respective units their members had been with, stared in open-mouthed astonishment at the conclusion of Applejack’s tale. By now, the family had fully reunited with their respective members before meeting in between the two companies. They were unfortunately running too low on supplies to have any sort of family meal this time, but simply seeing each other again alive and well was occasion enough.
“Hold up now,” one of the family spoke up. “You actually tellin’ us that you and your friends were the ones who made it stop bein’ night all the time up north? I know you don’t tell whoppers, missy, but that’s one helluva lot to swallow.”
“Oh no, it’s all true!” Pinkie immediately chirped. “I was there the whole time! We fought Nightmare Moon…and a big raging she-demon…and then we got blown up all over Greater Everfree! I landed in Mount Aris’ royal palace conveniently near a jail cell!”
“I know it sure is a lot to believe, but I swear it’s all the truth,” Applejack went on. She held up her hand. “When I first got this, I figured I was gonna start actin’ up at the drop of a hat. It’s really bailed me out more’n once now, though.”
“Well shoot, coz…” Braeburn spoke up somewhat dismally. “Here I thought we had the bigger yarn to spin. It’s been nothin’ but one thing after another since we saw you last. We had to fight off two more of them Nighttouched attacks at Fort Chestnut ‘fore they quit. Good thing neither of them were as big as the one you and Twilight helped out on, or we’d have been sunk. Even after it quit, though, they were organizin’ us. Told us to be on the lookout for more Nighttouched or those Trottingham bastards makin’ a move. When the night broke, that only got everyone more in a tizzy. Since then they’ve been drillin’ us and then sendin’ us out to war.”
“And it ain’t been goin’ too well,” Another Apple spoke up frowning. “Ain’t ever had to fight big goons like the ones Trottingham’s got now. And they keep seemin’ ta’ hit us wherever we ain’t ready for ‘em. Don’t know how our luck’s been holdin’ out so far. Sure hasn’t for a lot of other folks…”
“I know how,” a younger Apple spoke up, grinning as she held up her own hand. It had a Promethian Sigil across it. “Some of us have had these pop up overnight. At first we were scared of ‘em, but after remembering what you and that city slicker girl did we thought they might help us fight. And sure enough, those of us who got ‘em seem to be bigger and tougher than usual.”
“Of course,” another family member threw in, “we’re nothin’ like you, Applejack. We can’t make ourselves change with any magic words or whatnot.”
Braeburn’s head sank. “I know you said I acted all crazy when I got mine, cousin…but I sure wish I still had it now. I’d be able to be out there swingin’ with the rest of the folks.”
“Well, that’s all well and good, but it ain’t been enough to keep back these Trottingham skunks,” the frowning Apple spoke up again. “They’re been whoopin’ us good. It takes three or four of us to take down one of them big ones, and that’s when they ain’t shovin’ tanks or airships down our necks.” She frowned a little more as she looked Applejack in the eye. “I’m sorry, girl. We tried to hold out as long as we could but they made us pull back when the lines collapsed. We had to move off Sweet Apple Acres.”
Applejack’s jaw dropped in horror. “Wait…what?”
“It was no good, cousin,” another spoke up ruefully. “None of the old folks wanted to do it, and we held out as long as we could, but they were gonna be comin’ right through that part of the country next. The only thing we could do was move everyone south so they’d leave it alone.”
Applejack’s jaw clenched. Her eyes blazed, and soon she was staring down the family in fury. “Well that ain’t no excuse! Don’t you know the whole reason Braeburn and I and the rest joined up with the army in the first place? It was so we could keep that land! It was the only thing we could do! Then y’all turn tail and run the first chance ya’ get? Damnit, I counted on y’all to keep it while I was…I was…”
She slowed as she said this. Her fist tightened, but she couldn’t choke out any more. She looked over the members of her family, but they couldn’t respond. Several of them looked away so they could avoid her gaze. Others tightened their faces; their throats clearly choking up. Braeburn himself reached up and slowly pulled off his hat before he let his face fall.
Applejack continued to steam a moment, but she looked back to those with her. Big Macintosh said nothing. He merely sat there with a hollow look. Candy Apples took up her bandanna and began to dab at her eyes a little. The others looked just as dour. Pinkie Pie alone looked up at Applejack, reaching out and putting a hand on her shoulder.
She let it sit there a moment, and as she did she slowly calmed down. Her own face fell as she let out a long sigh, then turned back to the others.
“It weren’t none of your faults. None of you,” she spoke quietly. “I know Sweet Apple Acres means as much to you as it does to me. Things just…went bad. If I oughtta be mad at anybody, it should be me. I should’ve been there.”
“Now don’t be like that, coz,” Braeburn spoke up soon afterward. “After everything you told us? You did more to save the farm and the rest of Appleloosa than anyone else.”
“Eeyup,” Big Macintosh added.
She didn’t answer. She only continued to stare for a few moments before she was finally able to give her relatives a weak smile. She inhaled and exhaled soon after. “Where’s the rest of the family now?”
“Don’t need to worry ‘bout them,” another relative spoke up. “Granny Smith, Apple Strudel, Goldie Delicious, and a bunch of the other old folks got the youngin’s together and moved on from here to town. Granny didn’t want to go, but we made her and the relatives move her on. They’re a helluva lot safer than we are now.”
Applejack hesitated for a moment, thinking that over. “I oughta go find them. Let ‘em know we’re alright…”
Another cousin shook his head with a frown. “It’ll be like tryin’ to find a needle in a haystack at this point, Applejack. There’s thousands of folks pourin’ into the nearest city that this fort’s shelterin’. ‘Sides…they ain’t gonna let any of us out. They need everyone they got to stand up to Trottingham. We don’t push ‘em back with this next fight and we ain’t gonna push ‘em back at all.”
Applejack tensed up at that, clearly upset not only at the grim proclamation but the fact that she couldn’t leave to go see the others. Pinkie Pie seemed to notice, along with the somber attitudes of everyone else. Wincing a little, she risked leaning in and smiling.
“Buuuut…we got the whole Apple family together now, so we’ll win for sure, won’t we? The more the merrier!”
“I hope yer right about that…” Applejack muttered back as she slumped in her own spot. “Anybody know how we’re doin’ right now?”
“They’re lettin’ the civilian corps mostly hang around for right now. They got their hands full tryin’ to wrangle all the normal soldiers,” Braeburn answered. “We got plenty of manpower but it looks like we ain’t got too many big guns. They’re puttin’ folks to work digging in all the ones they can get. Looks like they’re plannin’ on holdin’ this place out ‘til the end.”
“They’re starin’ to call up some of the civilian folk to dig trenches,” another family member added. “Reckon we’ll all be put to work pretty soon.”
Applejack frowned. “We ain’t gonna kick Trottingham outta Appleloosa just holin’ up here. Not unless we got anyone else comin’ for-”
“Sgt. Applejack! Sgt. Applejack!”
The farmer went quiet in mid-speech as soon as she heard her name and new title being called. Both she and the rest of the family looked up and around for the source of the voice. It took a moment with all of the crowds still gathered about and moving, but they managed to spot a lone officer slowly making his way through the lines. He had a piece of paper in his hands, apparently what had Applejack’s name on it, and was looking around and shouting. “Sgt. Applejack!”
The woman was a bit puzzled, glancing back at her family and the others. Pinkie Pie, however, grinned and held up her hand waving. “Oh! Oh! We’ve got Sgt. Applejack right here!”
Applejack glanced to her with a slight frown, but the deed had been done. The officer turned his head, easily catching Pinkie out of the rest of the crowd and soon finding her pointing at Applejack with her other hand. Immediately, he began to rush over. Seeing it happening, Applejack sighed and resigned herself to it.
As soon as the officer arrived, she looked up. “Yeah, that’s me, what’s up?”
“The colonel is looking for you. Third floor of the fort. He wants to see you immediately, along with your friend. He says give your name to the guards and they’ll let you in.”
The farmer crooked an eyebrow. She nearly opened her mouth to ask what this was about, but the officer didn’t pause long. As soon as he had given his message, he turned and immediately went off to run other business. Applejack and her family were left sitting there dumbfounded.
“Yipee!” Pinkie cheered, bouncing to her feet. “I get to come too!”
“What would they want with you, cousin?” Braeburn asked. “And why would they want you to bring that pink-haired girl?”
Applejack continued to stare after the officer as she shook her head. “I ain’t got the foggiest idea.” After a moment, she began to push up from where she was seated. “But I aim to find out. Rest of y’all sit tight ‘til we get back. Don’t go runnin’ nowhere if they come out and try an’ assign ya’. Come on, Pinkie.”
“Right behind you!” She chirped, practically bouncing along behind the farmer as she finished standing and began to make her way through the crowds.
Fort Appleloosa might have been much larger and more impressive than Fort Chestnut, but in the end it was still a fort. On finally making her way through the throng gathered around the main building proper, Applejack and Pinkie Pie presented themselves to the garrison posted at the entrances and, sure enough, were promptly let right in and saw it was just as austere and bare bones as the palisade one Applejack had left behind weeks ago. Nothing but crude bunks and rations in terms of food and comforts for those stationed there. Most of the interior was devoted to creating spaces for storing weapons and ammunition, or maintaining the many different cannons that were placed inside behind the iron fortifications. There were plenty of windows at least, but most of them were spots either for riflemen to shoot out from or had artillery barrels shoved through them. It was just about as crowded on the inside as the outside, only this time with uniformed soldiers going every which way armed to the teeth and gearing up for the coming conflict. The whole place smelled like gunpowder, and on top of that was cramped and poorly lit.
Eventually, the two of them managed to squeeze themselves by enough to find a set of stairs going up to the next level. Unfortunately, once up there they had to shove their way through another crowd of soldiers and guns in order to find the stairs that led up to the third level. There, things finally thinned out enough where they could walk with soldiers merely flanking them on every side rather than needing to shove them out of the way to get anywhere. There were also a few rooms with doors on them, finally installing some measure of privacy. By that point, Applejack was practically limping along from how cramped this was making her bad leg.
“We were any more jam packed in here, I’d say this fort was a pickle barrel…” Applejack complained as they kept moving.
“Tee hee! That’s one of those fun things to say!” Pinkie laughed. “Pickle barrel, pickle barrel, pickle bar…oh!” She cut herself off, as her enthusiasm for chanting the phrase had led her to start bouncing again, and with the low-ceiling of the fort interior that was quite impossible.
Applejack merely rolled her eyes, but before she could take a step closer herself one of the soldiers flanking the rooms with the doors suddenly stepped out in her path, putting a hand up. “Commissioned officers only past this point. Turn around.”
The farmer frowned back. “Hold yer horses for a minute. Y’all are the ones who called the two of us up here to begin with.”
“We’re looking for a colonel…colonel…hmm,” Pinkie mused aloud. “We didn’t get his or her last name, did we?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” the guard began to retort, “but there’s no…” Suddenly, he trailed off. “Wait. You don’t happen to be Sgt. Applejack, do you?”
“Yeah, that’s me. Do you happen to know who keeps asking?”
The soldier responded by stepping to one side. “Third door on the right.”
She frowned back, but didn’t bother getting into an argument over it. Not when the person who apparently gave the order was that close. She simply walked right by with Pinkie following doing the best “half-skips” that she could muster. They only had to go a bit further before they reached the third door. Applejack, not really one to observe so much military decorum as to give a proper knock, simply seized the handle, gave it a turn, and walked right in with Pinkie trailing.
The room wasn’t much better than the rest of the fort. Aside from a table used for planning, including various maps of the area and figures to represent who was positioned where, there was little to be found other than a few chairs and a makeshift desk in the back. The most outstanding part of the room was the fact that the rear wall was against the fort’s side, such that there were windows that allowed one to look out and over the area around the fort to the east side. There were four individuals gathered in there at the moment. Three were lesser-ranking officers, and they were conversing with the colonel as he pointed out various spots on the map on the table. However, their impromptu entrance broke up the conversation and caused them all to look up together.
No sooner had Applejack met the colonel’s gaze when she registered surprise. “Burnt Oak?”
The older man looked pleased to see her. He actually smiled a little. “So it was you after all. I was hoping it was when I heard the news.”
As Applejack was halfway in the door frame when she stopped, Pinkie had to push her way around and in from behind her. As soon as she was in the room, she smiled at her. “Oh, it’s someone you know, Applejack?”
She hadn’t stopped staring at him, still looking amazed, but half-heartedly answered. “Y…yeah, yeah… It’s the lt. colonel from Fort Chestnut.”
“It’s colonel now,” he answered with a slight shrug. “Field promotions are bein’ handed out like penny candy lately. Of course, you probably already know about that, sergeant.” Losing his somewhat informal tone, he straightened and looked to the officers around him. “Alright, you have your orders. Carry them out and report your status. You have two hours. Dismissed.”
The officers, who paid some attention to this conversation until now, broke and gave a salute. After Burnt Oak dismissed them, they all turned and began to file out. Applejack, at that point, finally snapped out of it enough to move to one side and let them leave. When the last one departed, the door was left to swing shut and click behind them. Only when that happened did Burnt Oak give a long exhale and ease up again, smiling once more.
“I must say, you are a sight for sore eyes. It was bad enough in the wake of that airship attack from Trottingham, but ever since then I didn’t know what to think could have happened to you or that Twilight Sparkle.” He glanced over to Pinkie Pie, seeming to really see her for the first time, and his look became somewhat confused. “I kind of expected she’d still be with you.”
Applejack sighed as she stepped into the room further. “It’s a long story…real long…and I just got through tellin’ it once so try’n bear with me for right now, could you?”
“And…who’s this?”
“I’m Pinkie Pie!” she immediately greeted, cheerfully waving her hand. “Nice to meet you!”
Burnt Oak was taken a bit aback by her enthusiasm, but his eyes also looked and spotted the symbol on her hand. Applejack picked up on this and sighed again. “I know she’s a bit rambunctious, but trust me when I say she’s someone we’re glad to have on our side. She may not be able to do as much as Twilight or me but she’s a big help.”
He looked at her again, only to get another smile and another wave, and back at Applejack soon afterward. “Well, if you vouch for her, then I’m glad she’s here too. Fact of the matter is right now we could use all the help we can get. I’m sure you’ve noticed, but we’re not exactly doing too well in this war.”
She frowned. “Don’t I know it. I thought we had Deadwood licked but they ended up wipin’ out the counterattack. I know I ain’t never been in a war proper before, but I thought for sure that plan was gonna drive ‘em back.”
He frowned and shook his head, turning away to look back out the window. “All of the plans we thought for sure were gonna beat Trottingham have gone wrong. That guy who’s taken over the government…the one who calls himself the ‘Storm King’…he’s been fighting the Dragonlands for close to five years now. Him and all his commanders. Especially that new commodore who’s running the airship fleets. Until now, all of their best military officers always went to Trottingham’s eastern front. Now that the Dragonlands signed that treaty with ‘em, nothing’s stopping Trottingham from throwing everything they got at us. And that was before they changed things up on us.”
“You mean with those big palookas we ran into on the field?”
“Every story I hear about them is wilder than the last. I heard one managed to kill three soldiers after his throat was cut open and he was bleeding out. Another got off six more shots from his own rifle after a bullet went through his heart. I used to think nothing was tougher than Appleloosans. That’s the one edge we always had on Trottingham: infantry. Now we’re fallin’ apart, and they keep hitting us where it hurts.” He looked away from the window and back to them. “I didn’t ask for this promotion. The truth is the real colonels are getting hard to find. Most of them aren’t making it off of their battlefields.”
Applejack winced to hear that news. She grimaced uncomfortably. “So…what’s the plan?”
The colonel crossed his arms and bowed his head. “Right now, we’ve got no way of hitting them back. We might be able to knuckle up against the new infantry, but we can’t fight them with their artillery and airships backing them up. My guess is the higher ups in the government will hate it, but we’ve got to get help from either Manehattan or Fillydelphia. Both, if we can get them. Of course…” He twisted his lips. “Help seems like it’s a hard thing to come by nowadays. I hear that summit didn’t go too well. Though maybe the fact that Trottingham supposedly said it was coming for half of Greater Everfree during it might make a difference… Until they we have to hole up here. I’m in not in command…not yet at least…but the higher officers are giving the order to dig in on all sides. We’ll do our best to keep the airships back and we have to let the trenches and artillery keep back their infantry.”
She frowned back. “We can’t just sit here and wait for other people to come bail us out! We’re Appleloosans, for cryin’ out loud! Ain’t there any way we can beat ‘em?”
Burnt Oak was quiet for a few moments. He seemed to be musing over something. Pinkie looked at him a bit hopefully as Applejack stewed and stared.
Finally he looked up. “Only one thing I can think of.”
“What is it?”
“We need more folks like you two. And I ain’t just talking about those circles. There’s more of them showin’ up every day. We need folks who have those little emblems on them.”
Applejack looked a little taken aback. Pinkie just looked confused on her part. However, the colonel uncrossed his arms and continued. “I hate to say it, but that seems like the only shot we have now. I’ve been gun shy about folks with those emblems ever since that one woman lost her mind back at Fort Chestnut, but that doesn’t change the fact that if it wasn’t for you and your other friend we would have been done on the first night. Some of the best men and women we still have are because they have those symbols on their hands. The problem is it ain’t enough. But if we had a hundred folks like you two out there…even fifty…then we might have a shot.” He paused to glance between the two of them.
“I don’t suppose either of you can tell us how you managed to get those emblems, can you? Right now, they look like damn near our only hope.”
Applejack stood there quietly for a moment. A bit of hesitation was on her face, but mostly regret. She eventually shook her head as well. “I’m sorry. The way I got mine…I don’t reckon too many other folks’ll be able to do the same thing.” She paused momentarily, then looked up and over to her side. “Pinkie? I don’t suppose you got any ideas, do ya’? Come to think of it, how’d you end up gettin’ yours?”
She put a hand to her chin and turned her eyes skyward. “Hmm…y’know, that’s a really good question! I don’t really remember myself. Let’s see… I think I got it after that one night. Maud and I were heading into town after dark and-”
Her story was abruptly cut off to the sound of a tremendous calamity from the open windows. It sounded like an explosion. At once, both the colonel and Applejack spun to it, and moments later they both ran to the window to look out. Even before they got there they began to hear shouting. Some of it was cries of alarm but it was soon joined by cries of pain. More shouts and raucous noise began to join them as they looked outside.
Applejack almost let out a gasp at what she saw. Clouds of dust were rising up on the perimeter of the fort. Two of them, to be exact…corresponding to the two walls that were constructed around it. To her shock, some terrific force had quite easily, and very quickly, punched a massive breach between both of them. It had happened so soon that people were still dodging the falling rubble from either structure. Not only that, but all of the trenches and gun emplacements between the two had been dashed apart like leaves in a breeze. Those left behind were standing in awe of what had happened.
The source of the destruction was now in the grounds where the soldiers and civilian corps were stationed. From this high up, in the shadow of the late afternoon sun, it wasn’t possible to see clearly. However, cries of pain and of struggling were ringing out, along with the sounds of people being struck. Soon after, gunshots began to echo out along with it, but the cries only intensified. Seconds afterward, a new sound, one that was like cutting through the air, joined it. Even louder cries resulted.
Pinkie had just gotten to the side and looked out, her face going agape on seeing the destruction, when Applejack pulled herself back. Her expression tightening up, she spun around and began to run for the door to the office. “Come on, Pinkie!”
The Gaitian looked up in a little confusion, but began to go after her. Burnt Oak looked up even more puzzled. “Where are you going?”
“My family’s down there!” Applejack shouted back before running over the threshold.
Applejack only waited until she was clear of the room before donning her Anima Viri. Not making sure that Pinkie was keeping up, she took off back the way she came; practically bowling over officers in the crowded halls as she raced back through the corridors and down the three flights of stairs. Her leg still hurt even with the Anima Viri reequipped, but she no longer noticed the pain and toughed through it. Hardly anyone took notice of her changed appearance and her aura until she was on them. By that point, the entire fort was transfixed on what had happened outside, and a siren began to blare for an attack on the base. Applejack cared for none of that. She only kept running downstairs until she finally made it to the bottom, then practically knocked aside the two guards posted as she burst out into the grounds beyond.
The sounds of rubble and debris settling mingled in the air with more cries and gunshots, although it wasn’t clear if it was from the first attack or if it was fresh damage. Applejack charged for the front of the fort, already hefting her hammer and almost fully ignoring her injured leg, and looked out. It only took a moment to spot it.
A crowd of people were already parting from it, most of them staggering back or fleeing. A few of them had guns and kept shooting into the midst, but looked frightened and panicked at obvious ineffectivity. As they split away, however, it revealed not a weapon, tank, or any sort of explosive device. Instead, it revealed only a single individual.
She was fully armored from head to toe, not exposing a single patch of bare skin anywhere. Nevertheless, the armor was so close fitting that it exposed the curves of the individual—revealing a feminine shape. The armor was unlike any suit that Applejack or anyone had ever seen. It was made of so many interlocking plates and so sleek and form fitting that it almost looked like a shell or even skin in places. The helmet itself was fashioned into a human face with a sloping crest and back over the rear and side portions. However, there were no places for eye openings. Rather the eyes had some sort of gleaming green lenses over them—so bright that they were piercing even from the distance away that Applejack stood. Aside from that, the only detail on the figure were a series of emblem-like characters written across its armor in some language neither she nor anyone else present could read.
However, Applejack really wasn’t that focused on the symbols at the moment. She was too busy focusing on the fact that her older brother had one of her metal-coated hands wrapped around his throat. He was futilely trying to punch her in the side to free himself, but she didn’t even react as she extended her other hand over his one bearing his Promethian Sigil. A light was coming out from it and seeming to streak over it.
Applejack didn’t know what that was for and frankly didn’t care. Her face filled with fury as she took off for her. “Let him go!”
The figure didn’t even look up, continuing to do whatever it was doing with Big Macintosh. It didn’t stop Applejack either way. Whipping her hammer behind her, she grit her teeth, dashed straight for the two, and lunged at the armored figure with her hammer swinging out for the side of her head.
It connected solidly, letting out a clang that echoed throughout the entire yard of the fort.
The figure’s head shifted about a millimeter.
In spite of Applejack’s fury, she froze on the spot and let her jaw fall. The blow she had just swung would have been enough to tear the head off of a Nighttouched bull. The armored figure didn’t even seem to notice it had happened. She continued to shine the light over Big Macintosh’s hand.
A second later, she grit her teeth, put both hands on the hammer, and redoubled her fury as she swung her hammer back and smashed it into the other side of her head. This time it actually turned a little and moved a few centimeters, but that was all. She smashed it again back and forth, putting more effort into it each time. Again, the head shifted a little, but the figure never registered any pain, and never stopped throttling her brother.
Letting out a swear, Applejack whipped her arms back and got ready for her strongest blow yet. While she was preparing, however, the light went off that was shining over Big Macintosh’s hand. Immediately the throttling grip released, letting him fall to the ground. As Applejack brought the hammer around, the head of the figure snapped to aim its glowing eyes right at her while simultaneously raising her arm and extending her palm.
The head of the hammer swung around and connected with it…and aside from a slight bending of the elbow held perfectly.
Applejack was shocked yet again. The figure easily held her back without quivering with a single arm. However, her shock ended up costing her soon after as the figure formed a fist and snapped forward like a crack of a whip to embed it in her gut.
If possible, Applejack’s eyes bulged even larger, although it wasn’t entirely from surprise alone this time. The air went rushing out of her lungs before her powerful body was easily taken off of its feet and sent flying backward. It didn’t stop until it hit the side of the fort, letting out an even louder resounding clang as she smashed into the walls and fell to the ground. Once there, she instantly sprawled out, dropping her hammer. She began to gasp for air, almost heedless of the fact that blood was dripping from her mouth. While still trying to catch her breath she looked back up to the armored figure.
She didn’t advance. Rather, she extended a single finger toward her. Had Applejack a few more wits, she probably would have registered more surprise as the metal finger split apart completely—not exposing any flesh or bone beneath but rather some sort of focused barrel. A ringing sound went through the air for a moment and the tip gleamed bright red.
Applejack didn’t know what that was but she didn’t wait to find out. While still trying to recover, she reached out, seized her hammer, and went into a forward roll. Moments later, a beam of red light streaked out from the opened finger and sliced where her legs had been. She didn’t turn around to look, but the ground and even the heavy iron plating surrounding the fortress was sliced into like it had just come out of a furnace; opening a gleaming fissure that began to leak molten slag before bursting into flame. Applejack found herself forced to dodge to the side a moment later as the figure sliced out again, this time horizontally for her arms. While she managed to sidestep it, a second swath, much larger than the first, was cut across the first floor of the fortress. People cried out in alarm and panic as they fled in its wake.
Gritting her teeth again, Applejack answered by snapping her arm forward and flinging her hammer right at her extended finger in a swinging arc. It connected solidly before the figure could fire a third time, knocking it ajar. She seized the moment and got both her feet under her, again toughing through the growing pain, as she went into a charge.
“All y’all get back!” she cried out her with as much wind as she could get. Even as she did, she continued to charge forward and moments later extended her arms and laced them around the middle of the armored figure. She meant to wrestle her to the ground and grapple from there.
Instead, the figure’s heels dug back possibly two inches before she held perfectly steady. In spite of Applejack’s grip and her attempt to yank her to the ground for all that she was worth, not to mention the fact she looked larger than her, it was impossible. It felt like wrestling a piece of solid iron.
For several seconds, the figure allowed her to try, before she raised both of her hands, linked them together in a fist, and brought them down. A sickening smack went out before Applejack instantly went flaccid. Her legs gave way and went to her knees, and it was only because she was clutching to the figure that she kept from going down all together. That was probably not for the best, because the figure immediately unlaced her fingers and delivered two more blows to her back—one fist after the other. She buckled a bit more on the second, and on the third she gave a cry of pain before losing her grip all together and sprawling to the ground.
Without missing a beat, the figure brought back one foot and delivered a powerful kick to her side. Applejack’s cry was more like a choked gag as the iron toe dug deep and nearly pierced her ribs. Once again, her body was sent sailing; this time out into the surrounding crowds of people. They quickly scattered out of the way, but her body still connected with the ground so powerfully that her tumbling form smashed into and through two makeshift tents that had been being erected before she came to a stop.
She lay there for a few seconds before letting out an angry fume, snapping herself over, and pushing herself back to her feet. She rose even faster than last time, but as soon as she was up she winced in agony and put a hand on her side. She also wobbled a bit before shifting more weight onto her good leg, and despite her best efforts her body was hunched over in pain. This didn’t matter to the armored figure, who stared at her for a moment before hunching over herself, as if about to go into a dash.
However, she didn’t break into a run. Rather, her armor suddenly split apart behind her legs and along her back, opening up like a series of metal doors. Again, no flesh or bone was exposed, but rather several small nozzles. A moment later each one of them began to make a rushing sound before plumes of energy burst from them. In response the armored figure’s body suddenly sailed across the grounds like a rocket, causing many other bystanders to cry out in alarm and panic. Applejack herself barely managed to look up before, much to her shock, she saw the armored figure come to a halt right in front of her.
Instantly, she went with her instincts. Giving another yell, she tightened her hand into a fist and belted her across the face. She followed up with a hook from her other arm soon after. The figure, on her part, stood there and took it as she calmly waited for her armor to close up behind her again. Her head barely budged from either blow, but Applejack’s face tightened in more agony as the knuckles on both of her hands were split open from striking her. She tried to hit her a third time, but before she could the arm of the figure snapped up and deflected the hit away.
An instant later, Applejack was stunned with pain again as the figure drove her own metal hand into her face in a palm gesture, snapping her head back and leaving her dazzled. In a flash, the armored figure followed up by striking her in the gut three more times, making sure two of them hit where she had been kicked before. Each blow seemed to suck the strength out of Applejack and leave her more dazzled and in pain for the next. After landing the third strike, she again formed a palm and slapped the farmer against either side of the head. While it looked like a small enough gesture, it was worse than being beaten with an iron bat. Applejack’s upper body flung violently to either side as blood streaks were left painted across the ground with each blow.
Finally, the armored figure raised a leg, took a moment to orientate it correctly, and then swung out like it was a primed catapult. An echo went across the yard from the sound of it connecting with Applejack’s head, and again she was sent flying. This time she sailed like a missile right into the nearest intact gun emplacement. At the speed she was going, she smashed right through the barricade being built around it and into the gun itself, breaking the barrel off the carriage before collapsing on top of it in a grand heap.
She lay there a few moments, panting and gasping, before gritting her teeth and throwing herself back up and to her feet…or at least one foot. This time, she didn’t have nearly as much spring in her step, and she was clearly weaker about putting her hands up. She once again glared at her opponent, but no sooner had she laid eyes on her than she saw she was aiming her finger at her again, and once more it was open and gleaming red. Moments later, she fired.
As the deadly red light ripped across through the remains of the cannon and into the border wall beyond, slicing both apart in its wake and making both burst into flame, Applejack again evaded by getting enough of a second wind to rush forward and under it. Her first target wasn’t the armored figure this time, but rather her discarded hammer. She made a hobbling beeline straight for it. The armored figure, noticing her move, quickly changed positions and fired again, but Applejack answered by going into a lunge and jumping for it at the last second. The beam again narrowly missed her, and as she came forward she snagged the hammer off the ground before going into a dive roll. As soon as her feet were back underneath her, she sprung off as best as she could with her injured leg back for the figure. Her hammer again came back and readied itself for another smash…
Once again, the armored figure responded by extending her palm and catching the head of the hammer with her hand. Applejack immediately planted her feet, digging in and putting more power into the blow. With all the fury her beaten, bloodied face still had, she tried to level her weight against it to overpower the figure. Yet for all of her force and strength, her opponent merely flexed her arm a bit more and showed nothing else. Her green glowing eyes stared right at her without wavering or hesitation.
For a few fateful seconds, the crowd watched as the two collided. Sweat burst on Applejack’s face, mingling with her blood, and she never stopped struggling for even one moment.
Then, the armored figure simply flipped her wrist grabbing the hammer head downward.
With that one gesture, she snapped the hammer completely off of its handle like it was a dried twig.
Applejack’s fury gave way to utter shock. The sudden loss of force would have caused her to spill forward, if not for the fact that the armored figure’s other hand, the one bearing the exposed finger, was still free. At that moment, she fired again…putting a ray of light right through the existing bullet injury on the Warrior’s leg. Her pupils shrank into pinpricks, and a moment later she collapsed to one knee, crying in pain as blood erupted from the rear of her leg…
Her cries didn’t last long. The figure let the broken hammer fall to the ground, formed palms with both hands, and proceeded to box the sides of Applejack’s head. Her cry was aborted from the fresh pain, but she had no further chance to react to it as her opponent followed it up by retracting her finger, forming a fist, and smashing her across the face. That was too much for her. Her eyes finally glazed over as another streak of blood painted the ground, and the rest of her fell to the ground in an unconscious heap.
The crowd didn’t dare breathe a word. Many of them had seen Applejack in battle at this point, and now they could only gape in horror as they watched the aura around her die down and her clothing return to normal. No one dared make a move on the armored figure as she towered over her. As for the figure herself, she hesitated only momentarily, seeming to verify that the farmer was down, before she crouched down. Without a sound, she reached out and grasped Applejack’s limp hand that bore the Promethian Sigil. She extended her opposite palm over it, shining out the same light she had shone over Big Macintosh’s and holding for a few seconds.
“I’m coming, Applejack!”
The green lenses of the armored figure looked up as she turned her head around. She spotted Pinkie Pie, fully in the Rogue form, dashing right for her. An instant later, she cut off the light and dropped Applejack’s hand, and in one movement turned and faced the newcomer. Her finger split apart again and an instant later she traced the red light out right in Pinkie’s path.
She answered by giving a giggle and doing a nimble forward hop. In her wake, the ground lit aflame, but Pinkie herself continued to run forward unabated. The figure didn’t react save to shift her aim and fire again, this time lashing out to once again tag the side of the fort and send people running in panic. Once again, Pinkie simply leapt to one side. She tried to fire a third time, but had much the same result.
By now, she was nearly on the armored figure, and it quickly collapsed its finger weapon and readied its fists. Pinkie continued to run straight at her, and as soon as she got close enough she swung out one of her arms for her head. However, the Rogue nimbly planted her feet, arched her back, and slid right under the fist and below the outstretched arm of the armored figure, dodging the blow. She soon was on her other side and sprung up again, just as the armored figure extended her other arm and swept it around her as she spun around—trying to catch her off guard. Yet with a nimble twist, turn, and duck, Pinkie once more slid underneath her.
“Hmm,” she remarked as she popped up on the other side, right before hopping back three steps to avoid another swing of the armored figure’s arm. “You’re hard to take from. That armor is reeeeeally tough.”
The figure didn’t respond, save by raising it fingers and pointing at her again. It streaked out with two more beams of light, again slicing up Pinkie’s way and leaving fire in her wake, but again she responded by simply nimbly backflipping. It increased the distance between the two, but she failed to tag the pink-haired woman even once.
As Pinkie touched down for a landing, however, the armored figure collapsed her finger again. Instead, the tops of her shoulders opened up next. What emerged from inside along both of her shoulder blades was an array of conical-shaped cylinders. Pinkie spotted it as they came out and lit up. “Ooo! What do those do?”
The figure didn’t answer or even move. A second later, a hissing sound like a series of lit fireworks came from her shoulders, before each of the conical cylinders erupted from the end—revealing themselves to be miniature rockets. None of them traveled in a straight path. Each one spun or swirled in its own way, before angling themselves inward and sailing straight for Pinkie. As the nearest arrived, she quickly sidestepped once again.
Unfortunately for her, as the first one connected with where she had been, it did worse than a cutting slice and flames. It erupted with a force of an artillery shell, casting fire and dirt everywhere and knocking the nearest bystanders off their feet completely. Pinkie’s smile actually turned into a nervous grimace as she was nearly bowled off balance, and she spotted the rest of the rockets immediately arching for her. She tried to step back, but another rocket soon swiveled down where she had been and landed on the ground even closer than before. It erupted just as strongly as the previous one, this time blowing up enough smoke and dust to envelop her completely.
Soon the rest of the rockets were peppering the area with similar explosions, chasing after her in spite of the smoke and dirt. What few people were still watching turned and bolted for it if they could, as the rockets filled the yard with one gaping hole after another. They even stretched back all the way to the wall, proceeding to blast further holes into it, while one stray one went all the way to the side of the fort. In spite of the iron plating, it blasted through and flayed jagged pieces of metal like a rind from an orange. The impact tremors alone shook many of the surrounding people to the ground, and further cries and screams went out in the wake of the barrage.
At last, the final rocket had detonated. Half of the east yard was covered in smoke and settling dust, and filled with craters stretching for forty meters. The armored figure’s shoulder areas again slowly collapsed and closed, but she didn’t move. She continued to stare at the area and look for an aftermath of her attack. For a few moments, all that presented itself was billowing smoke and falling dirt.
“Got something!”
The armored figure indicated the first slight hint of surprise as her head raised on hearing the voice behind her. She saw Pinkie standing and smiling. More than that, however, she was holding up something in her hand—a small strip of metal emblazoned with the same symbols as the figure wore.
The figure stared at her for a moment before turning fully around. She looked at her shoulder and, sure enough, one of the coverings was missing.
“Taking off the rest should be much easier now that I figured it out!” Pinkie grinned.
She didn’t answer. For a moment, she stood like a statue staring at the cheerful woman.
Another hiss went out from her, this time from her helmet. Abruptly, a vertical line formed across the mouthpiece, where the armored lips of the facemask were. It soon widened so that the helmet opened its “mouth” completely. Once again, nothing was exposed underneath but emptiness. However, scarcely had it opened to full size before its next attack happened.
Blaring as loud as a siren, a “musical” sound suddenly erupted from the head of the figure. “Musical”, however, was being more than kind. It was definitely some sort of melodious sound, but it was nothing like a symphony, a band, or any other instrument or voice ever heard before, and it produced a song unlike anything anyone had ever heard. It was bizarre, flat, convoluted, and even, if one could call it, grotesque. The fact that it was blared so loud that everyone could hear it clearly for a quarter mile in every direction only made it worse.
Pinkie, standing right in front of her, lost her smile. Her hands fell to her sides, and soon after her knees began to buckle. A second later, she fell to the ground as her face started to twist, barely keeping herself up on all fours. Her eyes began to cross as her neck tightened.
“I think…those rations…aren’t setting well with me…”
An instant later, she retched and began to vomit. She wasn’t alone. Everyone in the yard was falling to their knees as well and doing much the same. The music was so unworldly and unnatural that not only could their minds not process it but their bodies seemed to be seizing and reacting to it as if it was something nauseating or disgusting. All strength fled out of their limbs. Everyone felt mixtures of dizziness, weakness, and, most of all, sickness. People continued to empty their stomachs before falling completely to the ground. Others gagged, wretched, or even screamed at the unbearable quality of the sound. After only ten seconds of it, not one soldier in the quarter-mile radius was still standing. After fifteen, Pinkie finally gave one final moan before collapsing to the ground as well—her aura instantly vanishing.
With a mechanical noise, the mouthpiece of the figure closed once again. Not that there was anyone left to notice. Everyone was in a heap moaning and struggling to regain their equilibrium. Unopposed, the armored figure walked right up to Pinkie. She tried to look up to her, but that was all she could do. She couldn’t even squirm that well as the figure reached her side, knelt down, took up her hand bearing the Promethian Sigil, and proceeded to shine the same light over it as she had for Applejack.
In moments, it was over. The figure let Pinkie’s hand fall to the ground and rose to full height. No longer paying anyone in the area any mind, she simply began to walk around the central fort complex. While everyone was still on the ground she reached the west side. After that, her back and legs split open to reveal the jet nozzles again, and with another eruption of speed she took off. Seconds later, two more holes were punched through the walls surrounding the fort as the figure smashed her way out into the field. Soon after, she was gone.
It wasn’t for three more minutes that Applejack finally let out a small moan. She leaned up soon after, but instantly tightened her face in pain. Her hand reached out and seized her leg, which caused her to grit her teeth in more pain and agony. She looked down at it and saw it was in horrible shape. The last attack had seared her wound closed to keep her from bleeding out, but it was burnt badly and smoking. She soon pushed herself up into a seated position and tried to stand, but that only made her cry out even more on putting any weight on the leg. Nevertheless, as she continued to regain consciousness, she grit her teeth through her pain, bruises, and blood and forced her good leg underneath her. With some struggling, she managed to push herself up on that one.
She took a moment to look around. The last of the dust had settled, but the area was in shambles. People were only now getting up on all fours. The only other person who was close to recovered with Pinkie, who by now was in a seated position. “I haven’t felt that sick since I made those cupcakes with the expired sour cream…”
With a creak and a slow sway, the door to the base of the fort opened again. Moments later, half-staggering and grabbing their middles, Burnt Oak and several other officers came out. The former was breathing a bit deeply, wiping at his mouth and clearly trying to keep his own nausea down, but apparently those inside weren’t as badly impacted as those outside. Nevertheless, he only got a few steps before he and the others with him halted. They glanced around the yard, seeing the widespread destruction and trauma both to the defenses as well as to the soldiers stationed there.
Finally, he looked back at Applejack. “What the hell just happened out here? Who was that?”
Applejack couldn’t answer, and not just due to her pain. She looked back down at herself. Her clothing was back to normal and covered with dirt. Her arms and legs, along with most of the rest of her, were banged up from the violence of the fighting. Her jaw clamped shut and she began to stare intensely at her sorry state. The thought of how helpless she had been just now…how with all her strength she was so easily smashed aside…ran through her brain and slowly began to make her quiver. Yet she had no more anger to give. She merely stood there and stewed.
“It was…it was them things…on your hands…”
Braeburn’s voice caused everyone to look up, not just Applejack. She ended up looking to one side of the yard, where Big Macintosh was lying along with other members of her family struggling to rise again. Yet at a distance, pushing himself up from where he had been stricken with nausea, Braeburn arose and looked at her.
“That woman…she was lookin’ for those things on your hands. She went to all the family…everyone that has one…and anyone else around…and she started grabbin’ their hands and holding that light over it.” He grimaced a little. “She…she looked right at me…even took a step toward me…but then just looked away.”
“That’s right, Applejack!” Pinkie called out, causing her to turn to her next. “She was looking at your hand when I ran in, and then she grabbed mine after I fell down!”
Applejack’s anger and self-loathing momentarily abated. She looked up in puzzlement instead. She glanced back at her own hand. The symbol was the same as it had always been since that night in Fort Chestnut. No difference or change whatsoever.
Before she could study it any longer, a siren began to blare. Both she and the others, as well as the rapidly recovering soldiers, all looked up into the air.
“What in tarnation is it now?” she muttered aloud.
Burnt Oak’s pupils shrank. He stared at the sky blankly for a moment, but then clenched his jaw and let out a curse. “Aw hell…”
Applejack turned to him. “What is it?”
He looked down and at her grimly. “The warning siren.”
“Look!”
One of the sentries had shouted that from the first level’s wall. Applejack turned to him, only to see him pointing out to the eastern horizon. She turned in the same direction soon after.
Evening was on them now and the sun was rapidly heading down, and there were still clouds from the overcast day that had been hanging over Appleloosa before. Yet in the fading light, far in the distance, they could see objects emerging from the clouds. Once that were far “sharper” and man made relative to the clouds. It didn’t take long to make out the appearance of propellers on them, as well as the fact that they were arranged in a flying V formation that stretched across the sky. There had to be at least fourteen separate ones, and in the next few moments she was able to distinguish the shapes.
Trottingham airships.
Applejack’s jaw hung loose. She looked back to the ground…seeing soldiers still recovering from nausea and imbalance, a defensive line breached both to the east and to the west, a field ruined with fire and devastation, and even a central defensive fort that was now damaged from the weapons of the armored figure. Disorganized, damaged, and with a gaping wound running clean through it.
Pinkie seemed to notice the same thing, because for once her smile and cheerfulness was forced and weak. “I…don’t suppose there’s a Gaitian shrine around here, is there? Because I really, really, really think I need to pray right now.”