Applejack rubbed her eyes one last time just to make sure she was seeing correctly. One moment, they were all rushing towards Queen Chrysalis who was about to activate some sort of exploding crystal thingies in the middle of the town square of Canterlot that - even though she wasn't an expert on the subject - she knew would have packed one heck of a punch to the city, and the next moment she was standing in the streets of Ponyville alongside Rainbow Dash, Shining Armor and Princess Cadence. She also recalled quite clearly that it was broad daylight in Canterlot, while in here in Ponyville, it was the middle of the night. After she was finally done getting over her shock, she decided it was time to discuss it with her friends.
"Does anypony else see this?" she asked the other three ponies. "How in tarnation did we end up back in Ponyville?"
"I don't think we're actually in Ponyville, Applejack." Cadence answered. "At least, not quite. I feel something... different about this place. I can't quite put my hoof on it, but it's definitely not the Ponyville we know." she explained.
"So what do you think happened?" asked Shining Armor. "Have we like... somehow entered into a mirror universe?"
"Or maybe the speed I used when we tried to subdue Chrysalis somehow warped time around us and now we are in a new, altered present." Rainbow Dash offered her own theory. The others were skeptical about this theory. They knew Rainbow Dash liked to boast about how fast she is, but Sonic Rainboom or not, they doubted she was capable of that much speed.
"Whichever it is, we need to figure it out and quickly." Cadence said. "If Chrysalis' crystal bomb detonated, we have to get back." they all agreed with that statement.
"We should head up to Canterlot." Shining offered. "Someone at the castle can surely help us."
"The castle might not even exist here." Rianbow Dash said. "Nor Canterlot for that matter if Chrysalis' bomb really went off." It was a horrible thought, but it was definitely possible.
"I'll try the Crystal Empire." Cadence suggested. "Me and Shining are the rulers there. Surely they'll give me the information we need."
"Assuming there IS a Crystal Empire." Shining remarked grimly after hearing Rainbow Dash's previous idea.
"The Empire wasn't under attack when we were pulled here. It's worth checking out." Rianbow said. Shining and Cadence shared a concerned look before the colt gave his wife a kiss.
"Be careful, Cady. We don't know what to expect there." Cadence nodded and uttered a quick 'I love you' before she disappeared in a flash. After she left, Applejack spoke up once again.
"While we wait, Ah'll go and check out Sweet Apple Acres. No matter what kind of Ponyville this is, the Apple family always sticks together. Surely they can help me out." Shining and Rainbow looked at each other.
"I don't think that's a good idea, AJ." Rainbow warned. "Cadence has already left for the Empire to get help and we probably shouldn't split up in the middle of an unknown version of Ponyville."
"Don't worry, Rainbow. Sweet Apple Acres is much closer to here then the Crystal Empire. Ah'll be back before ya know it." the two other ponies weren't quite convinced, but before they could speak again, the orange mare had already left.
Applejack walked down the road towards Sweet Apple Acres, but the closer she got, the more she began to wonder if she was actually at the right place. The farm looked rather neglected, the apple trees didn't look like they've been bucked recently and the buildings were in a serious state of disrepair. It was almost like the entire farm has been abandoned. Which seemed unimaginable to the orange cowpony.
"Where is everypony?" There was no way her family would ever leave the lands they've been living on for generations. At least not willingly. The only thing she could think of was that something happened here that forced everypony off the land, but before she could dwell on this further, she noticed a sharp blue light coming from behind the trees in the near distance which was accompanied by an ear piercing scream of agony. Applejack immediately thought that she would get the answer to her question when she rushed towards the source of the light. There was no reason for anypony other than someone of the Apple family to be on this land this late, but when she reached the spot where the light was coming from, it suddenly vanished and the screams were silenced. And then Applejack heard voices coming from behind the trees that she definitely didn't recognize as anypony from her family.
"Do yourself a favor and stop resisting, Sunset. Your body won't be able to take much more."
"Yeah, right. As if two weaklings like you could ever break me."
"Watch the insults! This lightning spell wasn't even my strongest."
"Do your worst... you loudmouthed fraud..."
Applejack's concern quickly turned into confusion. "Trixie? Starlight? What the hay are they doin' with Sunset Shimmer? And why are they doin' it on mah farm?" Applejack peeked out from behind the tree and saw the aforementioned unicorns stanidng around a tree stump which had a very battered and bruised Sunset Shimmer tied down on it.
The two unicorns looked significantly different than Applejack remembered them. Trixie was wearing a completely black robe with a cloak covering her head instead of her trademark magician hat, while Starlight wore a silver armor with a purple star that wasn't unlike Twilight's cutie mark in the middle of it and her hair was tied up in a ponytail.
Regime Trixie's horn began glowing again with menacing blue light as she loomed over Insurgency Sunset. "For the last time, Sunset: Will you accept the Empress' amnesty?" she asked with a tone that suggested she was at the end of her patience.
"By amnesty, you mean a ticket to your brainwash center and a lifetime of servitude under a crazed tyrant?" Insurgency Sunset asked sarcastically. "Thanks for the offer but I'll pass. Unlike you two glorified thugs, I am nopony's puppet!" Regime Starlight's face hardened at the yellow unicorn's resistance.
"I have no idea why the Empress even bothers with you Sunset. If you ask me we should have put you down years ago like we did with all the other scumbags after Canterlot." Her expression grew solemn when she mentioned that. "We lost too many good ponies that day, including many from Starlight Village. And we still haven't done enough to make up for that."
"Apparently you've also lost your comprehensive abilities that day, Starlight!" Insurgency Sunset retorted. "I told you a million times already: I had nothing to do with that!" Regime Starlight's hard expression didn't soften.
"Be that as it may, you're still a loose wire, Sunset. You're wanton traveling between the human world and ours endangers the balance between the mirror universes. And that is a liability the Empress cannot ignore." Insurgency Sunset scoffed up at her.
"Well, you go and tell your Empress she can go buck herse... AGHHHH!" her sentence ended in a scream as Regime Trixie resumed electrocuting her. Regime Starlight was about to add a little pressure herself, when she noticed that the lightnings from Regime Trixie's horn suddenly stopped. She looked into the direction of the other unicorn and was quite surprised to see an apple pierced on the top of her horn. Regime Trixie was no less surprised when she tpped her horn and noticed the fruit impaled on it.
"What the... Where did that come from?" Regime Starlight asked, but she got her answer pretty soon when she saw another apple fly towards her, just in time to blast it before it reached her. She looked into the direction where it came from and saw Applejack holding another apple, ready to strike.
"The Apple family does not take kindly to such atrocities being committed on their lands!" she told the two unicorns with a sharp glare. Regime Starlight raised an eyebrow.
"Oh, yeah? And just when did you start caring about these lands again?" Applejack was caught off guard by this question. Again? What did she mean by again? But before she could ask, Regime Trixie joined the conversation.
"The great and powerful Trixie feels a disturbance in the force, Starlight." she added after removing the apple from her horn. "This is Applejack, but at the same time..." but Applejack interrupted before she could finish.
"That's enough! Get off mah farm and leave Sunset alone! No matter what she did, nopony deserves such a treatment!" But her words had the opposite reaction on the two mares than she intended. Instead of intimidating them, they narrowed their eyes and moved towards her.
"I see what you mean, Trixie. This is definitely not the Applejack we know!" Regime Starlight snarled to her colleague.
"If you feel such sympathy for Sunset, you can share her pain!" Regime Trixie exclaimed as she blasted Applejack with some more lightning. The farm pony fell back on the ground and groaned in pain, trying to pull herself together and get back up.
"And after we're done with her, we're gonna take you to meet the Empress of Magic. And I'll give you a heads up, she doesn't take kindly to ponies interrupting her operations." Regime Starlight went to take her into custody, but when she leaned down, Applejack quickly pulled back her back hooves and delivered a healthy kick to the unicorn's head, sending her flying against one of the nearby apple trees. She then sprung to her hooves and turned to Regime Trixie and finding her glaring daggers at her.
"That's enough!" the blue unicorn yelled. "Whoever you are, you're under arrest!" Regime Trixie fired her strongest containment spells at the farm mare, but she managed to pull herself together enough to dodge her attacks. Applejack ran to hide behind on of the trees. She started thinking about how should she handle this fight and her eyes landed on an old, derelict barn and ran towards it in the hopes of finding something useful. When she entered, she was disappointed to find see that most of the equipment in there have been completely useless due to being unused and unkept for so long. But she did find one useful thing though.
"This should be good for something." Applajack told herself as she picked up a long rope and made one end of it into a lasso. She then ran back outside hid between the trees, looking for Regime Trixie. Once she spotted the blue unicorn, she hid between the trees and threw her lasso over a branch. It's noose landed on the ground Applajack kicked the tree behind her to get Regime Trixie's attention.
"Aha!" the unicorn yelled, running towards the source of the sound. "Did you really think you can hide from the Great and Powerful Tri... WHOA!" Regime Trixie yelped in surprise as Applejack pulled the rope, which wrapped itself around Regime Trixie's backhoof and pulled her up into the air upside down. "Do you think such a primitive weapon can hold me?" she yelled as she charged her horn, but before she could cast any spell to free herself, Applejack kicked her against the tree she was hanging from and then quickly dropped her down. Regime Trixie landed on the top of her head, Applejack then walked over to the tree and bucked it so hard that it made all of the apples it was holding and they all landed on the unicorn, knocking her out.
"No. But ah reckon a little conussion might do the trick." Applejack said, gathering her lasso and walking away.
Regime Starlight Glimmer had finally managed to get back on her hooves, but before she could move, she found herself wrapped up with Appjejack's newly acquired lasso.
"So, just who is this 'Empress of Magic' supposed to be?" the orange mare demanded. "She must be somethin' if she managed to turn you and Trixie into her attack dogs!" Regime Starlight shot her a glare.
"You wanna see an attack dog?" she snarled.
"Ah wanna see you talk!" Applejack retorted. Regime Starlight's expression turned into a smug smirk.
"Okay. I'll talk about the massive trouble you managed to get yourself into." she said as she blasted Applejack with a knockback spell that sent her to the ground. Applejack quickly got back up and noticed that the noose of her lasso was still wrapped around Regime Starlight's forehooves. She quickly yanked at the rope, pulling Regime Starlight's hooves out of under her, causing her to fall. She was quite unlucky as she fired a spell from her horn when she fell which fired upwards and cut the branch of the tree over her. The branch fell on top of the unicorn, knocing her out cold. Applejack walked up to her to check on her and scoffed when she found that she was unconscious.
"Well, looks like ah won't be findin' out anythin' from her." but then she heard a groan from Insurgency Sunset who was still tied to the tree stump, struggling in vain to get free. "Maybe she will be more talkative." Applejack walked up to the tied unicorn and cut the ropes holding her.
"Those stupid fools and their damn empress!" Insurgency Sunset complained, trying to get up. "When I get my strength back, I'll blast them out of their 'reeducation'." Applejack tried to help her up, but Insurgency Sunset roughly shoved her hooves away. "Don't touch me!"
"Hey, ah just saved yer flank from being fried by those two. How 'bout some gratitude?" Applejack snapped.
"Well, the Applejack I know was among the ponies who got me into this situation in the first place, so forgive my skepticism!" Insurgency Sunset shouted as she removed the magic blocking ring from her horn. Applejack was taken aback by this. She had a hard time believing any version of her would do something like this in any world. She had to find out what was going on here.
"Well, in case ya hadn' noticed, ahm not the Applajack that's with those two! Should have been obvious bah the fact ah just kicked their flanks to save ya!" Insurgency Sunset looked at her in contemplation for a few moments. Honestly, she also was a little confused by what had just taken place, but she was not about to drop her guard after everything her Applejack and her friends had done to her and everypony else.
"Whoever you are, they know you now. They will hunt you and when they find you, you're gonna need every inch of your earth pony strength to refuse their 'amnesty'." she warned.
"So who were they workin' for." Applejack asked. "Who is this 'Empress of Magic'?
"The only pony in Equestria who can keep magical nutjobs like them in line." Insurgency Sunset answered bluntly. "Don't worry, you'll get to meet her soon enough." Applejack was about to ask for a clearer explanation, but then she noticed her comm crystal beeping. She picked it up and saw Rainbow Dash's image appearing, she looked rather distressed.
"AJ! You have to get back here ASAP! Nightmare Moon is here!" Dash yelled. Applejack's eyes widened.
"Nightmare Moon?! What kind of messed up horror world is this?!" she yelled.
"She was attacking a bunch of ponies on the streets! Me and Shining Armor had to stop her, but we can't hold her by ourselves! You have to come back!" Applejack narrowed her eyes into a determined look.
"Ahm on mah way!" she replied, putting her crystal away. "Alright, missy! Yer comin' with me..." she turned to Insurgency Sunset to drag her off with her, but upon turning around, she was surprised to see that the uniciorn was nowhere to be seen. Applejack scoffed in frustration. She wasn't happy, but she had no time to dwell on this, she had to go help her friends.
Back in Ponyville, Rainbow Dash was trying to stay in the air while evading Regime Nightmare Moon's attacks. Which was eaiser said than done, since she couldn't flx high as that would make her an easy target and it was hard to maneuver between the buildings. Shining Armor tried to help her out by attacking from the ground, but even his strogest attacks could only budge the corrupted alicorn. Eventually, she got tired of it and turned her attention towards the stallion on the ground. She dashed down towards him and pinned him down. Shininh struggled to get free, but his efforts were in vain. Regime Nightmare Moon smirked down on him.
"And Shining Armor dies yet again." she mused, charging her horn for a finishing blow. Rainbow Dash noticed what she was doing and flew down to try and get her off of Shining Armor, but Regime Nightmare Moon simply flapped her wings and threw her off of herself. "Along with Rainbow Dash." she was about to finish off the stallion so she could focus on Dash, but before she could, she felt something wrap around her horn. She then felt a strong pull that forced her off of the unicorn stallion she was about to execute and she found herself lying on the ground in front of Applejack's hooves. Despite her situation, she couldn't help, but smirk. "Rainbow Dash, Shining Armor and now Applejack." she mused before blasting the farm mare away from her and getting up. "This just keeps getting better."
Applejack recovered and pulled back her lasso. "Ah still don't know who this Empress of Magic is, but ah do know she's bad news if she allows the likes of ya to run around!" Applejack yelled at her, throwing her lasso again. Regime Nightmare Moon caught it and yanked on it, pulling Applejack towards herself.
"The Empress and her Regime are the only thing tying Equestria together! We're willing to do for the country's protection what my sister wasn't! Reembracing the Nightmare was a logical step!" she countered, pulling Applejack towards her. "If you lived in this world like your counterpart, you would understand!" Applejack waited until she was close enough to Regime Nightmare Moon, then spun around and bucked her in the face, making her back away and let go of the lasso.
"I'm working with Nightmare Moon and a tyrant Empress in this world?!" she asked in disbelief. Regime Nightmare Moon narrowed her eyes at her.
"As do all who wish to live!" she snarled, charging at Applejack. She managed to get out of the way and lassoed the alicorn from behind. This time, she managed to wrap it around her neck and yanked hard on it, making her fall on her back. Applejack then pulled back her lasso abd threw it around Regime Nightmare Moon's four hooves and tied them together and before she could cast a spell to free herself, she ran up to her and bucked her lights out.
"Reembrace this." Applejack told the unconscious alicorn as she unwrapped her lasso from her hooves.
"Applejack?!" came Rainbow Dash's voice from behind her. The addressed mare turned back to her friend.
"What is it, Rainbow?" but Applejack got the surprise of her life when she saw that Dash wasn't talking to her, but another orange earth pony mare standing in the streets. She looked exactly like Applejack, but instead of her trademark hat, she was wearing a green peaked cap with the samepurple star on it that she saw on Starlight's armor and also a green military officer jacket.
"Somepony wanted to see me?" Regime Applejack asked casually. The main Applejack looked her counterpart in horror. She was unsure how should she handle the situation, but then she remembered everything she recently learned that this Applejack has been doing in this world and decided to remind her who she was supposed to be. The hard way.
"Oh, you bet your flank ah wanted to see ya and have a few words with ya!" she told the other Applejack, marching up to her. "What in the hay do ya think yer doin' dressed like this and runnin' around with Nightmare Moon while yer farm is failin' apart and bein' used by unicorn magicians to prison and torture other ponies there?" Regime Applejack matched her counterpart's glare.
"Sweet Apple Acres has become nothing more than a hotbed for criminals and traitors! After mah family decided to turn against Equestria and rebel against the Empress, ah couldn't bare to stay there any longer! The Empress knows how to deal with the enemies of the state. Dat farm is in good hooves with her." she told Applejack without a care. The Applejack from the main universe was appalled by this response.
"So ya just decided to leave the farm that yer family built and worked on for generations under some tyrant and abandoned all of your relatives to fight her while you helped her oppress Equestria?!" she yelled in her face. "Sugarcoat it however ya want, yer nothing but a coward who abandoned her family! Ye disgust me!" Regime Applejack was getting rather tired with her counterpart's tantrum.
"Who are ya to judge me?! Ya have no idea what happened in mah Equestria in the past years! What me and mah friends went through and the decisions we had to make to keep Equestria safe! Ya don't know anythin' about me!"
"Yer right about one thing!" Applejack yelled back. "Ah don't know what happened here and what ye had to go through! But one thing ah do know is that yer supposed to be me in this world! And ah would never, in a million years, EVER turn mah back on mah family! Stay out of this ya two! This coward is mine!" she yelled back at Rainbow and Shining. The two of them then watched as the two Applejacks went at it, wincing when they saw what their Applejack was doing to her counterpart. The anger she was feeling was giving her the edge and she was not holding back. Regime Applejack didn't stand a chance. In a few moments, she was laying on the ground unconscious, battered and bruised next to Regime Nightmare Moon. While Applejack had released some of the anger she felt upon learning of her counterpart's actions, she was still heaving with anger. Rainbow Dash carefully approached her friend.
"You okay, AJ?" she asked, putting a hoof on her shoulder. Applejack let out a big sigh.
"Ah'll be fine, sugarcube. Ah just never thought it possible that ah would abandon mah family like that. No matter what universe ahm from or what version of me it is." she told Rainbow with a troubled expression. Rainbow wanted to comfort her, but a sudden realization interrupted her. If Applejack's counterpart in this world turned out like this, what was her's like? But before she could think about this further, Shining Armor snapped her out of her thoughts.
"Girls, I hate to interrupt, but I think we should leave. More of them are probably on the way." Rainbow and Applejack looked at each other, realizing that the stallion was right. The three ponies headed down an alleyway to avoid detection.
"Nightmare Moon is flying around, Applejack turned on her family and now the Royal Guard is after us?" Shining complained. "Where are the good guys in this world?"
As if on cue, a yellow orb of light appeared in front of them out of nowhere. They all jumped and took up defensive stances, before the light subsided and they found themselves standing in front of this world's version of Princess Celestia herself. Apparently, the events of this world have also taken their toll on her. Her hair was significantly shorter than they were used to and was tied up into a bun, she was wearing a red headband around her head and on her body was a larger version of the golden armor worn by the Royal Guard, except much more worn. Her golden shoes were also replaced by golden leg armor. Most noticeable though, was the bandage over her right eye. She looked like she had just fought an entire war by herself.
"Ah reckon we might have just stumbled upon one." Applejack replied.