//------------------------------// // Devastation // Story: Choice // by zelkova48 //------------------------------// The invasion of Equestria continues unabated. Ponyville is bombed without warning. Another train had just arrived at Ponyville station today, another grim reminder of a failing conflict and the ever encroaching finality of defeat that followed it. They arrive by the sound of a shrill whistle one after the other almost every single day now since the invasion began and they were always packed to the ceiling with wounded soldiers and displaced refugees. They spilled out onto the boarding platforms by the hundreds, choking the streets of the sleepy little town in large dispirited masses as they made their way to the numerous tents, shacks and various other hastily assembled lodgings that will house them all during their stay here. It had only been a short time since the northern beachhead was decimated, roughly a month and a half, and things had gone from bad to worse for Equestria. Humanity could not be stopped. With the Thalmann Generators in the forefront and newer more advanced weaponry at their disposal every attempt to fight back or slow them down were swiftly and brutally crushed beneath superior numbers and unrelenting firepower. City after city, building by building, all were put to the torch. The smarter ponies, the ones who opposed the war from the beginning and the ones who realized that there was no chance in winning, submitted themselves to humanity's mercy knowing full well there was no point in prolonging the war any further. As for the rest, they scrambled to save what little they could, consolidating their troops and defenses in a foolhardy attempt to hold back the steel tide that threatened to wipe them from the face of existence. The town of Ponyville belonged to the latter group. Ponyville had become one of many towns and cities untouched by the war that were taking in the troops and broke their backs to keep them fit, fed and in fighting shape. Soldiers had priority over refugees, and refugees had priority over the local townsfolk. Supplies were scarce as it were what with the tithes having bled most everypony of their precious commodities by this point. What they did had were few and far between, forcing many to fight over meager scraps of hay, worn blankets and life saving medicine. Survival was now the name of the game and it had already begun to bring out the worst in everypony... "Give that to me, it's mine!" A down on his luck looking stallion growled as he yanked at a hole ridden blanket in a tug of war match with an equally down on her luck looking mare. "I said let go of it, you whorse!" "No!" The mare cried, a crying foal held in her forelegs. "My baby needs it! He'll freeze without the blanket!" "To Hell with your damn kid, I was here first!" The stallion argued, pulling harder. "What the hay is going on here?!" An angry voice barked from behind, causing the two feuding ponies to stop. It was Applejack and she looked like she hadn't had a good night's sleep in months. She rushed onto the scene, dirty and covered in cuts and leaves. Her face was set in a stony frown that couldn't properly portray the aggravation she felt within. Confronting the two, she huffed and stared them down with all the tension of a mare on the brink of physical collapse. "Stop that, you're gonna tear it!" "B-but it's mine!" The stallion protested. "I was first in line for blankets!" "But my foal needs it more!" The mare argued. "Shaddup, the both of you!" Applejack rebuked, and promptly tore away the blanket away from the both of them. "It belongs to neither of you lying cheats!" "C-cheat?!" The stallion fumed. "How dare you! I'm as honest as honest can be! I am no cheat!" "My flank you ain't!" Applejack scowled. "I saw you in line earlier today for a blanket! Now you're trying to grab another one! I don't know what your game is but the rule is one blanket per refugee! Nothing more, nothing less!" She then turned to the mare, looking especially furious towards her. "And you!" she pointed accusingly to the foal she held. "I don't know where you got that idea but it's sickening!" She knocks the crying 'foal' out of the mare's grip where it clattered onto the ground stiff and lifeless, revealed to be nothing more than a cheap toy with an even worse voice recording. "Gaining sympathy by lying about having a child! I ought to have you thrown out of here for that, let the humans punish you!" "N-no! Anything but that!" The mare shrieked frightfully. "I-I'll be good! Please, just let me stay!" "Hmph," Applejack flared her nostrils and swiftly turned around. "It's a good thing I give a damn about all of y'all, otherwise you'd be fending for yourselves out in the wilderness. But if I see or hear either of you trying pulling a fast one again, you'll be sleeping out in the cold tonight! Got it?!" The two look away sullenly, but they begrudgingly grumbled an acknowledgement under their breath. It was insincere and odds are they might try something later, but Applejack was too stressed and worn out to care. With a turn of the nose, Applejack trotted away, but not before shooting one last dirty look at the pair. Quick on her hoof, Applejack made a beeline towards Carousel Boutique and rudely barged through the front door of the establishment without even muttering a hello to her friend Rarity, who was currently hunched over a sewing machine working her hooves to the bone making simple garments. With a dismissive flick of her hoof, Applejack tossed the tattered blanket onto the massive pile of fabric scraps that was heaped beside the sewing table, utterly oblivious to the death glare she received from Rarity. Shortly after, she threw herself atop a nearby couch, landing with an unceremonious thud and burying her face into the seat cushions as the plush softness caressed her aching muscles. "...I needed this," Applejack mumbled into the seat. She turns over and began fidgeting into a more comfortable positions before staring blankly at the ceiling as she began airing out her grievances to stone ears. "You wouldn't what just happened earlier, Rares. I just caught a couple of troublemakers fighting over a damn blanket. A stupid blanket! Could you believe that? Wasn't even in one piece either. Dang thing had more holes in it than a block of swiss cheese, or Apple Bloom's back molar after too many trips to Sugar Cube Corner. Tsk, what is this world coming to if we're getting into petty squabbles amongst ourselves when we should be joining together converting the humans! I tell you, if it weren't for ponies like them we'd have won this war by now." Applejack let out another long sigh afterwards, hoping to receive some uplifting words of encouragement from Rarity. Instead, she received only awkward silence in return. There wasn't sound to be heard within the boutique "Uh, Rares?" Applejack uttered, turning her gaze to the unicorn. "Rarity? Rarity! Hey, I'm talking to you! Rarity!?" "I heard you the first time!" Rarity snapped her head around, a furious scowl plastered on her face. She leveled a glare upon Applejack, who couldn't help but feel confused at the sudden bout of animosity directed towards her. "Well, if you heard me then why didn't you say anything?" Applejack huffed, crossing her forelegs. "You could've at least humor me!" "Humor you?" Rarity scoffed, her scowl morphing into an incredulous smile. "You've got some nerve to be talking about petty squabbling when you're guilty of much worse you hypocrite!" "H-hypocrite?!" Applejack fumed as she narrowed her eyes. "What in Celestia's sun stamped flank are you talking about, Rares?!" "I know about your dirty dealings, Applejack. I know that you've been collaborating with the Equestrian Secret Service," Rarity accused. Applejack flinched at the mention but showed no signs of guilt. To her, the accusation was more akin to being caught with her hoof in the cookie jar than anything heinous. "I-I don't know what you're talking about," Applejack stammered, averting her gaze. "Oh, that's a load of manure and you know it!" Rarity retorted. "Did you seriously think nopony would find your sudden financial turnabout strange? Did you think no one would question good ol' Applejack about receiving a tremendous windfall out of the blue that would save Sweet Apple Acres from its inevitable bankruptcy?!" "Alright, fine! You caught me!" Applejack bellowed, knitting her brow in a gnarled glower as she threw up her hooves in frustration. "Congratulations, Detective Rarity, you found out what honest Applejack's been doing in her spare time! You managed to use your amazing deductive skills to figure out that she been keeping the peace by remaining vigilant and turning in traitors to the proper authorities, just like a good pony of Equestria should! Sorry for not bragging about my accomplishments and for keeping them a secret! I didn't realize being a model citizen was a crime these days!" "Good pony? Good pony!?" Rarity practically shrieked. "What good pony would willingly send their friends and neighbors to the ESS?! The rumors are they work you to the bone until you can barely stand!" "Good. Maybe a bit of hard work will teach them to value their home and their people. For a moment I was worried the dissidents were getting a spa treatment," Applejack replied flippantly, causing Rarity's pale face to turn red in fury. "Oh, stop being such a drama queen. You're just overreacting. You think I'm the only one who's been doing this? There are plenty out there doing their part to keep Equestria safe from traitors. This is a civic duty. Nothing more, nothing less." "I'd hardly call selling ponies into forced labor a civic duty," Rarity grunted. "And I am not overreacting! This is a perfectly normal reaction to knowing the fact that one of your best friends has been selling out innocent townsponies to the Equestrian Secret Service for money for an entire year!" She furiously retorted, flaring her nostrils in a fit of aggravation. "Were they really innocent, Rarity?" Applejack scoffed, brushing off her outburst. She stood up and started pacing back and forth before voicing her displeasure for the dissenters. "Davenport and the rest of his cowardly dissident ilk abandoned us. They abandoned Princess Celestia. And worst of all, they abandoned Equestria. They couldn't handle the pressures of war and made the foolish decision to turn tail the moment things were starting to look bleak. Because of them they've disgraced this town's good name and besmirched the Equestrian ideal. They deserved what they got." "And what about Hugh Jelly? Mountain Song? Or what about Ten Pins? Hmm?" Rarity eyed Applejack apprehensively. "Did they deserve it? Did ponies who were just minding their own business worthy of punishment at the hooves of the ESS?" "Pfft, of course they were," replied Applejack. "And what were they guilty of?" Rarity raised an eyebrow. "They did nothing wrong." "But they didn't do nothing right neither," Applejack snorted. "They chose to remain idle, to refuse the call of duty. They had the audacity to muck about in their lazy carefree ways while the rest of us served our princess and country! Why do they get to screw around like a bunch of fun time Charlie Horses while we toil away and our soldiers die out in the front line! What I've done, reporting them to the ESS, was set them straight. Simple as." "You make it sound as if any of them had choice in the matter," Rarity grumbled. "You know as well as I do that this damn war was robbing us blind! And you think idleness is a crime? While everypony else are supporting the royals those snooty nobles up in Canterlot are drinking honeyed mead and eating expensive cheeses in their private estates! Even as the humans ravage Equestria us common folk are the ones that have to pay for it! Is it any wonder ponies are are choosing to desert or resist?!" "Destitution and laziness are no reasons to turn traitor! Even if we have nothing left to our names we still have our strength, our loyalty and our faith! We must give everything in order to triumph! Everything! That is what the princesses expect of us! Only after we've won can we relax! Only then can we restore Equestria to it's rightful glory! The human invasion, it's just a minor setback! You'll see. My hard work, all the thankless labor and sleepless nights will pay off. I'll be rewarded for my vigilance! The Apple family will be forever remembered as the greatest in all of Equestria! Nay, this Goddess forsaken rock! Everything I've done won't have been for noth-!" Applejack tried to reason, sounding more defensive than she would've liked to, but Rarity abruptly cut her off. "Oh, open your eyes, Applejack!" Rarity interjected, screamed more like. She got up and stomped over to Applejack until they were touching nose to nose. "Twilight's brilliant new weapons? The fortified beachhead? They were all destroyed in a matter of hours! Hours, Applejack! Since then the humans have razed several major cities to the ground, crippled our supply chain and slaughtered countless thousands of our soldiers without slowing down! If that's not a sign of shit hitting the fan, I don't know what is!?" "...You know what, Rarity," Applejack narrowed her eyes. "That sounds an awful lot like dissenter talk." Rarity gawked at Applejack, staring blankly as a single airy gasp escape her lips. The gasp was the start of a humorless chuckle which steadily devolved into maddening laughter. It was a disturbing sight, so much so that Applejack couldn't help but unconsciously take a step back. "After everything we've talked about, that's all you can think about?" Rarity spoke in an incredulous tone. "Oh, Applejack. Applejack, Applejack, Applejack. You stupid, pigheaded, inbred, dirt-encrusted, apple-fucking, pony-selling, hillbilly!" She screeched, taking slow deliberate steps forward as Applejack found herself backed up against the wall. "You know something! Fluttershy was right! There, I said it! The war, Princess Celestia, the humans! Fluttershy was right about everything!" Applejack's eyes went wide with shock. "Rarity, how could you say that? She's the reason everything's gone to Hell in a handbasket! We both lost ponies we cared about to those damned monkeys, Big Macintosh, Valiant Wing, and you have the gall to back up that whorse's anti-Equestrian human-loving nonsense?! Well, I won't stand for it!" She looked betrayed before her face twisted in anger. She shoved Rarity away, seething as she did. Her voiced dipped into a deep lowly growl. " You take that back right now, or so help me..." "Or what?" Rarity smirked. "You'll sell me out too, hmm? How much is your best friend worth to you in bits? Five hundred? A thousand? Two? Perhaps the ESS will pay more for me than the average Ponyvillian considering I'm an Element of Harmony. I'm sure they'll pay a handsome reward for me." "Rarity, you're trotting on thin ice," Applejack glared, holding back the urge to pounce Rarity. "And you're playing judge, jury and execution, all for a handful of bits and a pat on the back," Rarity sharply retorted. "I'm a hero of the people, Goddess dammit! This is all for the greater good, something you or any one of these ignorant fools don't seem to understand! The Equestrian Secret Service are a force of righteousness! Celestia, Luna, Cadance and Twilight would've never created them if they weren't absolutely necessary!" Applejack snapped, stamping her hoof in frustration. Rarity, however, remained unfazed. With a twitching eye, Applejack continued. "Grr... I don't have to explain myself to you! Somepony who couldn't even get her own element to work! This was never about money! Those treacherous dissident bastards were deliberately sabotaging the war effort and I corrected that mistake!" Try as she might to sound resolute, her words carried as much weight as a helium balloon. "So what if I got paid? What? I can't be rewarded for a job well done! You need to take a look at the bigger picture and understand that converting humanity is bigger than you! Bigger than me! bigger than all of Equestria and her ponies! We all must make sacrifices to ensure total victory, no matter what! And if a few rotten fruits need to be pruned from the Tree of Harmony to keep it alive, then so be it! I'll prune a thousand rotten apples before I let Equestria die, and I will silence anypony who stands in my way!" "...Get out," Rarity stated firmly. "What?" Applejack scowled. "What did you just say to me?" "You heard me. Get out," Rarity spat. "You've made your position clear as day, now get the fuck out of my home before I throw you out!" Applejack was beyond furious. Her face was red and you could practically see steam coming out of her ears. Gritting her teeth, she let out an angry roar and turned towards the door. "You're just as bad as Fluttershy! Mark my words, you're gonna regret this! I swear by the alicorn's grace you'll wearing heavy iron chains as accessories by the end of the week you ungrateful little booze hound!" "And there it is, Applejack's true colors have risen to the surface, and it didn't even take that much effort," Rarity mocked, sounding half indignant, half scornful. "Poor Applejack, can't solve her own problems by herself so she had to turn to a bunch of tyrannical thugs to do it for her. Who cares if a few ponies pay the price for her desperation?" "Keep talking you traitorous whorse! Every word out of your mouth is another day spent wallowing under the sun at the hooves of the ESS!" Applejack yelled back as she trotted. She then paused in her steps, and with words cold as ice and laced with venom, said something that could only be said when one is overcome by emotion. "You know something? I'm glad Valiant Wing and his unborn son are dead, because then they wouldn't have lived to see you turn your back on Equestri-!" A loud shatter echo across the air as a porcelain vase crashed behind Applejack, interrupting her vitriolic rant. It had soared across the air in the blink of an eye, narrowly missing the farmer's head by a hair. She flinched from the sound and hastily retreated as Rarity began lobbing more junk at her, scrambling across town like her legs were on fire before a lustrous pair of fabric shears could embed itself into her flank. "It's all over for you, Rarity! Over, you hear!" Applejack shouted defiantly in the distance. "Keep running before I turn you into a pincushion you shit smeared rube!" Rarity screamed from out the doorframe before slamming it shut and stamping back inside. All wound up from the confrontation, she walked over to her couch and screamed out her frustrations into a nearby pillow before both mentally and physically collapsing from it all. Every muscle in her body simply let go from the stress and Rarity went limp onto the cushions as her tears began flowing freely. Remorse, anguish, fear and more stirred within her as she wept. Memories of better days and fateful encounters raced through her mind as she laid in weeping silence, but all it did was remind her how much of a coward she was in the end. She and Pinkie Pie held reservations about the war, just like Fluttershy and the Resistance did. She had always stood on the side of right, standing up for those who were oppressed, be it ponies or others. The pivotal moments journeying across Equestria with her friends and spreading the light of friendship had molded her into something more than just an ordinary dressmaker, she was the Element of Generosity. A living pillar of the ideological foundation with which Equestria is upheld by. But when the time came, choices needed to be made. Consequences be damned. Rarity, whether it was out of fear or duty, she couldn't be arsed to remember anymore, chose to side with her remaining friends and with Equestria in perpetuating the conversion of humanity. She had chosen to perpetuate genocide and in the time since she has paid dearly for her decision. Valiant Wing was the first to be taken from her, then their foal. Later, it was her convictions, and at last, her waning sanity. Sweetie Belle comforting her was the only thing keeping the unicorn from swinging from a length of rope tied to a sturdy branch. Each day living was like being stuck in an ironic Hell of her own making. The world had not gone mad. No. Equestria did. Ponies were turning against ponies, all in a paranoid frenzy to preserve what little order they had left now that Equestria was set ablaze. Selfishness, apathy and fear had consumed the country, all masquerading as a pale vestige of Harmony. She'd seen the writings on the wall and accepted them for what they were. Everypony else was content to believe that things could turn around, that Princess Celestia and Princess Twilight could make it all right. Rarity knew the truth. There was no winning. When she had failed to get the Elements of Harmony to work it was right then and there that the realization of it all had finally hit her like a ton of bricks. If only she had left with Fluttershy. Maybe then Valiant Wing would still be alive. Maybe then her child would still... Sweetie Belle found Rarity fast asleep on her couch an hour later. She found it puzzling why there was a mess outside her sister's front lawn. Applejack bucked at one of the trees in her orchard in an raging trance, so forceful was the hit that she debossed horseshoe prints upon the bark. The apple tree shook as if struck by a tremor, causing leaves, small branches and a bounty of fresh apples to neatly fall into the baskets set beneath it. It was the same as she had done a thousand times before. Usually this kind of hard work would put Applejack at ease. The feeling of a good day's harvest was almost always enough to soothe the soul. Unfortunately, it had the opposite effect this day. Her mood was foul, fouler than it had been recently. It had been a week since Applejack's spat with Rarity. The bad blood between them, which had been brewing for some time, had ultimately boiled over and she'd cut off all relation with the latter without so much as a moment of hesitation. Their friendship, years of hardship and sisterly bonding, was over just like that and she felt none too worried about dropping her like a bad habit. But due to the escalation of the war, she was unable to properly condemn the unicorn for her misdeeds and was forced to carry on as if nothing had happened. That being said, there wasn't any cause for concern on her part. Applejack knew Rarity well enough to know that she wouldn't try anything now. Not when the war front was creeping ever closer to home. She wouldn't deliberately sabotage anything or even oust Applejack for her dealings with the ESS as she was the only one who managed to figure it all out. Tattling or undermining the war effort would only make Applejack a martyr anyway, and Rarity was fully aware of that. With humanity having conquered over half the continent by this point, the ESS had diverted all its efforts from hunting down dissidents to maintaining the law of the land. Rarity got off scot free as a result and it infuriated Applejack to no end. The reasoning was that humanity's army was advancing at far too quick a pace to anticipate their movements and they needed everypony on deck to deal with the onslaught. Since then they had rescinded their bounty payouts on dissidents and were doing their best to achieve the daunting task of preventing mass hysteria all while attempting to rally what ponies remained into action. To make matters worse, social unrest had also peaked. Ponyille's cache of supplies had all but dried up. What they did have were rationed or recycled to Hell and back. It had gotten to the point that cannibalism was starting to look like a better alternative to drinking filtered dish water or eating hard chalky hay tack for the twentieth time in a row. Fights broke out more often then not with the occasional fatality here and there. It took all of Applejack's willpower not to snap and join in the fighting if it meant keeping everypony in line. But the straw that had broke the figurative camel's back, or rather Applejack's back, was for her to harvest the last tree of her orchard that had any fruit left on it and distribute it to the hungry and grief stricken ponies. Beyond that, her orchard would be left bare as if it had been struck by the chill of an early Winter Wrap Up. There wouldn't be another sizeable yield for another season now that she'd been picked clean. With one final buck of the tree, the apples all came tumbling down. Six baskets full of ripe red apples that were likely going to be devoured to nothingness within the next half hour. "Damned ungrateful pigs, the whole lot of them," Applejack grumbled sullenly as she began loading up the cart. "I feed them. I clothe them. I listen to their incessant caterwauling. And what's my reward? A dislocated shoulder courtesy of some whiney brat who's never been told 'no' before in his life, that's what. If I weren't such a bleeding heart I'd have his aristocratic ass thrown out of Ponyville so fast he'd have road rash." She seethed, completely oblivious to the young mare trotting up behind her with an outstetched hoof. Startled by the sudden touch, Applejack twirled around with enough speed it was a wonder she didn't suffer from whiplash. To her relief, it was none other than her younger sister, Apple Bloom. "Stars above, Apple Bloom!" she exclaimed. "Plum made my heart jump outta my chest." "Sorry about that, Applejack," Apple Bloom greeted sheepishly, looking as haggard and harried as her older sister. Her mane was bedraggled and her eyes looked years older than they had any right to be. "I just finished checking around Ponyville like the Royal Guard told me too... Things are bad. Real bad," she admitted with a grimace. "Another fight broke out, this time over a spot to sleep." "Color me surprised," Applejack deadpanned, sarcasm dripping from each syllable. "Did somepony at least stop it?" "Some of the guards broke it up but one of them got stabbed with a glass bottle as a result." said Apple Bloom, looking downcast as she recalled the moment. "He... He didn't make it. We didn't have the medical supplies to help him before he bled out." "Of course we don't. We don't have much of anything these days," Applejack remarked bitterly. Though she didn't explicitly say it out loud, Apple Bloom did catch onto the subtext hidden beneath her words." "...Are you ever going to tell me what happened at Carousel Boutique?" Apple Bloom pressed. "You've been moody ever since you got back from there and I'm starting to grow concerned." "It's nothing, Apple Bloom," Applejack brushed off her sister's concerns, but that didn't stop her from unconsciously scowling at the mention. "Just an argument about personal responsibilities between two adults, that's all." "Applejack. I am your younger sister," Apple Bloom asserted. "I know you better than you know yourself, and what I know is that something happened between you and Rarity tha-" "Nothing! Happened!" Applejack snapped, turning to glare daggers at Apple Bloom. "And I forbid you from having anything to do with her or Sweetie Belle, you hear me!" "W-what? Why!" Apple Bloom protested. "We were there for them when Valiant Wing died and they were there for us when Big Mac, Sugar Belle and Scootaloo died! They're famil-" "Don't! You! Dare!" Applejack fumed, setting down the apple baskets and getting up in Apple Bloom's face. "Don't you dare associate that word with them! From this day forward the Apples will have nothing to do with that pale whorse or her kin! You hear me! End! Of! Discussion!" "Bu-!?" Applejack opened her mouth to speak, but winced as Applejack scolded her once more. "I said that's the end of it!" Applejack concluded and proceeded to pick up the last basket and angrily chucked it into the cart, causing apples to fly off the sides and tumble about in the floor of the cart. "Now, the only thing I want to hear from you when I come back to the farm after this delivery is how much food we've got left in the house, got it? I want every can, tin and jar accounted for. We got to look out for ourselves as much as we look out for others. Do I make myself clear, little missy?" Applebloom frowned at the demand and the two siblings maintained a stare upon one another for a spell. Eventually, Apple Bloom relented and with sigh of defeat turned around and made her way back to the farmhouse. "Just be safe out there, Applejack," muttered Apple Bloom. "Ponies are getting crazier by the day and I don't think I can lose anymore loved one." "I'll be fine," replied Applejack, softening her tone. "Now get going. Word is there's trouble brewing on the horizon and I wanna be there to make sure everything is right as rain, understood?" "Mmhmm," Apple Bloom nodded before trotting back to the homestead. Some time later, Applejack found herself in Ponyville square where there was a line of hungry ponies, mostly members of the Royal Guard, waiting to be given their meals for the day from the slipshod mess hall that was assembled there. All Ponyville could offer up that day was some watery oats, hay tacks, a small bushel of daffodils and half an apple. As ponies were being served, Applejack was nearby laying in the back by her cart with her hat over her eyes, chewing on a sprig of hay just like... just like Big Macintosh used to. A myriad of thoughts raced through her head, most of them silent justifications for her deeds. What Rarity had said to her really got under her skin. She was a hero, damn it. Patriotism was not a crime, neither was weeding out vermins and vipers. Ponyville, and by extension all of Equestria, was safer because of her actions. She, and others like her were to be commended for their bravery, diligence, and self sacrifice. She knew too well the kind of trouble dissidents could cause if left unchecked. Because of her laxity, Fluttershy and the Resistance were able to escape, allowing them to give humanity the upper hand over ponykind. She swore to herself never to make that kind of mistake again. Rarity couldn't understand. She could never understand. Rarity was nothing more than a prissy, hoity toity alcoholic dressmaker with delusions of grandeur and a flair for the dramatic. She couldn't believe she would ever refer to her as family. Pinkie Pie was more family to her than Rarity ever will, even if the Pie and Apple family tree confusion never got solved. However, as she stewed in her funk, she failed to notice the fearful murmurs and growing confusion of the ponies around her. Something had just flown by overhead. It was quick enough to avoid being seen, yet sounded like a lightning strike. And then, Hell on Earth. An explosion erupted across the air and rocked the earth with the force of an earthquake. Applejack was unceremoniously knocked off her cart and onto the ground where she scrambled back onto all fours and access the situation. Pulling her hat up, Applejack blanched as she bore witness to the sight of her home under siege. Ash and dirt rained from the sky as they billowed upwards from the force of the blast. Fires greedily consumed what remained of town hall as another explosion turned the buildings beside it into a crater ten meters wide and three meters deep. Panic and hysteria overtook the population of Ponyville as civilians, refugees and soldiers scattered to save what they could, more than likely themselves, before disappearing in a flash of light, a plume smoke and the sound of thunder. Limbs and other fleshy remnants of once living ponies were sprinkled throughout the streets like macabre confetti, spraying poor unsuspecting citizens in the misty gore of their friends and families. Throughout it all, Applejack watched on with wide horror stricken eyes as everything went up in flames. "N-no," Applejack squeaked out fearfully, her heart racing. She struggled to speak, and when she did the words came out of her throat felt like clumps of barbed wire. "No. No, no, no. They wouldn't... They couldn't..." "We're under attack!" A guard yelled, scrambling his men into formation. They all joined together into a single unit as they have practiced time and time again, but there were a handful who cracked under the pressure and fled for their lives, only to get fragged out of existence moments after. "Gather the civilians! Get them to the trains! We're leaving!" "Why?! Why is this happening!?" A civilian screamed. "Those monkey bastards! Bombing Ponyville! How despicable!" Another soldier yelled. Applejack ignored their cries as she wandered dumbly through the streets in a stupor with little to no control over her own movements. The explosions that echoed across the town pounded within her skull like a thousand, thousand drums all playing in tandem. The acrid smell of smoke and burning flesh assaulted her nostril, filling them with the stomach churning scent of death. And the screams. By Celestia, the screams. It was a horrible cacophony of pain all twisted up and mangled into a haunting howl. She was afraid. Utterly afraid. Was this what war was like? She'd never seen or experienced anything like it before. And now that she has, it terrified her to no end. Something catches her attention over the corner of her eye. It's Sweetie Belle. Applejack couldn't hear much over the tinnitus, but she could see she was sobbing and screaming soundlessly. Cradled her hooves was Rarity, bloodied and broken, her lifeless eyes shone no more as death took over. Something primal awakens in Applejack, flickers of the Element of Honesty. She moves without thinking towards Sweetie Belle, sprinting towards them like a pony possessed. Whatever hate she held in her heart for them vanished for the moment, what mattered most was getting them out of harm's way. But she was too late. The sound of lightning boomed across the sky once more and Sweetie Belle disappears right before her eyes. Claimed by an eruption of dirt as the shockwave sent Applejack careening to the side. Struggling to stand up, Applejack shakes the blurriness from her vision and sees Sugar Cube Corner in flames. The Cakes are trapped inside. The burning building had collapsed in on itself and blocked off the entrance, leaving the family inside. Pinkie Pie rushes onto the scene and, with strength Applejack didn't even know the pink pony possessed, barreled through the door with all the force of a locomotive before rushing inside to save the Cakes. "P... Pi... Pin-" Applejack tries to call out to Pinkie Pie. She couldn't even hear her own words over the madness. Another crack of lightning. Another explosion. Another one of Applejack's friends and neighbors delivered unto Elysium. Sugar Cube Corner erupts into a cloud of splintered wood, flittering embers and smoke. Pinkie Pie and the Cake family disappear into the aether, never to be seen again. "N-no..." Applejack murmured, hot tears streaming down her cheeks. But she doesn't have the luxury of mourning. Instinct took over in a heartbeat and she began sprinting north as fast as she could. She needed to make it home, she needed to save Apple Bloom. With the strength of a desperate mare and smoke burning in her lungs she sprinted to Sweet Apple Acres, wading through the crowd of screaming ponies as they clambered their way towards the train station, pushing, shoving, and stampeding over anypony unfortunate enough to be caught underhoof. As the farmstead came into view, she felt the blood drain from her face as her family's great orchard was razed to the ground. Generations of hard works, years upon years of backbreaking labor and stoic determination, went up in smoke in seconds. Great oaks and mighty apple trees splintered into nothingness upon getting bombed, scattering their remains to the winds and leaving behind only craters in its wake. Fires began spreading across the fields of the farmlands, burning crops, barns and any unfortunate ponies to have been caught in the flames. It wasn't fair, Applejack thought as ran. She had done everything she could to preserve this land and the memories her family sown into it. The land her forebears have raised from harsh and humble beginnings in the bountiful landscape it was today. When the crown demanded tithes from her, she gave without question. When her faith was being tested, she stood firm in the face of doubt. When dissidents threatened to tear apart all she held dear, she condemned them. She condemned them all. She had turned in so many traitors. So, so many of them. And in the end, it all meant nothing. Nothing. It wasn't fair. It just wasn't fair, damn it! Redoubling her efforts, Applejack bolted straight to the farmhouse. Her heart pounded in her chest wildly, slamming against her rib cage with each step taken. And then she saw her: Apple Bloom. She had just come out of the house and was sprinting towards her. "Apple Bloom!" Applejack shouted at the top of her smoke filled lungs. "Apple Bloom! Don't stop! Get over here!" "Applejack!" Applebloom shouted back. "Applej-" The sound of lightning cracked across the sky and Applejack's throbbing heart stilled. In an instant, the farmhouse exploded and Apple Bloom was caught in the blast zone, clouding her with smoke and debris. The force of it all forced Applejack to pause and cover her face. When the dust cleared, Applejack opened her eyes and felt the last vestige of her will crumble alongside her ancestral home. Rushing over, Applejack cradled Apple Bloom's limp dust covered form with shaking hooves and tear stained eyes. She brushed away the hair from her face and caressed her dirty stained cheek. "A-Apple Bloom?" Applejack called out feebly. "A-Apple B-Bloom... Wake up... Wake up, please. We h-have to go. It's n-not safe here," she croaks, her voice choking up with each word spoke. "Apple Bloom, get up... I said get up! Get up, damn it! Please! We need to leave, now!" She roars hysterically, holding onto her sister's still warm body tightly. She rocked her in her legs, sniffling and sobbing quietly. "I-I can't lose you too... I-I just can't..." As she wept, a single glint of golden light refracted from the side of Apple Bloom's hair towards Applejack's eyes. She brushed away part of her mane and discovered a bleeding gash two inches wide on the side of her temple. Something sparkled from it, something glittery and gold. She had been killed by shrapnel. It was a quick and painless death. Out of morbid curiosity, Applejack reached for the foreign object and dislodged it from Apple Bloom's wound. With a sickening squelch and a small gout of blood, Applejack held the bloodied object in her hoof and wiped it clean... ...The stamped impassive visage of Princess Celestia upon the golden bit stared back at her with uncaring gilded eyes. Lightning cracked across the skies. Applejack's whole world turned white, then black. Applejack's eyes shot open. She was in a makeshift field hospital in Canterlot along with other survivors of the atrocity. It had been a few weeks since the bombing of Ponyville, Applejack laid in a stiff cot covered head to toe in bandages. She was still alive, She let out a bloodcurdling scream. She was still alive. Hot tears of anguish streamed down her face. She was still alive. Apple Bloom was still dead She was still alive...