A heavy fist collided into Applejack’s side and knocked her across the clearing before she even knew what was happening. She skidded through the shallow water for a few feet and came to a stop. Groaning and shaking, she struggled to stand up, the punch having knocked the wind out of her.
“I hope that you’re not going to lose consciousness just from one punch,” the Warden said. “I plan on beating you to death to relieve a little frustration, so if you were to fall unconscious right now it would be immensely disappointing.”
“Shut up...” Applejack bit out and managed to stand.
“That strange power you had… are you capable of using it in such a state? It doesn’t seem like you’re in the condition to do anything,” the Warden mockingly asked.
Applejack just kept breathing in and out, trying to figure out where he was.
“You’re sick, you’re exhausted, you’re blind, and even before you could barely fight me. What a pathetic situation you’re in,” the Warden said as he circled around her, keeping his one broken leg curled up closer to his body since he still couldn’t put any weight on it. “Unfortunately for you I don’t care about fighting fair. Never have.”
He kicked up a wave of water at her from the side and ran in as it hit Applejack. Punching through the water at the same time and hitting her in the ribs. The disorientated Applejack, whose ears also weren’t performing so well right now thanks to the fever, was helpless. Unable to dodge or block she was punched down into the water once more. A new intense pain in her ribs spiked up through her body and she grit her teeth in an attempt to overcome it. Slower to rise again she did her best to focus on the sounds he was making and his voice. It was difficult.
Not only was her mind still in a bit of a fugue, but a headache pounded in her skull and her ears just didn’t work right because of it all. She heard too many things that got in the way, his splashing as he strode through the water was too loud, the mosquitoes were too loud, all the individual vibrations and noises of the swamp and her body were too much! Not only could she not see but the cacophony and fever were making it impossible to even listen.
“Can you not fight back at all? Is an Element of Harmony going to meet their doom in a place like this?” The Warden sneered.
Applejack rose—muddy and water-logged—and shifted her ears around to try and discern his location.
“Truly that’s fine by me. I can enjoy beating you into submission whether you can or can’t fight back. It’s just shocking that a pony so noble and storied such as yourself can’t do anything. Didn’t you say you would stop me? Aren’t you worried about all of the ponies I’m going to make suffer once I’ve returned to power? I’m going to keep that promise about your family as well. No matter how long it takes I’ll run that farm of yours into the ground,” the Warden said as he continued his verbal assault. Every word designed to torment and anger her, trying to make her as miserable and depressed as possible for what he wanted to be her last moments.
The Warden moved towards her again and lifted up a fist, ready to smash it down onto her skull.
Applejack heard his general direction and did the only thing she could do—an attempt at Hoof of the Earth. It was dangerous and wild but it was her only option right now. She pulled a tremor from her heart and amplified it before unleashing it into the water. She would’ve liked to have been able to send it right into his body but the tremors dissipated too quickly in water and she didn’t know exactly where he was. And his body was strong enough to resist such a haphazard tremor too most likely. Instead all she did was create a huge blast of swamp water that went right into his face—causing the Warden to sputter and cough as it hit him and he backed up a few feet.
Applejack meanwhile felt a violent shake—almost a crack—in her hoof.
Tch, almost broke my dang hoof doing that! I need to focus more before trying that again. She thought while getting up and trying to get some distance between herself and the Warden. It was the danger of Hoof of the Earth that she had been warned about when first learning it, an improperly controlled and unleashed tremor could backfire on you and break your own bones and muscles if you weren’t careful.
Once the water calmed down and the Warden had wiped his face off he stared at Applejack warily. One broken leg was already bad news, if she could do that or something worse to him again it would be bad. He didn’t know her full powers or capabilities so it was better to be cautious.
“Of course you wouldn’t actually take this lying down...” the Warden grumbled and bent over to reach into the swamp and dig out a big handful of mud.
“That’s right,” Applejack said—oblivious to what he was doing. “Now I’m warning you, you’re gonna regret it if you don’t back off right now.”
The Warden scoffed. “An empty boast, Applejack. You are still the one in danger here.”
He dug his fingers into the mud and threw the big glob up into the air around Applejack. It came down in pieces all into the water and on her back, dozens of bits of mud splattering into the water and creating noise and ripples around Applejack that further deafened her. To her it sounded like heavy rainfall hitting a lake, or somepony dropping a bunch of rocks into a trough of water.
“W-What’s happening?! What are you doing right now!” Applejack shouted, turning her head from side to side to try and hear through the noise.
It didn’t work as she soon felt a hard kick to her face from one of his cloven hooves.
Applejack was knocked onto her back and she nearly sank into the swamp. One of her teeth was feeling a little loose too. She could hear the Warden moving and it caused her to get up but he was purposefully dragging his hooves through the water and making large splashes to be as loud as possible and obscure his exact location. She could hear the loud splashing but it lasted too long and sent ripples in every direction. It was a pain to keep track of where he was.
“Absolutely pathetic. To think a creature like you could’ve been the one to tear down my Citadel,” the Warden said.
“You’re the pathetic one… having to attack me like this… when I was practically half-dead already,” Applejack panted as she swiveled her ears around for him.
“Well, you’ve got me there. Pride is a flaw in my book though.”
Another sudden sharp kick hit Applejack in the side and she went tumbling through the water. Coughing and sputtering as she lied prone, her legs shaking and having difficulty getting back to her hooves.
Something doesn’t change real soon I’m… Applejack trailed off.
She could hear him charging her again and so Applejack sent another tremor into the muddy ground. Mud didn’t carry the vibrations from Hoof of the Earth too good either, but it was enough to do what she wanted. The tremor was sent out wildly all around her, directionless and unfocused, just designed to shift and warp the muddy ground under the water. It ended up working when she heard the Warden growl and go splashing down into the water and mud somewhere to the left of her.
Applejack smirked over in his direction and stood up. “Tripped you up again, did I?”
“Don’t get so cocky. It seems all you can do is little tricks and distractions right now,” the Warden said as he pushed himself up, mud and water dripping off his body.
He’s still right. Applejack thought but kept the smirk on her face to still look confident.
“You couldn’t break another leg of mine again, could you?” The Warden questioned as he circled around her. “I’ve stayed cautious around you because I don’t understand that strange ability you have. But it’s been for naught, hasn’t it? You don’t have the strength in your body to harm me anymore. You’re either too weak or too sick to use that power to its fullest.” He quickly changed direction and splashed through the water—seeing how Applejack’s ears swiveled and how her head jerked around, struggling to hone in directly on him. “And you can still barely keep up with me. Even if you could match blows with me you’d tire and fall first. How can you hope to fight back like this? As blind as if those eyes were gouged out.”
Applejack grit her teeth, hearing more and more of the Warden moving about around her, taunting her.
The frustration was building in her and she-
Stopped. Taking a breath to calm herself down. So what if he was right? If the problem was she couldn’t see him, then that’s the problem she needed to fix first. Applejack stood still and steadied herself. She blocked out every pain, ache, and shiver from the fever, she ignored the heat, ignored the irritation, forced her body to get over it so she could focus on the only things that mattered. Her heart beating in her chest, sending out vibrations at a steady and imperceptible rate to the world around her. From the swamp—she blocked out the sounds of the mosquitoes, the sounds of the water splashing, anything else. She blocked out all vibrations except the sound of the Warden’s breathing and heartbeat. Sound was merely vibrations—she knew that. And she felt the vibrations from the Warden meeting the ones from her. She felt him, she saw an outline appearing in her mind and focused harder, now on the vibrations that came just from the twitch of his muscles as he moved. His entire body was now visible, because even the smallest movement from him sent vibrations through the air that collided with the ones she emanated. Everything else was blocked out and ignored. No other sounds he made would confuse her again.
The Warden narrowed his eyes at her, confused by her sudden stillness and ready to attack. She had last been looking in the wrong spot, he knew another throw of mud would deceive her and he could move in to finish her off.
Applejack then calmly raised a hoof and pointed it directly at him.
The Warden froze.
She turned her head and opened her red eyes, blind as they were, and stared him down. “Is that you over there? I can see you just fine.”
The Warden felt himself sweat just a little bit before raising his fists. Shaking, in anger, he told himself, he glared right back at Applejack. “I don’t know what you think you’ve accomplished, but I’m not afraid of you! You’re just a single pony!”
He ran at her as fast as he could, forget any deception, and threw a punch down towards her head.
Applejack jumped to the side to avoid it and punched him in the wrist as he went by—sending a tremor into his arm. The Warden slid along the ground and fell into the swamp water, surprised and frightened by her counter, and grabbed onto his wrist with his other hand. He could feel the powerful vibrations in his arms but they died down well before any of his bones broke. A smile broke out on his face as he stood back up.
“Heh… hehehe… well, well, well, it looks like I was correct enough,” the Warden said as he turned around to look back at Applejack, who had stayed mostly where she was while she caught her breath. “Don’t even try to bluff either. You would’ve broken my arm right then if you could have. But you’re not that strong right now. I’ll still have to defeat you the old-fashioned way, but there’s still no chance you have of surviving here.”
“You keep telling yourself that,” Applejack said as she squared off against him. “I’m plenty strong even without Hoof of the Earth doing the work. Now we’ll have ourselves a normal fight, and we’ll see which one of us is toughest.”
The Warden’s fists shook in rage and he ran at her again. “AAARRRGHHH!”
He threw another punch directly at her—upon which Applejack pivoted and met it with her back hooves. His fist and her hooves smashed together like a pair of boulders and Applejack was pushed forward while the Warden stumbled back. Equally matched. Growling angrily, the Warden came at her faster and threw punch after punch at her, just trying to overwhelm Applejack completely. Applejack ducked and dodged between them while throwing quick jabs with her hooves back at him. This time the Warden was careful to not overextend and let her really hit his arms or anywhere else, and he still had a lot of reach on her so was in a far less dangerous position.
But it was still an even fight as Applejack weaved between his punches, sensing them even without being able to see. In frustration, the Warden kicked up a wave of water at her to try and douse her with it, get her to cover her face or protect herself on reflex. Applejack instead jumped backwards the moment he kicked it up and avoided it completely.
The Warden reached down and grabbed a pile of mud, throwing it as hard as he could at her.
Applejack ducked under it and ran over to his side, jumping at him to try and attack his exposed horse body.
He was still able to move decently as well despite his injury and he side-stepped out of the way so she had to come directly at his front again. The two of them each threw another punch at the other—his fist colliding with her hoof—and doing nothing but producing a small thunderclap. Their brute strength right now was simply even.
The Warden kicked out at her legs, trying to sweep Applejack off her hooves, and when she jumped up to avoid it he punched out at her instead. She couldn’t dig in to brace herself so even though she blocked his punch with her hooves she still went flying back into the swamp water. They might’ve been equally strong but he had a lot of weight on her. When he quickly ran at her to try and beat her into the ground, Applejack got up and jumped as high as she could, vaulting over his head. The Warden gawked in surprise and tried to punch her as she flew by him but Applejack kicked off his outstretched arm instead. When she landed she sprinted forward and managed to punch him in the side of his body before he could block her. All it did though was make him stumble a bit and growl angrily at her.
“Pointless, Applejack. You’re not strong enough to stop me!” The Warden yelled.
Applejack was panting, not rising to his taunts externally but his words still caused her inner turmoil. Yeah… dang it, he’s right about that. Even with Hoof of the Earth right now I’m not strong enough to beat him.
Her ears perked up as a sudden epiphany hit her. I don’t have the strength right now to beat him. But maybe together we do.
“What’s that contemplative look on your face for? Shouldn’t you understand by now that you should just give up!” The Warden furrowed his brow at her and pulled back his fist.
But can I even do that? Quartz and everypony else didn’t make mention of ever doing something like this with Hoof of the Earth back when I was learning it. Applejack thought as the Warden got ready to throw a heavy punch at her head. It’s definitely dangerous… but I’m a natural, ain’t I? And I need more power to beat him.
The Warden’s fist came thundering towards her—whistling through the wind enough that Applejack could have heard it coming anyways.
Looks like I don’t have a choice anyways. Applejack exhaled and steeled herself for the punch.
With a victorious smirk on his face the Warden watched as Applejack didn’t even try to dodge. His fist plowed into the side of her head like a wrecking ball. It would’ve been enough of a punch to knock down a brick wall. However—Applejack didn’t move. The Warden’s smirk fell as nothing happened at all. There was no thunderclap, no rush of air, no ripples in the water, and certainly no Applejack being knocked over. Instead he heard what sounded like the rumbling of an earthquake going through Applejack’s body and his eyes widened.
Applejack in that moment his fist struck had absorbed the force of the blow, absorbed all of its power into her and carried it along to somewhere else much like she would do with one of her own generated tremors. She carried it all from her head towards her right front hoof while amplifying and empowering it just like she did for her own heartbeat to use Hoof of the Earth in the first place. The power of the Warden’s own attack was made even more powerful than normal and then combined with the strongest tremor she could build from herself as well. If she didn’t release it somewhere else very soon it would shatter her bones to pieces.
Good thing she had a place in mind.
Applejack jumped up while the Warden merely stared in shock and utter confusion and uppercutted him in the gut.
The power of his own magnified punch and everything Applejack had within her erupted into his body—launching him into the air over the clearing while shaking his bones and organs. He could feel his teeth breaking and some of his bones cracking while he flew up until he reached the apex of his flight and started falling back down.
He crashed back into the swamp with a magnificent thud, blasting up a spout of water and sinking halfway into the mud in a mangled up heap. The only thing he could do was lie where he landed while he groaned in pain and defeat.
Applejack took a few deep breaths, feeling an intense wave of pain and exhaustion now going through her body. Total blindness had overtaken her again as she stopped using any Hoof of the Earth ability. She was shaking from the force of the vibrations that she had transferred through her. But otherwise she was alright. Applejack waited for a moment to make sure she wasn’t going to pass out before turning around and walking to where her instincts told her west was. Pausing at the edge of the clearing she “looked” back over her shoulder at the Warden. “You better not let me catch you in these parts again. Ya hear?”
Not waiting for any response, she looked back ahead and started walking deeper through the swamp.
The Warden watched her go until she completely disappeared before he let his head fall back against the mud and closed his eyes. “How? How can she be so strong… so determined? It doesn’t make sense… why did everything have to go like this?” He exhaled as unconsciousness started to come over him. “I’m retiring...”