//------------------------------//
// End of the World I 
// Story: Applejack at the Edge of the World 
// by MagicS 
//------------------------------//

Applejack walked at a decently brisk pace through the White Forest.

Despite the warning on the letter, without any extra details she had no idea what to do or how fast she needed to go. That letter, Discord’s words, her own foreboding, it seemed like it really was all coming together now. She just wished whoever gave her that letter had been a little more… specific. Three days was a short amount of time, could it really be true? And how was the world going to end in just three days?

It just didn’t seem possible. If the world was ending then why was the act of saving it falling on her shoulders of all ponies? Shouldn’t Twilight or the Princesses know something’s up? This is the kind of situation that all her friends would tackle together.

What could be going on out here?

She had to think. If that warning hadn’t given her any extra details then she had to be able to figure out the problem on her own. Right? Thinking about this kind of stuff wasn’t exactly her strength but there was nopony else around to do it for her. And if the world really did need saving then Applejack was just going to have to suck it up and save it.  

Another strange thing was—why would anypony or any creature be wanting to end the world? Discord had expressly warned her about an evil pony trying to destroy the world, but that just didn’t make sense! What does anypony get out of that? Absolutely nothing, that’s what. Had she already met the pony? What crazy pony could or would want to do something like this? Considering some of the villains she had faced in the past, Nightmare Moon, Discord himself, Tirek, the Storm King, none of them really wanted to outright destroy the world. Whoever was trying to do this now—if Discord and that letter were telling the truth—had to be extra crazy.

Applejack looked up through the fog of the White Forest to check the sky. It was barely noon—she’d be back out of here and at the border of Equinestan with plenty of time left in the day. And she wasn’t going to rest until she at least figured out who was doing this and where they were.

“Dang it though… just what’s going on and why do I always get roped into stuff like this?” She grumbled. “Couldn’t I have just gone back home? Let Rainbow Dash deal with stuff like this, she’s the one who enjoys it, not me!”

The one positive fact she had right now was that she knew the world wasn’t going to end before the day after tomorrow so it’s not like anything could surprise her. In fact… was this day the first day or was tomorrow counted as day one? Applejack didn’t exactly want to chance it so she was going to assume the third day was the day after tomorrow. And if she was wrong all it meant was that she was saving the world one day early. And that probably made things better for everypony. There was still the problem of figuring everything else out though—so she was going to make her way back to Maple Town quickly and see if anypony there knew anything.

Applejack’s eyes widened as she swiftly trotted through the forest. “Hold on one second—don’t I already know something strange that was going on out here?”

Karza. Applejack’s mind had been completely preoccupied with everything happening in Elysium’s View that she had practically forgotten about him.  

*

“So you’ve managed to destroy this puppet? I am surprised, but it isn’t important in the end. Karza may be destroyed but I’ve learned everything I needed to with him. It was quite the enlightening experience and now I know that I’m ready to move on. You also have shown me some interesting things, Applejack, so in turn I won’t harm Maple Town. Congratulations, do what you wish, this is only the beginning of the end.”

*

“The beginning of the end...” Applejack muttered. “Whoever Karza really is… whatever he really is… it has to be him.”

Applejack silently fumed as she made her way further through the White Forest. In her musings she hadn’t noticed how far she had gotten or how the sun had traveled further overhead, she was nearly out. That was good, that was just what she needed, real progress to be made. Her mind wasn’t taken up by looking around the forest and being bored, nor was it taken up by the mystery of Elysium’s View. And thus time flew while she racked her brain to figure things out—using every little bit of brain power she had to try and save the world.

Her ear twitched—a sudden realization hit her. Something she should have noticed earlier but hadn’t just now until she thought back on it.

*

“Applejack.”

*

“He knew my name,” Applejack’s eyes narrowed. “I never gave him my name but he knew it anyways. How?”

It was just another part of the mystery, but she knew it was a big part. There was something clawing around inside her head trying to get out and make itself clear. Applejack bit her lip as she thought harder. What did that mean? What did that mean when combined with everything else she knew about Karza?

In just a short minute she reached the end of the White Forest and the fog lifted, Applejack finding herself standing by the big sign she had first seen on her way to Elysium’s View. Her eyes were not drawn to the words on the sign at all this time though—but instead down to the roses growing around it. There was something else she was remembering.  

*

“So this is my gift for you. Just remember that as long as you carry those roses with you, you’re never truly alone on your journey. And I’d also like to tell you that if you see any other roses out there where you travel—consider it a sign of good luck. Trust me.”

*

These roses were strange too. There had to be something significant about the direction they faced. All of them were still facing slightly northeast, it was completely unnatural, there had to be meaning behind it.

Applejack ground her teeth back and forth and looked in the same direction the roses were “pointing”.

“Northeast, northeast, northeast...” She repeated.

*

“This here is Blast Miner—his family has owned a series of mines up in northwest Equinestan for generations,” Mayor Rooter said.

*

Applejack blinked. The northwest of Equinestan was…

She then suddenly reached into her drawstring pouch, searching around for something she had taken with her recently. Her hooves felt the small metal object and she took the heart out that she had found in the remains of Karza, holding it in her hoof again. Looking at it intently she realized she knew what metal it was made out of. It was a metal that many of her tools and things back on the farm were made out of.

*

Blast Miner chuckled and wryly grinned. “Gold, silver, tin, and iron—right up until all the mines went dry. Sit around here now with nothing else to do.”

*

Her hooves started to shake in anger as she turned her gaze in the direction of Maple town.

*

And she ended up being yanked right over to another unicorn stallion

*

And a Cutie Mark of a pile of rocks rested on his flank. 

*

“How did you do that?” Karza asked.

“Wouldn’t you like to know,” Applejack smirked.

“Yes. I very much would. I am the almighty Karza, tell me what your power is so I can use it myself, peasant,” he demanded.

*

Applejack turned and saw several ponies from Maple Town running towards her from up the road. She saw Mayor Rooter, Sure Suture, Peach Pit and a number of others that she didn’t know by name.

*

Blast Miner then walked up beside Mayor Rooter as well. “You know, and pardon me if this is rude since you’re recovering and all, but I can’t help but be curious how you actually managed to fight back against Karza for so long. How did you do it when he can control all the earth and rocks around you?”

*

“But you’re not an ordinary pony?” Blast Miner raised an eyebrow at her.

*

He was just a hollow pony made of dirt and clay.

*

The certainty she felt caused her to shake in rage before she calmed herself down enough to not explode.

Applejack’s eyes narrowed as a fire lit up her heart. “Blast Miner, it was you from the start.”

There was plenty of time left in the day for her to make it to Maple Town before nightfall. She’d confront Blast Miner there—figure out what he was doing and why—and end it all at once. It might be a little awkward bursting in there with the other villagers around, who must’ve been completely ignorant, but she had to stop him. She had beaten the puppet earlier, now it was time to take care of the puppet master.