Applejack had never had trouble with her powers previously.
Of course, she had simply sprung into existence one day, fully formed, fully aware...or, mostly fully aware, as she had 'matured' over time. But her powers had been a part of her, as natural as flicking her wrist or snapping her fingers.
Now, however, her rampant emotional state was slipping out, and kept causing earthquakes. Thankfully, she had kept them small so far, but if she didn't get a hold of herself soon, then something bad was going to happen.
She forced her will outwards, stopping the miniature earthquake before it really started, then resumed her pacing.
And to make matters worse, she really felt bad about how she'd handled her conversation with Sunset. The hurt in the telepath's eyes when she'd pulled away stuck with Applejack, and wouldn't leave her mind.
But Applejack couldn't bring herself to apologize because she meant what she'd said. She despised the Spirit of Harmony. Applejack had once called her a sibling. The three of them had been close.
But it was all in the past now. She didn't know what Discord was doing—or where he even was—and had no desire to interact with Harmony whatsoever.
She was trying to protect the little ponies, Applejack thought. But she shook her head. No, regardless of her intentions, that was the kind of thing one didn't simply 'get over'.
Especially with how cruel it had been. Sure, she could have protected the ponies any way, even though Harmony hadn't quite been as powerful as Applejack had been. In the early days of Equestria, Chaos and Wildness ruled, and Harmony had simply persisted. Then Starswirl had planted that tree. Applejack hadn't thought to much of it, at the time—after all, ponies had always tried to claim the wild, to tame it. Using an instrument of Harmony had been interesting, and Applejack had chosen to leave it.
Yet, that anchor, that piece of Harmony on the inside of her power, had pierced her very being. The Elements had struck her...and...
She stopped abruptly, feeling fresh tears down her face. And they're all dead, she thought. All those I knew in all those lives...they're dead. Nothing but dust and bones now, til the Earth claims even that...
Rage and grief swirled inside her, boiling, demanding release. She thrust her face to the sky, and belted out a scream of pain and anguish, power flowing outwards. The trees around her withered, the grass turned gray, as she screamed and cried.
Fluttershy woke with a start. She sat up, yawning, listening to the animals in her house. Since she'd gotten her Geode, there were a lot more animals in her house. Some, like the wolves, she hadn't been able to keep around long-term because they'd eat the smaller ones. But with her Geode, she'd made them all behave while they were at her house.
She listened to the cries of a dozen different species, and jumped up in alarm. She bolted down the steps, staring as they all ran amok.
"Goodness! E-everyone calm down!" she cried. "Oh no...what's wrong?"
Dozens of yowls, howls, and whines answered her. She winced, holding out her hands placatingly. "Don't worry, everything's alright," she said. "Everyone calm down, okay?"
Slowly, the chorus of cries stopped.
"Alright, someone say what's wrong," Fluttershy said.
Angel Bunny hopped over, beginning to chitter worriedly. She still heard the same chittering sounds her friends would hear, but with her Geode, she understood what the animals meant.
That said, no matter how much she loved them, she had to admit that they weren't people. They simply weren't as smart as humans were, and piecing together what the problem was was generally quite the ordeal.
"I...I don't understand," she told Angel. "Who's crying? Is someone hurt?"
The ground shook. It was a light rumble at first, but it escalated, causing her to dive under the table in alarm.
Animals, she knew, often detected earthquakes before people did. But something was...she didn't know how to put it, other than wrong. The shaking didn't feel natural—more like someone had started shaking her chair while she was on it. She could almost pin-point the direction of that someone.
And then, she heard it—a fierce, anguished cry of something primordial. Her heart almost skipped a beat, and her breath seized up, as the shaking died down.
Angel Bunny hopped down in front of her, ears drooping. Fluttershy picked him up, snuggling him tightly. "Don't worry," she said, sounding more confident than she felt. "I'll get my friends, and we'll fix this, okay?"
I hope....
The midnight meetings of the Rainbooms had, thankfully, been mostly entirely fun sleepovers.
This time they gathered in Pinkie's house...with one notable exception.
"I just called Granny Smith, she said Applejack hasn't been home since I was there with Fluttershy and Sunset," Rainbow said.
"Applejack is missing, we have a weird earthquake, and all the animals are frightened," Sunset muttered. "She stormed off in a huff yesterday, so..."
"I think Applejack might be the cause of the earthquake," Rainbow said clearly.
"Oh dear," Fluttershy said.
"Well, maybe we can cheer her up?" Pinkie said. "This sounds like an easy fix, actually. We probably don't even have to shoot anyone with rainbow lasers!"
Sunset's phone chimed, and she winced, checking it again. "Anyone have any clue on how to find her?" she asked. "Before my inbox is filled with people wondering about the angry scream of fury, following an unexplained earthquake?"
"Um," Fluttershy said, raising her hand. "I thought I could tell which way it was coming from...and the animals could definitely tell."
"Well, that's good news," Sunset said, wiping her brow. "Come on! Let's go give our friend some help."
They rushed out to pile into Fluttershy's minivan, with Sunset in the shotgun seat.
Fluttershy sat behind the wheel, tapping her fingers nervously. "Sunset," she said hesitantly, "do you think this is about..."
"An extremely stubborn nature spirit with an a-thousand year old grudge?" Sunset smiled bitterly. "I mean, I can't think what else it might be."
"I mean..." Fluttershy bit her lip. "I'd be kind of mad, too."
Sunset blinked, staring at her in confusion.
"I understand...why Harmony did what she did," Fluttershy said. "Making her reincarnate, so she could eventually reform...it makes sense. But I know what it's like...to lose things you care about." Her fingers clenched, ever so tightly on the steering wheel. "Every once in a while, we...lose injured animals at the shelter. And...after a thousand years of that, if I hadn't cared before, I'd be...kind of cranky, too."
Sunset nodded. "I understand," she agreed. "But this is beginning to be...you know, problematic." She clasped her hands together, thinking. "What do we even do here? If we could activate the Elements without Applejack, it wouldn't remotely fix the problem. You know how stubborn she can be, too."
"Here, here," Rarity said, "but a concentrated effort from all of us will surely get the point across."
"Eh," Rainbow said slowly. "I've known her longer than I've known any of you except Fluttershy. If she wants to be mad, I'm not sure we can change her mind."
"Doesn't mean we're not going to try," Fluttershy said. "We have to."
"Well, duh," Rainbow agreed. "I'm just...not sure how to go about this."
"Paaaaaaarty?" Pinkie said, holding up a cake.
Sunset couldn't resist a chuckle. "Sorry, but I don't think this kind of thing is something that can be laughed off."
"Got it," Pinkie said, stowing the cake in her hair.
Sunset looked out the window, watching trees fly past as they neared the woods. A steady, rhythmic pulse was coming from outside, and she thought she finally understood how much power Applejack had. The entire forest was permeated with it, top to bottom. The trees swayed in a non-existent wind, to the same rhythmic pulse that Sunset identified with Applejack's magic.
"We're close," Sunset said.
"Yes," Fluttershy agreed. "The animals are gone."
"They're...gone?" Rainbow asked.
"They were scared, and ran away," Fluttershy said.
Rarity gave an awkward chuckle. "She must be in quite the temper, then."
"Um, is anyone else's Geodes heating up?" Twilight asked, rubbing hers.
Sunset tuned her friends' agreements out, closing her eyes. Her sense shot outwards and away, much farther than she could normally detect.
A pair of golden eyes appeared before, seated in black pools of tar, on a face of pale, white skin.
Sunset opened her eyes. "She knows we're here," she said.
"Well, I should hope so!" Pinkie said. "We're not trying to surprise her, after all!"
Sunset nodded to Flufttershy. "Stop the car."
Fluttershy pulled the car to a stop, giving Sunset a quizzical look.
"She's very close, and we're not going to be able to get the car closer than this and bring it back in one piece," Sunset said, nodding to a coiling, writhing mass of thorny thicket.
Her friends piled out of the car, pausing before the thornbushes.
"Did it have to be blackberry brambles?" Twilight sighed. She reached out, only for the brambles to coil away before she could touch them. A path spread out before them, the bushes twisting to the sides.
"Well, she certainly gets points for style!" Rarity said. "The red carpet treatment is definitely appreciated."
Sunset lead the way, looking to the forest around her. The trees stood tall, swaying to that rhythmic tune. They had also grown up in a massive circle, almost sixty feet across, with one entrance, with a line of blackberry brambles on either side.
The earth rumbled, just slightly.
"If she caused any lasting damage to the continental crust with those quakes," Twilight said slowly, "I'm going to make her put it back."
"That's tomorrow's problem," Sunset replied, stepping into the clearing.
Thorns and vines twisted across the forest floor, all reaching around a small dome of thorns and roots, like a canopied bed. Seated inside was, Sunset presumed, Applejack.
Though, perhaps, 'Gaea Everfree' was more accurate this time.
Applejack's skin had turned pale white, her eyes a fierce gold, glowing ever so faintly, and the 'whites' were pools of tar. Her hair was long, free from its ponytail, and twisted branches and leaves were growing out of it. Her clothing was wraps of leaves and branches, twisting, tight around her skin, down to a skirt that came half-way down her thighs. She looked less like an athletic farm girl and more like a nature goddess from folklore of old.
Her eyes turned to face her friends, and she sighed. "I reckon that I didn't do a good job keeping my anger contained, huh?"
"Sorry, but no," Sunset admitted. "People felt the earthquake, and you kind of scared all the animals from here to Fluttershy's cottage."
Applejack blew out a breath, leaning back on her...bed? Was that supposed to be a bed? "Dammit," she cursed.
"Hey. We get it," Sunset said, stepping closer. "We've all been angry before—even Fluttershy. Anger is natural. But...it's not meant to be held onto. Accept it, let it go."
"It ain't that easy. Not over somethin' like this," Applejack said. "Ya'll...ya'll know. What Harmony did."
The earth rumbled again.
"I know that," Sunset said, stepping right up to her. She went down onto one knee, ducking beneath the edge of the canopy. The thorns retracted inwards, just before she touched them. "You girls know I have more temper issues than most. It's hard to just let things go."
The only response was another rumble of the earth.
Sunset sat on the edge of the bed, her friends scooting closer. "Applejack," she said, "have you talked to Harmony, since you came back?"
"No," Applejack muttered.
"You should," Sunset asked. "If nothing else, wouldn't it make you feel better? Knowing you tried?"
"I don't want to try. I don't want anything to do with her!" Applejack snapped. "She's--"
"For crying out loud, how is she a traitor?" Rainbow Dash snapped. "I heard the whole story, AJ. She stopped Discord from destroying Equestria, and then she stopped you from doing the same." Rainbow leaned forward. "We'd do the same, right, girls?"
The ground shook, hard enough to make them wobble. "I should damn well hope not," Applejack snarled.
"Applejack," Twilight said slowly, "let's look at this logically for a moment. If you—or any of us—started attacking random people, what would the rest of us do?"
"Talk the other friend down?"
"What if they don't listen?" Twilight asked. "Just...hypothetically."
"Gettin' rough, I understand, but she petrified Discord!" Applejack said. "And what she did to me is inexcusable!"
The ground near Sunset cracked. We're getting nowhere like this, she thought.
"Applejack," Fluttershy said. "We get that you're mad..."
"Mad? MAD? MAD DON'T CUT IT!" The canopy disappeared in a burst of gem dust, leaving Applejack free to pace. "Ya'll don't get it. When I was blasted, I was still grieving because I'd thought I'd lost Discord. Then, she makes me live as a human over and over again for a thousand years. And every time, it's the same!"
Steam burst from the crack in front of Sunset. Her Geode now felt hot to the touch, and she could feel the fury rising from Applejack in waves. Sunset knelt down, putting her fingers over the crack, which was slowly growing in length.
The air above it was hot.
"I'd grow up, I'd care for folks around me, and they'd always leave! Afterwards, I'd always be alone!" She spun, tears slowly falling down her face, and took off her hat. "You gals are all gonna die, and I'm still gonna be here. Why'd I have to learn to care?"
More cracks spread along the ground. "Uh, guys?" Sunset said.
"Oh, pfft! Come on, darling!" Rarity put her arm around Applejack. "Would that be preferable?"
"If yer Ma died, how would you feel?" Applejack asked.
"Well, of course I'd be upset," Rarity answered. "Anyone would be."
"And that's just one person," Applejack said quietly, looking into Rarity's eyes. "One simple human life, to be snuffed out in an instant, never heard no more. Think, then, of all the times over a thousand years...a dozen lives. A dozen families. Mothers, fathers, sisters and brothers. Almost a hundred people returned to dust. And here I am, still persisting. Still kickin' like an old mule. Empires will rise and fall and become as dust, and I'll still be here, watching as new ones are made on the ashes of the old, and maybe, just maybe, it ain't worth it to carry the pain for all that time, huh?"
The crack split wide open, leaving an all-to-familiar red glow to shine.
Sunset strode towards Applejack, quickly and determinedly, and slapped the farm-girl mid-sentence.
Applejack stumbled, eyes going wide, as she and all of her friends fell silent.
"What...what the hay was that for?" Applejack demanded.
Sunset pointed towards the cracks. "You said that you'd understand if I got rough," she said.
Applejack blinked in surprise.
"Applejack. Some things you need to work out at your own pace, but right now, you need to calm yourself down before you create a volcano and wipe Canterlot off the face of the earth," Sunset said calmly. "Please."
Applejack stepped over to the crack, looking down into it. Then, she knelt, placing one hand on the ground. The cracks, one by one, sealed themselves, the dirt and stone melding perfectly until not even the faintest signs remained.
And still she sat there, eyes closed in concentration. Then, finally, she opened her eyes, and sighed.
Green eyes looked up into Sunset's. "I'm sorry, gals," she said. "I...I lost my temper."
"We forgive you," Pinkie said, kneeling besides her. "Applejack...I was sad, when Granny Pie died. I shut down, for a bit. Stopped doing anything new. Got up, did my chores, and then went back to bed. But Maude...Maude told me that that wasn't how Granny wanted me to live." She put her arm on Applejack's shoulder. "People die. But I realized that it was better to know her while she lived, then to have never known her at all. Everything should be enjoyed while it lasts, but those we care about wouldn't want to see us throwing our lives away just so we could feel bad for them."
Applejack sniffed. "I...I..." She wiped her eyes, watching the tears fall from her sleeve. "Ah, dammit. Yer right...of course you are." She threw herself against Pinkie, weeping.
She kept crying as each of her friends, in turn, came over, and hugged her, too. She sobbed, as dark clouds formed overhead, and rain began to pour.