//------------------------------// // Training For A Forest Frolic/Between A Rock And Hard Place // Story: Sisters In Arms // by SuperBird64 //------------------------------// The apple sisters ended up steeping on multiple vegetable plants like tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplants and cabbage were stepped on along with a bag of plant grow. Both earth ponies were overtaken with panic and disbelief as they ran along the woods "What are we gonna do big sis?" "Let's find Granny Smith she'll know what to do!" Applejack responded both were in a state of panic unsure if their granny would be able to help and in disbelief that they were now victims of some kind of tyrannical demon known as Lord Tirek. "HEY WATCH THE PLANTS!" That loud reminder came courtesy of the tree hugginh earth pony gardener who, speaking of tree hugging had somehow managed to successfully chain herself to a tree. Apple Bloom nearly stepped on a blossom while dashing through the field both sisters not bothering to take the trail and were basically trespassing onto the gardener's property. Eventually both made it back to the orchard swiftly running through it, Applejack stepped on honey from the broken beehive which she paid little to no attention to. They ran into the barnhouse with a loud crash waking Granny Smith from her nap "YOU'LL NEVER TAKE MY SOUL! Oh it's just you 2 again...Applejack! What did I tell you about dragging mud into the house!" "Mud what are you-oh." Applejack grabs a rag and starts wiping the honey Granny Smith mistook as mud making Apple Bloom the one to tell their parental figure "Hey Granny Smith what would you say if we by chance had made a deal with the literal devil?" "Well I would say that's a fine pickle dipped in jam you've gotten yourselves into as for what I would do typically I would try to defend what was his part of the deal?" she asked assuring Apple Bloom that she can drop the whole 'what if' act and that she fully understands their situation "Here's the thing we didn't ask for anything we lost our souls in a bet, resulting in another deal." The younger pony explained "Well if you're not gaining anything might as well try to go through with it, what's the deal?" "We've gotta collect the souls of the Devil's runaway debtors but were just earth ponies and we don't know how. We earth ponies have no magic besides our spiritual kind" she explained "Well hot diggity dogs never thought I would ever find a use for this." "Use for what Granny?" AJ asked finally done cleaning the honey dragged onto the floor, Granny Smith walked over to a old dusty cabinet, opens it, reaches in and pulls out a book "A old friend from my younger days gave me this book guide, How to learn Optic Energy Peashot in a week!" "Lord Tirek only gave us 48 hours!" Applejack informed "Luckily for you they gave me another edition of the same guide called How To Learn The Optic Energy Peashot in 24 hours!" "We're not gonna spend half our time limit learning that." Apple Bloom added "They gave me the final edition of the guide How to Learn The Optic Energy Peashot In An Hour!" Granny Smith then reached further into the cabinet and pulled out an old dusty bottle containing a bright blue liquid "This potion should start your powers!" "Uh Granny how long has that potion been sitting in that cabinet?" Apple Bloom asked concerned about the potion potentially dangerous effects "Oh I don't know maybe a entire family generation or 2, my friend only gave me this to use in case the Devil or any of this close allies managed to bypass my defenses none of them ever came close so I never used it." Applejack popped the cap off and took a sniff of the bottle's sketchy looking liquid "Doesn't seem to smell like anything." she took a sip of it "Tastes like a very sugary energy drink! Yum!" The slightly older sibling took a few more sips consuming half of the bottle's contents "Save some for me sis!" the slightly younger sibling took the bottle, taking an experimental sip to savor the potion sweet taste before gulping down the remaining liquid. "So what now? Do we shoot it out of our foreheads like unicorns?" Applejack tried out the latter to no avail "Let's see here..." Smith trails off opening the 1 hour guide book only to see something very disappointing "Oh guess books don't last a family generation." she shows her granddaughters one of the pages revealing that all the words have completely or nearly faded away "Looks like you're gonna have to go off memory. My memory isn't what it used to be but if I remember correctly they said it comes out of a hand." the Apple sisters tried many different hand positions like a fist, index finger, palm, pinkie none of them showing any signs of the Peashot. "Wait now I remember it was a finger gun position!" "Now what? Wait for it to charge up?" AB asked "Now I remember that it required something before the finger gun..." AJ and AB didn't bother trying anything and opted to just wait for their grandmother to remember "A snap that's what it is!" "Snapping seriously?" Applejack complained, growing up with a country pony lifestyle made it hard for them to modernize or as modern ponies say it 'get with the times' this include trends like drinking competitions, video game consoles or as mentioned snapping. "We can at least try sis." Apple Bloom assured, while both had seen other ponies snap they were always unsure of which finger they used with their thumb each then snapped with their index finger and surprisingly as soon as they performed the action and switched to the finger gun a blue projectile came out of the index's fingertip, the duo took it one Peashot at a time and eventually got the hang of it managing to rapidly fire multiple Peashots like a automatic firearm. "Now that you've got the hang of it time for the side effects to come in!" "Side effects!?" Both siblings said in union "By side effects I mean other abilities the potions give you 2 and don't worry my old friend was an expert brewer, they always tests the potions on plants to not only improve the potion but to check for side effects...THINK FAST!" she throws an entire glass jar of apple sauce towards the duo and reflectively both move out the way except they ended up way further than they expected. "That's called dashing! Have you 2 tried jumping yet?" Although jumping wasn't really a move or skill the siblings used especially when it came to apple farming they both jumped and were reflectively rolled up into balls "Expected more but you know what they say work with what you have, could come in useful in certain situations" Granny Smith advised who then placed 2 scarecrows down. "Time to test your powers! Hit the scarecrows!" Both look then shrug at each other before shooting their respective scarecrow which turn into a cloud of smoke and after it disappears leaves a pile of hay behind "There's one perk of your powers, won't have a witness taking a creature out." Granny Smith said followed by grabbing a homemade mace, a wooden club with a bunch of nails attached, off the wall and hits Apple Bloom on the head which for some reason produced a cracking noise "Ow what was that fo-*CRACK* that really-" the final blow produced a glass shattering which knocked out Apple Bloom but it seems to do more then that as Applejack witnessed her sister's spirit start to rise out of her body. The slightly older's state of shock is interrupted by her parental figure tossing her into the air, circling her up into a ball and causing her manetail to smack the spirit's heart turning it and her read mane braid pink for a second. "Thank you!" Is what AJ heard a ghostly voice say as AB's spirit turns into an orb and go back into her body bringing her back to life. "What happened?" Blossom asked before feeling around her own body "I'm alive? I'm alive!" "That's parrying! Hey Apple Bloom parry this large pink ball!" Apple Bloom jumped only to bounce off it and fall to the floor "Try again ya need to want to parry it to activate the skill." Re curdling into a ball upon jumping Apple Bloom successfully parries the pink ball getting a slight jump boost as a bonus. "Parrying works on any pink object with this move including a dead spirit, you see the potions seems to make you 2 extremely powerful but extremely fragile like cups if you may." Granny Smith explained "Ya know granny you could've shown the pink ball example and then the spirit example and I thought you said there wasn't any negative or dangerous side effects." "My memory isn't what it used to be and that's what the parry's for." the elderly mare countered, checking her digital wrist watch "Well what do ya know 30 minutes not even an hour of training but i'm sure you 2 should get going if you want to collect all the souls! In fact..." Granny SMith ends up handing Applejack the watch which she puts on her wrist revealing 47.5 hours left rather than the actual time "See ya Granny Smith!" Apple Bloom waved as she along with her sister were heading to the front door "Hang on my little ponies!" Is what made the Apple sisters stop at the front door. "Almost forgot this part, it's the most powerful part of the Peashot reach into your pockets." Both siblings reach into a pocket and pull out a glowing playing card "Uh granny what are these cards for?" Applejack asked "Use one! Fire a Peashot!" The latter earth pony hits the glowing card and goes to fire a peashot but instead ends up clapping her hands which releases a massive blue Peashot luckily it doesn't hit anything and fizzles out. "I don't think we can handle this much power." Apple Bloom worried "You'll be fine it's just called a Ex Shot, before ya leave I wanna give you one last piece of wisdom...Do the right thing you may be pawns to the Devil right now but I know you can turn the tables on him and his forces along with freeing all those runaway debtors no creature deserves to have their souls taken by him, don't sell out." "Wow granny just realized that you sure know a lot about the Devil!" Applejack complimented *** Most of the barnhouse had been boarded up, covered in barb/razor wire and barricaded from both the inside and out. A young Granny Smith had encased herself in a metal box with nothing but a peephole to watch out for any dangers. She then heard a knock and voice "Hello anyone home?" She very cautiously stepped out of her metal base, through the dangerous wire and removed most of the barricade at the front door "Oh it's just you...Hang on! how do I know it's really you, give me a fact only you know!" "You keep other types of jam under a floorboard in your kitchen." "Guess it is really you-" "Uh Granny you zoned out and you didn't answer my question." Applejack said breaking the flashback "Oh you know it's just part of growing up." is what the duo of apples chalked up to one of their grandmother's kooky statements, doubting that every family generation from their granny to them dealt with the devil. "Alright Apple Bloom time to collect the souls, you've got the list right?" "The list oh right the list yeah...got the list right here our first victim, I mean debtor is a pony named Rockhoof and it says he lives somewhere in the Everfree forest." Applejack took notice of another debtor on the list Tree Hugger who lived in the same area as Rockhoof. "Hey you don't think that the gardener could be Tree Hugger?" the latter brought into question "Worth a shot" her sister responded "Finding her should be no problem." Applejack assured as the duo walked from the orchad to the forest where she picked up a random oversized bit "Who would leave a perfectly valuable bit here?" Apple Bloom on the other hand noticed something strange. You're Up! "Hey big sis I honestly had no idea meteor showers could happen during the day." she spotted these supposed meteors between the many trees "Meteor showers? during the-IT'S NOT A METEOR SHOWER THEY'RE HEADING TOWARDS US!" both manage to dash out the way right as the first green 'meteor' landed which turned out to be a massive mosquito which they both stepped right over. A few more mosquito meteors landed around them including one right into front of them which they poofed out of existence with their combined Peashots. The duo jumped over a large fallen tree thinking they were safe from the oversized pests only for one to jump over the obstacle luckily a few more rounds of Peashots took it out. "Think we've lost them." Apple Bloom's statement is immediately jinxed by a mushroom coming out of the ground and shooting a puff of purple gas at the sisters cracking Apple Bloom which catches Jack off guard and causing her to crash into a mosquito that jumped over the tree cracking her. Apple Bloom goes to shoot the fungi only for it to retrieve back into the ground, she continues along the path as Applejack fires another round of Peashots managing to destroy the last few mosquitoes in the first area. She ran to catch up to her sister as the mushroom popped back up and shot another puff of smoke. This one was pink which AJ successfully parried it, shooting the mushroom away in the process. “Hey check it out sis got an oversized bit of my own!” Apple Bloom said showing said item which her sister marveled at which gets interrupted by a mosquito landing and cracking both of them a second time by stepping right over them. “Why are my ears ringing!” Apple Bloom angrily thought inserting her pinky into her ear in an attempt to stop the ringing “I don’t it’s coming from our ears sugarcube.” Applejack informed revealing that she too was experiencing the same thing “And it not ringing your hearing it’s beeping must be a warning that only have 1 hit point left.” “Wait are we waiting for let get out of this part of the forest before anything else tries to kill is!” Apple Bloom ushered they ran across another fallen tree using like a bridge, shot through a few more mosquitoes only for Apple Bloom to step on a small smooze shattering her. Luckily her slightly older sister managed to jump and parried her spirit before it went out of range Thank you Applejack shot the slime reverting it into a liquid form and parried a pink spike ball right as Apple Bloom came back to life only to hear the same beeping noise “Oh horseapples still have 1 hp.” Right as the duo were near the end of the bridge the smooze reformed back into a liquid and ran into Applejack right as she was at the edge shattering her. Apple Bloom was quick to react and parried her ghost. Thank you With both earth ponies at risk of permanent shattering they shot right through a small pine cone tree, shortly after they poofed it away they looked back to see the pine cone blew up like a grenade with a fairly big radius making thankful left ran right pass it. Once AJ picked up another bit they fired another round of Peashots stunning another smooze with Apple Bloom parrying a pink spike ball. They made their way down another fallen log, shooting right through a smooze and then up another one this time destroying a mushroom grown into a log before it had a chance to attack. The duo were almost hit by a grenade pinecone but were able to dash out the way, destroy the tree and dash against to avoid the blast radius. Nest was another fallen log with a pink spike ball except this one had a bit on top. Wanting to test her parry and timing skills AB waited a while and once the parryable object was about in max jumping range went for it successfully parrying it give her a jump boost to collect the valuable. The duo dash across a large gap only for the younger one to feel the slight brush of a feather against her arms. "Hey sis did you brush a feather against me?" "Why you ask Sugarcube?" Applejack's question is answered by a crow swooping in and almost hitting her, exploding into back feathers which prompts them to look up and find a whole murder of crows heading towards them. "ACT LIKE A SCARECROW!" AJ stands still but this proves useless as the crows directly hit her shattering her, luckily her sister who ran away from the murder came back and revived her. Thank you They fire more Peashots attempting to murder as much of the murder as possible only for Bloom to almost crash into a mosquito, she shot it poofing it away while Applejack ran away from the swooping crows and collected another bit. They seem to lose the murder of crows as they dash across another gap only to find a large old tree which turned out to be the source of the murder. Now with the goal of murdering this murder maker they fire another round of Peashots. Out of curiously Apple Bloom checks her pocket to find 2 glowing cards, she uses one clapping out one Ex Shot, she fires another one with her sister following suit with a Ex Shot from her single glowing card successfully cutting down the tree and sending the murder of crows away. Once the duo had jumped over the stump and Apple Bloom collected a another bit they started dashing across multiple small gaps, eventually reaching the final one "Applejack think I see the exit!" "Well what are we waiting for?" Both jumped into the air and went to dash only for a massive flower resembling a mouth with sharp spikes as teeth consumed them in one bite shattering both of them permanently. You Died!: Your Souls Are Now For Everfree In The Bad Afterlife! it seems you 2 souls have met an unfortunate fate is the voice/sound Applejack woke up to she looks down at her hands and rather than finding a spirit blue appearance she finds herself still orange with a shiny appearance and spirit like transparency. "What in tarnation?" Her environment only created more questions than answers she doesn't find the Pearly Gates, Stairway to Heaven, Pits of fire or extreme temperatures but instead finds herself in this weird green lvoid with stars and what appears to be fog in the distance. "AJ where are we?" Apple Bloom asks bearing the same appearance as her sis and just as confused "I have no idea but one thing's for certain we aren't in Equestria no more or alive" as soon as she said that the same voice Applejack woke up to spoke again. I don't typically send spirits to this realm or even rarer give them this privilege but I sense your services are needed. There's a catch to this but i'll make an exception just this time the duo couldn't even process the voice's words when both start glowing white and are blinded by a flash. *** Apple Bloom rubs the back of her head only to see that the hand she was using was back to its normal state. She yelped, standing back up and feeling around her body to make sure he was alive again. "I'm gonna be honest Apple Bloom..." Applejack started who had already processed her situation "I have no idea what the voice meant by catch, exception, realm?" "Maybe we'll come back to life but with 1 hp or weaker firepower?" Apple Bloom suggested "I don't hear any beeping so it's not the latter." her sister responded, the duo ultimately decided not to overthink it or worry about it, the carnivorous flower popped back up then down allowing the Apples to dash across the gap and exit the patch. Bravo!! The Apple ponies expect to find the green thumb still chained still chained to the tree but only find the latter as the gardener had replaced herself with a sign reading 'Gone to stop fishing' which makes Apple Bloom chuckle "For a tree hugger she sure does a mighty nice sense of humor." "Nice play on the classic Gone Fishin" Applejack added "Welp might as well face the facts." she sighed as she and Blossom made their way and by made their way, fired Peashots and shot through multiple overgrown vines "Maybe we can find another open patch in this forest." Apple Bloom started scanning the area for anything that looked like or could lead to another clearing when she noticed a trail of weirdly shaped rocks "Hey sis do those boulders look natural to you?" she asked "Apple Bloom boulders are round, rocks are fla-" These rocks in question are what was left Applejack puzzled they were in the almost perfect shape of a cone, tooth, duck, face, donut and most noticeably a shovel "There! That shovel must be a sign like the Zebra tribes." They shot through the vines creating an entrance to the trail which not only revealed moreweirdly shaped rocks but also that said trail went downhill. Despite the duo's attempt to carefully make their way down the hill Apple Bloom tripped on a rock crashing into her sister and sending both tumbling down the hill and by some miracle no parts of their body hit the rocks so no damage was endured. Applejack panted a few times to process the miracle "Wow we somehow fell down the hill without cracking a single time." Apple Bloom dusted herself off "Must've been dumb luck or something bigger..." the slightly younger sibling pondered, remembering the voice's words. "Looks these rocks have been carved out recently.Someone’s gotta be around here" Applejack said examining a small piece of rock along with traces of dust in the dirt. Deciding to be cautious the duo sneak through the trail of carved rocks and carefully move aside the vines to reveal a small earth pony holding a shovel which was taller than his whole body and using it to carve into a rock. This is when the Apple sisters came across their first and biggest moral dilemma "I say we take his soul!" AJ whispered "Are you crazy Applejack?! The Devil only told us to collect the souls he never told us how or what method we should use! I say we should just ask him or maybe help him and make him agree to hand over his soul contract." "He's the Devil what method do you think he wants just to use...alright fine here's the plan we try your method and if that fails we'll do minds deal?" AJ whispers holding a hand out "Deal!" AB whispers back as both shake on it "Hello you must-" The slightly older sibling gets cut off by the small pony yelling clearly startled by the duo's sudden appearance "Oh sorry about that I don't get many visitors around here." the pony admitted his voice revealing that he was a colt. "My name's Rockhoof! Nice to meet you." "Nice to meet you too didn't expect you to be so-" "Short" he interrupted completing AJ statement "Yeah got that from the few visitors i've had...you're farm ponies right?" "Were only farm hands on the biggest apple orchard in Ponyville!" Apple Bloom answered "We've been doing farm work since we were fillies!" Applejack added "Simple ponies it seems! Natural talent for hard labor...you know I have a talent rock carving but I do have this big project that’s might require a little help.” “Sure anything for a lonely colt like you” AB assures as the colt leads them over to a old statue of a gargoyle, bits of it had chipped off and it was covered in a few vines. The gargoyle wasn’t what Rockhoof was focused on and instead it was what was around the statue which was 6 slabs, 4 of them already carved and one chipped a little. “I never got the chance to perfect these 4, if I did it would’ve taken years which is why I had to take a lot of shortcuts or budget cuts as civilized ponies say it.” Rock demonstrates this shortcut by backing up to the gargoyle statue before running up and crashing into the chipped slab. "This shortcut takes a while but not as long as practically carving it." He informs the duo in a slightly dazed tone "I'll give it a try!" Apple Bloom backs up a little but once colliding with the slab causes it to crack and falls to pieces catching Rockahoof completely off guard "Sorry guess I don't know I own strength!" "Gotta pull this thing out again" The colt grumbles pulling out a bit which gets flipped into the air and lands back in his palm "Tails...That's alright always keep backup slabs" he cleans up the mess, walks off and a few moments later is seen pushing a replacement slab. "Here use this!" He hands the duo a stone hammer and spike respectively. He picks his shovel back up and starts carving away at the slightly chipped slab Applejack and Bloom following suit "So what's gonna be the theme of these last 2 pillars?" AJ asks attempting to start a conversation with this debtor. "I'm thinking a more ancient architecture like a tiki pillar." "What are you planning to call this artpiece?" AB brings up "I was first thinking Pillars Of Equestria but that sounds too big then I thought Gargoyle Guardians, too on the nose I eventually settled on calling this art piece Ponhenge!" the colt explains "Hey Rock one more question what the deal with the bit?" "Oh you noticed my bit! Well this the first and only bit I ever picked up and it just happens to have writing on it saying 1 bit. I use it to make decisions and just as a simple pastime game." "Whoa! Not even our granny owns a bit like that and we've only heard stories of bits and their rarity you should consider selling it!" "This single bit is priceless to me and no amount of unlabeled bits is ever gonna change my mind!" He declares flipping said bit again which lands on head "Heads! Time to relax!" Flashback "Come on! Come on!" Rockahoof strains as he attempts to lift a small rock only to lose his grip resulting in him landing on his back and hitting himself with both his hands. "I really need to know I own strength." he mutters to himself staring at his dust covered hands "I'll do anything to feel bigger in this unfair world!" As soon as he said that a giant boulder claw bursts out of the ground and grabs him into a portal before he could even process anything. He suddenly find himself in a room full of caged hybrid creatures, a few normal creatures and a sign reading Welcome To Tartarus "I've gotta be dreaming!" Rockhoof tells himself rubbing his eyes only to come face to facee with a black bug like "Rockhoof is it?" the demon asks "How do you know that!" "Oh I know every weak-minded creature in this random land!" He heard a more menacing voice say which turned out to be Lord Tirek sitting in a stone throne. The colt was immediately overwhelmed by the Devil's presence "No need to worry little stallion I know exactly how to make your wish come true." "You do?" "Watch me!" With a snap of his fingers the colt is surrounded by a pillar of orange fire and when it clears reveals no change in Rockhoof's appearance "Hey! I asked to feel bigger!" "I did make you feel bigger you now know your own strength!" Confused the colt picks up at heavy looking rock, with his left hand and finds it to be as light as a pebble. Wanting to see what else his strength is capable of he digs into the ground his the right ahdns and finds out his hands had been figuratively turned into shovels "This is gonna make rock carving a lot more hard" "Now for your part of the deal...your soul for all eternity!" This caught the colt who hesitantly reached behind his back and pulled out his soul contract. He goes to hand it to the Devil but at the last second throws the large rock he was still holding at him before he had a chance to counter it. He gets blinded for a second and once it vision clears up finds that the colt had seemingly escaped through a hole in the ground "DON'T LET HIM ESCAPE!" He commands to demon guards who all jump down the hole which is followed by a geyser of lava and a nearly melted helmet coming back to the surface revealing that this was a trap. He grabs the helmet and in frustration crushes it like a tin can. "My Lord! I'm picking up a strange magic anomaly from the algorithm. Haven't seen this in a while" Cozy the demon informs "Looks like we've got another runaway debtor! Send out a search party!" he commands which the pink demon salutes to. "Huh this slab looks a bit loose" Applejack thought nothing the replacement slab was a bit out of line with the dirt outline. She adjusts it a little which causes it to fall over crashing into another completed slab knocking it over and creating a domino effect which ends with all the Ponhenge slabs cracking and breaking. Rockhoof's eye twitches a little and he goes to flip his bit only for a orb to hit him like a snowball which turns his eyes blue "LOOK WHAT YOU'VE DONE TO MY HARD WORK!" "Sorry guess we apples don't know our own streng-" AJ is cut off by the colt bringing a fist to her cracking giving her both a back eye and a crack in her HP. "We've tried your plan now it's time for my plan!" Applejack whispered to Blossom followed by Rookhoof jumping into the air and landing with a loud stomp sending a shock wave knocking back the duo but not enough to crack them "I'll squish you like rotten apples!" A Brawl Is Surely Brewing! Here It's Goes! Applejack and Apple Bloom respectively adjust their head accessories before firing Peashots at the colt who doesn't seem to be bothered by them at all That's weird Granny Smith said they should poof away shots." both sisters thought as Rockhoof jumped into the air landing with another stomp except this one wasn't as powerful. He stomps to the remains of the left slab and starts stomping to the right. Apple Bloom manages to get close to him when he lands in the middle only to be cracked by one of his fists when he goes to stomp further to the right. Applejack expects him to stop at the far right only for him to wall jump off a tree and land where she was standing, before continuing to jump to the left leaving AJ at beeping level. The Apple sisters continue to snap and fire their Peashots at the stomping colt by either running or dashing out the way when it was a close call. He suddenly stop which allowed them to get close and fire away only for the debtor to launch a forward attack in the form of his shovel shattering Applejack and bringing Apple Bloom to 1 HP. She slightly younger sibling goes to parry her sister bust instead jumps on Rockhoof right as he's in the air shattering her. You Died!: Guess It's time to know your own strength which is little to none! *** Apple Bloom wakes up to find herself in the same crystal-like form "Oh horse apples what are we doing here again!" I sense you're services are needed i'll revive you 2 but here's the catch you'll have to restart this encounter don't worry none of your actions here will or could affect the future is what the sisters heard the voice say when they were blinded by the same white flash. *** Before either sibling they could process their current state Rockhoof attacked confirming to the sisters that they were not only brought back to life but also back to the start of their battle. They fired another round of the Peashots and decided to be even more cautious by dashing away. When it came time for the colt to launch his shovel forward attack Apple Bloom dashed away only for her sister to discover that they could just duck under the rock carving tool. Starting to feel some pain Rockhoof knew he had to change tactics so as a result he dug into the ground disappearing into it and a lump to form, which moved left to right. The sisters attempted to fire at it but it didn't seem to do any damage, confused they tried to jump on it, Blossom activating her parry, only for both to get cracked. "What now AJ?" Apple Bloom asked as she and her sister jumped over the lump in the ground "Not sure AB maybe we wait for him to let his guard down?" Applejack's statement gets jinxed when the lump is between the sisters followed by Rockhoof's shovel suddenly bursting out of the ground, with so much force that it causes spikes of rocks to burst from either side cracking them again, bringing them to danger level. They didn't get a chance to fire Peashot as the shovel retreats back into the ground recreating the lump except this one had accumulated a few worms. Applejack jumped, parryed one and reached into her pocket only to find 3 glowing cards except. Apple Bloom who did the same checked her own pocket and found the same thing. "We can also gets cards by doing damage?" AJ rhetorically asked "Guess that something Granny Smith forgot to mention" AB answered as she attempted to parry another worm only to mistake a root for one resulting in her shattering. Applejack managed to parry her spirit only to fall right onto the lump. Thank you Apple Bloom couldn't even revive her sister as she somehow also managed to fall right onto the lump You Died!: You can now relax 6 feet under! *** Each earth pony parryed their final third pink worm followed by the shovel bursting out the ground again except this time the duo were quick enough to dash away before the spikes could reach them. They each pop a Ex shot directly hitting the shovel and causing it to fall apart something the sisters expected. Something they didn't expect was for something magical to happen in this case blue energy comes from underground resulting in Rockhoof resurfacing now no longer a colt and now 5 times his original size. "Now I truly feel bigger!" He remarks in a much deeper full grown stallion voice. He starts stomping to the right now requiring the earth ponies to dash in order to avoid him. "This is a downgrade if you ask me." Apple Bloom informs her sister as Rockhoof reaches the far right and wall jumps off a tree but instead of skipping a single stomp he skips quite a few landing in the middle cracking the sisters. "You call that a downgrade?" Applejack rhetorically asks as they simultaneously fire Peashots followed by both popping an Ex card. The colt turned stallion pauses his stomping signaling a forward attack, the ponies expecting a fist duck only for Rock to stomp the ground creating spikes of rocks which reach and crack them resulting in beeping. "There's another upgrade!" AJ remarks as they continue to dash away from the stallion only for Applejack to make the same mistake her slightly younger sis did in the first phase, when Rock got to the far left Apple Bloom got too close resulting in a direct punch from Rockhoof shattering her. He wall jumps to the middle before Applejack could even get to the far left, crushing her. You DIed!: Looks like your egos and confidence got a bit too big *** They dashed away from the spikes of rock AB popping an Ex card/move which seem to be all it took for Rockhoof to get dizzy and stop stomping, allowing the duo to pop the last of their ex moves "I think we did Sugarcube!" A Knocko- a sudden blue strike of the lightning which directly hits the stallion sparks an entire storm, the rain turning the ground to mud but more importantly the strike turns the stallion to stone with the mud bringing him behind the other 2 earth ponies and causing it to slide from side to side now requiring the earth ponies to follow it around. "You've gotta be kidding me! Shooting a statue?" Apple Bloom complains as she starts firing more rounds of Peashots alongside her sister "I don't think it's the statue you should be worried about." Applejack finds it very hard to run around in the mud. Her latter statement gets jinxed by a sudden strong gust of wind pushing the stone encased stallion over crushing the duo. "Guess you do have to worry about the statue!" Apple Bloom observes which is further supported by another blue strike of lightning that hits the Rockhoof statue shocking both sisters. They follow the statue to the middle as another strike of lighting hits the statue luckily the duo were able to dash away before they could be shocked only to get trapped at the far left as the statue falls over. You Died!: I didn't even have to move a limb to beat you! *** Being extra cautious now the Apple siblings make to stay at the edge of the statue and dash whenever they were anywhere else in case it decided to fall over. They dodged another shock before Applejack fired a Ex shot, Apple Bloom fired a few more Peashots before getting a Ex card which allowed her to deliver the final blow. A Knockout! the Rockhoof statue starts cracking and falls apart with his soul contract directly landing into Applejack hand "Cool! The watch's even waterproof!" Both siblings were surprised to learn that the watch had somehow survived all that rain. "That entire forest frolic and Rookhoof encounter only took another 30 minutes!" Applejack informed the watch now reading 47 hours.