Ponyville was quiet. The usual hustle and bustle of the little town had disappeared, replaced with a pregnant silence that filled the air. Only a few figures moved around the village, preparing it for the great storm approaching.
Rainbow Dash was perched atop a cloud, her forehooves dangling over the edge of it as she watched the horizon. She flapped her wings in opposite directions and rotated the cloud, scanning every direction she could. The cloud she was laying on was particularly soft, the kind she would normally nap on. But not this time; she had to be alert.
Pinkie Pie, meanwhile, had her eyes open on the ground. She had hidden herself in a bale of hay, combined with a trench coat and Groucho Mare glasses. The perfect disguise. It was a bit hard for her to be sneaky, though, with her broken leg. She crept along the streets of Ponyville best she could, looking carefully for anypony she didn’t recognize. Not a hard thing to do, since most ponies were hiding in their homes right now, but Twilight said it was important, and she believed her.
On the other side of town, Fluttershy was in her element, surrounded by her animal friends. She had a clip board and quill, cutting a very Twilight-like figure as she took census of all the creatures in and around Ponyville. Every rabbit, squirrel and ladybug had to be accounted for. Chrysalis could be hiding anywhere, so Fluttershy was more than happy to help.
The other three Elements were in the process of battening down the rest of Ponyville. Rarity and Twilight were going over every detail of the town, making sure all the entrances were covered and their defenses were strong. Said defenses were being tended to by Applejack, who was using her ring to build barricades. Several ponies had gratefully donated their market place stands to provide lumber, and Applejack was stacking it along the roads toward Ponyville.
Applejack finally hammered the last nail into place, dismissing the hammer construct she had been using. She trotted back over to Twilight, her brow shining with sweat. “That’s the last one, Twi,” she said. “Better top off mah ring, just in case.” As Applejack produced her lantern battery, Twilight nodded to her.
“Good job, Applejack. Now that the town is barricaded, we have a better chance of defense. It’ll be much harder for somepony to sneak in, meaning that we’ve crippled one of Chrysalis’s strongest assets. We should be careful, though, she’s still very powerful. As soon as she reveals herself, we need to use the Elements before she can shape shift.”
Rainbow Dash dropped down from her cloud, looking a bit nervous. “Uh, Twi? I saw something headed this way, something not very friendly. I didn’t get a good look, all I know is that it’s definitely headed for Ponyville from the east.”
Twilight nodded, her horn glowing before shooting a light up into the sky. It shone high in the sky before disappearing. Moments later, Pinkie Pie, still in her disguise, came running up. “I didn’t see anypony I didn’t know, Twilight,” she said. “I haven’t seen anypony out all day except for us, in fact.”
“Good job, Pinkie. That’s probably a good thing; we don’t want any collateral damage. We have most everypony here, now all we need is-“
“I-I’m here,” said a soft voice. Fluttershy came trotting up slowly, scared but determined looking. “I took a census of all my friends, and there were no new animals in town.”
“Good, we’re all together,” said Twilight. “Rainbow Dash saw something headed this way from the east, so get ready everyone.” Twilight turned to face the eastern barricade, digging her hooves into the ground. Applejack stored her battery away, squaring her hooves as well. Rarity flipped her mane out of her face, placing a hoof on her necklace for comfort. Rainbow Dash hovered in the air, hooves up and ready for a fight. Fluttershy stood slightly behind Applejack, doing her best to hide behind her mane. Finally, Pinkie Pie shook herself, getting rid of the hay, trench coat and glasses.
As they formed up, there was a huge boom and the barricade shook, as if struck by something. The ponies flinched, but held their ground, waiting. Again the barricade shook and the wood splintered as something else struck it, stronger this time. With the next strike, the wood collapsed in on itself, kicking up the dust of the road into a cloud. Applejack gulped audibly; she remembered the Changeling queen, and she was a frightening sight.
But as the dust cleared, it wasn’t Chrysalis’s form that appeared out of the debris. The figure’s wings were spread wide, but had no holes in them, and in fact seemed feathered. As the dust settled, it became clear the figure was female. Her profile was more like an eagle’s, a few feathers falling in front of her face in an odd style. While the rest of her feathers were white, the tips of her headfeathers and those around her eyes were a light purple. Her body was covered in a yellow and black uniform, with a symbol on the chest. Her right claw glowed with yellow energy, casting shadows across her face. Every pony’s jaw dropped as the figure became clear, but it was Rainbow Dash that finally spoke up.
“Gilda?!”
The griffon grinned as she saw the six ponies gathered around. “Well, well, all the little ponies I wanted to see in one place. This day is better than I thought it was going to be. Only question now is, which one of you do I get rid of first? Oh, wait, first thing’s first.” She thrust her right claw out, and a tendril of yellow energy snaked out and gripped the tiara on Twilight’s head, snatching it up and bringing it up to her face. “You’d be surprised at how forthcoming ponies can be when you force them to see the things that make them the most afraid,” she said. “Oh, yeah, I know all about your little Elements, but that was way easier than I thought.” She clenched her claw, and the tendril constricted around it. Gilda looked confused as the tiara remained whole, but continued to squeeze the metal. Finally, it appeared she gave up, growling slightly. “Huh, guess this hunk of junk is stronger than I thought,” she said, before rearing back and throwing the Element away, towards the Everfree forest. “Ah, well, same thing happens. You stupid losers are just as helpless with it out of reach as with it destroyed.”
Applejack’s jaw dropped as she saw Gilda create her tendril. It was frighteningly like the constructs that she created, only yellow. “How in Celestia’s name are yah doin’ that?” she yelled, pointing her hoof at Gilda.
The griffon laughed cruelly at her, holding up her right claw. Perched on her middle digit was a ring, again just like Applejack’s, but yellow. “A little gift from some out of town friends,” she said. “And made even stronger by the fear of about three hundred ponies. That’s how it works, you know. Fear is what makes me strong. And I can feel just how scared you are, especially the little loser in the back,” she said, pointing at Fluttershy, who was crouching behind the others
“Course, this leads me back to which one of you lameos should waste first,” she said. She touched down on the dirt road, walking towards them on four feet. “It’s definitely between the pink one and you, Rainbow. You infuriate me, pinks, but then again, Dash and I have… history,” she said, chuckling a bit. When she reached Dash, she winked a bit. “Don’t we, Dash?”
Rainbow Dash’s face contorted with fury, and it looked like she was ready to pounce the loudmouth griffon. “Shut your beak, feather head!”
Gilda laughed. “I’m hurt, Dash. I guess you don’t remember flight camp as well as I do,” she said, walking in a circle around Rainbow. The griffon flicked her nose with her tail, grinning wolfishly. “Don’t you remember that little spot we had by the racetrack? We’d sneak out after light’s out and just spend hours curled up with each other, remember?”
WHAM
Before Gilda could say another word, she was sent flying by a giant green hoof connecting with her side. She crashed into the fountain, the base of it cracking from the impact. The statue that spat water toppled over, barely missing her. She looked up, rubbing her side, only to see Applejack hovering in the air in her Green Lantern uniform. The hoof construct faded as she looked down at Gilda, fury in her eyes. “Now yah’ve done it, missy,” said the floating pony, her teeth gritted.
Gilda’s eyes narrowed, and she rose into the air with her ring’s energy. “Sinestro told me about you loser Green Lanterns. Said you didn’t have the guts to do what you had to. I think you’ll find-“
Again, Gilda was struck with a burst of green energy, but she didn’t go flying as she had last time. “For the love of Celestia, shut up!” she yelled. “All the time with you evil types, flapping yer gums about just how evil yah are. Shut up and fight!” she yelled, charging at the griffon with her hoof reared back, ready to shove it into the big bully’s smug face.
Gilda brought up her arm to block the punch, diverting it up and bringing her other fist up into Applejack’s gut. Applejack breathed out quickly to prevent the air from being knocked out of her, and brought up a kite shield to block the spinning kick Gilda aimed at her head. It only held for a moment before shattering, though, as Gilda’s leg was wrapped in a yellow greave construct. The griffon’s paw slammed into her face, sending her spinning into the ground. As she hit, she slid, cutting a swath into the ground behind her. She had barely opened her eyes when she saw Gilda screeching down at her, a sword construct stabbing down at her. Applejack forced herself out of the groove she had formed, looking down as the sword sank into the ground. Gilda looked up, screaming her eagle’s scream before charging up at her, using her wings as well as her ring to increase her speed, a giant claw construct in her wake.
Applejack barely managed to dodge it, forming a sledgehammer out of Will and swinging it towards Gilda’s stomach. Gilda just brought her existing construct up to block it, then backhanded Applejack with the claw. Applejack staggered back, looking at Gilda in shock. Gilda’s strength was phenomenal; her constructs were so much stronger then the farm pony’s, and she seemed to have more training than Applejack did. It was going to take a lot for her to beat Gilda, that was for sure.
----
As Applejack and Gilda continued to duke it out, the five ponies on the side lines looked on in awe. Twilight in particular was amazed at this latest development. Gilda had a ring? And it wasn’t a Green Lantern ring, either. It was some kind of yellow perversion. Applejack said that her ring was powered by Will. Did that mean that Gilda’s ran on something else? What could it be? What force had power comparable to Will?
“Go Applejack!”
Twilight looked over to Pinkie Pie, who was jumping up and down regardless of her cast. She had pulled two pom-poms out of nowhere, and was shaking them over her head like a high-school cheerleader. “Pinkie, what on earth are you doing?!”
“Duh, what does it look like I’m doing?” asked Pinkie. “I’m cheering on my friend! I can’t just sit here afraid, or that meany Gilda wins!”
Twilight was flabbergasted for a moment, but as it often did, her mind started whirring away with ideas. If they were afraid, Gilda won? Wait, hadn’t Gilda said something about fear? How it made her strong?
“Pinkie Pie, you’re brilliant!”
“I am? Wow, and I didn’t even see it coming this time!”
“Girls!” said Twilight, looking at the remaining four, “Pinkie’s right! We have stop being afraid of Gilda! Her ring is using that against Applejack! It’s like AJ’s ring! While hers uses her own will for power, Gilda’s ring uses the fear of the ponies around her!”
“Go AJ!” yelled Rainbow, shaking her hoof in the air. “Beat that stuck up griffon’s flank!”
“Show that ruffian who’s boss!” Rarity cried, waving a hooferchief in the air.
“Yay Applejack! Woohoo!” ‘yelled’ Fluttershy, her voice barely going above a whisper.
“You can do it, Applejack!” Twilight finally exclaimed, hoping beyond hope that this would work.
The fight waged on above them, and Applejack’s friends did the only thing they could think to do; cheer on their friend.
----
Applejack’s construct sword met Gilda’s, and again she was forced to duck as the griffon’s weapon slashed through hers. Why weren’t her constructs holding? Gilda was forming the same ones Applejack was, and still the yellow weapons were beating her green ones consistently. Applejack brought up a shield to block a yellow mace, and the shield buckled and faded as Gilda brought the weapon up again to strike.
Applejack thought back to anything Quilla might have said about this, or something that would make her constructs stronger as she dove out of the path of the spiked ball. Her eyes widened as she remembered yesterday morning, how the scythe she made had seemed so much more solid than her other ones. As Gilda brought a sword swinging at the farm pony again, Applejack did the only thing she had left; she constructed a scythe out of Will and blocked the sword with the haft of the tool.
As the blade cut into the energy haft, Applejack was sure her hunch was wrong. But the blade stopped, and the construct held. Applejack grinned and brought the bottom of the tool up across Gilda’s face, smashing the fake wood into her beak. Gilda was the one who staggered this time, and Applejack looked down at her construct. She grinned wider, and brought the scythe up at the ready.
“Ah think Ah figured somethin’ out, Gilda. Yer constructs’ve been able ta beat mine cause you’ve been usin’ stuff you know about. Swords, maces, claws, things yah’ve probably been around yer whole life, if the rumors about how military-like griffon society are true. Ah’ve been tryin’ ta match yah in that, but mah heart just wasn’t behind it. But Ah’ll tell yah somethin’ Gilda,” she said, raising the scythe. “Farmin’ tools can be dangerous if yer not careful.”
With that, Applejack charged her opponent, swinging the green blade at Gilda’s throat. The griffon blocked the tool at the point where the blade met the faux wood. Applejack used her opponent’s blade as a point to spin on, turning and slamming into her side. Gilda’s sword faded as Applejack made contact, and the griffon flipped in the air before she righted herself. Applejack let her scythe fade, but created several sickles in mid-air, thrusting a hoof forward at Gilda and sending them spinning towards her. Gilda managed to bring up a shield against them just before they would have sunk into her skin. The pointed ends of the curved sickles pierced the yellow energy, but they were effectively stopped. Gilda dropped the shield, which faded into nothing along with the sickles as she brought a sword swinging for Applejack’s head. The orange farm pony brought up a shield to defend herself, but it didn’t look much like a shield.
As Gilda’s sword was stopped by the construct, she groaned. “A barn door?! You’ve got to be kidding me.”
Applejack grinned as she pushed the sword aside and brought her hoof up to slam into Gilda’s face. “Whatever works.”
Gilda floated out of Applejack’s range, her beak contorted into a scowl. However, her scowl didn’t last long as she started grinning, and then laughing. Applejack groaned a bit herself. “Yer laughin’? Why don’t Ah like that?”
Gilda cracked her knuckles, grinning ear to ear. “You know, I can’t believe I didn’t think of this already. It just didn’t occur to me because I didn’t see any of the lame ponies in this stupid town. They must all be hiding, which is great for me. Means they’re all too scared to come out,” she said, holding up the hand that she wore her ring on.
Applejack shuddered a bit as she felt a chill in the air. From every building in town, a kind of yellow smoke was rising. It wafted into the air, and began drifting towards the griffon. As it floated through the air, it seemed to form different shapes, some indistinct, others very clear. Applejack realized quickly that the shapes were the fears of the ponies inside the houses. The yellow smoke flew into her ring, which shone bright with sickly light. Gilda leveled her arm at Applejack, and with little charge up, fired a massive blast of energy at the pony. She had no time to react, and the energy exploded against Applejack’s body. She was blasted far back, landing on the outskirts of Ponyville. She actually skipped a few times on the ground, finally skidding to a stop on her back.
Applejack groaned and rubbed her head with a hoof. Sweet Celestia of Equestria, Gilda had just blasted her clear across town! Applejack was good with her ring, but she couldn’t muster a blast like that. And Gilda made it look so easy! She barely charged the attack at all! Applejack was definitely in trouble.
Applejack gasped as Gilda came flying in, a new construct in tow. It was a massive spikes ceiling, easily the size of her barn’s ceiling. There was no way she would be able to dodge it in time. As Gilda slammed the spiked plate down on her, Applejack constructed a wooden beam to keep it at bay. It was fueled by her will to survive, but even that wouldn’t last long. She used the time to fly out from under the trap, just in time to see Gilda extend the spikes into the ground.
Applejack flew up until she was level with her opponent, who once again leveled her ring at Applejack, charging another blast. Applejack brought up a shield in preparation, pouring all her will into maintaining it. Gilda’s ring flashed with power as she fired.
The bang from the blast could be heard all the way from the center of Ponyville. Applejack’s friends gasped as they saw the blast, and saw Applejack’s shield barely hold it back. “What just happened?!” cried Rainbow Dash. “Applejack was beating the snot out of that yellow jerk, and then all of a sudden Gilda pulls a blast like that out of nowhere!”
“She must have gotten some kind of huge influx of power,” mused Twilight. “But where could she have gotten all that fear?”
“Um, what about all the other ponies?” Fluttershy asked, raising a hoof. “I know if I heard a whole bunch of bangs and smashing, I’d be scared too.”
“Right!” The four other ponies turned to look at Pinkie Pie. “I’m on it!” The pink pony reached into a tree and pulled out a megaphone. “Good thing I left this here for megaphone emergencies!” she giggled, before deftly climbing up a nearby flagpole.
“Hey, everypony, listen up!” She had the volume cranked up all the way on the device, and her voice stretched all over Ponyville. “You gotta come out! Applejack needs our help! I know it’s scary, that’s exactly what the meany Gilda wants! We gotta believe that Applejack can beat her!”
Pinkie Pie grinned and lowered the megaphone, expecting every pony in Ponyville to come out of their houses, maybe even waving Applejack banners. But as the fight raged on in the distance, nopony showed. After a full minute of nothing, Pinkie brought the bullhorn up to her mouth again. “Come on, where is everypony?”
“It’s no use, Pinkie,” called up Twilight. “they’re just too scared!”
“Phooie, Twilight!” Pinkie yelled back. “They just need a little help, is all!” With that, Pinkie picked her megaphone back up. “Everypony, come on! You can’t let Gilda make you scared! I know how you all feel, I’m afraid too! But you can’t let that fear make you forget who it is that’s fighting for you! For all of us! Applejack needs us, more than she’s ever needed anypony! So come on! Get out here and cheer for the most dependable of ponies! Go APPLEJACK!”
Twilight jumped as a door nearby opened with a bang, and she saw Ditzy, the mail mare, fly out and hover next to Pinkie Pie, hollering just as loudly as she was for Applejack. Another door opened, and another, and yet another, until every door in Ponyville had opened and at least one pony filed out of it. The filled the streets, stallions and mares, fillies and colts, all of them calling out for Ponyville’s resident farm pony.
“Beat her back to wherever she came from, AJ!”
“Go for it! Show her what Ponyville’s made of!”
“Nothin’ stops an Apple! NOTHIN’”
Several villagers turned to see the matriarch of the Apple family, Granny Smith, shook her wrinkled hoof at the distant battle. It emboldened ponies further, shouting support to Applejack and insults at Gilda. The din of pride and confidence drowned out all else, until the ponies couldn’t even hear the battle. All they could hear was a town united.
----
Applejack panted heavily, her hooves drooping from their defensive stance. Gilda had been coming at her hard and fast, her constructs bashing through hers repeatedly. She was covered in several nicks and cuts, and she thought she might have broken a rib, or at least bruised one. One of her eyes had swollen shut, and blood flowed from a cut above that eye.
Gilda, on the other hand, was still in top form. It looked like she had barely broken a sweat, and she held a yellow sword construct in each claw. She chuckled, pointing one of them at the battered Green Lantern. “Looks like Sinestro was right, Green Lanterns really don’t have what it takes. I wish you could see yourself now, loser. I’m going to enjoy crushing your skull,” she said, preparing to charge at her with both swords. Right before she gave herself the burst of energy she needed, however, she paused. Applejack raised her eyebrow, wondering what on earth she was waiting for, when she heard it. It started as a dull roar, but began to build as the seconds passed. She turned her head to the sound, and saw a massive group of ponies gathered in the streets of the distant Ponyville, each one roaring at the top of their lungs. Applejack couldn’t hear what they were saying, but she could guess. Gilda looked dumbstruck as the ponies rallied. Applejack looked at Gilda and grinned.
“Yah know, it’s always good ta get a reminder of what it is yer fightin’ for,” she said, creating two sickle constructs and having them hover near her hooves. She smirked as she felt the strength of the tools, turned hard as diamond by the will to protect those wonderful ponies. She shot forward as fast as she could, crossing both her hooves to slash at Gilda in an X shape. Gilda brought up her swords to block, and both she and Applejack were surprised when her sickles cut right through them. Applejack’s surprised face split into a grin just as Gilda’s face fell. “Looks like that little rally back there’s done a little more’n just give me a bit more will,” she said, bringing a hoof up in a vicious kick to the griffon’s chin. Gilda flipped in mid air, and Applejack created a construct around her back legs, giving herself two iron hoof boots. As she turned and bucked with her back legs, she activated the bottom of the shoes, which fired out on a loaded spring into Gilda’s ribs. She heard a resounding crack as her enemy’s ribs broke, and she shot off in the direction of Ponyville. Applejack flew after her, grinning wide.
The ponies parted as they saw Gilda streak in, leaving the Yellow Corpsman to land harshly on the dirt. Gilda looked up and saw the green streak headed for her, and she balked. These dumb ponies weren’t doing their jobs! Stupid useless morons! She reached out with her ring, trying to find a kernel of fear amongst them, but she couldn’t gain purchase on any of them, not even the foals. She shrieked as loud as she could, but again nothing. Damn it, that Apple jerk was almost here! She did the only thing she could think of; using her ring, she gripped the fountain with a large claw construct and pulled mightily. Using all of her strength, she warped it in a yellow force field, breaking it apart into decently sized pieces. She threw the bubble holding them into the air, and the large pieces of debris flew up, barely missing Applejack as she grew close. “Later, loser!” she held, bolting from her spot into the air.
Applejack was about to go after her, but then she realized what it was Gilda had done: she had thrown the debris in the air, not to hit Applejack, but to put the ponies below in danger. Applejack cursed as she realized she would have to stop and protect them. Thrusting her ring forward, she formed a large bowl and caught the falling stones as they fell, not missing a single one. She deposited it in the road, and the ponies below her cheered louder, taking a moment to locate her family and let them know she was alright. She saw a big red mass amongst them, and ginned until she got a better look. Big Mac and Apple Bloom were there, but they looked incredibly upset. They were also looking off in the direction of where Gilda had flown off, and she looked a little bulkier…
“Oh, buck…”
----
Gilda felt like screaming as she flew away from the crowd. She wanted to scream anyway, because of the pain of her ribs as she beat her wings to aid in her retreat. That damn stupid Lantern! If she ever got her claws on her again, she’d rip her orange head off. She faltered in the air as her insurance policy squirmed, even trying to bite her through her uniform. “Would you knock it off, you old mule!?”
The green pony she held glared up at her, gripping her arm in her hooves. “Yah dern scardy chick! Put me down and fight like a pony!”
The griffon rolled her eyes and tightened her grip on the geriatric, trying to cover her mouth. “I should have grabbed the brat…” she growled, shaking her head. She looked behind her, only to see the green dot that was Applejack on her heels.
Applejack, for her part, was laying on as much speed as she could, but Gilda was still ahead of her. The griffon was obviously a much better flyer than her, having done it her whole life. The only thing that was keeping her competitive with Gilda’s speed was the fact that she was carrying a pony. And if Gilda put one claw on Granny Smith…
Applejack wanted to grab Gilda with a construct, but she couldn’t risk dislodging her grandma with a wayward strike. He only option was to keep following as close as she could, Hoping beyond hope that Gilda valued Granny too much as a hostage to let her go.
Her hopes were shattered as Gilda’s arm jerked, and Granny Smith started plummeting to the ground as they passed over Whitetail Woods.
Applejack’s eyes widened with fear, and she put on as much speed as she could, her hooves outstretched to catch her beloved grandmother. Granny was quickly picking up speed, but Applejack was getting closer and closer to her. She forced herself to keep her eyes open, focusing only on catching her grandmother. Finally, Applejack wrapped her hooves around Granny Smith as she made contact.
Applejack righted herself, Gilda out of her mind temporarily as she held her grandma close. “It’s ok, now, Granny, Ah got yah,” she said, holding her hooves out at foreleg’s length, expecting to hear Granny Smith’s voice berate her for losing Gilda.
She didn’t expect to see her head hang forward limply.
“Granny?” asked Applejack, her voice confused as she tried to look her in the eyes. When granny didn’t answer, she brought them down to the ground in Whitetail Woods. Applejack layed her grandmother down on her back, placing her ear against her chest.
It was silent and still.
Applejack’s mouth fell open, looking down at the once fiery old mare, now apparently… No, Applejack wouldn’t accept it. She tilted her head back, ready to give her CPR, but realized that it was moving far too freely. With growing horror, the cowpony realized that her neck had broken, by Gilda or Applejack’s impact she didn’t know.
Applejack’s vision blurred as the reality of what happened filled her head. Granny was dead, and she knew exactly who was to blame. With tears staining her face, she took off, the ground beneath her cracking from the force. She grit her teeth and put every ounce of her being into catching up with the griffon who had broken her family. She was gaining fast, and she saw the monster look back. She hoped she was afraid. She hoped she felt exactly what she had made all those ponies feel before she killed them, like she had killed her grandmother.
The enraged pony flew above her quarry, and gave a savage kick to her back with her hind legs. She watched as the poor excuse for a life form fell to the ground. She followed her down, and watched as Gilda’s beak moved as she said something, but Applejack didn’t hear it. Nothing she said mattered. Applejack brought her hoof up high in the air, and brought it savagely down into Gilda’s beak. She brought her other hoof up and hit her again. And again. Over and over she brought her hooves down on her enemy, beating her as hard as she could. The griffon beneath her became bloodier and bloodier, but again, Applejack took no notice. As she raised both her hooves to smash the monster’s face, she felt something touch her shoulder.
She looked up sharply, her tears glinting in the afternoon sun. Her eyes were filled with rage, but even through the tint of red, she saw Rainbow Dash, the pegasus’s face showing none of the brash confidence she knew her for. Of course Rainbow Dash had followed her. Then again, Rainbow was always there for her friends, wasn’t she? The farm pony turned back to destroy the griffon at her mercy, but she heard Rainbow Dash’s voice say, “Don’t.”
Applejack looked back at Rainbow, and in her eyes, she saw something. Along with the magenta color she had come to know so well, there were many different things. She saw anger, not just for Granny Smith, but for Gilda’s other atrocities. She saw fear, both of and for Applejack, worried about what she was about to do. But most of all, she saw pleading. Pleading for Applejack to weaken, if just for a moment, and let Rainbow be dependable. As she saw the permission for weakness in Rainbow’s eyes, Applejack crumbled, and the true weight of her sorrow crashed down upon her. She bellowed, wrapping her hooves around cyan shoulders as she started to cry in earnest. She felt a pair of hooves wrap around her, and she hugged her friend tighter, staining her fur with salty tears. She barely noticed when the rest of her friends gathered around her, even Pinkie having the good sense not to speak. They all just gathered around the two embraced figures, as Applejack grieved at the loss of a longtime constant in her life.
It took minutes, but Applejack finally seemed to recover. She looked over to where Gilda laid, tears still flowing from her eyes, and felt a stab of anger pierce her heart. It looked like she was coming around. Applejack stood, and pressed a hoof onto her right claw, applying pressure enough to break her wrist. Gilda groaned, unable to muster any more of a response, but the distraught pony paid no attention as she took the yellow ring in her mouth and pulled it off. She spat out the hunk of metal, the taste almost profane, and placed it in the same fold in space she kept her lantern. She looked to Twilight, her eyes barely focused. “Can yah keep her down with yer magic? So we can turn her in?”
Twilight nodded solemnly, her horn glowing as she cast a spell. Gilda’s claws were pulled behind her back, kept there by an aura of violet magic. Gilda was yanked into mid air, and all the ponies except Applejack began to head back to Ponyville.
The farm pony had somepony else she had to bring home.