Episode 14: Reunions
The Village in the Mountains – several days since previous episode
A loud BOOM echoed through the night as a silver pony with a red mane dashed across the mountains with Vinyl Scratch in hot pursuit. “Wub time, bitch!” She fired her Bass Cannon, blowing the red-headed pony into the air. Vinyl followed her, using Bass Cannon to propel herself into the air. “Hi there.” Vinyl grinned evilly as she fired her Bass Cannon into the red-haired pony’s face. Vinyl landed, her Bass Cannon fading. “Guess she wasn’t so tough after all.” Her grin faded as a blast of heat rushed past her. “That should’ve taken off your head!” The red-headed pony laughed, though how she did so while her head regenerated was a mystery. She spoke in a disturbingly childish sing-song voice. “Not me!” Another blast of heat pushed Vinyl back. “Faith of the Blueblood Sisters-” Vinyl cut her off with a short blast from her Bass Cannon, “Shut up. I hate long speeches.” Faith darted in, swinging a kick at Vinyl’s head. Vinyl dodged and blasted her into a wall, before walking away triumphantly. “That was far too easy.”
Derpy felt much the same way as she fought with another silver pony, this one with a blue mane. Derpy tossed her muffin at the blue-haired pony, teleporting behind her soon after. “Giddy-up!” The blue-haired pony tried to buck Derpy off, but she kept holding on for dear life. “What’s your name? I’m Derpy.” The blue-haired pony answered simply, “Glory of the Blueblood Sisters and the spectre of Ice.” Derpy leapt off Glory as the air shimmered and froze around her. “This doesn’t worry me…” Derpy raised the muffin in her hoof, “…but this should worry you.” One explosion later, and Derpy cheerfully trotted out, her earlier seriousness gone. “I haven’t had fun like that since I joined HOLY.”
“This is tiresome.” Luna said, almost bored with how easy the fight was, but that was the worrying part. Why was it so easy? “Because this is just to draw you all out, especially Rarity.” Luna narrowed her eyes, “Hope of the Blueblood Sisters. Thank you for pointing out the obvious.” The purple-haired pony giggled, “Yep. That’s me!” The air shimmered as Luna summoned Nightmare Moon. “Why not make it easy on yourself and give up?” The sinister pale blue mist gathered around Luna as it obscured her from view. Hope darted around, searching for Luna in the haze when she was sent flying back into a rock. Another blow came out of nowhere, then another and finally, Luna appeared, firing a blast of solid mist at Hope, collapsing the rock on top of her. “Blueblood! Show yourself already!” One explosion later and Luna was trapped.
Somewhere outside the village
Applebloom had been looking for Applejack, certain that she was alive. Rarity had accompanied her, watching for the young filly’s safety. But their search was cut short as they saw smoke rise from the commotion at the village. Rarity leaned over the seat of Scootaloo’s car, “Can this thing go any faster?” Scootaloo glanced back briefly, “Assuming you want to have Zetsuei lift us, yes. Otherwise, no.” Rarity stared ahead, thinking to herself, Please don’t let us be too late!
Back at the village
Spitfire laughed crazily. “Feels good to be back!” She fired randomly, surprisingly not hitting anything. Vinyl groaned, “Haven’t we had enough crazy bitches tonight?” Derpy grinned, “You’ve gone soft, Vinyl.” Vinyl gave Derpy a quick glare, then aimed her Bass Cannon at Spitfire.
“Spitfire! Stop fooling around and find Twilight Sparkle! If you can find anyone close to Applejack while you’re at it, that would be nice!” Blueblood yelled, struggling to be heard over the noises of Spitfire’s massive gun. A loud BOOM sounded as a sonic pulse slammed into the Spitfire Buster, throwing it off balance. “Who did that?! I’LL KILL ‘EM! KILL ‘EM ALL!” Spitfire yelled, her insanity showing through her psychotic laughter and disturbing grin. Another BOOM and Vinyl Scratch sprinted through the dust, firing her Bass Cannon. “Shut up, you psycho bitch!” She yelled, propelling herself up towards Spitfire and firing again. Spitfire dodged, though just barely, and fired a smaller gun, grazing Vinyl’s shoulder. “You should start wearing armour, pretty girl. I’d hate to mess up your good looks.” Vinyl glared at Spitfire, the venom oozing from her glowing red eyes. “Sorry, I’m taken. And I wouldn’t go with you if you were the last pony alive!” Spitfire kept grinning with her disturbing psychotic grin, “You’ll change your tune eventually…” The air shimmered around Vinyl as she used the Alter energy to heal her wound. “Not interested, freak…” Just as she was about to fire, a rush of air shot past her, knocking Spitfire off balance. Then a familiar Southern accent rang out across the village. “HANDS OFF MY GIRLFRIEND!”
Applejack stood tall and proud, her fist shining brightly as she looked down at Spitfire. “Shine…brighter…SHINE BRIGHTER, WING BULLET!” She leapt down, light surrounding her fist as she outmatched the speed of Spitfire’s gun, shattering it into pieces. Spitfire laughed, still the same deranged laugh that Applejack remembered. Between the glares of both Applejack and Vinyl Scratch, any sane pony would’ve turned tail and run by now. But Spitfire wasn’t sane. She reformed the Spitfire Buster and aimed it at the civilian houses. “Still usin’ HOLY’s old tricks?” Applejack asked, disgusted by Spitfire’s actions. “What’s it to you? HOLY’s business is HOLY’s business.” Blueblood stepped in front of them both. “That is true, but you’re still part of HOLY, aren’t you, Applejack? Don’t lie to us, because you’re terrible at it, and we have you on file-” He was cut off by a rush of wind, then an explosion as somepony collided with the ground where he had been standing. “Missed. BLUEBLOOD! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?”
Rarity glared at Blueblood, her silver armour shining in the moonlight. “Is everypony all right?” Blueblood addressed them all from the top of the civilian hut, “So kind of you to join us, Rarity. Now if you’d be so kind as to hand over Miss Twilight Sparkle. And you’re both under arrest for treason and desertion.” Rarity’s mane spiked up slightly, a visual indicator of her outrage. “Under who’s authority?! We’re under special orders from-” “Commander Macintosh? My dear Rarity, he’s no longer in charge. Have you heard the name ‘Discord Darkpony’?” Rarity’s eyes widened as Applejack started walking towards Blueblood. Blueblood noticed as well. “Girls, time to release your full power!” The ponies from earlier now stood behind Blueblood. Luna finally managed to extract herself, “What did I-Oh no…GET BACK! IT’S THE BURNING SUMMER!” True to its name, the Burning Summer generated an intense heat, far beyond anything. At the centre was a grotesque looking being with lava dripping from its open maw. Even as the heat became too much for everyone else, twin pillars of light shone upwards as Applejack and Rarity channelled their power.
“Excellent, now if you’ll just stay right there-” Blueblood began, but Applejack cut him off with one simple phrase: “BITE ME!” She charged, fist outstretched. “Don’t you care about the civilians, then?” Applejack diverted course towards the huts, forcing as much power as she could into her wing. Spitfire swung the barrel around, aiming it squarely at Applejack’s chest. “Bye bye. I’d send you to hell with a kiss, but the bullet will be enough of a gift.” Vinyl Scratch fired a blast, rocking the gun and disrupting Spitfire’s aim. “That’s for hitting on my girl. You got it from here, sweetie?” Applejack winked, and threw all her power behind her fist, colliding full-force with Spitfire’s gut. Spitfire went down easy, but something felt off. It really shouldn’t be this easy… Applejack brushed it aside for now. “One down. Now, let’s see if Miss Fussy gets it done.”
Rarity’s fight wasn’t nearly as quick. She opted to take out Burning Summer’s legs, rather than deal with Blueblood directly. Something Rainbow Dash knew would come back to haunt her. Her barrage of lightning fast cuts glanced harmlessly off the thick callouses that made up Burning Summer’s skin. Rarity groaned and tried again, this time aiming higher, then higher. As the fight dragged on, she got angrier and angrier, til she realized something. This is exactly what Blueblood wants. He wanted her to lose control and release all her power at once, though for what no one is entirely sure. “Why do you want our power so badly, Blueblood?” Rarity spat callously. Blueblood seemed unperturbed by her venomous remark. “Quite simple, my dear. To get to the Other Side.” Applejack cut in, not passing up an opportunity to mock Blueblood when he so willingly provided it. “So, you ARE a chicken after all!” Applejack and Vinyl Scratch burst out laughing at the joke, leaving Blueblood glaring at them all. “HOW DARE YOU MOCK ME! I AM BLUEBLOOD, AN AGENT OF HOLY! AND I WILL NOT BE DISRESPECTED BY A NATIVE ALTER!”
Rarity dashed along Burning Summer’s legs, scaling the sheer angle with just her speed. “That Native Alter is my friend…” She said in a cold voice, the anger and contempt in her voice all but freezing the air. “She may not be born into privilege, but she has more nobility than you could ever hope for. She has many friends who would lay down their lives for her, as I would. And she would do the same for her friends. Applejack won the respect of our Commander the day she escaped from HOLY, and now she has mine.” Applejack added solemnly, “Mighty nice of ya, Rarity.” Rarity turned back to Blueblood to see him on his knees, a crazed look in his eye. “I won’t allow this…My master…NO! PLEASE NO! I’LL TRY HARDER! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!” To everyone’s astonishment, Blueblood vanished from sight, along with his Alter. Rarity landed gracefully, but was shocked that whoever was controlling HOLY now, presumably Discord, would do such a thing to his own people.
Scootaloo grumbled as Applebloom and Twilight kept nagging her to go faster. She had already explained that it couldn’t go faster. “Anypony need a lift? That thing looks like it’s about to fall apart.” She looked around for the voice, but Twilight recognized it right away. “Rainbow Dash! What a pleasant surprise. Can you take us to Rarity? She went back to the village.” Rainbow Dash nodded, “Sure. Thought you’d like to know, Applejack’s gone there, too.” Applebloom perked up, “Please take us to Applejack. I haven’t seen her in so long.” Rainbow Dash grinned, “It just so happens that I’m on my way to see her myself. But I warn you now, I drive really fast.”
Discord grinned over the unconscious form of Blueblood. “The arrogance of these so-called ‘officials’ is staggering. To think they could control me and the power I seek. Applejack… Rarity… Both are ponies I would love to have on my side, but sadly, they’ve chosen to oppose me and the glorious Chaos I’ll bring back from the Other Side… As for you, Blueblood. You’ll cease to exist. Absorption…” Discord glowed with a sinister aura, unlike the shimmering air of other Alters. Blueblood’s body began to dissipate into molecules which Discord then absorbed into his own aura. “It’s time for drastic action, I think. Well played thus far, Commander Macintosh, but it’s my turn now. And I’m going to tear your plan apart!”
Applejack held Vinyl Scratch tightly, afraid to let her go again. “I missed you so much.” Vinyl blushed as she snuggled into Applejack’s chest. Rarity looked away, though she grudgingly admitted that she’d love to be the one in Applejack’s arms. Luna noticed Rarity’s face, and sat next to her. “It’s about time you realized that.” Rarity looked up at Luna, confused. “What do you mean?” Luna grinned at her, “You like Applejack, and the main reason you reacted so strongly to her activities was because you were torn between attraction and your duty.” Rarity chuckled to herself, “Seems so stupid. Acting that way.” Luna glanced back at Applejack and Vinyl Scratch, who were now in the middle of a deep and passionate kiss. “It’s perfectly logical. Do you wish Applejack chose you instead?” Rarity nodded. “You’re a lot like her…”
The gates burst open, surprisingly intact, as the familiar pink car belonging to Rainbow Dash slid to a halt just in front of Applejack and Vinyl Scratch. Applebloom, Scootaloo and Twilight Sparkle burst out of the back doors and crawled to the nearest buckets while Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash climbed out normally. “Hey Jackie, Vinyl. Wazzup, mah homies?” Rainbow Dash said playfully as she helped Fluttershy over to Luna. Without warning, Pinkie came up behind Rainbow and roared, scaring the blue pony out of her wits. Pinkie laughed and asked, “What did I miss?” “The village almost being destroyed. Where were you?” Rarity asked, getting ready to scold Pinkie Pie. “Listening in on HOLY while Dashie played hero. Discord’s getting ready to move in now that AJ and Rarity have pretty much spat in his face.” Scootaloo looked up from her bucket, groaning, “Can’t imagine why…” She held out her hand towards Applebloom, who gave her a high-five before both turned back to the buckets and wretched. Applejack grinned, “Sounds like we’re gettin’ to be a real thorn in his side. That’s good news.” She walked over to Applebloom and picked her up, “I know somethin’ to help you, sugarcube.” Applebloom nodded weakly, “And you promised you’d tell me what’s goin’ on with your arm…”
End of Episode 14