//------------------------------// // Chapter 16: The End of Irony, Part 2 // Story: The Irony of Applejack // by Mister Friendly //------------------------------// Chapter 16: The End of Irony Part 2 He was running full tilt, blazing through orchards as fast as his powerful legs could take him. The burly stallion’s heart was thundering in his chest, creating a pain unlike anything he’d ever felt before. He’d heard the cries coming from the back of the orchard, followed by the terrible sounds of a Timber Wolf’s howl, the heart-stopping scream of a filly, a cacophonous boom… and silence. The big stallion feared what he’d find at the secluded end of the farmland. He knew Timber Wolves weren’t meat-eaters – kind of hard to be without stomachs – but that didn’t stop them from trying. And the results were always… grisly. Please… don’t let Applejack be hurt. Ah’m beggin’ ya… But just as he was nearing the rear fence of the farm – the one measly barricade between his family’s land and the ever present, ever merciless Everfree – the big stallion thought he heard something coming from a thicket not far ahead. Voices, and… crying. For a moment, his heart stopped in his chest as his worst fears cut at him like a knife. “APPLEJACK!” he bellowed, panic-stricken, as he plowed through the dense thicket without a second thought. The scene he emerged onto was one of devastation, but not the kind he’d been dreading. Scorched twigs and branches lay strewn throughout a small clearing, border to border, and at its epicenter lay something in the vague shape of a Timber Wolf. It’d been disfigured horribly, most of one side an unrecognizable tangle of savaged branches and twigs. And more disconcertingly of all, alien green fire licked out of its hollow chest, burning the remains from the inside out. The big stallion only registered this for half a second before his eyes fell on the one he’d been desperately searching for… plus one. Big Macintosh had beat him to the clearing, it seemed. The young colt was standing near one end of the clearing, putting him not far from the adult stallion, his hooves around another figure. But the thing he was holding was no pony. It had no fur coat, and instead was covered in tough, leathery chitin as black as coal. Its legs were shot through with innumerable holes, much like the creature’s little amber mane. But this was no monster. No; it was exactly what he’d come to find. Applejack, however, did not seem so relieved to see her surrogate father erupt onto the scene, apparently beside himself with fury. On the contrary; she was utterly terrified. Her eyes got huge in fright, and the work horse witnessed her do something he’d never seen her do before; she cringed away, shrinking into her brother for protection. But her father was anything but angry. No, he was relieved beyond comprehension. In fact, he very nearly collapsed from the sheer force of it. He was so overcome that it took him a second to realize that his little adopted daughter was babbling in absolute terror. “A-a-Ah’m sorry, Papa! Ah didn’t mean to! Ah just got so mad, and-and it just – it just – Ah didn’t mean ta do it! I-it just happened! Ah promise Ah won’t do it again! Ah want ta be a proper earth pony, Ah swear! Ah-Ah—” She was silenced, however, when the big stallion rushed towards her, and with a sharp breath, pulled her in for a tight, shaking hug. “Oh thank Celestia yer alright,” he said, his voice laden with relief. “Yer not hurt are ya? Are ya alright?” It took Applejack nearly five whole seconds to fathom what was going on. First, she registered that her father wasn’t trying to crush her to death as punishment – though his vigorous hug was borderline doing it anyway. Second, that he was asking her if she was alright. “A-Ah’m fine, Papa,” she said nervously, still not sure if she was in trouble or not. “B-but Winona… She got bit.” When Applejack mentioned it, her father became aware of a whimpering, whining sound not far away. He looked up, away from the little amber head he was pinning to his chest, and noticed Big Macintosh cradling a tiny, shaking furry bundle with one foreleg. One of the puppy’s hind legs was bleeding a little. She’d probably need a few stitches, but she’d be fine. “Winona’s fine, honeybunch,” the stallion soothed. “We’ll get her down to a vet and she’ll be right as rain ‘fore you know it.” Applejack tilted her little head up then, careful to angle her sharp horn to one side so as not to poke her father, and looked him in the eyes nervously. There were streaks under each eye from her tears, glistening in the daylight. `“Really?” she asked hopefully. Her father smiled, then wiped one of her cheeks with a hoof. “Have Ah ever lied to ya, Applejack?” She gazed up at the big stallion’s smile, at last coming to the realization; she wasn’t in trouble at all. “No,” she said quietly. Her father smiled a bit more, then patted her on the head. “Alright then. You best get changed then go find yer Mamma. She’ll be in a right state.” “But Winona,” Applejack said, starting to panic again as she turned around. But Big Mac was already rushing away, going as fast as he could hobble on three legs, the other cradling a little injured puppy safely against his chest. “Mamma first,” Her father instructed firmly, “then you can run down to the clinic.” If her ma ever lets her out of her sight again, that is… Applejack nodded, though she was biting her lip with one pointy canine nervously. “Alright…” “That’s my girl,” the stallion praised. He then leaned down and kissed her on the forehead, right under her little horn, then let her go. Applejack took a few steps back, and in a flash of emerald light, she was once more the little earth pony filly everypony else in town had taken a shine to. She offered a weak smile, then turned and galloped away, rushing off towards the farmhouse. It wasn’t until after she left that the smile started to slip from the big stallion’s face, a crease of worry replacing it. Only then did he allow himself to turn around, eyes sweeping first over the snapped and burnt twigs littered around his hooves, then to the demolished Timber Wolf… and then beyond it; to the shattered, blackened tree behind it, and the one behind that, and the one behind that… Ah just got so mad… The farmer stallion gazed at the smoldering, blasted wound in the forest’s edge before him, and in his heart, he felt very worried indeed. ~~***~~ A thunderous death knell boomed across the sky over a scene of utter devastation. The rain pelted down from the heavens without feeling or care, chilling whatever living thing they touched to the bone. But Applejack hardly noticed the flash of lightning through the dust and smoke, or the icy bite of the rain drawling in her ears. Her eyes stayed irrevocably fixed on the motionless form lying amid the obscuring clouds and the shattered fragments of a black horn – fragments that still bled a faint, wispy green light into the winds like a fading smoke. Applejack wasn’t aware of feeling anything. The myriad of emotions she should’ve been processing simply failed to connect with her head. The only sensation she could feel, in fact, was the hard, reverberating thud in her chest. Not even the throb in her leg could compare. That, and a faint stirring in the back of her mind. ... move… Hyacinth was down. This fact hit Applejack again and again, each time as fresh as the last. She was down… and she wasn’t getting back up. Move… Little sunbursts popped in front of Applejack’s eyes, the very edges of unconsciousness crawling at the fringe of her vision. Only then did she realize how hard she was pulling herself forward – trying desperately to free herself from the ruin crushing her leg. Move! Even as her broken leg screamed at her to stop, she kept trying to drag herself forward – towards her aunt. She gritted her teeth against the pain and swelling frustration, ignoring everything beside the task at hoof – including the building heat in her skull. MOVE! And just like that, the unyielding pinning force holding her in place was gone. There was no warning or noticeable shift in the weight crushing down on her. It was as if the thing simply ceased to be. Applejack wasted no time with questions, however. She threw herself forward, already in a three-legged sprint before she’d even properly stood up. “Hyacinth!” she cried as loud as she could, all the while staggering and hobbling as fast as her bruised legs could carry her. She was barely aware of a set of glowing blue eyes suddenly snapping onto her, fixating on her as she rushed towards her destination. Vigil, however, only gave her a look of complete surprise. He blinked, in fact, rather perplexed by the sight of the young changeling queen rushing – albeit haphazardly – across the mud and grass. How did she…? BAM! Something immensely heavy crashed down hardly ten feet from Vigil with enough force to send a shockwave through the soaked ground, causing the very mud underhoof to leap in alarm. Vigil turned his head, wide eyed, just as an entire shattered wall collapsed fully onto its side, adding yet another crater to the yard. And if it wasn’t for the angry sparks skittering across the broken stone, he may have never understood just where it’d come from, no matter how deeply unsettling it struck him. Not far off, Rainbow’s eyes had gone wide – far wider than ever before, and with each passing second, her face seemed to get steadily paler and paler. But it wasn’t Hyacinth her eyes were centered on anymore. “Apple… jack?” she grunted, forcing herself to speak through the pain and building unease. But the farm pony ignored her. She was barely aware of anyone speaking to begin with. All of her focus was trained on Hyacinth, scanning desperately for even the faintest sign of life. At last, after what felt like an eternal slog across the rainy yard, Applejack finally came upon where Hyacinth lay, no matter how much she dreaded what she’d find. The first thing her eyes fell upon was the almost cleanly shorn stump barely protruding from the center of her forehead. Thin wisps of escaping magic still drifted from what remained of Hyacinth’s horn. Even as Applejack watched, however, the already dim light was guttering lower still. To her horror, she found the healing flicker over Hyacinth’s many wounds to be barely more than a dim glow, on the utmost verge of going out entirely. And then, just as the worst dread yet began to sink into Applejack’s heart, she saw a twitch. “D… don’t cry…” Applejack gasped, tensing in surprise. Hyacinth’s blue eyes were barely open more than halfway, but there was no denying the fact that the lighter depths of those eyes were turned towards Applejack. No one could’ve mistake how little was left in those eyes, however. The light of awareness remained, but hardly anything else had the strength needed to surface. It seemed to be sheer force of will alone that kept her from fading entirely. Immediately Applejack switched gears. With her heart thundering in her chest, she pulled herself closer. Yet, she found her hooves only capable of fluttering uselessly, panic overriding any potential course of action. “Hyacinth, yer – just hang on!” she said, her voice very nearly breaking again. “Yer gonna be just fine! A-ah’ll get ya to a doctor and – and –” “Applejack…,” Hyacinth sighed, exceedingly patient given the circumstances, as if she had all the time in the world. But Applejack didn’t seem to hear her. She kept babbling, all the while trying to get her brain to work in a way it refused to. She just couldn’t concentrate. “J-just stay with me, ya hear? W-we’ll get yer horn fixed as good as new, a-and then…” “Applejack…” “J-just don’t you d-dare leave me, alright?” Applejack said, working very hard to keep her voice as steady as possible. She was failing. Even when she tried to make her words sound stern, it just didn’t carry any weight whatsoever. With each passing second, what little strength she had left caved even more. She was tired – emotionally and physically. She just… didn’t have the strength for it anymore. “Y-ya can’t leave me,” she managed to choke out. Finally, her hooves found direction. They cradled Hyacinth’s beaten and broken head to her almost of their own accord, acting instinctively. “Ah… Ah can’t… Ah don’t know how ta do this without ya” Applejack whimpered into her aunt, forcing her eyes shut tight. “How am Ah supposed to…?” “The same way…,” Hyacinth breathed airily, “… you always… have, Applejack.” Applejack opened her eyes then, to find another pair looking back at her. Hyacinth’s smile was beyond weak, but it was there – barely. “You haven’t needed me… or anyone else… to stand on… your own four hooves… have… have you?” While Applejack struggled with some sort of an answer, Hyacinth weakly forced one of her hooves to rise, gently pressing it to Applejack’s chest. “You… are strong, Applejack. Stronger than… than anyone else… here,” she went on, patting her niece right over her heart. “So… you have to… you have to be that pony now.” Not a single spark of magic glittered across any of her wounds anymore, but she hardly seemed care in the slightest. Hyacinth pulled herself closer, her face becoming slightly strained. It was only the strength of her drive that kept her from passing out at that point, but even that unbending determination was starting to fail her. “Get going, Applejack,” she grunted “Win. For… for your friends… for Ponyville… for us… all of… all of us… and for… for you, too.” Applejack gulped, chest throbbing still harder. There were so many things whipping around inside her head – too many to organize. And then, very slowly, she found the strength to nod her head just a tiny bit. “Ah… Ah promise, Hyacinth.” Hyacinth’s expression softened then. The tension in her body started to ebb. She smiled again – softer this time, her normally tough demeanor cracking in that moment. “That’s… my girl,” she said softly. “I… I am… proud of you… dear. I… am proud of the pony… in… in here…” Her hoof tapped Applejack over her heart again. Hyacinth’s weak smile returned then, her muscles relaxing still further. “I… love you… very much, dear.” Then she coughed, coming dangerously close to sounding like a chuckle. “Ah… so… so that’s what it’s like to… to say… to… say…” The rest of her breath simply escaped passed her lips, the end of her sentence never to be. Finally, not even her will could fend off the inevitable. Her eyes drifted shut, her consciousness surrendering at last. Her hoof slipped from Applejack’s chest, and she moved no more. The sound of the rain came rushing back to Applejack’s ears; deafening, all-encompassing. For the longest time, that sound was the only one she heard. It was the only one she allowed herself to hear. In any other situation, she would’ve broken down completely; just given in to the overwhelming pain in her chest. But… perhaps it was just her imagination. Maybe it was simply wishful thinking. But in that moment, Applejack was more than content to believe the weak, fluttery touch of air on her chest had nothing to do with the wind. Her heart seemed to quiet. Her sniffles became subdued. Applejack didn’t break down, even though she very much wanted to; it seemed like such an easy thing to do – infinitely simpler than picking herself up. But that was what she did. Because she’d made a promise. Applejack gently set Hyacinth’s head down and stood up. She turned and took a step forward, placing herself between Hyacinth… and the one responsible. The one responsible for everything. The razing of her barn, the chaos filling her hometown, the pain and suffering inflicted on her friends… and now this. Vigil stood in the same place, his breath regained. He hid it fairly well, but he couldn’t help but eye Applejack warily. The very air around her seemed to hum with barely repressed emotion, and something far deadlier. “Rainbow,” Applejack said somberly, causing the mare in question to jump. “Look after Hyacinth for me, would ya?” Rainbow was silent for a moment, her eyes wide and searching. But the amber-maned changeling didn’t turn to meet her gaze. “Applejack?” she asked nervously. She’d never seen her friend like this… and it was doing more than worry her. Rainbow had seen her friend irritated. She’d seen her pushed to the end of her patience on more than one occasion – having been responsible for half of them herself. She’d even seen Applejack mad. But this was the first time she’d ever seen her this livid. “It’s alright, sugarcube,” Applejack said, still using that unsettlingly low tone. “This’ll be over ‘fore ya know it.” Rainbow’s heart thudded unpleasantly at that. “O-okay,” Rainbow said, trying hard to cover up her misgivings, “but don’t forget your promise.” Applejack paused at that, but not for long. “… So long as ya don’t, neither.” Applejack’s comment only made Rainbow all the more uneasy. But she kept her comments to herself, even if against her better judgment. Eyes never once leaving her friend, Rainbow hefted herself to her hooves and started to move towards Hyacinth, all the while giving Applejack and Vigil a wide berth. Rainbow had enough sense to know that the space between the two changelings was about to become a very inhospitable place. But that didn’t stop her from watching. Vigil spared the cyan pegasus only a momentary glance before returning his cold gaze to the one standing in front of him. “Finished?” he asked. Applejack’s response was to take another step forward. Heat once more throbbed in her head, resulting in thin curls of steam rising off of her horn as it dried itself. “Eeyup,” Applejack grunted. Not far off, a chill ran down Rainbow’s spine. There was only one reason why Applejack would speak like that, and it was giving her an even worse feeling. Vigil took notice as well, but he only hesitated for a moment. “Good,” he said in a clipped tone, eyes narrowing, “because so am I.” Without wasting another moment, Vigil squared his stance, his horn surged to life, and with a loud bang, he loosed a stream of numbing magic straight at his target – enough to put any pony into a coma for weeks on end. He knew Applejack wouldn’t dodge, not this time; not with Hyacinth and Rainbow only a short way behind her. And sure enough, she didn’t even twitch towards her right or left. Vigil knew this would be the end, one way or another. At least, those were Vigil’s thoughts. After all, what other possible tricks could a changeling queen have? Vigil’s spell struck home with a high pitched shriek, exploding up and out as it hurled itself against something that refused to give way. Understandably, Vigil himself was rather perplexed. He frowned, his patience fraying still further. “Your crown won’t last forever, Applejack!” he shouted over the ungodly shrieking sound grating against his eardrums. “How long do you plan on hiding behind it?” “Hey, doofus!” Vigil’s irritation spiked still further as his eyes snapped onto a cyan figure standing slightly to one side of where Applejack was – just far enough to make herself clearly visible. Her and the soggy Stetson she was waving in the air. Vigil’s eyes widened in dawning comprehension at the sight of Applejack’s crown in Rainbow’s grip – clearly placing it far from where it should’ve been. Then… what is… “Ah ain’t hidin’!” shouted a voice over the continued shrill complaint of colliding magic. Vigil’s eyes immediately snapped forward again. Through the shower of sparks flying through the air in every direction in front of his target, he could just make out a pair of holey forelegs braced in nearly six-inch long tracks scraped into the drenched earth. But what had initially forced Applejack back wasn’t anymore. In fact, Vigil’s spell didn’t even seem to be touching her… “Me hidin’ is what started all this!” Applejack shouted again. “Ah hid from my friends and everypony Ah cared for, all because Ah was scared!” Something even brighter than Vigil’s spell was welling up just on the other side, growing bigger and bigger with each passing second. Slowly, Vigil began to realize that his stream of magic wasn’t bending around an obstruction anymore. To his astonishment, he found it being met in kind by a torrent of wild, unrestrained caustic flames that rolled off of a single shaft of blinding, white-hot magic. But to call what Applejack did a ‘spell’ might’ve been too much of a grandiose description. There was nothing refined or controlled about the discharge that ripped from Applejack’s horn at all. It was simply raw, untamed magic in its most basic, most primal form, but there was a whole lot of it. And for the first time in Applejack's life, her magic was responding exactly as she intended it to, and with gusto. “Ah was scared of losin’ my friends,” she went on, shouting at the top of her lungs around the deafening howl of her own surging magic. “Ah was scared of hurtin’ my family, and everypony who relied on me!” Her magic surged still further, tearing into Vigil’s spell like a rabid animal, ripping the emerald column to shreds as it advanced. No matter what he tried – no matter how much of his reserves he tapped and cast at his adversary – there was no regaining the ground he was losing. Pretty soon, the spectacular collision of magic wasn’t mere inches from Applejack’s face, but several feet in front of it – and growing. “But Ah still got everypony hurt anyways!” Applejack bellowed, her voice divided down the middle between fury and pain. “Includin’ those Ah didn’t even know Ah had rootin’ for me!” Applejack snarled, her anger adding fuel to an already tumultuous fire. Flames leapt in every direction, overshadowing Vigil’s increasingly punier-looking ray of magic. The very ground between them heated to the point of shedding puffs of steam as the mud and yellowing grass baked under the intense heat. “Ah’m sick of hidin’! Ah’m tired of bein’ scared! For all those lives ya tried ta ruin, and all those dreams ya almost destroyed, Ah aint gonna let myself be afraid of NOPONY!” Applejack’s magic exploded in torrential volumes off the tip of her horn, surging forth from a font within her she never knew she possessed, or had never bothered trying to tap. Her unrefined spell wasn’t just shoving Vigil’s back anymore. It was leaping clear over it. Like an eclipse, streams of raging magic rolled over the edges of Vigil’s spell, scorching the earth around him and assaulting his eyes with blinding emerald flames. Vigil barely felt his hooves started to skid, but when he did, he’d already been shoved back nearly two feet. “Ah’m gonna stick to my word,” Applejack roared. “Ah’m gonna make everythin’ better; for Ponyville, for my friends, and ALL those changelin’s wantin’ a better life here! And there ain’t NO way Ah am ever goin’ ta let ya STOP ME!” Vigil’s eyes widened, his breath stilling for but a moment. Vigil knew what was coming, but in that crucial moment, he stalled. His tactical sense failed him, grinding to a halt between his inability to admit defeat… and the sneaking suspicion of having that very prospect barreling towards him like a tidal wave. Magic howled all around him, parting just barely before his face. Loose bits of rubble and pebbles were flying through the air all around him, borne on a searing wind. But even from the roiling heart of an emerald firestorm, the only thing ricocheting around his head were those last words he’d heard before everything had been consumed by wrathful roaring. Why… does that sound so…, he thought, just an instant before his forelegs parted ways with the baked ground, and everything went white. ~~***~~ Vigil managed to refrain from yelping as he was slammed against a tree hard enough to linger in the same spot for a moment or two before crumpling on top of a lichen-choked bough in a heap. “You’re getting sloppy, trainee,” stated his attacker from overhead. Vigil snapped his head up, snarling in frustration. There stood another changeling, one who occupied the underside of a gigantic branch that twisted over his head. She stood directly over him, in fact, with her flank facing the gnarled, vine-choked trunk Vigil had just introduced his rump to. Hyacinth’s statement had not carried much bite to it – it came out sounding more like a warning, rather than a harsh reprimand. And yet, it still bore the same impact on the younger changeling. Vigil immediately scrambled back onto all fours, bristling with anger. Yet, Hyacinth stayed on the same upside-down vantage point, as cool as ever. Despite seeing the look Vigil gave her, Hyacinth remained infuriatingly unimpressed. She didn’t say anything or react in the slightest, instead opting to wait for the move she knew to be coming. And sure enough, Vigil abruptly loosed a streak of corrosive green magic straight at her, hoping to catch the senior changeling off guard. Hyacinth’s reaction was almost alarmingly simplistic. She didn’t deflect the spell or intercept it – like Vigil had been preparing for. No, she simply darted back a step. The spell struck the thick branch near its base, disintegrating a large crescent right out of the wood. As a consequence, the whole thing drooped, groaned, and collapsed with a loud crack of splintering wood. Vigil could only look on as the fruits of his labor came screaming down on top of him, all-too eager to teach him his lesson. “I have a question for you, trainee.” Vigil tried not to grumble, but he couldn’t unbend the scowl on his face. “What would that be?” He glanced to one side – towards the changeling lounging almost casually next to him, looking perfectly at ease. Hyacinth, however, kept her eyes up – towards the distant jungle canopy and the thin traces of sunlight working their way through the muggy air. “You put such a value on perfection,” she began, “so much so that even a little slipup is enough to infuriate you.” “That’s not a question,” Vigil noted coldly. Hyacinth pursed her lips for a moment, and a split second later her hoof shot out like a snake, striking the younger changeling in the side. Vigil yelped aloud, unable to restrain his voice in time. He was at least spared the indignity of clutching at the throbbing point of impact, though that was mostly due to the fact that there was a rather sizable pile of sundered wood lying on top of him. Only Vigil’s upper half stuck out into the open air, while the rest was irrevocably pinned to the soft, mushy ground, sparing him not a single shred of dignity. “You’d do well to remember which of us is the instructor here, Vigil,” stated Hyacinth pointedly. Vigil grimaced once more, but managed to hold his tongue with some chagrin. After watching the trainee for any further signs of insubordination, Hyacinth went on. “You push yourself harder than half the trainees, and half the time all that accomplishes is you losing your temper.” Hyacinth scrutinized the side of Vigil’s face, and even though he felt her gaze on him, he refused to meet it in kind. “Your emotions are constantly getting the better of you, and yet you continue to push yourself in the exact same manner regardless. Why is that?” Vigil’s lips pursed, his expression darkening. “I fail to see how that is relevant,” he grunted. He practically felt Hyacinth’s eyes narrowing at him. “Ma’am,” he corrected quickly. Hyacinth relaxed again, but her eyes stayed on the pinned drone, who was starting to look rather incensed about his situation. “It is relevant,” she stated. “It isn’t pure stubbornness that’s pushing you, otherwise I wouldn’t be wasting my time here.” Vigil’s grimace only worsened at that, but he knew better than to say anything. Even if Instructor Hyacinth was marginally more forgiving than the other instructors, that didn’t mean she wasn’t above discipline. Hyacinth continued to dissect the younger changeling’s expression and the mystery behind it. “So then, I have to ask you, Vigil; what drives you?” Vigil remained silent for a long time, but after a second or two, Hyacinth witnessed the younger drone’s visage lose that sour edge it’d developed. “…An end to all this pointless fighting,” he grunted, almost too low for Hyacinth to catch. “Ever since Queen Phantasma changed everything…” Hyacinth eyed Vigil for a moment in silence, much to his annoyance. There was an unreadable look on her eye before finally, after a long pause, she parted her lips. “You lost your queen.” It wasn’t a question. It was a mere statement – a point of fact – bearing with it a tone Vigil did not care for. “I don’t need your pity,” he snapped icily, refusing to meet her gaze. To his surprise, however, no reprimand came, even if his action had been the height of disrespect. “I don’t pity you,” Hyacinth said, her tone now surprisingly hard to read. “But that doesn’t mean I can’t sympathize.” Now Vigil couldn’t help but glance at his instructor. Hyacinth wasn’t looking at him anymore, however. She instead looked out over the jungle, as if she could see the dozens of other trainees and their instructors running through drills all throughout the jungle canopy. “So many changelings are in the same situation as you,” she said. “So many queen-less with no other choice but to fall in with another hive… and so many queens willing to fight over those unclaimed assets for their own gain.” Hyacinth took a deep breath and let it out slowly – coming very close to sighing, in fact. “It’s tragic… the victims of Phantasma’s crusade are the ones perpetuating her legacy.” Vigil followed Hyacinth’s gaze then, turning it to peer out into the dense, vibrant jungle before him. “I just want to see an end to it,” Vigil said. “I want to see an end to this chaos. I want to see that brighter future.” Vigil never saw it, but Hyacinth grew very still then, her eyes once more turning towards him. But she said nothing, and likewise kept her demeanor cryptic. “And…,” Vigil continued on, suddenly struggling to pull himself free with a snarl. “If there is some way I can make that happen… If I can help keep those dark times behind us … then there is no way I will allow myself to be unable to accomplish it, no matter what the price!” So that’s it… ~~***~~ Images swam before his eyes, slowly – and rather unexpectedly – solidifying into a dull, despondent grey. But… Vigil could see it. As inexplicable as it was, his eyes opened unto the underbelly of a spent storm. No more rain fell. No more wind blew. For the first time in quite a while, everything was just… quiet. “I… I’m… alive?” he grunted in confusion, but the sound of his own voice confirmed it. That, and another. “Yup.” Wearily, Vigil turned his head to one side; facing the one who’d spoken. Applejack stood there, turned away, her eyes ranging out over some vista beyond the rubble. She didn’t acknowledge Vigil’s presence, at least outwardly. If she hadn’t been the one to speak, he might’ve thought she didn’t even know he was there. “Ah ain’t like ya, Vigil,” Applejack stated. “No matter how much Ah hate ya… Ah ain’t like ya.” Vigil didn’t even have the strength to express his mild surprise. But at this point, could he really say that he was, in all honesty, surprised? “Even to the very last… you defy my expectations,” Vigil muttered. “No matter what I do… I can’t break you.” Applejack turned one eye towards the feeble, wrecked changeling lying on the ground behind her. She’d held back at the last possible moment… but it’d been a very near thing. The fact that he was there at all was a small miracle in itself. Vigil looked back at her, holding her gaze for a moment. Yet, there was no hatred in her eyes anymore. Sure, it wasn’t a very welcoming look she gave the changeling. But in that moment, all she showed… was apathy. “It’s not that Ah’m defyin’ yer expectations, Vigil,” she stated plainly. “You just don’t have the right expectations ta be judgin’ with.” Vigil blinked at that – wearily. “I wonder…” He turned his head then, looking back up into the dull, cloudy sky. “I… I have devoted my life to serving Her Highness. I swore I would give anything… do anything, to ensure her reign… to ensure her… stability.” “I swore I would do anything…,” he repeated, his eyes tracing the lighter cracks in the motionless clouds above. “To make sure… the damage done by Queen Phantasma… was never repeated. But I wonder…” He paused for a moment, his dim, exhausted eyes becoming distant. “I wonder… when did hatred become a part of the equation?” Applejack remained silent, choosing instead to watch the changeling quietly. For a long time, neither of them spoke; Applejack being unsure what to say, and Vigil too lost in his own thoughts to speak up anyway. And then, in a voice barely even audible to Applejack – one intended for no one in particular – Vigil’s lips parted. “I’m… sorry… Gardenia…” Applejack’s eyes widened in surprise, her heart thumping painfully in her chest, but she kept her questions in check. Without warning, Vigil turned his head slightly, once more focusing his gaze on the young queen standing beside him. “I… won’t apologize,” he stated. “You… wouldn’t take any solace from it anyway… Everything I’ve done… I would do again… without question. I would burn… a thousand Ponyvilles… if it meant not descending back… back into those dark times.” Applejack frowned, but Vigil ignored the look she gave him. “I… ordered my forces out of Ponyville,” he went on. “They will keep the ponies fighting… fighting to the bitter end. The ponies of Equestria will hate our kind for what we’ve done here.” Applejack felt her heart thump even harder, the shadow of panic lurking in the back of her mind. Vigil then tried to flip over onto his side. It was a weak effort, however, one that cost him more strength than he’d expected and accomplished next to nothing. “The odds are going to be stacked very much against you… But if you truly intend to keep following this foolish path of yours, Applejack,” he forced out, “If you honestly believe you can… undo history… then do me a favor.” Applejack cocked an eyebrow incredulously. “And what might that be?” “…Don’t fail.” That response was perhaps one of the most unexpected things Applejack had ever heard. It took her completely off guard, ruining whatever retort she could’ve countered with. After a moment, Vigil turned back towards the sky, his expression stony. “It may be a fool’s errand. But if you succeed… perhaps… just perhaps… I did not waste my time here after all.” Vigil closed his eyes and turned his head to one side, away from Applejack. “Or… maybe I… did...” Applejack blinked. Had Vigil just…? “Applejack!” The apple farmer tensed instinctively, eyes darting around quickly. No matter how distant the speaker had sounded, there was no denying how alarmingly familiar that voice sounded. And in the silence, she could hear that it wasn’t just one pony who was drawing ever closer. “Applejack! Where are you?” She could make out well over a dozen sets of hooves now – all barreling at quite the clip closer and closer, headed straight for her. Perhaps more alarming was the sound of clanking and rattling armor that seemed just as intent on closing the distance between them as well. For just one instinctive moment, Applejack started to shift. It was a knee jerk response, one honed over years and years of having the need to conceal herself ingrained into her brain. But she caught herself. It took a great conscious effort, but she managed to stop the emerald flames before they could wrap around her. Applejack was too nervous to do anything. Her instincts told her to run and hide, to tuck away this shameful side of her and go on pretending she was just as strong and reliable as ever. But her heart could not lie, not anymore. Fear and shame had been its shield, but now… now it had no choice in the matter. So, instead of doing something – anything – she did something far, far harder. She did nothing. She stilled herself, forcing herself to stay absolutely motionless in every way possible, denying herself any opportunity to escape. She didn’t say anything, she didn’t do anything. She just stayed petrified on the spot, waiting as the first set of hooves rounded the nearest corner and immediately ground to a halt. Applejack didn’t want to look – not initially – but after steeling her nerves, she forced her head around to face the gathering behind her. Over a dozen battle weary Royal Guards all looked back at her, as did the tips of their spears. At first, Applejack didn’t spot a single friendly face among them. Everypony glared daggers at her, hate and exhaustion mingling to varying degrees across every pony she looked at. Well… save for four. Several pairs of eyes stared unblinkingly back at her, each set wider than the last. Three pairs of blue eyes and set of deep purple – all four gazed at her, not one missing a single detail. Each one took in Applejack’s black, scuffed up chitin, her scruffy, dirty amber mane – especially eying the charred and shorn end to her tail and the limp hind leg she kept just a few inches off the ground. They stood in silence for nearly five solid seconds, just staring back and forth, until at last, Applejack offered a weak smile to the group before her. “Howdy, girls.”