//------------------------------// // From the Beginning // Story: Ponyvania // by Slycoopertr //------------------------------// “Pinkie seriously, who are you talking about?” Applejack woke up to a muffled scream from downstairs. She tumbled out of bed and raced out of her room to find her sister, Applebloom, with a sword through her back and a live humanoid shaped skeleton behind her taking up most of the hallway. Fear first took her, and then anger. She galloped as hard as she could and broke the skeleton in half. The orange pony turned to find her sister only to see that the top half of her enemy was crawling after her. Using most of her strength her bucked the head off of it. It was still moving. “Dagnabit, stay dead!” Applejack yelled out and slammed her hooves on the last torso of the creature before her. When she was convinced that it was finally not going to move again she went over to her sister and mourned. Then she heard a deeper voice voice cry out in pain followed by a older, weaker one moaning in agony. Almost stumbling downstairs she saw another three skeletons that were after the last of her immediate family. Granny Smith wasn’t moving much and Big Mac wasn’t looking too good and had an arrow in his left foreleg. Two of the skeletons had bow and arrows Applejack noted before charging in and taking out the only one without a sword. Dodging a few arrows, she bucked the other two archers and surveyed outside noticing that there was smoke coming from outside. Going back to her family, she was mortified at how much blood was on the ground below Big Mac. He was shot again before she could take out the last archer; it was in his chest. She found a towel and tried to stop the bleeding, but the arrow had gone in too deep, most likely had nipped his heart. He didn’t say anything, but he did bring his hoof up to his sister with a goodbye look and tried to smile before death took him. Granny smith next to him wasn’t moving and a hoof was to her heart. Applejack knew she should’ve made her take her heart medication last night. She couldn’t take it anymore, Applejack fell to the ground and cried. Fire could be seen from her house that came from Ponyville. Getting her hat from the barn, she made sure to lock it, in case some other creatures came after her stuff again. Applejack stormed through Ponyville to find that it was being overrun with demons and skeletons. Knowing that she take them all, she Fought through the hoard and reached the library to find any sign of life, but it was in vain as she kicked open the door to find Twilight and Spike lifeless in the blazing background. Going through three deaths already, she almost became immune to sadness, but still shed a tear for her friend. Going through the town was as if going through a nightmare with no end. Every street was filled with creatures; every house was engulfed in flames, and not a pony to be found. Every pony she had looked for was, as all the others, on the ground fill with arrows and swords or burned (they could however, be recognized by their cutie mark or lack thereof), all but Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Rarity and Fluttershy. They were nowhere to be found. She found a group of werewolves that were having a friendly meal until they saw Applejack. They stopped what they were doing and began to slowly close up on her. Applejack knew she couldn’t take them all and didn’t know what else she could do. Daylight, the only friend Applejack had left, started reach across the land. The creatures vanished into the Everfree forest with a smile and individual howls, joyful over last night’s raid. So, the light of day’s what’s frightens ‘em, huh? She thought. Looking around her town, she saw nothing but ash, burned buildings and dead ponies. She did another 15 minutes of searching through the ghost town before heading back to her place. Since the barn was locked, she figured that was the better place to stop and rest than the rest of her house. Exhausted, she fell on a stack of hay and immediately fell asleep. She had no dreams that night. When she awoke it was still daylight, her eyes hurt to open to that evil ray of sun. Getting up was hard after what happened, she practically used the rest of her strength to make it back to her own barn since it was about a mile away. “Damn sun.” Applejack muttered. “Why are y’all always blockin mah vision. Can’t see anything round here. Not door outta here, or the hay I’m sitting on or that ghost of…” Twilight was floating next to Applejack. She had all of her features, but they were faded and see-through. She was in a laying down position in the air when Applejack saw her. “TWILIGHT!” Screamed Applejack. She jumped at Twilight only to go through her and hit the floor. “Wha- What’s goin on? Why are y’all…uh not there, but there?” “Applejack, don’t freak out, but I’m dead and-” Explained Twilight “How in Equestria is that possible?” Applejack interrupted. “I was putting a revival spell on Spike when those creatures attacked him. I was in the middle of the spell when a skeleton archer shot me. The spell was still active when I died but only halfway, the spell was put on me instead, but now only my ghost can be used.” Accepting the explanation, one thought went through Applejack’s head, it’s magic, just forget it. “Do you know where we can find the others?” asked Applejack. “I didn’t see any of our friends when floating around, maybe they were taken?” Twilight logically thought. “Well ah did notice that those…things headed off to the Everfree, let’s try there first” Applejack was almost to the barn door when Twilight shot out in front of her. “HOLD IT” Twilight exclaimed. “Going out there with no plan and no weapons is just stupid! You’ll end up like all the rest, dead and gone!” Twilight could feel herself getting teary eyed. “Now Twilight don’ be silly, I got my rope n’ hat don’ I?” Applejack said trying to cheer her up “That won’t do” Twilight said feeling better but more serious. “You need protection” At that moment Twilight jumped at Applejack and burst into small light increments that surround Applejack. Applejack jumped back to see her friend gone “Twilight? “...” “TWILIGHT!” “Yes?” Twilight said casually and in an echo-y voice. “Where are you?!” Applejack said in a worried and confused voice “In your brain” “But I can’t see ya anywhere…and you sound like yer everywhere” “I combined my otherworldly self to you to give you a chance at defeating those things, in other words, I’m in you (not in that way) in order to protect you. I sound weird to you because of that telecommunication thing I was telling you about earlier. By the way look down” Applejack did as she was told to find that slightly glowing green leather armor with a white trim that complemented the hat she wore had appeared all around her except for her head, hind legs and tail. “I had found a book in my library that had to do with making armor, tele-communication and weapon making, and it worked!” Twilight squeed. Applejack sighed, “If one more thing happens to me I’ll… WHERE’S MY ROPE!” “On your right shoulder” Applejack looked to find not her rope, but a whip rolled up on her shoulder on a little hitch to hold it in place. The whip was placed just right to grab the handle with Applejack’s mouth. When she grabbed the whip she noticed that it felt just like her old rope. She rose up and snapped the whip hard at a stack of hay wrapped up next to her. The attack cut the hay in half horizontally. Applejack felt good, not for the way the whip came natural to her, but to the fact that she was about to get revenge. The rope magically rolled up and jumped back on her shoulder when tried to bring it back to her. “What in the hay?” Applejack asked. “It’s another one of my spells on the whip. Makes it easier to be on the go” Twilight explained. Applejack shrugged learning by now to just accept whatever else Twilight had in store for her. She looked around the barn she wondered if she would ever see this old place again then shut the barn door and made sure to lock it, just in case. “Alright, let’s get going” Applejack said, raring to go. They approached the Everfree Forest to find that there was no sun whatsoever over the forest. It was also dead silent and all that was visible was fog, trees and the Everfree path that seemed to stretch for miles. “No sun” Applejack noticed. “Would explain why they all came here to hide.” Hmm, Twilight hasn’t spoken for a while. I wonder if she’s still shocked…Tartarus, I’M still shocked. Applejack thought to herself. “I’m fine, don’t worry” Twilight said in that ghostly voice. “I was just wor-“ Applejack began until she realized something, “how the hay did you know what I was thinkin?” “I told you, I’m in your thoughts. I know what you are doing, how you are feeling and what you are thinking” Applejack was a little nervous believing that her privacy was being broken in half. “Uh, well can you stop it?” “Nope” “Great” Applejack thought in a sarcastic tone. Almost unwillingly, Applejack started to walk through the forest path knowing that this was not going to be fun. “What was that?” Twilight asked. “Oh, uh NOTHING, nothing” Applejack said hoping she would buy it. Before Twilight had time to form a rebuttal an arrow shot 3 feet in front of Applejack. She jumped back to find that a skeleton archer was about 20 yards away. As though through pure instinct now, Applejack rushed to the archer. She grabbed the whip, jumped in the air and brought the whip down on the Skeleton causing it to burst into black mist. Applejack tugged on the whip causing it to jump on her shoulder. “I’m a really startin to like this thing” In Applejack’s praise for her new favorite toy, Twilight screamed as she saw another skeleton with a spiked mace came up beside her and smashed its weapon onto Applejack’s back. Applejack looked around her, thinking that a small branch just fell on her when she noticed the mace. She gave a yelp and, in a spinning motion, swung the whip and split the skeleton in half then crushed it’s torso with her hooves. Wide eyed and breathing hard, she looked around to make sure that nothing else was trying to kill her. “T-Twilight” Applejack stuttered still shaken from the event “…Yes?” Twilight said as calm as she could muster. “Thanks for uh,” She cleared her throat to give her a second to calm down. “Thanks for the armor” “Uh…no problem” Applejack reached behind her and grabbed the mace handle with her mouth, pulled off the mace and threw it aside. “Why did it explode into that black stuff?” Applejack asked Twilight. “The others didn’t do that when I killed them.” Applejack stopped and wondered why killing things was just a common thing now, then continued. “Well, I’m not really sure.” Twilight said. “Are you sure the others didn’t do that?” “Just look at the one I just destroyed back yond…er?” Applejack said as she saw black mist float up into the sky. ”Huh, guess it just takes awhile for some” A few moments of tense silence later, Applejack believed it was safe to keep going without being hit from behind. After what seemed to be 20 minutes of walking, they came across a small village of goblins with tents in a circle along the main path. A group of goblins were dancing around a bonfire with a pink, puffy haired pony tied to a spinning pole over it. Pinkie pie was doing her normal business of talking up a storm to the goblins; it was almost as if she was oblivious to the fact that she was being cooked alive. “Oh my gosh!” Twilight said. “So our friends WERE taken, there’s still hope of saving them!” “Yes, but for now we just have to worry ‘bout saving this one” Applejack said, but was still happy to see someone else alive. “I LOVE DANCING!” Pinkie started” You know one time I was throwing a party and I got the whole place to start dancing, we started to do the conga line and the tango, and even a few free style sessions. Well everyone except Twilight who could use a few lessons from Rainbow Dash. She is a party monster! The only one who could compete with her is Spike, but I don’t think-“ Twilight heard the name and Applejack could hear the sniffing in her head. They both had enough of seeing this charade go on any longer and Applejack was ready to fight. Applejack ran in and bucked the nearest goblin she saw into the fire. Grabbing the whip she wrapped the end of it around the enemy to her right, tossed it over her and into the one on the left. She started counting the rest when the number 5 came up in her head. “Thanks Twilight” She thought, then began her rampage on the rest of the goblins. After the last Goblin had thrown into a tree and smashed into his own tent, Applejack turned to Pinkie. “Howdy there, Pinkie” She said in a relieved and refreshed voice. “OH MY GOSH, that was amazing!” Pinkie started “there were like a bazillion of those things and you came in and was all lik-“ Before she went on any longer there was a hoof in her mouth. “How about we get you down before you get burned?” Applejack said in a warming tone. After Pinkie was cut down, she gave Applejack a hug and explained to her that she was taken prisoner by the goblins because they thought she was made of candy. When they realized she wasn’t the next morning they thought they could use a snack. Then they came to her rescue. “By the way, how is everypony back in town?” Pinkie asked. All Applejack could do is look away. “Oh, well then let’s get the rest of our friends” Applejack stared at her “what do you mean Pinkie?” “Didn’t I tell you in my story? Nice conveyance writer” Pinkie sa- HEY! “Oh stop whining” I’m not whining I’m complaining…oh just finish it “Okay doki Loki,” “Pinkie who are you talking to?” Applejack asked. “Oh nothing, it’s like Twilight in your head” “Pinkie how did you know I was here?” Twilight asked using tele-communication to find that it worked with multiple participants and did a light squee. “Duh, cause I read the last couple pages” She said tossing away a scri- Oh come on. Applejack gave a very confused look at Pinkie Pie, but then brushed it off thinking I was probably because of her Pinkie sense. “But you didn’t know about the villagers?” Twilight asked. “I skimmed” Pinkie explained Applejack’s head was starting to hurt “Anyway.” Applejack said rubbing her frontal lobe. “Anyway, I wasn’t the only one who was captured, I saw Dashie, Fluttershy and Rarity taken to the middle of the forest” Pinkie explained. “I also made a friend with a wolf in the forest while I was being carried by the funny dancers. But he wasn’t very nice because he jumped at me and cut my hoof with his teeth, so I guess I never made a friend with it, I thought I did but I guess I was just in my mind. He must not have been a normal wolf; I mean he WAS really big. The dancers scared him off after he attacked though. Didn’t I tell you that too?” She said staring at m-… space. “Wait what kind of a wolf was it?” Twilight asked almost worried. “A big one with red eyes, sharp teeth and-“ Before she could finish her somewhat odd tale something appeared on the main path to the middle of the forest, something big. On the path was a Ogre the size of Applejack times 7 and had a club of and least 3 yards long. Eyes glowing red and teeth gleaming in the moonlight, it was indeed a monster Tartarus bent on going after whatever was in its path and Applejack was right in front of him. The monster roared and threw his club down; Applejack dodged left then jumped on the club and raced up its arm. She jumped up, took her whip and cracked it on the monster’s eye and leapt behind him. Crying out in pain, the monster turned around and started swinging his club violently. Applejack avoided the club with a back-step and rushed under his legs and met up with Pinkie. “Pinkie” Applejack said talking to Pinkie, “Ah need you ta distract em” “OKAY” Pinkie happily said. After rubbing his eye the giant goblin turned around again to find the pink pony he found earlier. “HI” Pinkie exclaimed, “I never introduced myself before, I’m Pinkie Pie. Wow you big, almost bigger than Sugar Cube Corner back at Ponyville” Applejack took advantage of the monster being confused and came up behind him, turned around and bucked as hard as she could, giving him a Charley horse. The Goblin went to his knees barely missing Pinkie who bounced away down the path she was on. Taking the whip, Applejack jumped on his back and threw the whip around the goblin’s neck. The giant thrashed around, but Applejack had a steady stance around the top of his back, refusing to budge. Eventually the Giant slowed down from lack of oxygen giving Applejack a split second to jump onto his right shoulder turn around and pull hard on the whip and hear a loud snap around the goblin’s neck that could be heard for half a mile. The Huge goblin fell to the ground with a loud thump and threw Applejack a couple meters. She hit the ground a few times and slid a bit, giving her a mouthful of dirt. Pinkie help her up while she spit the dirt out of her mouth, grabbed her whip, walked over to the bon fire and sat down to rest. “THAT WAS AMAZING!” Pinkie shouted. “It truly was Applejack, but how did you know what to do?” Twilight asked. “The writer made her because he thought it would’ve been cool and it WAS!”