As I walked through the castle halls to find Twilight, I thought back on what Teridax had told me. They were some decent ideas, I’ll give him that, but kind of cliché when you really think about it. I was certainly intrigued by the idea of an evil fortress. I could picture it now. Deep within an active volcano, hidden in a dangerous mountain range to the north, I and my dragon minions would plot for the destruction of Equestria and our eventual conquest of the world! Catwalks running through the upper levels, leading down to a platform suspended by chains slightly above the magma. Caves and Caverns hiding long lost treasures and weapons of war!
Okay, I may be crazy, but I don’t think I need to go that far! Though, the dragon minions I think could be workable. There were plenty of the younger ones back at the coven that seemed enamored by me and there was that one I saved from that nevi Hulk. Being a goddess was certainly surprising, but it definitely could give me an unprecedented advantage. What pony doesn’t fear a dragon attack? But, how do I get them to cooperate without alerting Paco and the other elders? I doubt they would be behind my idea, despite how supportive he is.
“Kat?” came a voice from above me. I looked up in surprise, finding the pony I was searching for looking down at me.
“Twilight? What are you doing up there?”
“Uh, Kat, you’re the one that’s up,” she responded.
“Huh?” I looked down at my feet and discovered that I was walking on the ceiling, not the floor. “Oh come on! I thought I got past this! Ugh, one second, Twilight.” With a quick shift, I righted myself back down. “Sorry about that.”
“What were you doing up there?”
“Sometimes when I’m deep in thought, I’ll shift accidentally without noticing and just keep going. Honestly, thought I got over doing that a long time ago.” She giggled a little and I blushed slightly. “So,” I said switching the topic, “ready to help me move that portal?”
“Of course!” Twilight beamed. “I can’t wait to see it!”
I smiled at her enthusiasm. “Follow me, I’ll show it to you.” With Twilight by my side, we walked back to my room. “It’s right inside,” I said as we reached the door. “Now we have to be careful, I really don’t know much about this portal and I don’t—“ I stopped after opening the door to find a strange sight of a pink pony bouncing on my bed. “What the what?”
“Pinkie?!” Twilight said with mutual surprise. Yes, dear Pinkie Pie was bouncing on my bed with a stern look, trying to get at the portal. “What are you doing?!”
The pink mare stopped for a second and smiled at seeing us. “Hiya Twilight and Kitty!” She then looked back at the portal and glared again. “That meanie hole dropped something heavy on me and it won’t apologize!” Pinkie proceeded to go back at trying to jump up to the portal. I looked at Twilight with an ‘Is she serious?’ face and she just laughed nervously. I roll my eyes.
“Okay, Pinkie just calm down,” I say moving over to the bed. “I’m sure the portal didn’t mean any harm, plus it’s not really sentient. Or at least I hope not,” I say thinking on how that could make things difficult. I shake my head clear of that thought. “Just stop trying to attack it, it’s very dangerous.”
Pinkie stops bouncing and looks at me with a bright smile. “Okie dokie lokie!” With that, she just sits there on my bed, doing nothing but staring off into space and occasionally scratching her ear with her hind leg. “This mare confuses me,” I think to myself while shaking my head.
“Moving on,” I say, “Well Twilight, that’s it up there.” I point up at the swirling gravity storm/portal that was just below the ceiling above my bed. “It leads to the Void between worlds. Think we can move it to where it’s not dropping more totems on my head?” Twilight moves closer to the bed for a better look, a hoof rubbing her chin and her eyes narrowed at it.
“Hmm, I don’t think it would too hard to manipulate the event horizon, though we may have to seal the portal in something for it work properly in the future.”
“Seal it? You mean like put in an object or something?”
Twilight nods. “Mm hmm. I know a few spells that could do it, all we need now is the sealing device. Any ideas?” I start to tap my finger in thought. What could we use to seal the portal in? A mirror? No, that’s the alchemist’s thing. Maybe a crystal ball? I get the feeling that that’s too overdone. As I continue to think, I begin to look around the room and notice something on one of Celestia’s old book shelves. I move closer to the shelf and find one her favorite books: The Greatest Works of Whinnyam Shakespeare. Ugh, the pony puns just get worse and worse! Although, this could be my solution.
“Hey Twilight, how about a book?” I called to her while showing off said book.
Twilight gave me a weird look. “You want to put a portal to an infinite number of universes inside a poetry book?”
I shrug in response. “Why not? It’s original at least.”
“You can’t argue with that logic!” Pinkie exclaimed supportively.
“Thank you Pinkie!” I said to her getting a nice big smile in return. “Come on Twi, it’s not like this book is all that important anyway. I’ve read it before and it’s not really my thing. Please?” I stuck out my lower lip in a pout. These ponies have done it to me for years, so why can’t I do it every once in a while?
After about a moment of thinking, Twilight relented. “Alright, fine. Give me the book.” I handed her the poetry book. Twilight took it and opened it to the center and laid it on the bed underneath the portal. “Okay, this may take a few minutes.” Twilight’s horn lit up in a violet aura and she cast her spell. Pinkie and I simply sat back and let Twilight do her thing. I saw the book light up in the same aura and it began to suck in the portal like a vacuum. Slowly, but surely, the portal was absorbed into the book and once the spell was complete, it slammed shut. When her horn powered down, Twilight looked completely exhausted. I got up to hold her steady when she began to tilt.
“Woah there! You okay there, Twilight?”
“Yeah… yeah, I’m ok. The spell just took a little more magic than I thought it would. But, I did it!” She levitated the book to me and I took it from her magical grip. I could feel the power held within its pages, causing me to think of how many others ended up like me. Stuck in a world we don’t understand with no way of getting home. How many others lost years of their lives like me? Only time would tell on how many I would meet. Leaving those thoughts and questions in the back of my mind, I used a stasis field to move the book over on to my dresser by the bed.
“Thank you for your help. It means a lot to me,” I said once she was back on her hooves.
“Don’t worry about it Kat. Anything for a friend, especially since you’re not going to kill the Princesses anymore.”
“You’re not?!” Pinkie exclaimed and then rushed into me with a big hug. “That so great, Kitty! Now I can throw you a party without worry! It’ll be great! There’ll be cake and streamers and balloons and games and friends and…” She went on like this for almost two minutes without stopping for a breath. Honestly, she kind of scares me. Then I remember something from the beginning of her speech: what party?
“Party? What party?” I asked, interrupting Pinkie.
“I throw a party for every new pony in Ponyville! Even if you’re not a pony, you still get one, too! It’s going to be so SUPER!!”
“I get a party?” I asked, completely bewildered. Pinkie nodded her head feverishly. “Wow, I haven’t been to a party in my honor since the Griffon War.”
Pinkie let out a huge gasp. “What?! But what about your birthday?!”
I stopped. My birthday… the worst day of my life. The day everything changed. “My birthday isn't special anymore,” I said somberly after a moment.
“Kat?” Twilight asked, concern in her voice. “Is something wrong?”
“Did I make you upset Kat?” asked Pinkie. I look to see that she had a fearful face, her mane was turning straight from its normal poof, and her coat seemed to be a darker shade of pink. With tear in her eyes, Pinkie said, “I’m sorry.”
I reached out and scratched to top of her head. “It’s nothing, girls. My birthday just isn’t a happy day for me anymore.”
“Can we still throw a party?”
I stood still for a second. “Sorry, Pinkie, but I need to be alone on that day. It’s personal.”
“Oh,” Pinkie said dejectedly.
“But,” Pinkie raised her head, “I will probably need some cheering up the next day. Can I count on you to make me smile again?”
Pinkie’s smile was biggest and brightest I had ever seen. She wrapped her hooves around me in a near bone-crushing hug. “YES!! I’ll throw the bestest party ever!!” She gasped loudly again. “I need to get ready! Bye Kitty, bye Twilight!” With that, Pinkie zoomed off like the road runner.
I blinked and looked back at Twilight. “She worries me,” I say bluntly.
“You’ll get used to it,” she laughs out.
“Don’t be so certain about that,” I mumbled. “So, any luck with that crystal I left you?”
Twilight shook her head. “No, all I could determine is that they do have some kind of energy permeating through them. I theorize that if we could tap into that power, who knows what pony kind would be capable of.” I nod, thinking back to how those gems were used to power certain devices in the game. Maybe I should find some more. “Sooo, Kat, are you up for meeting more of my friends?”
“But I just met Pinkie,” I pointed out.
Twilight waved her hoof. “Yes, but Pinkie can make friends out of anypony. I would like for you to meet back up with Applejack and Rainbow Dash, and I’m pretty sure Fluttershy would love for you to visit.” Why did she seem so certain about Fluttershy? She knows something, but I might as well. If these six really are the new Elements of Harmony, I need to be friends with them. I can’t risk being turned to stone, plus they are kind of fun to be around.
“Hmm, okay. I’ll meet some of your friends. How about Applejack? She seems nice.”
“Oh they’re all nice. Applejack can be a little stubborn, but I’m sure you two will hit it off. You can come with me later, I need to go to Sweet Apple Acres to check on the desserts anyways.”
“Desserts?” I ask.
“Yeah, Applejack’s family farm is catering this year’s Nightmare Night festival.”
“What’s Nightmare Night?”
“Oh, that’s right. Nightmare Night was formed so ponies would get no longer fear Nightmare Moon. Makes sense that you wouldn’t have heard of it. Ponies dress up in costumes, the foals go trick-or-treating, the adults have parties, and --. Kat are you okay?”
I was fuming mad! This Nightmare Night sounds particularly close to another holiday I tried to convince the Princesses to create: Halloween. They turned it down, thinking it would be too scary for anyone to enjoy. And what do they do while I’m gone? They go and create it anyway! What the hell?! After another moment of fuming, I let it all out. “WHAT THE BUCKING HELL!!!!!!?????” My scream scared Twilight into a corner. I panted a little, calming down. “Sorry Twilight. Got a little ticked there.”
“W-why?” she asked shakily.
“Because a long time ago, I tried to get Celestia and Luna behind a holiday from back home called Halloween. It was about my kind getting past our fears of the dark and spooky. They turned down my idea because they thought the idea was too scary. And now, a thousand years later, I find out they went and ripped of my idea! It’s not fair! That’s my favorite holiday, damn it! I want some credit here!”
“You came up with Nightmare Night? Fascinating! I’ll need to write that down when I get back to the library. You want to come with me?”
I was about to reply with a ‘yes’, but something stirred in the back of my mind. My gaze hardened as I stretched out with my gravity sense. I turned my head every which way, trying to get a definite location. Then I found it: Vanhoover. Only, something was strange there. It seemed, more powerful than the last few attacks. That could mean only one thing: a boss nevi. I turned back to Twilight. “Sorry, Twi, but another gravity storm has appeared. I need to take care of it. Don’t worry, I’ll be back later today.”
“Okay, Kat. I’ll be waiting for you at the library.” I nodded, powering up to teleport, but was stopped. “Be careful, okay?” I turned toward her and smiled. It was nice having someone worry about me.
“I’ll be fine. See ya around!” I tore through time and space, forcing myself through right into… the dragons’ nest. If I was really dealing with a boss nevi, I was going to need back up and what better way to get some loyal followers too. I floated right in the middle of the nest, unnoticed at the moment, until I yelled. “HEY~ PACO~!!!” Every dragon in the area turned to see me floating amongst them, I just laid back on air and twiddle my thumbs, waiting for my friend to come—
“What the Tartarus Kat!!” I looked over to see Paco fuming at me. “You know I sleep at this time a day! I need my nap!” I blanched, not actually knowing what time it was.
“Uh, oops,” I said laughing nervously. “Sorry Paco.”
“Don’t call me Paco.”
“I just wanted stop by, say hello, take some of your dragons, the usual stuff.”
“What was that last one?”
“Take some of your dragons?”
“And why are you going to take some of my kind?” His face was beginning to turn a little dark.
“I need help,” I admitted. “I need to go to Vanhoover to stop a nevi attack, but I get a feeling that I’m going to need back up. I was hoping I could borrow a few of my followers.”
Paco scratched his chin in thought. “Well…”
“I’ll go!” came a voice from behind Paco. He turned revealing the young drake I had saved on previous visit.
“Aren’t you that dragon I saved?”
“Yes, your worship.” Is it bad I like the sound of that? Looking him over, I saw that he was still fairly young, around teenager in dragon years. His red scales and orange spines complimented him quite nicely.
“What is your name, young drake?”
“Garble, your worship. I’m am willing to pledge myself into your service, if you will allow me.”
“Hmm,” I said, tapping my chin with a finger. “You did prove yourself quite nicely against those last nevi… Oh, what the hay! Sure, kid. You’re in!” His eyes lit up in glee.
“Thank you so much for this, your worship! If it would please you, I have a couple other friends who mentioned that they would be willing to follow you as well.”
I nodded appreciatively. “I like the initiative, Garble. Grab them and let’s go!” The drake smile and ran off, returning a few minutes later with a purple dragon with long spines that covered most of his face (almost like hair) and a large pudgy one with brown scales and a mace-like tail. “This is TK and Tiny. They are willing to fight for you as I am.”
I smiled inwardly, knowing that everything was going smoother than I had hoped. “Alright you three, you’re coming with me to kill some monsters. Grab on to my shoulders and we shall go.” They did as I instructed as I powered up the worm hole.
“Don’t be out with them for too long, Kat,” Paco warned me. “We do exercise a curfew in this nest!”
“I’ll keep that in mind, Paco.” Before he could reprimand me, I teleported the four of us to the outskirts of Vanhoover. I stared out at the city beyond us, the three dragons flapping their wings around me. I turned around to face them, a stern look on my face, and my tone that of the General I once was. “Alright you three, listen up!” The stood straight, saluting me with their left claws. I guess there are things that span beyond the multiverse. “What I am about to tell you three is to never be repeated to anyone for the rest of your days or until I say otherwise. Am I understood?”
“Ma’am, yes ma’am,” they returned.
“Good. Now here is the plan. In that city is another group of monsters that attacked your nest.” The glared out at the city, no doubt having their own grudges against the nevi. “Those monsters are called nevi and we are going down there and destroy them. Also down there is what I believe to be a boss nevi. This one will be massive in size and particularly powerful. Your job is to keep the smaller ones off of me while I handle the big guy. Also, try to cause as much damage as possible to the city. You don’t need to know the why, just do it!” I reprimanded as Tiny tried to say something. “However,” I said with a dark tone, “if any of you hurt any civilians in the process, I will very displeased.” I made sure to that I was completely covered in aura, glaring deep into their souls. “Got it?”
“Ma’am, yes ma’am!!” they shouted back, a little fear in their voice. I smiled and turned to the city.
“You are to tell no one of our rampage, not even the elders. Destroy as much as you can without hurting anyone and do your jobs. If you do well, I will be sure to reward you accordingly. Now go!”
“As you command, your wor—“
“In the field, you will address me as the Gravity Queen, Garble.”
He nodded and bowed at the same time. “Of course. As you command, my queen.” They took off at a good speed towards the city. I smiled to myself, thinking on how well this was going. Now, to find the big boss. I sped down to the city, taking out several Minions with my landing. I look all around me, seeing the occasional fire spewing from my dragons, but not finding the boss. My gravity sense was telling me it was around here somewhere, but where? Suddenly, the sun was blocked out from behind me.
“Oh, you gotta be kidding me.” I turn to see the big boss itself. I recognized it as the Star Creature. This nevi had five eyes, only one was much tougher and hidden under its tentacles. The remaining four made up its head, while the rest of its body was draped in its tentacles. “This is going to be fun,” I said, powering up. It roared and sent a tentacle at me, but I dodge rolled out of the way. As I stood up, it fired its gravity blasts. I pulled my shield out in front of, expanding back to its original size as it slid on to my wrist. I braced myself as the blasts hit, causing me to slide back a little from the force. As soon as it let up, I shot up towards the sky, the Creature’s eyes tracking me.
I stopped just at the skyline and launched towards one of the eyes with a Gravity Kick. With great force, I shattered the eye, taking another one with due to the power. Two down, two to go before I get to the real one. Using the shield like a sled, I slid over some of the rubble of destroyed buildings, keeping up my momentum. I hit an angled rock like a ramp and shot up towards a nearby building. Again using my shield, I made a sharp turn on the building that aimed me back toward the boss nevi. I charged forward with the shield, hitting right between the two remaining eyes, shattering both.
The Star Creature roared and lifted its tentacles, revealing the fifth eye. In this position, it looked like a giant, upside down Star. I knew I had to act fast, as it would only show this eye for a short amount of time. If I didn’t take it down now, it cover back up and another eye would regenerate. This would prove to be difficult since it started to send out a massive circle of blasts. I dived underneath the projectiles and tossed my shield right into the eye, hitting it square in the center and rebounding off to where it lodged into a building. The eye changed from its white center to a deep red, meaning it was weak enough to be destroyed. So I charged with a gravity kick, landing right in the bull’s eye. The nevi roared in pain and turned into dust, leaving behind a collection of crystals. I sucked them up, storing them with the rest, somehow knowing I had nearly a thousand of those gems now.
I took a moment to check on my dragons. I rose up above the skyline, seeing the three of them causing fires all over the city, but I my gravity sense told me they hadn’t killed anything besides nevi. With that worry off my chest, I focused on finding the gravity storm. I turned towards the center of town and shot forward. Thankfully, this storm was right out in the open. I landed far enough away where I wouldn’t be hit by the shockwave. I grip it with my power and squeezed until it burst into nothingness. I smiled at the job well done, but it disappeared as a guard pony approached me.
“Gravity Queen! Thank you so much for your help with these monsters! Now, think you could deal with the dragon problem?” he asked.
I did my best impersonation of an evil laugh, and I think it was quite good, honestly. “Now, now. My dragons need to have their fun every now and then.”
The guard paled. “Y-your dragons?”
“Why yes! What? Did you think I was some protector of you ponies?! AHAHAHAHA!! Not even close! My only focus is those blasted nevi, I could care less about anything else.”
“Y-you’re a monster!”
I smiled wickedly. “What was your first clue? Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have some business to attend to. See you at the next attack!” I shot off to gather my dragons, hearing the guard shout back to me.
“Celestia and Luna will stop you! No evil is allowed to live in Equestria!”
I turned back to him as I continued forward. “They tried to get rid of me once; they failed. Those princesses will never be able to defeat me!” I laughed as I flew off, leaving the guard to fume. I floated high above the city and used wormhole to teleport the dragons in front of me. They were shocked about the sudden shift, but bowed as soon as they saw me. “Report,” I said emotionlessly.
“All nevi have been destroyed, your highness,” Tiny said.
“Half of the city is on fire and the other half is falling apart, but no casualties to report,” Garble informed.
“Last count was three hundred nevi before they dispersed,” I received from TK.
I nodded in appreciation. “You three have done well. Here is your reward.” I summoned three crystals and gave one to each dragon. They eyed the gems greedily, devouring their respective crystals in a blink of an eye. They seemed satisfied. “I will call on you again. You best be prepared for when I do. Dismissed.” They bowed one last time before I sent them back to the nest. I teleported myself back home a moment later, falling back onto my bed in exhaustion and passing into a dreamless sleep not even a second later.
Hours later, I awoke, feeling refreshed for the first time since I had been freed from stone. Kind of hard to believe that was only a few days ago. I got out of bed and looked to see the sun was still high in sky. I guessed that it was probably around one in the afternoon. I smiled knowing I hadn’t missed my plans with Twilight and Applejack. I decided to fix up my hair a little, brushing it out straight and replacing my headband. I made sure my scarf was tied just right around my neck and began to warp out, but was stopped when I saw something lying on the floor. I picked it up and was surprised to find that it was an hourglass. I hadn’t seen one of these in a while, but it had a strange presence about it. I realized that this was what hit Pinkie. It was another totem. I shrugged and put it with the others on the shelf by my bed. With that out of the way, I warped to Twilight's.
I appeared right in the middle of the library, spooking the young drake that was busy sweeping the floor. “AAH! Oh, Kat, it’s just you. Don’t do that to a guy!”
I giggled as he blushed about being scared by a girl. “Sorry, Spike. Is Twilight around?”
“Right up here, Kat!” I looked up to see the smiling unicorn at the top of the steps. “You’re just in time, I was just heading out to see Applejack. Still up for coming along?”
I smiled back. “Sure thing! Let’s go!” We waved goodbye to Spike and we headed out. Since Applejack’s farm was on the outskirts of town, Twilight teleported us to one of the unused roads that led there so I wouldn’t be seen by the town. Neither of us were ready for that kind of reaction just yet. We walked in comfortable silence until we reached the massive orchard. And I mean massive; there were trees as far as the eye could see without any end in sight. I whistled appreciatively. “Daaaang, that’s a lot of trees.”
“Yep, the Apples are very proud of their work. Come on, Applejack’s probably out apple bucking as we speak.” I giggled inwardly at the use of that word and followed right behind her. I heard the rustling of leaves and the sound of multiple somethings hitting the ground up ahead. Once we were over the hill, I could plainly see the orange earth pony mare kicking apple trees, sending the scrumptious fruit into the barrels below. Not a single apple landed outside the barrel, which was very impressive. “Hey Applejack!” Twilight called out to her friend. Applejack looked up from her work, smiling at the sound of her friend’s voice, but frowned upon noticing me.
“And just what are you doin’ here?” Applejack asked me accusingly. I really couldn’t blame her, especially after how I acted last time we met.
“She’s here to apologize. Aren’t you, Kat?” Twilight said, trying to defuse the situation.
I smiled apologetically. “Yes, I am. Applejack, I am really sorry for how I acted the last time we met. Could we start over?” Applejack looked at me thoughtfully, inspecting me just as Rarity had done previously. I was a little nervous because I did actually want these girls to like me.
“Sure Kat,” Applejack said after a moment. “We can start over.” I smiled gratefully, but she went and trashed that. “On one condition: ya’ll gotta help me with the chore today, then we’ll see where our friendship stand.”
I gave her a suspicious look. “Getting someone to do your chores with belief of friendship? That’s devious!” I accused and then smiled. “I think I like you already.” The three of us laughed a little from my statement.
After calming down, Twilight said, “Well, I’ll let the two of you get to work. I’m going to go see Granny Smith on how the catering for Nightmare Night is coming.”
“Sure thing, Twi. Granny’s up at the house takin’ a nap in her chair.”
“Thanks AJ. I’ll see you both later.” Twilight walked off, heading towards a barn-shaped house. You think I would have gotten used to the strangeness of this world, but there is always something that surprises me around here.
“Alright, rookie. Let’s see how well you do at buckin’,” Applejack said, bringing my attention back to her.
“Didn’t know your barn door swung that way, Applejack,” I said with a sly smile. “Little forward, don’t ya think?” Applejack’s face turned hot red at my little joke and she started stammering.
“NOT LIKE THAT!!” she screamed at me. I laughed at her little predicament.
“I’m just funnin’ with you, AJ.” I walked over to one her trees. “Now, how does this work?”
Applejack calmed down and walked over to join me. “All ya gotta do is give it nice good kick to the center of the trunk. If ya can do that, the amount of apples will determine yer skill. Go ahead.”
I eyed up the tree, looking for the best spot to aim for. I found one just right above the very center of the trunk. I backed up slightly and kicked the tree as powerfully as I could without destroying it. To Applejacks’ surprise, my kick left the tree barren of all its fruit that now laid perfectly in the baskets that had placed below. “How was that?” I asked, feeling a little smug.
“Gosh golly, Kat. How in tarnation did ya’ll do that?”
“Most of my attacks are based around my gravity kick, so I need to have some good leg muscles otherwise not even gravity could make my attacks do anything.”
“Well, I’ll be darned. This might just work out better than Ah thought.” For the next couple of hours, we worked on the rest of the western field. It was roughly around four when we decided to take a break, both us having bucked at least fifty trees each. “So, what do you think of farm life there Kat?”
Laying back on the ground with my arms and legs spread out eagle style, I responded, “Reminds me of home.”
Applejack raised an eyebrow. “Really?”
“Yeah, or at least my first home anyway. In Ashland.”
“What do you mean your first home?”
I sighed, knowing that this conversation might start turning uncomfortable soon. “I moved around a lot, especially after the accident.”
The mare winced a little. “Oh, right. Sorry ‘bout that.”
“It’s okay,” I shrugged. We sat in silence for another few minutes before Applejack spoke again.
“You know, we’re kinda alike, you and me.”
“What makes you say that?” I asked with genuine curiosity.
“Well from the sound of it, we’re both farm girls. Both enjoy being around our friends and we’re even just a little bit stubborn. We also lost ones we really cared about when we were young.”
My eyes widened a little. “You mean that you…”
“Yeah. When I was just a little filly both of my parents died from illness. It hit me hard, so hard that Ah even left the farm to try to get over the pain. But, I came back and here’s where I’m gonna stay.” I stared in awe at the young mare before me, now understanding her just a little bit better. “So, Kat, I was wondering, if ya don’t mind me doin’ so, what happened? With your family, Ah mean.”
I sighed again, laying back on the grass. I wanted to tell her not to ask such things, but she had been honest to me, so maybe I should repay her in kind. “It was when I was eight years old. We, myself, baby brother, and my parents, were coming home late one night from a movie that I had begged my parents to take me to. I can’t even remember what movie it was. It was dark that night, eerily dark, but we just kept driving. Out of nowhere, another driver came out from in front, headlights glaring at us through the windshield. He was swerving all around the road, only after did I find out that he was indeed drunk off his ass. He just kept coming towards us, my dad trying to swerve out of the way, but nothing worked. Only now do I wish I had been wearing my seatbelt that night, for the next thing I saw was a great flash of light and the sound of crunching metal.
I woke up laying on the ground, pain burning through every pore on my body. I saw glass and shrapnel all around me. I turned to see the ruined remains of my parent’s car, engulfed in flame. I called out to them, wanting to know if they were alright. I heard my mother and father call back, telling me to get help. I didn’t know what to do, I couldn’t move I was so afraid. Then before my eyes, something ignited the fire even more, probably that drunk bastard’s alcohol, and I heard them screaming in pain, my brother wailing. I covered my ears with my hands, it was just so painful to hear. An hour later was when the police and ambulances arrived, but they were too late, my family was already gone.”
Applejack simply stared at me, aghast in shock and horror at what I had described. She didn’t say anything so I continued. “The only solace I had from that night was that the driver that hit us was killed as well, burning in his sleep. After that night, I was moved from foster care to foster care, not staying in one place for too long. Sometimes it was because of my anger bouts, others because they couldn’t afford my therapy sessions. Thankfully, my father’s military life insurance kept me from ever starving or staying out on the streets. I also had plenty of help from of my dad’s old war buddies if I ever needed a place to stay for the night.”
“Yer pa was in the military?” Applejack asked.
“Yeah, two-star general if you can believe it. I still have no idea how he got stationed in Nebraska of all places, but I digress. It helped me out of some tough jams.” As I brushed my tears away, I felt the warm embrace of friend. I look to see Applejack hugging me, tears in her own eyes from my story.
“I get it now, Kat. I get why you are who you are. It was because of the life you were forced to live. But don’t you worry none. I’m not gonna let anything like that happen to you ever again and I know the others will feel the same.”
“Thank you Applejack. Thank you.” After that tear fest, the two of us finished up our work for the day and we met Twilight back at the house. I thanked both of them as well as the other Apples that I met for their hospitality, and privately thanking AJ for the talk. I said my farewells, with Twilight making me promise to come back tomorrow to see Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash, and returned to my castle, hoping to get another peaceful rest after today’s events.