//------------------------------// // C6.2 - Into the City with Applejack and Pinkie Pie // Story: Discord Meets Ruby Rose // by Maxes Altho //------------------------------// -----Applejack----- Consarn it, Discord! I hate it when Twi’s right all the time! Why, when I see that liver-lickin’ snake again… I stand, and brush myself off. Little McIntosh is nearby, and I retrieve him. I named my gun so because of the mean kick he gives, just like my brother. Now, what am I doing here, and where am I? Let’s see, I’m in the residential section of Vale, separated from the girls, and Twi’s plan has us trying to get to that Academy we spent time at as fast as possible. Discord’s gonna pull something, I just know it. I set off; no need to keep my gracious host waiting, right? ---------- I bring myself to a screeching halt, trying to catch my breath. Double-damn it! It’s like all those traps Discord meant for all of us keep finding their way to me! I’ve escaped several collapsing buildings, jumped several snake pits (why’d it have to be snakes?), outran or outright killed any Grimm I’ve come across, and generally scared myself stupid. “Sis?” My heart stops. “Where’d ya go, sis?” “Apple Bloom? Where are ya?” I see a familiar reddish bow disappear behind a building. Some rational part of my brain is telling me this isn’t possible, AB can’t be here, but my sisterly side crushes any other thought. All that matters is finding Apple Bloom, and getting her out of here. I dash around the corner… And I’m back in Sweet Apple Acres. I’m at the gate, but all I see is devastation. The trees are rotted, the fields are barren, and the barn my parents built dangerously close to collapsing. Big Mac and Apple Bloom are standing there, thin as rails. “Where’d ya go, sis? We can’t keep the farm going without ya!” “E’Yup.” Big Mac groans. “What in Sam-hell are ya talkin’ about? Ah never left permanently!” Then, I realize one of the family’s missing. “Where’s Granny Smith?” I ask shakily. Apple Bloom turns, and points up the hill. “She never took losing our parents very well, and then when ya never came back, her heart broke, sis.” I look, and see three graves, where I know there used to be only two. I run up the hill, and fall to my knees. Sure enough, the new grave says “Here lies Granny Smith Apple. She never gave up hope.” “No.” I’m crying, and I can’t stop. “Ya abandoned us.” Big Mac says, somewhere behind me. “No, Ah would never!” “Ya left with yer friends an’ never came back.” Apple bloom sounds. “No! Ah’m comin’ back, Ah swear!” “Ya cut us out of yer life. We might as well do the same.” I hear a sound, like a knife being pulled from a sheath. I whip around, and Big Mac and Apple Bloom are advancing up the hill, sharp, gleaming knives in their mouths. Something in me snaps. We may not always get along, but Apples have never sought to harm another Apple! None of this could be real! Subconsciously, I bring Little McIntosh around, and fire at the not-Apple Bloom. The buckshot passes through her body, and it dissolves into shadows. “Celestia-damn it, Discord! Ya thought to kill me by imitatin’ my kin? Ah WILL return home, an’ Ah WILL see the farm safe an’ sound!” Big Mac chuckles, but it ain’t his voice. “Aw, I thought you’d be so down in the dirt, I could quietly off one of the Bearers without anyone else noticing. Well, you Apples have always been a hardy bunch, haven’t you?” And with a grin, Big Mac is wrapped in shadow. When the shadows leave, he is taller than me. He looks like he probably would if he came to this world, tall, strong, checkered shirt and overalls, and a big honking sword slung over his shoulder. His eyes are black, and dead-set on me. His grin grows wider, and he swings the blade at me. I flip backwards, and the blade slices cleanly through the three graves. I watch in horror as the tops of the graves cleanly fall to the ground, not a pebble missing from the incision. Now, there’s certain things you don’t do to the Apples. You don’t try to take away the farm, you don’t hurt kin and get away with it, you revere honesty above all else, besides family, and you don’t desecrate the graves of those who came before. Discord just broke all of those rules; all bets are off. I scream, and launch myself at Shadow Mac. We battle up and down the illusion of the farm. I’m managing to score some hits, both with the axe and buck, but Shadow Mac’s reach with that sword makes it difficult to get in too close. As we fight, my mind is taken back to when I was here before. Team RWBY had been telling us of some of the things they did before going to Beacon, and some during their stay. Weiss told us about when she got that nasty-looking scar on her eye. She fought a giant knight, who was able to wield a sword as tall as him with only one hand. She was able to beat him by being faster, and smarter; she also used her Semblance thing, the glyphs she uses to power her abilities. As Mac’s sword crosses my leg, opening a new wound, I curse myself for losing focus. Faster than Shadow Mac I may be, but definitely not smarter, if he’s being controlled by Discord. That leaves the Semblance. Only one problem: as far as I know, Rainbow was the only one to unlock hers. Damn it! Lost focus again, and now I’m on the ground, Shadow Mac’s boot planted into my back, keeping me down. As Shadow Mac raises his giant sword, I hear the voice of Discord. “I’m sorry it had to come to this, Applejack. I truly am.” What a liar. However, what he said sparked something in me. A power, dangerous if left untamed, but deadly if controlled. I control it, and direct it to get this imposter the buck off of me. The pressure on my back is instantly gone. I get up, and Shadow Mac has been launched into the barn, collapsing it. I advance towards the remains. A wall thrusts itself up in front of me, but I focus again, and kick the wall. It shatters into a thousand pieces, each of which sparkle as they turn to shadow. I hear Shadow Mac struggling to get out of the barn. I keep coming after him. “Ya know, Discord,” I say as I give chase, “Ah was gonna make ya an honorary Apple, if ya proved yerself. Now, however,” Mac is close enough for me to kick him in the backside. He goes sprawling. “Now, Ah don’t wanna see yer yella-bellied hide near Sweet Apple Acres ever.” He gulps, and as I focus all of my rage at Discord into one final kick, the farm fades away. I find myself curled into a ball, hidden behind some garbage cans in a side alley. Stupid Discord, probably made me late to the ships with that trick of his. I punch a wall in frustration, and I’m surprised when I punch a two foot wide hole into it. I examine my hand; no damage whatsoever. I grin. “Ah think Ah’m gonna like this.” ---------- Yes! Finally made it to the plaza. I glance around, seems like I’m the first… Consarn it! Rainbow beat me here, and she’s sleeping off her victory. I go to wake her, but stop when Fluttershy enters the plaza, a Grimm following her. I move to intercept, but she’s able to explain what she did, with changing the Beowulf’s soul. Soon enough, the others arrive, Twilight noticeably out of breath. “Girls… Grimm… coming after me… Rainbow…” That’s all the advice I need. I walk over and shake her. “Hey! Sugarcube, wake up! We’re all here, but tha Grimm are closin’ fast!” Imagine my surprise when Rainbow took my arms and threw me into a wall, hard enough to enter some unfortunate person’s living room. I get up, and stumble out. I’m at the hole when I see Rainbow levelling her gun at the back of Twilight’s head. I shout, but I don’t think— *BLAM* -----Pinkie----- Oh. My. Gosh! This is so fun! I’m in a new place and my friends are nearby and it’s like a game of hide and seek but in reverse where if we see each other we don’t catch each other and we need to get to the castle on the hill to save the princess but a little guy shows up and says “Sorry, Pinkie, but the princess is in another castle” and then we go to a lot more castles, and at the end, we fight Discord and save the real princess and get CAKE! …I think. I kinda lost interest when Twilight started talking about secret plans and stuff. Speaking of which… I find the closest wall, and hit it with my Pinkie Pie Patented Wall Punch! Guaranteed to work ninety-five percent of the time. Instead of seeing a house behind the hole, I only see black. It worked! “Hey! Hey you! What are you doing, making Twilight forget her super-secret plan? That’s soooo not cool! You coulda just had her Pinkie Promise to never tell Discord, and that woulda been that! I’ma climb this wall now; gotta get going. But, you already know that, don’t you?” I shoot a specialty Confetti Cannon Shot into the hole, then switch back to my new lazor. I blast holes in the wall all the way up, then think about putting my Party Cannon away. It slides off my arm, and back into my special backpack. I climb the holes like a pro, and start running across the roof. I want to get to the castle first and raise the pointy flag! I’m running when I hear a boom. I stop, and use my new eye thingy to scan around. Something’s coming my way, fast! It impacts the roof in front of me, and I see it’s another person! She’s got short orange hair, some cool-looking armor, and a big hammer with a heart on the end. My eye thingy shows me her glowy part, and it comes up pink. However, there’s also some kind of dark at the very edge of the pink. I’m gonna have to be careful. She stands up, sees me, and waves. “Helloooooo! I’m Nora!” Nora, Nora… now where have I heard that name before-a? Then, it hits me. Rainbow talked about a girl here named Nora, a crazy one just like me! “Hi! I’m Pinkie Pie! I’ve heard you’re a bit crazy. I’m a bit crazy too!” She gapes. “Really? That’s so cool! What do you usually do?” “I plan parties! I don’t care what Rainbow’s thinking, I’m currently planning Discord’s ‘Sorry we Had to Beat you, But you Were Being Super-Duper Evil’ party!” Uh oh. As soon as I said Rainbow, the dark part of her glowy thingy kinda overtook the pink thingy. It’s the same dark that Discord, and all those other animals have. My cannon arm twitches. “Really? You’re friends with Rainbow?” I gulp. “Y-yeah. Why, is that bad?” “No, not really. I just have orders from Father to capture anyone who says they’re friends of Rainbow Dash. So, if you don’t mind,” she swings her hammer, and it turns into a big gun, with an even bigger grin on her face, “I’ma break your legs.” Double Gulp. ---------- Oh, man, that was an awesome fight! I just wish someone had been around to see it! She was like… and I was like… and… I guess you had to be there to believe it. I leave her bound in confetti in a dumpster, and make for the ships that’ll take us to the school. As I leave, I find myself humming a random tune, and absentmindedly put words to it. I’m queen of the castle, I’m queen of the castle… ---------- I get to the ships after Fluttershy. I almost blast her puppy, but stop when my eye thingy shows me a green glowy around it, instead of black. It jumps up and licks my face. Fluttershy’s saying something, but I’m not listening. I’m having too much fun with our new friend! Applejack goes to get Rainbow Dash, who’s been sleeping on the job, as always. I look their way, and my blood goes cold. I didn’t see it before, because she was in the shade of a tree, but her blue glowy is almost completely covered by black! I try to warn AJ, but she gets hit into a wall. Rainbow goes to Twilight, and points her gun at Twi’s head. I fire a special shot at Twilight; I found I can change my lazor beam around, make it push more than hurt. I crank it all the way to push, but I don’t think it’ll get her out— *BLAM*