The day poured on as the battle continued to rage. The ageing sun soon dipped down behind the skyscrapers in the distance, an orange glow filling the sky. With the beginning of the night came a bitter cold wind. The dust that had settled on the ground was swiftly flung into the air and, like a hurricane, flooded the battlefield. The gales had stirred so much dirt that it worked like a thick layer of fog, visibility being next to none.
The climb up to the platform took longer than Applejack had anticipated, constantly having to switch paths to navigate the complex structure of the supports. As she got closer to her objective, she could just make out the muffled voices above her, hesitating precariously on a thin support beam. She held her breath, awkwardly balancing on the beam as best she could. The metal creaked beneath her, making Applejack wince, praying it would hold. The seconds ticked by, the voices eventually fading into the distance, leaving the wind's howls to fill Applejack's ears. Applejack took a deep breath, measuring up a jump up towards the side of the platform. Grunting loudly, she propelled herself upwards, the beam below her finally snapping and sailing down towards the ground. Applejack's forehooves latched onto the platform and she sneaked a quick glance downwards. Her stomach churned as the reality of how high up she was began to sink in. Shaking away her fears, she heaved herself up.
As she had hoped, the platform was now almost completely deserted, the officers having retreated inside after the winds came in. All, that is, except one. Despite the poor visibility, Applejack's HUD continued to vividly display the golden target ahead of her as she fought back against the winds which attempted to throw her off the side of the platform. Of all the sounds ringing in her ears, her own heartbeat was the loudest. Applejack shook as her target got closer and closer. She took a deep breath. It was now or never.
"Surrender, Unicorn!" Applejack yelled, slowly raising her gun to the other ponies' head. Surrender? Really, Applejack? That's the best thing you could think to say? Talk about stupid... The heavily armoured unicorn twisted her head round to face the adversary, taking a step back in shock.
"What are you doing here, maggot?" The unicorn spat out the words venomously. "A little far from your dirt hut, aren't you?" She took a step towards Applejack's trembling form, her visor sliding upwards with a small hiss.
Applejack almost screamed in joy. It's not Twilight! She thought, relieved. She took in the young unicorn's features; cream fur, blue eyes and a heavily stylized chestnut mane. In other circumstances, Applejack would have thought the officer to have been quite beautiful but right now, all Applejack could see was the twisted smile on her rosy lips as she eyed up the Earth Pony.Focus, Applejack! Ya gotta finish the mission...
"You're coming with me." Applejack said calmly, ignoring the unicorn's insults. "You don't stand a chance against me without all your buddies. So how about we do this without bloodshed."
The pony just laughed, closing the distance even further between them. "Oh? You think I'm just going to give up like that?" She grinned, clicking a small, flashing white button on her leg. "You maggots don't even know how to handle a gun. You Earth Ponies are too dumb for everything. Useless trash!" Every word made Applejack wince, but she stood firm, her gun trained on the officer.
"That's a lot of smack talk when you don't even have a weapon." Applejack smiled, prodding the unicorn with the barrel of her gun.
"Oh I don't...but she does." As the unicorn spoke, a bullet tore through Applejack's leg, making her scream out in agony. With her guard down, the unicorn made a swift exit into the cover of the storm. Blood trickled down the farmer's leg, the wound sending a burning sensation through her body. Desperately, she went for her carbine, crawling backwards, her eyes darting around terrified. Like death itself, a shadow emerged from the storm, towering over Applejack's fallen form. The figure swiftly kicked Applejack's carbine away from her, leaving her defenceless on the ground. She flailed her hooves at futilely, the figure dodging every punch. Applejack wanted to scream in anger and frustration. She had been so close. SO close. She allowed herself to breath, trying to think up some form of plan. The figure was unmoving, staring down at Applejack stoically. The unicorn's delay gave Applejack all the time she needed. Activating her thruster pack suddenly, she caught her opponent off guard. She slid through her legs, her hooves outstretched as she neared the carbine. Snatching it up, she turned on the soldier, to find herself also staring down the barrel of a gun. The two ponies stood there for what seemed like an eternity, unmoving.
Applejack finally broke the silence. "The battle's already lost. If you give up now, you can be spared." She tried to reason with the foe, but still neither side budged an inch. "I don't want to kill you. Believe it or not, I don't. One of my best friend's happens to be a unicorn, in fact. I ain't got nothing against your kind." The unicorn began to lower her gun, cocking her head at Applejack curiously. "So let's stop fighting, alright? I won't hurt you, sugarcube." The unicorn took a step back in shock at the word, dropping her gun. "I promise."
"...Applejack?"
Applejack's heart skipped a beat. She recognized that voice all too well. As the dust began to clear, Applejack made out the two hooves reaching up to the unicorn's helmet and take it off slowly. Underneath, lavender fur was uncovered, scarred and muddied by the conflict. As the helmet came further off, a cropped, slightly nerdy fringe appeared, the unicorn's mane being accented with lighter shades of purple to compliment her overall look. A tired smile crept onto Applejack's face and tears welled up in her eyes. "Twilight!"
She almost broke into a full canter, eager to hug her friend after all these years. But she paused. As did Twilight. Despite everything, despite all they had been through together, they were in the middle of a war zone. And caught on opposing sides. They stood, staring at each other in silence for what felt like an eternity. In both their heads, a wave of emotions had overcome them. Despite it all, there was fear in their eyes. After everything that had happened on the New Frontier, things were different between them.
Without a word, they turned their backs on each other, and left to join their ranks. Placing her helmet back on, Applejack swiftly made her exit, still conflicted about the events that had only just taken place. She didn't care about the mission anymore. All she cared about was that she had found her friend.
And everything between them had changed.