//------------------------------//
// The last stand  
// Story: Applejack Through the Ages 
// by Paradise Oasis 
//------------------------------//

"Wantall, I'm begging you... please stop this!" Sugar Apple pleaded, doing out of the way of a fireball spell. "I know you're angry and hurt, but this really won't solve anything!" 

"It'll get rid of you, you meddling pony!" The angry wizard declared, launching another fireball. "And that's good enough for me!" 

Masquerade and Sugar dodged to the left and right, avoiding the blasts of the bitter and angry man below them. Flying above his shots, the two ponies looked for an opening to attack, but couldn't get in close.

"Sugar, Watch your flank! His aim is poor, but if that creep clips you, he'll knock you clean out of the sky!" The other Pegasus declared, diving to avoid an Ice beam. "Great B'zekre, where in the hell did a human find an order of gloom spell book?!"

Sugar continued to avoid his blasts, but the Pegasus was too distraught too hear her friend. She felt betrayed, as she's been trying to help the humans, and here Wantall had stabbed her in the back out of pure hatred. Didn't her efforts to help them along mean anything, teaching them what plants to eat, and predators to avoid in this new land they called home? But no, despite all she had done for them, Wantall still wanted the 'interfering' mare dead. 

Below, Sugar saw Edwina and the other villagers, watching the two ponies battle with one of their own. She thought about it must have hurt Edwina, her dear human friend, to have to choose between betraying her husband, or betraying her friend. That's why she wasn't angry that the humans simply stood there and watched as they battled, she knew they couldn't lightly make the decision to harm one of their own.

"Sugar, we have to get the book away from him, it'll leave him powerless!" Masquerade declared, as a petrification beam shot past her wing and turned a nearby bird to stone. "We'd better hurry, or else one of his lousy shots is not going to miss!" 

"You blasted ponies ruined everything!" The empowered wizard roared, preparing to read another spell from his darkly glowing book. "My people used to respect me, before you dumb horses came along with you fancy ideas and your flying and your talking! I'll teach you dumb animals to know your place!" 

"I was trying to help you and your people, Wantall, but you can't seem to appreciate that!"  Doing a loop to avoid a giant flaming stone the wizard cast at her, Sugar looked back towards her human friend. "Edwina, I know he's you're husband, but what he's doing just isn't right! Please, in the name of our friendship, please do the right thing!"

The human woman looked towards the ponies, then back towards her husband. Clenching her fists, Edwina made the decision that would change her life forever.  

"Wantall! You leave those ponies alone, and put that spell book down right this instant!" She demanded, looking up at the angry wizard standing on the roof of their home. "You've caused this village enough embarrassment already, and I won't have you hurting my friends like that!" 

"You... you would side with these ponies over me?" Wantall's face first widened in surprise, then hardened into a look of betrayal. "Then you need to be taught a lesson, too!" 

The wizard began chanting a particularly long spell, a break in the attack that surprised the two ponies for a few seconds. Those few precious moments were all Wantall needed, however, before unleashing his most terrible spell yet. 

"Sleep, you ungrateful wench!" The wizard yelled, before unleashing a powerful bolt from his hand. "I curse you to sleep for three hundred years, until everything you know and love, is but dust on the wind!"

"Edwina, look out!" Sugar Apple cried, diving straight towards her friend. The Pegasus arrived just seconds before the blast struck, sending her sprawling to the ground. "Uhhhhhh......"

"SUGARRRRR!" 

"YOU BLASTED HUMAN CREEP! I'LL FLANKING KILL YOU FOR THAT!"

What followed was a hazy blur, a flurry of activity that Sugar felt she was watching through a hazy veil. Sugar saw Masquerade knock Wantall off of his lofty perch, and Saw Edwina running up to her in a panic. She saw all the humans gather around her, with looks of sadness on on their faces as tears streamed from their eyes. She thought she heard shouting and yelling, and voices crowding in around her...

"Oh Sugar, I'm so so sorry..."

"Wantall, you are banished to the volcano of Gloom for your crimes, never return to this village again. And take that blasted brat with you!"

"Lady Edwina, in honor of my dear friend's sacrifice, you and your herd shall be considered friends of Dream Valley forever..."

"Rest well, noble Apple. Your courage has earned you a well deserved sleep."

She felt herself lifted, and moved several times, before being placed on a soft bed of velvet. She could barely smell the scent of a thousand candles around her, and could barely hear the sounds of weeping and voices softly saying goodbye. She felt the soft bed she was laying on lifted, and placed with what felt like a moist and damp cave. And before the darkness and silence overtook her, she heard a stone door slipped in front of the opening. 

And so, at long last, the mare who had been on so many adventures, and had seen so many places and done so many incredible things, finally found the quiet rest that she had so richly deserved.