Applejack Through the Ages

by Paradise Oasis

Turning Point

Turning Point

"Kimono, Applejack, there you are!" Minty called out, running to her friends as they came up through the pipes. "We were so worried you two were goners!"

"Oh, you know us!" Kimono replied with a laugh. "A.J. and I would never take on more than we can handle!"

All of the ponies coming out of the clinic hugged the two returning mares, and AJ took a good look around the crowd. Most of them had recovered, thanks to Spike's cure, and it looks like Ponyville would soon recover from the gizmonk's atrocities. She was here, with her friends, in Ponyville. True, these were not the friends she remembered from an earlier time in her life, but they were still friends who loved and cared about her. And seeing this Rainbow Dash smiling and this Fluttershy snapping pictures, of this Twilight and this Pinkie Pie standing together, holding hooves... well, it made the old red mare happy to be the ponies they were, instead of being what somepony else expected them to be.

"Hey Applejack! Why you standing over there by yourself?" Rairity called out to her, as the other ponies crowded in to celebrate her and Kimono's safe return. "C'mon in, and join the party!"

With a small smile, the old earth pony trotted over to join the circle of her little Ponyville friends, reveling in their warmth and sheer joy in just being the ponies they were.

....

"Wow! Your oriental friend actually took down Princess Luna?!" Applejack's daughter asked in utter shock. "That's so incredible!"

"Well, apple blossom, them alicorns may look tough and have some really powerful magic, but that doesn't mean someone can't knock em' down a peg or two if they have the right skills and know-how."

"Luna really didn't deserve what the two of you did to her, though. Considering you kind of just hit a mare grieving over her sister with a rather nasty accusation like that." Spike grumbled, crossing his arms across his chest in an accusing manner. "The one good result of your barging in, was that she turned around, and started working hard to be a good ruler again."

"That she did, Spike. Luna severed diplomatic ties with the Gizmonk corporations, and even welcomed the ponies of Ponyville back into the kingdom with open hooves when the dome came down." A.J. sighed at the memory. "She even went out of her way to look for me afterward so we could talk things out, and she could apologize. I made sure that her guards were never able to find me, though."

"So what happened next, huh?" Baby Applejack asked excitedly. "Did you become a tailor in Tall Tale? Or a blacksmith in Baltimare?"

It was at that point, that both Spike and Applejack looked away from the little filly, closing their eyes at the painful memories the question brought into their minds. The little girl could only stare in confusion at the two adults for several minutes, before her mother finally looked back at her daughter, trying to keep the tears out of her eyes.

"What happened next, Apple Blossom.... what happened next was the darkest moment in Equestria's history." Applejack sputtered out, trying to keep her composure. "After I lived out my friends' natural lifespans in Ponyville, I moved back out into the much larger world of Equestria. I watched the lava demons attack and destroy the Crystal Empire, I saw the goblins and trolls and changelings level every city they came across, and saw ponies running for their lives from... from... from..."

The older mare buried her hooves in her face, and Baby Applejack knew at once what her mother was talking about. She had heard of these times not only in her school classes, but also in all the books she read and stories she had heard since the earliest days of her childhood. It was the event that changed pony history forever, and burned away the kingdom of Equestia in it's violent and ferocious flames.

"The Grogar wars...." Going over and putting her hoof on the orange earth pony, Baby Applejack rested her head against her weeping parent. "Oh mama, I'm so sorry, I never thought about how remembering that would affect.... look, I have enough information for my report, you really don't need to tell me anything else, honest!"

"Baby Applejack, please... you need to understand, those years were a horrible time to live through." Spike finally brought himself to say. "Grogar... well, if Tirac was the embodiment of evil, Grogar was the embodiment of hatred. He hated friendship, hated happiness and joy, hated everything you ponies spent all of your whole history building. Other villains wanted to conquer Equestria, and that animal... that sick, savage horned animal wanted to destroy everything." The little dragon clenched his claw in anger. "And he did, little A.J., he did destroy everything our generation had cared about."

"You and mom suffered a lot through those times, huh Spike?" Baby Applejack sighed, putting her hoof around her mother. "Like I said, it's okay, you guys don't have to tell me about what happened if it hurts so much!"

"...No, my little Apple Blossom, that won't do at all." AJ replied, finally pulling her face out of her hooves. "This story does finally need to be told, little one. i can't bottle up forever what I saw and heard back then. I need to tell you ... but not right now." The older mare took a deep breath. "Give me a little while to prepare myself, sugar cube, and I will tell you how Grogar the terrible destroyed all of Equestria."

Comments

[La Vallett1]

I feel scared now.

[keam]

...

I know what awaits...