Half Hour Horses: Legacy Prompts

by HoofAndQuill

LP69: It's Over [General, AU]

The Prompt:

Endgame

Nopony saw the who fired the shot that ended the war.

From somewhere in the magical artillery corps, a single shot somehow managed to penetrate the shields around King Sombra, and went straight through the great enemy.

The reaction was immediate. His cry broke through the din of battle, and the resulting explosion from his overcharged magical body tore across the battlefield. His soldiers all threw down their armor, nearly in unison, as his control over them faded away.

It was over.

---

The news seemed to be everywhere at once. Even in the mostly empty town of Ponyville, the streets rang with the news. Applejack first heard it as she was passing off what turned out to be the last shipment of canned apples.

Sombra was defeated! The war was over! Everything could go back to how it was before!

It almost didn't make sense to her. The war was over? She walked along the familiar, well-worn path back toward Sweet Apple Acres. The war was over. The army didn't need canned apples anymore, ponies just needed... what? Fresh food? Like Sweet Apple Acres had produced a few years ago? How could things just go back to the way they were?

The smell of the cannery hit her, as always, before she could even see the gate to her orchard. The soot in the air, the sound, now that she thought to listen, of the machinery inside her old family home.

No, things couldn't go back to the way they were. Applejack trudged her way along the pathway toward the cannery.

---

"What? You've got t' be kiddin' me, Mayor!" Applejack stamped a hoof on the floor of the train station. Ponyville had been filling up over the past week, as ponies returned home, and were assigned to Ponyville by the Princesses, and it seemed she could never find the Mayor anywhere but here, coordinating refugees. "You're askin' me an' my family to make three times as much food? For what? There ain't an army anymore, Mayor!"

Mayor Mare sighed, sounding every bit as worn-down and exhausted as she looked. "Applejack, we have hundreds of ponies coming back from the front, and many more that have no other place to live after Sombra destroyed their homes. I know it won't be easy, but you must find a way to do it! You'll have as many ponies to help as you need, I'm sure we'll have plenty of stallions looking for work." She glanced up as a train coming in again, and sighed. "Especially after what happened in Manehatten."

Applejack spoke again in protest, but the sound was entirely drowned out by the squeal of the train's brakes. She watched as ponies poured from the train's doorways, looking tired and haggard. She'd never seen such a mix of ponies. Some were obvious veterans, like the pegasus with the rainbow mane... and her prosthetic wing. Some were obviously not, like the purple-haired unicorn that Applejack struggled to even recognize as the fabulous and well-groomed filly that had run off to Manehatten years ago. But all of them looked exhausted and miserable, and suddenly her own problems felt a lot less important.

She looked to the mayor again. "Yeah. Alright, Mayor. We'll figure somethin' out. Might be some hard times comin' up, but we'll work through it, don't you fret."

The Mayor smiled at her, and then looked up at the approach of another pony. Applejack turned to see, and then froze in place.

It was her. Or it was darn close. Same striped mane, same horn, same purple coloration... no wings, though. How could this be possible? Sure, the mane was cut short, in a military style, and she had a recent scar over one eye, but it couldn't be anypony else.

"You must be Mayor Mare. Hi, I'm Twilight Sparkle, I've been assigned as coordinator for this group of refugees. This should be the last train for a while, so we'll have time to sort everypony out. Princess Celestia mentioned that you might have a place for me to stay?" The unicorn spoke in a friendly enough tone, though her slight hesitations here and there certainly made her seem... less comfortable than the last time Applejack had seen her.

Mayor Mare paused a moment. "Oh dear, I'm not certain that we do, I'm sure I can make room somewhere, just--"

"Shoot, don't worry, Mayor. We can make room at Sweet Apple Acres."

Applejack held out a hoof, and Twilight looked at it, hesitated just a moment, and then shook it politely.

Applejack smiled. "Come on now, Twilight was it? Lemme help you get all your work sorted here, an' we'll head right on over to your new home. Don't you worry, I know we'll be th' best of friends soon enough."

"Friends? Oh, well... " She paused, and then smiled. "Well, let's get the work done, first. Good to meet you, Applejack."