Applejack Gets Lost

by MagicS

Undying Greed XI

King Avarice’s skull swung to stare down Daylight Gleam. “Give me your magic!”

She felt the same tug on her horn but this time she was prepared for it, she knew what he was doing and could fight back against it. King Avarice had unusually powerful magic for a unicorn but he was still no god, Daylight Gleam knew she had the skill and strength to maybe not completely overcome but at least partially resist his spell.

As her horn shimmered between her natural light blue glow and the black of King Avarice’s the king noticeably became impatient. Despite his lack of facial features Applejack could see the way he splayed his hooves and was pulling back harder with his horn, he was surprised that Daylight Gleam was able to fight back against him.

“All the magic in the world belongs to me! Give me your magic!” King Avarice yelled at her.

“It’s mine! You can’t have it!” Daylight yelled back at him.

Applejack rushed forward, not allowing this to go on any longer, she wanted Daylight to not have to lose any of her magic. But as she ran at him from the side again, looking to temporarily disable him with Hoof of the Earth, the bright light in his eye socket swiveled towards her. Maybe he remembered, consciously or subconsciously, what Applejack did to him. A sparkling silver wall popped up right in front of Applejack and she smacked face first into it.

“Oof!” Applejack grunted as she bounced off it and fell onto her back. “That smarts.”

Still her action worked to a degree, the focus and extra bit of magic King Avarice had to put into blocking her allowed Daylight to snap his spell off of her horn, the black glow disappearing.

King Avarice’s attention fully turned back to Daylight Gleam. “You cannot disobey!” His horn glowed bright silver-

And a blue ball of magic smacked into his skull, blowing it to pieces and making his crown fly off and knock over the pedestal.

“Hey, good shot.” Applejack said to Daylight as she got up, rubbing her pained nose.

Daylight’s legs were a little wobbly and sweat dripped down from her horn. She had clearly over-exerted herself fighting back against King Avarice’s drain and then firing that magical blast but she still managed to smile at Applejack.

She then turned to Star Blaze and Sugar Spirit. “Okay you two, I want to see you out of here, you’re not fighters. Applejack and I will deal with this.”

“But, but...” Sugar Spirit started. She was scared but she didn’t want to leave her close friend.

“We’re not leaving you. We’ll fight too. Or something.” Star Blaze said, a look of dismay etched on his face.

Daylight and Applejack smiled. “Suit yourselves.” Daylight said. “But stay back and try to stay hidden, I don’t want him draining your magic.”

“Right.” Both of the other unicorns said at once.

It was just in time too as the bones of King Avarice started to rumble and glow, his skull piecing itself back together from even the tiniest little specks of bone dust. Star Blaze and Sugar Spirit both quickly backed away, hiding behind the door frame while Applejack and Daylight Gleam stood by each other, ready to start the fight again.

“So do we have an actual plan to stop him?” Daylight whispered to Applejack.

“You’ll be the first to know when I think of one.” Applejack replied back.

“Good to hear.”

King Avarice had fully revived but instead of attacking them instantly he looked around the ground for something. Eyes like searchlights trying to find his target.

“Crown. Where is my crown?” King Avarice growled out while Applejack and Daylight watched on with slight amusement.

Finally the crazy king turned around and spotted his crown lying by the knocked over pedestal.

“My crown!” King Avarice bellowed and walked over to it, using his magic to grab it and place it back on his head. And then he stopped, noticing the bits and pieces of the magical green crystal that formerly kept up the barrier around the city. “My crystal! My treasure!” His yell was thunderous as he swung around, an intense aura of anger radiating off him as he looked at Applejack and Daylight, crackling electricity coming from his horn. “YOU DESTROYED MY TREASURE!”

Applejack and Daylight didn’t have the time to brace themselves as a powerful shockwave from the king knocked them back, this one carrying them all the way outside the throne room and into the dark hallway.

“Guards!” King Avarice yelled, creating several glowing portals around his enemies.

Portals which nothing came out of.

“Guards!” King Avarice yelled again, even louder. “Guards! Guards! Guards!” Repeatedly he continued to yell for his guards.

“Do you think he forgot that his guards betrayed him or did he not even really get what was going on in the first place?” Daylight asked Applejack as she stood up, wiping dirt off of herself.

“I dunno.” Applejack replied, cracking her neck while she got up. “But this is a good opportunity to get some distance, you need to rest up for a second. Take Star Blaze and Sugar Spirit and go back to that red room with all the tunnels leading from it, I’m gonna draw King Avarice down one of the side tunnels here.”

Daylight furrowed her brow and narrowed her eyes at Applejack. “You better not be sacrificing yourself and ditching us.”

“I aint.” Applejack honestly answered. “I just want the three of you in perfect shape, you’re all a lot more tired than I am from running through here. Besides I can find my way around the tunnels and back to you with my vibrations, trust me.”

Star Blaze and Sugar Spirit came running from their position behind the door to the two talking ponies. Upon spotting two fresh new unicorns King Avarice finally stopped calling for his guards.

“More magic! More power! Mine!” He yelled with a booming growl that seemed to shake the walls around them all. His horn sparkled with fierce energy and crackling bolts of silver lightning erupted from it, arcing towards the four ponies right outside his throne room.

“Whoa!” Applejack yelped as she jumped away from the lightning, the ground scorched and cracked right where she had been standing.

Daylight was barely able to put up a shield in time to deflect the lightning from her and the others. It bounced off the shield and hit the ceiling above them.

“Okay, that’s it. You three run to that room!” Applejack told the unicorns before running back towards King Avarice. “Hey king!” She yelled to get his attention. “I’m the one who destroyed your crystal and freed all your slaves! Come and catch me if you can!” She tipped her hat at him and ran down the right side tunnel next to the king’s throne room.

“My treasure! My slaves!” King Avarice yelled and ran on bone legs after her, conjuring up his silver jaws.

The other three unicorns watched this and shrugged. “Well, better do what she says.” Sugar Spirit said and started heading back to that other room. Daylight shakily walked with her. But Star Blaze got a grin on his face and headed into the throne room.

Daylight saw this and narrowed her eyes at him. “Star, we really don't have time for looting right now.”

“Look, this is the biggest hoard of treasure we’ll ever see, if I don’t at least take something from it I’ll never be able to forgive myself.” He quickly ran in to the nearest pile of coins and picked a sparkling golden coin off the top. “Ah, now I’m happy.” He tucked it behind his ear and ran back to his friends.

---

Applejack ran from King Avarice as his magical jaws snapped at her from behind. This side tunnel was dark and narrow but Applejack had no problem with that thanks to her Hoof of the Earth. She kept sending out scouting vibrations to see the tunnel around her as well as any other ones near her or any branches. Now she could run at full speed without worrying about running into a wall or getting lost.

Still had to worry about King Avarice though.

“My slaves cannot leave me! Everything in the world belongs to me forever!” His booming thunder of a voice echoed down the tunnel. Applejack was getting kind of tired of it.

“Watch me leave you right now!” Applejack yelled back and sent a tremor out behind her, shaking the floor of the tunnel enough to make him trip and fall to the ground in a jumbled mess of broken bones.

That’ll stall him for a second, now I gotta find my way back to the others.

A second later King Avarice teleported directly in front of her, magical silver jaws going right for her head.

Applejack ducked beneath them and jumped back as they came down and bit into the ground. The jaws disappeared and King Avarice’s horn started to crackle with lightning again. Not liking her chances of dodging that in this narrow tunnel, Applejack sent a tremor through the ground and into his legs, obliterating the both of them and causing King Avarice to yell and fall over again, the lightning from his horn shooting out wildly against the walls around him.

“I will have everything!” He rumbled as the bones quickly healed, even quicker than before, while he continued to randomly fire lightning from his horn.

“This aint going well.” Applejack muttered to herself as she ran away from him.

This time she used her tremors to scout out a side tunnel that branched away from the one she was inside. She could tell there were a few pathways that would take her back to the red room where the others should be. If she could just lose King Avarice for a second she could regroup with them.

A loud howl from behind her told her she needed to work a little harder at that.

A wolf made of silver lightning came running down the tunnel at Applejack, quickly catching up with her. She wasn’t sure if the thing would bite her or electrocute her but she didn’t really want to find out. Applejack pushed herself harder and came out into a larger room, the stone making it light and gray like the tunnels the guards had transported them through previously. She was closer to making it back to her friends.

Applejack turned around as the wolf leaped at her, but she was prepared for that. A single tremor blew apart part of the floor and sent a shower of rocks and dust into the lightning wolf, dispelling it.

But right out of that kicked up cloud of dust ran King Avarice, skeletal body smashing into Applejack.

The two rolled across the ground with King Avarice coming out on top when they stopped. His skull and the intense light from his eyes staring into Applejack.

“None can take my treasure!” He growled as Applejack felt another silver noose begin to tighten around her neck.

“Not this time!” Applejack grunted and shot a tremor through her whole body, and with King Avarice practically lying on top of her it spread throughout all of his bones as well.

The king shook and rumbled as his magic failed and his horn shattered, followed by the rest of his bones exploding. Applejack held a foreleg up to shield her eyes from any bone dust or pieces and quickly clambered back to her hooves. As she looked around at his scattered remains there wasn’t a single bone left whole, most had been blown to bits no larger than an apple core.

But that still didn’t stop him.

The same rumbling and ethereal glow as always came from his bones as King Avarice started to piece himself back together.

Applejack grimaced and stepped away. “Is there really no way to beat you?” She said, mostly to herself as King Avarice probably didn’t hear or would care to answer in the first place.

He was almost fully back together, Applejack wasn’t sure if she would have another chance to escape so she ran towards the way she knew would eventually take her back o the others, but that wasn’t all. Getting into the new tunnel Applejack turned back to the room, she watched as King Avarice rose up for a second before closing her eyes and focusing on the walls and stone around her. She heard King Avarice growl as he was certainly coming at her again, but Applejack didn’t move. Instead she sent out a powerful tremor that cracked and shook the entire area, causing chunks of the walls and ceiling to fall out as the room King Avarice was still in began to cave in. She heard him yell wildly and opened her eyes to see an avalanche of rock burying the room she had just walked out of, almost blocking the path to the tunnel she now stood in entirely.

That’s the best I can do for now. Applejack thought and turned away, running to her friends.

It took some twists and turns but she finally made it to a tunnel that went straight to the red room with the spiked door and the eight other tunnels leading away from it. Applejack could see the closed gate that blocked off this tunnel in the distance. Running a bit harder she skidded to a stop right in front of the gate, Daylight, Star Blaze and Sugar Spirit were standing in the middle of the chamber, heads snapping to her as soon as she approached.

“Hey y’all.” Applejack grinned.

“I’m glad you’re okay.” Daylight said as she ran up to the gate, the other two in tow. “Is it over?”

Applejack shook her head. “Sadly no.” She pressed a hoof against the gate and blew the lock to pieces, stepping through it into the red chamber. “I stalled him for a couple of minutes maybe but he’s gonna keep coming.”

“There has to be something we can do!” Sugar Spirit said.

Applejack began pacing through the center of the chamber, trying to come up with a plan.

“We could, you know, keep running away?” Star Blaze unhelpfully suggested.

Daylight and Applejack both rolled their eyes at him. Applejack turned to say something to him but stopped before she got any words out, her eyes fixed on the gold coin tucked behind his ear. Her eyes went wide and she looked down towards the pit with the crisscrossed bridges, then back down the direction to the throne room before finally settling again on Star Blaze’s newly acquired coin.

“What is it?” Star Blaze said as he backed away from Applejack, unnerved by her actions.

Slowly a smile formed on Applejack’s face and she looked at her three unicorn friends.

“I’ve got a plan.”

Comments

[Luna-my-favorite-pony]

I bet that the crown is magical and that’s what’s putting him back together

[redmar]

I think Applejack wants Avarice to follow that coin into the lava which should end him since restoring his body while in lava will just destroy it again.

[RoboRed]

He quickly ran in to the nearest pile of coins and picked a sparkling golden coin off the top. “Ah, now I’m happy.” He tucked it behind his ear and ran back to his friends.

If they make it out of there with that coin I'm gonna laugh if it turns out to be a worthless shiny.

[Eversong]

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