Sigil of Souls, Stream of Memories

by Piccolo Sky

Nightwatch: The Bastion of the Fields

Author's Note:

Remember that gore tag I put on this story? I'm going to make use of it this chapter...

"What in tarnation was that?"

Twilight turned back to her tensely. “I think it was a screamer.”

“A what?”

“A spring loaded mechanism designed to create air-pressure differentials when snapping loose trip wires-”

“I asked ‘what’, not ‘how’!”

Twilight sighed. “Since everyone has to fight Nighttouched in the dark, they can’t use flares or even lights on fortifications. Instead they set out these ‘screamer mines’ on the fields around them that emit sirens every time a Nighttouched sets one off to know where they’re coming from.”

By now, all of the civilians were up, especially when a second ‘screamer’ joined the first. Most were emerging from their various buildings. However, by now most of the soldiers had jumped to the walls and the voice of the lt. colonel sounded out over the entire square.

“Everyone remain calm! Stay indoors and let us handle this!” He turned to another part of the wall. “Gunnery spikes northwest and north, train your barrels on those sirens! Do not fire until I give the order!”

The sounds of hand cranks moving to reposition the large cannons began to clatter and clank while the soldiers on the wall lined up and got their rifles at the ready. Yet while they were still taking aim, another siren rang out. Another quickly followed, and so did another after that. Soon they were beginning to sound out over each other and grow into a din of unintelligible noise.

And as they did, a slight tremor rippled over the ground and up the palisades.

“I…could be wrong, but…those alarms sound like they’re getting closer quickly…” Twilight muttered nervously.

“Alarms nothin’. I used ta’ help out ma’ aunt on a ranch…” Applejack answered, looking at the ground as it quivered and beginning to sweat. “I know what causes that…”

Before Twilight could ask what, the order was given. “Open fire! Open fire!”

A chorus of gunshots erupted. The men on the wall immediately began to reload, but the deafening gunfire was quickly drowned out in the interim by the sounds of more sirens and increasingly strong tremors. As the men on the wall more frantically put in their next cartridges, both Twilight and Applejack heard the sounds of hooves slamming against the ground begin on grow distinct the other side of the palisade.

“Cannons! Hurry up and open fire!” The lt. colonel shouted; his voice getting louder as the soldiers quickly fired again. As another round of gunshots went off, the wooden wall right in front of Twilight and Applejack suddenly exploded.

Both women cried out and pulled back as a form with pale yellow eyes smashed a hole through the palisade. In the light of the flashing gunpowder, they were just able to make out the head of what Applejack assumed had once been a cow. It was larger and distorted now, taking on almost pig-like features as the horns grew broader and more curled. With the wall weakened from the parasprites, its charge had enabled it to smash its head right through the logs. And now that it was there, it gave one heavy grunt before beginning to twist around madly, trying to push itself the rest of the way in.

Applejack was immobilized in shock for just a moment. Yet as the Nighttouched bull began to force its way forward and splinter off more rotted wood, in a snap she hefted her hammer and acted on impulse. With a fierce cry, she drove it forward and brought the head down right on top of the bull’s skull. While it was tougher than it would have been normally, her strike hit true and bludgeoned it. It gave out a pained snort, but she quickly struck two more times, pulling back blood and scalp with the final strike. It went limp forever soon after.

Breathing a little hard, she hesitated a moment before quickly pulling back, yanking up her boot, planting it on the remains of the bull’s head, and, using her power as well as leverage, started pushing it back out the way it came. She only shoved it about three inches when loud noises struck the rest of the wall about her: the result of other Nighttouched slamming their heads into it as well. More quickly followed, and splinters and spurts of rotted wood began to erupt all over it. The body of the bull was shoved back forward into the opening by something striking it from behind, bulging the palisade even more and forcing Applejack to stagger back momentarily. As she quickly stumbled and regained her footing, she readied herself to shove back.

Before she could, a pale blue glow briefly illuminated the smashed bull’s head out of nowhere. She froze in her spot and gaped soon after as ice crystals followed it; forming out of midair around the head and quickly thickening and expanding. In moments, an amount of solid ice had sealed the hole using the dead bull’s head as a stopper.

She couldn’t believe her eyes, but the wintry chill she felt coming off of it was all too real. She nearly reached out to touch it in disbelief, before she started to think of who could be the source. Only knowing one person, she turned around. Twilight was still standing there--one hand holding flat while the other finished a gesture. The light about her hands was the same color as the pale blue glow.

Applejack stared dumbfounded as she lowered her hands again, while Twilight, on her part, looked nervous at being “caught in the act”.

“Ya’ got any other tricks ya’ didn’t tell me about?”

Twilight didn’t have a chance to answer. She yelped instead as cracking went out all over the palisade. Applejack swung back around and saw four new holes had just been punched into the wall, along with the heads of four new Nighttouched. One of them had shoved forward enough to actually get its shoulders through as well, and it was furiously snorting and snarling as it tried to wriggle the rest of the way in.

“Ferget ‘bout that… Any way ya’ can do that trick again and…uh…faster and bigger?”

Twiilght winced and was silent for a moment. She glanced about herself once, looking nervous, before she finally slumped and sighed. “I guess I really don’t have a choice. Just…please try to not make a big scene out of this any more than I already will…”

She turned back to her. “What are ya’-”

“Member of my house, I command you to come to me! Master of Sorcery—Starswirl the Bearded!”

Now Applejack almost felt her eyes roll out of her head as Twilight erupted into such a lavender glow that she could make out all of her details even in the dark. The soldiers on the wall, who by now had not only fired a third time but discharged their cannons once, for all the good it would do to enemies already at the palisade, as well as every soldier and civilian who was still on the ground likewise turned and gaped as light streamed over her head and briefly formed the image of what looked like an old wizard before breaking over her. Moments later, the wind picked up and Applejack staggered back as she saw Twilight’s clothing morph into a wide-brimmed hat and cloak as her eyes began to shine.

As soon as it was done, she quickly stepped forward, bent down, and snatched up one of the loose rotted timbers the Nighttouched had knocked out. The aura spread over it once it was in her hand, turning it into, for lack of a better phrase, an elaborate and well-crafted wand. She quickly performed a different gesture, this time drawing a glowing icy blue symbol on the air. In response, everyone around the wall could feel the cool breeze as massive ice crystals erupted along the breaches: freezing the bulls in place within the very holes they had punched into the palisade.

She lowered her wand once it was done and looked around her. Both the guns and the cannons had gone silent. The hoard of Nighttouched were practically forgotten as all eyes were now on Twilight. Although almost all of her features were hidden, she still lowered her head and let her wide-brimmed hat cover her face all together. From her angle, however, Applejack could see not only a high amount of embarrassment but also fear.

She gaped as much as any of them, but in the end she turned and looked back to the wall; now mixed with ice. The Nighttouched that were trapped weren’t dead but wriggling even in their half-frozen state. More impacts continued to strike it. Some hit the solid parts but others were breaking more pieces loose.

Finally, she clenched her jaw and looked up and around. “What the Hell is the matter with y’all? We got a hollowed-out wall ta’ defend! Stop gawkin’ an’ get back ta’ fightin’ them monsters ‘fore they break in!”

There was nothing but silence for a moment as only half of the people seemed to even hear her, but fortunately one person in particular responded.

“Get the cannons reloaded and keep firing!” The lt. colonel shouted. “Palisade company, clear the breached area and look out for more weaknesses while returning fire! Square company, mount up and get ready to shoot anything that starts to break in!”

That was enough to shake the rest of the soldiers out of it, even if some were reluctant. They returned to their defenses. As for Twilight, she looked up soon after. Considering how her eyes almost looked like a pair of candles in the darkness given her current attire, it was a bit unnerving to have her look at her, but Applejack bore through it.

“Thank-”

“Save yer thanks ‘til we get through tonight alive. If ya’ got any more of that magic or whatever in ya’, keep usin’ it!”

Even as she said that, the wall began to buckle in any places that weren’t already broken. Snapping back to it, Twilight winced a moment before she quickly made more gestures to generate additional ice crystals. Even then, the Nighttouched already frozen in the wall continued to fight madly to try and break free. It wasn’t long before they were breaking through the ice around them and starting to wiggle loose.

Applejack wouldn’t let them. Quickly, she dashed to the nearest one and swung her hammer down with another fatal strike. She did the same to another nearby. She was working on the third when the guns went off on the wall again, followed by a pair of cannon shells. As soon as it died, she heard another yell.

“Cousin Applejack!”

She wheeled around, just in time to see a team from the square company with rifles at the ready begin marching toward the wall breaches Twilight was struggling to seal. They were standing a bit off, however, in light of seeing, for lack of a better word, a wizard casting spells. However, Applejack's focus wasn’t on that but rather the outline of Braeburn and several Apple family members running up behind as well.

They held off on seeing Twilight as well, but Applejack quickly dashed past her and up to them. “Braeburn! What in the Hell are ya’ and the kinfolk doin’ out here? There’s Nighttouched cattle out here! Get the family and the rest ta’ a building with an upper floor!”

“Coz, they’re breakin’ in on the wall over yonder!”

Applejack froze before turning her head to where she saw Braeburn’s shadow gesturing. Unfortunately, that part of the wall was shrouded in darkness. Over the noise of the mounting battle it was impossible to see or hear anything. However, a moment later a flash of gunpowder ignited in that direction. For a brief moment, she caught the outline of Apple Strudel’s signature hat firing his rifle, and with it the monstrous head of a Nighttouched breaking through the palisade.

She swore and wheeled to the incoming soldiers. “Durn it, get over there!”

The company was a bit surprised to hear the civilian giving them an order like that, but they didn’t stall long. They caught a glimpse of the same monster, and half of them broke off and quickly rushed over. They were obviously used to this kind of fighting, because in less than five seconds they were lined up, taking aim, and opening fire. Rifle bullets tore into the Nighttouched’s head. The rest of them nearly turned to the ones still poking through Twilight’s wall.

“One’s breaking through over on the west side!” a voice screamed in between cannon shots.

At once, the remaining company members and who seemed to be their lead officer hesitated. She stopped and looked about, and saw the rest of the corps stationed in the square were already splitting up to handle other wall breaches. That left them. She clenched her jaw, but finally sighed and looked back uncertainly to Applejack and Twilight; especially the latter.

“Can you two…handle this spot?”

Twilight was too busy casting spells to do much more than stammer, but Applejack tipped her hat. “Got ya’ covered. I can wrangle a couple bulls.”

The soldier didn’t look too convinced, but at this point the attack was growing so severe that even the veterans were starting to break and she didn’t push it. Quickly, she motioned the others to run to the west side and handle the breach.

Applejack winced as the cannons boomed again, then wheeled back to the wall and bludgeoned a fourth one. “Ya’ holdin’ up?”

“Yeah!” she shouted back as she finished her final casting. As one last ice crystal grew, she wiped her head. “I can’t do this forever, but I think this end is good…”

“Great! I’ll finish up here! You go and start pluggin’ up-”

She suddenly cut herself off.

“Now what in Sam hill…?”

Being the closest to the wall, Applejack heard it first, but it wasn’t long before Twilight as well as any others nearby began to pick up a new noise. Amid the gunpowder and struggling of beasts and men alike, there was a scratching, crunching sound coming from the wall. Much like the sound of the stampeding hooves had, it rapidly began to grow louder, until Applejack realized it was coming from within the wall and right next to her. Quickly, she moved back and brandished her bloody claw hammer; facing the wood and waiting for what came through next.

A moment later, in the faint flashes of gunfire going off around inside the wall, she saw the wood in front of her seem to erode. It looked like foam being rinsed away by water as the beam in front of her disintegrated before her eyes. A hole emerged beyond it, and from it came the sounds of a multitude of cheeping noises followed by the rustles of insect wings. Soon after that they pushed their way in.

Applejack couldn’t make them out clearly, but she could see their tiny, beady, glowing eyes as a dozen of them pushed their way in, before a dozen pushed those out of the way to move in, and another two dozen pushed those aside. Not only that, but the little monsters were working their way into the wall like termites from Hell. They were eating it away right before her eyes.

“Oh no…” Twilight moaned.

The wall erupted in another spot soon after, followed by three more after that. Hundreds were pouring in now, quickly growing to thousands. Applejack looked about in shock and disgust. “What the…? What the hell are they?!”

“Those are parasprites! There’s a whole swarm of them now and they’re starving! They’re going to eat the wall away right in front of us!”

Applejack was left immobilized a moment, staring at the sickening site of them pouring all over the palisade devouring as they went. Pieces of it were beginning to fall off from their voracious appetites, threatening to make the whole thing come apart. Finally, gritting her teeth, she stepped toward one that had fallen off and was scurrying on the ground.

“Here’s how we deal with varmits like this back home…” she snorted before stomping her boot down on it with a loud crunch.

“That won’t work!” Twilight shot back.

“Huh?”

As she said this, she pulled her boot back, further disgusted on seeing bits of material from the crushed bug pull back and off with it. It almost seemed to rise from the dirt when she did. However, no sooner had she stepped down again when she realized it wasn’t her boot. The pieces were rising. Specifically, the two crushed halves of the creature swelled and protruded off the ground right before her eyes, before expanding their severed halves outward to reform the other half of their bodies along with wings. Moments later, both new parasprites fluttered their new wings once before flying up and to the wall to rejoin the hoard of now-thousands.

Applejack’s jaw hung loose. “How in the…?”

“You can’t kill parasprites like that! Any time you do, two more grow out from ones you kill!”

“Well that’s just fantastic!” she yelled in exasperation. “Whatda we do? Once they eat this wall we’ll get ripped ta’ bits by those cattle!”

Twilight thought a moment before holding up her hands again. “Get back!”

Applejack quickly complied. Moments later, Twilight performed a new gesture with a new word at the end of it, before she made one of her palms flat and put her impromptu wand on top of it at a right angle. A sigil as bright as fresh fire erupted in it, illuminating both of them, before, to the farmer’s surprise, a jet of flame erupted from her hands like she was a living incinerator. She quickly moved up to the wall and laid into the parasprites.

The insect swarm screeched in agony as hungry flames rolled over them, lighting them up in a mere flash. Many of them scattered and tried to fly, but she swept the fire over them and engulfed them before they got far. Their wings were dissolved in moments and their flaming bodies left to fall to the ground and writhe in misery. Soon they stopped moving forever as they were fully consumed. She continued to sweep the flaming jet over them all, hitting each and every place they tried to emerge. Soon the majority were on fire, and the few that weren’t enflamed quickly retreated to save themselves.

She cut off the spell soon after, panting harder now as she stepped back. Thousands of flaming insect carcasses were left in its wake.

In spite of her unusual power, Applejack couldn’t help but whistle at Twilight. “Whoo-hoo! Ya’ sure licked ‘em good! Why in the world didn’t ya’ start with that?”

Twilight’s face sank as she sighed hopelessly. “Because I probably just doomed us all…”

Applejack blinked. “Say what?”

At that moment, the wall they were guarding was slammed with such force that a massive breach was instantly punched through it. Three Nighttouched bulls burst forth through the hole with a dozen more pushing them from behind. Applejack gasped as the monstrous animals immediately bore down on them; only realizing at that moment that Twilight, in saving them from the parasprites, had created the brightest light for miles. Every last Nighttouched was now attracted by the sight of the flames through the hole in the wall to attack that one spot.

Quickly, Twilight brandished her wand and cast another spell so fast and intently that she actually cried out in a bit of pain from the effort, but the fragments the parasprites had knocked loose immediately were enveloped in a purple aura along with the broken shards of the wall before sweeping back and toward the very breach that had just been made. Two of the monstrous bulls were caught up in it and pushed back out before the debris covered that part of the wall and held; maintaining its purple light.

One of them, however, managed to dash forward enough to get free before it could be swept out. As Twilight struggled to hold on, it charged right at her, lowering its horns to gore her…

It didn’t get the chance. Realizing Twilight was struggling to hold the barrier, Applejack leapt into action. Charging as fast as she could, she crossed in front of the bull in a mad move even for her and seized it by the horns, yanking it to one side as she pushed back. It was enough to deflect the bull away from going straight into Twilight, but it instantly snapped its head up and tugged Applejack into the air with it. Her arms were wrenched so violently she thought they would dislocate, and her body was freely flung into the air as it kept charging.

In spite of the vertigo and pain, Applejack grit her teeth through it and twisted in midair, such that she ended up landing on the back of the rampaging Nighttouched instead. Instantly, she was in for the worst rodeo of her life as it furiously tried to buck her off; more violently than she had ever been flung before in her life. Even holding onto the horns, of which she only had a good grip on one, was pain for her as she was jostled about. Somehow, through the chaos and attempt to rattle her loose, she kept her other hand on her hammer and brought a blow down on the head of the thing.

Now that she was being bucked around, it was too much for her to land a solid hit. She ended up giving glancing strikes instead until, by sheer luck, she nailed it around the eye socket. Breaking it was enough to make the monster pause, and she quickly buried her hammer head in its skull. That made it only go madder a moment, but she followed up with three more strikes to get it to stop, and one more after to finally get it to fall. She drove it in two more times for good measure before being satisfied it was dead.

She got off the bull as quickly as she could after that, but not as quickly as she liked. Her body was sore and strained now. She had no time to rest, however. No sooner had she gotten up and turned around than she found a second steer had already broken through Twilight’s ramshackle barricade. This one went right for her. Before she could react, it was already slamming its head into her midsection.

Applejack had fought with charging Nighttouched before, but even she had a hard time remembering the last time she had been hit so hard by one. The only thought she managed before the agony overcame her was a hope that she hadn’t heard ribs snap as the wind was knocked totally out of her. Her hands went flaccid and the hammer slid out of her grip as the monstrous bull took her off of her feet and barreled straight for the nearest building. She was still managing her first gasp when it slammed her against it, sending more pain radiating through her back and head. It was only due to the fact her body ended up in between its horns that she didn’t get her chest compressed. As it was, the thing angrily swung to one side and flung her across the yard.

The woman tumbled several times before landing, and she considered it impressive even for her that, after doing so, she somehow managed to push herself on to all fours. Her entire chest felt like an open wound with the blows she had just took and any sane person would have said for her to stay down. Through the pain, however, she not only forced herself to become aware but saw she was missing her hammer. She tried to look for it, but before she could the Nighttouched tore out to try and trample her. It was all she could manage in her state to roll to one side and let it shoot by. Fortunately, the thing was so mad that it kept right on barreling in a straight line until it reached another building side, then smashed itself right in before it stopped.

As people taking refuge inside screamed in panic and the monster began to yank itself free, Applejack quickly fumbled around her waist for her length of rope with somewhat sluggish movements. After a moment she got it out and quickly unfurled it to the ready as she glanced about. By the time the Nighttouched fully yanked itself out and spun around to her, she managed to catch a glimpse of the fallen hammer, head down and shaft in the air, in the light of the flames.

Quickly, she whipped her rope up as the bull broke into another charge. She snapped the end out, seized the hammer by the shaft, and snapped up as it lowered its head right for her. Gritting her teeth, and wincing through the pain to her back, she snapped it around like a ball on a string. The hammer sailed through the air and embedded itself, claw first, in the side of the bull’s neck. Still wincing, she stepped to one side as the monster charged past, letting it just tear her shirt with one horn, and she quickly pulled tight on the end of the line.

A wet squelch was heard soon after as the claw tore right through the side of its neck, opening a gaping, and mortal wound. As it cried out and stumbled, going into its death throes, Applejack yanked the rope back to snap the hammer up to her, then snatched it by the shaft out of the air.

No sooner had she regained her footing and looked back to the wall when another part of it began to pry loose. She glanced back at Twilight, but she was now audibly grunting and visibly sweating as she struggled to hold the barrier together. She couldn’t spare any more power. In moments, another monster began to push through. Panting herself now, Applejack wiped her brow before she half-ran, half-stumbled forward. As the steer put its head and shoulders out and tried to wriggle the rest of itself through the new opening, she swung her hammer around to try and stop it before it could.

The hammer connected, but she was too tired and too sore. It did more to enrage it than anything, and a moment later it violently snapped its head around at her. This time, the tip of the horns slashed a gash across her arm before the rest smacked her away and back to the ground. Grunting angrily, the Nighttouched began to splinter the wooden palisade and yank itself forward more fiercely.

As for Applejack, she looked in visible pain on slamming into the ground, but letting her own ferocity and temper dictate her actions, she glared at the Nighttouched, grit her teeth, and shot back to her feet. As its front hooves came through, she surged at it again, seized it by one horn, and then drove the hammer down on the back of its skull. This time, it sank in enough to blind it, and instantly it threw a fit as it pulled itself the rest of the way through from nothing but agonized rage. Applejack felt the muscles in her arm nearly tear as she was yanked after it before her body was dragged alongside of the monster, dangling by her grip on one horn.

Crying out herself now from the increased trauma, she forced her other arm up and around and drove her hammer into the side of its knee. With a wet crunch, it bent inward and the monster faltered and collapsed to one side. She barely yanked herself free of the falling monster before its bulk slammed down into the dirt, but as she landed on her own knees at its side she put both hands on the hammer shaft, raised it high, and drove down a more powerful blow. This time it hit true.

Panting, mottled with cattle blood as well as some of her own, dirty, and exhausted, she wiped at her nose. She wasn’t used to trying to take on so many big Nighttouched at once and alone. She looked up and around, but her heart sank at the sight. Twilight’s wall was quickly coming apart. At least three more were breaking in at the moment and the entire barrier looked moments from collapse. Applejack doubted she could take out even one more. No one could help them, for they were busting in other walls all around the fort. One was already inside and soldiers were furiously shooting at it to try and kill it before it trampled half a dozen people, while those on the wall were desperately struggling to stem the tide.

Twilight glanced to her, seeing her pitiful state, but other than look afraid and nervous could do nothing. Her own strength was giving out. The farmer realized it was hopeless.

Nevertheless, she tightened her face in a defiant look. Gritting her teeth, she clenched her hammer more tightly as she started to push up from the ground again…

Something happened when she did. No sooner had she re-solidified her grip on the hammer when a ripple of light emitted from it. Stopping in mid-rise, Applejack glanced at it just in time to see a faint light start at the tip of her hammer and run down it, like a sunbeam shimmering on water.

What would have truly surprised her, however, was what she never saw. At that moment, her own eyes did the same thing in synchrony.

“Huh…?”

“No way…”

Applejack looked up, hearing Twilight speak again. In spite of her struggling to hold the wall together, she had noticed the same thing the farmer had seen. And while it had surprised Applejack enough, she looked even more so. In spite of the fact she seemed to have turned into an actual magic-using wizard, she was the one gaping now at Applejack and the hammer.

“It can’t be… Can it? I mean…I guess it was possible, but…”

“What’re ya’ talkin’ about?”

At that moment, the Nighttouched charged into the wall again, knocking loose several timbers that Twilight was holding. Two more joined the three already shoving through to start pushing past it. Twilight and Applejack both looked to the wall and realized it had less than a minute. The former stared at it a moment, biting her lip and thinking, before she finally spun back to Applejack.

“Alright, listen to me!”

She spun to her. “Huh? What-”

“There’s no time to argue! I have no idea if this is going to work, but you have to just do it and not ask any questions!”

“What in tarn-”

“I said no questions! Just do it! And believe in what I tell you to say!”

The farmer was overwhelmed. “What’s goin’ on now? Ya’ tell me ta’-”

“Just do as I say!” she practically screamed. It was so fierce, so insistent, and so desperate that the stubborn woman was actually silenced. “Hold that hammer in the air right now!”

Applejack stared back in puzzlement a moment, but considering the fact Twilight had apparently known more than a few things she didn’t, and made that abundantly clear over the past couple days, she decided to go with whatever was going on. Frowning a little, she held it over her head. “Like this?”

“Now say this exactly, and with force and belief! ‘Valiant spirit, my household opens its doors to you!’”

She lowered the hammer and gawked at her. “The Hell? ‘Household’? ‘Doors’? ‘Spirit’? What’s-”

“Do it!”

Sighing, Applejack half-heartedly held the hammer in the air. “Valiant, uh…spirit…my, um, homestead opens up its doors to ya’…”

The wall surged again. The heads of the Nighttouched pushed through and zeroed in on the two of them, snorting and fuming. “Applejack, I can’t hold this much longer…”

She groaned once, looking a bit stubborn, but held the hammer high again. Taking a deep breath, she spoke more boldly. “Valiant spirit, my household opens its doors to you!”

Applejack remained frowning for only a half a second longer before gaping in shock all over again, for at that moment the entire hammer lit up with the same shimmer that it had before. She nearly dropped it in alarm, but what happened next froze her in her spot.

A voice, a familiar one, sounded forth from the hammer over her.

“I, Bright Macintosh, Bastion of the Fields, pledge myself to the House of Applejack.”

The woman nearly paled. As weakened as she was, her knees almost felt like water. It wasn’t just the voice, but the actual feeling coming from the hammer now. Emanating from it like a warm fire and washing over and down her arm. Almost breathless, she whispered one word.

“…Pa?”

“Finish the incantation!” Twilight shouted back to her. “‘The binding is done; may our souls be as one!’”

Applejack couldn’t answer. She was too stunned. She blinked in only half-recognition.

One of the bulls, with a mighty grunt, finally broke through and, once in the square, instantly went into a charge. The wall, weakened as it was, quickly allowed two more to follow behind it.

“Applejack!”

She startled once, then found herself only half-consciously saying it.

“The binding is done; may our souls be as one.”

At once, the same light that radiated from the hammer erupted from not only Applejack’s eyes but from her entire body. Stunned and still trying to wrap her brain around what had just happened, she could do little but gaze in wide-eyed marvel as, just as it had with Twilight, an aura came out from around her and began to shoot off streaks of light. The only difference was hers was a burning orange as opposed to lavender.

And just as hers had done, the lights emanating from Applejack streaked over her head and traced out a pattern that looked like a man. This time, it wasn’t an old man with a long beard, but a much younger man, long haired, roughed by a country living and a rural life style, and wearing the very same hat that was on Applejack’s head. Recognition painted Applejack’s features, but she had little time to respond before it burst and flowed over her.

The effect was instantaneous. On touching her, a wind whipped up around her which carried her hat off of her head before stripping off the top and turning the rest into a simple length of cloth. Her hair was swept up and tied back by it, before it lashed around like a headband to keep it that way. The rest of her simple clothing thickened and hardened while tinting into new colors, until instead of farming attire it had morphed into a breastplate with pauldrons and faulds. The rest became lighter yet rough and durable cloth, save for a pair of vambraces leading to rough, boiled leather fingerless gloves. Her boots became heavier and thicker, while expanding outward in grieves to cover her shins. All turned the same reddish color: the color of the old knights of Appleloosa.

The light died down, and Applejack was left standing there as still as a mannequin. It took her a moment to blink before she recovered enough to look over herself. Fortunately, her change had caused its share of distractions. Not only did many onlookers turn to her in surprise, but the same Nighttouched that were charging were momentarily distracted on seeing another new light next to the one that Twilight had made. The farmer herself held up her hands and turned them over, seeing herself now armored. She reached up for her head, and almost winced on feeling her hat was now changed into a headband of sorts. However, from the way she moved and now held herself, she realized something else that was not so readily apparent. She wasn’t panting anymore, and she wasn’t nearly as sore now.

The Nighttouched recovered, and giving out a snort they began to move again. However, they had halted once now, and it took them a moment to get going. Their hooves stamping the ground caused Applejack to look up to them again. Now far more composed and ready, she instinctively held up her hand bearing her hammer, only to give another start. Gone was the claw hammer from before. Now she was wielding a heavy war hammer with a curved spike on one end of the head, and weighing a good twenty pounds. Yet in spite of the beating she had taken, she noticed she was hefting it easily in one hand.

Not looking the gift horse in the mouth, her eyes went up to the approaching Nighttouched. Her brow creased and she frowned before she took off for it. Despite the armor and heavier boots, she was on it just as fast as when she started. Shifting the new hammer so that the handle was now in both hands, she swung it behind her and brought it around, swinging it to meet its head as it came.

Applejack always knew she was stronger than most of her family, but even she nearly dropped her weapon in alarm as the hammer connected and nearly snapped the Nighttouched’s head clean off of its body. The sheer power was enough to flip the monster to one side and spread it out on the ground.

“Holy…!”

In spite of the blow, the other Nighttouched were undeterred and kept charging. Their attack caused Applejack to snap out of it, and as another came in she quickly hefted the hammer and instinctively swung it around to smash into it headfirst. She gasped again on seeing how easily she pulverized its skull. The third quickly moved in at her side, but this time she got enough of her bearings to try something different. Swiveling the bloody hammer around, she produced the spike first, and then swung around and buried it into the side of the mad bull. Rather than keep tearing into it, she used it as an anchor and dug her feet in. The Nighttouched before was strong enough to snap her around like a toy, but this time her feet planted into the ground and held, and she proceeded to guide the charging monster around in a semicircle before letting it go and to charge right back into its coming companions. The force was strong enough to make them collide with a bone-crunching noise, and stop the flow of the incoming monsters for a few brief seconds.

At this, her surprise finally faded. Instead, Applejack began to grin. “Now that’s more like it!” Hefting the hammer, and without the slightest fear, she charged right at the discombobulated herd.

Seemingly tirelessly and twice as strong as before, Applejack laid into them. She shifted her hammer to one hand and swung upward at the next one to charge at her, shattering its jaw and knocking its head skyward to snap its neck in the same strike. She shifted her grip to both hands to strike down two more on either side as she barreled in. A fourth managed to charge into her, but she saw it coming, planted her feet, crossed her arms, and, to her own surprise yet pleasure, actually managed to stop the monster in its tracks and fling it to one side. Once on the ground, another blow from her hammer finished it. At one point, she actually decked one of the monstrous cattle in the face with nothing but her newly-gloved fist, and she still found herself knocking out one of its teeth. And the more she fought, and the more she saw how easily she was taking them apart, the more enthused and furious she became.

The battle quickly shifted in the fort’s favor. With the fires still burning, most of the attacking cattle tried to pour in through the breach on Twilight and Applejack’s side. Applejack dealt with most of them, and the few that managed to attack her did little other than stun her temporarily before getting a fatal blow. When they swelled to become too much for her, Twilight, no longer needing to hold the wall together, shifted to use new spells. Bolts of lightning snaked from the heavens and struck them down one after the other. The light attracted more Nighttouched but, for once, that seemed to be an asset rather than a hindrance as they funneled through the bottleneck to Applejack’s waiting hammer.

Eventually she did begin to huff and tire, and as bulls kept charging her fatigue and pain started to mount up, but by then the rest of the defenders had gotten a hold on their own defenses. Many of the holes were timbered up and soldiers freed themselves to double-up on other breaches, until at last the square was secure save for the major break. The cannons continued to thunder along with the rifles of the wall defenders, and those in the square fell in behind Twilight and began to fire at the remaining Nighttouched trying to pour inside. None could pass between them and the two defenders.

At last, the herd thinned out. The cannons ceased and the wall protectors fired a few more shots before quitting. A mound of dead cattle, reverted back into their original forms following their death, now formed a new ghastly barricade. Only three remaining beasts had managed to get inside, and a new volley of gunfire tore one apart. The remaining two charged Applejack together.

By now, she was panting and sweaty, and had a few more bruises and cuts, but from the eager look on her face it was clear she was still feeling great. She charged toward the closer of the two to meet it, bracing the shaft of her hammer in front of her and driving it right into its mouth. She kept pushing and used that to wrangle it, forcing it backward. She kept her eye on the other as it came, and just as it moved in to strike she snapped her arms one way to cause the right horn of the monster she was grappling with to jut out. She gave a grunt, planted her feet, and sharply twisted her body to shove the head of the monster to one side and drive her attacker’s horn right into the neck of its partner. It pierced in several inches, causing it to spasm and gurgle before it fell to the ground flopping.

Still pushing, Applejack used its falling leverage and kept twisting to snap her attacker’s horn clean off its head before flinging it to the ground on top of the one it pierced. It struggled to get up again, but she gave one last yell as she yanked her war hammer back and swung it down one final time. With one last sickening thud, audible over the now quiet cannons and rifles, it fell forever.

Aside from the sounds of heavy breathing, a few flame crackles from dying embers, and the bits of wall settling, the fort was now silent. Applejack herself slumped a bit, using the shaft of her hammer to support herself, and wiped her brow again with a tired whistle. She looked up and behind her to Twilight, and saw the woman looked ready to fall over. She was barely holding onto her footing and had already dropped her wand so she could plant her hands on her legs to steady herself.

After a moment of composing herself, Applejack looked up and around. Every last person in the entire fort had now emerged, and they were all staring at the two of them. Some looked fearful. Others looked suspicious. All looked astonished. It was growing dark again, but she couldn’t make out a single set of eyes that blinked. The entire fort was silent.

Adrenaline fading, Applejack’s look began to grow uncomfortable, especially on realizing she had transformed just as Twilight had, and that she had no idea how or what exactly she had done to trigger it. Twilight herself looked more uneasy than ever; like she wanted to crawl into a hole somewhere and hide.

She nervously exhaled. “I…guess they’re all going to want a more detailed explanation…”

Applejack let out a half-snort. “What d’ya’ mean they?”