Under The Light of Dusk

by applejackofalltrades

Too Late

This was awful. Applejack couldn't stand to see her brother looking so enraged and bloodthirsty. Big Mac was such a gentle colt, and even when he got upset, he was always so reserved and calm. But whatever this Dusk Sparkle did to him completely flipped it on its nose.

"C'mon Big Mac," Applejack tried to reason with him as she took a few steps back. "You gotta remember. For Granny?" Big Mac stomped forward again menacingly, and Applejack took another step back, strategically placing herself behind a tree. "For me?" Big Mac bucked the tree, causing apples to fall on and around Applejack. "Darn it, Big Mac! These apples weren't ripe yet!"

Big Mac's expression hardened. "Stop runnin' away.”

Applejack chewed on her lip. She'd been trying to snap Big Mac out of it for the past ten minutes, and nothing she did seemed to get her any closer to achieving that goal. "Big Mac! We need you!" Applejack jumped out of the way of a burst of magic from above, but just barely. "Apple Bloom needs you!"

Big Mac hesitated for a moment before kicking a barrel at Applejack. She managed to dodge it almost entirely but it nicked her in the shoulder and made her wince in pain. "I can see that worked a bit," she spoke through gritted teeth. "Apple Bloom is down there, probably scared like a filly on Nightmare Night." She limped backwards, trying to keep weight off of her left foreleg. "She needs you to come back, Big Mac."

Big Mac stopped for a moment and shut his eyes. "Stop!" He held his head in his hooves and growled. Applejack almost thought it worked until he opened them again and rammed forward, knocking Applejack on her back.

She braced herself as she fell on the floor and quickly rolled over back on her hooves. She panted for breath, feeling scrapes along her body, but those didn't matter. "Big Mac! Look what you did, ya hurt your sister! You better be lucky that it was me and not Apple Bloom! I'd kick yer flank if ya hurt her!"

Big Mac shut his eyes again. "I wouldn't hurt her!" He crouched down to the floor, keeping his head close to the ground.

Applejack cocked her head. "I know you wouldn't, Big Mac, which is why I need ya to come back!"

Big Mac stayed silent for a moment. He hid his face under his hooves and trembled as if it was cold. "I'm sorry," he apologized silently. Then he stood up, and with glowing red eyes headbutted Applejack into a tree.

Her hat flew off her head as she hit the tree with a thud. There was ringing in her ears as her head made contact with the log of the tree and her vision went blurry. She tried to stand, but her hooves wobbled under her weight and she fell over again. As her vision went from double to a blurred single, she rubbed the back of her head with a hoof and recoiled at the pain. There was no blood to be felt, though, which made some kind of relief flow through her. She blinked groggily a few times, trying to remind herself of what had just happened.

"Big Mac, no!"

Applejack was pulled out of her thoughts by the sound of her little sister's voice. She forced herself to get up, despite her body begging her to do otherwise, and turned to the direction of Apple Bloom. The shorter filly stood behind Applejack, although she couldn't make out any details since her vision was still blurred. She could hear her voice waver though. Applejack wanted to step directly in front of Apple Bloom to protect her, but her dizziness did not allow her.

However, nothing happened. The ringing in her ears subsided into a low hum and suddenly everything was louder. Her vision cleared, although the dizziness stayed, and she noticed Big Mac standing there with wide eyes. Apple Bloom made a stifled sob sound and Big Mac's glowing eyes faded away. He blinked a few times, then looked around and then at Applejack and Apple Bloom, who stood behind her.

Applejack was slow to process what had just happened, but Big Mac didn't. He took a cautious step forward, which made Apple Bloom take a step back. Big Mac frowned and shook his head. "It's okay, Apple Bloom. I'm back," he reassured her with an apologetic smile.

Apple Bloom hesitated, and then ran to her big brother and wrapped him in a hug. "Big Mac! I was so worried, I saw you and Applejack fightin' and I couldn't hold back anymore!"

Big Mac returned the hug. "I'm real sorry.” He frowned and a look at Applejack made it known that he wasn't only apologizing to their little sister.

Applejack simply picked up her hat again and placed it tenderly on her head as she slightly winced at the pain. She nodded with a grin, wordlessly telling him that she forgave him. She took a few unbalanced steps over to her siblings and looked down at Apple Bloom. "Now, I'm glad ya were here to snap Big Mac out of it, but you should go back into the cave now," Applejack ordered.

Apple Bloom frowned. "But I wanna help," she whined.

Big Mac shook his head as Applejack fixed Apple Bloom's bow. "I'm afraid you're just too little to be here. I don't wanna risk you gettin' hurt."

Apple Bloom grimaced but seemingly understood. She nodded slightly and looked back over to the entrance. "Okay, fine. I just hope you two will be alright."

Applejack bit her lip. "We will," she assured her. With a final hug, Applejack sent Apple Bloom on her way and turned back to Big Mac. "Glad you're back, Big Mac. Now, I think I saw Sugar Belle over there," she told him as she gestured to the other side of the opening. "If anypony can bring her around, it's you."

Big Mac nodded with a look of forced confidence on his face. "Eeyup.” He gave Applejack a hoof bump and they exchanged wishes of good luck.

Applejack looked around. Even though the world seemed to stop spinning significantly, she still felt really weird. But she decided to shove that to the back of her mind and try to focus on the task at hoof. She noticed that Zecora seemed to have been brought back to their side, as well as Trixie, Cloud Chaser, and Thunderlane. She was relieved to notice this, and then it struck her. That meant that Dusk Sparkle's forces were severely outnumbered now. Only the princesses remained together.

All of the ponies on the ground congregated as a large group, and Applejack made her way over to them as well. She noticed they were all staring up at a seething Dusk Sparkle.

"You will never get away with this," the purple alicorn yelled to the ponies below her. "You may outnumber us, but you're outmatched!" At that same instant, all four princesses shot at the group with a large, unified beam. Four different colours of magic swirled around each other and narrowly missed the group as they exploded into the floor, creating a large crater that everypony managed to jump out of the way of.

"I hope you all know we've been going easy on you," Dusk Sparkle spoke with a confident smile. "I don't want to risk using my alicorn friends too much. Although, I do have one final soldier," she revealed with a wicked grin. "You don't know her very well, at least, not in this world. She came to me in my time of need. I needed a mercenary, and none of you pathetic fools were worthy enough.

"But then she came along, and Celestia herself told me she would be a perfect fit. I realized I could tap into her prior thirst for power. She was a perfect fit." She bared her teeth in a wide grin. "The most bloodthirsty pony I have ever met."

The sound of crackling filled the air for a split second, and then there was a bright blue light. From it appeared a cloaked pony. Her body was covered by the cloak, although her mane and tail were still visible. Red, with yellow stripes. Something about it rang even more bells in Applejack's head, although she couldn't quite place her. The cloaked pony removed the fabric from her body to reveal herself.

What Applejack noticed first was the pony's eyes. They were aquamarine, almost a green, and they also seemed to glow. Then, she noticed the mare's yellow fur. It was warmer and darker than Fluttershy's, but still distinctly yellow. What really turned Applejack's mental gears was the cutie mark on her flank. A sun, half red, half yellow. Now that was certainly familiar.

"Wait," Applejack murmured. "It couldn't be-"

"Sunset Shimmer," Dusk Sparkle finished. "She has a tremendous aptitude for magic. I'm sure you'll get to see it first hand, though."

Before Applejack could even question what the hay a hand was, Sunset Shimmer shot a thick laser of blue magic at the group. Starlight barely had time to shoot up a shield, although it didn't hold very well and the magic easily penetrated through and flung Starlight back. Everypony gasped and Applejack looked back to Starlight on the floor, who was immediately surrounded by Zecora and Trixie. She could barely see past the two ponies, but she did notice blood trickling out of a wound on Starlight's side. Zecora quickly pressed gauze into it, and Trixie held it there with her magic.

Applejack clenched her jaw. She glared at Sunset Shimmer, who smiled with a wickedness that Applejack had never seen before from anypony. She subtly furrowed her eyebrows and fixed her gaze on Pinkie Pie. Applejack barely had enough time to tackle Pinkie to the floor as another laser shot right where her friend had been standing not even a moment ago. Applejack sighed in relief, but it was momentary relief.

She noticed Sunset's eyes locked on her next target, and Applejack was too far to get to them. She looked between Big Mac and Sunset and decided to try to go after Sunset. She jumped off of Pinkie and closed the distance between herself and Sunset, barreling the other pony over. Sunset was big, but Applejack had strength on her side. Sunset's shot went into the air instead of at its target, and once again, Applejack sighed in relief.

Sunset let out a surprised grunt and glared at Applejack. "You just made the biggest mistake of your life," she growled. She wrapped her hooves around Applejack's neck and rolled over, forcing Applejack to a defenceless position underneath her as she pressed on her throat.

Applejack struggled, trying to push Sunset off, but the lack of oxygen entering her body in addition to her lightheadedness from before made it even more impossible. The world started to cave in around her, becoming black, and she was worried that the last thing she'd ever get to see would be Sunset's face.

Then in a streak of yellow and orange, Sunset disappeared off of her. Applejack gasped, taking in a quick breath as the world returned around her. She instantly looked over to where Sunset had gone and found her and Spitfire in a wrestling match. The two mares flipped between two positions, one having Sunset on top and the other being the reverse. Spitfire used the brief moment where she was on top to throw a punch at Sunset, who dodged it effortlessly.

Applejack sat up, but her head pounded. She wanted to run over to help, but her body did not allow her to. She noticed Rainbow Dash try to fly in, but before she could get within distance, Sunset sent out a flash of blue light that sent Rainbow Dash reeling back. She fell into her friend’s bodies as they all groaned and frowned at Sunset, who grinned as she pushed Spitfire off and gave her a punch to the face.

“I told you, you’re going to regret that,” Sunset hissed at Spitfire as she pinned her down roughly. “But first, I need to stop your annoying friends. I could kill them all in front of you, but I think it’d hurt more if I killed you first.” Sunset’s horn glowed brightly as a barrier materialized between the rest of the group and Sunset, Spitfire, and Applejack, who was just barely within the barrier.

Applejack managed to stand up at the same time as Spitfire kicked Sunset off of her. Muffled protesting happened outside the barrier, along with the barely audible sound of magic shots being fired at the barrier. She ignored it. Applejack took a step toward Spitfire and Sunset, but Sunset shot a beam at Applejack, who barely managed to flick her head to the side. The magic still cut along her cheek, and she instantly felt the wet feeling of blood drip down her face, but that didn’t matter.

“Don’t you bucking dare do anything to her,” Applejack growled. She took another step, lowering her head defiantly as she glared at Sunset.

“Ah ah ah. Don’t take one more step, or your friend here gets it,” Sunset warned. She placed a hoof on Spitfire’s throat and pressed down.

Spitfire coughed. “Don’t worry about me, ‘Jack,” she choked out. “You need to stop her.” Her voice cut off as Sunset applied more pressure.

Applejack hesitated. She wasn’t sure if Sunset was bluffing or not, but it didn’t seem like it. If she took another step, Sunset would hurt Spitfire, but if she did nothing, she would probably choke her to death. Applejack ground her teeth for a moment, unsure of what to do.

Sunset seemed to take note of Applejack's hesitance. "What's wrong? Can't make up your mind?" She sucked in air through her teeth and grinned malevolently. "You're just like the other Applejack, you know. At least you know you're indecisive."

Applejack frowned. She was not indecisive, she was careful. But if Sunset wanted a decision, then she would get a bucking decision. Applejack took a defiant step forward, throwing caution to the wind. Sunset growled and her horn charged up with a blue aura. Applejack opened her mouth to warn Spitfire, but it was too late.

Author's Note:

Shorter chapter today. Also sorry that it's late again lol i fell asleep when I was supposed to upload

Comments

[Silver Mint]

Was it too late for what? Who's hurt? I need answers, not sleep.

[applejackofalltrades]

10949287
tune in next week!

[Matthais Unidostres]

*You tell the Lost Soul that the apples arent ripe yet.
"Stop running away!"
*You tell the Lost Soul that Applebloom needs him."
"Stop!"
*You tell the Lost Soul that you'll kick his flank if he hurts her.
*Suddenly, the memories come flooding back!
"I'm real sorry."
Big Mac (SAVED)

[applejackofalltrades]

10949735
Undertale!!!