Applejack of the Green Lanterns

by Thatguywiththemane

Chapter Five: Confessions and Conflict

For the third time that night, Applejack hit the forest floor hard. The air was pushed out of her lungs hard, having forgotten to push it out as she had been taught. Probably gonna get it fer that, too, she griped as she rose, coughing heavily in an attempt to recover oxygen. She shook her head, staring daggers at the spined alien who was her opponent. Quilla was floating nearby, the construct she had used to knock the pony back fading. “How many times do I have to tell you, keep your guard up! One of these days a criminal is going to pull a laser or a knife, and you’ll be full of holes because you couldn’t protect your ribs! Get that through your thick head!” With that, Quilla summoned a spiked ball, swinging it on a construct chain towards Applejack’s head. The orange pony created a kite shield construct to block the flail, but the force of it shattered her shield, and it crashed into her side.

Quilla sneered as Applejack went flying again. She hit a tree this time, groaning as she fell to the ground. It had been like this for the past month; she and Quilla had been meeting three nights a week to train with her constructs and in combat. She was doing better, but what wasn’t helping was her ‘trainer’s’ constant berating. She was quick to condemn and slow to compliment, and much to happy to throw Applejack around. She had been willing to suffer in silence for a while, but it was getting to be a bit much.

“Sloppy! That construct wouldn’t have stopped a quill, let alone that flail! Your will is weak!” yelled Quilla. Applejack looked up just in time to see her create quill constructs and fire them at Applejack. The farmpony moved quickly, flying backwards in order to avoid the sharpened energy, before firing an energy blast at Quilla. Her constructs had gotten stronger as she learned to harness her will, and her blasts were no different, this one comparable to Kilawog’s. Quilla created a construct of a wall of vines to shield herself, but to Applejack’s surprise, her blast punched through it and hit Quilla.

As Quilla doubled over, Applejack pressed her advantage. “For the love of Celestia, SHUT UP!” she yelled, creating a hammer out of Will and swinging it through the air. It connected with the side of Quilla’s head, sending her to the ground for once. Applejack created a thick slab of energy and slammed in against Quilla’s back, pinning her to the forest floor. Keeping up the pressure, she flew towards where Quilla was confined. Giving a sneer herself, she said, “Yield.”

Quilla, to her credit, put up a huge fight, even sending out pulses of energy to break Applejack’s construct. However, her attempts barely made a dent. Applejack’s will had been hardened by her desire to beat Quilla’s flank, to the point that her slab was enough to fend off her attacks. Finally, Quilla stopped fighting, and Applejack heard faintly from underneath, “I yield.”

Applejack banished the construct, and Quilla got up, not looking at Applejack. She crossed her arms, her face unreadable. This really confused Applejack. She had expected Quilla to be furious, to demand another round, to which Applejack would have accepted. But Quilla’s face had almost no expression. The emotion that did show on her face wasn’t anger, though. It kinda looked… sad? “We’re done, Applejack. Come back next time,” she said, turning and walking over to a stump, where she sat, cradling herself in her arms.

Applejack padded softly over to her, her hooves not making a sound against the grass. She could barely believe she was doing this, but what was she supposed to do? Applejack placed a hoof on Quilla’s shoulder, frowning. She tried to say something, but nothing came. Direct approach it is, she thought. “Quilla, why is it you have such a problem with me? Ah know yer upset about Seron, but Ah think yer-“

Quilla’s spines rose a bit as her face turned to Applejack’s tears running down her cheeks. “You wanna know what my problem is? Seron Gruto was the best Lantern I knew. He was kind, compassionate, strong, and patient. He was also the Green Lantern who taught me how to use my ring, making a silly jungle dwelling girl into a halfway-decent ring slinger. He helped make this sector one of the safest in Guardian space. The man was like a second father to me, for the sake of the Green!” Her voice started to lose its edge, sadness slipping in where fury had once been. “And while I’m busy backing up a Lantern in another sector, he gets blasted out of the sky by who-knows-what, lands on some backwater planet, and his ring goes to some hick who, as far as I know, was just in the right place at the right time. And on top of that, I have to take his place as teacher to the one person in the galaxy I wanted to avoid. And now it turns out that she can kick my ass,” she said, bringing her knees up to her chest. She sniffed softly, placing her head on her legs.

Applejack took her hoof off her shoulder, backing away from her slightly. “Quilla-“

“Just go,” the alien said, her voice choked with emotion.

Applejack put her hoof down. “No, Quilla, Yer gonna listen ta this,” she said. It took her a moment, but Quilla turned slightly to her. “Look, Ah get it, Seron was important to you. From what Hal told me, he was important to a lot of people. And yah have more right than most ta miss him. But at least yah knew him. Yah had someone take yah under his wing, help yah out. And it sounds like yah had more than just him, yah said second father. When Ah was growin’ up, Ah’d have traded mah left hind leg ta have even one memory of mah Pappy, or mah Mama. But they died when Ah was just a little filly. Don’t get me wrong, mah brother Big Macintosh is a great pony, like my Granny, but still… Ah’d see all the other fillies and colts with their folks, and at first Ah’d ask them ‘How come Ah don’t have a mama and papa?’. They didn’t know what ta say, but they can’t lie ta me, so they have ta tell me I’ll never see them,” she said, looking at her hat. “Then Big Mac tells me that this hat belonged to Pappy, and that Ah should have it. Ah say thanks, but all Ah’m thinkin’ is that it’s just a hat. It can’t pick me up from school, or tell me how proud it is of me, or… or care about me…” She sniffs, holding her hat in her hooves. “Just remember, you’re not the only one who’s lost somepony,” she said, rising up off the ground and flying out of the woods.

She didn’t want Quilla to see her cry.

-----

The sun filtered into Applejacks window as Applejack’s eyes opened blearily. She was awake before the rooster, as she usually was, but instead of going back to sleep, she yawned loudly and swung her hooves out of bed. Quilla’s training sessions had been hard, but Applejack had done harder. She winced a bit, though as her sore muscles stretched. It was a good thing she had the day off today…

The sound of hooves pulled Applejack from her thoughts. She looked towards her door, and saw Big Mac leaning against her door frame. “Howdy, Sis,” he said. “You wanna tell me what that cryin’ in yer room was about last night?”

The orange earth pony balked for a moment, then cursed under her breath. Of course Big Mac had heard her. It was never easy, was it? “It was nothin’, Big Mac. Just thinkin’ about Mama and Pappy again. Old wounds.”

Big Mac stood on his back legs, crossing his hooves. “That it? Or are ya lyin’, like yah have been fer the past month?”

Applejack froze, looking up at Big Mac slowly. He looked down at her sternly. “Ah’m not a stupid pony, AJ. Ah’ve seen ya runnin into the forest at night, when ya think no one’s awake. Ah’ve seen the bruises on ya, the ones ya think yer hidin’. Either you’ve taken up monster fightin’ or there’s somethin’ else goin’ on. Like Ah said, Ah ain’t a dumb pony, so yah best
start tellin’ the truth, like yah should’ve done in the first place.”

Applejack balked for a moment, dropping to her haunches. He had seen her? And her bruises? But she thought she had been so careful… This was the downside of not lying or sneaking, you were terrible at it when you had to. She sighed a bit, and looked at her brother. “Alright, Big Mac, yah caught me. Ah have been keepin’ somethin’ from yah. Ah’m sorry, and Ah’ll tell yah all about it. Very soon.”

Big Mac raised an eyebrow. “There’s a lot to it,” said his sister, “And Ah need a little while to get it all right in mah head before I can tell yah. Ah promise, yah give me five minutes, and you’ll know everythin’ Ah know.” He looked at her funny one more time, then exited the room, his way of saying he agreed.

Applejack groaned and facehoofed. Great, just peachy. She had been hoping to keep this away from her family, if only to keep them from worrying about her. She should have known better than to try and hide something from Big Macintosh, though. He was right; he was quiet, but he was also one of the smartest ponies in Ponyville, purple unicorns excluded. The farm only ran so well because Big Mac was so good at the finances.

Applejack brought up her ring, checking the time. It was incredibly handy that it did that, it was like a pocket watch, but on her fetlock. The green display read 6:32. Usually around the time she woke up. Suddenly, out of her ring came a voice:

Ring power at 2%. Please charge to avoid sudden loss of life support and construct capability

Applejack put her head in her hooves, groaning loudly. She had forgotten to charge it again! It had been two weeks, now that she had thought about it. She always forgot to charge it… Oh, well, at least it was a quick fix. She reached into the little fold in space that housed the ring, and the lantern battery popped out, materializing on the floor. She was about to put her hoof in when there was a loud rap on her second floor window, followed by a woosh as it opened. Applejack jumped and hid the battery behind her back, looking to see her visitor.

Looking back at her was her cyan friend with the multi-colored mane, Rainbow Dash. She was hovering about a foot above her floor, and she looked like she was panicing. “Dash! Uh, Ah was just-“

“Never mind what you were just, AJ! We’ve got a problem, a big problem!”

AJ stood, her lantern forgotten. “What problem?”

“Sugarcube corner is on fire!”

-----

Applejack’s hooves pounded on the ground, propelling her quickly towards Sugarcube Corner. She was almost there now, following Rainbow Dash as she flew through the air. Her ring was flashing, but she wasn’t paying attention. The entirety of her mind was focused on one thing: getting to the bakery.

Her heart sank lower in her chest as she saw the great plume of smoke in the sky. It reminded her too much of the dragon she and her friends had tried to chase off. But it wasn’t a snoring beast this time; she had seen enough brush fires on the farm to know that this was a raging monster. An image of Pinkie Pie trapped in the flaming bakery flashed in her mind, and she pushed herself harder, hooves a blur.

After what felt like hours, Applejack skidded to a stop in front of the building. It was a fiery tower of heat, the flames reaching high into the morning air. The cupcake-shaped tower looked like it was about to collapse onto the gingerbread themed roof, which was charred black and burning brightly. The windows had been blown out by the heat, and flames poured out of them. High above the roof were pegasus ponies with dark clouds, jumping up and down frantically to shower the fire with rain water. The fire was proving too hot, though, because the water was evaporating in the heat far before it could reach the burning wood. There was a bucket train leading back to the lake, but that was doing even less for the fire

The image of the bakery was blocked by the panicking face of Twilight Sparkle. “Applejack! Thank Celestia you’re here! Pinkie Pie’s in there with the Cake twins, and the roof’s about to collapse! I’ve got Rainbow up working on the flames, so-“

Applejack cut her off by pulling her hat off and pressing it on Twilight’s head. “Hold onta this,” she said, as she was covered in her Green Lantern uniform. Her ring spoke up again about the energy levels, but she ignored it, charging the door, cloaked in green energy and disappearing into the smoke and flames.

-----

Up in the second floor of the bakery, in a room that had once been bright and cheerful, there were huddled three figures amongst the acrid smoke. Two were small and crying, coughing loudly with each inhale in high, ragged voices. The third was bigger, with her hooves wrapped around them. Pinkie’s mane had deflated, her eyes were pouring tears from the smoke, and she was coughing just like the foals. But she hung on to the two, whispering to them quietly as they cried.

“Shh, shh, it’s ok, it’s ok. Someone’ll come for us, cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye. It’ll be ok; everything’s going to be ok…”

And she knew it would be. She wasn’t saying it because she had to be strong for the foals, or something silly like that. Things were bad right now, really bad, more bad than they had ever been, but she knew her friends would find a way. Any minute now, Applejack or Rainbow Dash or Twilight would burst through the door and get them out, no problem. She just had to have hope.

Just as she thought that, she heard a splintering crash as the door broke apart, leaving behind a green hoof. She looked up through the black smoke, and saw Applejack, glowing green and floating a bit. She heard a voice say "1% power", and Applejack responded with “Shut up, Ah know!” before heading over to the three ponies. “Applejack!” Pinkie cried, hugging the foals tighter. “See, little guys, I told you someone would come!”

Applejack smiled a bit, in spite of the situation. “You were right, Pinks, Ah’m here. Now, let’s get’cha outta here, huh?” she said, extending her ring out and wrapping Pinkie and the Cake twins in a green bubble, keeping any smoke and fire out. The bubble flickered for a moment, but Applejack concentrated as hard as she could, and it finally solidified. Applejack floated out the doorway, pulling her precious cargo along with her.

She barely made it out of the room before a flaming beam fell from the crumbling roof, slamming into Applejack’s bubble. It held, snapping the beam in two, but the green sphere dissolved around the helpless ponies, exposing them once again to the harshness of the inferno. One half of the beam, however, came to close, and slammed into Pinkie’s leg. The pink pony screamed, her leg bent in a way that it was most certainly not meant to bend. Applejack cursed under her breath, coughing from the awful black smoke, rushing over to Pinkie Pie. The pony still had her hooves wrapped around the twins, not letting go for a second. “Pinkie, Ah know yer in pain, but yah gotta hold on, just fer a little longer, ok?” Pinkie whined in pain, but nodded, keeping a hold on the foals.

Applejack did her best to reform the bubble, but she had to expend more energy to keep Pinkie levitated off her broken leg. She knew that this one would cave if it was hit like the last one, and Pinkie would be hurt further. Why, oh why didn’t she recharge her ring before she got here? She had been in such a hurry…

Applejack shook her head. No time to think about that now. Her ring sounded off again. Ring failure imminent. Applejack coughed loudly, the suffocating smoke invading her lungs. Her ring wasn’t strong enough to completely keep the smoke out, and she could barely float with the bubble formed. She had to proceed on hoof, keeping Pinkie and the Cake twins suspended in the construct. She bolted down the stairs, jumping up and pushing off the wall to take the sharp turn down the stairs, rushing to the door.

Just as she was about to jump out the door, there was a mighty crack as a massive beam fell, blocking the door and barely leaving enough room for Applejack to stop. “Celestia damn it!” she yelled, looking over the blocked entry. Her problems compounded as she heard the roof above her head splinter, buckling under its own weight. She looked around frantically, but all the exits were covered, either by fire or by charred wood. Applejack looked back at the ponies she had in her construct, trying to come up with something, anything…

It hit her. She had an idea, but it was… well, suicidal might be a generous term. With how little power her ring had, there was no guarantee that it would even work, let alone that she could get out with them But it was the only thing she could think of. She looked back at Pinkie.

“Pinkie Pie, Ah want you ta hold onto the foals tight, got me? Don’t you let them go fer a second. Ah know it’s gonna be hard, but you gotta get them and yerself ta the paramedics. Ah’m gettin’ yah out of here, Ah promise.”

Pinkie Pie nodded, holding the coughing little bundles close to her chest. Applejack screwed up her face, putting what little power she could into the sphere, shaping it into a rudimentary cone. She redistributed some power to make the tip as hard as she could, then reared back with her right hoof, the cone moving back along with it. As hard as she could, she punched with her hoof, sending the hardened cone of Will careening towards the fallen beam, gritting her teeth with the effort. The solid tip connected with the charred wood, and the wood gave, splitting apart and letting the cone fly through the door. Applejack’s ring finally gave out, and the cone dissolved, sending Pinkie and the twins rolling across the ground, the pink party pony shielding the foals with her body.

Applejack’s Green Lantern uniform disappeared, the green energy that had surrounded her gone. Applejack coughed loudly, feeling the full effect of the smoke. The heat of the blazing roof pressed down on her like a weight, and she made her way blindly towards the newly cleared doorway. She cried out as she bumped into a piece of furniture, patting her shoulder to ease the heat rash. Applejack opened her eyes by a fraction, looking around frantically. There! The little speck of sunlight that was the door. She bolted for it as quick as she could, hearing the roof beams snap above her as the roof finally caved in. She leapt forward, hoping beyond hope that she cleared it before the roof came crashing down on her. She heard the thundering crash as the charred roof slammed against the floor, sending soot and ash flying in every direction. Applejack landed on her belly, safely out of the way of the downed ceiling.

Applejack gasped for air, letting the clear oxygen fill her smoke-filled lungs. She looked around, and saw Pinkie Pie on a stretcher with a paramedic pony, and the twins being tended to by a few others. Her head slumped down onto the ground, and she saw Twilight heading for her. “Applejack! Are you alright?”

Applejack just looked back at Pinkie and the twins, battered, bruised and covered in soot, but alive. “Yeah, Twi,” she said in a raspy voice, “Ah’m just fine.

-----

` “But Ah’m fine, nurse!” Applejack cried, crossing her hooves in frustration. She was lying in a hospital bed, dressed in a paper gown and her muzzle covered in an oxygen mask. She furrowed her brow, giving Nurse Redheart the biggest stink eye she could muster.

Nurse Redheart, to her credit, kept looking Applejack straight in the eye. “Well your chart says otherwise. Let’s see; severe smoke inhalation, heat rash on your right shoulder, possible carbon monoxide poisoning… You’re not going anywhere, missy, not for a while. Better get comfortable,” she said. “Oh, you have a few visitors,” she said, smiling. “It’s a good thing the doctor cleared you, too, because I think the rainbow one is about to have a heart attack.”

Applejack chuckled, but coughed in the middle of it. If she really thought about it, she supposed the doctor was right. She didn’t really feel very well, and maybe a little time in the hospital was called for. Any further thoughts were shoved out of her head by the streak of rainbow followed by a sharp pain in the back of her head. “You stupid filly! I’m the one who does dangerously stupid things, remember? I’m good at it!”

Applejack winced as she heard someone tsk at the door. “Really, Rainbow Dash, must you be so rough? I agree that Applejack was a bit reckless, but there’s no need to be rude.” Applejack smiled in spite of herself; Rarity might be a bit prissy at times, but the big marshmallow was sensible… sometimes.

The farmpony heard the tiniest little squeak, and she looked to see her cream colored friend, Fluttershy, holding her hooves up to her mouth. “Oh my, Applejack! Are you alright? Oh dear, you look awful! Are you comfortable? Do you have enough oxygen?”

“Ah’m fine, Shy, Ah’m fine,” she said, chuckling. “Ah swear, Ah’m ok.”

Applejack smiled as the rest of her friends filtered in, along with her family. Big Mac was first, with Applebloom riding on his back and Granny Smith following behind with her walker. Pinkie pie was absent, of course, being in worse shape than Applejack was. Applejack was surprised, though, when the owners of the bakery, Mr. and Mrs. Cake, came in as well.

Applebloom was the first to speak, jumping off Mac’s back and landing on Applejack’s belly, hugging her. “Hey, Big Sis! Are yeh all right? When Ah heard you were inside the fire, Ah was so worried! But Ah shouldn’t have been, cause you always come out ok! Always! Ah kept tellin’ that ta Big Mac, cause he kept crying and sayin’ that you two fought last time he saw ya, and-“

Big Mac picked the filly up and placed a hoof over her mouth. “Ah think that’s enough of that,” he said, his face redder than usual. Twilight giggled a bit, and Applejack could have sworn that he went even redder, which was strange. He then looked at the orange pony, with their sister squirming in his hooves. “Look, AJ, Ah’m-“

“Aww, shut up, Mac,” she said, laughing. “You’ll get yer answer, as soon as Ah can give it to yah.”

The Cakes came up to the bed, holding hooves. “Applejack, we just… we wanted to thank you for saving out little family,” said Mrs. Cake. Mr. Cake looked a little too choked up to talk. “And not just Pound and Pumpkin. Pinkie’s always been like a daughter to us, even with all her antics,” she said, sniffing. “We saw how you got all three of them out, and…” She clutched onto her husband, sobbing slightly into his shoulder before looking up. “Just… thank you,” she said. The Cakes left then, presumably to visit with their loved ones.

Rainbow Dash spoke up in the silence. One thing I wanna know, though,” said the multicolored pony. “What was that green thing that Pinkie came out of? Did you see it, AJ?”

Twilight laughed nervously. “Oh, come on, Rainbow, that place was full of smoke. Do you really think that Applejack saw anything?”

The pony in the hospital bed shook her head. “It’s alright, Twilight, it’s time it came out. Everypony, there’s somethin’ Ah need to show y'all,” she said.

Suddenly, the nurse came in again. “Uh, Miss Applejack? You have another visitor, kind of a strange one. She’s… well, not a pony, that’s for sure…”

Applejack chuckled a bit. “It’s alright, Ah think Ah know who it is. Let her in.”

The nurse nodded, stepping out and returning with the visitor. It was Quilla, not dressed in her uniform, as Applejack had expected, but in some kind of robe-like dress. She looked a bit sheepish, her hands behind her back. “Hello, Applejack.”

Applejack smiled a bit, even as all her friends gave her funny looks. “Hi, Quilla. Ah appreciate you comin’ ta visit.”

Quilla laughed slightly. “I couldn’t just leave my partner out there, could I?” she said. “You did real good in the fire,
Applejack. So good, I brought you a present.” She brought her hands around to the front, clutching Applejack’s Green Lantern power battery.

Applejack grinned. “Mighty fine gift there, Quilla. Bring it here, Ah’ll use it now.” Quilla carried the lantern over and held it up, and Applejack stuck her ring into the swirling green light. “In brightest day, in blackest night, no evil shall escape mah sight. Let those who worship evil’s might, beware mah power- Green Lantern’s light!”

Those gathered around the bed shielded their eyes as Applejack lit up with green light, and when they looked back, she wore her Green Lantern uniform. “Ah’m a Green Lantern, a protector of the universe. And Ah’m damn proud to be one.”

Comments

[Thatguywiththemane]

Well, friends, my computer's still going strong, so here it is, the next chapter. I feel decently proud of it, so tell me what you think. Til next time, stay safe, bronies.

[Avenging-Hobbits]

Well, well, well...this certainly looks interesting. I'll wait for it to be completed and then read it

[Fireeaters]

Lol bigmac

[Little Voice]

Heh, was wondering if Applejack was going to take the Tony Stark method or the DC comics method.

[Tundara]

Bah, why would AJ keep it a secrete? As Hal Jordan said, "Wait until your world has papparatzi". AJ's relatively safe from that. I mean, if she doesn't have them following her for being a member of a team of chaos god butt kicking hero's, they wont go stalking her for being an Interstellar Cop... right? Oh, Celestia, AJ's doomed! I bet Featherweight already got a picture of her changing into her costume and is selling it to the Foal Free Press!

[OneAmongOthers]

Good show so far! I'm enjoying every moment of it!

[Gizmo Hibiki]

Will other green lantern characters appear such as Guy, Kyle, John or even the the villains like Anti Monitor, Sinestro, or even Black Lanterns?

[DocDelray]

This is a good story thus far. AJ I think makes for a perfect Green Lantern, I especially like how you brought in a few of the better known Lanterns without making them main stays. I felt like Gilda's thing was a bit campy, but then again, this is a story based off of a comic book series so campy isn't that out of place to see.

[ShadowLDrago]

Awesome!

[The Portal Passer]

[Helljumper206]

I was kinda hoping to here everyone's opinion on 'Green lantern AppleJack' and Quilla. like what kind of reactions they would have in such.

[raven618]

I just realized I've already read five chapters of this story. In one sitting. Ya did good man. Ya did good.