Ruining Harmony

by Artaelian

Applejack's Anger part three

As Applejack continued to glare at Sunshine Blaze, her anger started turning guilt for yelling at him. Despite her first thoughts, that he was someone who was trying to cause problems for her and her friends, before her now was nothing but a young colt, clearly scared of her, like Applebloom was whenever she got into serious trouble.

And yet, she couldn’t just drop her suspicions. She knew nothing about him, or indeed if his apparent fear of her was all just an act to lull her into a false sense of security. Knowing the fact he had helped Fluttershy did nothing to help the argument in her head. On the one hoof, he could have helped Fluttershy because she couldn’t always help herself, but on the other, with what was going on to the elements, and how he somehow knew if they had been corrupted or not, suggested he had only helped Fluttershy to hasten the process.

Meanwhile, crouched before her, Sunshine Blaze had begun to tremble from the emotions he had been put through. Unnoticed at first, the goggles on the top of his head begun to slip, until eventually they fell to the ground with a thud.

Applejack looked down at the goggles, slowly reaching out a hoof and picked them up. She held them to her eyes, and became confused. The sight of the environment around them was present, but on the side was a green triangle against a line, which moved up or down depending on what she looked at. When she turned to look at a tree that was less than five feet away, the triangle slid up to the top of the line, only returning to the bottom when she turned to face the empty plains.

“What the hay is this all about?” Applejack asked, now completely forgetting her previous anger.

Before her, Sunshine Blaze looked up, his eyes large, as he took a moment to work out what was going on. Seeing Applejack with his goggles held over her eyes, he laughed slightly, seemingly over his previous fright.

“Pass them here,” he said, holding a hoof out towards Applejack, who returned the goggles to him. Sunshine Blaze then placed them back on his head and looked in to them, “oh, setting ten. My goggles have ten functions, function one being normal view, and ten being able to record what I see.”

“Ah see,” Applejack replied, “who are you exactly? What are you doing here?” she asked.

Sunshine Blaze removed the goggles from his eyes, and looked at Applejack, not speaking for a moment.

“You can tell when somepony lies right?” he asked back.

“You wanna try?”

“I’m a big pink monkey that walks on its hind legs.”

Applejack snorted and begun to laugh.

“That was such a terrible lie, only a foal would come up with such a thing.” she stated while laughing at the very image in her mind of a pink monkey walking on hind legs.

“Then how about this, I’m after a unicorn who despises all pegasi. He has destroyed many lives, he’s set to do it again. You and your friends, with the elements of harmony, are all caught at the center of his plot.” Sunshine Blaze said calmly.

Applejack continued to laugh, slowing down and stopping only as she realised that this time, Sunshine Blaze wasn’t telling a lie. Neither said anything, even as the three colts came out of hiding from the ditch.

“As for why I’m here,” Sunshine Blaze continued, “it should be simple by now to know that. I’m here to stop him.”

“But why are you doin’ it on your own? Don’t you have somepony ta help you?” Applejack questioned.

Sunshine Blaze didn’t blink or divert his gaze. He stayed perfectly still, looking at Applejack. He sighed and shifted slightly as he replied.

“I can’t ask for help, not while here in Equestria. If you knew where he and I came from, you’d stop talking to me immediately.”

Before Applejack could say anything else, she and Sunshine Blaze were tackled by Cloudswirl and Forest Breeze respectively, as Fireshot sidestepped a bolt of fire magic that had been fired their way. Shaking her head, Applejack looked up and saw a blue unicorn, his face shrouded by a hood, and a cape ran over his back, hiding his cutie mark.

It was clear, things were about to go bad.

--

Applejack slowly got to her feet, watching as Fireshot, Forest Breeze and Cloudswirl all attacked the blue unicorn. The blue unicorn, despite being attacked by three full grown colts, was managing to hold them off with ease, calling up a barrier when Forest Breeze or Cloudswirl got near, or reflecting magic fired at him by Fireshot.

She stood her ground as the blue unicorn came near. He paused only for a moment to grab the three colts with his magic, and throw them against nearby trees, knocking the wind out of all of them. Despite his face being covered in the darkness of the hood, Applejack swore she saw the white teeth of a grin as the blue unicorn stopped a short distance before her.

“Element of Honesty,” he spoke, his voice sounding much like the one heard in the library basement, “surrender to me now, and I shall make your suffering quick.”

“Go buck yerself.” Applejack replied.

Before the blue unicorn had any time to take in her reply, and what it meant for his plans, Applejack had run up to him, turned around, and kicked with her hind legs at his horn. A horrible snapping sound, much like when a bone is broken from a fall, echoed across the area. The blue unicorn yelled in pain, his front legs collapsing under him.

“Ok, Applejack, we have just one important thing to do now.” Sunshine Blaze said, walking to her side.

“Oh yeah? What’s that?” she questioned, with one eye half closed in a confused look.

“You just bucked his horn in half, and when he repairs it, he’s going to be really mad. So,” Sunshine Blaze paused for a second, “run!”

Applejack watched as Sunshine Blaze ran off, and returned her focus to the blue unicorn. True to what Sunshine Blaze had said, the blue unicorn was now up to his front knees, the broken piece of horn raised from the ground and back to what had been left on his head. Clearly he was still able to use magic.

Wasting no time, Applejack begun to chase after Sunshine Blaze.

“Okay, it’s fine and all, running away, what are we going to do about him?” she asked, as she caught up to Sunshine Blaze.

“We need to find somewhere with as many obstacles as possible, it will give us better chance of getting near him and knocking him out while allowing us to not get hit by his attacks.” Sunshine Blaze replied.

“You forgot one thing.” Applejack stated, an unimpressed look now on her face.

“Oh really? What’s that?”

“We’re in the middle of a field, with no forests for miles around.” Applejack replied, glaring at Sunshine Blaze as they continued to run.

Sunshine Blaze looked around him as they kept running. As a look of desperation set in, he took flight, maintaining his forward momentum, while scanning the landscape in every direction from the air. He soon landed and groaned in frustration.

“Ok, new plan, keep running until I come up with a better plan.” he said.

They both slid to a halt as a flash of light appeared before them. When it ended, standing before them was the blue unicorn.

“Enough. Time to die, Element of Honesty.” the blue unicorn said calmly.

His horn glowed, forming a fireball at the tip. A second later, it grew to the side of Applejack’s head, and was sent towards her at great speed. Before anything registered in her head, Sunshine Blaze jumped into the path of the fireball, and took the hit.

Time slowed down for Applejack, as she watched Sunshine Blaze fall to the ground, the blue unicorn laughing. Where the fireball had impacted, Sunshine Blaze’s fur and skin had burnt and blackened, and he lay still, fortunately, still breathing.

She glared at the blue unicorn and ran towards him, which clearly caught the blue unicorn off guard. He moved backwards as fast as possible whenever Applejack spun on her front legs and tried to buck him in the face with her hind legs. When it became clear Applejack would not relent for long enough, and he had no time to properly cast a spell to bring her harm, the blue unicorn simply teleported out of sight.

A tense minute passed, as Applejack stood her ground and circled on the spot, waiting for the blue unicorn to return. After the minute had passed, it became clear he had no intention of returning, and Applejack sighed.

She sat on her flank and looked over to Sunshine Blaze, who was still breathing, but each breath was becoming shallower. He was in a bad way, and there was nothing she could do to help.

Another flash made her get up and lower her whole body, assuming the blue unicorn had returned. Instead, next to Sunshine Blaze was a portal, beyond which she could see her friends in the library basement, awaiting her return. Wasting no time, Applejack ran over to Sunshine Blaze and got his forelegs over her back. Holding on tight, Applejack walked as fast as she could back through.

--
Twilight’s jaw dropped as Applejack returned from her portal with Sunshine Blaze on her back. She lowered him to the floor, kicking aside his goggles as they once more fell off his head. As Applejack looked up, the other mares in the room walked over.

“Applejack, you can’t just bring somepony from another time to our time zone!” Twilight stated.

“He ain’t from the past, Twi. He’s the pony that followed ‘shy from our time into the past, and he’s hurt.” Applejack stated.

Twilight however, hadn’t listened. As soon as she had stopped talking, and Applejack had begun, she had become transfixed on the goggles that had fallen from Sunshine Blaze’s head. Around her, the other mares had begun talking, clearly deciding how best to help the fallen colt.

Slowly, Twilight’s eyes widened, as she recalled an important fact.

“Girls, step away from him now.” she said.

“Come again, Twi?” Applejack asked.

“I said, step away from him. Those goggles, they’re Irvest technology. Irvestians cannot be trusted. They replace their limbs with false versions of them… willingly. Many are more machine than pony, and further, they let the weather run itself like in the Everfree.” Twilight answered.

“And you think an enemy would willingly take a fireball for me, Twi?” Applejack shouted.

“It was probably a set up. I’ll inform Princess Celestia, but for now we have to stay away from him.” Twilight said calmly.

Applejack remained by Sunshine Blaze’s side. After a moments thought, she picked him back up and put him on her back.

“What are you doing? Get away from him!” Twilight said, her eyes wide in panic.

“No.” Applejack stated.

“Excuse me?” Twilight questioned.

“No, I ain’t getting away from him. Ah don’t care where he’s from. Ah saw it with my own eyes. He jumped in front of a fireball to save me, Twilight, and I will get him some help, regardless of where he was born.” Applejack stated, clearly intending to do as she said regardless of what Twilight did or said next.

“How can you be so sure, Applejack?” Twilight stood in the way of the stairs.

After thinking for a few instants, Applejack picked up the goggles and looked into them, cringing after a moment. She held them away from her and towards Twilight, who took them with her magic. Like Applejack, she held them to her eyes, her jaw soon dropping. Without a word, she dropped the goggles to the floor, and stared at Applejack, who still had Sunshine Blaze on her back.

“What was, I mean, who was,” she paused to form a coherent thought, “Applejack what exactly went on in there?”

“It’s a long story, Twi. Short version, that unicorn may be the cause of our problems, and this young colt saved me. Now, will you stand aside, or do I have to force my way past to get him to the hospital?” Applejack asked.

Twilight nodded and walked ahead of Applejack, opening the door to the library’s main floor. With Applejack walking ahead quickly, the pair left to take Sunshine Blaze, whose condition was beginning to get worse, to the local hospital.

The other mares simply sat and waited, with the exception of Rainbow Dash, who flew up to the goggles and put them on her head. After a second, she scrambled to get them off and dropped them to the floor.

“What the hay are these things? That colt has some weird tastes, watching the same fireball approach him over and over again.” she said aloud, staring in horror at the goggles before her.

--
Standing in an alley, some distance from the Ponyville hospital, the blue unicorn watched as Twilight Sparkle and Applejack left. He looked towards the hospital, and laughed only loud enough for himself to hear.

“Enjoy, Blaze, for tomorrow, you’ll be gone. And those mares will soon join you.”