When the land of Equestria is decimated by an apocalypse, the Element of Honesty must do whatever she can to survive the world left behind
It's been months since the world ended, and Applejack has lost almost everything she once held dear. Now thrust out away from the safety her farm once gave her, she'll find out first-hand just how much the world around her has changed.
(This story will have a primary focus on Applejack and will be mostly from her point of view and about her experiences, but I will occasionally switch characters and introduce others, which will then be added to the tags as they show up for the first time.)
UPDATE 5/7 - I'm in the process of rewriting some of the earlier chapters. I might make new updates here and there during this, but for the most part it'll just be working on making older chapters better.
The sun's rays were blasting down hard on this particular afternoon, and with the dead, leafless trees providing her little to no shelter from it, all Applejack could do was wipe her brow with her gloved hand and use her hat to fan herself, both providing little pause in her heat-induced discomfort. Her boots softly padded the ground with each step she took, interrupting an otherwise quiet journey to wherever she'd end up when she couldn't go any further.
She missed how bright and vibrant Equestria used to be. Everything had a feeling of peacefulness and cheer, like everything was right with the world. Now, with the landscape ensnared with dull hues of brown and grey and an almost complete absence of plant life, she could barely even remember what everything looked like before her world came tumbling down around her, and her happy life right along with it.
It felt like it was years ago when it happened, and even now, long after the fact, she still wasn't absolutely sure what exactly did happen to cause it. Was it some sort of massive natural disaster? Was it some kind of global conflict? Was it something else entirely? She didn't have an inkling of an idea, and probably never would.
She had lost her family, in the aftermath of whatever it was that happened. First it was Granny Smith, her heart and body just couldn't take the strain of such a violent shift into this new, apocalyptic earth, and she passed within the first week. Big Mac followed soon after, but for an entirely different reason: he held off bandits as Applejack and Apple Bloom fled the farm they once called home. She wasn't sure if he was really gone or not, but she figured he was since it was years since she saw him last.
Finally, even her little sister, sweet and innocent Apple Bloom, had her death thrust upon her much too quickly, her life ending when a building they had taken shelter in for the night collapsed onto them. Applejack survived, and she sometimes wished she hadn't and had instead joined the rest of her family in an eternal sleep. But for whatever reason, she was still alive and kicking, and she was determined to go on as long as possible.
She stopped walking, standing in the middle of the path she was following as she put her hat back on her head, reaching back and unslinging her bag from its position on her shoulder. She rummaged through it until she gripped the canteen inside, letting the bag fall to the ground as she unscrewed the top, praying there was still some water left inside it to quench even a fraction of the thirst she was feeling. She lifted it to her chapped lips and tipped her head back, greeted with only a droplet or two of the liquid she so desperately wanted gallons of. Sighing, she dropped the empty canteen into her bag before slinging it back onto her shoulder and continuing her slow pace along the path.
She wondered what had happened to all of her friends. She hadn't heard from them in a long time, and she assumed the worst. Fluttershy for sure wouldn't stand a chance in this kind of world, and she figured the same for Twilight, Rarity and Pinkie Pie. The only person she gave any kind of chance was...
Rainbow.
Her thoughts turned to think of the blue-furred pegasus. She was spunky and strong enough to survive, Applejack was almost entirely certain. Last she heard about her, she went off to Cloudsdale to look for her family, but that was months ago. Her mood dropped lower than it was before at the thought of her being the last Element of Harmony alive, and she tipped her hat down to keep the bright light out of her eyes.
The sun was still hot and stung at any fur-covered skin she had exposed, but it didn't sting as much as her memories of the past.
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It was so dark out, that Applejack could barely see without stumbling over something every few steps. Her body was sore, but she kept walking, pulling Apple Bloom behind her.
"Come on, sugarcube, we hafta go-"
"But what about Big Mac? We can't just leave 'im back there!"
Applejack tried her hardest to block out her sister's protests. Big Mac told them he'd hold them off for as long as he could, and as much as it pained her to admit it, if she wanted to keep her little sister safe, then she had to leave him and the farm as far behind as possible.
"There's nothin' we can do now. He told us to go, we had to go."
In the distance, gunshots were echoing over the fields of dead apple trees, constantly reminding her of the fight her brother would most likely not win. She made the stupid decision to glance back, and she could just faintly make out the clouds of smoke the burning barn was releasing into the sky. She shivered before turning back and continuing their trek forward.
And suddenly, just like that, the gunfire stopped. Applejack froze, stopping her sister from taking another step with an arm outstretched in front of her. It was eerily quiet all of a sudden, until a crack of a single shot rang through the night sky. Her heart stopped dead in her chest, and her mind whirled, trying to decide what to do next. She quickly scooped her sister up into her arms, breaking out into a dash, despite her body's protests.
"AJ?"
"Apple Bloom, just stay quiet. I'll get us out of here, I promise."
"But what about-"
"I said stay quiet."
And with that, the only sound they heard for the next few minutes was Applejack's boots thudding into the dirt as she ran. She didn't know where exactly she was going, but going anywhere else had to have been better than staying back there. After a good 20 minutes or so of running, and with the muscles in her legs screaming for her to stop, they had made it to Ponyville. She was about to set Apple Bloom down and sit so she could rest her legs, but she noticed something that made her uneasy, and she tightened her hold on her little sister.
The town was just as eerily quiet as the orchards were after that last gunshot. No one was outside, and no lights were on in any of the houses, the only thing giving her any kind of visibility was the moon shining down from above. Surely someone had heard the commotion going on at the farm down the road?
"AJ, lemme down, I have legs ya know-" The little girl tried to pry herself from her sister's hold, but Applejack didn't loosen it at all.
"Apple Bloom, quiet now." She slowly trudged forward, looking around the town. Something was definitely wrong.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the glint of something on a rooftop reflecting the moonlight. As she turned to look at it better, she saw the muzzle flash and then heard the loud crack of a rifle right before she felt a sharp sting in her right shoulder.
As the sun slowly began to set and finally give her a break from the intense heat, Applejack stopped walking, scanning the horizon for any kind of shelter that she could rest in during the approaching night. She slept out in the open before, but most times it was either a restless night or someone stumbled upon her, and she'd rather keep that can of worms unopened tonight.
Her eyes stopped on a small cabin a few hundred meters from the road. Taking a deep breath to steady her suddenly rising nerves, she started her approach, her hand resting on the revolver she had holstered on her side. She was tempted to take it out now, but if there was anyone in the house, walking up with a gun in her hands might send the wrong impression, and she really didn't want to have to shoot anyone right now.
She crept onto the porch, the wood beneath her boots creaking softly as soon as she put her weight on it. She tried to peer through the windows, but with little to no light inside, it was hard to make out anything from where she was standing. She moved over to the front door, reaching out to open it. She hesitated, though, and pulled her hand back a bit, and said one hoarse question.
"Hello?"
Applejack hadn't heard her own voice in so long that it sounded almost foreign to her. She swallowed, waiting for an answer, or even any kind of sound that would indicate that someone or something was moving around inside. After a few seconds of the silence hanging in the air, she moved her hand forward, opening the door with a twist of the door knob, a small push and a few creaks from the hinges. She drew her revolver as she slowly stepped inside, the light from the setting sun casting dark orange around the room through the windows. She closed the door with the back of her boot before she walked through the house, checking every room, the finger on the trigger twitching as she steadied her nerves.
After checking the bottom floor, the only way she had left to go was up. Taking a deep breath, she slowly started up the stairs. About halfway up, with her head just high enough to see the hallway, she thought she heard something in one of the rooms ahead. She froze, slowly pulling the hammer of her revolver back, praying it wouldn't make a loud-
click
Her heart was racing, and the house was so quiet that it seemed to suck away the ability to make sound at all. Taking another deep breath and telling herself to relax, she finally made it to the top of the stairs, looking at the doors on either side of the hall. There were three more rooms to check, and then she'd be done with it and could rest easy. The sense of urgency she felt to have this house clear made her move a little faster, and she pushed open the door closest to her and looked inside the empty room. Satisfied, she checked the room straight across from it, being met with another empty room. All that left was the room all the way at the end of the hall.
Applejack crept towards it, reaching her hand down to turn the door knob, and found to her surprise that it didn't turn. It must've been locked. She sighed to herself, wiping sweat from her brow, as a peculiar smell hit her nose, one she couldn't quite place but at the same time had a familiarity to it. She brushed it aside, taking a step back. I ain't sleepin' in a house I haven't completely checked.
In one swift motion, she raised her leg up and struck right above the door handle with the bottom of her boot. The door splintered around the lock and flung open, slamming back against the wall. She moved in fast, arm raised and revolver at the ready. Scanning quick, she almost didn't notice the covered lump on the bed in the corner.
She didn't move at first, staring at the small, child-sized bed. She could only imagine what the lump was, and really didn't want to check it, but she had to make sure it wasn't something dangerous. She slowly moved towards it, closing the gap in a second or two before gently pulling the covers back, exposing exactly what she expected to see: the corpse of a small child, mostly decomposed. She nearly threw up in her mouth at the sight of it, not because of the body itself or even the smell of it, but because of who it looked so similar to.
It looked like Apple Bloom.
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She let out a yell and a curse as she spun around, diving behind a wagon that was thankfully within dive distance as another round struck the ground just to the left where she fell. She looked down at Apple Bloom, still in her arms. "Are ya okay? Did ya get hit?"
"No, I'm fine, but..." She pointed to her big sister's shoulder, where there was a bloody hole from the bullet that struck her. Applejack knew it was there, and was doing her best to ignore it despite the pain.
"It doesn't matter none, sugarcube, I'll make it, don't you worry." She paused, trying to gather her thoughts. She had to take that sniper out, or they'd be stuck here until the people from the barn strolled back through town, or some other thing that she'd rather not happen. A plan slowly started forming in her head, and it was stupid, but she had to do something, and fast. She set her sister down next to her, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Apple Bloom, I need you to stay here, behind this wagon. He can't get ya from there."
"Okay, but what are-"
"I'll be back in a jiffy. Just stay down, no matter what, okay?" Before she got an answer, Applejack stood and quickly dashed across the street. A round came way too close to comfort, knocking the hat off her head, but she kept running, jumping at a shop window. Glass shattered and spilled everywhere as her body shot through the air, and she slid across the floor all the way to the wall. She spotted someone else inside behind the counter, although judging by the gun he was holding, he wasn't a friendly person either. She mentally cursed as she kicked off the wall, barely dodging bullets as she slid herself behind one of the store's shelves. She looked around for something to throw, either at him or to distract him. Finding a glass cup, she grabbed it and chucked it to the opposite end of the store.
Once the glass shattered against the wall, the gunfire was immediately redirected towards it. Applejack used this as her chance, dashing around the shelving and towards the counter where the second gunman was. Right as he was reloading his revolver's cylinder, she vaulted over the barrier between them, the bottom of her boot colliding with his face. He flew back, head striking the wall behind him before he slid down to the floor. He was either dead or unconscious, but she didn't intend to waste time finding out which. If everything went okay, she'd be long gone by then. She bent down, taking his revolver and the holster from him and wrapping it around her own waist.
Okay, if'n I remember correctly, I can go through the backdoor of this shop, and there should be a ladder I can use to get onto the rooftop. I can take that bastard out easy as an apple pie once I get close to 'im.
She winced as her shoulder ached and gave another her another sharp pain. Her hand moved up to her sleeve, tearing it off into a strip as she pressed it onto the wound. She walked through the shop and into the backroom, opening the rear door and striding back outside. Scanning around, she spotted the ladder already leading against the building and walked over to it. She was pretty sure the sniper was on the adjacent rooftop, but there was still a few feet that he could get her if she wasn't fast about it. Gripping a rung with the hand of her good arm, she moved quickly up the ladder before climbing up onto the rooftop.
He wasn't facing her, instead focused back on the wagon Apple Bloom was (hopefully) still hiding behind. Applejack glanced down at the gap between the rooftops. She could clear it. Now's my chance.
She ran forward at full speed, leaping over the space between the buildings and landing with a thud on the other roof. Just as the sniper was turning to look back, she was already upon him, delivering a hard, bone-shattering kick to the side of his head. He flew back from her, sliding across the roof before being stopped by the lip of the building. He didn't move, either, but she didn't care if he was dead or just knocked out, she was taking her sister and getting the hell out of here. Scooping his rifle up and slinging it across her shoulder, she looked around from her new vantage point, checking to see if there was anyone else around that she had to worry about.
A bullet whizzed past her head, and she ducked down, quickly moving to the edge of the roof. Seeing no other quick way down, she just jumped, landing down on the ground with a hard thud. She quickly rolled into the cover of an alley as more rounds hit the dirt around her, unslinging the rifle from her shoulder and pulling the bolt back just enough to check if a round was chambered. She glanced over to the wagon her sister was behind and saw two men moving towards it. Her stomach flipped.
Applejack's hand moved over her mouth as she stifled something, either a gag or a sob, or maybe even a combination of the two. She couldn't tear her horrified gaze away from the body she was staring at, as much as she wanted too and as much as her brain told her body to turn away. Finally, the blanket slipped out of her hand, covering up the child once again.
She turned around and briskly walked out of the room, tears welling up at her eyes as she stumbled and fell onto her knees in the hallway. Harsh sobs suddenly poured out of her, tearing at her throat and making it even more dry than it already was. It was like a dam had suddenly burst, and months of built-up emotions were all tumbling out at once, and all she could do was sit there and wait it out.
And wait it out she did. Many long minutes passed until the stream of tears stopped falling from her face, and her nose was stuffy and runny. She felt terrible, and just wanted to curl up on the floor right there. Wiping her nose on her gloved hand, she slowly stood back up, slipping her revolver back into her holster as she glanced down the stairs. She left the front door open.
I swear I closed the damn thing. She sighed as she made her way down the stairs, reaching an arm out to slowly close the front door. As her hand pressed against the wood, she paused.
I did close it.
Her eyes widened, and before she could turn around, she felt something heavy collide into her back, knocking her body forward against the door and slamming it shut. She felt a sharp pain in the front of her head as it struck the wooden door, and she soon felt something spin her around and try to grip at her shirt. Even through the blur she was stuck in from her head injury, Applejack's adrenaline didn't let her rest. "Get offa me!"
She lashed out with a leg, aiming for the center of the person-shaped mass hanging over her. She must've hit it, because it flinched and let go of her shirt, stumbling back a step or two as she clambered back onto her feet. She reached her hand down to her hip, fingers curling around the grip of her revolver as she drew it from its holster. Before she could aim it properly, the person she kicked lunged at her, tackling her and sending them both down to the floor. She felt a large hand curl around her wrist before it started smashing her hand into the floorboards, knocking the revolver from her grasp and sending it sliding a foot or two across the floor.
She felt the hand on the front of her shirt again, and she struggled, trying to turn her body away from the man now hovering over her. Ripping her hand from his grip, she sent her fist straight into his jaw. He recoiled back, and she used this opportunity to kick him square in the knee, as hard as she could. He let out a curse and his leg buckled, nearly falling on top of her. Her arms moved to catch him, and she pushed him off to the side before she rolled over and pushed herself up and back onto her feet.
Now that he was on the ground, she used this moment to lift her leg up, driving her boot-covered foot right into the side of his head. She heard it whack against the floor, and even though he wasn't moving after that, she didn't stop, her heart beating quick and adrenaline pumping through her entire being, so caught up in the moment that she drove her foot into him again and again until his face was a bruised, bloody mess. She finally stopped then, her whole body shaking as she breathed heavily, staring down as what she did in her blind rage.
She waited until she was calmed down before she slowly reached down, her hands gripping under his limp arms as she started to pull him outside. Opening the door back up, she dragged him to the edge of the porch before kicking him off and into a patch of overgrown weeds, nearly hiding the body entirely. Her gloved hand lifted to wipe the beads of sweat from her brow.
"God dammit."
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She raised the rifle up to her shoulder, peering down the sights as she lined up her target. She hated shooting people, even when they deserved it, but she had to protect her sister. There was no hesitation before she pulled the trigger, the kick from the rifle lifting her sight above her target and ramming the stock of the rifle into her wounded shoulder. She held back a yelp of pain, but her aim was true, and the round she fired struck one of the men dead in the back. She pulled the bolt back, cycling around round as she aimed at the other guy. Before he could fully turn around and register what happened, his neck was penetrated by a speeding piece of lead, blood spraying from his body as he crumpled and fell to the ground. Applejack chambered the next bullet, hollering across the street.
"Apple Bloom, stay there! I'm comin'!" She peered out from behind her cover, met with a cloud of splintered wood as gunfire met the corner of the building. She flinched and moved her head back. One more guy on that rooftop. Easy.
Taking a deep breath to steady her nerves, she raised the rifle to her shoulder again, moving quickly out of cover and aiming at the rooftop where the other raider was. He took the shot when she peaked out, and he hit the building just a few inches to the left of her. He missed her entirely. She wouldn't make the same mistake.
She pulled the trigger, the rifle once again kicking into her shoulder as it shot the lightning-fast projectile right at the gunman's head. His cranium exploded in a shower of bone and blood, and he tumbled off the rooftop, landing on the ground with a hard thud. She chambered another round before she looked around the town. Spotting no one else right away, she ran over to where her hat rested on the ground. She reached down and picked it up, brushing it off and placing it back atop her head as she walked back to the wagon, where she was greeted by a giant hug from her little sister. She smiled and held her gently as Apple Bloom sniffed.
"I almost thought you wouldn't come back. I heard all the guns and..."
"Hey now, I told ya I'd make it. Didn't think I'd lie to you, did ya?" She leaned back, smiling reassuringly down at her little sister. "Come on, we gotta get outta here." She stood up, holding her hand out. Apple Bloom stood as well, wiping at her eyes and nose before taking the outstretched hand in hers.
With the hinges making a loud whine, Applejack slowly closed the front door of the cabin before she leaned back against it, sliding down to sit on the floor. She had no idea where that guy came from. She hadn't heard him come in, so it was probably while she was crying upstairs. Rubbing the bridge of her nose, she sighed. "Stupid, weak...what was I thinkin' breaking down like that..."
She leaned her head back against the wood, closing her eyes. Her skull still hurt from when it hit the door, and her joints ached from the fight, even more apparent now that adrenaline wasn't coursing through her entire body. She didn't want to move from this spot, but she knew she should at least relocate to a chair or a couch or something of the sort.
Still, as the minutes dragged on, she just sat on the floor.
She realized then that a rather bad smell was coming from somewhere in the house. A few seconds later, after the smell attacked her nostrils a bit further, she realized that it was her own body that smelled. It was a strange mixture of sweat, caked-on dirt and dried blood on her boot, and now that she noticed it, she almost gagged. She barely hesitated in tugging her boots off, her feet rejoicing at the cool air that touched them.
Applejack sat a while longer before she moved again, taking off her shirt as well. She was now just in her dirty, torn jeans and the many strips of medical tape and gauze that she had wrapped around her torso and chest. She didn't feel like taking them off and redoing them later on, so she just left them where they were. The cooling afternoon air around her felt good on the now-exposed short fur covering her body, and she rested her head against the door again, closing her eyes.
As the minutes stretched into an hour, she was still sitting on the floor. The sun had gone down a while ago already, and she had barely moved from her spot. With a sigh, she got back on her feet with a groan, stretching until her back cracked. Brushing some hair out of her face with a hand, she slowly headed into the kitchen, reaching out to twist the knobs next to the faucet. She wasn't surprised when no water came out, but she was still frustrated.
"Can't the damn Universe give me a break?"
She sighed, rubbing her face with a hand as she turned and headed into the living room, flopping down onto the couch. She slowly loosened the holster on her hip and placed it and her revolver down onto the coffee table in front of her. She leaned her head back, her eyes tracing over the markings of the wood on the ceiling as she stared upwards, her body exhausted but her mind still wide awake. When she ran out of lines to look at, she closed her eyes, her body relaxing slightly.
Until she heard footsteps outside the cabin.
Her eyes shot open, and she almost jumped off of the couch, her hand gripping the revolver as she slid it from its holster, moving to crouch down beneath one of the front windows. The footsteps stopped, and she thought she heard them shuffling before she heard a voice, a girl's voice.
"Is anyone in there?" It sounded so, so familiar to her, but she couldn't quite place it. She heard a soft knock on the front door, followed by an inquisitive "hello?" on the other side. Applejack took a deep breath, her own voice responding back.
"You best not try anything if'n I open that door, ya hear?"
There was a long pause. "...Applejack? Is that you?"
Applejack's heart froze in her chest, and her eyes widened. She was slowly starting to put the details together as she quickly stood up, opening the front door wide. She barely held back a gasp, her gun almost slipping from her grip as she looked at the person with light blue fur and a baseball bat in her hand that was standing on her doorstep.
"...Rainbow?"
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Out of all the things Rainbow Dash expected to see as the door of the small cabin opened up, her orange-colored best friend standing there with only bandages and pants on and a revolver in her hand wasn't one of them. She had rarely seen her with anything besides her usually farming getup on in the past, so this completely took her by surprise. She could barely process the new information she was currently receiving, and her stunned silence just made it easier for her to be pulled into a giant bear hug by the ex-apple farmer. "Oh, Dash, it really IS you! I didn't think I'd ever see any of ya again!"
Rainbow could feel the hug tighten a little as Applejack held her close, and even through the sweat and dirt that she smelled, she also detected a familiar hint of apples stuck on her friend's fur. She finally just dropped the bat she was holding and wrapped her own arms around her friend, still not entirely convinced that this was really happening. Her hands clenched at the wrappings around Applejack's torso, and her heart thudded hard against her chest, and she wagered that her friend could feel every beat. "...yeah, right back at you, AJ."
The hug went on for a few seconds more before Applejack leaned back, smiling wide, even as tears brimmed at her eyes. Rainbow's heart ached a little as she looked back at those emerald eyes, so many emotions expressed simply through her gaze. "Well, come on in, don't be a stranger."
She turned and walked inside before Rainbow bent down to pick up her bat and followed, closing the door behind her. It was pretty dark in the house at the moment, but she could still make out where Applejack went, and she walked after her into the living room, depositing her backpack next to her friend's on one of the chairs. She placed her bat on the coffee table after Applejack set her revolver down onto it and plopped onto the couch, her orange friend doing the same next to her. "I still can't believe you're really here, Dash. I was so convinced I'd never see hide nor hair of ya ever again, after all that's happened in the last few years."
"Yeah...it's been some pretty rough shit." She turned to face Applejack as she wiped at her eyes, facing her as well.
"What've you been doin' this whole time?"
Rainbow leaned back into the couch, looking forward again. "It's a long story, AJ. I'd have to fill you in about years of things that happened." Rainbow could almost sense the hesitation in Applejack. She figured she might've made it seem like she didn't want to talk about it, which was partially true, but it was mostly because she was so tired. Still, the apple farmer spoke up, a hand moving to rest on Rainbow's shoulder.
"I got all night to listen, sugarcube." That was enough incentive. Rainbow took a deep breath, turning to partially face her friend.
Rainbow swung her bat again, and it collided right into the side of the person she was fighting. She could hear the crack as a few ribs broke from the fierce impact, winding the man in front of her. She lifted her leg, driving her foot into his knee and bringing him down to the ground. She lifted her bat above her, a ferocious look displayed on her face as she drove it down with one hard swing onto his head.
He stopped moving after that.
She stood, panting heavily as she looked at the body on the ground. She tried not to look directly at the exploded cranium, but her eyes still drifted up to it, and she stared down at it. A week or two ago, the sight would've made her sick to her stomach, but not anymore. She wiped her bloodied baseball bat against his shirt before she turned around, looking back at the torched farmhouse that once belonged to her best friend. She slipped her weapon onto one of the straps on her backpack before she walked up to the burned building. There really wasn't much left, and she wasn't sure if she could ever find out if Applejack had been torched along with it or had gotten away.
She did, however, find the body of Big Mac with a single bullet hole in his head near the barn, which was also burned down along with the farmhouse. He was surrounded by a few other corpses, all with either gunshot wounds or broken necks or stab wounds. She guessed that he had run out of ammo and started beating down anyone who came close. Given how massive he was, she imagined it was quite an intimidating sight. But even he couldn't have taken them all on by himself, it seems.
Still, as sad as it was, Rainbow didn't come here to find Big Mac, she came here looking for Applejack. And from what she could look through that wasn't now a pile of ash, she pieced together that she wasn't here when the barn or farmhouse burned down. "Ol' Mac must've been holding them off so she could get away. I bet she has Apple Bloom with her, too."
If she hadn't been so far away when she first heard about what happened to the farm, she would've been there sooner, and possibly could've even intercepted them as they fled the orchard. She mentally cursed herself for not getting there in time, but there was nothing she could do now besides go after her friend. "I hope you haven't done something stupid, AJ."
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Rainbow had been following the road for a while now, and her legs ached considerably. She wiped sweat from her forehead as she unfurled her wings from her back, flapping them just enough to hover a bit off the ground. If she wasn't already feeling tired, she would've taken off high into the sky and kept going, but she didn't want to risk overdoing it and crashing into the ground and possibly breaking something. A few months ago, it wouldn't have been so bad, and she's had her fair share of crash landings and broken bones. Now, a broken bone could get you killed, and truth be told, she liked living quite a bit.
She continued to hover along, as the minutes stretched to hours, and day changed to night. Now her wings ached on top of her legs and joints, and she landed softly off to the side of the road and behind a thick patch of weeds. She figured it would be enough of a cover that no one should see her too well if they came through on the road. She slipped her backpack off of her shoulders and rummaged through it, pulling out a blanket and laying it on the ground. Her backpack was tossed next to the blanket, and she flopped down, staring up at the cloudy night sky.
She remembered, way back when, before all of this end of days stuff, that she and the rest of her friends would do this a lot. Bring some blankets out at night and just lie down and talk to one another for hours. Eventually, everyone would fall asleep except her and Applejack, and they'd keep talking until the sun came up.
She missed those moments now. It had been so long since she saw a person who wasn't trying to kill her that she had almost forgotten what being with friends was like. She missed all of them, but they all had left her life one after another, either in death or in their travels. All except Applejack, until now.
Rainbow had never felt more alone.
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A week or two later, and she didn't feel any closer to finding Applejack. She had been all over creation, looking for leads in towns or just trying to figure out on her own if she's been in any of the places previous to Rainbow ending up there. The only place worth note was a collapsed building that only looked like it had collapsed recently, but there was still no trace of Applejack there, either.
She soon ended up back on the road she was following before. She was getting frustrated, and also losing hope that she would ever see her friend again. She had been so determined that she'd find her, easy as pie, and then they'd go through this together and everything would be okay. "Stupid, optimistic bullshit-"
As she walked along, and the sun set and the moon took its place, she spotted a small cabin, a few hundred meters away from the road. She turned herself to walk towards it, slipping her bat from the strap it was slung on as she approached. She really didn't want to have to defend herself from anyone, praying that if anyone was in here that they wouldn't be murderous.
She stepped up onto the front porch, the wood under her feet making a creak. She froze for a second before shuffling her feet in place. With a bit of hesitation, she spoke out. "Is anyone in there?"
She paused for a few seconds before she added a little "Hello?" after that. She moved her bat, softly knocking it against the door. She didn't get any answer right away, and as she moved to open the front door, another voice rang out from inside.
"You best not try anything if'n I open that door, ya hear?"
Rainbow's heart stopped as she head that voice, with that familiar twang in it. She knew exactly who it was, and her heart started thudding hard in her chest. There was a long pause before she responded, with another question. "...Applejack? Is that you?"
Rainbow heard movement inside before the door flung itself open, revealing the person was was looking for this whole time.
"...Rainbow?"
----------
"And the rest you already know. I did leave some little things out, but they're not important or anything." She looked over at Applejack, who had been listening intently the whole time. For a second, Rainbow Dash felt bad for leaving out a few details and not asking AJ about what she went through, but she pushed those thoughts aside as her friend spoke.
"I figured ya did. But ya don't have to tell me everything, I get the gist of it. It's been hard on ya." Once again, Rainbow felt Applejack's hand on her shoulder, and her heartbeat quickened just a smidgen at the contact.
"I appreciate you comin' to look for me all this time, Dash, and I'm sorry I didn't come to ya first. To be honest, I figured somethin' happened to ya just like the rest of our friends, which is why I didn't make my way to your home at all, I didn't want to drop my problems on top of yours or anythin' like that..."
"AJ, come on, it wouldn't have been dropping problems on me, I would've helped you out in a heartbeat. I'm not the embodiment of loyalty for nothing, right?" She gave her orange friend a small grin, which was returned with a smile.
"Yeah, I guess it was a might silly of me to think ya wouldn't want to help me out." Applejack leaned back into the couch, rubbing at her eyes. "D'you want the couch tonight? I could sleep on one of the chairs or somethin'-"
"Nah, you can sleep on it, I'll just use a chair." In reality, her body was practically yelling at her to take the couch, but she ignored it.
"You sure?"
"Yeah, of course. Don't worry about it, AJ." She gave her a reassuring smile, and Applejack smiled back.
"Alrighty. We should be headin' in, then, so we can leave bright and early."
After they both bid each other goodnight, that's exactly what they did.
The first thing Applejack saw when she opened her eyes was Apple Bloom shaking her awake. "AJ, the building's fallin' down-"
A massive wooden beam hit the ground next to them, springing Applejack into full-on alert as she quickly sat up, taking her little sister's hand as she started to move towards the exit. The building was groaning and collapsing around them as she ran, and she chanced a glance up, seeing a gigantic piece of the ceiling heading straight for her.
She felt a push from behind her and tripped over her own feet, stumbling and falling out of the doorway. She hit the ground with a thud as the shelter behind her gave a final crash and fell down entirely. She looked back, her heart stuck in her throat.
"NO!"
----------
"Apple Bloom!"
She sat up with a jolt, nearly falling off of the couch as she awake from her nightmare. Her head was held in her hand and her eyes were shut tight, the sunlight shining through the windows too much for her still sensitive eyes. She panted heavily, her chest heaving as she took in deep breaths. She flinched when she felt a pair of hands on her shoulders before remembering she wasn't alone in the house.
"AJ, are you okay?" Applejack opened her eyes, looking up at her blue-furred friend before she calmed herself down a bit, nodded, and looked away again, completely unconvincing.
"Yeah, I'm jus' fine-"
"You're still a terrible liar." Rainbow moved herself in front of Applejack, making the ex-apple farmer look back into her bright magenta eyes. "I'm gonna ask you again, and I want the truth: are you okay?"
Applejack hesitated. She was tempted to try lying again, but she knew Rainbow would see right through it again. She sighed before slowly shaking her head, tears already making her vision fuzzy.
"No...no, Dash, I'm not okay, but..." She looked at Rainbow, seeing the heartbreak and worry in her friend's expression before she turned away again.
"You know you can tell me anything, right?" The farmer just nodded, and she felt a hand gently turn her head, forcing her to look back at Rainbow's face again. They locked eyes, and Applejack felt a slight heat rush to her cheeks as she stared into her friend's magenta orbs, a blush which she noticed was matched on Rainbow's face. For a split second, she almost lost it entirely and poured everything out right then and there, but she stopped herself, taking a shaky breath.
"...I had a dream about Apple Bloom. Or, I guess it's more like a nightmare..."
The tears started gathering at her eyes again, but she didn't try turning away this time. Rainbow's brow creased slightly, worry painting her face. "What happened in the dream, Applejack?"
Applejack swallowed, the dam crumbing as she closed her eyes, remembering the dream vividly. "I was bein' woken up by her...the building we were in for the night was comin' down around us, and...and a big part of the roof was about to fall on top of me, b-but she pushed me out of the way and-"
A sob managed to choke itself out, and Applejack looked down, tears streaming down her cheeks. Without much warning, she felt Rainbow's arms wrap around her and pull her tight against her soft blue fur. She found herself hugging back, her hands clutching at the back of Rainbow's shirt as the sobs poured out, ugly tears lining her face when they rolled down her cheeks. Her head buried into Rainbow's shoulder, a faint smell of rain detectable above the more noticeable hint of sweat.
They sat on the couch together for what felt like a very long time, but in reality was only a minute or two at the most. She felt Rainbow start to lean back, and her arms instinctively tightened a little around her friend. She heard a soft chuckle before she felt arms wrap around her again, gently rubbing her back. She shut her eyes, sniffling a little as the calming embrace and the light touch of her back being rubbed led her off towards sleep again.
"...Applejack?" Applejack's ear flicked at the sudden voice, and she turned her head slightly so she was facing the side of Rainbow's face.
"Yeah, Dash?"
She saw her friend swallow before she spoke again. "There's something I gotta tell you. I've been hesitating for a while now, but it's a bit draining to keep it in, you know?"
"Sure, shoot."
Rainbow leaned back a bit, and Applejack let her, their eyes locking again. Rainbow's blush was deeper than it was before. "I just don't want to make things weird or something-"
"Rainbow, it's okay. Just be honest with me." She offered her blue friend a small smile to reassure her, and it seemed to work.
"Well, I-" Suddenly, there was a thud from upstairs. They both nearly jumped at the sudden noise, their heads slowly turning to look towards the stairs. Rainbow spoke first. "What was that?"
Applejack glanced at the coffee table next to them, reaching out to grip her revolver in her hand. "I dunno, but we're gonna find out."
"We?" Applejack turned around and gave Rainbow a look, to which her blue-furred friend grinned at. "I'm kidding, I'm kidding. Let's go."
She reached over for her bat and nodded when she gripped it in her hands, and they both slowly stood and walked towards the stairs. They stopped at the bottom, both of them hesitating and looking up the steps. "Uh, you go first."
"Me? You're the one with the dang bat!"
"Yeah, but-" She glanced over, and sighed when she saw the look Applejack was giving her. "Fine, fine, I'm going. You better be right behind me, though." Gripping her bat, Rainbow slowly started up the stairs, each step rewarding her with a load creak that made her heart stop each time. "Stupid old wood stairs..."
She reached the top, and looked around. All of the doors were opened besides the one at the end of the hall, and she didn't see anything in the rooms she could look into. She glanced back at Applejack, who had joined her at the top of the stairs. "There's only one room it could've come from."
She looked straight ahead, walking down the hall to the door that was closed. She reached her hand down to the door knob, turning it slowly and pushing the door open. Suddenly, something small and filly-sized plowed into her, knocking her down onto the ground as a jaw snapped wildly at her, trying to sink its teeth into her. She held her bat straight across its chest, holding it back. "GODDAMN, GET IT OFF-"
She saw a boot collide into the side of whatever was on top of her, and it was sent back into the wall as Rainbow scrambled back to her feet. Whatever it was that attacked her was a bit sluggish in getting back to its feet, and they both stared at it. "What in tarnation is that thing?"
Rainbow turned to Applejack. "Why are you asking now?! Shoot it or something!"
Applejack nodded, raising her revolver up as it turned to face her. She stared down at the face that had reminded her so much of her sister the day before, and she frowned, pulling the hammer back. "I'm sorry."
Her finger pressed the trigger, the gun kicking up as it sent a single bullet colliding into the head of the thing staring at her. Brain and skull splattered onto the wall behind it, and it slowly fell back, sliding down the wall. Applejack's arm fell to her side, and she slowly holstered her revolver before turning to move down the stairs, not even giving the body or Rainbow a backwards glance.
Rainbow stared at the body for a while longer, just watching blood trickle onto the floor in stunned silence as it pooled around small fleshy chunks of brain and bone chippings from the skull.. Then she blinked, and realized that she was now alone upstairs. "Applejack, hey, wait up!"
She rushed down the stairs after her friend, who was at the front door, slipping into her boots. She already had her shirt back on, and her backpack was slung over a shoulder. She turned to look back at the pegasus. "What is it, Rainbow? I wanna get outta here."
Rainbow paused. She actually had a few things she wanted to say. "Did you know that thing was up there?"
Applejack had her boots on by this point, and was ready to go, but she didn't want to ignore her friend or the questions she was asking her, so she turned around to face her, frowning. "Look, when I checked the rooms before, the only thing I found up there was a body. Not some kinda nightmare trying to get a bite out of me."
"Are you sure?" When she saw Applejack's frown grow, she made a face at her own words and shook her head. "No, never mind, I trust you. I just...what the hell was that?"
"I don't know, Rainbow, but I'd really love ta just get outta here."
As she turned to leave the cabin, Rainbow closed the gap in a few steps, putting a hand gently on her friend's arm. "Wait, hold on...there's something else I gotta say first."
Even though Applejack could've easily kept going, she stopped at the contact. "Is it about what you were sayin' on the couch before?"
Rainbow's heart quickened just at the mention of it. "Well...yeah, it is."
Applejack turned around to face her, and for a split second, Rainbow got lost in those shining emerald eyes looking down at her. She swallowed, her hand falling back to its side. "Well, uh..." She shuffled her feet, suddenly incredibly nervous and at a loss for words.
"Dash, just say what ya got to. I won't be mad or nothin' at ya, I promise."
"You promise?"
"Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye." She even went through the motions of it. Rainbow couldn't help but smile a little at the display.
"Okay, um, I've been hiding this for a long time, actually...like before all of this end of the world stuff happened. I just want to say this in case, you know, something would happen to one of us or something..." She looked down, not wanting to face Applejack as she admitted this. "I've always been really into you, AJ. Like it used to just be as a friend, you know, someone who I could count on and depend on and help out and stuff. Like we have a good thing goin', and it's been awesome the whole way. But...for a lot of that, I've been holding onto a crush for you. Which you know, isn't really anything, crushes are small and easy enough to get over. Only this isn't a crush anymore, I don't think. I think..."
She seemed to be shrinking back from Applejack as she continued. "I think I'm in love with you, Applejack. I was so worried that I'd never find you, and I was slowly losing my own drive to go on, but then I did and I felt so, so happy that my heart ached just looking at you again...but I don't want to make things weird or have us not talk anymore or lose my best friend or some other stupid shit, but I can't stop thinking about it and I don't know-"
"Rainbow." The blue pegasus closed her mouth, slowly looking up at Applejack. The orange mare had a soft smile on her face, and she was holding her arms out. "C'mere."
Rainbow hesitated before she moved forward, wrapping her arms tight around the apple farmer. Her head buried itself into Applejack's neck as she felt her friend's arms move around her, holding her close against her. She could detect the smell of apples on her orange fur, and she closed her eyes, the tension in her body leaving almost instantly.
"I missed you, Applejack."
"I missed you too, sugarcube."
They stayed in the embrace for a while longer before Rainbow spoke again. "So, um. How do you feel? About me?"
Applejack gently leaned back enough to look down at Rainbow, her arms unwrapping themselves from around her friend. "To be honest, Dash, I'm not sure. Part of me wants ta say I feel the same way ya'll do, and there are definitely times when I do, and there have been in the past. When I first saw ya right on that there porch, well, I was happy as all heck, and I'm glad you're here with me now, and I care about you a whole lot. But then again, another part of me isn't positive about it. I'm jus'...I ain't absolutely sure, I guess. But I am leaning towards agreeing with ya."
She offered the blue mare a small smile. "I think...we could jus' try it, and see what happens. I'd be up for it, if you are."
Rainbow looked up at her, processing the new information. She didn't get a "no" like she had been expecting, but it wasn't really a yes, either. Still, AJ wanted to try it, and she knew she did as well. She gave a grin back up at the apple farmer. "Yeah. Absolutely, I am."
"Heh, I figured ya would be. Now let's get-"
Anything Applejack was about to say was lost as she felt Rainbow's lips pressed against hers. Her train of thought derailed in a spectacular crash, and her cheeks burned with a sudden heat. However, she found herself shutting her eyes, pressing back into the kiss, her heart drumming against her chest. She could feel the blue pegasus wrapping her arms around her as the kiss continued, and instead of leaning back, she did the same in return, her own arms embracing her smaller friend and pulling her against her. Their hands both trailed up their backs before getting tangled in the hair on each other's heads.
The kiss was held until they both ran out of breath, unaware that they both had forgotten to breath through their noses while it was happening. They stared at each other after their lips parted, panting lightly with flushed cheeks. Applejack felt an old but familiar sensation around her stomach, and she figured she knew exactly why it was there.
"...Damn, Applejack." Rainbow grinned up at her, her magenta eyes shinning back up into Applejack's green orbs. Applejack smiled back, and her heart and her mind were both telling her the same thing.
Applejack had them quickly leave the cabin far behind after that, the sun not even fully in the sky yet as they followed the road, painting the clouds in bright oranges and pinks. They had left rather early in the morning so they could get a bit of a head start on their traveling for the day.
At least, it was early for Rainbow. "AJ, why couldn't we have just stayed there a little while longer?"
Applejack glanced back at her before rolling her eyes, even as a smile betrayed her feelings of amusement. "Ya know dang well why. We need ta get a nice jump on our travels, get as far as possible."
"Yeah, okay, that's good and all, but...where exactly are we going?"
Applejack stopped suddenly, causing Rainbow to walk right into her, the pegasus' face bumping into the back of her shoulder. The orange mare turned around to look back at her friend, the expression on her face neutral before she smiling softly, just a bit of nervousness detectable on her face. "Well, actually, about that-"
"You have no set destination in mind, do you?"
"No, I did! I mean, I do! It's jus' that..." She shuffled her feet a little. "It might be a big waste of time, ya know?"
"No, I really don't, because I still don't know where we're going." Rainbow Dash crossed her arms, looking up at the apple farmer. "C'mon, AJ, I'm going along for the ride, you gotta spill it. It's only fair."
Applejack was about to protest, but sighed instead. "Fair enough. I...I wanted ta find Canterlot."
Rainbow blinked, not expecting the answer she received. "Why do you wanna go there? There's probably nothing left."
"But what if there is, Rainbow? What if we could get answers about what happened?"
"AJ..." The blue mare stepped forward, placing a hand on Applejack's shoulder. "You're placing a lot of faith on a big 'what if' here. If there's nothing there, and we can't get answers, then what?"
"Then we go from there. We find a place to go and settle down and just try to survive." One glance at Applejack's face, one look into those green eyes, and the determination to go through with this plan was plain for Rainbow to see. She sighed a little, more in exasperation than anything else, then put on a grin.
"Alright. I'm down for that."
----------
The rest of the trip was shrouded in a blanket of silence as they continued on the road. It wasn't an awkward silence, however, the two of them just didn't have much more to say to one another, and simply enjoyed behind in each other's company once again. Applejack glanced over at the blue pegasus, her eyes absentmindedly looking over her friend's toned form as she walked next to her. Whereas Applejack was tall and stocky, built much more for strength and endurance than being quick (courtesy of working on a farm all her life), Rainbow Dash was just the opposite, short and lithe, her body conditioned for speed, nearly perfected for it over the years. Applejack couldn't help but admire the work her friend had put towards her physical training after a whole life of aspiring to be a part of the Wonderbolts. She was sure that if the world didn't end, her friend's dreams would've been a reality.
"Enjoying the view, AJ?" Applejack blinked her eyes at the voice, snapping out of her stare and immediately turning her head to look forward, her cheeks heating up. She didn't see the smirk her friend had on her face, but she could picture it perfectly. "Ha! Come on, I know I look good, you can look all you want."
Applejack snorted, looking over at her again. "Glad to see y'all bein' full of yerself doesn't stop at jus' yer flyin' skills."
Rainbow grinned, holding up her hands in a small shrug. "Hey, I'm not wrong."
Applejack rolled her eyes, grinning right back. "I suppose not."
Her friend moved in front of her, walking backwards."Whaddaya mean, 'I suppose not'? You're so into me. You think I'm the hottest mare around." That cocky grin seemed like it was here to stay.
"Man, y'all sure love a good stroke of yer ego, don'tcha?"
The cocky grin Rainbow was wearing on her face suddenly turned mischievous. "That's not the only thing I like a good stroke of." Applejack took a second to process that, and her cheeks turned red when she finally did.
"Nuh uh, we ain't goin' down this road."
Rainbow Dash snickered before she turned back around, facing the direction she was walking. "You're too fun to mess with, AJ. I'm gonna have to do it more often."
----------
After walking for a few more hours and having many stupid little chats about whatever came to mind, Applejack decided that they should find a place to sleep for the night. There were no buildings in the immediate area, so they settled for going off the road a bit until they found a spot that they could settle down in. Rainbow tossed her backpack onto the ground before she flopped down next to it, stretching as she got comfortable. "Man, my legs are sore."
Applejack sat next to her, digging through her backpack for something, but not having much luck in actually finding it. "That's because ya have no endurance."
"Oh, that's bullshit and you know it!"
Applejack chuckled as she moved her backpack behind her, setting her head on it as she lied down. One hand was behind her head, the other just resting on her stomach. "'M jus' teasin' ya."
Silence once again filled the air after that, both of them looking up at the clouds. A star or two poked through, but for the most part, they stayed entirely hidden behind the sky's fluffy cover. Applejack focused on one star in particular before a cloud moved to cover it. "I miss seein' all the stars at night."
Rainbow turned her head, looking at the orange mare. She didn't say anything back, and Applejack took that as an invitation to keep talking. "I mean, whenever I was done buckin' apples back in the day, I used to always look up at 'em. Look for certain constellations and whatnot. I did it so much that I guess I never noticed how much I liked doin' it, it was jus' a constant thing. Now...now even the stars ain't there for me anymore. It felt like no one or nothin' was, for a long time."
She closed her eyes, a small frown on her face. Rainbow's heart panged at seeing and hearing this, and she scooted closer, placing her hand on top of Applejack's. "I'm here for you, AJ. And I don't intend to leave you anytime soon. Pinkie promise."
Applejack opened her eyes, looking up into Rainbow's magenta ones. She smiled, moving her hand to take Rainbow's and hold it softly. "Thanks, sugarcube. That makes me feel loads better."
She saw the smile appear on her friend's face at her words, which made her heart thud against her chest. Her cheeks heated slightly, turning a light shade of red as she slowly leaned up, catching Rainbow's lips with her own. It took a second for Rainbow to process what was happening before she leaned into the kiss herself, deepening it and pushing Applejack fully down onto her back.
It didn't take much longer for things to get a bit more heated than that. The light kissing turned deeper and more rough as years of pent-up feelings were about to make themselves known. Tongues danced in their mouths as hands gripped and tugged at clothing and fur, heat rising to their cheeks and other deeper places. Rainbow found herself on top of Applejack, panting as the orange mare nibbled and licked at her neck.
"Sweet Celestia..." Her hands were still gripping the apple farmer's shirt, and she slowly tugged at the front of it, the buttons popping open and exposing Applejack's wrapped torso. The shirt was tossed off to the side as the orange mare moved her own hands, one gently resting on Rainbow's back while the other slipped under the front of the pegasus' shirt. She looked up at the flushed Rainbow Dash on top of her, smirking.
Applejack was only aware of the pain stuck in her thighs and stomach when the sunlight seemed to concentrate on her sleeping form, the bright rays waking her from slumber. She tried to turn away, to get even a few more minutes of sleep, but something next to her and slightly on top of her prevented her from doing so. Her eyes fluttered open, and she glanced downward, her vision mostly blocked by a mass of rainbow-colored hair. She smiled softly, one of her arms moving so she could brush a hand over the furry back of the pegasus lying on top of her.
Rainbow stirred under her touch, nuzzling her head deeper into her chest. Applejack chuckled at the sight, which only caused the blue mare to stir again, her eyes opening halfway as she propped herself up on one of her arms, looking around. She rubbed at her face, not entirely aware of her surroundings. "Mm...Applejack?"
"Mornin', Dashie." A few seconds passed before Rainbow Dash blinked, then looked right down at the apple farmer. She noticed an absence of her friend's torso wrappings, and her shirt put back on halfheartedly, barely buttoned up at all. Her own shirt was tossed off to the side, discarded and forgotten during the night.
Applejack could see the gears turning as she pieced everything together. "...It wasn't a dream?"
"Not unless I had the same exact one." The orange mare kept the smile on her face as Rainbow processed this new tidbit, leaning up to kiss the blushing cheek of the pegasus sitting up over her. "I remember you bein' pretty amazin' last night, sugarcube~"
The blush painting Rainbow Dash's cheeks only grew, and she hid her face behind her hands before turning away, forcing a laugh out of the orange mare. She sat up, blowing a loose strand of golden hair out of her face. "Whatcha so embarrassed about, I said y'all were good. Where's that cocky pegasus that I was oh-so taken with last night?"
"She's hiding being a wall of disbelief." Rainbow turned around to face her, a small smile on her face. "It's just that...okay, this might sound weird, but I've dreamed about a night like last night before. And it was better than even my wildest dreams, because it was real. I woke up the next day and I was really next to you. I'm still not convinced this is real..."
"It was real, I can promise ya that much." Applejack grinned, kissing at Rainbow's jaw from behind her. "An' I don't regret any part of it, trust me."
"Really?" Rainbow turned around to face Applejack, a look of slight disbelief painting her face.
"Well, I wasn't the Element of Honesty fer nothin', Dash. Y'all know I mean what I say." The orange mare wrapped her arms around the blue pegasus in front of her. "Now come on, we gotta pack up an' hit the road."
Rainbow gave a little whine of protest, leaning back into Applejack. "Can't we just stay here a bit longer?"
Applejack smiled mischievously, tilting her head just enough to gently nibble on Rainbow's neck. This elicited a small moan from the blue mare, and she tilted her own head to expose more of her neck. But the sensual biting she was expecting never came, replaced with a soft kiss on her jaw. "No."
"Nnn, dammit, AJ."
Applejack chuckled as she unwrapped her arms from the other mare, slowly standing up and stretching. "Come on, ya lazy bum, we're burnin' daylight."
----------
For the rest of the morning, they continued onward, walking at a rather brisk pace, as if last night's lust-filled adventure gave them both an extra spring in their steps. Rainbow was extra cheerful, Applejack was absolutely content, and they both kept sneaking glances at each other as they walked, occasionally talking about something or other. This continued until the sun started to set, casting an orange glow on everything it's light touched. Applejack looked up at the clouds.
"Lookit that, the day's almost over already!" She took her hat off, wiping her brow with her forearm before placing the stetson back on its perch, turning to the pegasus next to her. "Don't feel like we've been walkin' all day, huh?"
"Nah, not at all. Went by pretty fast, honestly." Rainbow hopped up into the air, her wings unfolding from her back and stretching out from her back, flapping slowly to keep her suspended above the ground. They were sore from not being used in quite some time, but she kept hovering anyway. Applejack glanced over at her.
"I haven't seen ya use them wings the whole time we've been reunited."
Rainbow simply turned a bit, exposing part of her wing missing a few feathers and wrapped up slightly, something Applejack didn't notice when they were folded behind her. "Yeah, that's because a big blue flying pegasus is an easy target."
The orange mare's smile melted away, replaced with a frown laced with concern. "Rainbow, what the hay? When did this happen?" She moved over, tugging the hovering mare down to the ground and inspecting the wing.
"While I was looking for you. It was kinda..." She smiled sheepishly, already expecting to get chewed out for this. "...one of the little details I left out before."
Applejack huffed a little, undoing the shoddy gauze wrapping over the injury. "This could've gotten infected, ya know that? Ya could've lost this here wing."
The wing flexed and twitched as she took the gauze off of it. She was never really this close to Rainbow's wings before, and never noticed all the little movements that the muscles made. They entranced her, and she found herself lightly touching her fingertips along the rows of feathers, feeling the soft wing lining before moving down to the primaries and secondaries. Rainbow, meanwhile, had been biting her lip the whole time, feeling every single touch and finger brush as her cheeks heated.
"Mm...AJ?"
Applejack blinked, looking up at the side of Rainbow's head. "Oh, sorry, does it hurt?"
"Well, uh, no, it's somethin' else..."
The apple farmer tilted her head to the side, not understanding right away. As soon as what it was clicked, however, her cheeks flushed, but she didn't take her hands off of Rainbow's wings right away. She trailed her hands to the injured spot, lightly touching at it before she rewrapped it, much better than it was before.
"Uh, there, I fixed it for ya."
Her hands slowly trailed down the half-opened wing, moving to lightly press into Rainbow's back through her shirt. Something inside Applejack stirred, something incredibly familiar, but she held it back, biting her lip as her arms fell back to her sides. She moved around the blue mare, not looking back.
They continued on for an hour or two more, until the sun had set and the multiple hues of orange and purple were replaced by the moon's illuminating white light. With all of their walking, they must've been getting closer to Canterlot, as more houses and small stores started popping up on the sides of the road. Applejack stopped walking outside of a little shop, grinning and glancing back at Rainbow. "Hey, Dash, come lookit this."
The blue pegasus hovered over, looking through the front display window. "A costume shop? So what?"
"Yeah, a costume shop. We can get some new clothes, clothes that don't smell! Plus, I'm sure there's somethin' in there that'll make you look...what d'you always used to say, 22% cooler or somethin' like that?" Rainbow chuckled at the other mare messing up her catch phrase, but let it go.
"Sure, okay, you got me. Let's get in there." The mare hovered her way over to the front door, tugging back on it. The door didn't budge. "Well, it looks to be a bit locked. Any ideas on how to get in?"
Applejack looked around, scanning the buildings until her gaze moved up. "Window on the second floor is opened." She pointed a gloved hand up to it. Sure enough, the glass was shattered, giving access to the inside of the house. "D'you wanna go in and unlock it, or should I?" She was met with a look from Rainbow. "What?"
"AJ, we can both get up there. I have wings, remember?" She flared them out as she spoke, her face displaying a playful little grin. "How could you forget, when you were all over 'em a few hours ago?"
Applejack felt heat rush to her cheeks, and she stammered. "I-I was not all over 'em! They're jus'...interestin' to me, is all."
"You think they're hot, don't you?" Rainbow's smirk only fueled the intensity of her blush, and she glared at the blue mare.
"Jus' get us up to that there window."
"On it!" Rainbow flapped over to Applejack, her arms moving to wrap under the orange mare's as she lifted up. Applejack wasn't picked up by the pegasus much in the past, and the sudden upwards movement and weightlessness flipped her stomach. Luckily, it was short lived, and she was set down on the window sill, climbing into the room before her. Rainbow joined her a second or two later. The room was filled to the brim with clothing racks, nearly every one sporting rows of costumes, ranging from "simplistic" to "extremely overdoing it."
"Heh, Rarity would've been all about this place." Rainbow moved next to one of the racks, casually looking through the options.
"Yep, I reckon she would've been." Applejack moved to a different one, noticing the costumes on the rack she picked to browse through were all Wild West themed. She stopped over a gunslinger outfit, looking it over. It had a few pieces suitable for her liking, mainly a new button-down shirt she could use, so she unhooked it from the hanger it was on.
"Wow, a Wonderbolts uniform! This is so cool!" Rainbow's sudden excited exclamation almost made Applejack jump out of her skin, and she looked up at the blue pegasus who was across the room, holding up the blue and yellow costume. Her eyes seemed to shine as she gazed upon it. "I bet it looks good on me."
"Why don't ya try it on?" The apple farmer grinned over at her, the grin quickly turning into a playful smirk. "I bet you look mighty attractive in uniform, Dash."
Rainbow looked over at her, her cheeks tinted red. "Heh, yeah, I bet I do too." After stashing it into her backpack, the pegasus flapped her way over to Applejack, looking through the racks of outfits with her. She paused on one in particular, grinning. "Oh, you should definitely try this costume on later."
Applejack looked down at it, and her own face flushed at what she saw. "Rainbow, I ain't dressing myself up like some 20 dollar whore, no matter how much you'd like it." That wasn't exactly true, so she quickly added. "I got too much self respect for that." That wasn't exactly true, either, but Rainbow didn't seem to notice it.
"Oh, come on, it's not that bad! And it would only be, y'know, sometimes..." The blue mare looked over at the other, giving her best puppy-dog eyes. They worked like a charm, causing the farm mare to huff.
"Oh, consarnit, Rainbow, jus' give me the damn thing." She snatched it from Rainbow's hands and unslung her backpack from her shoulder, stuffing it in and forcing a laugh from the pegasus. Applejack didn't even look up. "If'n you think it's so funny, I can put it back."
The laughter immediately ceased, and Applejack turned to face the only door in the room. "We should check the rest of this place out, make sure there ain't anything hidin' around in here with us." She reached down to her hip, slipping her revolver from her holster. She flicked the cylinder out. "Hope I don't have ta use this thing, I'm startin' to run out of ammo here..."
"Then let me go first. My weapon doesn't need ammo." Rainbow brandished her bat as if to prove her point. "I'll whack our way through anything in our path!"
Applejack smirked. "Yeah, like ya did back at the cabin to whatever that thing was?"
"Hey, that one took me by surprise! If I see anything like that again, they won't be so lucky." If she had any doubt behind the cocky grin she threw up on her face, it didn't show. The orange mare rolled her eyes, but still let a smile show.
"Alright, then, Rainbow, I'll jus' make sure to stay behind ya when you're doing all yer whackin'."
"Oh, AJ, you can stand in front of me whenever whacking's involved-" This earned her a playful shove from Applejack, and they both laughed before facing the door again. "Alright, let's go."
They both walked out into the hallway, which was barely lit up from the moon shining brightly outside and through the few windows from the other rooms. Rainbow hesitated until her sight adjusted a bit more to the darkness before she reached back behind her, digging through one of the side pockets on her backpack. Finding what she needed, she turned it on, the small flashlight casting illuminating light down the hall, revealing stairs twisting down. She handed the flashlight to Applejack. "I need both hands for the bat."
"I gotcha." Applejack moved alongside her, pointing the light in front of them as they got to the top of the stairs. She nodded to Rainbow, who then started down first, moving a few steps ahead before the orange mare followed her. They crept down the stairs, inching their way down before the pegasus in front finally touched the landing. She froze, causing Applejack to bump into her.
"Dash, what in tarnation-" She glanced up, the flashlight revealing why Rainbow Dash froze.
It was a rather sizable group of those things, like the one from the cabin.
The snarls and groans of the creatures were right on their heels as they ran back up the stairs. Applejack's heart was pounding fiercely against her chest as she ran back into the room with all the clothing racks, Rainbow right behind her. She slammed the door closed behind them, pressing her body up against it as she felt fists strike the other side of the wood. "Rainbow, get some of those clothing racks over here, NOW!"
"On it!" The pegasus bolted over to the closest one, giving it a hard shove so it rolled over in front of the orange mare. She moved from her spot in front of the door, tipping the rack over to it fell in front of the closed door. Another was pushed over to her, and she pushed that one over as well. Soon enough, there was a large pile of costumes and metal clothing racks barricading the door, bangs and moans and yells audible on the other side. Applejack stepped away from the door, her breathing heavy as Rainbow nearly shuddered next to her. "Sweet Celestia...what are those things?"
"I...I don't know, Rainbow. But I do know that we need ta get the hell outta here." She turned around, looking right at the window. "We'll jus' go back the way we came, easy as apple pie."
They both walked over to the window to peer out into the night, and their hearts both froze in their chests as they saw even more shuffling about outside the building they were trapped in. Rainbow Dash groaned in frustration. "Are you kidding me? Where the...where did all of them come from?"
"They were probably in all the houses around here, and came when we stirred up this ruckus..." Applejack stuck her head outside, looking around to force some kind of idea to come to mind. To her surprise, one actually did. "Alright, this is easy. We jus' get on the rooftops, and we keep up on 'em and hop on out of here. Then we can jus' be on our way!"
"AJ, I could just fly us out of here."
"No can do, Rainbow, I don't want ya gettin' tired while we're both hoverin' over any of 'em. Last thing we want to do is deliver ourselves right to 'em. Come on now, let's do this." She hoisted herself out of the window, turning herself around so she could face the edge of the roof. She leaped up, her fingers curling around the edge and gripping tightly as she pulled herself up, swinging her legs up and over as she climbed onto the roof. The blue mare followed her out, flapping her wings to land next to her.
Applejack turned to face the adjacent rooftop, and she took off with a dash, about to make a huge leap when she reached the edge of the roof. Unfortunately, she misjudged the edge a bit, which made her stumble and destroyed any momentum she was carrying. She fell forward, her stomach colliding with the adjacent rooftop and knocking the air out of her. She gripped at the shingles, but couldn't get a good hold before she fell down to the ground, landing with a hard thud.
----------
"You fuckers stay the hell away from her!"
The orange mare slowly blinked her eyes open, suddenly aware of two things: that she was lying on the hard ground, and that her head was throbbing with pain. She groaned, her head turning back to look at whoever yelled. Her eyes widened when she saw Rainbow, wings torn to shreds, standing her ground and single-handedly taking on several of the creatures who dared to come close. Her arms moved in a flurry of strikes, her bat lashing out and viciously smashing the skull of anything that came too close, but even so, she would soon be overwhelmed. The orange mare stood up, clutching her head with her left hand as the other drew her revolver. "Dash, get down!"
The pegasus glanced back before ducking down, and AJ pointed the revolver up at the creatures about to attack her friend, fanning the hammer as fast as she could, emptying the cylinder in a second. Her shoots rang true, striking the creatures in their rotting heads and causing them to collapse heavily to the ground. Rainbow scooted backwards before standing up, clutching her bat as Applejack reloaded. As impressive and deadly as her firing was, all it did was attract more of the horde to the small alley they were in. They shuffled closer, and Applejack turned to Rainbow, her head still throbbing, but not nearly as fast her heart. "I'm sorry, Dash. For all of this."
Rainbow looked back, wearing the same cocky grin she usually displayed. "It's alright, AJ. Even the great must fall, and I'm just glad I get to fall with you."
Despite the situation, Applejack couldn't help but grin back at her before they turned back to face their doom. As the horde descended upon them, shots rang out and craniums could be heard breaking apart before they were overpowered by the moans and groans of the undead.
The snarls and groans of the creatures were right on their heels as they ran back up the stairs. Applejack's heart was pounding fiercely against her chest as she ran back into the room with all the clothing racks, Rainbow right behind her. She slammed the door closed behind them, pressing her body up against it as she felt fists strike the other side of the wood. "Rainbow, get some of those clothing racks over here, NOW!"
"On it!" The pegasus bolted over to the closest one, giving it a hard shove so it rolled over in front of the orange mare. She moved from her spot in front of the door, tipping the rack over to it fell in front of the closed door. Another was pushed over to her, and she pushed that one over as well. Soon enough, there was a large pile of costumes and metal clothing racks barricading the door, bangs and moans and yells audible on the other side. Applejack stepped away from the door, her breathing heavy as Rainbow nearly shuddered next to her. "Sweet Celestia...what are those things?"
"I...I don't know, Rainbow. But I do know that we need ta get the hell outta here." She turned around, looking right at the window. "We'll jus' go back the way we came, easy as apple pie."
They both walked over to the window to peer out into the night, and their hearts both froze in their chests as they saw even more shuffling about outside the building they were trapped in. Rainbow Dash groaned in frustration. "Are you kidding me? Where the...where did all of them come from?"
"They were probably in all the houses around here, and came when we stirred up this ruckus..." Applejack stuck her head outside, looking around to force some kind of idea to come to mind. To her surprise, one actually did. "Alright, this is easy. We jus' get on the rooftops, and we keep up on 'em and hop on out of here. Then we can jus' be on our way!"
"AJ, I could just fly us out of here."
"No can do, Rainbow, I don't want ya gettin' tired while we're both hoverin' over any of 'em. Last thing we want to do is deliver ourselves right to 'em. Come on now, let's do this." She hoisted herself out of the window, turning herself around so she could face the edge of the roof. She leaped up, her fingers curling around the edge and gripping tightly as she pulled herself up, swinging her legs up and over as she climbed onto the roof. The blue mare followed her out, flapping her wings to land next to her.
Applejack turned to face the adjacent rooftop, and she took off with a dash, making a huge leap when she reached the edge of the roof. She cleared the gap by a few feet and landed with a sweet roll, hopping right back up to her feet. She grinned back at Rainbow, tipping her hat up slightly. "I told ya, easy as apple pie."
----------
They kept this up for another half hour or so, going from rooftop to rooftop until they were far enough away from the small horde of creatures that they didn't risk getting torn apart if they went back on the ground. With the coast clear, Rainbow picked Applejack up and fluttered down to the ground, setting her down before landing next to her. "Man, that was surprisingly easy."
"Yeah, it's gonna take a might more 'n some kinda undead ta take us out." The grin Applejack had plastered on her face was similar to the cocky grin Rainbow usually wore. She was pretty proud of herself for thinking of a plan when everything started to hit the fan. Usually it was Rainbow that was good at quick thinking under stress.
They eventually found a nice spot to sit down for the night, dropping their backpacks on the ground before plopping down next to each other. The orange mare turned to her friend, blinking at the far-off look the other mare wore. "Rainbow, you alright?"
"Huh? Yeah, I'm fine!" She threw on her trademark cocky expression, but Applejack could tell it was forced, and gave the pegasus a look that told her so. She sighed, her wings folding up behind her. "Okay, have you ever, like...imagined everything falling apart? Like things suddenly getting as bad as you can comprehend?"
"Ya mean like thinkin' about the worst case scenario? Well shoot, Rainbow, I think about that stuff all the time. Ya almost have ta, in a world like this one."
The blue mare shook her head. "No, I mean like...really vividly, like so real and convincing that you almost think, for a few seconds, that it actually happened."
"Well...no, nothin' like that." She admitted, before she moved in front of Rainbow. "Did something like that happen back there?"
Rainbow nodded slowly. "When you jumped onto the first rooftop and over that alley, I...this is so stupid, I pictured you slipping, of all things, and falling down to the ground below. So I go down there, to get you back up and make sure you were okay, and then a bunch of those things got at my wings...totally tore 'em up, so we couldn't fly out of there. And then..." She trailed off at the end, not wanting to spell out what happened in the rest of it.
"Rainbow..." Applejack moved to close the distance between them, wrapping her arms tightly around the other mare. "I ain't goin' anywhere, and neither are you, not if'n I have anything ta say about it."
The pegasus gently pushed her away. "AJ, come on, we have to stop fooling ourselves. We can't protect each other from everything-"
"Hey." Applejack moved her hand under the Rainbow's chin, lifting her face until she looked back up at her. "I've told ya before, I don't say things unless I mean it. An' I mean this. I'll do everything in my power to protect you, and that's the good 'n honest truth." She gave a smile down at Rainbow, which was slowly returned to her.
"Thanks, AJ."
"Ain't no problem, suagrcube. If'n you get ta feelin' like that again, jus' tell me up front, and I'll make ya feel better."
The smaller mare leaned a bit closer, her eyes closing just a bit, going half-lidded in the process. "Is that a promise?"
Applejack grinned, leaning down until they both could feel their hot breath on each other's muzzles. "It sure is."
The few stars visible in the sky twinkled as the two shared a gentle kiss.
Rainbow Dash awoke with a start, sitting up in a flash and looking around. Her heart pounded inside her, making her chest heave slightly until her gaze settled on the sleeping orange mare lying next to her. A hand found her tired eyes, rubbing at them with her palm before she slowly stood up, her body telling her to just go back to sleep. But her mind was far too awake for that now.
She moved over to her backpack lying on the ground, bending down to scoop up her bat lying down next to it, gripping it with one had as she rested it on her shoulder. She glanced back at Applejack, smiling softly before she turned around, looking out into the distance. A nice late-night stroll usually helped her to clear her mind, so that's exactly what she would do. With no destination or anything planned out, she started walking, trying to remain in as straight a path as she could manage.
Several thoughts plagued her mind, most of them having something to do with her life before everything changed. How she aspired to be in the Wonderbolts. Her job on the weather patrol. Ponyville.
Her friends.
That last thought made her heart ache tremendously, and she quickly tried to think of something better. It came right away, her mind bringing up the form of an honest, hard-working orange mare. She was incredibly thankful she wasn't totally alone, and out of all of her friends, she had liked Applejack just a little bit more, as terrible as that sounded to say. She had loved all of her friends in Ponyville, but with Applejack, something just clicked right away, and they quickly became best friends.
She smiled to herself. And now look at us.
After a while of walking through the forest of dead trees, she walked right into a clearing, a rather large one at that. The only things in it were a few large boulders, and a downed tree or two. Looking around to make sure no one else was around, she set her bat against the closest dead tree trunk, her wings unfurling from their position on her back. With a few strong flaps, she was up off the ground and floating up higher and higher. The wind blew her hair this way and that, but she didn't care. Her body nearly ached from how long it was since she last took to the skies, and while she knew her injured wing couldn't take her usual speed and stunts, even gliding in the night sky sounded good right now.
And that's exactly what she did. As she soared through the air, she lost nearly all track of time, losing herself in the sky's gentle caress. She missed this so much, being able to soar as high as wanted to go, feeling the wind coursing through her fur. This was part of who she was. This is what made her Rainbow Dash, the fastest mare alive. She stopped her slow upwards spiral, taking in a deep breath of the nighttime air. The moonlight hit her light blue coat, making it almost look like she was glowing against the darkness of the sky behind her.
She didn't notice the glint of a scope far below her, and by the time she heard the shot, it was too late.
----------
Applejack's eyes flew open as she heard the familiar crack of a gunshot in the silence of the night. She sat upright, immediately reaching for her holster and slipping her revolver from it. Her head turned next to her. "Rainbow, are you-"
Her face paled at the empty spot next to her. She spun around, trying to find the familiar blue of her pegasus friend. Her gaze fell on Rainbow's backpack, noticing it was absent of her bat. Even knowing she had her weapon with her didn't console her fears, and she immediately stood up. "Dammit, Rainbow..."
She slung both of their backpacks over her shoulders and holstered her gun, looking around her. Which way could she have gone? Cursing under her breath again, she took off dead ahead, pushing aside dead branches and bushes as she near sprinted along in the darkness. What were ya thinking, ya plum-crazy mare? Going off alone like this in the middle of the night! She continued onwards, her boots thudding into the dirt as she ran. When I find ya, I'm gonna give ya a piece 'a my-
Her thoughts were interrupted as she came to a large clearing, and saw a familiar blue form lying on the ground, as well as three other forms standing over her. Applejack drew her gun without even thinking twice about it, her foot steps taking her closer to them. "YOU BASTARDS GET AWAY FROM HER!" Her initial panic, fear and anger getting the best of her, she opened fire, unloading the entire cylinder at them. They ducked away from her barrage, one of them grabbing Rainbow's form and trying to drag her back with them.
This only seemed to fuel Applejack's anger, and she quickly reloaded and sent another flurry of lead down range. They were wildly inaccurate compared to her usual abilities, but half hit their mark anyway. The person dragging Rainbow was stuck in the chest by two or three rounds, and he fell in a heap to the ground. Rainbow, however, still didn't move, and now she was just closer to their side of the clearing.
Applejack moved to reload, then blinked when she felt only two rounds on her belt. After those, she'd be out entirely. She cursed under her breath, flicking open her revolver's cylinder. "Dammit, I can't-"
A sharp pain was suddenly felt on the back of her head, and she fell to her knees, nearly losing consciousness right there. As she turned around to try to counter with her own attack, she just made out the form of a crowbar before her world went black.
Rainbow was aware of two things when she came to: her hands were bound behind her back, and there was an intense pain in her left side.
Normally, she wouldn't have minded this kind of idea, in slightly different circumstances, and without the pain. She was always into rough play, even when she was younger, and she had her fair share of tied-up romps before. But this was an entirely different situation, and so she struggled against the rope holding her wrists together. If she was sitting or standing up, she could've easily slipped her arms under her and been in business to bail out of here, but judging from her close-up view of the ground, she was face-down on the marble floor.
Wait...marble?
She turned onto her side, looking at her surroundings. She was almost expecting to see grand spires, a painted ceiling and tapestries hanging all around, but instead, she was in an old bedroom, from the looks of it. She struggled in her restraints as she slowly sat up and took in the room. There was a grand bed in the middle of it, fit for royalty, with what looked like silken sheets on it. The other furnishings in the room, the bedside table, the desk, even the small letter opener on said desk were all high-quality as well. It almost looked like how she always pictured...
Celestia's bedroom? She licked her dry lips before forcing herself into a sitting position, her hands still behind her. Glancing down at her feet, she saw her feet were tied, too. She cursed under her breath, glancing behind her, as if she was trying to see her hands. Testing the tightness of the rope around her wrists, she slowly pulled them forward, trying to tug them past her hips and rump. If she could do that, she could untie her legs and be home free.
And by "home free" she meant "able to find Applejack."
Her heart suddenly froze as her thoughts when to the orange mare. Where was she? Was she okay? What if they were killing her, right now, and she was sitting here just thinking about it?
She bit her lip as she forced her hands past her rump, ignoring the pain in her wrists as she quickly went about untying her legs. After a few minutes of trying, she groaned, her legs still stuck together. She looked around the room for something sharp to cut the rope. Her eyes slowly fell back to the desk, more specifically, the letter opener. Perfect!
She slowly scooted her body across the floor. With all the adrenaline coursing through her veins in Rainbow's fear-riddled state, it felt like it took hours, when in reality it only was a minute or two at the most. She moved her bound arms onto the top of the desk and gripped the letter opener in her hands.
Alright, gotta be fast. She set to work cutting the rope around her ankles, biting her lip in concentration. After a few minutes of working at it, she had enough cut that she could force her way out of the rest, her legs now free to full movement again. She grinned and she nearly hopped to her feet.
"Hell yeah, we're back in business now."
Besides one of the numerous windows in the room, the only way out was the single door, which she quickly ran up to. She tested the door, groaning when it didn't budge. "Yeah, of course it's locked. Why wouldn't it be..." She bit her lip, trying to think of a way out of her situation. Then, it came to her.
----------
It wasn't the most perfect plan, but it was a plan.
Rainbow positioned herself behind the door, gripping the letter opener in her hands. She didn't know if anyone was even out there, but it was a chance she'd have to take. She jammed the letter opener into the side of the door, right next to the knob. After a few seconds of wildly jerking it from side to side, the door opened for right up. So far, so good.
She poked her head around the doorway, looking out into the massive hall. Surprisingly, no one was really around. As suspicious as that was to her, she wasn't going to complain about it. She dashed out into the hallway. She wasn't entirely sure of where she was going, but she knew that she'd eventually find her way out if she kept moving.
As she rounded the corner, she screeched to a halt, and two guards only a few feet away turned to face her. There was about half a second of them just looking at each other before her mind picked between fight or flight.
It chose fight.
She raised her hands up and tossed the letter opener in the air, catching it by the blade before she whipped it at the guard closest to her. The blade flew through the air, catching him in the throat. As he gasped for air and the other male turned to him, Rainbow dashed forward and kneed him in the side, forcing him to double over. She moved behind him, moving her arms over his head. Her still bound wrists pressed hard against the front of his neck, and he was desperately trying to breath. His strangled gasps soon faded away as his life did the same, and she let him collapse to the ground.
She turned to look down at the other guard, who wasn't quite dead yet. She bent down to look him in the eyes, her hands gripping the letter opener. "You should've picked a better side." And she tore it out of him, standing and continuing onward as his choking groans stopped.
After walking along for who knows how long (she got lost a few times), she arrived in the main throne room. Tapestries still hung from the ceiling, and the intricate window art still detailed many old stories and legends, just as they did before. In fact, the whole castle looked to be almost untouched by the destruction that gripped the rest of the world. She would've been in awe if it wasn't for two things: the whole "I'm still technically captured and don't know where Applejack is" predicament, and the being sitting on the throne. It certainly wasn't the Princess, but she couldn't make out exactly what, or who, it was.
Rainbow swallowed. "H-Hey! Who's over there?"
The figure's ears perked up at her voice, and a voice pierced the silence, sounding entirely too happy, and entirely too familiar. "Oh, you're awake! That's quite good, you see, I almost thought those buffoons that brought you here killed you by mistake." The figure stood from the throne, walking towards her. A gasp escaped her when she got a good view of him, and when he spoke again.
"It would've been rude of you not to give your old pal Discord a big hello."
Discord grinned down at the blue mare in front of him, watching as she looked him over. He had to resist striking a pose. He looked just like he always looked: a chaotic mish-mash of animals, a coy and cunning look in his yellow eyes as his gaze rested on her. She looked like she felt like he truly didn't wish her harm, and that was true, at least for the moment. She gulped anyway, and her fear rippled across her face. "D-Discord?"
"Ah, you do remember my name! There was a split second where I thought you had forgotten all about me, maybe from some kind of head wound or something. My poor old heart couldn't have taken that kind of rejection." He snapped his fingers, a flowery hankerchief appearing in his furry paw. He dabbed gently at his eyes before poofing it away just as quick. "But how could you have forgotten about me? I'm...well, I don't mean to toot my own horn, but I'm rather incredible."
Rainbow, who was visibly scared not even a minute ago, rolled her eyes."Yeah, you're a real unforgettable character, alright."
The draconequus simply grinned again. "Oh, Rainbow Dash, always the one with the sarcastic little quips. Definitely one of the more interesting of Fluttershy's little group of friends. You and that apple one, always locked in some silly competition or another." A finger tapped his chin. "What was her name...Jappleack?"
"Applejack."
"Oh, right, whatever." He closed his eyes and waved his clawed hand at her, as if his flubbing of the orange mare's name didn't matter. And to him, it really didn't. It seemed to matter to her, though.
"Where is she?" Her voice alone almost demanded an answer from him. Him, the God of Chaos, was being demanded to cooperate! But he wouldn't give in that easy. That would ruin the fun, and in this world, he could have all the fun he wanted! That was simply something he couldn't miss out on.
"Oh, Rainbow, after your long, hard journey here, do you really expect a simple answer to that? And for me to give it so quickly?" He waved his finger. "No no, my dear pegasus, you must work for it."
"Discord, I don't have time for-"
"Ah, now that's where you're wrong." He hovered over to her, wrapping an arm around her. "You see, Rainbow, you have plenty of time, because time has no meaning in this world, I made quite sure of that. No social obligations, no civic duties. Free time has been near quintupled, and that's all the more reason to throw a bit of chaotic fun into the mix!"
The blue mare next to him was about to protest, but she paused. "What do you mean you made sure of that?"
"Oh, Rainbow, come now, did you think this world just happened on its own? That it wasn't given the tiniest of nudges with a bit of chaos?" He grinned, but instead of the goofiness he usually had with it, it took on a much darker tone. "This is my magnum opus! Chaos fully realized around the globe, and everyone powerless to stop me! And it was all quite easy to do, if I do say so myself."
"What?! You mean this is all your fault?" Rainbow Dash was fuming now, it was plain to see. The draconequus laughed a little inside. These little ponies were so adorable when they were mad.
"Oh, no no, Rainbow, this wasn't all me, as much as I would love to take credit for it all." He hovered in the air in front of her, crossing his arms, looking rather smug. "All I did was make the tensions rise a smidgen. I went all out with my powers on this one, it was quite the show, even for me!"
If looks could kill, Rainbow's glare would've had Discord dead to rights. "How did you do that?"
Discord snapped his fingers, a nail file coming into existence before him. He slowly started to file his clawed hand. "Oh, well I was thinking, one day, that thousands of years of peace is incredibly boring, so I thought 'what's something we haven't had in a long, long while?' And then the answer came to me right away." He grinned down at her. "A draught. But not just some piddly little thing that dries up a well or two, no no, I went much bigger than that." He poofed the nail file away and held his arms behind him, pacing a bit as he spoke. "I spread it worldwide. Whole oceans were reduced to the size of lakes. It was a rather interesting change, I'm surprised I didn't think of it sooner!"
He turned back towards Rainbow, motioning for her to come over to the window with him. "The leaders of most of the lands around and including Equestria, however, didn't find it as interesting as me. Or rather, not interesting in the same way. They were rather frightened, and their fear sadly led to some...unfortunate mistakes. I don't have to go into much detail, but their choices led to the world you see before you far more than mine." He gestured out to what could be seen from the window, mostly a ruined Canterlot, and Ponyville further away, just barely visible in the distance.
"You still...you still started all of this." Rainbow growled at him, her eyes shooting daggers in his direction. "This is still your fault, just as much as theirs."
"Oh, now Rainbow, you know that's not quite true." He scratched at his neck, completely casual as he turned his back to her. "But I suppose it's always easy to just place all of the blame on the Spirit of Chaos. Gives everyone a big bad monster to hate as opposed to members of their own species. 'Tis a curse I must carry, I suppose."
Rainbow's wrists pulled tightly at the rope still binding them together, and she looked down at them, suddenly realizing she was still holding the letter opener. Without any hesitation, she raised her arms and whipped it towards him.
Time seemed to slow down as soon as it left her hand. Or, more specifically, the letter opener seemed to slow down, because Discord turned at normal speed as the blade slowly inched towards him. He looked down at Rainbow, his expression one of intensely faked hurt. "Rainbow, I'm surprised at you! Trying to kill somepony when their back is turned." He plucked the letter opener out of the air with his paw. "And with a letter opener, of all things. A for effort, I suppose, but still..."
He strolled over to her, his entire posture one of nonchalance. Which made it all the more surprising when his clawed hand struck her across the face. She flew backwards, hitting the marble floor with a thud. When she looked up, Discord's face was inches from her own.
