New Equestria

Apple Bloom stared up at the sign.

E CO  O APP O  A

Apple Bloom knew too well what It had originally said.

WELCOME TO APPALOOSA

She sighed. The town had been renamed "Desert Trees" a few years after Twilight had took over. The place had been decimated by the bombs when they dropped, only a few buildings and trees survived. Apple Bloom passed through the place she spent summers at, visited relatives, and picked apples. She walked through the orchard, the stale fruit rotting on the ground. In the tree, she saw a rare sight.

An actual apple.

She picked it out of the leaves and stared at it. Pure red, like back at what used to be home. Apple Bloom put the fruit in her pocket and headed into what used to be town square. The one building was a tavern, where Apple Bloom spent most of her time. The smell of tequila and cocktails reached her before she even got close. A table flew out of the doors and pass her. Usual behavior. Inside, a brawl was happening with the drunks, tables being thrown and tipped, chaos was reining, and no one was stopping it, instead placing bets and cheering them on.

The minute she stepped through the door, everything seemed to stop. Ponies stopped cheering, flipping tables, anything reminiscent of the fight. Spurs jingling, Apple Bloom trotted over to the bartender, a pink mare by the name of Pina Colada.

"Afternoon, Bloom. What can I get you? Rum, as always?" She asked.

"Nope. Apple Cider." Apple Bloom slid the apple across the table towards Pina Colada. "Found it in the orchard. Make me some cider."

"Alright, then. It'll take a long time, though. A pony came by earlier, said she was looking for you."

"Seriously? Where is she?"

"In the back. Go talk to her if you want."

Apple Bloom walked toward the back. "I expect my cider when I'm out!" She pushed open the doors and into the dimly lit room where she would talk to other ponies.

"Good day, Apple Bloom. Sit down."

Apple Bloom whirled around to see a unicorn with white hooves and a dark-blue horn. She wore a gas mask, for unknown reasons.

"I'm known as Apple Shot around here."

"Sit down, Apple Bloom."

Apple Bloom sat down on the chair on one end of the table. The stranger sat down on the other.

"What do you need? Assassination? Theft?"

"No, I just ask of a favor. Do you remember this?" The stranger slid her bag across the table. After a few seconds Apple Bloom reached in and pulled out a piece of aged fabric.

The Cutie Mark Crusader cape.

Memories flooded into her brain. Applejack's death. Her cutie mark. Twilight taking over.

"Where....Where did you...."

"Does 'Sweet Apple Acres' remind you? I got it at your clubhouse, of course."

"My... My clubhouse?"

"Indeed. Now Apple Bloom, tell me. I want you to let it all out. What do you remember before Twilight took over?"

Apple Bloom stared at her. She wanted to tell some pony everything that had happened ever since witnessing her sister die right in front of her.

"...Alright. It started a many years ago...."

"So why are we going to the library again?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"Applejack told me that the meeting Twilight was holding was for big ponies only. But we're big ponies! We'll go there and show them we're adults!" Apple Bloom replied.

"You sure? We could get in trouble..." Scootaloo said.

"We'll just look through the window and tell them we saw everything when they get out! It'll be easy!"

They got to the library to see carnage and Applejack rip something off of Twilight's neck. She stared at her in triumph, then confusion, then worry. Twilight had a devious grin and her horn started to glow brighter and brighter. Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom ducked.

"Scoots! Get down!"

She was too transfixed on the scene. As the horn turned it's brightest, she ducked but only part of her face was down before the flash.She screamed and clutched her eye.

"I can't see out of my eye! It hurts!"

Apple Bloom looked to the room. Ashes remained where her friends were. In Applejack's place was the largest pile.

Apple Bloom wailed.

Everything was blurry after that. Big Mac thought She had simply went missing and went to find her. Every night, Apple Bloom would sneak into his room and get a small metal box.

A pistol was in it.

Every night she would go out into the orchard and practice shooting apples. She was surprisingly good at this, and eventually go her cutie mark; A black apple with a bullet through it.

She didn't remember much after. Twilight's take over, the Crusaders disbanding, escaping to Appaloosa. She did remember one thing though.

One day, she would avenge her sister.

"...And that's all I remember."

The stranger looked into her eyes.

"Thank you. I have all the information I need. I think you're the right one."

"Right one for what?"

"I am the last surviving member of the Resistance. I wish for you to reform the organization and become the leader of the Resistance to take down the Queen."