The Greatest Destiny

Without a train, the journey to Canterlot would be an exhausting one. Applejack already knew that fact for sure! Luckily they wouldn't be passing through the Everfree Forest which had grown into a nightmare beyond words ever since Discord took control. Zecora never made it out alive. Fluttershy had found her strangled to death in a trench filled with poisonous vines. The loss had been unbearable to Twilight at the time.

"Do we exactly have a plan?" Fluttershy asked as she silently trailed Applejack.

"Yeah," Applejack replied enthusiastically. "Get to Canterlot, find Discord, kill 'im. Sounds simple enough."

"I meant a plan for how we are going to do that," Fluttershy responded with a nervous laugh.

"We'll find a way," Applejack stated. They continued walking in silence until Pinkie Pie started to get worried. And when Pinkie Pie gets worried, that can never be good!

"How will we survive out here?" Pinkie Pie shouted. "This place is barer than Appleoosa! There's no food, no water, we'll never make it to Canterlot!" She slumped to the ground and started drawing frowny faces in the dirt with her hoof. Applejack scowled at the obnoxious pony.

"So what do we do? Give up?!" She stomped her hoof in front of Pinkie Pie's face which startled the pony and made her jump back to her hooves. "NO! We are goin' to keep goin' and we are goin' to kill that good fer nothin' rat!"

"Excuse me," Fluttershy interrupted. "But rats are not bad creatures. They're just misunderstood. Maybe Discord is the same way," Fluttershy immediately wished that she could take back the words that had come out of her mouth. Now Applejack was a mere inch away from her face and was staring hard into Fluttershy's soul.

"You makin' up excuses for the one who murdered our friends?" Applejack asked calmly... too calmly.

"N-N-No. I was j-just-"

"We keep movin'!" Applejack commanded, then she continued walking through the barren desert towards Canterlot.

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Hours passed. The road that led away from Ponyville eventually disappeared beneath the sand and the dust that had swept across the land. Every couple of seconds, one could hear the mild complaints from Pinkie Pie as she stepped on sharp pebbles and stumbled over large rocks.

Applejack was faring no better as the sweat poured down her face. She licked her split lips in attempt to moisten them once more, but her tongue had also dried up with the ground.

Suddenly, Applejack stopped and sat down on the burning soil. Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie did the same, sighing in relief and exhaustion. Applejack gazed forward towards the horizon and saw nothing but a small silhouette of what was previously Canterlot.

"We'll take a short break," Applejack confirmed, slowly proceeding to lie down on the ground.

"Thank heavens!" Fluttershy exasperated. Pinkie Pie also collapsed onto the ground, sending dust flying all around her. She sneezed five times before sighing in relief as well.

Applejack gazed sleepily up at the sky. She approximated that it was around three o'clock in the afternoon, but she wasn't positive. Slowly she began to close her eyes and drift off.

"HELP!"

Applejack snapped back awake.

"Did y'all hear that?" She asked, quickly rousing her two friends in anxiety.

"Hear what?" Pinkie Pie muttered as she tried to fall back asleep.

"Somepony yelled 'help'!" Applejack yanked Pinkie Pie to her hooves and then proceeded to wake up Fluttershy. She didn't know how long they'd been sleeping, but judging by the sun it was a very long time. Also... they were surrounded by vultures.

"I didn't hear anything," Fluttershy responded sleepily, but then instantly woke up when she saw the birds of prey that were watching them. "The poor darlings! They must be starving!"

"You want ta offer yerself up as a meal?" questioned Applejack. Fluttershy didn't respond, but she walked over to the vultures and gently patted one on the head. Applejack rolled her eyes and scanned across the desert searching for the pony in danger. Her vision wavered with her dehydration, but she was positive that she had heard somepony yell.

"Maybe you're hallucinating, AJ," Pinkie Pie suggested, rubbing her eyes.

"I ain't hallucinatin'! I know I heard somethin'!" She listened more carefully, but nothing else happened.

Pinkie Pie yawned and fell back down on the ground in a deep slumber and Fluttershy continued to care for the vultures as best she could without tearing off a chunk of her own flesh to feed to them. Applejack also laid back down on the ground and eventually shrugged off the noise as merely hearing things.

"HELP! Somepony please help me!!"

"OK!" Applejack yelled, leaping back onto her hooves. "That time y'all heard it, right?" Fluttershy quivered where she stood and looked into the direction of the noise. Applejack did the same. They saw four strange figures galloping full speed straight towards them and they didn't seem to be slowing down!

"Run!" Applejack screamed, grabbing Pinkie Pie and practically carrying her away from the turmoil. Fluttershy was confused, but followed her friend anyway.

"Applejack, why are we running?" Fluttershy heaved.

"TIMBER WOLVES!" Applejack shouted back. Fluttershy turned around to see that three of the figures were indeed ferocious timber wolves! They snarled as they tried to capture their closest victim, a young colt with three horseshoes for a cutie mark.

"HELP!" He shouted once more. Applejack turned around to see him.

"Caramel?!" She asked.

"Applejack?!" He responded. Then he got over his confusion and focused on running. "Help me!!"

"Fluttershy, take Pinkie!" Applejack threw Pinkie over to Fluttershy... and Pinkie was still asleep and snoring happily. Applejack then hit the brakes and watched as Fluttershy continued galloping, carrying Pinkie on her back.

The wolves continued to gain on Caramel as he slowed down with exhaustion. Applejack ran to his side and tried to help him move faster. His hoofbeats became erratic and discombobulated as he began to lose consciousness. Applejack knew that he couldn't go on much longer, so she stopped running.

The wolves abandoned the pursuit of Caramel and instead sprinted towards Applejack.

"Come an get me, ya big goons!" She shouted as she led them away from Caramel, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie.

Snarl! Bark! Bark! AWOOOO! They were gaining on her! She could feel their hot breath against the back of her neck and boy could she smell it, too!

Suddenly, it seemed as if the desert ground had risen up and around Applejack, surrounding her in a 'bowl-like' wall. She was trapped! She instantly stopped and turned around to face the timber wolves who had also slowed down.

"Bet y'all wanna finish me off nice and slow like, don't cha?" She mocked. The wolves growled and took one menacing step forward. Applejack only smiled as they got closer and closer. "Y'all really don't know who you're dealin' with, do ya?"

Then, Applejack attacked the wolves. She delivered a good 'falcon kick' on the first wolf, sending it spraying sticks in all directions. She turned to the second one, but turned a moment to late. The wolf was on top of her, sinking its teeth into her coat.

"GAH!" She yelped as the blood trickled down her back. She tried to buck the wolf off, but he only sank his teeth deeper down. The pain was unbearable! "Get off ah me!" She bucked once more and the wolf lost its grip on her. She took the moment to spin around and kick the wolf square in the jaw. It yelped in pain and stumbled off in a daze.

Exhausted, Applejack turned to the final assailant who appeared to be the alpha of the pack since he was wearing a large 'crown' of leaves on top of his head. Slobber oozed from his mouth as he stared at her with hatred and spite and Applejack could not help mimicking the same feeling.

"Come on!" She shouted weakly, feeling her legs give way beneath her. She tumbled to the ground and watched as more blood left her body. "Finish me off!" Her vision blurred as the wolf moved closer, almost standing near her face. "Finish me..." she muttered. "I want to die..." Then her mind went black.

Silence was the only thing that Applejack could hear as she lay quietly on the ground. She had lost the will to live, yet something told her to stand up. So she did. She was surrounded by darkness, unable to see the ends of her hooves, until... something came towards her.

It was very iridescent and colorful which lifted Applejack's spirit only slightly. She stared at the strange phenomenon until it began to come closer. Applejack walked towards it as well.

"Hello?" She asked it. "Who are ya?" The light was increasing so fast, that Applejack had to cover her eyes with her hoof from being blinded. "Show yerself!" She shouted, the fear building up inside.

"Do you not recognize your own friend?" it asked.

Applejack gaped. She knew that voice!

"R-Rainbow Dash?!" the light slowly began to fade until Applejack could make out a shape of a pony... with a rainbow colored mane and tail and a light cyan coat. She did, however, have a sort of glow around her making her seem like... an angel.

"Yes, Applejack, it's me," Rainbow Dash responded.

"But... you're dead! I saw you die! Discord made your wings vanish as you were flying off that cliff to save Rarity! You both died!" Applejack was beginning to cry uncontrollably.

"You're right, AJ, I am dead,"

Applejack sniffled and tried to hold back her sobs.

"But that doesn't mean that I can't help you fulfill your destiny,"

"My... my destiny?" Applejack asked. "Mah destiny was decided long ago," she glanced down at her cutie mark... but... nothing was there. "What the hay?!" She looked to her other side to try and find her cutie mark, but to no avail. "What happened to mah cutie mark?!"

"Don't worry, Applejack, you'll earn your mark back when you discover your true destiny,"

"I don't understand. Rainbow, explain this to me!"

"I cannot. Celestia says that you must find out on your own. But I can give you this," Rainbow Dash produced a letter from thin air and handed it over to Applejack. She grabbed the letter and proceeded to open it. "STOP!" Rainbow shouted. Applejack stopped. "Don't open that yet!"

"Then what the hay am ah supposed to do with it?! Eat it?" Applejack snapped.

"Just wait until the time is right," Rainbow's image began to fade.

"Wait, Rainbow!" Applejack pleaded, sobs emerging from her throat. "I need ya! I need all a ya back!"

Rainbow Dash smiled at Applejack's words, but then grew serious once more.

"You don't need me right now, AJ, but you do need these..." A bright light erupted from Rainbow Dash and Applejack felt a shot of pain shoot through her body. The world went black again until Applejack's eyelids fluttered back open to see the timber wolf still standing next to her, snarling and growling all the while.

Applejack stood and faced the wolf, unknowing of what had just happened. She backed away from the wolf until her rump hit the side of the canyon wall. She was doomed! Rainbow had deserted her!

Applejack braced herself as the timber wolf crouched down to pounce, but felt something on her back twitch. She turned around to see...

"What in tarnation?!"

Wings. Applejack had grown a pair of wings!

"How the hay did these get here?!" Applejack screamed as she slowly flapped them up and down. Then she heard the timber wolf snarl and ready himself for the leap. Applejack gulped and prepared herself as well.

What did Rainbow teach Twilight when she was learning to fly? Applejack pondered. "You gotta really flap 'em hard!" Applejack concentrated. Time slowed down. The earth stood still.

Three... two... one!

Applejack flapped her wings as hard as she could as the timber wolf leaped towards her. She rose quickly into the air, barely missing the timber wolf's deadly claws. She wobbled around in the sky as her wings just wouldn't do what she wanted them to do, but she was at a proper height where she could see a place to escape to. And the best news was: Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Caramel were already there!

She took off at... well... one could guess a normal pace for a pony who just got new wings... but all in all, she lost the timber wolf. She smiled as she hovered above her friends and giggled to herself as she imagined what their faces would look like after she landed.

"Wait a minute!" Applejack whispered harshly to herself. "How am I gonna land?"

A very long story short, she crash landed (obviously). Her friends rushed to her aid, but then they all took a step back in shock. Fluttershy gaped as Applejack stretched out her sore wings and chuckled nervously.

"Applejack..." she said. "How did you get those?"

Applejack smiled.

"From Rainbow Dash,"

END OF PART 1