My Baby Sister

Fire remained, both within and without. It was a sea that washed over her, burning and melting all that met with it. As she experienced the sun itself, Apple Bloom screamed out. What was and what wasn’t collided, forming new sensations, but none she was glad to feel.

She thought of her friends and of her family, thought how she was going to where they would also be. Of course, the filly couldn’t be sure, but that didn’t matter, for she just wanted the pain to end. That was all there was.

“Apple Bloom!” She heard someone cry.

Out of reflex she opened an eye and for but a moment, she could see a silhouette at the end of it, crashing against the all-illuminating contour of the alicorn. Then she felt the heat take her sight and screamed out.

Then, her scream vanished along with every noise and every light. All that remained was a blissful dark and nothing else. No feeling, no thinking, no sister, no diapers, no rot, no pain, no fear, no love. A new void-like ocean swallowed the filly only for her to fill it out again.

She felt soft padding pressing against her derriere, a slight dampness made it feel awkward as her legs moved around. Her legs, which hurt ever so slightly, like she was using muscles which long since forgot their purpose. A stinging pain moved through her, filled her with the urge to consume, to purge and to flee. A rot that was no rot at all, but a cleansing flame that wished to reach a home it should have never left.

Thoughts drifted into the abyss of her mind, filling it with questions and musings. The filly understood that Twilight’s spell was interrupted by none other than Spike. Why he’d done so then and there, she couldn’t say, but he’d come for her. He’d called her name, he’d said that she looked cute. Apple Bloom felt a strange smile upon her face and with it came a slight warmth to her face.

However, the filly knew that she couldn’t keep drifting here. She needed to move, needed to wake up, or rise, or whatever. The dark was not the place where she belonged, but instead she needed to go to the light, to where all things she wanted to regain were.

So Apple Bloom tried to open her eyes, but only one did and the sight that captured her mind was the worst she could think of. The broken sky above them, the tearful song in the distance and all the shards of a world that was long since gone.

Apple Bloom felt her charred body, screaming at her to fall into a coma, even though within her, another flame growled with a fury she’d never experienced before. It almost dared her to embrace it, with the song singing its sweet lullaby, telling her to do it, that everything was going to be fine.

The world grew warm around her and she felt it fill her up. It was a calming white that filled her vision as she turned her head ever so slightly. She spotted the light of the runes fading and a dragon standing where Twilight was before. His back was turned to Apple Bloom and his eyes were fixed on the alicorn that he had pushed out of the circle. The alicorn who covered her face with her hooves and mumbled quiet words as ashen smoke started to rise from her.

“Why, why, why,” she mumbled. “We promised. We promised. We promised.”

She’s hurting, thought Apple Bloom, only half awake.

“We can’t do this, Twilight,” the dragon spoke up, pointing behind him, pointing at Apple Bloom. “I can’t do it. All of this is wrong. How many ponies died, it’s just. …”

“I know!” Twilight screamed, dust falling past her hooves. “We promised Rarity! We need to save … We need to. …”

“Not like this. We only did more harm,” he said, now walking closer to her. “But we can still make a difference. There has to be another way. There always is.”

He knelt down before her and she whispered sweet words that Apple Bloom couldn’t understand.

“Rarity’s gone, by my own claws. That doesn’t mean this world needs to end. Everypony, all the friends we made, we might save them still. If we believe in our friendship, then we might be able to bring everypony back. Twilight. …”

His hand grasped the alicorn’s shoulder. She was whimpering.

“Go,” she said loudly, still hurting.

“Twilight?” He suddenly grabbed both her shoulders. “What’s going on.”

And then she dropped her hooves and screamed. A new light erupted, a new flame burst forth, black and hollow and cold to the touch. It was no true fire, no true light, but mere destruction that washed over Apple Bloom and turned all the warmth into blistering heat and all the pain into crushing agony.

She wanted to scream, but someone stepped between her and the fire. Apple Bloom dared to look at the beast that stood there. Her coat was orange, her blonde mane a mess. She wore a bandana in six colors and bore marks of the rot on her entire body. Where her eyes’d been, green fire burst forth and her face moved ever closer to Apple Bloom’s, itching for a taste.

And then, with a blink, the light was gone. Apple Bloom didn’t know what she felt, her body laid motionless beneath Applejack’s. The mare lay on her, collapsed due to the force of the fire. Then, their eyes met again. The orange of Apple Bloom’s and the sickly fire of Applejack’s.

“Sis,” Apple Bloom mumbled, a word she could hardly speak out without gagging on the pus in her mouth.

And then she moved, that mared, tried to stand up. Her jaw shifted, her eyes flickered. For a moment, Apple Bloom didn’t know what was happening, but then the beast was screaming and suddenly she stopped and fell onto the filly again.

For a moment she lay there in silence and Apple Bloom could see where they were. Above them was the Tear, like a scar in the sky, and at the same time not. It looked beautiful, all of a sudden, like shards of broken ice aligning in the most wondrous of shapes. The largest of these shards was a town she once called home.

Then, Applejack coughed and moved again, rising up with a more steady strength. Apple Bloom, though her face hurt and her right was completely black, could still see that Applejack’s left front leg was gone, only a blackened stump remained.

And yet, Applejack stared at her for a moment. Her eyes were green like grass and the most gorgeous sight beneath that wondrous sky and her smile was grander still.

“We’re both alive,” Applejack told her with a cough, waiting for a moment before she looked at her stump. “Kind of,” she then added with a slight giggle.

That was when Spike’s voice spoke up behind them. “Twilight,” he said, sounding shaken.

Applejack looked at the sky, at the sea of stars surrounding the Tear. Dipped in red smoke they dotted eternity, but they mattered not to Apple Bloom. Only Applejack mattered, because she was alive.

The filly tried to speak up, but the pain was too great. Her skin felt like it was boiling, her right eye did too. Her mouth felt like someone had just played around with a knife in it and her insides were put in a knot. She didn’t even dare to cough.

“Don’t worry,” Applejack said, eyes fixed on the sky. “Everything’s gonna be fine.”

Apple Bloom really wanted to believe it to be true, but found it hard, incredibly so.

Applejack used what strength remained to her to stand up, and Apple Bloom couldn’t even find the strength to move. On the outside, she felt like she was burning, but her heart’s beat was almost gone. In truth, she was cold, so very, very cold.

Her sister didn’t notice, instead she turned around as the wind picked up around them. Apple Bloom saw the ashes dance in the wind. They belonged to Lyra, Doc Hooves, to Rainbow Dash and Rarity and even Twilight. They were all that was left of Ponyville, Apple Bloom thought and closed her eyes to the sight.

Just what had Twilight done?

“Spike?” Applejack asked, her voice hoarse.

Spike quickly questioned her. “AJ? What? But you’re dead. You’re both dead.”

“I’m not dead, silly,” Applejack laughed and then coughed. After a moment she asked another question; “Where’s Twi?”

Another moment went past.

“What happened?” Applejack asked again.

“You should just duck, get to the ground!” Spike answered, gulping.

“Why?”

And then the wind picked up once more, now going into the opposite direction. Apple Bloom could hear it again, the song, its lyrics. It was begging her to do something. That distant voice was telling her that this was not home, that this was not how it was meant to be. She needed to leave, they all needed to leave.

“I don’t think we have time for questions. Get down! Spike screamed.

And as he did, the filly opened her eyes to an ashen monstrosity, a shape of countless arms and blades and maws and teeth, screeching and screaming, howling and whining. Apple Bloom stared at it and the pulsating green light within it, the dust cascade that made up its body.

“Monsters!” it screamed with a princess’ voice. Help, the ashes sung.

“Bring back my home! it howled with a friend’s tongue. Take us back, the voice hummed.

Spike leaned against the wind, gritting his teeth, flames spouting from his mouth. “Twilight,” he said. “Are you still there?”

It twisted and shifted, forming into another form. Two arms with large claws extended from it and ashen wings spread from its back. Its face was horned and its feet cloven. Only the fire within the dust remained a constant.

“WHERE HAS HOME GONE! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO ME!” The beast spoke and its voice was far beyond a scream, piercing through Apple Bloom’s ears in the worst cacophony.

“I don’t know who you are, but you should let Twilight go!” He screamed against the rising mistral.

The beast did naught but scream and launch itself forward. Its claw outstretched, it went for Spike too quick for the eye to see it. Yet the dragon was faster, ducking beneath the strike. It took a piece of his spikes, but he only jumped back.

“I don’t want to hurt you,” he screamed again.

“WHERE AM I?” the beast screamed beneath the Tear.

Applejack looked at Apple Bloom. For a moment, Apple Bloom almost expected her to ignore it, like she always did and ask whether her “baby sister” needed a change. But the eyes told a different story. They were neither tired nor sad, but awake, alive. There was a conviction to the way Applejack stood there and Apple Bloom knew what was going to come next.

She couldn’t cry, even though she wanted to, and she couldn’t shake her head no, even though she needed to.

“I’m sorry, Apple Bloom. Twilight needs me,” Applejack said and bowed down.

Apple Bloom felt her sister’s dry and cracked lips touching her forehead for a kiss, it felt awkward and horrible and worse than that, it felt sad. With that, Applejack moved against the wind towards her doom and the crying demon.

She couldn’t let it happen. Whatever that beast was, it would take down Applejack and Spike. Apple Bloom knew she wanted not to be alone and that she didn’t want her sister to perish here, either. No, what she needed to do was stand up and finally do something. All this time she wanted to be the grown-up pony, but she’d just let Applejack do most of everything for her.

So she tried to move her legs, but they did not answer her. Ashes moved towards the demon as it went for another strike, only for Spike to gracefully dodge it. Apple Bloom hoped he could hold on for a few more seconds.

The wind brushed against head, as she tried to do as much as wiggle a hoof, but nothing happened. All she felt was pain and her body did naught to aid her mind. Apple Bloom knew that she needed to rise, needed to be strong, but she couldn’t be. She was weak, had been from the start.

She felt her muscles bend and her leg move ever so slightly. The beast’s claws hit the ground and the noise that created was something that could hardly be described. She’d never heard something as melodious as the invisible ground shaking under the weight of the monster’s weight. It was like a piece of symphony that encompassed only the most perfect of notes, the most dreamlike of instruments. Apple Bloom stopped for a moment, only to hear Spike’s scream and another thud on the ground as he hit it.

Move, she thought and tried again, closing her eye, feeling all the pain she’d gone through till this point and all the hurting she’d seen.

No matter the cost, she needed to help them. What happened to her didn’t matter, it hadn’t mattered from the start. Applejack, Spike, they needed her to not be helpless, but to help. She needed to be there for Twilight, because she could save one friend. Rainbow Dash, Scootaloo, all of her family, she hadn’t managed to rescue any of them, so she needed to succeed now.

The demon howled, she heard steps on the ground. Apple Bloom didn’t want to look. She heard the claw against the sky, heard someone whimper and then something hitting the ground.

Apple Bloom felt a chill run down her spine and her eye went wide open. The sky was dyed red, but it wasn’t what she needed to look at. Her head did not move, her heart skipped a beat. It wasn’t Spike, she was sure of it and at the same time didn’t want to be. The one the beast had gotten wasn’t the dragon, even though it should be.

Ever so slightly her head did finally turn, but Apple Bloom almost wanted it not to.

She saw the beast standing there, red soot mixing with grey and black. It was a constantly moving mass with a face flanked by blades and burning eyes filled with naught but anger. Her head went further, until her vision hit the ground.

Red and orange, golden hair spreading out and one eye open, green as grass. Apple Bloom took note of how her sister looked. She’d never been more than an average looking mare even on the best of days, Apple Bloom had heard the stallions say. Her mane used to be unkempt and uncared for. Small patches of skin revealed themselves on her body. Some were more easily noticed than others, but the skin was all black and grey. Tiny scars went across them. The bandana she wore was a handkerchief given to her by Twilight Sparkle after she’d lost her head. Every day in the cider house she had looked so tired, so done with this world.

That was Applejack, her Applejack, her big sister. She was the most irreplaceable pony in the whole world.

The blood dripped from her motionless body, forming a pool on the ground and Apple Bloom couldn’t tell whether those green eyes were looking at her or the light had gone from them. It had to be the first, it couldn’t be. The claw’s marks went deep, but they couldn’t have done her in. This was Applejack, the toughest pony to ever live, right?

“S,” Apple Bloom heard herself stutter, “Sis.”

Finally, her body moved, even though it hurt as she turned on her stomach. She felt worse with every movement of her legs, but started to crawl forwards nonetheless. Blood and excrements clung to her, but in a strange way it didn’t really matter.

In the corner of her eye, she saw Spike stand up. His right arm hung limp from his body, he was missing his front teeth and his jaw was broken. He failed to rise and fell unconscious to the ground, into a pool of his own sanguine fluid.

But that didn’t matter for Apple Bloom, who moved forward. The beast stepped over Applejack’s body, which started to burn up in the green flame that formed the heart of the monster before them.

“YOU LOST YOUR HOME, TOO!”

The beast came to a stop before Apple Bloom, but the filly ignored her. Only Applejack mattered, because she couldn’t be gone. She’d always woken up before, she’d blown a raspberry on Apple Bloom’s stomach on her first dry night in months and had smiled despite the hardship, despite how tired she’d been.

“WE CAN’T GO BACK! CAN WE?” The beast screamed, its heart pulsating.

It looked at the filly’s struggle, at how she left a trail in the darkness. Blood and tears and a fire eating her from inside out.

“DON’T CRY!” It commanded.

Apple Bloom crawled onwards. She couldn’t give up, after all. This was her sister, the one she’d always loved and all she needed was a hug and somepony telling her to wake up. So Apple Bloom tried to shout, tried to get a sound out of herself. She only managed some gagging sounds and then spit some bloody, blackened saliva on the ground.

“EVERYTHING IS DYING!”

Apple Bloom kept on trying, while the beast leant down before her, its claw outstretched. The filly expected it to end her, like it had ended the others, but her eye reamined on her sister. Yet the strike never came and the claw went through her mane, as if it meant to pet her.

“I REMEMBER THE RIVER’S MOUTH! HE PROMISED TO MEET ME THERE! THE GOLDEN ONE TORE US APART! I NEED TO GO HOME! PLEASE UNDERSTAND!”

She felt the dust on her skin, falling to the ground as lifeless as it was meant to be. The flame pulsated with a violent fury within the winged demon.

“I CANNOT SEE IT ANYMORE! THE LIGHT IS TAKING EVERYTHING! THERE’S A SONG! CAN’T YOU HEAR IT? IT’S TAKING THE MEMORIES! I DON’T WANT IT TO TAKE ME! IF IT DOES I WILL DIE AND HURT YOU EVEN WORSE!”

Apple Bloom stopped her struggle and looked up into its eyes. They were fire and nothing else, much like its voice was nothing but hatred and violence. The words it spoke, however, weren’t such.

The beast lifted its claw again, its eyes never looked away. Then it went for Apple Bloom and the filly was only thankful that there was no pain, no pain at all.

As the blood ebbed from her body and everything around her vanished, she felt a white heat burn up and take care of everything. A warm hug and voice whispering that it would make sure that everything was fine. It sung its song and told her that all that mattered was the sweet sound and the fervor it gave her. All else didn’t matter and so all else would vanish again.

Apple Bloom, lying on the ground looked in her sister’s eyes. They were green as grass, much like those of a stallion she had once seen, a long, long time ago. He had held her in his arms and smiled a wicked smile.

“Yer gonna be a tough one, like yer motha,” the memory whispered to her.

Voices came to her mind. A cute-ceañera and two fillies without cutie marks, a farmhold in the middle of a sea trees, a strange little town in the center of Equestria. Faces, stories, songs, all those things she’d seen and heard and felt and loved and feared. They all mattered.

She closed her eye and as the fire engulfed her, another voice joined in, wondering where it was, scared and alone.

“I want to go home, it said and Apple Bloom saw the pulsating heart of the demon.

“Then give me your strength,” she answered. “I will help you get back.”

The voice wondered to whom it was talking. Within her mind, Apple Bloom could almost see it, almost feel its presence. It was but a glimmer on the horizon, a distant wanderer who’d traveled to a place he never wanted to go to anyway.

She tried to move her hoof, tried to show him what to do. Whether he saw or not was not for her to tell, but the fire swelled up once more and for the blink of the eye, the song was back and lulling her into sleep.

Neither the filly nor the wanderer listened and suddenly Apple Bloom felt an arm press against hers. A green flame escaped the wounds of her body, turning it into coal. But there was no pain, only warmth and somepony else helping her up.

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING?” The monster asked. “STAY DEAD! I DON’T WANT THIS TO HAPPEN! I DON’T WANT ANYMORE DEATH!”

It shook violently and then from its wings and arms sprung forth hundreds of thousands of new claws, all aiming towards the filly. She saw them clearly, both her eyes alight with newfound sight. A new strength filled her and as she breathed she felt the fire escaping, the light she emitted becoming one with the stars around her.

A split-second before the claws hit her, she ducked down. The beast quickly adjusted the trajectory of most of the claws, but just as they changed directions, Apple Bloom kicked herself off the ground and towards the vicious beast.

She heard herself scream and the wanderer, though confused, added his voice to the fight. The demon only looked at them. For a second Apple Bloom still thought it to only be a cloud of ashes, but her eyes now saw its face and how it stared in wonder at the young foal who dashed forward.

The diaper was gone, but so was most of her flesh. All that remained of her now was a burning carcass kept only alive by the will of two, but that would need to be enough. Apple Bloom didn’t know for what, but right now only Twilight could fix this. If she could get to her, she might be able to save Applejack and that would be worth every cost in the world.

Apple Bloom’s face went right through the ashes and beyond the black dust she saw the heart of the beast. Twilight floated in the center of an ashen whirlwind, alit with a greenish flame that had a purple tinge to it. Apple Bloom knew it was Twilight and not some beast because of that. It was like the alicorn kept the beast that wanted to take her over as much under control as she could, and she wasn’t even awake.

The princess’ eyes were closed, so she needed to wake up. Apple Bloom stretched her hooves out, ready to shake her awake, but as she touched Twilight’s blaze, her own became extinguished.

She looked at her arms, the charred bones that remained of them. For a moment she thought to stop, but the wanderer trusted her, so she needed to trust herself, too. For Applejack, for the Spike, for their home.

And they screamed out in pain, the filly and the ghost within her body as they moved in on the alicorn. With every millimeter, more of Apple Bloom’s arms turned to ashes in wind, but she refused to give up. No matter what would happen to her, she needed to save everypony else.

The wanderer saw her this time, clearly he did.

“Go home," he asked of her and a new light erupted from within her as he gave the rest of himself up for her sake.

The flames mixed in with each other and Apple Bloom managed to pierce through the magical barrier around Twilight, wrapping the stumps that remained of her legs around the alicorn’s body. Apple Bloom held onto her, even as her own flame vanished. The stranger was gone and so she felt the heat growing around her for one more time.

She kept her arms wrapped around Twilight Sparkle, the princess of friendship. “Wake up,” she begged her, but the alicorn’s eyes remained closed.

The fire mixed with the ashes, the ashes danced in the wind, but once the light was gone they would scatter into the space around them, leaving nopony to tell the tale. They would all die here and Equestria would be forsaken.

“Wake up,” she begged Twilight, but the alicorn made no motion.

“Come on, you idiot,” Apple Bloom said, feeling nothing beneath her chest anymore. She couldn’t find the ability to breathe anymore. “Come … on. …”

Her voice became a whisper, her eyesight slowly went away. She heard her heart’s beat, once, then twice. And then, it was gone. She was gone, too. One last time she tried to focus, one last time she tried to see the face of the one she was hugging.

This time she thought it was Applejack, smiling at her. “I’m sorry,” her sister said with Twilight’s voice.

And then Apple Bloom felt two arms around her and the flame turned to a golden light brighter than any star, the brilliant luminescence of a sun reaching its very zenith. That was when the filly realized that she’d reached her, that she had managed to wake up, Twilight. Nothing else mattered, she’d done good. She’d done well.

As the song vanished from her head, as the wind died down, Apple Bloom found herself drifting to sleep. She thought to feel the wooden floor of the library, the touch of a purple claw.

And then, there was a sullen darkness and after that nothing. A nothing that was interrupted only by a sudden sound, the throbbing of a heart, and then, the need to breathe.