Game Over

Applejack looked at her new party members, watching closely how they moved on this new zone of the forest, learning something from their bodies language which spoke of how dangerous this zone was, as all of them were doing their best to sneak as silently as possible into the new zone.

“Why are we attacking this monster?” Asked the palomino, her voice nearly a whisper.

“Living on Everfree has taught us one thing and that's to strike first, and think later...” Offered Rainbow Dash, her eyes firm on the far away waterfall

Applejack looked at her new partner and frowned... but to her surprise, Fluttershy also scowled lightly at her friend, before she clarified:

“Not all sentient monsters are friendly, Applejack.” Added the mare, her eyes a little downcast as if some painful memories were crossing her mind, “That waterfall can create a pack of wolves that maim and murder for pleasure alone... we have lost many of our townsfolk on their attacks...”

That surprised the palomino, so this was for revenge?

An snort from Rainbow Dash then caught the entire group attention, as the mare looked at Applejack knowingly.

“I know what you're thinking... is this revenge? The answer to that is a yes, it is... is it unjustified? That would be a no...” the blue pegasus flapped lightly her folded wings against her torso... a sign of frustration for being grounded...

Fluttershy, seeing the lack of explanation coming from her friend, sighed then explained.

“The waterfall is cursed... something awful happened there, we don't know exactly what... you can only guess about it due to the huge amount of bones and carcasses all over the place...” the yellow pegasus looked at Rainbow Dash, then at the newcomers, “this curse creates wolves made of mud, stone and water that hunt, maim and kill anything that cross their territory.”

The sudden sound of something on the nearby bushes stopped them cold, as McIntosh and Applejack quickly donned their armors, expecting for an attack that never came.

“They're surrounding us... studying us like the Chimera horde...” Said McIntosh, his brown deeply frowned as he examined the surrounding area before he looked at Applejack, who nodded slightly, she had also noticed it.

“What can you tell me about this waterfall?” Asked the palomino, slightly worried about the trustfulness of this versions of her past friends.

“That there's a monster that control those wolves on that waterfall, it needs living beings to sustain itself, and can use the abilities of those that it had killed... many of its victims are young... cubs... we can't let it live any longer... not when it had been preying on the younglings of the village.” Answered Fluttershy, her voice low but commanding, which surprised Applejack a great deal, as there was some steel on the pink maned pegasus eyes.

“Why haven't you tried to hunt it before?” Asked McIntosh, who looked at the pegasus for a few seconds before he returned his gaze to the forest, wary of what awaited for them.

The derisive snort from Rainbow Dash was then heard.

“Because we have been quite too busy feeding and protecting the village, also only Fluttershy seemed to cause it some damage, so we have been grinding as much as we could... which isn't much as we don't have a safe way to increase our levels on this part of the forest...”

That was what Applejack didn't wanted to hear...

“Horse Apples...” She muttered, as she deactivated her armor alongside her brother, as they began to prepare for what was to come, which surprised the pegasus mares.

“What are you doing?” Asked Rainbow Dash, as she saw the pair bath their armors on a green potion.

“You should have told us about that before we delved into its territory...” reprimanded Applejack as she purified her Shieldmore with a Holy Potion, “We're about to fight an undead, probably a quite powerful Wraith... we need to purify our armors to prevent corruption from its miasma...” once she had finished, she also tossed the blue mare a bottle, “While you're a long range warrior, we don't know what kind of especial ability this monster will have, so its better to bath in Holy your armor... or its going to end cursed...”

“I have healing and purifying powers...” Added Fluttershy, who had taken the spot as sentinel while her party prepared itself for battle... “I can purify low to mid curses, my job as an animal guardian makes such abilities a need to cure or save a suffering patient...”
This caught Applejack by surprise, who looked at her firmly...

“Then... what are those energy animals...?”

“That is light manipulation,” clarified the mare, who flushed lightly at the incredulous stare that Applejack and McIntosh gave her... “I... its... its not a great deal...”

“Oh yeah, she can manipulate light at will, even make it solid enough to hit and injure a target... and its not a great deal.” Added Rainbow Dash mirthfully, enjoying her friend slight distress, “Its nothing to gawk at, I mean... its just the most advanced level of weather manipulation that a pegasus can manage, an ability that had been thought as mere exaggerations... a metaphor... and she always pretend that its nothing... good luck trying to convince her of...”

“INCOMING!” Bellowed McIntosh, who suddenly raised his shield above the group and created an magical dome as a shower of black pestilent goo began to rain over them.

Ink Wolves

“Shit! That's new!” Exclaimed Rainbow Dash, as she saw the pools of goo shift and take form in front of the dome, taking the shape of what appeared to be ink wolves.

“That's Poet's ability...” Mumbled Fluttershy, which finally broke the frozen spell on the group as she looked at the ink constructions for a moment, before she closed her eyes and sighed, “Please McIntosh, keep that dome... Rainbow!”

“On it!” A quick use of her wings, and the temperature on the dome began to drop harshly enough to snow,a movement that was later explained as Fluttershy suddenly opened her wings and let a shower of scalding light outside the dome, evaporating the beasts in a matter of seconds... leaving nothing behind, no points, no loot, nothing.

“I-I-its as I F-f-feared!” Stuttered Applejack, as her armor had grown uncomfortably cold under Rainbow spell.

“If you want some heat you only need to stand at my side... my awesome aura would heat your body instantly... leaving you randy and prepared for a good...” The blue mare quickly evaded the swipe of Applejack hoof, laughing and cackling mirthfully at her the whole time... when a second attack was made, this time leaving Rainbow Dash away from the dome as she had been forced to fly away from the attack... which had left exposed the whole team to the heat of Fluttershy scalding technique.

Applejack panted hard, as she downed a restorative potion to prevent an overheat status to appear on her bar, while her partners gulped gladly their own solutions.

“Where's...?”

The sudden sound of battle interrupted the palomino, as they saw in the distance a blue speck showering the land with lightning over and over, as she evaded black shots of goo with ease.

They all ran toward her direction, only to find a rock infested field with wolf like beings growling at them...

Rock Wolves

“They're trying to separate us...” Screamed McIntosh as he used his armor and his unique ability to ram his body against the magical constructions, creating a path of debris and destruction as he passed by, using his strength to pummel the wolves with ease to the surprise of the pink maned mare, whose wings were slightly raised at the mere sight.

“Chain Storm!” Screamed Applejack, as she used her Whipsword to cut clean the weakened foes that survived the initial attack, which seemed to spurn Fluttershy into action as a huge gorilla materialized beside McIntosh, covering his flanks from shrapnel and many other things.

It didn't take that long to clear the path, but they didn't cared about it, going toward the sound of battle that came from the distance, as Rainbow Dash did her best to kept her rivals away from her.

“This is too easy,” Said McIntosh while they ran toward the flying mare, which immediately caught the attention of Fluttershy, as Applejack nodded at him.

“Yeah... those monsters aren't that strong...”

“Which meant that they're luring us into a trap...” said the teenage colt, who looked slightly at Fluttershy, “They want us to be overconfident, to attack the waterfall without any doubt...”

The palomino then opened her eyes widely, as Fluttershy gasped in fright.

“Rainbow Dash!” She whispered, frightened to not hear or see any sight of her old friend on the smoking field, debris and nauseating pools covered the whole place due to her continuous use of lighting against them...

“No, RAINBOW DASH!!!” Screamed the pink haired mare, which took Applejack by surprise, as her own version rarely raised her voice...

“She isn't here,” added McIntosh whose eyes glowed lightly due to his continuous use of Observe, an ability that Applejack knew he barely had deactivated since they had nearly died against their first horde.

“Quick, take us to the waterfall... I bet you that she's over there...” Concluded Applejack, as she gave a slight nudge toward the almost catatonic Fluttershy, who seemed to be having a painful flashback at the moment. “Fluttershy!?”

“Uh, oh yeah... the waterfall... follow me!” Opening her wings widely, she flapped once and she was soon on the sky, flying as fast as she could while they struggled to keep her pace.

It didn't take them that long to reach the place, just to find a downed Rainbow Dash being dragged toward a black bubbly cesspool by a huge gooey claw, that was quickly cut in half by a well directed use of a light beam from Fluttershy, which only left a unconscious and throughly cursed pegasus behind.

Wraith's Waterfall

“Oh no...” Said Applejack, as she saw the mud suddenly move and shift, then take the shape of wolves that soon pounced upon them.

With a quick use of Haste, the mare crossed the distance and soon began to chop and cut mud creations to no avail, as their bodies quickly repaired themselves and reformed in mere seconds.

“MAC!” Cried Applejack, forcing the male to suddenly sprung once again a dome above them as they tried to regroup and rearrange themselves, only for the magical to fall under the sudden appearance of a huge Golem of stone that shattered the barrier with too much ease, which made the adolescent colt cringe harshly due to the backlash.

Applejack cursed, then tried to cut the Golem only to find herself suddenly surrounded and covered by the mud beasts, who bit into her armor, trying to reach her flesh to no avail.

“Get off me!”

“Purification Breath!” Suddenly cried Fluttershy, who was them enveloped in a white mist that soon covered the surrounding area, making the mud wolves cringe then flee away from the Holy attack, giving the party a few precious seconds to finally regroup. The palomino trotted toward the now recovered pegasus, and a trembling McIntosh, who apparently had been cursed in the short struggle against the wolf Golem, its body was heavily letting out a tick black mist as the Holy attack purified the cursed armor.

“I'm sorry guys... this is my fault!” Added Rainbow Dash, who had her ears completely flat against her head, her eyes looking at the ground.

“Yes, it is... but that isn't important at the moment... we need to work together if we want to survive this monster...” Said Applejack, who ignored the slight cringe of the mare at her words, “Physical attacks don't work on those Mud wolves... so that leaves magic.”

“That doesn't work either, that's how they got me... I tried to fry them... but they absorb the spells and the magic out of your body if they catch you, then the Golem knocks you out with a well placed punch!” Informed the blue mare, who was looking at Applejack at the eyes, her eyes now firm, obviously having a huge desire to redeem herself.

The palomino looked at McIntosh, who was busily feeding potion after potion to the trembling Fluttershy, who tried in vain to keep the purifying mist going, as it kept the enemies at bay.

“Then... as I suspected it, Fluttershy it's our only hope...” Finally conceded Applejack, as she had seen the mud wolves dissolve under the attack, the palomino looked at Rainbow, then said: “This is just the beginning, its first wave...”

“Incoming!” Warned McIntosh, who saw the Golem finally lost its patience and run into the mist, his body smoking heavily but still standing, which forced the Earth ponies to run toward it, their armors shining brightly as they prepared an collaborative attack against the now defenseless monster.

A swipe of his monstrous arm tried to catch McIntosh dead on, who simply jumped over it and ran over the rocky surface taking the beast attention for a few minutes from Applejack, who brandished her Whipsword against its torso, the enchanted beads cutting the stone easily as she had infused Armor Breaker, on her sword, bisecting the beast in two as McIntosh punched the head of the monster with his entire force, sending the body to crash against the surface of the waterfall, which screeched and roared as if in pain, which caught the couple by surprise.
“Darn it... the Wraith is the waterfall...” Muttered the palomino as she saw the holy mist slowly disappear around her, as the mares had taken to the sky at that moment, which caused a whole lot of things to happen as another Golem raised itself in front of them accompanied by more Mud wolves.

The falling water then bubbled, and shots of ink suddenly began to rain upon the field, as the wraith attempted to down the flying pegasus who began to pelt the surface of the pond with lighting and holy attacks, which seemed to inflict considerable damage, as the mud wolves dissolved, and the Golems fell apart.

“Keep going, its dying!” Exclaimed Applejack as she cut and sliced huge chunks of rock that Big McIntosh then simply bucked toward the screeching Waterfall, their victory obviously quite secure by the minute when, with an loud scream an explosion suddenly happened and all of them saw their emergency kits flash lightly before all of them suddenly disappeared and reappeared on the middle of the town, where the local monsters watched the party warily, as all of them were simply bathed in cursed miasma...

You flee from the battle

“What... what just happened?!” Asked Applejack, trying to understand how they ended here to no avail, when Rainbow Dash simply cursed and bellowed obscenities at the sky.

“That damned foul thing used Roar with us! That's what fucking happened!”

“Roar?” Questioned McIntosh as he quick put the armor into its shield form, and put it away from him as its miasma was obviously affecting his bar, which was slowly seeping life of him due to its curse, something that soon Applejack and Rainbow Dash imitated as they fully noticed how compromised their equipment was at the moment.

“Heal!” Softly enchanted Fluttershy as she healed her injured party members with a frustrated frown on her forehead, “It's... an attack that young creatures have on this part of the forest... it forces the contrary to flee, or in some cases, it makes our emergency kits activate...”

“That fucking...”

“Dash... that's enough!” Warned Zecora, who had suddenly appeared among them her reproaching glare soon shutting up the obviously angry pegasus... “You knew that it wouldn't be an easy opponent to defeat... now just shut up and stop cursing, there are children around you!”

Mollified the mare simply nodded, letting a sigh of frustration, Applejack who was also as frustrated as the blue mare also sighed, before she smiled at Fluttershy, as the pink haired pegasus did her best to cleanse her body from the remnants of the curse.

“This is going to be one of those enemies that are frustratingly hard to kill despite how weak they are... isn't it?”

XxX

“So, we suddenly found ourselves surrounded by this wolves made of mud, quite durable and nearly immune to physical damage, and magical attacks.”

“Oh dear, that sounds quite challenging...” Added Rarity, as she levitated a cup of her favorite drink as she heard Applejack, her entire attention put on her friend, the both of them slightly divided by their reunion, as they were both delighted to see each another, but sad that Carrot Top had been send to Fillydelphia due to her own engagement, none of them truly knowing if they would see their friend ever again, so they busied themselves talking about Applejack adventures on The Sanctuary.

“It was more annoying than challenging if you ask me... only Holy attacks seemed to affect them, so we depended greatly on Fluttershy...” Said Applejack, who looked at her empty plate and sighed, finally noticing that her sandwich had been long gone. “It was a ridiculous hard to kill monster, especially with that annoying tendency of his to send us away with that Roar attack... but in the end, we got it... gave us quite a lot of loot, but not much experience... the Jade stones I gave you came from it.”

“For which I'm quite thankful of, as they're beautiful.” Rarity smiled at her friend, truly grateful to see her back after an entire month of not hearing anything about her at all. The rumors on the streets saying the foulest things about the pair, which had nearly drove her to punch or kick some of her customers, which she had thankfully not done at all. “Tell me, darling, how is Mac dealing with Rainbow harassment?”

“He's doing quite well, at first both of us were quite uncomfortable with her displays... some of them are borderline sexual harassment, I tell you.” Clarified the palomino, as she sighed at the knowing smile of the mare, knowing that the two of them would be thoroughly questioned by the curious unicorn.

“But as time passed by, we got accustomed to her displays. Realizing that she enjoyed the power that she had over us by being overly brazen... once we realized this, we put our stoicism at work and she finally tuned it down... she's quite a loyal mare once you gain her confidence, that I have to admit.”

And indeed, the pegasus mare was downright lethal with her domain of the elements, shooting ray after ray of lighting, sharp icicles and scalding winds. Her Hoofs blades being quite deadly due to her surprising strength and incomparable speed, making her an tricky and hard opponent to deal with.

“In the last week, we went as much as we could into the forest so they could increase their levels with good old grinding against the Hordes... Rainbow and I even developed an collaborative attack!”

“Oh... Is that... oh dear, it is!” Exclaimed loudly Rarity, who smiled knowingly at her friend.

“What?”

“Oh my... it could be that dear Applejack is developing something else for a certain mare?” Added the unicorn, wiggling her eyebrow sultrily at the gaping pony. “If that's so... I can take claim of poor Mackie...”

“Rarity!”

“I kid, I kid...” Laughed the unicorn, as she enjoyed the flustered and heatedly gaze of the earth pony, who tried to keep her smile in check without any success. When an explosion, followed by some screams interrupted their time, both of them rushing out of the store to see in the distance the rising smoke.

“An attack?” Gasped Rarity, her eyes slowly hardening as she looked at the direction of the smoke, “That's...”

“Let's go, Rares...” Commanded Applejack, who jumped into action as she equipped her armor, followed closely by an also deadly dressed Assassin.

You have formed a Party

It didn't took long for them to reach the site, finding a lots of curious ponies gazing at something, talking non stop about the intruder, but doing nothing about it. Which forced the pair to open up a road among the townsfolk.

“A gunner mare...” Heard Applejack, followed by “Dreadful things... I tell you.” Which told her that whoever was on the other side was probably an outsiders, as no one in Ponyville used guns.

“Celestia above,” Exclaimed Rarity, who had used her magic to move an obstinate mare from her road, giving her a first gaze of their possible rival, “The poor thing... just... look at her!”

Applejack just stared unbelieving of what her eyes were gazing at, there in front of them, was a nearly broken transmission point who had backfired badly, a few feet's from it, was a blue eyed mare, her whole coat bleeding and scorched due to the explosion, her blood seeping on the ground while she simply glared back at anyone that dared to get too close to her. Her smooth pink mane cascading around her face, a 105 floating upon her, which surprised the palomino, as the mare was two levels above her.

Pinkie...

Thought Applejack, unable to believe the state of her friend, her ability to observe quickly offering her a lot of information about her condition, which wasn't good as her health bar was downing with each second that passed by.

Rushing toward the mare, and ignoring the full glare that Pinkie offered in her direction, Applejack tried to bring out a potion, when she suddenly found a floating and quite lethal magical gun on her face.

“D-Don't take an step closer...” The voice of the pink mare was cold, raspy and undoubtedly tired.

“I promise you that I'm not here to hurt you...” Added Applejack, lowering her armor and turning it into a shield, to the townsfolk horror, Rarity following her example quickly, leaving two naked mares in front of the armed strangers. “I promise it...” She lastly added, making an 'x' on her chest but nothing else, which seemed to be enough for the confused, but tired mare as she nodded once, then collapsed.

“Hold on!” Screamed Applejack, who quickly began to use potion after potion on the downed mare, when the voice of the Mayor interrupted her.

“That's enough, Applejack. We'll take care of her from now on...” Beside her stood her two bodyguards, glaring lightly at the intruder, their intentions quite obvious for everyone to see.

“Its no problem, Mayor... I'll take care of her...”

“You don't understand...”

“She does...” Added Rarity, who was now back on assassin mode, her hood giving her shining eyes a more sinister look. “But as you see, we don't agree...”

The mayor simply looked at them, unmoved by the unicorn display.

“Then, so be it... but be aware that the cost of the reparations will be taken from your accounts, ladies...” Warned the Mayor, who inclined her head and then simply walked toward her office, followed closely by two heavily scowling guards.

“You shouldn't have done that, Rares...” Scolded lightly Applejack, whose attention was now fully put on curing the incredibly injured pony, trying to stabilize her to the best of her abilities before she tried to move her toward the hospital, not being able to give the unconscious mare a Chimera Wing.

“Rainbow Dash isn't the only one that's loyal, honey...” Added the unicorn, as she glared lightly at the still gazing ponies, who flinched lightly at her disapproving gaze. “They will attempt to sabotage my store, but sadly for them I'm already registered on the merchant guild. They would find such actions quite unpleasant, for the guild doesn't tolerate an attack on one of their members...”

“The Mayor isn't like that...” defended Applejack, sighing lightly in satisfaction when she finally stabilized the mare, as she raised herself on to her hoofs, making sure to touch the downed body. Feeling Rarity's hoof graze her own left hoof.

“I know, she's quite aware that my business will bring a lot of income for the town, but those brutes she had hired aren't as well educated...”

Applejack nodded, knowing quite well why the Mayor had contacted swords for hire in the past month that she hasn't been on Ponyville. Using her absence as an excuse to increment the security on the town, never expecting her to increase her level so much in such an short amount of time.

With a quick rush of magic, the trio appeared on the hospital, were the pink mare was quickly stripped of her weapons on an especial room that left them access to some parts of her menu, leaving the mare quite naked for the medics to work with.

“This things are quite worthless...” Added Rarity as she examined the clothes that the unknown mare had been using, frowning in distaste at the low quality of the garments. “The charms are barely holding together the whole thing, its no wonder that she's so injured.”

Applejack nodded, looking at the guns which were the only item that was worth a bit or two, and even then it wasn't worth the problem, as some of them were rusted while others had some quite visible cracks in their cannon.

“She's poor...” Muttered the palomino, who then looked at the operation room with a sad and quite hurt expression on her face. It was strange to find an poor pony in a world where slaying the weakest of beings gave you some gold and earnings. But it happened, especially in zones were the beast usually didn't leave anything behind with each slay, only offering lots of experience in the process. Which explained why Pinkie had such an high level on her.

With a sigh, Rarity put back the garments on the table, noticing that their deplorable state confirmed Applejack words quite too much for her tastes.

“Its no wonder that she pointed that gun at you, she probably doesn't have many friends.”

Frowning painfully after hearing that, Applejack just stood there, hating what had become of her friend on this world. Not hearing the door open and Red Hooves appear on the room, looking for them until Rarity touched her shoulder.

“Uh?”

“The doctor's here...”

“I'm not the only one...” Explained the doctor, just as Jack Seed and Tangerine entered the room, their faces quite passive despite the situation, probably already in the know of what had happened.

“The Mayor?” Asked Applejack, looking at her mother, who nodded once.

“What can you tell us about this mare, Doctor?” Asked Jack, who's attention was now focused on the doctor, who opened his notepad.

“The patient has been put on a magically induced coma, she's famished, and had a severe case of malnutrition. Her wounds are fully healed thanks to the dexterously intervention of your daughter, no scar tissue would appear. We also extracted a lot of poison from her body, Basilisk.” A look at the whole group told them that the doctor didn't knew how the mare was alive if she had encountered a Basilisk. Once the message was given, she continued, “We also found some claws inside of her that we had to extract... three to be exact. Each one belonging to a different species.”

With a rush of her magic horn, the doctor put the claws on the table, which the adults then proceeded to inspect. Tangerine being the first one to talk.

“This one is from a Gorgon...” She said at a finger with quite a wicked claw, then she pointed out at a mucous covered stone, which seemed to be an onyx. “By the color of that, I dare to say that it used to belong to an Stone Serpent,” Tangerine frowned at the mucous that covered the stone, “It seemed that it had been inside of her for a long while... isn't t?”

“Indeed...” Confirmed the doctor, before Jack finally added on the last fragment.

“That's the claw of an Charcoal Wolf, quite dangerous beast they travel in quite big packs... which made her survival more extraordinary... for they are quite tenacious and powerful.” Looking at the doctor, he quickly asked... “What level did you say she was?”

“105...”

“Strange...”

“Why, Mr. Seed?” Said Rarity, quite curious with the intense gaze on the stallion face.

“Those beast are usually above 174, Miss Rarity... for someone as weak as her to survive such an encounter... quite remarkable luck. Might also explain why the transmission point collapsed by her arrival, probably teleported randomly and ended up here, the backlash damaging the portal.”

Applejack just gazed at her father, not truly believing what she was hearing, when the doctor brusquely interrupted.

“I find this incredibly interesting, really, but I have a job to do, and sadly this mare doesn't seems able to pay the hospital bills...”

“I'll pay...” Offered Applejack immediately to the surprise of no one, who quickly was backed up by Rarity.

“Why would you do such a thing for an unknown mare?” Asked the doctor, apparently unable to understand such an action, his lack of empathy not even surprising the palomino anymore.

“Because its the right thing to do...” Said Applejack, before she looked at her parents, “And because she's family...”

“How do you know that?” Asked Tangerine, now quite curious, while Jack just looked at his daughter.

“Because she's a Pie.”

XxX

Looking at the sky, Applejack tried to appease her mind on the last worries that seemed to inundate her world. The most recent being the most heartbreaking of all, as Pinkie Pie hasn't regained consciousness despite the doctors best tries.

She was surprised that her parents hasn't questioned how she knew that the Pies were part of the Apples Family, but she knew that sooner or later one of them would approach her. In fact, she could feel the sound of hoofs softly walk toward her and knew that the moment was now.

What did surprise her was that it wasn't her parents, but Granny Smith, who smiled lightly at her before she sat at her side, grunting lightly in the process while the palomino simply gazed at her grandmother, surprised by how nimble and able was her beloved grandma despite her advanced age. One of the many miracles of the medicine of this world.

“Ah knew that that deep inside that hotheaded head of yars, was a great mind.” Said the old mare softly, while she also watched the starry sky. “Ah knew it all along as Ah saw ya grown, ya had an spark, and old but kind soul deep inside ya, that Ah couldn't explain.”

Applejack looked at her granny, wondering if she should tell her the truth.

“Ya don't need ta tell me anything, honey.” Added the old mare, not even looking at her, “Ya don't need to explain yarself ta me.” There, the old mare finally looked down, her eyes firm and mischievous, “Ya and McIntosh are ta pride of yar family. Ta best that we could offer... both of ya will become legends... Ah only hope to live long enough to see it.”

“You will...”

“No one can know ta future, or what's going to happen to us. But know this, Ah am proud of ya, Applejack Apple. Ah am proud that despite yar great power, yar heart remains ta same.” Granny looked back at the sky, smiling contently, “All of us are proud of ya for saving that mare, even when the fools at that town don't share your view.” An slight scowl marred the old face of the mare, who had remembered the attack on Rarity's store, which had nearly sent Applejack into a rage fit. Only the calming and soothing voice of McIntosh reminding her that Rarity was quite well protected by the business guild.

And protect her they did. Hammer and Flor quickly coming out of their stores alongside a great deal of associates to help the mare against the pair of imbeciles that had tried to settle the score. A pair of thugs that had been forced to flee the town as they found themselves outnumbered and outsmarted.

“How did you...”

“Ah saw ya reading ta family records after ya were engaged to Big Mac...” Chuckled Granny smith at the rosy cheeks of her granddaughter, “Ya might believe that yar good at sneaking, but ya aren't good enough to cheat these old ears... Ah know that ya had yar doubts, so Ah let ya be.”

Applejack simply remained silent, letting her believe her own conclusions, already accustomed to the fact that her reincarnation had forced her to lie to her loved ones not only for their sakes, but her own. It was a quite bitter pill to swallow for someone who used to be the embodiment of truth, but change was part of life, and change she had.

It didn't meant that she wasn't capable of lying on her past life, she was simply just bad at it. But as always, you could change that on this world.

“You also have a big heart, honey...” Added Granny Smith, taking her out the palomino of her fuss, “You've helped ta townsfolk even when most of them are a bunch of ungrateful jackasses.”

“Granny!”

“What? Is ta truth!”

A half choked laugh that came from the nearby bushes, then revealed the presence of a now quite maroon McIntosh, who tried to not look guilty of being spying and failing big time to do so. His suffering seemed to give some pleasure to the old mare, who just cackled in mirth at her grandchild.

“Come here ya big dunderhead...” Ordered the old mare before with a grunt, she finally raised herself on to her hoof, and with a quick movement of her head, planted a kiss on the still blushing teenaged colt. “Don't do anything too advanced ya pair of rascals!”

“MOM!” Screeched Tangerine from the house, who apparently had been listening on to the conversation, which made the old mare laugh even more before she teleported herself away, probably toward her own bedroom. Leaving a pair of quite flustered teenagers relatively alone on the dark.

Applejack found herself looking back at Mac, still wondering why so many things in this world were going so well despite how messed up it was, quickly inviting him to snuggle against her by tapping the ground beside her with her hove. He quickly does, sitting beside her and sharing the heat of his body on the quite chilly but beautiful night, the two of them enjoying the stars for a few minutes, before the palomino soon felt him get yet closer to her, his hot and shaking breath feeling her ears as he nuzzled her mane, which caused her to close her eyes and tremble slightly at such an intimate touch, his lips grasping lightly her ears which Applejack felt were about to explode in flames due to how hot she felt them.

Then she felt his lips, enjoying how he dexterously planted kiss after kiss on her mane, then her coat. Breathing hard and labored by each caress, until she couldn't resist it anymore and so she turned and finally kissed him deeply, moaning a little in the process as their lips tingled with each passing second. She changed her position to make the experience more comfortable, the experience being raw bliss for the pair, until with a doubtful and shaky moan, they put an end to it.

When they broke apart from each another, Applejack looked longingly at him, her body asking for more, quite much more than her ages and their engagement period left them have. He looked warily at the house, the lights were out, but the windows were still open. Which meant that they were being closely watched for any funny attempts, which put an end to their exploration.

“Good night Mac...”

“Good night Jackie...” He went away, and she just remained there... just happy, especially as she found herself not sad anymore, reminding herself that this world despite its many failings, had quite good things too.

You only needed to look further for them.

XxX

Applejack smiled up at the blue eyed mare that looked at her from her bed, her mane quite puffy, which the palomino had to admit was quite the relief.

“Oh, hello...” Said the pink mare, who tilted her head to the right, as if she was trying hard to remember something...

“Hello there... my name's Applejack, Applejack Apple!”

“Oh, hi Applejack, name's Pinkie Pie...” Added the mare exuberantly, her eyes sparkling with life and happiness despite her situation.

And as time passed by, and Applejack chatted more and more with the pink mare, she quickly found that as it had happened with her other friends, this world had changed deeply the mare that she knew as Pinkie Pie. This version of Pinkie while exuberant and cheerful, was quite calmer and less hyperactive than her own, especially as no weird transformation, disappearance or shenanigans had come from he. Which was a slight relief, as Applejack wasn't entire sure how she would deal with her own Pinkie on a world like this.

“So you see, I left my family Rock farm to make a life of my own, didn't do that well apparently.” Finalized Pinkie, as she signaled her surroundings. “I get I got big headed because I was the most powerful mare of my age in my village.” The pink mare then sighed, smiling slightly, “I wanted to get away from the weddings petitions, and the look of mares and stallions. Don't take this wrong, I love being a warrior, I really do, but I felt... unhappy about it. Something lacked, which was why I left the town, to find myself...”

“What are you going to do from now on?” Asked Applejack, a little wary of Pinkie, as she seemed to have become a wanderer on this world instead of a party mare, which was strange, as her Cutie mark was still a bunch of balloons.

“I want to focus on myself right now, probably set my own business if I manage to find a place that have monsters with quite good loot to recollect...”

Surprisingly, it hasn't taken that long to convince Pinkie Pie to stay at Ponyville, especially when the mare told the palomino that this was the place she had been searching for, as she had found a pamphlet, on an carcass of a pony about someone recruiting on Ponyville, promising good pay and a lot of experience, which made Applejack narrow her eyes after hearing that, explaining to the mare what the job consisted off, which seemed to be enough to put off the gunner mare.

Applejack also offered her own house for the mare to live by while she made a life of her own, especially as Pinkie finally saw the true conditions of her equipment. Part of the palomino wanted to take Pinkie to the bakery, but she knew that unlike her original world Pinkie didn't knew the Cake family as well, much less would those two accept such an powerful mare on their roof without knowing her.

In the end, as the days passed by and Pinkie recovered, the only downside of such an arrangement, was that the pink mare seemed rather smitten with Big McIntosh.

Only time would tell how long such a thing would last.