Game Over

An seventeen years old Applejack looked around her and frowned, quickly taking notice of what had changed or not in the past years since Pinkie arrival. The town was flourishing due to the business partnership with the Sanctuary, who had remained still despite the Mayor attempts at conquest.

The palomino mare snorted, as the political mare had managed to make such a defeat a victory in the end by managing a peaceful resolution of their problems by signing a peace treaty that established many things that in the end, benefited Ponyville a lot, as the new potions and anti-venom at the stores sell quite well, preventing many deaths on the Everfree, and increasing the populations levels quite considerably thanks to that.

The fact that the runes on the sanctuary prevented any violent breach of its perimeter, probably had to do with the Mayor surrender and the locals lack of fear for such attacks.

Looking at the distance, she smiled when she finally saw Pinkie party and cakes store, happy that the mare had finally found what made her truly happy on this town, her business flourishing greatly as she had partnered up with the Cakes after moving out from the Apple's farm.

Sighing, Applejack contently reminded herself that her friends crushes on herself and McIntosh had thankfully diminished greatly.

“Happy Birthday!” Was then heard, followed by the explosion of her newly made confetti cannon on the distance, revealing that Pinkie Pie had surprised yet another client. If the distressed cry and the laughs that came after were to judge by.

“Hello, darling! I hope you weren't here for much... were you?” Suddenly asked Rarity, who smiled at her in delight as their weekly reunion, beside her was a newly wed Carrot Top, who had married and to the surprise of everyone, brought her Husband to Ponyville, who seemed quite content with the simple life that such a village could offer.

“Hello Applejack, how have you been?” Said Carrot Top, whose big belly revealed her advanced state.

“As the boys usually say when they're alone... I'm mightily fine.” Added Applejack with some mirth.

“That's mightily good, dear...” Said Rarity, her eyes sparkling a little, before Carrot Top sighed, and sat herself promptly on a nearby chair.

“I mightily declare this mightily chat session as mightily open!” Declared officiously the pregnant mare, before she soon joined her friends in merry enjoyment of such a silly moment. Soon delving into a happy chat that soon was marred by the whispering of a nearby couple.

“That awful rumor again...” Added Rarity, her brown burrowed in distaste and slight pain. Soon finding a pair of hoofs over her own, supporting her in such a dire time.

“How is your sister taking the change?” Asked Applejack, knowing that Sweety Bell had been incredibly shy when she finally arrived to live beside her sister when a monster had killed their parents a year ago.

“She's taking it well, Applebloom and Scootaloo are slowly taking her out of her shell... she's more active and rambunctious.” Despite her words, the unicorn mare was smiling widely while saying that, truly happy for her sister. “Those three are becoming quite tight, don't be surprised if they end up as powerful as we where at their age...”

Carrot Top nodded, then glared at the still chatting couple who simply didn't seemed to care about how awful the trio found their conversation.

Applejack on the other hand, didn't had the subtlety or the patience to endure such a thing, loudly clearing her throat, then glaring back at the pair, who quickly left the installations once they noticed who exactly they had annoyed.

“Hot Dinner will scold you again, Applejack. You shouldn't be scaring his customers like that,” Scolded lightly Carrot Top, as she looked in the direction of the slightly glaring owner, who seemed resigned at the moment.

“I'll always leave a quite considerable tip, which is why he endures me... besides,” Inclining into her friends, the palomino then softly added, “He wants to tap me, and badly. He simply doesn't have the Apples to approach me in such a way...”

Her friends laughed after hearing that, Rarity quickly adding:

“Afraid of Mackie?”

“Not in the slightest, he's afraid of me, and what I did to the last stallion that attempted something funny with me.” A slight frown was then on the palomino's face, which prompted another laugh from her friends.

“Its not the same, that dumb fellow spanked you. He wasn't valiant, he was suicidal!” Clarified Carrot Top, who also chuckled a little when her friends laughed even more. A happy atmosphere that didn't lasted long as all of them were deeply worried by the rumors.

“What do you think is happening?” Finally said Rarity, whose frown was now furrowed in fear and pain. “At first I thought that what happened to my parents was simply a bad encounter... but, if those rumors are true, then it might not be what I thought it was...”

Carrot Top was the first one to answer:

“I don't know, girls. I mean, the crown is quite tight lipped about it. But that awful rumor is taking strength with each passing day, and each new attack...” She looked at the floating confections and drinks that Hot Dinner had spelled to their own table. “My husband acceptance of this place had been initially sustained by fear of the culling...”

Applejack simply frowning, truly hating the fact that something out there was killing stallions and colts by the dozens, even going as far as to wipe whole squads from the royal army. At first, this was taken as a sign of an invading army, or maybe an attempt from the Misandrist groups on Canterlot, but the news that the other realms had been suffering similar occurrences quickly changed the tune of war to something quite more alarming.

“Let's just hope that such things are just that, rumors of an scared population... there had to be an logical explanation to this!” Said the Palomino.

Carrot nodded, but it was surprisingly Rarity who spoke:

“There are quite a good amount of people giving Misandrist united the blame for such horrid things happening,” there was some heat on her voice, still hurt that not only her father had paid the price of something or someone that had a thing for males out there, but also her mother... only leaving a quite traumatized filly behind.

“They lost their old ways, they didn't used to be like that...” Added Carrot Top, who had an quite well know interest on history.

“What made them change?”

“An attack, one orchestrated by a quite powerful and influential group of males a long time ago who tried to take away the power from the princesses, believing that males were superior because of their strength and usefulness on battle...” The pregnant mare looked at her friend, who snorted incredulously that a group of ponies had believed in such a thing, as the stats easily demonstrated that all of them where born in the same circumstances and level, with only the will of the user defining how far it would go.

“The failed, obviously. But on their attempt, many mares were killed and brutally raped and enslaved. The group managed to slip the princesses attempts of capture, and established themselves on the south of Equestria, on Caribou lands...” There, all kept silent, knowing pretty well that on that lands such an abomination as slavery was still quite legal, sighing Carrot then continued, “As years passed by, this particular group kept stealing and capturing mares to sell on the market, which nearly caused an schism on our society, as mares felt betrayed by their counterparts as time passed by, more and more colts and stallions leaving Equestria to join this group ranks, as their social rights at that moment were pretty low and non existent on the matriarchal society...”

Sipping a little of her juice, all of them took the time to contemplate about what they had heard, before Carrot top continued:

“This group had the belief that their gender was oppressed because of their natural superiority, and the females fear of the males. With, as you all know, was the spark for the first war, which they ultimately lost due to the princesses power. All that suffering for naught, as it was later found that such an organization never existed, their leaders being faked by the Changeling nation and the Griffin empire to destabilize and weaken Equestria... which led to the second war.”

Applejack nodded, before she added:

“That I remember well, to fight the two fronts the sisters divided themselves and their troops, Celestia fought against the Griffins, while the Changelings were left to Luna to deal with. Celestia managed to reach an cease of fire with the Griffins after ten years of battle after battle, while Luna apparently wiped out the entire Changeling kingdom.” There, the history took a turn that left the palomino with quite a sour mouth, as Luna was later deeply distrusted and deemed a monster for what she did, which had lead the ponies to believe that the true Princess of the night had fell on battle, being replaced by a Changeling, labeling the poor mare Nightmare Moon despite what she might have sacrificed for her people.

“Curiously, the distrusted princess was the one who sacrificed herself to seal two powerful beasts that nearly destroyed the realm due to their power, sealing herself and the old ones on the moon.” Supplied Carrot Top, concluding their tale for a few minutes, before Rarity sighed and said:

“Enough of this dreadful topic! I want to know of more interesting things... as How is Mackie on the sack?”

Applejack sputtered, then blushed madly while trying to avoid their eyes at the same time...

“No way...!” Screeched Rarity, smiling widely.

“Yes way! talk mare I command thee!” Ordered Carrot Top, who was getting closer to the blushing palomino, who tried in vain to look relaxed to no avail.

“We... haven done it, in the true sense of the word...” Admitted Applejack, while looking at her friends, her eyebrows raised a little in disbelief, “But I must say that we made a quite good use of the showers... were I might have Jack-i-fied, the poor sap...”

A rambunctious laugh then appeared on the table, getting a lot of attention as the mares chatted softly about the dirty details of the ebullient sexual life of Applejack Apple, and her soon to be husband. Which left a giggly Carrot Top and a flushed and quite flustered Rarity, who had taken out an fan of her inventory to magically refresh herself, looking at the palomino with a quite knowing smile:

“Oh my... you're a naughty mare, honey, tell me more!”

XxX

“Girls Party!” Screamed Pinkie as she shot monster after monster with her floating magical guns, inflicting a lot of damage while the girls simply watched the mare fire at the poor beasts until they simply perished.

“That's... a way to take care of them, I guess...” Muttered Applejack, as she swiftly collected the loot with a single move of her hoof as the whole gang trotted toward the victory dancing pink mare, who appeared to be also singing a song.

“Ta-da-dada-da-da-da-daDA!”

“Do you really need to do that every time you win a battle?” Asked Rainbow Dash, who was slightly annoyed that said tune was now stuck on her head... “I'm hearing that thing even when you aren't nearby...”

“Great!”

“Girls, girls! Remember where we are at the moment,” Said Applejack, who looked at the pair cringe slightly after hearing her, “Yeah, that's right... the Deep Everfree... just because we're a powerful bunch doesn't meant that there aren't powerful monsters out there...”

The palomino walked away from the pair, examining the surrounding forest, trying to search for any possible treat.

“Rarity, where is the cave?”

“Just a few miles ahead of us, dear...” Offered the beautiful cloaked Assassin, who was closely looking at her inventory window at the moment, inspecting the loot that the palomino had just collected.

Fluttershy, who was in the middle of the entire party, sighed quietly, as her abilities hasn't been of use as nopony had been hurt thanks to Pinkie enthusiasm, which Rainbow Dash quickly noticed.

“Relax Flutters, the village is going to be fine... Zecora is there, and we made sure to recharge the runes before we left, The Sanctuary its fine...”

“I'm... just nervous, I guess... Angel is all alone at the house...”

Applejack snorted lightly after hearing that, before she added:

“Sugar cube, he isn't alone... he haves lots of kids to take care of, and let's not forget about that randy mate of his...”

“That's why I'm worried...” Offered Fluttershy, looking at the palomino at the face, “He's alone... with her, and without supervision... I'm afraid that there's going to be even more bunnies in the coming days...”
“Oh,” Said Applejack, now understanding the yellow pegasus, “Well, that's... have you considered neutering the rascal?”

“Ow, Applejack... I know that you don't like the poor bastard, but... really?” Asked Rainbow Dash, looking slightly green at the palomino suggestion.

“While it sounds horrible and harsh, it might be the only solution to the problem... The Sanctuary can only sustain a number of bunnies before things turn ugly, especially when the carnivores citizens begin to notice an easy snack already available on the town itself...” Answered the palomino, trying to make her point clear, sighing in relief when Fluttershy nodded after hearing that.

“I might touch the point with him... maybe if I hang that over his head he'll be more responsible about it...”

“Incoming!” Warned Pinkie Pie, who skipped toward the approaching wolves with glee, her magical guns floating around her as she pointed and shot the Alpha, who had a different shade and size, each shoot causing a different effect and damage to its status, which left it pretty vulnerable for the shower of lighting that soon fell upon the pack, courtesy of an smiling Rainbow Dash.

“Nice shot!” added Rarity, who fired with her horn at the closest pair, immobilizing them for Applejack who quickly sliced the duo with ease, leaving her temporarily exposed to an attack that was soon stopped cold by the huge energy manifestation that stomped on the last remaining wolf, breaking its frame and showering the mares with bright bubbles of light.

“I'm incredibly thankful that those beast turn into specs of light when they die, or that last attack might have given us a quite unpleasant shower.” Clarified Rarity, as she bumped Fluttershy lightly on the rear with her own, smiling slightly at the blushed face on the poor mare.

“Sorry...”

“Oh, darling... there's no need to apologize, I know that you aren't a fan of wolves, so its understandable.” Said the purple haired assassin, as she opened her inventory to inspect the loot, frowning slightly by what she saw. “How... distasteful. Those beast leave pelts behind when you kill them...”

“Wolf pelt? Zecora might have an use for those...” Added Rainbow Dash, who immediately caught the attention of the group, “as potion ingredients, you know? For the sentient monsters at the village?”

“Well, I guess that's OK then... still distasteful, but OK.”

Fluttershy blushed lightly before she clarified,

“Medicine isn't a beautiful career, there are a lot of unpleasant things on the job...”

“Oh, no, no, no my dear... just because I don't like it, doesn't mean that I think less of you or Healers like Zecora, forgive me if I offended you.”

“Girls... where is Pinkie?” Added Applejack, who was looking around them in confusion, as she hasn't heard the accustomed tune or victory song from the enthusiastic mare.

The whole group looked around them, confused for a few seconds before they finally noticed an hole on the forest ground... the four mares now surrounding it, trying to see what laid beyond its darkness deeps.

“How is her life bar?” Asked Applejack, noticing that Fluttershy had immediately opened the inventory to scan the data from the pink mare...

“She lost a good percentage of life, but its still on the greens...” Clarified Fluttershy, who attempted to retrieve their lost partner by the forced use of her Chimera Wing, which refused to activate not mattering what she attempted to do... “We need to follow her...”

“Fluttershy, Dash, can you slow our fall?” Said Applejack as she quickly deactivated her armor, which took the shape of a shield that floated on her back, before it disappeared as it was put on her inventory, an action that left the palomino completely exposed in front of her friends, a signal of trust that was soon emulated by Rarity.

It didn't take long for the pegasus to fly down the hole noticing while going down, that there were a few pony shaped impressions on the solid rock, were the pink mare apparently had collided on her fall.

“How... how is she alive?” Asked Rainbow Dash, looking at an smiley face on the rock, wondering how such a thing was possible with so little damage.

“With Pinkie Pie everything is possible...” Added Applejack, smiling slightly at her friends, finding such an oddity comforting. “Just don't question how, and you're going to be OK...”

Thankfully, the descend wasn't that long and they soon reunited with an bemusedly Dizzy mare, who smiled at them:

“Hi girls!” Said the pink mare, who galloped toward them almost drunkenly due to her Dizzy status... which was soon rectified by a quick use of Fluttershy abilities.

“Thanks Fluttershy,”

Giggling mirthfully, the palomino mare then examined her new surroundings, quickly noticing that this particular cave was inhabited.

“Perk up gals, we're on Diamond Dog territory!” Warned blonde, who quickly donned her armor after she brought it out of her inventory, followed by Rarity who had her cloak back on again.

“What can you tell us about the Diamond Dogs, Applejack?” Asked Fluttershy, who once again was firmly put in the middle of her party, protected from an possible attack.

The palomino frowned a little, trying to remember everything about that particular species, when to their surprise, Pinkie Pie said:

“Why don't we ask them ourselves?” Pointed out the party mare, as she smiled at a pair of Diamond dogs that were openly glaring at them a few meters ahead of them, obviously doing guard duty in front of a mine entrance.

“Attention girls, Diamond Dogs are sentient... like ponies, they can be friendly...” Seeing the pair of canines soon raise their lances at them, quickly eroded that notion, “And, as ponies, they can also be quite unfriendly...” Supplied the palomino.

“Halt! What are your intentions here, Equines!?”

“Who did you call an Equine!?” Menaced Rainbow Dash, who was barely contained by Rarity and Fluttershy.

“We are equines, Dash, dear...” Supplied Rarity, who then glared at the canines and said, “Though I can clearly hear the contempt there...”

“If you want to pass, a test you need to have!” Added the Dogs at unison, who slobbered and snarled at the ponies, making a mess of themselves.

“How vulgar...” Added Rarity again, which was the signal for Applejack to intervene.

“What kind of test?”

“A battle of course, to gain the right to pass, you have to defeat three of us on a one on one battle, Equine...”

“I'm in,” Said Dash, followed by Applejack and Pinkie, who jumped on the same spot over and over, an huge smile on her face, their acceptance quickly igniting a combat zone.

Applejack looked around her, amused to find that she was literally on a box ring, facing an smiling Bulldog who appeared to be too smug to her tastes.

“No armor or weapons... just raw strength... Equine!”

The blonde looked at her rival, and simply smiled at him, amused at his cockiness despite how weak he was compared to her.

“Sure, why not?” Said the palomino, putting her whole equipment away on her inventory, just remaining there as she had been born on this world, soon finding her muzzle stinging at the cheap punch that the Bulldog had given her as soon as she was out of her armor.

“It's that all?” Asked the blonde, before she raised her hoof and with a quick spring knocked the teeth out of its mouth, knocking the bulldog out with a single movement ending the battle zone.

Were she soon found herself surrounded by her friends.

“Here, Applejack... let me heal that gash on your face”, said Fluttershy as she quickly used her abilities to heal the small bleeding gash on the palomino muzzle.

“Did any of you have any problem with the fight?”

“Nah, this guys are pretty weak...” Boasted Rainbow Dash, who cringed lightly as her muscles still stung a little... “compared to you and Big Mac...” Finally admitted the mare, at least acknowledging that her own short fight hasn't been as easy as she thought it would be.

“Mine was easy!” Giggled Pinkie Pie, who was still sitting over the downed Rottweiler that had been her opponent...

Nodding, Applejack then looted the poor saps with a quick use of her hoof, before the whole party walked toward the mine, all of them chatting loudly about what had just happened, forcing the palomino to inquire...

“Rarity... where are we?”

“At our destination, my dear... it seems that Pinkie's accident was quite fortuitous as it had taken us directly to the mine entrance...” Said the assassin, who smiled beautifully at the pink mare before she added: “we might need to fight our way out on the first level, though...”

“What's so especial about this particular cave?” Asked Rainbow Dash, who was looking at the flying bats with some trepidation, as if waiting for an sudden attack from the pesky things to happen at any minute.

“The loot of course, we can find a rich variety of gems, monsters and mushrooms here that you can't find anywhere else...” Answered Rarity, who then opened her inventory, and with a quick use of her hoof, send the information to the whole party...

“Here's the list of our objectives...”

100 fluorescent Mushrooms
20 Jade stones
5 Diamonds
10 Rubies
10 Sapphires
25 Pearls
50 Brown headed Mushrooms
50 Red headed Mushrooms

“Why so many mushrooms?” Inquired Applejack, who closed the window, quickly memorizing the whole list so she wouldn't need to open it every once and then.

“The fluorescent Mushrooms and the gems are for my Boutique, I want to use them on my next batch of dresses and armors, the rest are for consumption, I've heard that they're a quite tasty treat, and I wanted to give your lot something worthwhile for helping me once again...”

“Rarity's cooking us a meal?! What are we waiting for? Let's go!” Declared Rainbow Dash, trotting happily toward their next destination, followed closely by an mirthful group of mares.

The whole thing was particularly boring, they soon found. As the monsters were simply too weak to make it enjoyable or challenging, giving low amounts of loot and damaged items that could be later sold as metal scraps.

“Girls... don't you find this particularly suspicious?” Inquired Fluttershy, who was looking around her, examining the surrounding area with care, trying to find anything out of place.

“Not much, Flutters...” Answered Rainbow Dash, who stomped on another walking Mushroom, apparently bored out of her mind by the whole thing so far, her enthusiasm completely gone.

“Ta-da-dada-da-da-da-daDA!”

“Pinkie!”

“What? Its fun!”

“No, it isn't”

“GIRLS, stop it...” Commanded Applejack, whose eyes were strictly focused on the surrounding area, her eyes shining lightly as she employed her Observation ability. “We should have brought Mac with us...”

That quickly captured the attention of the whole group, as they quickly enveloped Fluttershy on a circle, all of them facing an different direction.

“How many?” Asked Rarity, her magical daggers now floating beside her head... waiting for an signal to act.

“I... don't know... my Observe isn't as advanced as Mac...” Confessed the palomino, who got an scowl from the blue mare.

“How couldn't it be? That guy keeps that thing running 24/7! I don't know how he keeps it together with such an huge amount of information flowing thorough that skull of his... Fluttershy, you're the monster specialist, what do you think?”

“A Predator...” Mumbled the yellow pegasus, who was inspecting her surroundings with a calm gaze, “Remember those annoying bats and mushroom monsters that constantly harassed us?”

“How could we not? We couldn't give two fucking steps without stumbling against one!” Snarled Rainbow Dash, who got a giggle from Pinkie, and a “how vulgar!” from Rarity... “Oh don't be so stiff, Rares! Even you found those things annoying!”

“Well,” Interrupted Fluttershy, who continued to study the surroundings, deeply in thought, “They aren't anywhere... they disappeared... which meant that something had been hunting them...”

“Powerful enough to kill the most experienced monsters...” Concluded Applejack as she glared at a huge column of rocks in front of them, her Whipsword shining brightly as she infused it with magic...

“We should have brought Mackie Wackie with us...” Added Pinkie Pie, unusually serious at the moment, as all of them looked at he now obvious Rock Worm in front of them...

That which lurks in the darkness
Goliath Worm

With a surprisingly fast movement, the worm launched an strike at the group, separating the mares into two groups to prevent being flattened by the hulking mass of living rock, who soon dived into the ground with outstanding ease, causing an earthquake that soon bathed the girls in falling debris and stalagmites who nearly bisected or speared the whole party... who didn't had a simple minute to reunite, as an emerging Goliath soon appeared in the middle of the groups, spitting rocks at them that quickly morphed and took the shape of defeated enemies, in this case Rock bats.

Applejack made a quick use of her Whipsword, cutting in half the annoyances with ease, only to cry in pain when the things suddenly exploded and showered the blonde mare in rock shrapnel, her status soon changing to poisoned.

Fluttershy who was at her side attempted to use an Antidote on the mare, only to lost the bottle when another earthquake shook the whole cave, which pelted the yellow mare with rocks, breaking her bones in a painful shower... giving the mare the awful gray.

“FLUTTERSHY!” Roared Rainbow Dash, who flew toward her downed friends, only to find an stalagmite painfully piercing her body by the middle, spearing her on the ground with brutality, turning her gray.

“WE SHOULD HAVE BROUGH MAC!” Screamed Rarity, who used her magic to create a feeble dome around herself and a frozen Pinkie, who was looking at the timer of Rainbow Dash with dread.

Once the earthquake stopped, the pair soon took out the rock from her friend, and bathed her in potions to return color to her, both of them looking toward the palomino direction, who was doing the same to Fluttershy despite her ailment... all of them doing their best to be as fast as they could, knowing that the Goliath wouldn't miss the chance to finish them up.

Applejack coughed, ignoring the blood as her whole attention was now focused on restoring the pegasus, afraid that without their healer, they wouldn't live to tell the tale, when a rumble under her hoofs quickly warned her of the incoming Goliath, which forced the mare to launch the still injured Fluttershy toward her friends knowing that the mare wouldn't survive another direct hit.

With an explosion of debris, the worm emerged from the ground, its mouth opened whole as it attempted to gulp the blonde mare in a single bite, only to find itself stopped cold when the palomino used her Whipsword to create a metal bubble around her.

The Goliath tried to get the metal ball away from its mouth to no avail, hitting the thing against the walls of the mine, causing short but manageable earthquakes in the process, with each hit an huge amount of damage was being inflicted on the trapped mare.

“That's enough!” Screamed Rarity, who had turned scarlet at the sight, old memories resurfacing again at the sight of her suffering friend, her daggers soon flying toward the rock worm, slicing its rough skin, creating sparks all over the place as she took chunks from the beast, who finally had spat the metal ball from its mouth, causing the palomino to crash tiredly against a nearby wall.

Rarity used her moment to afflict the beast with her magic, making it slower, stripping it strong defense from him with each strike of her magic, victory getting closer with each new attempt when, to everybody surprise, the Goliath screeched turning red itself. Its eight eyes now fully focused on the unicorn...

“Oh dear...”

Was everything that the assassin could say before a direct hit of its tail flattened the mare against the ground, creating a crater around her now gray body, as the Goliath speed had increased immensely due to its rage.

Applejack opened her eyes, groaning painfully due to the trembling of the ground... she felt sick, dizzy and unstable, her magic and life leaving her by the gallons due to the monster poison. With a quick use of her hoof, she opened her inventory to bring out an Antidote from it, when to her surprise... the world simply froze.

She looked around her, trying to understand how such a thing could happen, seeing the floating debris and stalagmites on the air, one of them about to fall upon her.

“What the!?”

“Unlimited Guns Work!” whispered a voice, the words echoing on her ears over and over, the voice was raspy, cold but more importantly, familiar.

The palomino looked around her, quickly noticing that Pinkie Pie was on the center of the mine, glaring at the frozen Goliath, her mane flat and silky.

“Pinkamena...” Muttered Applejack, surprised to see her friend so angry at someone or something, it was unusual, and slightly creepy... as her friend basically manipulated space and time at the moment. Her movements as she attempted to raise on to her hoofs soon attracted the attention of the blue eyed mare, who looked at her, her face impassive, uncaring, cold.

“How... unusual” Said Pinkamena, looking at the palomino carefully, before she nodded lightly. “But fortunate, please... heal the girls before I initiate the attack... or we might lose them...”

Applejack looked at her friends and gasped, Rainbow Dash was still gray, her counter dangerously close to zero, an ugly and quite red three stood over her, while Fluttershy was barely gaining some colors, but looked pale, Rarity on the other hand had an orange ten floating above her broken body, which quickly broke the frozen spell from the palomino, as she ran toward her injured friends and gathered the whole gang with a use of her gathering ability, once reunited, she quickly made use of a Phoenix Down to bring them back, each one now stable and pale, then began to bath them in healing potions.

“Yippee Kay Yay...” Was then heard, which made the whole world go white for a few seconds, as Pinkamena suddenly discharged her attack on the Goliath, leaving in a matter of simple seconds a pile of debris and a cackling Pinkamena who stood proudly over the defeated opponent. Her eyes shining brightly, blood red instead of blue, before with an anti-climatic 'poof', her mane went back to puffy just as the pieces of the monster finally turned into energy specs.

You've reached a new level!
You've reached a new level!

With a groan, the injured mares soon raised themselves from the ground, all of them looking at the huge amount of gold, jewels and objects in front of them were the Goliath used to be, a giggling Pinkie Pie joyfully swimming on the gold with childish glee, the metal behaving as water instead of an solid.

“W-what happened?” Inquired an still weak Rainbow Dash, who was looking at the pink mare with an incredulous gaze on her face.

“Ow, ow, ow... my poor, beautiful body!” Offered Rarity, who went back to the ground as she abruptly sat, as her body was suffering strong spasm.

Fluttershy, who was soon making good use of her healing abilities, then added:

“We nearly died, that's what happened,” Said the healer, as she looked at the surrounding area, frowning at the huge amount of damage that the mine had taken on their short fight... “While we're powerful, a lucky hit could take us out... that those stalagmites caused critical damage despite our defenses didn't help either...”

Applejack nodded, looking at the roof and glaring at the rocks for what they had nearly done... before she sighed.

“We nearly died because we let our emotions run the whole battle, once one of us went down, the rest were too focused on the downed member than on the fight, and in the process went down themselves...”

Nods all over the place, let the blonde mare know that everypony understood that, before she looked toward Pinkie's direction and added:

“It was Pinkie's unique ability what saved our sorry selves... without her, the falling debris would have been our end, and we would be monster food right now...” With a frown, then she added, “It was an stroke of luck that our situation triggered her ability...” Then, with an smile she said, “Though, this would have been far more easier if we had McIntosh with us, or one of us also specialized on defense... which none of us do...”

“But darling... what about your domes?” Inquired Rarity, looking at the palomino with some surprise at that admission.

“I can only use those when I have equipped an rope, Rares... which I haven't, my Whipsword doesn't work like that... My only defense with my sword also nearly ended up killing me when it got stuck on that Goliath mouth... and it left me unable to do anything else than sustain it... something I need to correct...”

“Sadly, we Pegasi don't have defensive magic... we depend on our speed and or long range attacks... but we saw how effective those are in a close environment as this one.” Added Fluttershy, which made Rainbow Dash scowl then sadly nod, ashamed to have been taken down by a falling rock.

“I not accustomed to look up, the sky usually doesn't drop things at my back...” Was her only commentary, before she looked at her pink friend and added, “I guess we own her a big deal...”

“Oh yes, you do!” Said Pinkie Pie, who suddenly appeared just beside the blue mare, who let out a girlish frightened scream at the sudden appearance.

“HOW!? BUT... I SAW YOU DIVE ON THE PILE OF GOLD!!! HOW!?”

Chuckling, Applejack just patted the frightened mare on the back, before she walked toward Pinkie and asked:

“I own you one, Pinkie... how can I pay you?”

“By sleeping with me!”

The palomino just stood there, looking at her friend with something akin to surprise, before she nodded, then added:

“OK, but no tongue!” She teased, knowing that the party mare only wanted to sleep beside her friends, obviously scared by how close she had lost them on that battle.

“AW!”

It took the whole group an hour and a half to get back to the first level, and the Diamond Dogs who obviously were surprised to see them, apparently never expected them to survive the experience, which earned the pair a glare from Fluttershy, who was quite angry at them from omitting such valuable information.

An sight that earned them a quick an easy travel back to the surface as the cowed canines did their best to earn some respite from the glaring pegasus.

Once in the forest, the whole group hasn't even doubted on activating their Chimera Wings, all of them then taking their time on the communal shower, enjoying a hot bath and finally of a comfy Queen sized bed, were the whole gang fell asleep beside the other, finding comfort in the closeness.

Applejack stood in the middle of the bunch, simply enjoying a quite randy dream with McIntosh, who was feeling adventurous and seemed quite eager to explore how perky and tasty her teats could be under his oral ministrations, when to her dismay, the sound of giggles and the feeling of actual pleasure coursing through her body felt too real to be a dream.

With a gasp, the palomino woke up to find herself in front of the most intimate place of Rarity, who the blonde quickly saw was sucking one of her teats while asleep, her blushing face now earning a new round of giggles, which forced the mare to raise her head and look at Pinkie and Rainbow, but more exactly at Pinkie an the artifact that soon discharged itself, making the blonde see spots for a few seconds.

“Wait until I show Mackie this!” Said Pinkie, which caused Rainbow to lose it, waking up Fluttershy and Rarity, who looked what she had been doing and screamed in fright, which made Applejack scream and Fluttershy to lose consciousness, her face scarlet red and a silly smile on her lips.

“Give me that Photo, Pinkie! Give me that!”

XxX

Days had passed by since the incident, and Applejack had to admit that things had been quite horrible since, as monsters and quest alike suddenly became more harsher and deadlier. It was an odd occurrence that had the whole town on edge, as many unlucky members of the community had been deeply injured or in the worst case, killed.

Such a thing had forced the whole town to sequester itself, depending on Jack and Tangerine to defend the town from the most aggressive monsters that dared to attack.

Applebloom had been quite rebellious of late too, which had forced the hoof of Granny the whole time to focus on the hyperactive filly, which sadly, left the whole orchard and the farm in the care of the older siblings.

Applejack had to admit that it wasn't an easy job, even with their high levels, there was the occasional treat or surprise that made the duo fight as hard as they could for their lives, knowing that a defeat would mean an direct attack to the house, or the more productive Apple orchards. This new level of responsibilities didn't came cheap, as the pair had quickly found that something had been killing their living stock by the droves, terrorizing the cows, sheep and annihilating their goats.

Forcing the pair to take a risk and hunt the beast to put an end to its reign of terror.

“I don't know Jackie... I think that we should call our parents on this one...” Muttered Big McIntosh as he walked on the soft soil of the forest, his eyes shining brightly as he scanned the surrounding area, reading the information that his ability brought to him as quick as he could.

“We can take it, Mac,” answered Applejack confidently, her own eyes sparkling with magic on the darkness of the forest, her confidence also perceptible on her voice: “Ma and Pa are too busy defending the town, we have to do this...”

Her only answer was a grunt of acknowledgment, which was enough for her to continue, knowing that despite his reservations, the red pony understood their situation better than anybody else. The palomino mare looked at the floating 135 float above him, while she watched her own 138... feeling confident on their shared power to be enough to deal with the pesky beast that had been terrorizing their farm.

Applejack heard McIntosh sniff, which prompted her to do the same, quickly finding what he had detected, humidity, which was soon followed by the sound of running water.

“How weird... there wasn't a river on this part of the forest...” She saw him nod, both of them knowing that there was only a lake a few miles from the farm, a quite placid lake that usually didn't had running waters... so with some precaution, they quickly approached the place finding in front of the lake shore a quite stunning and gorgeous Stallion.

The blonde mare looked at the hunk in front of her, and frowned... as she didn't recognized him, a quick gaze at her brother also gave her the same frustrated expression. The stallion was blue, with a purplish long and silky mane that moved on the wind sinfully, his piercing blue eyes looked at them as they approached him, apparently amused by their sudden intrusion.

“Hello beautiful...” His voice was smooth as silk and husky, which soon made Applejack frown, as she saw were exactly was this stallion looking at.

“Howdy stranger...” She said, trying to call his attention, anything to make him look at her and not her brother, who squirmed a little by his intense stare.

“Why don't you get closer, beautiful? And we get to know each another?” It took an step toward McIntosh, which made him take an step back which seemed to amuse the stranger, “Don't fear me... I don't bite... much! I'll assure you that, it will be the best experience of your life...” A chuckle then emerged from his mouth, which simply caused Applejack to nearly implode of indignation...

“Listen here...” But her rant was soon stopped when a hoof appeared in front of her muzzle, the red fetlocks obviously revealing the identity of the owner.

“Calm down... he's riling us up...” Warned McIntosh, who had finally broken free from the spell that had been affecting his status in the process doing the same to Applejack, who soon noticed that she had been far too aggressive on her approach.

With a deep breath, Applejack then was able to finally calm herself enough to use her Observe, her eyes shining brightly as she saw the magic float in front of her, attempting to enrage her to no avail now that she was aware of its subtle intentions... she soon noticed that her stats had been also affected, her strength increasing by a huge margin at the expense of her defense which was now nearly non-existent.

“An enraging spell...” Muttered the palomino, glaring daggers at the now frowning beauty in front of her... “Stop it!”

And stop it it did, as he snarled at them as his shape shifted and morphed in front of them, his body becoming translucent as it was made of water, its back legs merging together and forming a fin that soon submerged itself on the surface of the lake.

Applejack then raised her defense, confused by the fact that no warning or signal has appeared that named her rival, or the level of her opponent.

The equine shaped beast then roared to the sky, its cry raising seven water demons from the deeps of the lake, each one a perfect copy of its past frame as the original one now floated on a column of water over the surface of the lake, cackling and smiling at them, its clones were weak and feeble, a quick or well placed touch of their weapons rendering unusable as they became puddles around them, which seemed to amuse even more the demon.

“Surrender yourselves to the power of Kelpie!” It shouted when its last copy fell under the careful movements of the pair, its eyes shining brightly over its translucent frame, “Let me feast on your flesh!”

Without warning, a beam of energy suddenly shot toward them which forced McIntosh to put himself in front of Applejack, receiving the full brunt of the attack, which cracked his armor with ease as it had barely resisted the attack.

“Big Mac!” Shouted Applejack worriedly, glaring at the cackling entity as it jeered and mocked them from its column of water, apparently giving them time to recover.

“Cover me, Applejack!” Warned McIntosh as he began to repair his armor with a well placed items, as the palomino used her Whipsword to cut and maim anything that the demon launched at them at the moment, which seemed to amuse even more the monster, who finally submerged itself in the column of water, then changed and grew in shape, taking the form of a colossal demonic equine.

The monster raised a hoof, which soon came crashing down against the pair, only to be easily cut in half by the cutting edges of the magical sword of Applejack, which only left the pair soaked to the brims but unhurt or affected.

“Drown, and let me feast on your flesh!” Roared the huge colossus, who then suddenly submerged itself, causing a tidal wave to violently crash upon the pair, its current quickly dragging them toward the lake, forcing each one to use their weapons to anchor themselves to the ground, their bodies receiving quite a lot of damage in the process, putting their life bars on a ugly brown.

Both of them gasped desperately when the water finally went back to the lake, the monster then slowly taking back its original form inside the protection of its water column, seven replicas emerging again from the deeps of the lake, but this time their speed had greatly increased due to the soaked ground, getting some direct hits upon the pair that had forced McIntosh to drop a magical dome around them, if to just have a few minutes of respite, the watery demons hitting the barrier with desperate need, while the original monster simply laughed at the whole deal.

Once recovered the dome went down, replaced by Applejack Cutting storm, which quickly disintegrated the monsters into pools, despite the damage that she had also inflicted upon Big McIntosh, who had endured the whole deal valiantly, his armor taking the brunt of the attack.

The monster once again roared, taking its colossal form which put him closer to them, which was what the pair had been waiting for, as they dropped their armors and attacked with only their weapons, their speeds increasing dramatically, Applejack made a quick work of its legs with her sword, which made the beast recoil and expose its torso to the incoming attack of Big McIntosh, who cleaved in half the water demon with outstanding ease, his cutie mark shining brightly as he used his strength against this particular opponent, making an critical and quite fatal attack in a single movement, the divided pieces soon finding themselves assaulted viciously by Applejack, knowing that she had to gain its attention at the minute as McIntosh impulse had directed him to the lake, or at least it would have done so hasn't the water receded incredibly fast at its original resting place once they had defeated the monster, which made the teenager colt land on the muddy ground with a pained grunt.

The pair just stood there, gasping loudly as they had consumed a lot of magic into that final collaborative attack, both of them looking incredulously at their stats as the defeat of that monster had suddenly brought upon them a huge increase of power that came out of nowhere, as there hasn't been the usual warnings and congratulations that usually happened once you defeated an opponent.

They looked at each another, smiling slightly at their victory, the adrenaline on their bodies and the cold water dripping from their coats and manes causing their bodies to tremble profusely, they had won. It had been a fast and quite strange battle, but they had defeated Kelpie. But then, the puddles trembled and in a fast display of dexterity they moved and reformed the beast once again who glared at them for a few seconds, giving them enough time to snap out of their surprise and regroup themselves, when it smiled, a vicious and disgusting smile that chilled them to the bones.

“Good... keep going, entertain ME!” It bellowed, before it submerged itself once more on the lake. Which send another colossal wave at them, who this time were too tired to anchor themselves, the current dragging them at the lake and toward the awaiting maws of the beast. Applejack screamed in fright, seeing her life past in front of her eyes when to her surprise, almost as it had happened on the mines, a bubble had surrounded her, stronger than before, the palomino mare looked at McIntosh, who was openly struggling as his magical dome saved the duo from being consumed whole by Kelpie, who despite this setback, laughed and jeered at them, punching the bubble away from him, playing with them with gusto and glee.

But in his fun, he had separated itself from the lake, its speeds decreasing significantly, which the palomino had quickly noticed.

“Mac, take him far away from the lake!” Ordered Applejack as she donned once more her armor as McIntosh let the protective bubble retreat as he also equipped his armor, both of them charging once last time against the monster, who received the full brunt of their thrust with an roar, its body becoming unstable as they took it away from its source of power.

Both Apples hasn't noticed that their Cutie Marks were shining brightly with power, their movements becoming one, until with an last push, they send the beast away toward the trees were it staggered and glared at them, a tinge of fear on its eyes now that it was away from the lake. Applejack felt alive, her body burning with power despite the fact that her magical pool was about to empty itself with the effort, beside her stood Big McIntosh, supporting her, protecting her, loving her like no pony else did in the entire world.

Then, with a bright shine, and a last synchronized movement, there was a bang, a display of power and were two bodies used to be, one remained.

Alicorn: Unblocked

Applejack stood there, glaring at the monster that had dared to attack their farm and animals, the beast that had attempted to drown them and consume their meat, the demon was shaking and confused as this bright shining mare of energy who with a single beat of her wings, suddenly disintegrated the smiling and laughing beast into oblivion.

Which left the mare there, staring confused at the pool at water at her hooves, as she looked at her image on it, she was an Alicorn, an Alicorn made of energy... she...

“Wait... a minute... uh?!”

Then with a bang, the synchronized ponies weren't one anymore, both of them now back on their old forms, exhausted beyond belief as they stood there on the muddy ground, looking at each another incredulously at what they had just done...

You feel your relationship with Big McIntosh grown stronger
Your social Link with Big McIntosh is now level 9
You gained a new level
Congratulations, you reached a new plateau!
Congratulations, you've unblocked Fusion powers.
Congratulations, you've unblocked Alicorn form.

Applejack couldn't prevent it, she laughed, it was all she could do at the moment, soon finding herself joined by him by how ridiculous this seemed to be, they had grown incredibly stronger thanks to that anomaly of an monster that had come out of nowhere. It had been gruesome, but they had survived, they were alive.

“Good, good, I love it when prey earn my respect!” Added a new voice out of nowhere, which took the pair by surprise as they found themselves in front of blob of darkness that was floating above of them, its wicked smile big enough to be seen as blood red eyes looked at them, judging.

“Congratulations... you reached the mayor leagues now!”

And then with a single and unholy fast movement, both of them only knew darkness. Until, with an abrupt jerk, Applejack found herself awake in a quite familiar room in the hospital, surrounded by her friends and family who smiled at her, their eyes shining brightly with tears.

The palomino looked around her, searching desperately for Big McIntosh, who was thankfully resting on his own bed, apparently still asleep.

He was safe... but more importantly, he was alive, and so was she.

But why?