Author's Note

Alright, I tried to get the point across that ponies simply abhor killing. They are taught from a very young age that violence is not the answer, let alone death. The only exception to this practice is wild animals, and even then almost all ponies will try to run instead of fighting to the death. To prove my point, my headcannon is that the average number of non-accident related deaths in a 1 billion population Equestria is around 500 per year. Half of those are from wild animals.

Simply put, ponies view killing as one of the worse crime one can commit. They don't even have a word for genocide.

Retaliation Part 1

Applejack yawned as she woke up. She had the weirdest dream. She dreamt that she was in another world. She met aliens, some were nice while others were not. She smacked her lips and sat up. She looked around the room sleepily. Her eyes widened after a while as she realized something.

She wasn't home. It wasn't a dream. Her friends were gone. Her family was gone. She was stuck in a world where almost everyone hated her. She felt like she was going to cry. She sniffled, but held back the tears that threatened to to spill. She sat there for a while before eventually getting out of bed. She peeked out of the window and saw the humans going about their business.

A knock at the door made her jump. "Time to wake up," a voice rumbled.

"Ah'm awake," Applejack replied.

The door knocker stayed silent for a moment before speaking again, "Denmother wants to see you."

Applejack grew nervous, recalling how they were going to decide what to do with her with 'Central', what ever that was, "Where is she?"

"At the communications center in the middle of town."

Applejack nodded to herself and replied, "Ah'll be there."

Footsteps moved away from the door and when Applejack opened it, no one was there. She came out of the hut and walked down one of the roads, trying to ignore the glares sent her way. Denmother must have made an announcement to not to harm her. She walked silently before hearing Denmother's voice and followed it. Eventually she saw Denmother. She appeared to be talking to a glowing box, it's purpose unknown.

"...nothing on the local comms. ADVENT's been quiet lately. I'm guessing we have you to thank for that."

Much to Applejack's surprise, a gruff voice came out of the box, "Our pleasure, Denmother. Enjoy it while it lasts."

"We plan to. Our water purification system..." Denmother stopped mid-sentence, apparently noticing something wrong with the box. Denmother hit the box, seemingly frustrated with it. Applejack suddenly got an uneasy feeling, like something bad was about to happen.

Suddenly the gruff voice was back, but this time it was seemingly incomplete. "-ou -t -proach,"

"Your signal's breaking up," said Denmother as she fidgeted with the box.

"-on -ou,"

"Loosing you, Avenger,"

Suddenly Applejack started to hear something in the air. Her ears twitched as she made out a low rumbling sound. Applejack turned her head towards the sound and saw three black shapes in the air on the horizon. Another shape caught her eye, this one much, much closer. She stared at it with wide eyes. It was long and black, with four fins near the ends. Its sides were open and Applejack saw more humans with weapons. They were mostly dressed in black and Applejack couldn't see their faces.

The box near Denmother exploded. Applejack turned back just in time to see the dust clear. Denmother's right side was badly burned, the sick smell of burnt flesh wafting through her nose. She was missing half of her face, what was left was black and red. Her left eye had popped out of its socket from the force of the blast.

Applejack felt like she was going to vomit. Red lines danced around her, puffing up dirt as they hit it. Her next thought prevailed all others: run. She looked around desperately. She spied a little girl, Emily, running away with another female human. Jack was with them. She galloped after them, easily catching up with them. The mother, Applejack guessed, only gave her a sideways glance before bursting through the door of a hut. They piled in and Applejack shut the door. She turned around to see Emily and her mother hiding in the corner.

Emily was crying, "Mommy, I'm scared,"

The mother hugged her close, "Shh, shh. It's alright. Everything is going to be okay," the mother tried to sound brave for her child, but Applejack could tell she was just as terrified as her daughter. Jack sat next to them hugging his legs close to his chest, tears streaming down his face. Applejack sat next to them. Applejack didn't know how long they sat like that, quiet except for Emily's occasional sobs. Applejack thought she heard a roar of something screaming overhead, but it was hard to tell through the explosions and screams. Each scream made Applejack sick to her stomach. A new sound started among the cacophony of sounds, a faint 'rata-ta-tat'. Applejack inched toward the door. She didn't know what that was but for some reason it gave her hope. A hope that they would make it out of this alive.

That hope was shattered as the door burst open and what could be described as a monster came in. It was tall and skinny, almost malnourished looking. It had holes for ears and no lips, forever plastered on its face was an angry grin. It was a light pink in color with big black eyes in its oddly shaped head. When she stared into those eyes, she felt cold. There was no love or happiness in those eyes. There was no free will in those terrible eyes. Only orders.

"If ya'll have a paper and pencil wit' ya, Ah could draw it," Very little ponies knew Applejack could draw. Sure, she couldn't design a dress to save her life, but she could draw fairly well.

Pinkie handed her pencil and paper and Applejack took them, ignoring the fact that Pinkie pulled them from behind her back. She drew the monster.

After she was done Pinkie spoke, "Ewww."

Rarity agreed, "It does look horrid."

Twilight looked at it in interest, "It doesn't have any reproductive organs. How can it reproduce?"

"Ah'll tell ya later on in th' story."

Rainbow Dash was on the edge of her seat, "What'd you do? Didya beat the tar out of it?"

Applejack hesitated before speaking, "Ah killed it."

Everypony recoiled, "Wh-what?" squeaked Fluttershy.

Applejack looked at everypony. Princess Luna's face was impassive, though she could detect Luna was slightly impressed in her eyes. Princess Celestia looked disappointed. Applebloom squirmed in her seat. Everypony else stared at her in shock. And disgust.

"...I'm out," said Rainbow Dash.

"Me too," said Pinkie Pie. They both stood up and started to leave.

Applejack panicked, "W-wait! Let meh explain!"

"There's not an excuse in the world that justifies killing another being," said Rarity. She too stood up, guiding the near catatonic Fluttershy.

"P-please!"

Celestia stood up too, "...the only reason you are not banished on the spot is that you just returned. And you did this...horrific deed somewhere else. You will not, however, gain anymore support from me. Come Luna. We have duties to attend to."

Applejack felt like she was being pounded to the ground by a group of Beserkers. She turned to Twilight in desperation, "P-please...don't leave...Ah dun-"

"I don't want to hear it. Really? Killing? Is that what you were turned into...you're not my friend. No friend of mine would ever kill another being."

And just like that, Applejack's worst fear came true as Twilight left. Silence reigned, Applejack not daring to look at her family. She was, though, the first to speak, "Ah know whut ya'll are thinking. Ah guess...Ah guess Ah understand. An' Ah'll...Ah'll respect yer wishes. Ah'll leave."

Her voice was hollow. Utterly hollow. Applejack stood up and made her way out of the room.

"Why?"

Applejack stopped at Applebloom's voice. Applejack turned to what was once her family, "Whut?"

Applebloom looked like she was about to cry, "Wh-why did you kill?"

"...ya wouldn't understand."

"Then make meh understand! Ah dun wanna believe that mah sister is a...a monster."

Applejack stared at her little sister, "Do ya know whut genocide means?"

Applebloom tilted her head. Applejack turned to look at the rest of her family. To great pain, she noticed Big Macintosh was standing in front of Granny Smith protectively, "Do any o' ya'll know whut genocide is?"

Big Macintosh slowly shook his head. Applejack looked down for a moment before looking at Granny, "It means the murder o' an entire race or species," Granny's eyes widened. Applejack continued, "There are six billion humans on earth. Th' aliens woulda killed every last one if we didn't stop 'em."

Applejack turned to the now pale Apple family, "Six billion. Every last stallion, mare, and foal would be dead if it weren't fer XCOM. Earth would be empty, 'cuz ADVENT got rid of almost all th' animals on Earth. Those are th' kinda thangs Ah killed."

Applejack turned around and started to walk away, "Wait! Where are you going?" asked Applebloom.

"Ta mah other family. Th' one's who actually understand why we did whut we did. Th' ones who love meh regardless."

"But...we love you..."

"Do ya really? After I killed? Whut happened to that disgust Ah saw earlier? 'sides...it'd be best if Ah jus' left. Better fer th' Apple family."

"No," Applejack and the rest of the Apple family jumped at Luna's voice. The lunar princess appeared from the shadows, staring down Applejack, "It would not be better if you left."

"Why?"

Luna stared deep into Applejack's eyes, "What my sister seems to have forgotten is that sometimes it is necessary to kill. To defend others, to defend your home, sometimes you must do what is needed to prevent more deaths. I understand why you did it."

"Maybe you do. That doesn't change that mah 'friends' hate meh now. That th' town is likely ta turn on meh."

"Do not tread down this path, dear Applejack. It only leads to the ruin of yourself. And others..."

Applejack winced and looked down, "Sorry. Fergot ya were Nightmare Moon once."

"We have both been changed by the tides of battle, Applejack. Though, I will admit that most of your battles have been...more intense than Equestria's."

Luna bent down and lifted Applejack's chin for the orange mare to look into her eyes, "Applejack, if you leave, it will be worse than when you disappeared. You would break your family. Do you really want that?"

"But...th' others..."

"Ignore the others for now. If they are truly your friends, which I know is true, they will understand if you explain why you did what you did."

"Ah...thank you, Princess Luna. Ah needed to hear that," Applejack turned to her family, "Alright. Ah'll stay."

Applejack's family broke into smiles and they rushed to hug her. Applejack hugged back, trying not to cry.

After a few moments, Luna spoke, "If you would please continue your tale, I would be most interested to hear it."

"But...Princess Celestia-"

"I have created a decoy. She will no doubt figure it out, but by the time she does, hopefully I can explain your reasons better."

Applejack stared at her before nodding, "Alright," she said before sitting down and resuming her story.

Applejack didn't really know exactly why she did what she did. Maybe it was the narrowing of its eyes as it looked at the family hiding in the hut. Maybe it was when it raised it's arm at the family and the bracelet it had on started to glow an ominous green. Maybe it was the terror on the family's face, the look one would get when they knew they were going to die. Maybe she just didn't like its ugly face. What ever the reason, the result was the same. She dashed forward, pivoted on her front legs, and bucked. Hard. Her powerful legs met one of the monster's kneecaps with a sickening crunch. The force of the blow bent the leg joint the wrong way and it fell flat on its face.

At this point Applejack stopped. Maybe the creature learned its lesson. Maybe it would crawl away. Maybe it was unconscious. What Applejack did not expect, however, was the monster to turn its head towards her and hissed. Almost as if it didn't feel the pain, the monster raised its bracelet towards her. Applejack didn't know what the bracelet does, and she didn't want to find out. She turned around again and bucked, this time striking it in the head. She broke through the bone easily and disgustingly found out its brain was firmer than she would expect. Her hind leg still sank deeply in the cranium, though. She shuddered and pulled her leg out with a sickening squelch. She turned to see what she did.

The creature had a hole in its head. Its brain had disconnected from the inside of its skull and was squashed near the back, leaving an mostly empty cavity.

Applejack did vomit this time. She lowered her head to the ground and upchucked the contents of her stomach on the floor. She wiped her mouth and lifted her head, feeling dizzy. She looked at the monster's corpse lying in a growing pool of yellow blood and dry heaved. She sat down and stared blankly ahead.

She heard footsteps and another thing entered the door way. It was a human. Or at least she assumed it was a human. It was covered head to toe in what looked like armor.

The human looked around the room, first spying the dead creature on the floor, then the family, and finally Applejack. She raised her weapon at Applejack and was about to fire when Jack, of all people, yelled, "Don't shoot! Don't shoot!"

Emily piped up, "Yeah, don't hurt Miss Pony!"

The human relieved her finger off of the trigger but still had her weapon pointed at the pony. In accented English she spoke, "What happened?"

The mother spoke in a shaky voice, "Th-the pony saved us."

The woman stayed still for a moment before slowly lowering her weapon, "Commander, are you seeing this, Sir?"

Applejack barely heard that line, and wasn't in the best of state of mind to wonder who the "Commander" was.

"Can you speak?"

She barely heard that line too, but Jack nudged her. Her eyes met the golden visor, "Wh-whuhuh?"

"English. Can you speak it?"

Applejack may be a farmer, but she wasn't a dumb pony. She knew that "English" probably meant "Equish." She nodded.

The human soldier drummed her fingers along the side of her weapon, the sound of battle getting quieter, "Do...do you have a name?"

"Ah...A-Applejack...Mah name's Applejack..."

The soldier knelt down and took her helmet off. She was darker skinned than some of the other humans Applejack saw. The human female smiled at her, "My name's Amiyah Malik."

Applejack nodded before her eyes trailed down. She saw that the human, Amiyah, carried a weapon. Applejack took a step back, causing Amiyah to look at her in confusion, "D-don't hurt meh..."

Amiyah blinked, "I won't hurt you."

"...P-promise?"

"What?"

"Do ya promise not ta hurt meh?"

Amiyah looked at her before slowly putting her weapon on the ground. All of her training told her not to do that, but she had a feeling she needed the alien's trust in order to move, "I promise."

"O-Okay..."

Amiyah glanced Applejack's hooves and at the dead Sectoid, "So...you were the one who did this?"

Applejack's frayed mind read that wrong. It sounded like an accusation to her. The guilt, combined with adrenaline withdraw and being attacked by an monster, broke her cracking state of mind. Applejack burst into tears, "Ah'm sorry! Ah'm sorry! Ah didn't mean ta! It jus'..." Applejack stopped speaking to fully cry now.

Amiyah stared at the crying alien with wide eyes. The India-born woman had been in 3 previous missions before this one, and never had she seen an alien or ADVENT soldier cry. They simply didn't, no matter how badly they were hurt.

And right in front of her was one that was crying. Like a human. Amiyah pursed her lips before scooching towards the bawling alien. Amiyah put a hand on her heaving shoulder, "Hey. Hey, it's alright. You did the right thing."

Applejack stopped her crying and looked at her, stupefied, "How?! How?! Ah killed it! I-it's dead because of meh! Ah'm a monster! Ah murdered it!" Applejack said hysterically.

"I...uh..." Amiyah wasn't sure how to respond to that. She'd never met a thing that felt regret from killing a Sectoid.

Arthur Wood, meanwhile, had his hand on his chin, thinking of how best to deal with this situation. The alien clearly wasn't in the best of state, and could possibly turn violent. With the apparent ease in killing the Sectoid, Amiyah wouldn't stand a chance.

Arthur keyed the radio, "Amiayh. Tell Applejack what the Sectoid would've done. I don't think it knows."

Amiyah nodded and spoke, "Applejack, that thing over there is called a Sectoid. Do you know what it would've done if you hadn't killed it?"

Applejack shook her head and Amiyah continued, "It would've mind-controlled you and made you killed the family behind you."

Applejack's face lost all color, literally. Amiyah briefly wondered if Applejack's species were related to chameleons as Applejack looked at the dead Sectoid in utter horror, "Wh-why?"

"Excuse me?"

"Wh-why would i-it do that?"

"...because it was made to. That's its job. To kill people. And our job is to stop them from doing that."

Applejack didn't know how to respond to that. Of all the villains she faced, Nightmare Moon was the one who attempted to kill anything. And none of them would be so evil as to mind control somepony into killing another pony. Magic that affects the mind directly was strictly forbidden except for the most dire of circumstances.

"I have never heard a creature so...vile..." said Luna, "These...Sectoids are an affront to life."

"They ain't natural, that's fer sure," said Granny, somehow managing to put on a brave face.

"A-Applejack?"

The ones at the table turned to see Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Twilight Sparkle standing there with looks of horror on their face.

Applejack's eyes narrowed and snorted, "Whut do ya'll want? Ah thought ya'll hated meh..."

"I...did...w-was that true?" Twilight spoke.

Applejack raised an eyebrow, "'bout whut?"

"Th-those things that you said," said Pinkie Pie.

Applejack huffed, "Whut does it matter ta ya'll? Like Ah said, dun ya'll hate meh? Seriously, why're ya here?"

"We...we wanted to say were sorry. That we left too soon," said Fluttershy.

"We...didn't know about that..thingy...would they really do that?" said Pinkie Pie.

"Oh, they'd do more than jus' that."

The three mares paled at the concept that such a monster could do worse.

"So, ya'll here ta say yer sorry? Well, let's hear it."

The three mares glanced at each other, "We're...we're sorry?" said Fluttershy.

"Yer ain't fergivin."

"But-" started Twilight.

"Friends dun leave friends. Real friends stand by each other by th' end."

"But...we came back..." said Pinkie Pie, hair starting to deflate.

"Uh, sis?" started Apple Bloom, "They did come back. Maybe y'should-"

"Ah'm not forgivin' 'em, 'Bloom, an' that's that!"

"But-" started Fluttershy before Applejack interrupted her.

"Iffin ya'll dun leave in th' next ten seconds, Ah'm gonna hafta make ya leave."

The three stared at the other ponies in desperation. Big Macintosh and Granny Smith actively avoided their gaze, while Princess Luna looked sad. "L-Luna? Aren't you gonna tell her to give us another chance?" said Twilight.

"Ten."

"I...I cannot. It is her choice. I can suggest her to forgive you for..." Luna paused before continuing, "leaving, but ultimately it is her choice."

"Five."

"Hey! You didn't count down!" said Pinkie.

"TWO,"

"G-girls...maybe we should go..." said Fluttershy, backing away from Applejack's glare.

Applejack stood up, and that caused the girls to wince. They gave her one last pleading look before walking away.

As soon as they were out of sight, Applejack sagged, "Ah...Ah wanted ta fergive 'em...but...Ah couldn't," Applejack closed her eyes, "It...hurt too much ta even look at 'em..."

The other ponies didn't say anything. Luna suddenly sat up, "My sister has found out it was a decoy. I must go and talk to her. Hopefully you will gain her support if I tell her what these monsters do."

Don't really care about her support, "Okay."

Luna seemed to read Applejack's thoughts and grimaced, "...good night, Applejack."

"'night," replied the orange pony as she yawned.

Granny Smith noticed this, "Maybe we should all get some shut eye. We'll have clearer heads in th' morning."

Applejack just nodded and went to her room. She didn't notice Applebloom follow her until she went to close her bedroom door, "AB? Whut's wrong?"

"Ah brought ya yer hat."

Applejack stared at the stetson given to her by her father. Sure, she had many like it. But this one...this one was special. It was the first. The only time she wore it, though, was when she was working on the farm. She didn't dare wear it during her former friends' adventures for fear of losing or damaging it.

But now? She had gone without it for so long, that it didn't have as much sentimental value it previously had. In fact, it was more valuable to Applebloom than Applejack.

And she held onto it for me. As a reminder. It was then Applejack made a decision, "You keep it."

Applebloom blinked and looked back and forth from her sister to the hat, "Huh?"

"Ya held on ta it all this time, right?" Applebloom nodded, "Then keep it. It means more ta you than it does ta meh now."

"But..." Applebloom looked down at the stetson, "It's yer father's..."

"Ah know. But it has a new value to it now. Ya held onta it ta remember meh, right? Then ya deserve ta have it. 'sides, he was yer father too."

"..." Applebloom looked at the hat, then up at her sister, "Thank you, AJ."

"Yer very welcome."

"Can...Can Ah sleep wit' ya. Jus' fer tonight?"

Applejack blinked at the unexpected question before smiling, "'course ya can. Go get ready fer bed then."

Applebloom quickly did her afternoon toiletries and hopped into bed with her sister. Applejack stared at the ceiling as Applebloom made herself comfortable. Finally she spoke, "Hey, Applebloom?"

"Yeah?"

"Thank you..."

"Fer what?"

"Fer not abandonin' meh."

"...we're family, sis. We should always stick tagether."

"Thank you..."

"Ah love ya, AJ."

"Ah love ya too, AB..."