PART(ie) Hard

The battle was long and hard. Cold wind brutalized me. Every scratch burned, the frozen blood created a caramelized shell on my face and my soul felt as numb as my limbs. Around me, my soldiers watched me as I tread the ground of the fallen. Weary eyes and dirty faces followed my steps that crunched against the broken, casing littered ground. The weak flames poking from blown out buildings and gutted vehicles could not provide warmth and the shell of the once grand city could not protect me or my weary soldiers from the condemning elements.

So many eyes peeked out from the muck on their faces, like dim candles in the dark,and as I walked, one soldier stood up from his comfort of a blanket and stared at me. Then he started to clap slowly and hard.

His partner then stood up and began clapping as well, only faster and more glorious, and then more and more soldiers stood up and started clapping, and soon it was a thunderous applause that shook the earth and their cheers of victory scared away the darkness in us. The shouts of triumph powered me and with tears in my eyes I raised my fist proudly to the sky as the sun burns through its bleak cover.

It was over.

We had won.

“Eh, you okay, there, Pinks?” asks Applejack

“Huh? What?” says Pinkie Pie, blinking and jerking her head to and fro in search of Applejack, who is sitting next to her with her collection of aura books still in her basket.

“You kinda faded out on us after you, um-” Applejack glances at the cards in her hands, her demeanor sulking “-beat me.”

Pinkie Pie blinks and from her seat next to the phone she looks at the board before her, which is covering papers that are supposed to be their book reports. There is also a sealed envelope with Pinkie Pie's name on it and the school seal stamped on it.

On the board one little blue plastic soldier remains standing in the blue territory marked "Griffinstone", and all adjacent red territories that are not occupied by Applejack's black plastic soldiers are also guarded by single red pieces. On top a good sized discard pile is a card with blue silhouette soldiers raising their fists and “RALLY CALL!” in bold, red letters.

Seeing this, Pinkie Pie sucks in a massive amount of air that fuels her growing smile, and then she cheers and pumps her fist.

“Yes! Oh, yeah! I finally beat you!” shouts Pinkie Pie triumphantly. She jabs her finger at Applejack's nose, cackling. “Haha! In your face, cousin! In. Your. Face!”

Applejack flips up a golden card and her grumpy look breaks away to reveal the smugness beneath. “Revival.”

Pinkie Pie freezes. “What?”

“Revival,” repeats Applejack. “Production costs are reduced by twenty five percent for one-d six turns and-” Applejack snatches a six sided die and rolls it on the table, and her grin becomes demented when it stops “-what do you know? A six. Best kiss Altai goodbye. It'll belong to Bernese soon enough.”

Pinkie Pie's eye twitches and while her finger is still at Applejack's nose, it is quivering like a twig in a storm. Her face then takes a crash landing on the table, shaking the pieces, and a loud, aggravated groan vibrates the playing field.

“That card is so OP,” says Trixie, leaning back in her chair with her brows scrunched and her eyes scrutinizing the cards in her hand. “And my cards suck.”

“What cards do you got?” asks Applejack.

Trixie brings her cards close to her chest and turns slightly away from Applejack. “I'm not telling you! They're top secret!”

“How else are you gonna be queen of the world if I don't help you understand the cards?”

Trixie stares at Applejack, but Pinkie Pie can see the hamsters turning the wheels in her teammates brain, and after some seconds Trixie relents and slides closer to Applejack.

“Fine, but you better not betray me. I've seen Game of Woes. I know how to get revenge,” says Trixie.

“I don't even know what that is,” says Applejack as she wheels herself to Trixie's side.

Trixie's jaw drops. “How do you not know what Game of Woes is?”

Applejack turns herself next to Trixie and turns her hand so she is looking at her cards. “Oh, these cards ain't so bad. You got a mobility card, which means your Crystal Remnant soldiers can move double the spaces for your turn.”

“Meaning?”

Applejack sighs patiently. “Meaning you can either converge fully on Pinkie Pie and capture Griffinstone, knocking her out of the game.”

Trixie grins wickedly at Pinkie Pie, and in turn the team leader grunts and looks at her pitiful army. One piece here, two pieces there, a few dollars in the bank, three cards in her hands, and absolutely no way to fight off Trixie's eighty seven airplanes, nineteen battleships and stupid amount of infantry. Thankfully she has no tanks. Unthankfully, Applejack's army is thrice the size and has most of the board under her control.

“Or,” continues Applejack, “you can use your mobility card and attack Rarity, who is quite honestly a bigger threat to you than Pinkie Pie.”

Applejack, Trixie and Pinkie Pie look at Rarity, and Rarity has yet to lift her dark, baggy eyes off of her organized display of blue soldiers, tanks, planes, bombers and array of sea vessels. Her army barely reached beyond her original territories of Equestria, but she does have an impressive collection of units buffering her borders.

“Trixie supposes she could weaken Rarity,” muses Trixie, her eyes drifting across a juicy territory with a “5” and “Manehatten” stamped on it.

“As if Applejack isn't strong enough,” grumbles Rarity.

“We made a sacred pact, isn't that right, Applejack?”

“Eeyup,” says Applejack with a smirk. “'Sides, it's just a game. It ain't personal.”

Rarity grunts skeptically and Trixie giggles like a demon as she proclaims her mobility card and moves a generous amount of her pieces to Manehatten.

“Prepare to suffer the wrath of the Crystal Empire, you Equestrian whimps!” says Trixie.

Rarity sniffs deeply and flips over a card labeled “Perseverance” and Trixie's smile drops like a cement block in the water.

“Wait, we played all those cards,” says Trixie.

“I've been saving this one,” says Rarity glumly as she changes out her six sided dice for eight sided dice and snagging a few d-10s, as well.

Pinkie Pie whistles and looks at Trixie.

“You can always retreat,” says Pinkie Pie.

“Retreating is for the weak,” says Trixie. She scoops up her dice and starts shaking them in her hands. “Trixie accepts your challenge and will destroy you! Now die, fiend!”

She rolls her dice and-

One Hundred and Eighty Seconds Later...

Trixie is banging her head against the dorm wall, cussing viciously in her native tongue while Rarity sluggishly organizes her units on her side of the table. It had been a hard fought battle, but Rarity prevailed with a decent force remaining in her territory.

As Trixie swears and bangs her head, Pinkie Pie looks at her pitiful bank and Applejack's army.

Bank.

Army.

Army.

Bank.

Bank.

Army.

Applejack.

“Next time I'm playing as Bernese,” says Pinkie Pie as she purchases a grand total of three infantrymen for her Griffinstone territory.

“No you ain't,” says Applejack.

“Why not?”

“'Cuz I always play Bernese.”

“Yeah, that's the point. Give someone else -like your favorite cousin- a chance to play them." Pinkie Pie snaps her focus to Trixie. "And Trixie you have got to stop banging your head against the wall! You're going to annoy the neighbors!”

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Trixie stops banging her head, and Pinkie Pie stiffens while Rarity and Applejack's eyes bulge to dinner plates.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

All four look at the door, which shakes from another round of bangs, and with a tortured groan Pinkie Pie stands up, then points at Trixie with narrowed eyes.

“You're grounded,” says Pinkie Pie.

“Psh. Am not,” says Trixie, now rubbing her head and wobbling in her spot.

Pinkie Pie rolls her eyes and shuffles towards the door. When she reaches her door she cracks it open just a smidgen and puts on her best smile to sweet talk her way out of a mess from what is definitely an imposing man of six-eleven with muscles the size of thick heads, a shirt that squeezes his tight abs and pants that shouldn't even fit his monstrous frame. She even has her googly eyes aimed up so she can swoon the beastly man with her beauty.

However, all she sees is a forehead and a pile of blond hair that looks like a bundle of radishes tied together with yarn.

It is ugly.

And her jaw drops.

And when her nose is brutalized by the stench of burnt rope and expectations, her wrinkled face tilts so she is eye to eye with bloodshot, cerise eyes which are surrounded by dark bags. The face the eyes belong to is covered in fuzz, and his clothes and backpack are all ratty and carry the strong stench.

“Heeey, is Fluttershy here?” asks the man.

Pinkie Pie shakes her head. “No... Who are you?”

“I'm her bro. Can you tell her I'm here?”

“But she doesn't live in this room.”

“She doesn't?”

“No.”

“But the rainbow chick said she did...” The stranger's eyes expand just a bit. “Whoa... Your hair...”

Pinkie Pie's confusion melts from hope's warmth. “Yes?”

“Your hair is... is...”

Pinkie Pie's lips spread to a toothy smile and she clamps her hands in front of her chin. “Yes?”

“Your hair is ugly.”

Pinkie Pie has never slammed a door so hard or fast before, and she spins around, digging her feet in the carpet and looks at her team, who has quickly turned their attention away from her to random things around the room. Pinkie Pie then stomps back to her seat while scratching at her hair and when she falls to her seat she shakes loose strands of pink hair from her fingers.

“I would like to point out that I think your hair is just fine,” says Rarity.

“You aren't making that up, are you?” says Pinkie Pie glumly. “I mean, what if that is why I am single? What if my hair really is ugly? What if the reason Pinprick hasn't called is because he hates my hair!”

Applejack and Rarity cast quick glances at each other, and Trixie rolls her eyes and whips out her phone catalog from her pocket while Pinkie Pie tugs at her hair. Her shaking body also vibrates the table and the bracelet on her ankle beeps quietly.

“Like, Trixie's got beautiful hair, you got beautiful hair, Applejack's got beautiful hair, everybody's got beautiful hair except for my hair is ugly like my hideous face. Why did my parents have to make me ugly!?” rants Pinkie Pie hysterically.

“Holy crap will you relax?” says Applejack, gripping Pinkie Pie's shoulder as she hyperventilates.

Pinkie Pie's sharp and quick breaths gradually subside, as does the beeping on her ankle bracelet, and her shaking slowly stops from Applejack's hand gently rubbing her shoulder.

“Your hair's fine and you ain't ugly, that pothead was just a nut. He wouldn't know a good girl if she... er... did girly stuff to him,” says Applejack.

“Wow~” drones Trixie.

“Why don't we take your mind off of that guy,” says Rarity. “Something cheerful should do the trick.”

“Like finishing the game?” suggests Applejack.

Pinkie Pie's shoulders sag from her sigh. “No thanks. I already know that we lost to you.”

“Trixie might win,” says Trixie without taking her eyes off of her catalog.

“I don't think so. Applejack basically owns the board,” says Rarity.

“I'll accept formal declarations of surrender,” says Applejack smugly.

Trixie scoffs and puts her catalog away to eyeball Applejack with a sharp gleam in her eyes.

“In your dreams, farmer. The Crystal Empire will never surrender to the ethno-purists!” says Trixie.

“Trixie, you're taking this game way too seriously,” says Applejack.

“Says the one who broke our sacred pact.”

“I haven't done anything yet.”

Just then, Pinkie Pie gasps and jerks upright in her seat, eyes and smile bright and her palms pressed against the table.

“Girls, I got it! We can talk about our dreams,” says Pinkie Pie. “That ought to cheer things up.”

Pinkie Pie's teammates stare at her, completely silent and faces blank, and she giggles and rubs her hands together eagerly.

“I want to go first,” says Pinkie Pie.

“Then go first,” says Applejack.

“Okay, okay.” Pinkie Pie clears her throat. “Last night I had a dream that we were all cute, colorful ponies in a really, really fun world filled joy and happiness and sunshine and friendship. Sorta. It had problems but it seemed pretty chill compared to here, though.”

“That sounds really gay,” says Trixie.

Pinkie Pie looks at Trixie. “And you were a unicorn that got heckled when doing a magic show.”

“What? Why!” whines Trixie, throwing her catalog aside.

“And Rarity made dresses and Applejack ran a farm and for some reason I dreamed of Twilight and Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy being ponies, too,” continues Pinkie Pie.

“Who's Fluttershy?” asks Applejack.

“She's the shy girl with the long pink hair on Team DAFT." Pinkie Pie reclines in her chair and folds her arms behind her head while putting her feet up on the unoccupied part of the table, balancing herself on two chair legs and ignoring the condemning gaze of Rarity. "Yeah, the weird guy was looking for her so he's probably gonna get a fist to the face if he finds her.”

Applejack thinks for a moment. “You know, now that my mind's on it, I do remember that Fluttershy girl. Our only conversation didn't go very well.”

~~~~~000~~~~~

Many Weeks Back...

At main cafeteria, Applejack grabs her tray of food from the line. It is a humble meal of a sub sandwich, egg salad, chips and apple juice, and she cannot wait to chow down on it. As she walks towards her team, a random student slides next to her with a sleazy grin plastered on his face.

“Hey, country patch, wanna sleep on my bed for a few nights?” he says.

Applejack looks down at him with a cocked brow and disappointed frown. “With something that small? No.”

The student's smile and colors shatter away, and Applejack pats him on the shoulder as she nods to Thorn.

“That guy looks interested in you, though,” she says, and adding with a wink: “Check him out, tiny toon.”

Applejack starts walking again, feeling a sickly mix of pride and disgust for herself, but she only gets a few more steps before she collides with Fluttershy. The trays crash and flip into both girls, splattering egg salad, sandwich bits and juice all over their green and white uniforms. Juice drips off of Fluttershy's long pink hair and tomatoes and other condiments slide off of her's and Applejack's uniform, leaving trails of watered down red and pickle juice.

Applejack's face flares red and she stammers as she drops to her knees to pick up the grave of two lunches.

“Ah, crap, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to run into you!” says Applejack. Her heart is beating quadruple what is normal and sweat pours down her face and neck as her shaky hands toss everything on the stacked trays. When all is collected, she hops up and pretends that the whole cafeteria is not looking at her. “I'm very sorry about that, hun. I'll use my own credits to buy you another lunch, how's that sound?”

Fluttershy stares at Applejack with the eye that is not covered by her long hair, but her hair cannot hide the hot blush on her cheeks or how her eyes have become dilated.

“Okay... I guess that's a yes. What's your name?” asks Applejack.

Fluttershy's body trembles as constipated spurts of squeaks pop out. Her faces darkens into a blood red hue and she brings her fists up to her face as tears flow down her face. Soon her knees start buckling and she sniffles as the already good sized crowd grows and murmurs.

Applejack glances at the crowd nervously and then offers an anxious smile to Fluttershy.

“Eh, you okay, there?” asks Applejack.

“Squeak.”

~~~~~000~~~~~

“Oh, so that's why you were a mess that day,” says Pinkie Pie.

“That's nice and all, but why was Trixie heckled in your dream?” Trixie grabs Pinkie Pie's shoulders and twists her body so that they are face to face, despite the team leader scrunching herself in her chair. “What did Trixie do to deserve such malice!?”

“Maybe it's because you're rude,” says Rarity.

Trixie glares at Rarity. “Says the racist!”

Rarity returns the look. “I already apologized!”

“Your apology was fake! Trixie knows a fake apology when she hears one!”

Rarity slams her good hand on the table and hops to her feet. “Oh my goodness, you're unbelievable!”

She then swipes her game pieces off of the table, storms out of the room and slams the door shut. The group stares at the door for a few more seconds before Trixie releases Pinkie Pie, blinking dumbly. Trixie then reaches for her phone catalog and slowly brings it up to her face, and Pinkie Pie slams her face on the table and starts snickering. Her shoulders quiver and her snickering turns into a shaky cackle and whimper and Applejack shakes her head, frowning at Trixie.

“Smooth,” says Applejack.

“Don't heckle me,” snaps Trixie.