Titanium Jack

by HapHazred

Rating: teen
Tags: Twilight Sparkle, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Alternate Universe, Romance, Applejack, Drama, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Adventure
Length: 21002

In order to escape one of Starlight Glimmer's alternate timelines, Twilight must find a way to convince this timeline's Applejack to let her go home. However, this version of Applejack isn't keen to let go of the last thing that matters to her...

Trapped in one of Starlight Glimmer's alternate timelines, Twilight must appeal to the guardian of this timeline: an Applejack who left her family to live in Manehattan in the hopes of a new beginning and found nothing there at all... And that was before an accident changed her further still.

Things are different in this timeline, and Twilight's friends are not as she remembers them. Instead of being warm and open, Applejack is as cold and unfeeling as the metal in her bones, and the only pony she trusts may not be able to convince her to put her faith in an alicorn she's never met before in a world filled with enemies...

An entry for the 'Second Chances' contest. Rated teen for teen-ish violence and horse-romance bits.

Published 2017-08-25 22:30:06 UTC
Last updated 2017-08-27 22:28:50 UTC

Chapter One: The Mare of Titanium

Dear Diary,

Today I met the most beautiful pony I’ve ever seen.

Yeah, it’s that time again. Thought I’d have found somepony to hash these sorts of things out with by now but I guess with my lifestyle it’s not happening any time soon. Kind of sucks. Not a big fan of diaries and stuff, but hey, what am I supposed to do? Live in one place? Make some permanent friends? No way.

Anyway, I was visiting Ponyville. Small town. Not very important or anything. Summer Sun celebration. We were going to do a show for Princess Celestia. It didn’t pan out. Long story short, we were invaded by this sort of dark alicorn from space? It’s probably normal. So Celestia was a no-show, and things were looking a bit dicey, so I decide to hang out away from town, in this farm I once helped. They like me there. Gave me pie. I’ll have to work it off later, but pie’s pie.

Then she showed up. Hadn’t heard of her before. I’ve never seen anypony as strong, and for an Earth pony, she’s darn fast. Came all the way from Manehattan because of the trouble, then headed to the Everfree. I tried to follow, but she told me not to. Said she’d knock me out if I tried.

It was hot.

Anyway, I don’t think she expected me to regain consciousness as quick as I did. But hey, things happen, and at least she took it in her stride.

When everything died down, I asked her out. She said she lived in Manehattan. I told her I’d be there next week. Then she kinda started sweating. Not sure she gets out much. I think I laughed, which probably made things worse.

It’s weird. Everypony only ever talks about her mane. About how it’s like steel, or titanium, or whatever cool silver-y metal they can think of. I just remember her eyes. They were like a forest at mid-day. It was like poetry. And they looked like they could do anything. Like a space alicorn was just a warm-up. I’m not one for pretty words, but even I’ll shell out a cool turn of phrase for her.

I want to find out more about her. Hopefully, next time I’m in Manehattan, I will.

Through every street and under the shadow of every building, Twilight couldn’t shake the now-familiar feeling. In other timelines, she had felt it, creeping up her spine like a fly that had landed on her skin. It was the feeling that, even though every brick and tree looked the same as it did back home, everything was alien and unfamiliar.

Twilight had hoped it would never become as familiar a feeling as it did right now. When Starlight cast her into this timeline, and she stumbled onto her hooves, she kept thinking what is wrong with this timeline ? What mistake came to pass in this universe? Was it Sombra again? Nightmare Moon? Which villain had taken command of Equestria and twisted it into their image, whether it would be by fluke or overwhelming force?

Twilight’s hoof drifted to her saddlebags where Starswirl’s scroll used to be. She winced.

One thing she found strange was that, unlike in most other universes, no battalion of armed ponies marched up to arrest her. There was no cloud of evil that hung over the country. Just the ordinary civilians of Ponyville, going about their seemingly ordinary lives.

It was perhaps the creepiest thing Twilight could have found from an alternate timeline, but she allowed herself a glimmer of hope. Perhaps on this occasion, the river of time simply hadn’t altered its course. Perhaps this timeline was, by dint of sheer coincidence, the same one she had left?

This theory was quickly crushed when Twilight remembered the state of her castle. Gone, evaporated into thin air, like it had never existed. Some change had to have occurred here, some difference.

Twilight reached a familiar sight. Shaped like a large tent, elegant and colourful, the Carousel Boutique looked identical to the one from Twilight’s original timeline. She smiled, and put her hoof on Spike’s head.

“Maybe we can get a warm welcome this time,” she suggested, and tapped the door with her hoof.

The bell above the entrance rang, just like the one back home. Spike fidgeted with his claws as the two stepped into the Boutique. Dresses and outfits adorned mannequins that piled up in an appealing crowd.

“Hello, I’ll be right out in a minute,” came Rarity’s sing-song voice. “Do make yourself at home!”

Spike smiled at the familiar surroundings. “Don’t mind if I do,” he said.

Twilight breathed in. She was still getting her bearings in this new timeline. When Rarity walked out from behind the shop she remembered why.

Rarity was different. She didn’t have quite the same sparkle in her eyes, not the same gait. Her walk, her stance was different, built by different experiences. By a different life.

Rarity’s eyes widened as she examined Twilight. “Goodness!”

Twilight frowned. “Yes?”

Rarity rushed towards Twilight, her eyes darting from Twilight’s face to her back. “Well, it’s a good thing you found me, darling. Most places can’t quite handle the alicorn physique, you see.” She began to take measurements of Twilight’s wings. “Most ponies assume it’s the same as pegasus, at least where the wings are involved, but it’s really rather not. Larger wings, fluffier feathers. Same bone structure as an Earth pony, you see, but applied to wings. It’s all rather complicated.”

“I’m actually not looking for a dress,” Twilight said. “This… is actually rather difficult to explain.”

Rarity halted, and took a small step back. “Do tell, dear. I’m all ears.”

“I’m actually a Princess.” Twilight sighed. “And I’m from a... “ Twilight swallowed. “I’m a long way from home, and I want your help to get back.”

“A long way from home?” Rarity asked. “Where are you from, originally? I do so like hearing about distant countries. You know, I always wanted to travel when I was in school…”

“Well, actually, I’m from Canterlot…”

Rarity raised her eyebrow. “It is a rather long way by hoof… About twenty minutes by train, though.”

“...but that was in an alternate timeline.”

Rarity stared into Twilight's eyes for a moment, and began to stroke her chin. She analysed every one of Twilight’s expressions, every twitch and wayward gaze. Eventually, Rarity let out a long, uncomfortable sigh.

“I think perhaps I should give a friend of mine a call… She won't be happy about this.”

Manehattan’s skyscrapers rose like fingers trying to grasp the sky. They cut through the clouds and tore at the moonlight. Large airships and balloons drifted between them, following roads nopony but the pilots could see, their headlights illuminating the streets below.

Applejack was stood in her apartment building, the yellow and blue from the lampposts turning her room into a kaleidoscope. She breathed out, blood dripping down her chin. She raised a hoof to feel the cut. Only by sheer chance had it cut at parallel to her fur. If it hadn’t, she wouldn’t have even felt it. She trotted to her kitchen, rolling off the aches and pains from her little hobby.

She liked yellow. It reminded her of the sunlight, which she didn’t seem to see much of these days. Nor did she see blue skies, or green grass. Her days were mostly filled with concrete and overcast greys, electric greens and neon, and newspaper browns.

The only splash of colours in her room were in the pictures on the walls. She moved past them and opened the fridge, raiding it for food. She quickly located oats and dried fruit she had left over from lunch.

She closed the fridge, and saw for the first time a note trapped under one of the fridge magnets her family had sent her over the years from places they had visited. She put the oats to one side and plucked it from the fridge door.

Leaning against the kitchen counter and scratching her dirty coat, she read the note and smiled.

“See you soon, sugarcube,” she muttered, and put the note to one side. She picked up her oats again and moved to a small sitting area. Newspapers piled up on either side of a singular, lone armchair by the window. A phone overlooked the empty fireplace. The apartment was not lived in enough to gather any kind of clutter other than dust.

Applejack sat down and pulled the most recent paper from the pile. She skipped the headlines. She already knew she was on them. She had been involved in most of it, after all.

As the news from the paper began to sink into her mind, her expression hardened. She didn’t have any job, not in the conventional sense. She knew ponies that did. She had friends in fashion, her family were farmers, and her adoptive parents had been businessponies.

Not her, though. She lived off inheritances and generous donations from the city. An unofficial peacekeeper, of sorts.

Her ears flicked to the side. Hoofsteps at the door. She listened as intently as she could. It was too late for guests.

The siren of her phone deafened her as it went off. She jumped out of her chair.

The door was smashed in, and two dark ponies rushed into her apartment. Applejack’s ears flattened as her eyes darted from the phone to the intruders. She raised her hooves defensively.

The phone rang once. Then twice. Thrice.

Applejack grunted and picked the phone up, stepping over the fallen bodies of the ponies who had invaded her home.

“Who’s there?” she snapped, rubbing her neck. “You caught me at a bad time.” She lifted her head. “Rarity? What’re you callin’ me for?” She looked back towards the two ponies on the floor. “They found out where I live again. Gotta move is all. You said you had a what visit the boutique?”

The apartment fell into silence for a good minute or two, punctuated only by the groans of the two assassins who had tried to get the better of Titanium Jack.

“What do you mean, ‘alternate timelines’?” she asked, frowning and playing with the phone cord. “Fine, I'll be there as soon as I can. I’ll fit her into my schedule somehow.” Her brow began to knot together even more. “No, I ain’t heard of any Starlight Glimmer. Listen, is this important, ‘Equestria in danger’ sort of stuff? I’ve had a busy day and now I need to get a new apartment, and get a telegram to my marefriend sayin’ she can’t meet me here no more.” She kicked one of the assassins, and snorted. “I’ll be fine. Oh, my neck-tie got a few scratches. I'll be needin' a new one.”

She propped her phone between her shoulder and ear for a bit, listening to the rant pouring from the phone like water flooding from a bad leak.

“Well, livin’ the hero life ain’t great for takin’ care of my clothes. They ain’t arrow-proof.” Applejack listened some more, then broke into a small smile. “Oh, she’s doing okay, is she? Well, that makes one of us.” She tilted her head indignantly. “Yeah, ‘course I’ll treat her right. I’ll do dinner ‘n everything. Yeah, I know you like her.”

She looked back at the assassins. They were beginning to stir.

“Listen, I gotta go. I’ll be on the first train to Ponyville tomorrow, see what I can do about this ‘alternate timeline’ nonsense.” Applejack smiled. “See you ‘round.”

She put the phone down.

“So,” she grunted. “Looks like you two tried to take me by surprise.” She picked one of the thugs up by the mane. “Your boss knows I don’t appreciate that. What, you two lose the lottery or somethin’? Really get a bee in your boss's bonnet? Have him send y'all on a lil' suicide mission?”

The thug groaned.

“Listen, I tackled Nightmare Moon. I can handle you two, even if you caught me in a compromising situation, which you’d have to turn up way later to do anyhow on account of me not sleepin’ that much. So, how about I call Inspector Truncheon and you spend the next, what, ten to twenty in a concrete box, and I don’t smash your face in?”

The thug breathed out.

“Sounds good, boss-pony.”

“Well, I’m glad we have an understanding.” Applejack gave a business-like nod. “Just let me dial. You two stay put.”

Dear Diary,

On tour across Equestria. Doing a lot of shows in Earth pony towns. Finishing off in Manehattan, which is where I’m at now. Dropped by to see her. Went to one of my fave places, up near the pegasus arena. Showed off. Not sure it worked great.

She changed, after the whole chaos demon thing. She’s even stronger than before, if that was possible (which it is, obvs). Funny how she always seems to turn up when things go south. Or in her case, she literally goes south to Ponyville. It’s a bit of a magnet for trouble in the shape of a town.

Now I got a long look at her away from ‘stuff’, she looks sad, I guess, but that’s probably just because she’s so serious all the time. Talked for a bit, had some drinks. She doesn’t have friends. Says she knows this pony who does dresses or something down in Ponyville. I don’t really hang out there for the fashion, so I’ve got no clue who she’s talking about. Apparently she used to order capes from her for ‘work’, before deciding it was too 'fancy-schmancy'. Doesn’t sound like a friend, though. More like somepony she used to know. Competition?

Don’t think so. I think she likes me. Probably? I’d like me. I’d be all over me.

She says she’s been fighting crime in her spare time. Like that’s some kind of hobby. Reminds me of the pony I used to think I’d be, before I bust my flank in flight school and Flutters left to live in some Earth pony town.

Asked her about her mane. I think that was a mistake, cause she stopped smiling then. Told me something happened a long time ago. An accident or something. Maybe hit by a cart? She said she had surgery. Not sure what kind of surgery turns you into a superhero, I said. She laughed when I said that, but it wasn’t a ‘ha-ha’ laugh, more like a ‘yeah, whatever’ kind of laugh or something. It wasn't happy, that was for sure.

Seriously, though, feeling pretty pathetic that I’m writing this in a book. I’d literally die if somepony other than me found this. It’d suck.

I asked her about living in Manehattan. She told me all about it. She told me about how she left home as a filly to go stay with her aunt and uncle. She told me about how lonely she felt at the start, and how she worked off the stress by, well, working. Businesspony stuff, I guess. Sent cash back to Ponyville and made things move. Pretty awesome, but not exactly what I was expecting from a mare who tried to drop-kick a funky chaos demon-thing.

Still, it sounded similar. I told her about me, about how I did terrible in flight school and had to work my flank off just to get by. Kinda like what she did with her family business. She liked me talking about that. Funny, if all I had to do was tell her how much I sucked as a filly to get her to like me, I’d have opened with that.

I like talking about how much I sucked to her, though. It’s like I’ve got nothing to prove. That’s nice for a change.

I’m out.

The train station was packed with ponies of all shapes and sizes. Uniforms and outfits from all across Equestria passed Applejack by as she stared at the clock hanging above her. The large, wrought iron hands flicked the minutes away, tick by tock. She pulled her hoodie closer to her eyes to hide her mane. Publicity never helped her in her line of work.

Inspector Truncheon had been understanding, and had quickly moved her things to a new location across town. Applejack was certain that there was a mole in the police force that, when wrangled, would disclose where she lived again. She licked her lips. That was a problem she’d have to deal with eventually. One day they’d get lucky and catch her asleep, and somehow manage to not wake her up.

Or they’d get unlucky and find her with her marefriend.

“Oh, Applejack!”

The rogue hug blindsided Applejack more than any assassination attempt. She raised her hoof to try to pry Rarity off of her, but the unicorn was stuck fast.

“Honestly, you really need to visit when something isn’t wrong, dear!” she exclaimed, releasing Applejack from her death-grip. “Oh, and you’ll be utterly fascinated to hear what Twilight is saying about you, little farmpony.”

Applejack brushed herself down and readjusted her hoodie. “Y’know, a simple ‘hello’ would do,” she grunted, and her eyes quickly fell upon the only alicorn at the station. “I take it this is the ‘alternate timeline’ pony?” Her eyes narrowed. “And her dragon.”

“Hello, Applejack,” Spike said.

“I don’t like dragons,” Applejack told him, deciding to dispense with the casual greetings.

“Um,” Spike replied.

“Nearly burned my eyebrows off once.”

“They, um, grew back, though” Spike pointed out, and looked closer at the silver-maned mare. “Is that why they're sort of silver-y?”

“No.”

Twilight interposed herself between Spike and Applejack. “Hello Applejack,” she said, attracting the silver mare’s attention. “Wow, you’re… so different from the Applejack I know.” Twilight tilted her head to the side. “Your accent is different.It sounds a bit watered down, I think.”

“What’s that about my accent?” Applejack asked. “I lived in Manehattan for years. It changed. Mostly. Listen, who the hay are you? I was a bit busy last night, so I didn’t exactly ask Rarity any questions about, y’know, your little ‘story’.”

Twilight bit her lip. “Okay.” She held her hoof out. “My name is Twilight Sparkle. I’m from an alternate timeline and I need to get home so I can save Equestria.”

Applejack narrowed her eyes, and slowly reached out to take Twilight’s hoof. “Well, my job is saving Equestria. Has been since the whole Nightmare Moon shebang.”

Twilight cracked a small smile. “Back in my timeline, we all saved Equestria together.”

“What, like some sort of… super-team?”

“More like hobbyist national heroes. Of the 'ordinary' variety;”

“Well, in my timeline, it was just me. And a tag-along, I suppose, for some of them.”

“Tag-along?” Twilight asked.

Rarity’s eyes lit up with excitement. “Oh, you know, she’s so excited you’re back in town!”

Applejack groaned. “You told her?”

“Well of course I did! You know how much she likes seeing you.”

Applejack folded her forelegs. “Yeah, that’s why I was keepin’ my bein’ here quiet. Besides, I ain’t sure I want her near lil’ miss ‘alternate reality’.”

“Timeline,” Twilight corrected.

“Whatever. Sounds like an alternate universe to me. Y’know, Discord has one of ‘em. We beat him back there all on our lonesome, without no team of ‘hobbyist national heroes’ to do it.”

Twilight bristled. “Well, that’s not how things worked out where I’m from.”

Applejack grunted. “Then explain it.”

Twilight breathed in. “I will.”

Rarity smiled. “Well, perhaps we should talk on our way back to the Boutique, ladies?” she suggested, nudging the two ponies away from the train station. “It’s early, and I think we could all use some coffee.”

This wasn’t the first alternate timeline Twilight had visited. By the sounds of things, it might be the last. She had seen worlds drowned in eternal night, resistances beleaguered by shape-shifting saboteurs, and wastelands crushed to ash by Tirek’s rampaging ambitions. Applejack listened to every single one until Twilight reached Applejack’s own timeline. The timeline with the implacable Titanium Mare.

To listen to Twilight talk about it, it sounded like an alien planet. She gestured wildly at the very idea that Nightmare Moon could have been defeated without using some magic jewellery. Her eyes boggled at the suggestion that you could just punch Discord into submission. Applejack spluttered when Twilight mentioned how surreal it was that she, who in her timeline was a simple farmpony, was a superhero who had villains on the run.

“She sounds so quaint!” Rarity commented. Applejack’s brow furrowed angrily.

“How about I explain how it really went down?” she grunted.

Nightmare Moon was a siege. The night she brought never got a proper handle outside of the Everfree because every time she tried to leave the forest, Titanium Jack ambushed her. She raided the castle and kept Nightmare from sleeping. Exhausted, Nightmare Moon was an easy target for her and Celestia.

Discord was worse, but he had one weakness: he couldn’t kill Titanium Jack, or anypony else for that matter. Something about his magic petered out when it came to ending life, and Applejack's body couldn't be changed easily. Over and over she pestered him, until weeks later he offered her a deal: he stayed in his nonsense realm and she stopped being such a ‘buzzkill’, as he put it.

Chrysalis, by comparison, was easy, but that didn’t mean it didn’t take time, sweat, and tears. Her army got bludgeoned to pieces and, whilst distracted, Applejack disabled the queen bee.

It wasn’t like she could just solve every problem with ease. It took effort. Strategy.

Twilight listened to her as if she was talking to a total stranger.

“This is all wrong,” she said. “In my timeline, we didn’t win by… being alone.”

Rarity snickered. “Well she wasn’t exactly alone, now, was she?”

The group arrived in front of the Carousel Boutique. They could all hear movement from inside, and as they walked through the front door, Twilight spied a Wonderbolts uniform hanging by the door.

Applejack turned away from the uniform. “No, not completely.”

Twilight gestured towards Applejack’s mane. “How’d you do that to your, um, mane? If you don’t mind me asking.”

Applejack sighed. “It’s always the mane, isn’t it? You know, only one pony didn’t ask me about that first time I met them.” She shrugged. “I had a bad day, once. I had surgery. Real bad surgery. Now, it’s like this. It’s why they call me Titanium Jack.”

“Sounds like somepony's been reading Power Ponies,” Spike pointed out. “I guess that’s your superhero name.”

"I ain't no—"

The door to the kitchen opened. An explosion of colour hit Applejack square in the barrel.

“TJ, you gotta tell me when you’re coming to town,” Rainbow Dash exclaimed. “Otherwise I’m gonna have to keep twisting Rarity’s hoof until she breaks, and I’m starting to feel a bit bad about that.”

Twilight lit up. “Rainbow!”

“Random pony!” Rainbow replied with equal and opposite enthusiasm.

“That’s Twilight,” Rarity said. “She’s an alicorn princess from an alternate timeline.”

Rainbow grinned, still not releasing Applejack. “”Sweet. I’m Rainbow Dash, the most famous pony of all time. I'm thinking of a title. Something like arch-admiral?”

Twilight looked over at Rarity.

“No questions for our guest?” Rarity asked.

“Yeah, one,” Rainbow replied, and turned back towards Applejack, who this time wasn’t trying too hard to release herself from Rainbow’s grip. “How long are you in town?”

Dear Diary,

I never head to Manehattan anymore. TJ just won’t meet me there, says it’s too dangerous. Which is fair, since last time this rat plague broke out because of some evil pony? I dunno, it was crazy and I stayed out of it. We only meet in Ponyville, but every time me and TJ are in Ponyville together, it’s because something is wrong. I think TJ tries to keep me away, which is starting to really get on my nerves. Loads happens there, which is weird cause it’s just a small town.

At least I get to spend more time with her, regardless of how much she tries to protect me. Finding out what made her tick. Found out about her accident. Why she lives alone. Why she’s so strong. I mean, I make sense. I just worked my flank off every day and every night for about ten years until I was ultra-fit. But her? She’s different. She says she’s a freak, and y’know, I think I agree with her. But she’s a cool freak!

She’s also fun, sometimes, usually by accident. When she smiles, this hokey accent just comes out of nowhere and hits you like a truck. She’s got freckles, too. You don’t notice cause of the scowl she has all the time. Muscles everywhere, too. And I mean everywhere. I checked.

Scars too. They’re under her fur (which btw is real soft, like pillow feathers, but the tips can be really sharp and sort of prickly), but when she sleeps real soundly, I can trace where doc Trabecular had her open with my hoof. They go from below her belly across her ribs (which you can barely feel for all the muscle she built on them), up under her forelegs and towards her neck. She has others in the area between her hind legs and her body (note to not trace that bit with hoof, makes her stir, possibly wake up?), which twist up near her dock. There are probs more on her legs and neck. I found a bit of one on her left leg, and I bet there’s more.

Her bones are like living titanium, except titanium isn't really alive. When she broke, she broke so bad that when her body fixed itself up, it just kinda ate the implants and the fixtures and the total joint replacements.
When she’s awake, sometimes I see her move different. I think she can feel the implants in her, where whatever happened to her isn’t working quite right. Makes her attitude even cooler. Like she thinks all of Equestria is her responsibility. Just because she can help, means she should, even if she hates herself for it. But that’s sad too.

I’ve not known her long, but I think this mix of admiration and… comfort, I guess, that I feel around her is probably what I’d have thought love feels like. Not sure, though. Never felt it before.

Not gonna tell her, though. I think she’d worry about me. She’s protective like that. I just wish she’d smile sometime like she actually means it.

Bye

Twilight was sat next to Rarity as she ran through the changes in this timeline through her mind again. She wasn’t blind or stupid, and she could tell that despite her cold, bitter exterior, Applejack had succeeded in convincing at least one pony she was worth being around.

That implied that Rainbow, like Applejack, had taken a radically different path in this timeline. On a usual day, Twilight might not be interested in snooping, but after losing the spell at the site of the Map, she was inclined to believe that the fate of her friends held the clues to her getting it back.

Perhaps it was little more than a hunch, but if there was something out there that existed as a result of the differences in timelines that would steal maps from time-travellers, she needed to know what it was.

Luckily, Rainbow was only too glad to talk about herself. It was a topic she was clearly invested in.

“Well, where do I begin?!” she exclaimed, her wing brushing Applejack’s hoof at all times, despite Applejack’s frosty expression. “So, I was born in Cloudsdale. Great town y’know, great altitude. Didn’t fit in great, didn’t have many friends. Managed one, I guess, but she didn’t actually talk much so I’m not one-hundred percent sure that she actually liked me all that much? Anyway, she left one day to live in Manehattan taking care of rodents or something and I never heard from her again, mostly because I was way too busy training and working…”

“You didn’t perform a sonic rainboom when you were young?” Twilight said. It was a statement, not a question. After all, if she had performed the Rainboom, they wouldn’t be in this situation.

“No… that’d be… weird and kinda fantastic,” Rainbow replied, her concentration broken. “Why’d you say that?”

“Alternate timeline related things.”

“Wacky shenanigans, huh?”

Twilight allowed herself a smile. “Something like that.”

“Sounds like a load of hooey to me,” Applejack grunted.

Rainbow pressed into her side and nudged her aggressively. The move didn’t seem to even inconvenience the tougher pony. “C’mon, TJ. Be nice.”

“TJ?” Twilight asked.

“Titanium Jack,” Rainbow explained. “It’s her superhero name.”

“It’s a dumb name,” Applejack replied.

“Hey, the paparazzi like it and so do I. Besides, you are basically all titanium now.”

Applejack sighed. “Just the bones and fur,” she grumbled.

“And some of the cells, organs, and other stuff.” Rainbow waved her hoof. “Anyway, enough about you, TJ. This is my story.” She turned back towards Twilight, smiling. “So, remember me saying I never fit in? Well, it’s kinda true. I wasn’t good at flying (I kept on crashing), math, history, or anything at all in school, so it was looking kinda grim. I felt like I wasn’t going to do anything with my life.” She paused. “Uh, where was I?”

Applejack nudged her in the side. “You were about to say you worked your flank off in high school.”

Rainbow brightened. “Right. So, like, I worked really hard. I trained every day and learned everything I could, ‘cause I really wanted to be good at something. Turns out that’s the sort of attitude you need to be a Wonderbolt, so as I kept on mastering different flying techniques in Cloudsdale, they eventually just offered.”

“In Cloudsdale? Not Ponyville?”

“Not Ponyville. I live in Ponyville now, though. Does that count?”

“No.”

“Oh, okay.”

“So, then?”

Rainbow cleared her throat. “Then one day I met this cheerful bundle of fun over here,” she said, gesturing towards Applejack. Applejack did not smile. “I might have done a few favours for her Ponyville family on the odd Wonderbolt tour. You know, sometimes ponies just need a little good weather, and hey, I know weather. When I found out that TJ was, in fact, the Applejack from their cute little pictures…”

“Focus,” said Applejack.

“Right. Me and TJ met the day Nightmare Moon returned,” Rainbow explained matter-of-factly. “TJ hit me to try to stop me from going with her into the forest.”

“Didn’t work,” Applejack grumbled.

Rainbow beamed. “No it did not,” she said. “It was awesome. I’m pretty sure Nightmare Moon blasted TJ at least seven times, but she just didn’t care.” She prodded Applejack’s mane. “I guess that armoured mane of yours has to be good for something, even if it doesn’t wash easily.”

Applejack folded her hooves, visibly disgruntled at being poked fun of in front of Twilight, whom she kept flashing sideways glances at. “Washes just fine.”

“Yeah, with bleach.”

Twilight’s eyebrows shot up. “Do you mean to say you’re… actually made of metal?”

“Accident,” Applejack grunted. “Real bad one.”

Spike nodded apprehensively. “Classic superhero origin. What was it? Radioactive metal?” He looked over at Rainbow Dash. "I read comics sometimes."

“Last I heard it was just normal metal,” Applejack replied. “I was more implant than bones at one point. Now they’re one and the same. Doc’ spent ages tryin’ to figure out how it happened.” Her hoof drifted towards her side and gently rubbed a scar that was showing from underneath her titanium-laced coat. “Can we talk ‘bout somethin’ else?”

Rainbow caught the motion of Applejack’s hoof, and immediately softened. “Sure thing,” she said. “So. What’s life like in Twilight-land?”

“It’s not called Twilight-land. It’s an alternate timeline.”

“Whatever. What am I like in your ‘alternate timeline’?”

Twilight’s heart sunk. Rainbow Dash was looking at her like she was little more than a curiosity. Of course she didn’t believe Twilight’s story. Of course. Stupid to think otherwise, really.

“You’re like who you are now… except I don’t think you worked as hard. You only recently became a Wonderbolt in my timeline.”

“Wow. A bit slow, wasn’t I?”

“I guess your natural talent got in the way, so to speak. You always knew you were going to be a Wonderbolt, I guess, so there was less of a rush.”

Rainbow folded her hooves. “Doesn’t sound like me.”

Twilight, now frustrated, shrugged. “Well, Applejack isn't anything like her either.” She eyed Applejack. “My Applejack smiled more, for starters. And also wasn’t made of metal.”

“What was she instead?”

Twilight’s eyes misted over. “A farmpony who loved her family very much,” she said. “She laughed a lot and worked hard and never had any ‘accident’, whatever that was.”

Rainbow snickered. “Yeah, I can see TJ working on a farm.”

“I take it in your ‘reality’ I never left Ponyville?” Applejack asked, taking special care to make the word ‘reality’ sound like a swear.

“Never. You loved it here because here was where your friends and family were.”

Applejack folded her hooves. “Hrmph.”

“And now I can’t make that happen again because I lost the spell that makes it possible,” Twilight said miserably. “It could be anywhere now.”

Applejack remained utterly silent. Rainbow leaned back, her wings folding into her sides.

“I’m sure Applejack will help,” Rarity suggested. “She’s a hero, after all.”

Applejack gave Rarity a withering stare. “Sure. Except there’s one thing that don’t sit right with me ‘bout all this.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah.” Applejack got to her hooves. “You keep sayin’ ‘timeline’, and way I see it, timeline ain't the same as 'universe' or world.” She narrowed her eyes at Twilight. “Meanin’ you’re not actually ‘going home’. You’re just movin’ all of us around the way you want, right? Like you’re all that matters?”

Rainbow shot up to her hooves after Applejack. “TJ, maybe we should have a word? Like, at least three?”

Applejack stared at Twilight for a moment, then turned back to Rainbow. “Sure. I wouldn’t mind catchin’ up, anyhow.”

The pair disappeared out of the Boutique, leaving Twilight, Rarity, and Spike on their own.

“I’m sure she’ll come around,” Rarity said. “I believe you, after all. I can spot an honest pony. And I think Rainbow likes you, and if anypony can get through Applejack's metal skull, she can.”

Twilight hung her head, defeated. “Sure.”

It didn’t sound to her like believing her or not was the problem Applejack had with her. Since when had the likeable, pleasant farmpony become so cold and suspicious?

Okay, it feels like I only use this journal to rant about TJ. Maybe that's true, but I want to get some stuff off my chest in the most uncool way possible.

Dear diary,

So, we went to Cloudsdale. I think Rarity talked her into going. It’s like she’s allergic to fun or something. Anyway. It was supposed to be good times, and now and then, when I twisted her hoof, she’d smile like she was enjoying herself, but it always felt fake. Like when I made her try zapicana. Best drink ever. You wouldn’t think lightning in drinks would work but it definitely beats carbonated in my opinion. Carbonated sucks. She did the smiling thing but it wasn't real.

The rest of the time she never seemed to focus on anything when I wasn’t talking. Even when she’s out of her environment, she just doesn’t seem to let any happiness in. Not sure she knows how to. I always thought she was so serious and when she was around me, but I never remembered seeing her upset. I thought nothing could ever hurt her. I think that was wrong.

She’s just so miserable and hurt all the time that I couldn’t tell. She's wallowed in her own misery since the accident, and represses so much anger all every single day.

Well. I say repressed. She does kinda beat ponies up as a job/hobby.

Speaking of, isn’t it tradition for supervillains to kidnap the hero’s marefriend? Boy will that be an exciting change of pace. Usually I'm the one looking cool and TJ just sort of scowls in the background. That was a really bad photo op. Reminder to not do it again.

I kind of hoped that she might be able to seize a second chance at happiness with me, but at least for now that just isn’t happening, and that makes me real sad. Probably because I'm not her second chance. I'm more like her third. After she ran away from the first family and lost the second...

We’ve been through a lot together and, well, it doesn’t sit right that she doesn’t get to be happy, whether that’s because her life sucks or because she’s just forgotten how.

I guess I’ll keep looking for a way to fix that. You know, whenever I get time off work. Find a way to make that second chance of hers work out, somehow.

Dash out.

“Don’t tell me you believe her?” Applejack asked as the pair stepped onto the streets. Rainbow directed Applejack towards the outskirts of town, her wing keeping her close.

“Maybe I’m crazy enough to consider it,” Rainbow replied, looking over at Applejack. “C’mon, does she really strike you as a liar? Maybe a crazy pony, but…”

Applejack snorted. “That’s what I thought about Cadence, and look how that turned out.”

“Hey, you punched your way out of that one. It wasn’t that bad.” Rainbow slowed down, and leaned her head into Applejack’s metal mane. “Besides, you can’t not trust anypony just because you’ve had some bad experiences.”

Ponies passed them by as the pair arrived under a large, extravagant cloud-house. Rainbow had multiple similar homes dotted around Equestria. Living on a Wonderbolt’s salary had some uses.

“Bad experiences that keep happenin’,” Applejack retorted. “I can’t help it no more. All I see is dangers and enemies, always. Some mare from an alternate universe wants a spell to travel through time? The risk that she might destroy this world is too great for me to even consider that she might be on our side.”

“The world isn’t your enemy,” Rainbow retorted.

“Feels like it is, and I ain’t been wrong so far. Like I said, all I see is enemies and threats.”

“Then look at me.” Rainbow grinned. “C’mon, would it really be so bad if you were a farmpony? It’d be hilarious.”

Applejack snorted. “Just carry me up to your house already,” she said.

Rainbow rolled her eyes. “Fine. Since when were you allergic to jokes?” She smiled. “Besides, I wouldn’t mind if you were just a farmpony.”

“If I were just a farmpony, how’d I be supposed to take care of you?”

“I guess you wouldn’t.”

“Don’t sound like a timeline for me, then. You get in trouble every other Tuesday.”

“So do you,” Rainbow retorted, carrying Applejack up to their house. “You got your horseshoes on?”

“Yeah.”

“Great. You falling through the floor would be bad.” Rainbow sighed. “Making sure you don’t have more reasons to act miserable is a full-time job.”

The pair landed inside the luxurious hallway dotted with statues and Wonderbolt posters. Tall white columns supported the ceiling that was arranged to resemble a clear blue sky.

Applejack tested the floor twice to ensure the horseshoes were working. She breathed in.

“Listen, I know I have a hard time showing it, but I do really like you, yeah?”

Rainbow moved closer to Applejack, brushing her nose against Applejack’s cheek.

“Yeah, I know,” she said. “That's what makes the fact you can't show it hard."

"I don't mean to..."

Rainbow shook her hoof. "Hey, wanna go to Sugarcube Corner tomorrow?”

Applejack replied with a frown.

“C’mon, you like cake,” Rainbow replied. “We can get that disgustingly healthy one you like.”

“I ain’t five.”

Rainbow threw her head back, groaning. “You act like it sometimes. Fine, I’ll eat the cake, and yours, and you can just sit in silence across the table like you always do, grumpily fixated on all the different ways Equestria needs you. Because, for whatever reason, you're all that passes for heroes in this crazy world.”

“It does need me,” Applejack replied. “There’s no such thing as magical jewellery that can just make bad things go away, no matter what that alicorn says. There’s just me.”

“Ugh, if your heroic self-sacrificial shtick wasn’t so darn hot…”

Applejack managed a rare smile. “...But I need you, so I guess that means we’re in this together, right?”

“Yeah,” Rainbow replied. “You know I’d do anything to make you happy. Even eat your cake.”

“Yeah, I do. But sugarcube, even though you're great and all, it's my cake, and ya can't have it.”

In the dead of night, as Ponyville drifted back to sleep, one lone pony walked, eyes on his surroundings, through the streets. On his back he carried a heavy suitcase. He adjusted his glasses, the light from the windows glinting off them.

“An alicorn, then,” he muttered to himself, his voice gravelly and strained, as if every breath was a struggle. “Fascinating as usual.”

He stopped, looking up at the Carousel Boutique with a critical expression. His hoof drifted towards the suitcase on his back, then paused.

He chewed the inside of his mouth for a moment.

“Perhaps when morning arrives,” he said, his hoof returning to the ground. “No sense initiating something I’m not prepared for before a good night’s rest.”

He trotted away from the Boutique.

“Tomorrow, Titanium Jack. Tomorrow we shall meet again.”

***

Author's Note

This story is an entry for an AppleDash contest with the prompt 'Second Chances'. Over the next few days, the remaining chapters will be published, so there won't be a long wait between chapters. Which is good, yeah? They're just getting some final edits.

Speaking of, it you gents have any comments, criticisms, or (hopefully) compliments, feel free to comment below! I always read every comment I get. Something about that notification bar, man. It makes the struggle worthwhile.

See you later,

-Hap

Chapter Three: The Angel of Time and Rainbows

Rarity had applied several tissues to her nose, but it didn’t seem to do much for her mood, even if it did staunch the bleeding from having a door slammed in her face. Twilight was pacing the Boutique, a look of concern on her face.

“You can’t tell me this world is normal after that,” she said. “There’s no ‘Captain Cobalt’ in my timeline. He’s… I don’t know what he is!”

Rarity’s eyes tracked Twilight as she trotted up and down the room. “Applejack made quite a few enemies in Manehattan. I assumed that Cobalt exists in your timeline as well.”

“Well, obviously he exists,” Twilight replied. “Just not as a supervillain, or a mad scientist, or whatever he is. He’s probably some ordinary pony doing ordinary pony things.” Twilight scratched her mane. “This isn’t good. Applejack has been warping this timeline. At first I thought it was just coincidence, but her power is doing something the universe around her.”

“What do you mean?”

“In every timeline I’ve visited… including my own… the world was arranged around powerful, extraordinary ponies. In my timeline, the world reflected us… in Sombra’s timeline, it was a war-torn and hate-filled Equestria. In Nightmare Moon’s timeline, everything was night and dark and filled with despair. In every timeline, the one with the power was the one who contributed to defining the timeline… and here, it’s Applejack.”

Rarity frowned. “This sounds awfully speculative.”

Twilight nodded. “Yes, but I have a feeling I’m right. Maybe it’s the source of the problem or just another symptom of Starlight messing with the timelines but it’s too big of a coincidence to be, well, coincidence.” Twilight rubbed her eyes. “Are there any other, um, supervillains over in Manehattan?”

Rarity nodded. “A few. Applejack has a whole rogue’s gallery, so to speak. There’s Blazer, Trick Pony, Yellow Death… She’s a nasty piece of work, actually.”

“How many?”

“Oh, I don’t know. I lost count. Cobalt was only the first.”

Twilight shook her head. “Applejack’s turning regular ponies into supervillains. The timeline is arranging itself around her because in this timeline, she’s the dominant force.”

Twilight trotted to a large table and cleared it of clutter. She levitated paper and pen and began scribbling a series of magical symbols and equations based on what knowledge she had on time-travel magic.

“Can it be fixed?” Rarity asked. “If Applejack stops being… Titanium Jack, will the timeline return to a state of normality?”

Twilight shook her head. “I don’t think so. It loops into itself. Now that Applejack has defined this timeline, the timeline sustains itself and defines her. You’d have to redefine the timeline by…”

“By?”

Twilight sighed. “By doing what we needed to do all along. Go back in time, stop Starlight, and reset the timeline.” She frowned. “There’s a problem, though.”

“What is it?”

Twilight bit her lip, and looked sideways at Rarity. “Well, Applejack said she’d stop me, and I don’t think I can beat her.”

I’m going insane.

I’m thinking about her all the time. When I was flying for practice earlier, I nearly smashed into a cloud because I was running through ways to make her smile in my head. Pretty funny if I didn’t totally mess up our routine.

I mean, here I am doing flying stunts and she’s out there cleaning up Manehattan because she doesn’t have anything better to do. She needs something to protect and I love that, but why does she have to be so empty?

And why can’t I fill that emptiness up?

I think I need time off work for a bit. Spits is already looking at me funny and I don’t like that.

Maybe some time with TJ will make things easier. I’ll see about getting her to come to Ponyville. Maybe some time away from stuff will be good for both of us.

I’m out.

Sugarcube Corner was virtually empty of all ponies except for the Cakes, Rainbow Dash, and Applejack. On one side of the table, Rainbow Dash was enjoying a large chocolate cake. She didn’t get to eat cake much, when she did, she liked for it to be the most unhealthy one possible. This one had marshmallows in it somewhere.

Applejack just had a milkshake.

“Mmphf. This is real good, TJ. You sure you don’t want some?”

Applejack shook her head. “Not really in the mood.”

Rainbow rolled her eyes. “Yeah, you never are.”

Applejack sipped her milkshake. “So, what did you and Twilight talk about?”

“What makes you think I talked to Twilight?” Rainbow asked, still focussed on her cake.

“Because she sure as hay didn’t escape Cobalt on her own,” Applejack replied. “And I know she got taken. Rarity told me.”

Rainbow rolled her eyes. “Okay, but you won’t like it.”

Applejack’s eyes narrowed. “Was it about changing the timelines?”

“Of course I asked her about the alternate timeline stuff. What else would I be talking about?” Rainbow took another large bite out of her cake. “Mrmf neff yer wmf ler ih.”

“What?”

Rainbow swallowed. “I said that I knew you wouldn’t like me talking about it.”

Applejack spluttered. “She wants to erase our entire world!”

Rainbow shrugged. “Is it really so hard for you to get that I’d be interested in a world where you’re happy?” she asked. “Erased timeline or not, it’s at least worth listening to.”

“It’s a world without you,” Applejack replied.

Rainbow paused, her hoof halfway to her cake. She shrugged and continued eating.

“So?” she asked.

Before Applejack could retort, Rarity and Twilight emerged from the doorway. Applejack gave Rainbow a look that combined confusion and exasperation before she focussed her attention on Twilight.

“What do you want?” she asked.

Twilight looked around at the shop.

“Um. Cake.”

Applejack narrowed her eyes to the point where you’d struggle to slide a sheet of paper between her eyelids.

“Just cake?”

“I’m rather partial to strawberry.”

“Ugh, just let her eat the stupid cake, TJ,” Rainbow grunted. “I’m going to journal about this. It’s gonna be good. I’m going to write about how Twilight tried to destroy the universe using cake.” She got to her hooves and leaned over Applejack’s shoulder. “Watch the icing. It really sneaks up on you. You can’t trust bakery products, y’know.”

Applejack let out a long, exasperated sigh. “Will do, sucarcube.”

Rainbow waved to Twilight and Rarity on her way out. “See you, guys. Oh, hey, Rarity, I wanted to talk about a Wonderbolt uniform upgrade later. I was thinking rockets and low-friction materials? Like, what if we combine the two…?”

Rarity stared at Rainbow for a brief moment before Rainbow continued on her way to the door.

“You need time to think about it. That’s cool. I’ll come by the Boutique later.”

“Good-bye,” Rarity said.

“Yeah, see you.”

Rarity and Twilight both looked towards Applejack, who had brought her hooves together and appeared lost in thought.

“Are you alright, darling?”

Applejack breathed in through her nose. “Just a bit, I dunno… pensive, I reckon.” She waved her hoof dismissively. “Must be tired from last night.”

“It sounded like you took a bit of a beating,” Rarity commented.

“Well, I only got set on fire twice.” She held her hoof up. “And shot through the hoof. And suffocated on toxic gas.”

“I didn’t hear about the gas.”

“There was gas.”

Rarity gave an appreciative whistle. “Goodness. No wonder you’re tired.”

Twilight left to go to the counter, presumably to buy strawberry cake. Rarity sat down across from Applejack. “What were you feeling, ah, pensive about?”

Applejack frowned. Her features were well used to frowning, and the wrinkles returned around the corners of her lips as if they were coming home. “Do you think I’m… I dunno how to say this… bad for RD?”

Rarity raised her eyebrows and leaned in towards the table. “What makes you say that?”

“Just somethin’ she said.”

Rarity stroked her chin. “I don’t know if you’re good or bad for her,” she said. “Just that nopony else ever caught her eye. Ever.” Rarity shrugged. “From what I know about her, she wants what she doesn’t have, and I suppose on some level she never really owned you, if that makes sense.”

“I ain’t sure it does. I don’t belong to nopony.”

“I know, but it’s more like…” Rarity scratched her head. “She’s enamoured by how strong you are. Honestly, I am too, a little bit. You make no secret about how you feel, but you’ve never let that stop you rise to every challenge you encountered. Rainbow Dash is used to being the star, the famous pony. She doesn’t have that with you. You don’t afford her special treatment, even a little bit.”

“What, she likes me ‘cause I don’t treat her well?”

“That’s not what I meant,” Rarity said as Twilight approached the table. “You’re honest with her. You don’t change who you are for her sake.”

Applejack eyed Twilight uncomfortably.

“I sometimes wish I did,” she muttered. “But it’s too late for that now, I reckon.” She got to her hooves. “Thanks for the talk. I’m… goin’ for a walk.”

Twilight looked over at Applejack, then Rarity.

“All right,” Rarity said. “Don’t work yourself up too much, darling.”

Applejack gave Rarity a shallow nod. “Sure.” She left the Sugarcube corner, staring at the ground. “Sure.”

Dear Diary,

This is probably going to be my final entry. TJ can basically read my mind, so I guess she’s figured out that when push comes to shove, I’ll be helping Twilight reset the timeline. It feels kind of disgusting trying to trick her, especially when she’s never tried tricking me, so you know, I'm just not going to try that hard. She can figure it out and I'll deal with that later.

I don’t think she’ll forgive me after this, so I’m going to write down a few important messages in here. Not because I think I’ll die, but because either I won’t be me, the pony who wrote all this, any more, or because I’ll still be me and I need TJ to understand some stuff which I won’t be able to tell her.

Not sure why I wouldn’t be able to tell her, but I know I can’t. I’d probably just do something embarrassing instead. Like lie to her, or cry.

I became a Wonderbolt at the age of eighteen. Youngest ever recruit. Took the team by storm, yada yada, every magazine out there has told the story. It was great. I enjoyed it and I don’t regret it. But every time I tried to be with somepony, it just never worked. I think that’s because I wanted to be a Wonderbolt so bad, all I was was the uniform, and uniforms can’t, like, go on dates and stuff.

Or, they can but it’d be weird. Like, imagine going to a bar with an empty uniform. Creepy.

TJ, or, since we’re about to be doing some alternate timeline shenanigans, Applejack, never cared about my uniform. When she knocked me out during Nightmare Moon’s return, she was just trying to keep a regular pony out of her depth safe.

Sure, Applejack is miserable and cold, but she made me realise I could be an ordinary pony too, even if she was super-equine. When she was there, I knew she’d be able to pick up my slack and not expect so much.

When I went back to Cloudsdale after the whole deal, I missed that. I was back to having to be the best Wonderbolt in the team because if I wasn’t, who was?

And then I met Applejack again and that relaxed feeling, the way she helped me not need to be the absolute best and strongest, well, it came back and never went away.

II think that no matter the timeline, that’s something she’ll never lose. She won’t stop doing that to me just because she’s a farmpony. There are some things I can’t imagine changing with alternate timelines.

I think that’s why she can’t be happy here. She needs a family, and she lost two over here. She won't let me fill that hole. But maybe I can make it so I don't need to.

That’s why I’m helping Twilight. Because whether I succeed or fail, I know Applejack is going to be there at the end, whether she has metal fur or not. She might hate me for this and if she does I’m ready, but me, I love her and even if I can’t be with her, I know the things I love will still be there.

Peace,

Rainbow Dash, Supreme Awesome Mega Wonderbolt and Archadmiral of the Higher Altitudes

When Twilight and Rarity returned after having had breakfast, they entered the Boutique only to find Rainbow Dash hastily closing a small leather-bound book. She quickly tied it shut with string she had taped to the cover.

“Jeez, took you guys long enough,” she grunted. “So, you said you lost your spell out near that freaky map on the edge of town?”

Twilight was taken aback by how quickly Rainbow had gotten to the point. “Yes, that’s right. You know about the map?”

“Only that it’s a freaky weird map and is on the edge of town. You used it to travel through time?”

“Well, Starlight Glimmer did,” Twilight replied. “Me and Spike just came along for the ride.”

Rainbow nodded. “That sounds like stuff I don’t care about.” She breathed out. “Okay, so, there’s this place where ‘lost’ things sometimes turn up. It’s a ways out of town and should take, uh, about twenty minutes to get there by hoof. I’m not a betting pony, but if I was, I’d look there for your missing spell.”

Twilight tilted her head. “How do you know about this place? I’ve never heard of it.”

Rainbow rolled her eyes. “I bought TJ a thing once. It was this awesome necklace. For some reason I thought she might be into jewellery. Mistakes were made, we can’t all be perfect all the time, yada-yada. Anyway, it got stolen when I was on the edge of town, but being the pony I am, I followed the thief and that’s where I found the place.” She frowned. “There’s a problem, though. If I know TJ… and I do know TJ… she’ll figure out what I’m doing as soon as she loses sight of Twilight and me. She’ll know to go to the map, and she’ll try to stop us. And she’ll succeed.” Rainbow pointed at Twilight. “You might be an alicorn, but TJ has spent her entire adult life fighting and basically being invincible. I don’t like your odds.”

“Can you at least slow her down?” Rarity asked, a pensive look on her face.

Rainbow squared her jaw. “Not for long.”

The room fell silent. Rarity let out a long, uncomfortable sigh.

“I might have a solution to that,” she said. “But since neither of you will like the idea, I think I’d rather keep it to myself.” She put a hoof on her chest. “Quite honestly, I don’t like the idea, but Applejack is forcing my hoof on this by simply being too powerful. I’ll need an hour: enough time to head to Canterlot and back.”

“What do you need in Canterlot?” Spike asked.

“Something I’d rather keep to myself, thank you very much.”

Rainbow shrugged. “Well, if you’re sure it’ll help, we can hold off for a bit and wait for you to do your thing.”

Rarity was already trotting to the door. “I’ll leave immediately. The train is fast, but we’d better not waste time.” She turned back to Twilight. “What I’m about to do will paint me as a villain in this. I hope for my sake that you turn back time and make everything better.”

Twilight nodded. “I will. Thank you for everything.”

Rainbow breathed out. “Okay. I’m going to fly around town, y’know, very visibly so TJ knows where I am. I’ll meet you on the road towards the Everfree in half an hour. Okay?”

“All right.”

Rainbow nodded. “Okay then. Okay.” She closed her eyes for a moment. “Okay.”

Applejack walked through the town, lost in thought. She spotted Rainbow flying above her, further away than Applejack could shout. She rubbed her forehead. Rainbow had been acting strange since Twilight had shown up. Something had snapped inside her, Applejack could tell.

She had seen that happen before in other ponies. She had seen it happen to the ponies she later had to fight, and drag to prison kicking and screaming. Manehattan had been turned into a battleground between Applejack, the Titanium Mare, and insane ponies from all walks of life.

Captain Cobalt had been the first. Applejack still remembered the instant she saw him snap. His eyes went cold and icy as his mind became overtaken with the overwhelming need to destroy Applejack, to tear down everything she was. But he wasn’t the last.

Applejack remembered Yellow Death. Just a regular pegasus mare pushed too far in a world where the extremes of heroism and villainy had been normalised. Even as she tore the slums of the city apart she remained eerily quiet. The rats she had weaponised had crawled over Applejack as if they were water and she was drowning. Yellow Death was in an asylum now, likely plotting her escape as Applejack sat there musing.

Trick Pony was, by comparison, rather pleasant. Certainly, she was a criminal, and a dangerous one at that, but murder and destruction weren’t on the table quite as much as simply stealing precious jewels was. She went to jail alongside Cobalt, before he escaped. Applejack had a suspicion she had helped him.

There were more, dozens even. Applejack couldn’t stand the thought of her relationship with Rainbow Dash becoming just another villain’s origin story, even if that was how it looked like it would end up. It would fit the pattern of Applejack’s life. The last family she had, taken away by Applejack’s own poor decisions.

So why wasn't she as surprised and damaged as she thought she should be? Had she never really expected to keep Dash in the first place? Had she truly become this numb?

Applejack looked up at the sky. She frowned.

Rainbow was missing.

For that matter, where had Rainbow been going? Surely she hadn’t been flying around for no reason. Those weren’t stunts she was practising.

Unless of course her flying had been for Applejack’s own benefit.

The dark cells of Canterlot were utterly silent, aside from the clip-clopping of Rarity’s halls on the smooth stone slabs. Her eyes adjusted to the dark and settled on a shadowy shape that sat, immobile, in the depths of his cell.

“Doctor?” she called. “Doctor Trabecular?”

“Please. Everypony just calls me Cobalt these days.”

Rarity folded her hooves. “Well, I remember a time when you saved Applejack’s life. A time when you were a pony of healing.”

“That was a long time ago.”

Rarity eyed the battered metal mask that sat on the table near the cell. “I want to let you out.”

“I didn’t expect you to turn on your friend,” Cobalt replied. “Unless of course, you’re not turning on her.” The old stallion stroked his chin. “Perhaps you’re assisting the alicorn reset the timelines? That would explain why you need me.”

Rarity breathed in. “I believe you to be an honourable pony. Am I correct?”

“As honourable as one can be, considering I’m a criminal and a, ah, ‘supervillain’.”

“I want you to promise not to kill Titanium Jack.”

Cobalt frowned. “She’s a very powerful mare. I can’t stop her unless I use every weapon at my disposal, and my most potent tool is a lack of mercy.”

“I don’t need you to stop her,” Rarity replied. “I just want you to buy some time.”

“How long?”

“As long as you can without killing her.”

Cobalt snorted. “Suitably vague.” He tilted his head. “Assuming I agree, how would you assist in my escape?”

“Quite simply, a few ponies owe me a few favours and are willing to look the other way.”

“Hmmm.”

Rarity bit her lip. She knew she was going to regret this. “Well?”

Cobalt got to his hooves. “Very well. Upon my honour as a former doctor, I promise that, just this once, I will stop short of trying to murder Titanium Jack.”

Rarity swallowed. She lifted her hoof to the cell door, and inserted a small key. The door swung open.

“Will you be alright without your armour?” Rarity asked.

Cobalt trotted through the door. “Don’t be silly. I’ll fix it on my way to Ponyville.”

The long road from Ponyville towards the Everfree was a familiar one for Twilight, although she didn’t say as much to Rainbow Dash. The pegasus pony kept her eyes on the horizon, and every now and then, glanced behind her. She’d lick her lips and trot ahead a little faster.

“So, once you’ve got your spell…” Rainbow began.

“I’ll return to the day of the pegasus race,” Twilight explained, “And then I’ll try to defeat Starlight Glimmer once and for all.”

“You’ve been struggling so far,” Spike commented.

“Well, I’m not exactly used to fighting,” Twilight explained. “Starlight has far more aggressive spells than I do.”

“So, how’ll you win?” Rainbow asked.

“I’ll figure something out.”

Rainbow snorted. “You sound like me,” she said. She pointed towards a small, run-down building in the distance. “There. That’s the place.”

Rainbow flew ahead, leaving Twilight to stare at the broken, ruined cottage. She closed her eyes for a moment and pictured the house as she remembered it: golden and always swarming with cute and fluffy animals.

“One of my friends lives here,” Twilight said. “In my timeline.”

Rainbow looked back towards the alicorn. The sun began to dip over the mountains, bathing Fluttershy’s cottage in orange light.

“No kidding,” Rainbow said. “Here it’s just, well… like this. Nopony’s lived there for decades.” She tapped the door, causing it to creak inwards. A small piece of broken glass fell onto a tattered doormat. “I think it was supposed to be a place to look over the Everfree. You know, taking care of forest animals and stuff.”

“It is,” Twilight said, approaching the open door. “It’s sad to see it like this.”

Rainbow shrugged. “Well, let’s take a look around. Maybe you can see your spell.” She trotted inside the dusty, smelly building. “What does it look like?”

“Like a large piece of paper, with magical symbols on it,” Spike told Rainbow as he began rummaging around in the dark. He bumbled into a large oboe, which clattered over a pile of books, several deflated balloons, and lots of picnic cutlery. “What is all this stuff doing here?”

Rainbow narrowed her eyes. “Well, my guess is that without anypony to take care of the animals here, one of them decided to start stealing stuff. You know how some animals just seem smarter than the others? Like the Apple family’s dog?”

“Winoa?”

“Hey, they have her in your timeline too!” Rainbow smiled. “Anyway, when I had that gift for TJ stolen, it was by…” Rainbow frowned as she peered into the dark. “...that thing.”

Twilight looked at the small shape that darted around the shadows of the cottage. She widened her eyes. “Angel?”

“More like demon,” Rainbow snapped, and in a flash shot towards the small rabbit and quickly snatched it by the ears. She pulled Angel’s pristine white shape into what little light was left. Angel spat back at Rainbow, and tried to pull free. Rainbow snarled. “Don’t you dare!”

“Rainbow, careful! It’s just a harmless bunny!” Twilight exclaimed.

“He was Fluttershy’s pet,” Spike added.

“I don’t care!” Rainbow replied. “He nearly took my eye out last time! Stupid big pony eyes…” She glared at Angel, who was still struggling. “Listen up. My friend here is looking for a thing.”

Angel, being a rabbit, did not reply.

“Don’t give me that, I know you understand what I’m saying. The mean animals always do, even when they pretend they don’t.” Rainbow leaned over Angel. “I’m looking for a big piece of paper. It has drawings of dumb magic stuff on it. It’s probably really boring-looking. Give it to me and we go.” She loosened her grip on Angel’s ears. “And if I find you’ve been using it as a litter-tray…”

Angel scurried into the darkness again. Rainbow looked over at Twilight. “Hey, don’t go feeling sorry for it. It’s a real piece of work, let me tell you.”

Twilight shook her head. The sounds of stolen debris falling over one another caused her to jump. Rainbow grinned.

“See? What did I tell you?”

Angel scurried back out of the darkness, holding up a large scroll of paper. Twilight felt her heart soar in her chest. Finally, after being stuck in a foreign timeline with no escape…

She had found her way home.

“To think,” she muttered as she extended her hoof towards the parchment, “That between Nightmare Moon, a changeling invasion, and an Equestria at war with Sombra, the thing that almost truly trapped me was nothing more than a little bunny rabbit.” She pulled the spell from Angel’s grasp. “I can’t believe this is almost over.”

Angel stared at Rainbow with a look that said, in no uncertain terms, ‘please vacate the premises’.

Rainbow was happy to oblige.

“C’mon, Twi’. Let’s go.” She pulled Twilight out of the cottage and began powering towards the town. “We should hurry to the map.”

“Is everything okay?”

“No,” Rainbow said. “I don’t know if you have as good hearing as I do, but I’m pretty sure that whatever distraction Rarity said she’d provide has just begun.” She looked over at Twilight. "Hey, I don't suppose you could do me a favour?"

"Of course."

"I need you to hold onto something for me."

Applejack marched towards the location of the Map, her heart beating in her chest. To her, it sounded like a steam train scraping across rusty tracks.

Even if she was wrong, and Rainbow wasn’t helping Twilight, she still needed to be sure. It was too important to not check.

The sun began to dip over the tops of the mountains, bathing the outskirts of Ponyville in an orange light. The sky turned purple as Applejack strode towards the one location she knew Twilight would have to go if she was to turn back time and end everything.

Applejack rounded a corner and…

Cling!

The sound was a familiar one, but certainly not a welcome one. Applejack felt a heavy weight collide with the back of her head. Pain exploded through her metal skull and her ears rang like a bell.

Even through the pain, Applejack’s super-equine senses took note of a crossbow bolt embedded in the ground in front of her. She threw herself to the left, and a large explosion overtook her, tossing her like a rag-doll.

Dazed, but intact, she looked up at the masked pony she had seen too many times in her life.

“Doc’,” she grunted. “Y’know, I didn’t expect to see you today.”

Captain Cobalt had already reloaded his crossbow, hovering twenty metres from Applejack. His cloak, which was still tattered and torn from his previous encounter with her, covered his shoulders and doubtless hid dozens of devices he would spring on her at any moment. Even his armour still wore the marks from the recent fight.

“Neither did I,” he said. “I know we don’t have a habit of doing this, but I don’t suppose you could hold back a little today?”

Applejack, the pain in her head dulling, began to circle around Cobalt. “There a reason you negotiating today?”

“As a matter of fact, yes,” Cobalt replied, the point of his crossbow bolt always aiming at Applejack. “I’ve been instructed not to kill you.”

Applejack stomped her hoof. “Was this Twilight’s doin’?”

“Rarity’s, actually.”

Applejack took a small step back. “She did what?”

Cobalt lowered his crossbow a little, but by no means looked like he wouldn't spring into action at any time. “I’m not here to kill you today. I’m here as a distraction only.” Cobalt gestured towards where Applejack was moving. “You won’t want to go that way.”

Applejack paused, and looked down at the ground. She didn’t see anything. “You’ve booby-trapped this place?”

“Something like that.”

Applejack grit her teeth and stared down her old enemy. “Funny you should ask that I hold back,” she snapped. “I always did.”

She dove to the left, causing Captain Cobalt to flinch backwards. No mines went off and no tripwires were activated.

“Horseapples,” Cobalt exclaimed. “I thought that bluff’d last longer.”

Applejack rocketed towards him, her powerful limbs digging up the dirt and mud as she shot forwards. Cobalt fired off his crossbow bolt, and Applejack ducked in the nick of time, the metal brushing against her mane.

Then lightning erupted across her body, coursing through each strand of fur like a wire. She spasmed and collapsed, every muscle twitching and contorting.

Cobalt quickly reloaded. “So you are conductive,” he muttered. “One more useful titbit for later.” He raised his weapon again. “For when I can kill you.”

Applejack clawed at the ground. The projectile had missed, but the electricity must have arced onto her due to the close proximity. “Why not just get it over with now,” she grunted, marching on towards Cobalt despite the pain.

“One does not simply renege on a promise to a beautiful young mare,” Cobalt replied. “I’m not a monster, after all.”

He fired again. It was another electricity bolt. Applejack caught it in her hoof, swatting it away. The jolt this time was less painful, and less of a surprise. She kept moving onward.

“Time to switch tactics, perhaps…” Cobalt muttered, and threw a smoke grenade onto the floor.

Applejack had already powered close enough to grab a hold of the tattered remains of his cloak.

“It’s over, Cobalt,” she snarled. “I need to save the world. I ain’t got time for you.”

Cobalt struggled within Applejack’s iron grip. “Yes, but I’m not done with…”

Applejack smashed her hoof into his mask, crumpling it like a sheet of paper. She dropped Cobalt’s limp body to the ground. “Yeah, well, I’m done with you,” she muttered. She spared a quick moment to listen for breathing. She sighed. “You always were a survivor,” she said. “Assumin’ the world don’t end, of course.”

She broke into a canter as she raced towards the map once again, leaving Cobalt unconscious and broken on the floor.

Not soon after she had gotten some distance, a small device attached to her mane detonated. It wasn’t a hot explosion, but an icy cold one, and Applejack’s body frosted over in a split second.

She grit her teeth together as her eyes burned from the cold.

“Co...balt…” she grunted.

The old stallion still lay on the ground, unconscious. Applejack felt her joints begin to freeze and her muscles slow down.

Even asleep he was a royal pain in the neck. Precious seconds ticked away as Applejack's muscles failed to function. She tried to roar, but her mouth was frozen shut.

There was nothing for it but to wait. Hopefully by the time she was free it wouldn't be too late.

Rainbow and Twilight cantered through the empty streets. Night had fallen over Ponyville and the streets were dimly lit by streetlamps and stars.

“Jeez, I hoped it wouldn't come to this,” Rainbow muttered, her eyes darting left and right. “The fight’s stopped. I can’t hear anything.”

Both she and Twilight could feel a terrible pressure weighing down on them. Both knew what was coming.

“Listen, Twi’, take a left here,” Rainbow said. “Then loop around towards the map. You got it?”

Twilight nodded. “I’ve got it.” She looked down at Spike. “Come on, let’s hurry.”

"And don't lose that thing!" Rainbow warned. "I'm serious!"

As Twilight split up from her, Rainbow slowed to a trot. She tilted her head back and groaned. She could practically feel Titanium Jack's iron presence near her. “Boy, I really didn’t want to do this.”

She kept moving for a bit until she slowed to a stop.

“Then you shouldn’t have sided with her,” came Applejack’s voice.

Rainbow looked down the street at Applejack. Her silver-grey mane glinted in the moonlight. Rainbow wondered if her bones would sparkle as much as the mane did.

“Hey, TJ.”

“Hey, RD.” Applejack rolled her neck. Pieces of white frost flaked off. “You sic’d Cobalt on me.”

Rainbow snorted. “Wow, Rarity did say I wouldn’t like the plan. Didn’t know she’d try to kill you.”

“Yeah, well, she did.”

"Hey, sounds like it was an okay distraction. Can't blame Rare for being efficient."

Applejack marched looked around. “You sent Twilight off someplace else, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Right. We’re gonna have a long talk later, but right now, I’ve gotta go stop her from ruinin’ everything.”

Applejack turned to head towards the map, but in a flash Rainbow moved in front of her.

“Yeah, uh, can’t let you do that, TJ.” Rainbow squared her jaw.

“RD, you’re hurtin’ me more than Cobalt ever could,” Applejack warned. “I don’t want to see you become no supervillain.”

Rainbow snorted loudly. “Is that what you’re afraid of? That I’m gonna turn evil?” She shook her head. “TJ, you’re the most important pony in the world to me.”

“So shouldn’t you be standin’ someplace else?” Applejack asked, glowering at Rainbow.

“This is the only place I can stand,” Rainbow replied. “When you met me, you tried to knock me out to keep me safe. Did you really think I wouldn't do the same to you?” She pointed at Applejack. “When I met you, I just knew you’d drive me crazy. I never knew you’d drive me so crazy that I’d try sending an alicorn back in time.”

“Move,” Applejack snarled, anger bubbling its way into her eyes. “Don’t make me move through you.”

Rainbow flinched, but then her eyes settled and her expression became calm. “Try it, Applejack.”

Titanium Jack narrowed her eyes, hesitating.

Rainbow held her glare. “You know you weren’t alone when you beat Nightmare Moon, or Sombra, or that princess who was actually a shape-shifter and also happened to have an army of little bug-things. Boy was that a weird day.”

The Titanium Mare took a step forward, fully intending to move through Rainbow as if she wasn’t there. Applejack had ran through walls and rocks and fire. One small pegasus would break like a twig if it didn't get out of the way...

“Well, here we go,” Rainbow muttered.

...or do something Applejack didn't expect.

In a flash, Titanium Jack was in the air, shooting up at breakneck speed. Rainbow had grabbed a hold of her and was pulling her up, up, above the clouds and into the atmosphere. Titanium Jack didn’t even have enough time to notice until she was hundreds of feet in the sky, even with her incredibly reflexes. She pulled and struggled, but she kept gaining altitude.

“Yeah, you’re trying to escape without hurting me,” Rainbow said. “I appreciate that, but I wouldn’t do this if I didn’t expect to get hit.”

Titanium Jack saw the ground over a thousand feet below. Rainbow was blindingly fast, even when carrying a heavier-than-average pony. They were already above Cloudsdale level, and she could already feel the air begin to thin.

“Let me go,” she snarled.

“Hay no! You’d just walk it off.”

Titanium Jack began gasping for air. Her elbow shot backwards and hit Rainbow’s ribs with a crunch. The pegasus pony yelped in pain and her grip loosened.

Titanium Jack began to tumble down towards Ponyville once again. The wind whipped at her mane and coat. Rainbow was nowhere to be seen.

The ground rose up to meet Titanium Jack. She closed her eyes as she braced herself for the impact. It was only going to sting for a moment: she wasn’t on fire, she wasn’t frozen, and she wasn’t being electrified. Her bones and body could take it.

She hit the ground with a titanic boom. A mushroom-cloud of dust and dirt exploded over her, obscuring the streets.

Silence fell over Ponyville.

Titanium Jack’s hoof clawed its way out of the small crater her body had made. She grunted and got to her hooves.

“Ow,” she muttered.

She heard hoofsteps through the dust-cloud. “You’re telling me,” Rainbow replied, limping into view. “I think you broke a rib. Or five.”

“You didn’t let go,” Titanium Jack replied. She marched in the direction of the map. “Now, let me past. You can’t hurt me.”

Rainbow stared at Titanium Jack for a moment. “Yes, I can.”

“No, you can’t,” Titanium Jack replied, stopping inches away from Rainbow. “You’re in-between me and Twilight again.”

“Yeah. Funny that.”

"I'll hit you real hard, sugarcube."

"C'mon, then. My face is itching for a good makeover."

Titanium Jack pulled her hoof back to throw a big, meaty punch, but Rainbow was too fast. She ducked under the blow and her hoof shot out like a bullet, colliding with Titanium Jack’s body.

It wasn’t a powerful kick. It would barely have slowed down an ordinary pony, and that was exactly why Titanium Jack instantly braced herself for pain. Rainbow was a black belt, and knew that the punch wouldn’t have done damage. She must have aimed for someth…

Pain exploded across Titanium Jack’s side, crippling her muscles and her mind all at once. Rainbow stood over Titanium Jack as she crumpled, clutching her side.

“I’ve traced your scars with my hoof enough time to know where they are,” Rainbow said. “I figure if you’ve got a weak spot… it’d be there, right?”

“What have you done to me?!” Applejack screamed, the pain in her metal bones more than she could bear. Shattered surfaces scraped against soft tissue and the metal fibres, like living bone, sliced through the meat in order to repair themselves. In order to be fixed, they needed to hurt even more, and it was crippling her.

“I guess that fall must have rattled the joints a bit or something. I get that. Small cracks in my bones from crashes just hurt way more even when they just get tapped. Except your bones are different to mine, right?” Rainbow ducked a clumsy blow. “They probably hurt way more, on account of being stiffer and stuff? You sometimes walked a bit different, like the implants were still kinda there.”

“I won’t lose!”

“Yeah, probably not. But I just have to buy a bit more time, right?”

Titanium Jack saw red.

“I can’t let you do that,” she hissed through clenched teeth.

Rainbow’s hoof shot forwards like a cat batting at a snake. It jabbed another scar, this time situated at the base of Applejack’s neck. Applejack could feel the knotted flesh and metal bend and scrape. The sharp ends of the metal fibres and structures cracked and splintered, the debris flooding her bloodstream.

She threw a kick of her own with her foreleg. Rainbow slapped it away, and jabbed again, attacking the scar that ran over the edges of Applejack’s ribs.

Applejack screamed and stumbled. In a fit of desperation, she kicked the ground with her powerful hind legs as hard as she could.

The Apple family, her first family, had taught her a trick with apples and apple trees. If you kicked the trunk in the right way, the apples would fall from the branches. Titanium Jack had taken that skill long ago and honed it into something else. The vibrations from the kick travelled through the ground and into the base of a lamp-post.

Titanium Jack attacked Rainbow again, but it wasn’t supposed to hurt. It was just supposed to distract, and it did. Even as Rainbow hit another weak point in retaliation, she failed to notice the lamp-post falling towards her. When it collided with Rainbow’s back, both her and Applejack fell to the ground, crushed by the weight.

The only movement in the street was the slow shifting of the dust as it settled. Several shutters were slightly ajar, as the ponies became curious and afraid of the screaming and violence outside their doors.

The lamp-post shifted as Titanium Jack pushed it off her. A low groan rose from the pony next to her.

“RD? You alive?” Applejack leaned over Rainbow.

Rainbow tried a punch, but it went wide. The sound of bones snapping invaded Applejack’s ears.

“Ow.” Rainbow snarled. "You mind getting this... thing off me?"

Applejack shook her head. "Nope. Firstly, you'd attack me again, secondly, you've got a broken leg, snapped ribs, and probably some serious cuts and bruises. You'll die if I keep fightin' you."

Rainbow's hoof shot towards Applejack. The sound of snapping bones echoed in Applejack's ears. "You don't even look sad," she snapped. Her weak blow stopped short of hitting a weak-spot.

Applejack grabbed a hold of Rainbow’s hoof. “Because I need to stop Twilight,” she replied, sternly. She began to move towards the map.

Rainbow's head hit the ground, her eyes shut. She grunted as she tried to lift the lamp-post off her, but failed. She screamed.

“Why wasn’t I good enough?” Rainbow went on. “Why couldn’t you be happy with me?”

Applejack turned back. “What?”

Rainbow tried to move whilst clutching her broken foreleg. “All I wanted was for you to smile, properly, and I wasn’t good enough. I’ve never been good enough!”

Applejack took a sharp intake of breath, and moved back towards Rainbow. “You were good enough. That’s why I need to stop Twilight…”

“Ha…” Rainbow began, the laugh escaping her laugh like the air from a balloon. “It’s fine. Twilight told me about your other life.” Her head rolled back as she winced from the pain of broken bones. “It makes sense you’d be happier without me. I get that. But why won’t you even let me do that?” She sniffed. “I just wanted to be good for you, but it just wasn’t worth anything, was it?”

Applejack looked up and down at Rainbow, taking in the broken foreleg and tears streaming down her face. She rubbed her forehead.

"RD, I don't know how to care no more. You should know that. You don't have to try to give me a second chance."

"You would, if you could," Rainbow said. "You might be okay with being miserable because you're numb to it, but I'm not. It hurts me, more than some... stupid... lamp-post..." Rainbow strained at the fallen post that had her pinned down. Applejack heard the sound of another bone cracking.

“Horseapples,” Applejack muttered, and rushed to Rainbow's side, holding her down. "Stop that. You'll kill yourself."

"Stop me," Rainbow retorted."

Applejack sat down, cradling Rainbow’s head. “You were good enough. As good as you could’ve been.”

“Then why…”

“Because I couldn’t,” Applejack said. “I couldn’t handle being happy again. I couldn’t handle losing a third family.”

Rainbow snorted. "You can't just get rid of me."

Applejack chuckled. "Yeah, I realise that now," she said. She stroked Rainbow’s mane. “I reckon I ain’t been very good for you. I thought keepin' you at a distance would be better for both of us. I didn't realise it was just hurtin' you more.” Applejack closed her eyes. "I guess I've made some mistakes. I was just afraid is all."

Rainbow coughed. “Y’know, now that I think of it… maybe trying to go back in time was taking it too far anyway…”

Applejack laughed. “We ain’t very good at communicatin’, are we?”

“Yeah, no. No we aren’t.” Rainbow managed a weak smile. “We’re like the worst possible ponies for each other.”

“Yeah.” Applejack breathed in. “I reckon Twilight’s gotten to the map now.”

“Yeah.” Rainbow held Applejack’s hoof. “I’m sorry you weren’t really happy with me.”

“I’m sorry too.” Applejack gestured towards the broken bone. “But you were askin’ for that.”

“I was totally kicking your flank, though.” Rainbow coughed again. “Speaking of being bad at communication, I left a little something… like a plan… Y'know, for our second chance in the other timeline...”

“I don’t think we need to hear it now, RD. I trust you.” Applejack rested her head against Rainbow’s. “You were the best thing in this timel

***

Twilight leaned into her chair, in her castle, and closed her eyes under the lights that hung from the roots of her old home in Golden Oaks. She let herself smile. So many timelines had passed her by since Starlight had erupted into her home, and so many lives she had seen take different turns.

Spike entered the room with two mugs of steaming hot tea. He put one of them on the table in front of Twilight.

“Thank you, Spike.”

“You’re welcome.”

The double doors swung open and Rainbow flew into the chamber. Twilight couldn’t help but smile at the sight of her familiar friend. Her friend, not a doppelganger with the same name, who shared only some aspects of her life.

“Hey, Twi’,” Rainbow said, and flew over to her seat. “Man, so, Starlight Glimmer, huh?”

“How was she?”

“We did some flying for a bit. It was okay, but man is that flying spell slow. I almost fell asleep waiting for her.”

“Yes, I think Elderwood’s improved formula provided some added mobility, however it was a less stable version…”

“Yeah, I don’t actually care about the magic stuff? But can you tell her to get the faster spell? It’ll be way worth it.”

Twilight nodded. “I’ll pass the message along.” She tilted her head. “What will you be doing now?”

“Uh, well, let’s see, I already hung out with Scoots today, I did practice, I did flying with a pony who at one point tried to brainwash me… but hey, water under the bridge, right? So I guess I’ll just find a tree or cloud somewhere and nap for a bit. Why work myself up?”

“No time for some reading?”

Rainbow tilted her head. “Why? Is the new Daring Do book out?”

“Um, something like that,” Twilight replied, and rummaged around her saddlebags. She pulled out a small, purple leather-bound book. “I actually took something back from one of the alternate timelines. I think you’ll find it interesting.”

Applejack leaned back against the last tree in the orchard. The sun had already dipped over the horizon, but the slightest glimmers of orange and gold still slid over the hilltops and seeped into the clouds and sky. She rested her head against the bark.

“Do you ever think that an awesome adventure happened and we never even really noticed?” came a familiar voice.

Applejack looked up. Rainbow was perched on the branches above her.

“Nope. Can’t have been that awesome if we weren’t involved.”

Rainbow tilted her head. “Well, you’ve got me there,” she admitted. “So, Twi’ visited some alternate timelines…”

Applejack nodded. “Then Starlight Glimmer stopped bein’ so angry an’ all and let the world go back to normal. I know, she explained it to me ‘fore askin’ me to introduce Starlight to farmin’.”

“Well, I got this cool souvenir,” Rainbow said. “Some timeline or other that went a bit weird. Anyway, I read it, and I there was this message at the end.” She opened the little journal. “Basically, the pony that wrote this was me, but a different me who did different things. Apparently I became a Wonderbolt way sooner? Can’t imagine how, but I suppose it’s not impossible.”

Applejack raised an eyebrow. “Is this important? I kinda missed dinner to do my chores…”

Rainbow frowned. “Why would you miss dinner?”

“Well, y’know, it’d mean leavin’ my work undone…”

Rainbow snorted. “Yeah, you never were the sort to give up. No matter what timeline you’re from, right?”

“I don’t get it, but sure.”

“Anyway, it’s true. Kinda needed me to tell me, but what’s written in the diary… I guess I just wanted you to know that I think it's all true. That the other me made the right call.”

Applejack held her hoof out. “Hand me that thing.”

Rainbow threw the diary over.

"...and if you want to go somewhere from here, I'm open to suggestions," Rainbow said.

Applejack read through the first few pages, then skipped to the last, which bore indications of having been read and re-read many times. She breathed in.

"What I don't get..." she began, "Is that after readin' all this... you think I'll be good for you?" She held the book up. "If I'm what this thing says..."

"'Cause you ain't made of metal, for starters. Somethin' tells me you won't go the same way as her."

Applejack flicked back to the first page she had read.

Dear Diary,

Today I met the most beautiful pony I’ve ever seen.

She smiled.

"Then I guess... there's no need for there to be only one timeline where we try somethin' out..."

***

The End

Author's Note

And that's for chapter 3.

Now the story is complete, I hope you enjoyed it. If you have any comments, criticisms, or things you'd like to say, please feel free to comment below. I've been a bit tired looking for PhDs/work after uni so I frankly feel a bit drained after finishing this story, but hopefully it won't be too long until another comes out.

Cheerio, and have a good one.

Chapter Two: The Cobalt Doctor

Twilight sat in one of the rooms inside the Boutique, nursing a cup of tea. From the doorway, she heard Rarity approach, gently so as to not wake up a sleeping Spike.

Twilight turned away from the window, and flashed Rarity a smile. “Hello,” she said, gesturing to Rarity to come in. “Don’t worry, Spike is a heavy sleeper.”

Rarity nodded and trotted inside. “You seem rather, ah, shaken, dear.”

Memories of Twilight’s home returned to the forefront of her mind, unbidden. “I suppose I wasn’t expecting everything to be so… different, yet at the same time…” She breathed out. “Other timelines I visited were radically different. There were timelines where Equestria had been invaded by changelings, forcing ponies to live in constant hiding. Nightmare Moon had won, and the day had been forever extinguished. Sombra had turned Equestria into a war-torn battlefield. But this…” She snorted. “Ponyville is intact, you’re practically exactly where I left you, but at the same time Applejack is so cold, and whatever she’s got going on with Rainbow Dash never happened in my timeline…”

Rarity gave Twilight a half-smile, designed to reassure. “Well, from my perspective, it all seems quite natural.” She sat herself down. “Tell me… if Applejack and Rainbow Dash never got together in your universe, whatever did they do with their spare time?”

Twilight shrugged. “Applejack loved working on her farm and taking care of her family. Especially Applebloom. She always had a hard time helping her with her homework, though, and I remember this one time when she came over to me to help her understand some of the things she was supposed to help Applebloom with…” Twilight chuckled. “Applejack had to skip a lot of school in order to keep her family afloat. She never really regretted it, though, but I did catch her trying to re-learn a lot of the things she missed.”

“And Rainbow Dash?”

“She’d practice. She didn’t become a Wonderbolt as fast, so she would spend her time flying, working in the weather team, and slacking off work. In my timeline, she was very lazy, although she’s been getting far better about work recently. She also loved hanging out with her friends and Scootaloo.”

“Scootaloo? Sweetie Belle’s friend?”

“That’s the one. She and Rainbow were almost inseparable sometimes.”

Rarity leaned back. “Well, that’s interesting.” She raised an eyebrow. “So no time for relationships in your timeline?”

“I suppose not,” Twilight replied. “They never got together, if that’s what you mean. Nor with anypony else.”

Rarity stroked her chin. “So, if you return to your timeline, Rainbow and Applejack will go back to being apart, I suppose.”

Twilight nodded. “I imagine that’s true.”

Rarity sighed. “Well, that’s rather sad.”

Twilight’s eyebrow raised. “How is the timeline returning to normal sad? The world will go back to how it should be.”

Rarity’s hooves became animated. “Well, I may not be as good friends with them as I am in your timeline, but I do have my own observational skills, and the only times I see either of those two happy is when they’re together.” She folded her forelegs. “It seems almost cruel to take that away from them. In this universe, they’re all they have. With Applejack, oh, that’s obvious. She’s so gloomy all the time about what she went through…”

“What did she go through?”

“She left Ponyville,” Rarity began, a little off-put at being interrupted. “That forever drove a wedge between Applejack and her original family. I think at the time Applejack didn’t mind. She wanted distance between them and her. So she lived with her family in Manehattan. Learned business. Became a bit frostier than I remember her. I don’t think the city suited her well.”

“Then what?”

“The Oranges died,” Rarity said after a brief pause. “I think that was the last straw for Applejack, losing her second family. But just because her lot wasn’t quite cruel enough, moments after losing her adoptive parents, she had an accident. A truck hit her, hard.” Rarity shuddered. “I don’t know the details, but it nearly broke every bone in her body. Only her sheer stubbornness kept her alive, and even then, I’m not entirely sure how. A doctor named Trabecular stitched her back together using titanium, replacing most of her bones and some other things in the hopes that she’d pull through. And she did, but… well, you saw what she became.” Rarity shrugged. “A quirk of magic, determination, and science, I’m told. Unique, too. Applejack is quite special, but whilst she’s as hard as metal, she’s just as cold and unfeeling.”

“That’s horrible.”

“Quite.” Rarity’s face turned hard. “So you can see why it seems unfair to take the last thing she cares about away from her. But then, I’m no time-traveller, and I’m neither Applejack nor Rainbow Dash, so I can hardly make that call.”

Rarity got to her hooves. “I’m getting rather sleepy, so I think I’m going to go get my beauty sleep. I’ll see you in the…”

“I have one last question,” Twilight began. “Why do you believe me?”

Rarity hung at the doorway.

“I suppose it comes down to my judgement of character,” she said. “Besides, something about you feels right. Although that may just be the fatigue talking.”

Twilight giggled. “Perhaps, although I have theorized about our group being friends even before we met each other. Some ponies are just… correct, I suppose.”

“That doesn’t sound very scientific.”

“Perhaps it isn’t, but then again, I am the Princess of Friendship.”

Rarity chuckled. “Quite the glamorous title.” She began to close the door. “Good night, your highness.”

Almost hidden by the sound of the bedroom door shutting, one of the smaller window panes in the guest room smashed. A small, heavy object clattered on the decorated wood-panel floor.

Rarity opened the door again, her eyes wide with shock. Twilight, her nerves sharpened after her fights with Starlight Glimmer, jumped towards Spike, her wings shielding him.

There was a muted bang, and dozens of tiny glowing pellets, each the size of a marble, bounced through the room. Twilight, despite the shock, recognized them to be thunderstones, the little rocks that pegasi used to generate artificial thunder and lightning when their factories were offline.

The detonation shockwaves caused the half-open bedroom door to smash back into Rarity’s nose and toss Twilight across the room like a rag-doll, Spike still shielded under her wings.

The rest of the window collapsed inwards and an armoured shape emerged like a bat out of hell. Two green, glowing eyes, hidden behind shielded lenses, fixated themselves on Twilight. The shape pulled out a large, rectangular shape from beneath a cloak that, as the light shone off it, appeared to be threaded with metal.

“Twilight, get away!” Rarity shouted, holding her nose. “He’s…”

The rectangular shape fired a small discus, which bounced off the walls and hit Twilight in the back of the

Rainbow’s ear twitched as she lay in bed, her hoof halfway through tracing the scars on Applejack again. Rainbow had a keen sense of hearing, keener than most ponies gave her credit for. It was said that in a land far away, there were a tribe of monk-ponies who could hear what suit and number a card was simply by how it rubbed against the other cards. Whilst Rainbow wasn’t sure she could quite manage that one just yet (if she played cards, she’d just stick to stuffing a bunch of cheat cards up her feathers) but she definitely could recognize the sound of a thunderstone going off.

“Weird,” she muttered, sitting up somewhat by propping herself against the pillows. “We didn’t have a storm scheduled for today.”

She looked down at Applejack’s sleeping body. She was an early riser. A hangover from her childhood on a farm, Rainbow reckoned, even if she had never come forward with that theory.

Her ears flicked again. Of course it came from the direction of the Carousel Boutique.

Rainbow groaned, and slid back down under the sheets. Great, she thought. Now she had to decide what to do.

She wasn’t like Applejack. She didn’t go out of her way to put herself in danger. After all, she wasn’t quite as indestructible. In fact she was very destructible. A crash a week was good for the soul, she reckoned, but wasn’t good for her hospital bill.

So, on one hoof, danger was bad. That was a strike in favour of staying in bed, next to her little heroine.

On the other hoof… Twilight would be in danger. It was too big a coincidence that thunderstones would be going off around the Carousel Boutique the night a time-travelling alicorn was staying there. Of course it was about the alicorn. And Twilight was the only pony who had offered any kind of solution to Rainbow’s little Titanium Jack problem.

A world where Applejack wasn’t miserable? Yes, please.

Rainbow let out a long, interminable sigh, leaned over, and kissed Applejack on the cheek.

“See you in the morning, I guess.”

Twilight stirred in a dark, cramped room. She tried casting a spell to light up her surroundings, but it didn’t work. A spell dampener had been placed on her horn. It was standard fare for any unicorn kidnapper. Apparently it was just as potent on alicorns.

“Good evening,” came a voice from the darkness. “I considered waiting until morning to do this, but I simply couldn’t sleep.”

Twilight strained against ropes that kept her pinned to a chair. “Who are you? Where’s Spike?”

“The dragon is fine. He was a complication I didn’t want to deal with, so I elected to leave him at the, ah, Boutique.”

“And?” Twilight continued. “I asked two questions.”

“Ah, of course. My manners fail me.” As Twilight’s eyes became accustomed to the dark, she began to make out the shape of an elderly, stern stallion by the far side of the room. “The people of Manehattan call me Captain Cobalt. A rather silly nickname, but considering my nemesis goes by Titanium Jack, I shan’t complain.”

Twilight heard the sound of armoured hoofsteps as the stallion made his way over to her. Even in the gloom, she became able to take a good look at his features. Wrinkles had started to take over his face, mostly focussed around his eyes and the corners of his mouth, like a pony who was well accustomed to scowling, laughing, or both. Glasses were propped onto his nose. He looked nothing like the kind of pony Twilight would have thought to be a kidnapper and an enemy of Applejack.

“Now,” Captain Cobalt went on, “Please explain what an alicorn has to do with good old Titanium Jack.”

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you,” Twilight replied.

Captain Cobalt laughed. It was a natural laugh, one that belonged to a kind, open, and honest pony. If Twilight hadn’t known better she’d have mistaken it for Applejack’s laugh, back when she still could.

“I’ll believe an awful lot, young mare,” he said. “Let me guess. Magic shenanigans?”

“Time-travel, actually.”

“Ah…” Cobalt flashed Twilight a big, earnest smile. “Fascinating. From the future?”

“Present.”

“Ah-ha. Alternate timelines, then.”

“Something like that.”

“Not the strangest thing I’ve heard,” Cobalt commented, leaning against the wall. “I had heard of a time-travel spell up in Canterlot, but it wasn’t supposed to end up with stranded alicorns.”

“That was Starswirl’s original. It’s based on stable time-loops.” Twilight frowned. “It’s a bit complicated.”

“I’m a smart pony.”

Twilight swallowed. “I can tell. This version of the spell cuts the stable loop using a constant across space and time. This means that it changes the present drastically, deviating it from events in the past.”

“Hmm. And I imagine you want to return, yes?”

Twilight hesitated, then nodded. “Yes. I need to go back and stop a pony named Starlight Glimmer.”

“Never heard of her.”

“She’s probably never even heard of me in this timeline either.”

“Is Titanium Jack in your timeline?”

Twilight hesitated again. Something in Cobalt’s voice had turned cold. “Not as she is here. In my timeline she’s a caring, loving farmpony.” She frowned. “What’s your problem with her?”

“I suppose you could say I simply disagree with her.”

“Kidnapping ponies seems a bit extreme for a disagreement.”

“I disagree strongly with her. Let us say I want to prove a point.”

“What point?”

“That she isn’t invincible.”

“Is she?”

Cobalt smirked. “So far she is.”

“So far?”

The stallion stepped back towards the shadows. “I’ve been training and developing weapons to stop her. Blunt trauma is ineffective, as whatever magic warped her body simply absorbs the force like a sponge. Cutting weapons are equally useless. They bounce off her fur as if it was chain-mail. Piercing weapons didn’t work either. Her cells are too tough and the slightest misalignment means her fur, once again, prevents the weapons from penetrating.”

Twilight swallowed. “You’re trying to kill her.”

“If she wasn’t so tough, I wouldn’t have to.” He picked up a series of devices. “Thunderstones can be used to disorient her, temporarily, although her senses are unusually hardy. In order to work around that, I use discus throwers to get into her blind spots. Their heavy weight has proven helpful: a solid blow to the back of the skull has been demonstrably effective. Freezing her joints, whilst temporary, paralyses her and weakens her cells. I actually wounded her the last time.” He picked up a small crossbow. “Ponies have been developing magical arrows for centuries. Far more effective than bullets, which aren’t heavy enough the carry the magic charges required. I miniaturised them to be fired from this crossbow. Fire is good, it reacts with the titanium and causes debilitating pain.”

“...you’re insane,” Twilight muttered.

“It’s my opinion that everypony that thinks Titanium Jack is good for this world is insane,” Cobalt said. “Cutie marks… they keep the world in balance. Everypony has talents they can use, that keep the world spinning. Mine was healing.” Cobalt grit his teeth together. “If Titanium Jack can just ignore the limitations on her own body, that throws the entire world into chaos. Manehattan became a war-zone because she led her one-pony crusade against crime. Somepony has to stop her, but nopony can because she can just ignore her own body’s limitations because of some magical quirk.” He breathed out. “I need to fix my mistake and take her down before the world gets thrown even further out of balance.”

“It’s already out of balance! If you defeated Titanium Jack, the unstable nature of the spell would just replace her with some greater evil!” Twilight was sweating now. Cobalt had a crazy look in his eye. “If I could just get the spell back, I could reset all of this! Save the world from the real problem, Starlight Glimmer!”

Cobalt paused. “I have no quarrel with that,” he said. “But it seems to me that you do not need Titanium Jack for that, and for my purposes, I need you right where you are.”

“Why?”

“Bait, of course.”

Applejack’s eyes drifted open. She felt cold. She barely ever felt warm these days, not since the accident. She looked over to the empty side of the bed, and rubbed her eyes. Rainbow Dash was not there.

“Where’d you get to, then?” she muttered, rolling onto her hooves. She rolled her neck, stretching out her muscles. She looked out the window, which was left conspicuously ajar. She sighed.

“Why you don’t just wake me up when there’s trouble…” she grumbled, and reached towards her luggage, and pulled out a long, yellow cape.

Captain Cobalt was waiting near the window, his wrinkled face covered by a metal mask. The armoured green eyepieces glowed in the night. His hooves were wrapped around his modified crossbow.

Twilight struggled against the ropes that held her prisoner. Cobalt certainly knew how to keep a unicorn prisoner. She tried to undo the magical dampener, but it made no difference.

“Listen, just let me go,” Twilight said. “I can go and tell my friends that you left.”

“It isn’t my intention to escape,” Cobalt replied. “Your friend, the fashionista, she’ll have found Titanium Jack by now. They’ll be searching for this place.”

Twilight looked around. “Where is here, anyway?”

Cobalt shrugged. “Just some abandoned tree-house. Seemed conspicuous enough, so I figured it’d be either the first place they check, or the second.”

Twilight breathed in. “Golden Oaks?” she muttered, looking around. It was too dark to make out the features of her old home, but there was only one tree-house that she knew of in Ponyville. She smiled. At least she was in comforting surroundings.

Cobalt stared out the window. “They really are taking their time, aren’t they?” he commented, then turned back towards Twilight. His eyes widened behind the mask.

Twilight was gone.

Twilight struggled, panic taking over her every sense. She was hundreds of feet above the ground. Acceleration had forced her insides together, and she wanted to throw up. She fell a few feet before being stopped by something soft and comfortable.

She let out a scream.

“Jeez, don’t be like that,” came a familiar voice. “Okay, okay, yeah, so, maybe I was a bit fast, but c’mon, that guy had a crossbow. Crossbows mean business, y’know?”

Twilight, panting, looked up at a nearby cloud. Rainbow Dash was lounging on her side, her forelegs propping her head up as she stared at Twilight.

“R-Rainbow?”

“One and only.” Rainbow Dash gave Twilight a withering look. “Why’d you have to go and hang out with one of TJ’s supervillain club?”

“Supervillain club?”

“Oh, yeah. Every superhero has one, right? That was Captain Cobalt, yeah? Whew, nasty piece of work. Methodical but mad. Kinda nice to hang around with, right up until he tries shooting something.”

“How did you…”

Rainbow pointed at herself. “What, how did I rescue you?” She snickered. “I just flew in. Don’t tell TJ. She likes to think she’s the only awesome pony around here.”

“Wh-what?” Twilight began to rub her head. “I’m sorry. I feel kind of disoriented.”

Rainbow rolled her eyes. “Okay, so, you got kidnapped by one of TJ’s enemies. I heard some thunderstones go off, so I quickly checked every house in Ponyville to find you. Then I found you, then I quickly undid your ropes, grabbed you, and flew out the window I came in. It wasn’t hard.”

“Why’d you come?”

“Uh, ‘cause I’m nice like that?”

“I mean,” Twilight went on, “Why didn’t you tell Applejack?”

Rainbow became deadly serious. “‘Cause I wanted a chat with you without TJ.” She sat up on her cloud. “So, this is gonna sound real sappy and mushy, but I love her, okay?”

Twilight nodded. “I got that impression.”

“Right.” Rainbow leaned into her cloud. “I’m real tired. Ever since I met her, she’s been cold as ice. It’s like she’s addicted to misery, and I want it to stop.” She gave a withered smile. “She left Ponyville as a filly ‘cause she wanted some sort of second chance. I dunno what for, but anyway, life just spat back it right in her face and crushed her.”

“She never needed a second chance in the first place,” Twilight countered. “In my timeline…”

“Yeah, exactly!” Rainbow exclaimed. “That’s what I want. I tried making her happy, because behind the cold anger and hate, she’s awesome, and turned all that pain she has into something cool, but I can’t. I get her to smile every now and then but it’s fake and empty and I need it to end.” She breathed in. “I want my second chance to make her happy, and I’m crazy enough to believe dumb stories like alternate timelines to get it. Because there’s a chance, right? A chance you’re not totally crazy?”

Twilight paused, examining Rainbow Dash. She had thought that aside from Rarity, Rainbow had remained relatively intact in this timeline, aside from becoming a Wonderbolt earlier and being in a relationship with Applejack, but the look in Rainbow’s eye was insane, obsessed.

“Are you okay?” Twilight asked.

“I’m fine. Y’know, as much as can be expected.”

“You know that in the other timeline, you and Applejack aren’t together?”

Rainbow nodded. “But she’s happy, right?”

Twilight nodded slowly.

“Then that’s good enough for me. Maybe it’s been me all along. Maybe without me, she’d…” Rainbow snorted. “I dunno. I think farmpony Applejack sounds like somepony worth losing everything for, y’know? Is she?”

“She is a pretty impressive pony,” Twilight admitted. “I prefer her to your version.”

Rainbow looked down at Ponyville. “Yeah, well, if you’re right, they’re one and the same. I need to make sure she gets the life she deserves, not… this.” She breathed in through her nose. “So, this is me saying I’ll help you, even if TJ doesn’t. Bolt’s honour.”

“Won’t that upset her?”

“What, more than usual? Probably. I can take it, though.” Rainbow pointed down. “We should get back down, huh? I think I hear violence. Lots of it.”

Captain Cobalt leapt away from the window, his crossbow tucked in the crook of his foreleg. He scanned the inside of the library, looking out for any sign of movement. He had lost his hostage, which put him at yet another disadvantage compared to Titanium Jack.

Still, he had his traps, he had his weapons, and he had his mind. Where other villains had fallen to Titanium Jack’s implacable advance, he had survived because he learned, and unlike Nightmare Moon, Discord, and Chrysalis, his objective was to defeat Jack and survive, not conquer the world. His ambitions went no further than restoring balance to the world.

When a pony knew what they wanted, they could achieve more than a demon who wanted to swallow the entire world.

Which would she use as an entry point? Ceiling? Door? Windows? Titanium Jack was a direct, forward sort. She wouldn’t bother with the ceiling, and she wouldn’t bother with the windows up on the second floor. That left door, bottom floor windows, and the…

The walls cracked and bent under the force of a powerful blow. Cobalt spun, his crossbow bolt aiming towards a hole punched into the wall. Outlined against the moonlight was the shadow of a mare in a bright yellow cape.

Cobalt’s eyepieces flashed, and under Applejack’s skin was revealed a glittering, titanium alloy skeleton. Flashes of metal could be seen in her muscles, in her mane fibres, and in her eyes. The skin of a regular pony was her mask: her true power, the frankenstein nature of herself lay below the flesh.

Hero? She was the monster of a horror story waiting to happen.

“Evenin’, Doc’,” she said. “Heard you made it out of prison.”

Cobalt edged away from his opponent. “Are you really that surprised?”

Applejack snorted. “Ee-nope.” She took a step into the library. “I reckon you ain’t gonna go…”

Click!

Applejack looked down, and let out an exasperated sigh. A cloud of green gas began to spread from a small mine Cobalt had planted in the dark. She looked up at Cobalt. “Really?”

Cobalt’s armoured hoof cracked across Applejack’s jaw. Pistons in the armour hissed and bent, and Applejack’s head spun around, reeling from the titanic force of the blow. She gasped, and immediately began to cough as she inhaled, quite against her will, a mouthful of the gas.

Cobalt’s breather filtered the toxins out as he darted away. He fired his crossbow bolt at Applejack’s hooves, and a web of ice spread from the tip, encasing her legs and preventing her from escaping the gas, which she was swallowing every time she coughed.

Under the metal mask, Cobalt didn’t smile. He was too workmanlike for smiling now. He pulled out a small device and approached Applejack cautiously.

The titanium mare was too busy fighting the gas to stop him. When he was in position, and her mouth was open, he flicked a switch on his device and forced it down her throat. More gas began to pour out of Applejack’s throat and nostrils as he held the device down.

“Come on, go to sleep…” he grunted.

Thrashing, Applejack’s hoof caught him on the chest. Armour or no, the force sent him reeling. He staggered back, and immediately began to reload. The ice would be melting by now.

Applejack coughed out the smoke grenade and snapped the ice, which had already begun to weaken. She took another two steps towards Cobalt, who was trying to get to his hooves.

Snap!

The fumes left behind by the smoke immediately caught fire. Applejack’s eyes widened in surprise as her entire body went up in flames, along with a large portion of the library. Windows were blown outwards by the force of the explosion, and Captain Cobalt was tossed against the wall, his back colliding with a windowsill with a crack.

As flames engulfed the library, Cobalt scrabbled at the window to escape, leaving Applejack thrashing in fire behind him. He fell through the broken glass and landed in a heap under the window, panting heavily.

He loaded a heavy steel bolt into his crossbow. Weakened by the fire, he should be able to get through that thick skin of hers…

He limped around to the front entrance of the Golden Oaks Library, which was turning into little more than a burnt out husk. He lifted the crossbow and waited.

With a crash, Applejack erupted from the flames. Her titanium mane was blackened and warped, the metal in her beginning to soften and melt. The pain must be extraordinary, the doctor in him thought.

He fired. The bolt sailed through the air, aimed for Applejack’s heart. By instinct, Applejack raised her hoof to defend herself, and instead of being a killing blow, it simply sank into her foreleg instead.

Cobalt grunted, and reloaded.

The flames around Applejack began to die out. She collapsed, gasping for air. She tore the bolt from her hoof. Like molten metal, her body began to reform. Cobalt swallowed.

“Well, I didn’t know you could do that…”

Applejack struggled to her hooves, her green eyes piercing Cobalt. She began to walk towards him, then trot, then canter.

Like the hero in a western, Captain Cobalt drew his discus thrower and fired, which bounced off the ruins of the Library and hit Applejack in the back of the head. It let off a series of sparks, causing her mane to erupt into flames again, but not to the extent it had before.

Capitalising on the distraction, Cobalt fired his crossbow again, going for the neck. Applejack had cooled off enough that her fur was able to deflect the weapon, though.

Cobalt struggled to get away. He was running out of tricks. Victory was becoming increasingly improbable. He shifted his priorities to survival.

Applejack wrapped her hooves around his neck. “You must really hate me, doc’, to put me through all that.”

Cobalt tried to think, but as oxygen to his brain was becoming a scarce resource, his thoughts only came in pieces.

“I don’t hate you…” he grunted.

Applejack had tears streaming from her eyes, no doubt due to the pain of being set on fire twice. Her mane stopped reacting with the air and the flames died out.

“You sure act like it.”

Captain Cobalt spluttered, gasping for air. “Y-your parents would be very disappointed in w-what you’ve become…”

Applejack sneered at him. “I don’t got no parents,” she said, and let go of his neck, only to grab the back of his helmet and smash it downwards to the ground. One of Cobalt’s eyepieces cracked. “They all died, remember?”

Cobalt clawed at the dirt, trying to escape.

“Your medicine didn’t help them, did it?”

“I…”

“Only me,” Applejack snarled, grabbing Cobalt’s spine. “Why me? I didn’t ask to be rescued! I didn’t ask for you to hate me! I didn’t ask to be the pony to save Equestria from threats bigger than me!” She began to pummel through Cobalt’s armour, which bent and cracked under the force of her blows. “I didn’t ask to lose both my families! Not my real parents, not the ones that were left, and not the ones I ran away to!”

Broken, Cobalt collapsed at Applejack’s hooves. Unlike her titanium body, his armour was only a shell, and could easily be removed. Smashed by her sheer, unnatural strength, it was twisted and snapped in key places.

“Well, I won’t lose anythin’ I care about again! Because you, ponies like you, you made me not care, didn’t you? Everypony took away too much for me to ever care again!”

Unconscious, Cobalt had missed his opponent’s outburst.

Applejack stumbled back, still reeling from the pain. She coughed up the last dregs of gas that had been trapped inside her lungs, and examined her hoof.

Cobalt hadn’t known that the metal in her fur could melt and reform like blood clotting and scarring. Lucky. If he had known, he might have done more to capitalise on her more temporary weaknesses.

Guards from Canterlot swarmed the street, surrounding the ruined Library. Applejack looked up at them and quickly wiped the tears out of her eyes.

“Civilian arrest,” she told them. “That’s Captain Cobalt. I hear he’s escaped from prison.” She examined her tattered cape. “Great. I just got that fixed.”

As Cobalt was carried away, Applejack sat down heavily onto the ground. She hadn’t been expecting a confrontation with her sworn enemy when she lay down with Rainbow Dash to sleep that night.

She felt a hoof on her shoulder. She looked up at Rainbow Dash, who was looking at her with concern.

“You look awful,” she commented.

Applejack managed a half-laugh.

“You should see the other guy.”

Rainbow wrapped her foreleg around Applejack. “You’re gonna be okay, yeah?”

Applejack ran her hoof through her mane, feeling the metal fibres prickle her skin. “I dunno any more. I’m just so… tired. Of everything.”

Rainbow pressed her head against Applejack’s neck. “I know the feeling.”

“You also been set on fire?” Applejack joked.

“You didn’t hear? It was for a show. I thought it’d be cool.”

“You serious?”

“Well, they put me out pretty quick, so it probably wasn’t as bad.”

“Sometimes I wonder if perhaps you ain’t made of metal.”

“Nope. One-hundred percent organic pony.”

The two leaned against each other in the night. Applejack closed her eyes. “Don’t I know it.”

“It’ll get better,” Rainbow promised. “Come on. We should head home.”

Applejack nodded, and got to her hooves, using Rainbow to prop herself up. She caught a glimpse of Twilight, looking at the pair from the sidewalk. She narrowed her eyes.

“Give me a minute, sugarcube,” she grunted, and let go of Rainbow to walk towards Twilight. As she approached, Twilight observed Applejack with a mixture of awe and fear. “Hey.”

“Um… hello, Applejack.”

Applejack looked back over to Rainbow Dash. “Listen, for some reason, she likes you. I can tell, and I also know that somepony had to have gotten you out of that library and it sure as hay weren’t Rarity. So on account of my marefriend taking a shine to you, I ain’t gonna get mad or nothin’.” Applejack stared into Twilight’s eyes, her expression as steely as her bones. “But I don’t trust you, and I sure as hay ain’t lettin’ you take everythin’ I have left away from me.”

Twilight opened her mouth to argue, but Applejack held her hoof up, silencing her before she could speak.

“I know you’re gonna say that in your timeline, I’d be happy, thing’s would be normal, that none of this is natural… but here’s the thing. In this world, all I got are my bad decisions. It was a bad decision to leave Ponyville. It was a bad decision to stay in Manehattan, to get my adoptive parents killed ‘cause they had to pick me up from school, to become some sort of monster… but all that led up to the one good thing I’ve got, the one thing that lets me pretend, just for five minutes, that I could have some sort of normal life.” She held her hoof up. “I ain’t givin’ that up for your assurances that if I trust you, you’re gonna make me a farmpony and everythin’ will be hunky-dory. You got me?”

Twilight swallowed. “I get you.”

Applejack nodded, slowly at first, but it gained intensity. “Good. Do yourself a favour, and give up on findin’ that spell. I don’t need no second chances no more.”

Twilight nodded, and Applejack trotted back to Rainbow Dash.

“We can go now,” she said.

Rainbow glanced over at Twilight.

“Yeah, sure.”

Cobalt sat in a cell, bandages wrapped around his waist, legs, and the eye that had been cut when one of his eyepieces smashed. He sat in silence, with only his thoughts to keep him company.

Outside his cell, his broken, smashed helmet was lying on a small table, little more than a curiosity to the guards in Canterlot.

He breathed in.

“Well,” he muttered. “That could have gone better.” He clutched his bandaged side as he shuffled to the wall, where he leaned, wincing at the pain. “Still, a good experiment is one where you learn something new.” He reflected on Applejack’s ability to reform her armour like fur when it was heated. He smiled. “And I feel I have learned quite a bit today.”

***

Author's Note

And that's for chapter two. Sorry the first chapter had a few spelling mistakes in it. I didn't have time to go for an editor before the contest deadline, so I'm still adjusting a bit. It should be smoother sailing from here on in: I'm a quick learner.

Last chapter out tomorrow! Hopefully. As always, leave a comment! It's like a game, but the only winner is my self-esteem.

Cheerio!