Intro:

Last time on Ponyball SS

The dead silence of the soothing night, was shattered to the sound of pots and pans being brought together in loud bangs that echoed deep and far into the distance of the evening. Granny Smith was striking up a racket as the signs of the annual Zap Apples were shown to her, and she had a long established traditions to uphold. She cried out for all on Sweet Apple Arches to hear, to let her kin know it was time for this special harvest.

Apple Bloom was enlisted to aid her grandmother, to take the steps to ensure that the Zap Apples would come, and the bounty of their rare fruit would be utilized to their fullest. Big Mac and Applejack would focus on other areas of the preparations, with every Apple Family pony here to work for another grand year of the Equestria famous jam.

Deep in the Everfree forest the Timber Wolves gathered, drawn by the activities of the orchard and the Zap Apples. They were kept at bay by Granny Smith’s noise, just as they had been for so many years.

Track 05: Adventure

The Zap Apple harvest had gone smoothly, and the sales were greater than any year in recent times. The trees that bore the fruit, were generous this year, and with all hooves on their marks, the preparations and efforts yielded a prosperous turn out. The three youngest Apples were cleaning up, as Granny took her rest in the house. Apple Bloom was excited, as ever, about the season. Any other time, Applejack would have been so proud to see her sister so into the family business, but she was elsewhere in attention.

“This was amazing!” Apple Bloom exclaimed, with a nod by Big Mac to show at least one of her siblings were paying attention. She finished loading up the cart of supplies, but before Big Mac pulled it way, the youngest turned to Applejack and asked what both of them were noticing. “Hey sis, what’s up?”

It had taken a few attempts, but finally the spunky filly got her sister to return. “Huh? Oh, sorry, just a bit distracted… thinkin’ about stuff”

“What about?” Not that the little yellow pony needed to really ask, they all could find a reason to Applejack’s wondering mind. The fact that it was getting to her, required some attention, and though silent, Big Mac reflected the worry.

It would be a few moments before another word was spoken, and Applejack was the one to break the silence. “It’s hard to appreciate the good of this harvest, with everything go’n on right now. That dirty scoundrel Discord is mucking things up, no pony has heard from Fluttershy in awhile, and Rainbow got herself all tangled up and in a hospital bed”

Hoping to dwindle some of the worry, Apple Bloom focused on the last part. “Well, she is always up to such risky fly’n, not a surprise the ground finally caught up with that one”

“Rainbow is a bit wild, a tad lazy, and a might extreme, but she ain’t never been put out like that before. With all this, kinda hard to not lump this in with the same events that’s got the air feel’n heavy with trouble”

******

A couple nights passed since the harvest, and the ponies had gone to bed at Sweet Apple Archers. From the depths of the forest, low growls and howls preceded the sounds of movement in the thick brush. The echoing calls became unified, and soon a howl that was greater than any the ponies on the orchard had ever heard, and it roused them all out of bed.

“A second Zap Apple harvest?” Apple Bloom innocently questioned, not knowing the way of things, or the impossibility of such a hopeful even.

Granny Smith was first to respond, and silenced the doubt. “Ain’t no sign of Zap Apples, never been more than one in a year, not in all the time I’ve been here no how… this is something far rarer and loads more dangerous”

“Been only one time I seen this…” Applejack started, with a heavy heart at the memories that came with those words. She looked to Big Mac, who shared in the feelings and knowledge then to Granny. “This won’t be like that time!”

“Like what?” Apple Bloom, for better or worse, did not know what had happened. “What ‘that time’?”

Turning fast, the three older ponies urged her to follow as they moved with purpose. “We’ll tell y’all after, we need to ready now!” She glanced back once, before adding “We gotta prepare for the Timber wolves”

Applejack and Big Mac set to putting up defenses around key places on the farm, with protection around any live stock, and buildings. The wolves would not bother too much with the trees, but the living creatures were at risk. With only the four of them here, there was not enough to guard all those locations, but they would ensure that those fences would not even be needed, as they would make noise to draw the invaders to them instead.

“Should we get help?” Apple Bloom asked, as her sister returned to sure up their position.

“Ain’t got time fer that, we need all ponies we got now. Any pony who tried to go, would be a target anyhow” Applejack explained, hoof pounding a pole to the ground. “Besides, who’d come? Everypony out there is caught up with all that chaos. We’re Apples, and this is Sweet Apple Archers! We’ll protect our own”

When the last of the posts were in place, and Big Mac returned to the group, Applejack commanded Apple Bloom to go into the house. “Protect Granny, and stay inside. Me and Big Mac can fend off ornery wolves”

Reluctantly, Apple Bloom obeyed. Inside she met with Granny, and asked “Are we gonna be ok? I ain’t never seen Applejack so… serious”

The elder mare had to take a moment to respond, knowing that she was dealing with a little filly, but she was not one to sugar coat things. “I… don’t know, little seed. The last, and only other time the Timber wolves attacked, it were a complete surprise, they ain’t done nothin’ like that afor, but this time we’re ready for it… but they can’t be taken lightly, they is mean beasts”

Outside Big Mac was scanning around the trees for any signs of the wolves, as Applejack repeatedly checked the barriers. “It won’t be like last time” He said, stopping his sister for a moment. “We are ready this time, and we have that advantage”

“I won’t let it be like last time, I ain’t loosing any pony else this time!” She made her vow, like she was pledging before a higher power.

After a long, and uneasy silence a howl went out from the forest, and soon followed a number of living wooden creatures in the form of wolves emerged. Big Mac started to count them, taking in the foes they would need to fend off. When he was into the thirties, another howl from in the woods came and the pack charged. “Damn things are smart” Big Mac remarked, noticing their organization and movements.

“Ain’t too smart” Applejack said, stomping on a button near her. Across the field several holes opened and claimed a number of the wolves, and nearly as suddenly, flames shot out of the pits to ensure that the reconstruct-able beasts were dead. These traps cut deep into the numbers, but more raced from the forest, and the next wave were not following the first into the pits.

“Got to thank Rarity for those fire gems” Big Mac commented, glad that their efforts had been well worth the result.

“Them, and these uncut ones too” Applejack added, stepping on another button, activating catapults and sending several volatile gems crashing into the pack, exploding into flames that spread through the wood creature’s ranks hungrily.

Despite these defenses, a few still got through, and Big Mac, armed with more gems met the first few wolves, shattering them with powerful legs, and ending them with smaller fire gems good enough for one or two wolves.

The battle seemed to near an end, as only a few remained on the Timber Wolves’ side, leaving the two ponies to feel victorious. They could not imagine that they were press such a futile attack, and this seemed confirmed when another howl in the forest called back those remaining.

“Something ain’t right” Applejack said, as her brother returned to her side.

With another call that shook the trees like a gale, something worse was coming. The trees creaked and groaned in protest, some toppling, as the ground shuttered from the distance. The howl came again, much closer, and fiercer than those before. This was no command to troops, but a challenge to an enemy. Several trees were sent crashing to the ground, as the largest Timber Wolf anypony had ever seen came into view, larger than any tree on the farm, and made the Everfree Forest look like uncut grass.

“What in tarnation?” Applejack lost her focus for a moment, stepping back before the massive creature. She was quick to regain herself, and opened more pits to no avail. The holes were too small, and without anything to strike them, the gems remained inactive. Pressing on, she sent more catapults to work, lobbing the gems in large groups. She was afraid of the fire it would start, but the destruction by this beast would easily dwarf that. The gems sounded like they fell through a dense forest, but they still found something to strike. The fire quickly took to the all wood beast, but the creature took a few swipes with redwood sized paws, and the gust from the swings blew out the flames like candles.

Annoyed more than anything, the Timber Wolf let out a howl equal to a hurricane, and soon was being just as destructive. Crushing or swatting at trees, sending them far across the land as easy as sticks. Any structure near it, was reduced to rubble. The rain of fire gems did nothing to halt the beast, and it was locked in to the home defended by the two ponies.

Big Mac, against any protest by Applejack, charged out to challenge the wolf. Without any other thought but to defeat this foe and protect his home and family, the stallion unleashed a powerful kick that echoed with cannon fire against a ship. No pony had seen him at full force, even Applejack was shocked, but the wolf was not so easily impressed. It raised a large paw to the sky, to stomp the pony gnat. With another well placed kick, Big Mac’s hooves met the wood, and shattered it to the joint. Now the creature was surprised, and nearly fell in trying to gain balance from the shock wave.

Not to be left as dumbfounded as the beast, Applejack used this new opportunity to unload every last fire gem she had. The wolf could likely rebuild, but it would take time, and with one leg down it would find it harder to swipe out the fires. The risk of the blaze to the farm did not matter now, for they could regrow and rebuild, but only if they survive.

Letting out a painful cry, one that would cripple lesser beings and could be heard as far as Ponyville, more wolves rushed out of the forest. They swarmed the larger, and at great self sacrifice, began to pull away burning bits of their alpha. Their numbers were too great for the ponies to do much about, and they could only hope that time would be on their side.

A wolf came bursting from the blaze, with something heart shaped in it’s jaws. It flung it to another, as the first was consumed in the fire. Applejack saw this and did not need to know much about Timber Wolves to assume that this was the key to it’s survival. She darted into the fray, to stop the heart from recreating the nightmare that took all they had to destroy. The pack was ready to die in fire to save their alpha, one pony was not enough to scare them. They jumped into her path, slowing her down from catching the heart.

Big Mac noticed the urgency, and broke through wave after wave of wolves, but his speed was no match for the unhindered creature.

All around, trees from Everfree and the orchard, started to come toward the heart and gather. The construction took time, but it was still too fast for Big Mac to reach the heart before the new, larger Alpha Timber Wolf body was finished. It loomed above him, and growled at a foe so bold that cause it to loose one body. It raised the new paw as before, and drove it down to do what it had attempted before. Just as he had before, Big Mac aimed to strike, and shatter another limb, only now the body of the wolf was made up of trees that had been seasoned by generations of Apples bucking at them.

A cry rang out, nearly drowning out the wet sound of flesh and bone being crushed beneath such a force. The proud, loyal stallion was reduced to a bloody stain on the battlefield. Applejack pained cries at seeing her brother disappear forever from her carried far, and she nearly passed out from the anguish that wrapped around her.

Finding a second breath, Applejack became fueled by hatred that she had never known before. There was no creature in this world filled with my anger and lust for revenge. She became blinded by it, and charged foolishly toward the alpha. It seemed to care little about her now, and swung it’s blood, pony tangled paw at her. Striking the mare hard, splattering her with what little remained of Big Mac, she was sent flying into a building. Her force caused the weakened structure to collapse, and left both building and mare in a broken heap.

Breathing became hard, and her mouth filled with the taste of iron, and wet with crimson. She felt her end was near, and that meant the end of her family, with only a filly and an old mare to defend what two young, strong ponies could not stop. “Pa… Ma…” She struggled, calling out to her long lost family. “I failed y’all… I failed the whole family… I couldn’t stop this… I ain’t worthy of this hat y’all trusted me with…” It was about that moment that she noticed that she had lost the hat during the fight. With what she knew to be her last breaths, she sighed mournfully before her world went black.

…Minutes… hours… days or weeks… Applejack did not know what had passed, only that she awoke from a sleep she thought her last, and in pain she had never known to such a level. This was soon forgotten, when she looked as far as she could to see nothing but ruin. She struggled to move from her tomb, and was quickly reminded of the physical pains.

Sweet Apple Arches looked like a tornado had hit, only this one made sure to kill everything in sight. The corpses of animals, and blood trails leading into the forest, was clear enough that the wolves had their way with the place. Fires stretched on, consuming as hungrily as the wolves. By the destruction of things not even in their way, defecation and urine stains, it was not a pack looking for a hunt, it was personal.

Shuffling along the ravaged fields, Applejack looked as much the living dead as she felt. What was not broken, was sore, leaving her movement a task almost as impossible as fighting the alpha. When she finally reached the wreckage of what was their home, she collapsed at the edge of the mess, face freshly soaked, tears clearing away blood as they streamed unrestricted. “Granny… Big Mac… Apple Bloom…” She called the names of her fallen kin, ready to join them when a sound caught her ear through the soft ringing.

She could have been paralyzed, and still find the power and will to move as she did. Rushing to the rubble with the faintest hope that her family lived, as she flung away bit of the home to reveal what she sought. Splinters and twisted metal bit into her, but these were bug bites, she had a purpose more demanding of her attention.

Apple Bloom lie under the rubble, looking not so much effected by the destruction, but more in the shock of it. She had cuts and bruises, but given the state of things, she was unharmed. This did not factor into Applejack’s mind, as she embraced her sister so tight they nearly fused as one. The two survivors wept together, in happiness of reunion, and sorrow of their loss.

Recovering, and talking, the two ponies filled one another in on the horrors. Applejack explained what had happened outside, and Apple Bloom covered what happened after her sister fell. She had seen much of the destruction, as the wolves destroyed anything they found, and killed any animal not lucky enough to get away. When the only place left was the house, the alpha simple struck it and destroyed it in one strong blow. The filly had been shoved into storage below the kitchen, where they aged food. Granny Smith had sacrificed herself, as any Apple would. Applejack took some comfort, in a twisted way, that the same paw that crushed Big Mac destroyed their home in one shot. It took that much to bring down her great brother.

“I wanna find that damn wolf, and kill it for all they did to us!” Apple Bloom said in frustration and pain, but took a moment to calm herself. “but, I know that won’t bring our family back…”

Applejack had a cold, distant look in her eyes, she was not the same as she had been before all of this. “No, but they ain’t getting away with this” She said in a tone that frightened the filly. “They’ll pay just the same. Nothing messes with the Apple Family and gets away” She stood from where the pair had been sitting. “Those fuck’n monsters took our Ma and Pa, now Granny and Big Mac!” She gritted her teeth hard enough that they audibly creaked. “If’n it’s the last thing I do, I’m gonna kill every last one of those murderers. I’m gonna find that alpha bitch, rip out her heart, and burn it to ash, then piss right on it!”

The filly was impressionable, and feed upon this rage, and twisted it right with her own. “We’ll get em for this!”

Stopping, Applejack whirled around to Apple Bloom. “We?” She questioned. “Y’all are go’n to some cousins, y’all too young for-”

“No I ain’t!” Apple Bloom cut her sister off. “Yer all I got left, and I was right here when it all happened and didn’t get to do anything but hide with some old food! Granny did more, by save’n me… I want this too, I want to give it back” She was growing ever more soaked by her tears, as she made her passion plea. “I lost kin too, I never knew my parents ‘cause of them monsters… I gotta do something…” She drew one last bit of rage, and said. “I’ll be damned if’n I let my sister go off alone, and stay behind like a useless old plow!”

Looking down at her, Applejack wanted to argue against this more, but she saw herself staring back. She had faced this when the attack happened so long ago, and felt all the same ways. She was stopped, because there was too much to worry about in the absence of their parents, but now there was nothing to keep either of them here.

******

Gathering their supplies, and what little they could salvage for the quest ahead, the two remaining Apples of the no longer Sweet Apple Arches marched into town to get what they could not find on their land. Applejack had managed to find her hat, before they left, and now had nothing to return for. When they bid their goodbyes to anypony they believed they should, or could find of them, they had nothing left here. No pleas or attempts by anypony could stop them, and no pony was allowed to join. This was a family matter.

Not looking back, the two sisters marched into the forest of Everfree to face challenges few would dare to face. They would find themselves on an adventure that stretched far beyond the forest or even Equestria, and the pair would not be seen in Ponyville again, not until the hunt was done, and even then they may never find reason to return to where they lost everything.

Outro:

Next time on Ponyball SS

Applejack and Apple Bloom disappear into the forest, and Scootaloo is glued to Rainbow Dash’s side, leaving the remaining Cutie Mark Crusader to be left alone. Sweetie Belle attempts to seek solace in her sister, only to find that she too seems beyond her reach.

What does Discord have in store for Equestria next? Find out on the next exciting episode of Ponyball SS

Author's Note

The last chapter was pretty tame, but this one makes up for it.