There Are Always Alternativesby thecyanidefairyChaptersSacrifice.Heavy.Heat.In Defense of Equestria.Sacrifice.Rainbow Dash dragged her body over to her fallen comrade, ignoring the screams and sounds of magical blasts around them that threatened to deafen her. Her mind was strangely calm at the sight of the dark still form. Corporal Limestone Pie was always serious and stern, but it was only now that her eyes were glassy and empty that Rainbow realised how full of life and laughter they had been. Rainbow closed the eyes of the mare who had saved her life, and hardened the pain gnawing at her heart. She wanted to howl her grief, crying at the loss of a dear friend, but now was not the time. As one of the Captains of the Royal Guard, the burden fell to her to find Lime’s sisters and deliver the news. She rose to her hooves once more and looked around her, drinking in the repugnant vision that was now her reality. Ponies struck out against ponies, hooves connecting with soul wrenching cracks. Magic raged with loud booms, lighting up the field in a grotesque parody of a festival. The stench of sweat and fear hung over the land like a mist, ever present and burning her nose. Her body ached, stinging where enemy strikes had been scored into her body. Her wings trembled, the once glistening and straight feathers now dull and messy with lack of care. One of her wings ached, a deep biting sting that told Rainbow she had cracked the bone at some point when Lime had fallen on her, saving her from a volley of magic. Her hooves sank into the muddy ground, churned and dampened red with the suffering of the masses. And for what? So some stupid pony could call himself King of Equestria? Anger bubbled, threatening to break her calm expression. Rainbow gritted her teeth, scanning the battlefield once again, the sight of the fierce attacks breaking her heart. Celestia tried, but damn her, they were losing this war! A pink blur caught her vision, Pinkie was brawling against a platoon of ponies with Maud at her side shielding another downed pony, a coat as white as snow. Celestia! Panic gripped Rainbow and adrenaline gushed through her veins, she had to reach them, but they were so far away. Pinkie couldn’t keep her strange teleportation up forever, and if Celestia fell than the cause was lost and Lime had died for nothing. That was unacceptable! Anger boiled now, and Rainbow steeled herself, launching roughly into the air, ignoring the pain in her wing. There was only one way to clear the field fast enough for her to reach the Pie sisters and the Princess. A sonic rainboom, aimed directly at the churning masses beneath her. Higher and higher she rose, becoming a blue speck against the cloudy sky. The wind roared in her ears, her eyes streamed with tears and her breath came out in ragged gasps, the throb in her wing was beyond an ache and now was like a great beast was chewing upon the bone. Briefly, Rainbow Dash hovered in the air. If she did this, her wing may never allow her to fly again. Uncertainty. She wavered. A scream reached her ears, and she saw the tiny dot of Maud rip into a crystal soldier that was standing over Pinkie, who had collapsed. The anger of Maud Pie knocked the slave across the ground, and Rainbow felt her stomach drop as she watched her friend beat a pony to death with her hooves. This was their home, their Equestria. This battle field had once grown flowers and been a place for foals to play. Everypony had so much taken from them, if Celestia fell here, if the Pie sisters fell here, what was the point? A wing meant nothing in the face of what would be lost if they lost this day. She closed her wings and dropped, a bullet raining from the sky. Her wings flapped harder and harder, spurring on her descent to the earth. The stab in her side intensifed and she felt a wet tearing begin, but she did not relent, the barrier of the sonic rainboom had formed around her hooves. If she faltered now she would lose more than a wing. Faster. Faster. More. CRACK. The shock-wave shattered across the combat zone, flattening the crystal soldiers and knocking them back on their hooves. Sparkling rainbow light lit up the dark clouds above, and for a brief moment there was stillness. The Equestrian Army, equipped with armor that grounded them against the sonic rainboom, attacked the fallen soldiers knocked senseless by the fallout. Rainbow closed her eyes against the destruction, instead skidding to a halt before her friends and the Princess. “Pinkie..” she gasped, falling to the ground, her side was light, and her mind was dizzy. Blearily, she looked down, her numbed consciousness fading as it took in the stump that had been the price of saving this day. Pinkie cupped Rainbow’s face in her hooves, worry etched upon her face. Her mouth was moving, but strangely Rainbow could only hear ringing. Rainbow fought against the closing darkness to croak out the message that had to be delivered. “Limestone’s dead.” She felt Pinkie release her and she hit the fouled mud beside Celestia. She could laugh at the thought of dying here next to the pony who had sent her into battle, but instead she rolled onto her back and stared up at the murky, overcast sky, burning ash swirling above her head, allowing the cold heavy black to roll over her mind. The sisters would survive. The unit their army had been fighting was decimated. All for the price of a single wing. Her sacrifice. Heavy.Heavy. Everything was heavy, as if she were chained to the earth and each hoof was like moving an entire mountain. The heaviness pressed down upon her chest, an oppressive suffocation that threatened to smother her. Her chest felt wrong, the heaviness pressed upon an unsettling emptiness. Her heart wasn’t beating! Panic ripped through her drowsy mind and she tried to push the weight off her chest, but found herself unable to move. Her eyes refused to open, her mouth refused to scream. She was bound in chains, powerless against the feeling of her own body’s silence. She lay there in an unending, suffocating darkness. Frantically, she combed her mind. What was the last thing she remembered? How did she get here, to this torturous limbo? Flashed of incoherent babbling memories fought each other within her mind, and the mare found herself overwhelmed. An enormous red stallion laughing. A small yellow filly with a bright apple red mane with her mouth open, screaming at her with tears in her eyes. A purple wing covering her face. Voices whirled around her, and she could only make out snippets of them. * * * “Where are…?” “Now wait a gosh darn minute! I aint…” “The timberwolves are a-howlin’!” “Granny, I…” “.....APPLEJACK!” The last voice was a deafening roar, and with it the memories coalesced into a single image. Applejack began to understand. Twilight had been monitoring the Zap Apple Harvest, something about preserving the magic of the Everfree in the face of the advancing urbanisation. The signs had all happened as normal, except one. The timberwolves had not just been content with mere howling this year. They had left the forest, running through the apple grove in an enormous pack, teeth gnashing and deep growls echoing through the trees. A filly had screamed. Apple Bloom had friends staying in the treehouse for some kind of slumber party. Applejack had run fast, faster than she had ever run in her life. Her mighty hooves had shredded the ground, her heart pounding and breath leaving foam upon her lips. There had been nothing but desperation. The timberwolf had stood over her baby sister, her tiny, precious sister , and she hadn’t even stopped to think. She had simply run towards the fetid stench of the beast, barrelling through it as another had leaped towards her, defending it’s starving mate. Pain. Shrill screaming. A wing soft on her cheeks. The finally, the voice of a grieving, rage filled Princess. “I can fix this.” * * * Applejack felt a hum run through her body, a strange vibration that pulled her from the painful reverie. Lights flickered on, revealing a purple muzzle was pressed against the glass in front of her. Slowly, Applejack blinked, fighting down the nausea at the alien soundlessness of her body. She found she was able to move now, slow movements that were closer to pushing her heavy limbs. Whatever the humming noise was, it at least gave her that much. The door to the glass cage opened, fog and steam gushing everywhere. Applejack found herself being lowered to the floor, and balanced steadily on the thick limbs that now made up her legs. She couldn’t feel the floor, nor could she feel the air in the room. There was only the suffocation, and the maddening hum. “Applejack?” Twilight’s voice was soft. Applejack wearily raised her head, and almost took a step backwards. Twilight was an old mare, barely any of the purple was left within her mane. Her face was ancient and wrinkled, her wings had barely any feathers. Applejack couldn’t talk, so she blinked rapidly, trying to communicate that she was alive. What had happened to Twilight? How long had she been out? “Calm down!” the ancient mare patted her head, and Applejack was disturbed to find that she couldn’t feel that either. “I gave you a voice box this time.” Gave..? This time?? “Try focusing your thoughts really hard on where your throat used to be.” Applejack quelled her trembling mind and instead followed her friends instructions, pushing her thoughts out through a magical speaker. “Twilight? What happened? Where’s Applebloom? What have ya done t’ me?” her voice was garbled at first, but the last part came out clear as day, albeit monotone with a strange crackling sound. “You died.” Twilight said sadly. “I’ve been trying to bring you back. Over and over and over, but you just never worked right.” “Worked right? Twilight darnit, what have ya done to me?? What d’ ya mean ah died?” Twilight ignored her, and was dragging a mirror over to them. Her frail body was so small in the enormous and gleaming lab. She placed the mirror in front of Applejack, who felt horror bubbling up inside her mind creating a great pressure that she couldn’t even scream to release. Where once rippling muscles and fleek fur would have greeted her, polished orange metal and machinery remained. Her face was a twisted mockery of what it used to be, expressionless with dead eyes that simply looked back placidly, with none of the dread that she felt reflected within them. “How-How many times?” even her voice was empty and flat. “Eight thousand, seven hundred and sixty three AJBOTs were created over my lifetime. Some worked, but were flawed. Some went mad. Some didn’t work at all.” Twilight bit her lip before opening her mouth to continue, but Applejack cut her off. “Mah family?” “AJ…” “Mah family! How long have ya’ll been keeping me here performin’ these experiments?” “Two hundred and seventy years. Alicorns live a long time. But I kept my promise! I fixed you!” her tone was pleading. Applejack stopped hearing the mare who was wearing Twilight’s face, retreating inside her mind. This wasn’t her friend. Her family wasn’t gone. This was wrong. So wrong. This wasn’t happening. Her head hung low to the ground as her mind raced, refusing to accept the truth before her. Her eyes fluttered closed, seeing only her family in front of her. Rage. Pure, white-hot rage. Her head snapped towards the old mare. “You turned me into a monster! Put me back!” shoving all of her strength into the weighty body, she turned towards Twilight, anger and hatred burning within her. “Ah’d rather be dead!” There was a beep, and her body froze mid stride towards the aged pony. She found herself encased in silent, suffocating darkness once more. Even the hum was gone - only her hearing remained. She tried to speak, but nothing came out. There was a sigh. “I had hoped that this one would be more reasonable. Lab Report. AJBOT8764 has reacted the same way as AJBOT8720 through 63. Recommendations to remove the voice box. Modifications to eradicate the memory of expiry completely are needed.” Applejack sensed the mare was near her, and she heard the soft tap of a hoof against metal. “Don’t worry, my friend. I will fix you, and bring you back better than ever. I promised.” Twilight called out to someone. “Put this one in storage. I can still use the parts.” Applejack felt herself moving, and then there was nothing. Just the darkness, and the silence. Heat.The heat bore down upon her fur, the coarse feeling of the dry hair as if it would be set ablaze at any moment. The sun held its relentless gaze upon the mare, unflinching and unyielding in the clear, cloudless sky. Her hooves crunched against the parched dirt, there was no life in this soil, no movement. Instead it was crisp and dry, crumbling as each hoof imprinted her weight then lifted away, the broken grains being whipped away by the hot, cruel wind. The breeze fluttered her tail, heavy and damp with the sweat of her trek across the barren land, yet it offered no respite from the sun, no cooling of her soaked fur. Instead it warmed her further, sending a shudder of stress through her body as it tried to create more sweat in its desperate need for coolness, reaching for moisture reserves she no longer had. Her nose burned with the hot wind, it dried out her sensitive nostrils and filled her lungs with the same tormenting heat that scorched her entire body. She swallowed; a mistake. It only served as a reminder of her parched throat, itchy and rough from the incredible thirst that had dogged her every step. Her mouth was dry, the water for saliva long sacrificed for her body's need for hydration. Her tongue felt swollen and heavy, like lead against her teeth. She knew she had to drink soon but there was no pure water, not for miles. Her only hope was that the night would bring with it dew, or a storm would suddenly arise from nowhere, as it had done before. These were vague hopes, her practical thoughts pointing out that the sun was at its zenith and there was nary even a wisp of cloud in the sky. False hopes for a mind raving from thirst. Her hooves lifted slower from the dirt now, grazing the ground before sinking back into the hot earth. She noticed the firey touch of each grain, a small scalding heat against her chipped and broken hooves. Her legs felt weak, trembling as they struggled to continue with her march across the bleak sand. The soil was red, staining the bright mint of her coat a muddy, bloody colour. It was streaked with rivulets of sweat, creating a masterpiece of crimson shades upon her fur. Dead tufts of plant life dotted the landscape, the grass brown and lifeless. She knew from cruel experience that biting into that grass was a terrible experience, the very points of the plant were as sharp as a sewing needle, and it was as bitter as tainted water, offering no nourishment and stealing what moisture remained in her mouth. Her stomach rumbled at the thought of food, but the urge to slake her thirst was greater than anything, all consuming. As if her mind had turned to sadistic treachery, it conjured images of flowing water, of cool glasses filled to the brim with beads of perspiration running down the outside. It reminded her of all the times she had wasted water, splashing it upon her face or even washing her mane with it, when it could have been saved for this moment, to fight the screaming thirst that bit into her throat. Her body stopped, and she stood still. Her ears flicked to and fro, hearing the ever present whine of cicadas, the rush of the hot wind that burned the inside of her nose, even the thudding of her own heart as it pulsed in time to the ache in her head. There was no other noise but those, and if she shifted, the scraping of her hooves against the dirt and rocks sounded as loud as cannon fire. She lifted one leg as if to keep walking, but found her face burning as if on fire when it instead collided with the scorching ground. She lay there, the pain of touching the earth with her entire body pushed out by the obsessive cravings for water, which swallowed her mind. Reaching a hoof behind her, she slowly retrieved a canteen from her saddlebags. Staring at it, she turned it in her hooves, lost in thought, her mind torn between drinking and simply laying here for the buzzards. Finally, her choice was made and she lifted it to her lips, sipping slowly at the dark, viscous fluid. It could hardly be called water, it was closer to poison. There was no way to remove radiation from water, and it was all she had. It quenched her thirst all the same, she had to resist gulping it down greedily, knowing that a dose of this size would simply end her bid for freedom before it had even began. The greasy feeling water settled into her shrunken stomach, roiling and twisting her innards into whatever eldritch abomination she would become at the end of the journey. She felt a sense of wrongness within her, an alien feeling that seeped down to her bones. However, her thirst was now held at bay, and she wearily pushed herself to her hooves, the trek back to Equestria beginning once more. In Defense of Equestria.There was shouts and clattering outside of my tent, soldiers shifted to and fro as they prepared for the dawn. I paid them no mind. I stood before a mirror listening to the din, staring down at the stranger I had become. Where once warm eyes had twinkled mischievously, now cold and calculating darkness remained. Hard lines marred a face that could have been called beautiful, a mouth held firm in a thin line and a deep scar encircled my throat where a particularly bold assassin had tried his luck, and almost succeeded. My horn sparkled to life with a glow as gold as the sun. There was a time when such a colour had been a sign for hope, now the sight of my magic sent Ursa Major screaming in fear, for the wrath it brought would scorch the earth and all who dwelled upon it. Clasping the armor that rested in a pile beside the mirror, I slid each piece in place. Deep bronze and gold clicked around my body, hiding the ghost of the shimmering white fur that was now dulled and grey from stains and other unsavoury things. Methodically, silently, I placed each piece upon myself, feeling my weight grow heavy with the burden and my golden clad hooves dig into the soft ground. My mane, which had been carefree and gamboled playfully in solar winds, now hung limp by my side, the weight of all I had seen and done had sapped the magic from it entirely. I bound that too in golden rings, an errant hair blocking my sight could mean the end of thousands. Even my wings bore the burden of protection, those plates were enchanted to as to protect the delicate bones but still allow me to fly. When it was done, I stood twice my weight, a literal glittering battering ram of fire and fury. A far cry from the genteel Princess I used to be. I stepped out of my tent to raise the sun, my routine that had previously held such mystery and beauty was currently as mundane as eating a bannock. If Equestria stopped to behold the sunrise each day then we would be leaving ourselves vulnerable to the enemy which had plagued our homes and sacked our cities. A sunrise was nothing in the face of such demons. I shifted my eyes to the sky as my charge hauled itself over the horizon, the atmosphere surrounding it was a deep and cruel crimson. I know that today would see bloodshed. The mornings never lie. “Princess Celestia!” Twilight Sparkle ran to my side, parchments and plans spilling from her saddlebags, where they hung awkwardly over her own golden armor. The Element of Magic was askew on her head, I smiled wryly and straightened it with my hoof. “What is it, my faithful student?” “The Crystal Army has moved it’s encampment over the night, they are now just over the ridge. Two hours march, an hour if we gallop and push the soldiers.” she shuffled a map to the front of her papers, a glowing mark etching out where our enemy was camped. “I’ve contacted General Dash, she says she can have them ready to go within the hour.” My eyes trailed over the army that had come to the aid of Equestria. Potters, gardeners, housekeepers. They were hardly the stuff of legends, yet in this world, a legend they each would become. I would remember their names, each one etched into my soul, for those names would be the ones that I would write upon the letters of grief to sent home to what remained of their families. “Very good, Twilight. Ready them and we will set a quick pace. Perhaps we shall have the element of surprise today.” “Yes, Your Highness.” We would not have the element of surprise, I could feel the air was heavy with foreboding and sadness, as if the very land and wind were crying in mourning of the battle to come. The Royal Guard was long gone, lost to the blind obedience and brutality of King Sombra’s hypnotized army. Equestria's remaining hope was pinned upon these humble ponies. All I could do was be at the front, and unleash the rage that burned within me at my little ponies being used for fodder to feed Death’s unending appetite. Sometimes I felt as if my cries of despair was the music to his banquet of war, and that he rejoiced in it. The ground rumbled, and a wall of black armor and glowing eyes crested the hill above our station. This was what the sky had tried to tell me, what the wind had begged me to know. “To arms!” I bellowed, my voice shaking the earth as much as the fearsome horde that bore down upon those whom I loved. “Fall back to me! To me!” Beating my enormous wings, I scooped up an ornate bronze battle axe and hurtled myself into the sky. The axe began to heat up with the might of my magic, the power of the sun lighting the enchanted runs upon its hilt. My helmet appeared upon my head, summoned by my student who was running between the ponies below me, howling orders and shoving the inexperienced soldiers into place. The axe, fully charged, burst into flames as hot as Tartarus itself, and I swept my wings down, pushing into the morning sky. The sun shone bright behind me, burning as if in time with my own righteous fury. The swarm of crystal soldiers had reach my beloved army. I plummeted towards them, hatred for what I had become fueling the swing of my axe into the masses, bones and flesh falling before my fury. For Equestria.
Sacrifice.Rainbow Dash dragged her body over to her fallen comrade, ignoring the screams and sounds of magical blasts around them that threatened to deafen her. Her mind was strangely calm at the sight of the dark still form. Corporal Limestone Pie was always serious and stern, but it was only now that her eyes were glassy and empty that Rainbow realised how full of life and laughter they had been. Rainbow closed the eyes of the mare who had saved her life, and hardened the pain gnawing at her heart. She wanted to howl her grief, crying at the loss of a dear friend, but now was not the time. As one of the Captains of the Royal Guard, the burden fell to her to find Lime’s sisters and deliver the news. She rose to her hooves once more and looked around her, drinking in the repugnant vision that was now her reality. Ponies struck out against ponies, hooves connecting with soul wrenching cracks. Magic raged with loud booms, lighting up the field in a grotesque parody of a festival. The stench of sweat and fear hung over the land like a mist, ever present and burning her nose. Her body ached, stinging where enemy strikes had been scored into her body. Her wings trembled, the once glistening and straight feathers now dull and messy with lack of care. One of her wings ached, a deep biting sting that told Rainbow she had cracked the bone at some point when Lime had fallen on her, saving her from a volley of magic. Her hooves sank into the muddy ground, churned and dampened red with the suffering of the masses. And for what? So some stupid pony could call himself King of Equestria? Anger bubbled, threatening to break her calm expression. Rainbow gritted her teeth, scanning the battlefield once again, the sight of the fierce attacks breaking her heart. Celestia tried, but damn her, they were losing this war! A pink blur caught her vision, Pinkie was brawling against a platoon of ponies with Maud at her side shielding another downed pony, a coat as white as snow. Celestia! Panic gripped Rainbow and adrenaline gushed through her veins, she had to reach them, but they were so far away. Pinkie couldn’t keep her strange teleportation up forever, and if Celestia fell than the cause was lost and Lime had died for nothing. That was unacceptable! Anger boiled now, and Rainbow steeled herself, launching roughly into the air, ignoring the pain in her wing. There was only one way to clear the field fast enough for her to reach the Pie sisters and the Princess. A sonic rainboom, aimed directly at the churning masses beneath her. Higher and higher she rose, becoming a blue speck against the cloudy sky. The wind roared in her ears, her eyes streamed with tears and her breath came out in ragged gasps, the throb in her wing was beyond an ache and now was like a great beast was chewing upon the bone. Briefly, Rainbow Dash hovered in the air. If she did this, her wing may never allow her to fly again. Uncertainty. She wavered. A scream reached her ears, and she saw the tiny dot of Maud rip into a crystal soldier that was standing over Pinkie, who had collapsed. The anger of Maud Pie knocked the slave across the ground, and Rainbow felt her stomach drop as she watched her friend beat a pony to death with her hooves. This was their home, their Equestria. This battle field had once grown flowers and been a place for foals to play. Everypony had so much taken from them, if Celestia fell here, if the Pie sisters fell here, what was the point? A wing meant nothing in the face of what would be lost if they lost this day. She closed her wings and dropped, a bullet raining from the sky. Her wings flapped harder and harder, spurring on her descent to the earth. The stab in her side intensifed and she felt a wet tearing begin, but she did not relent, the barrier of the sonic rainboom had formed around her hooves. If she faltered now she would lose more than a wing. Faster. Faster. More. CRACK. The shock-wave shattered across the combat zone, flattening the crystal soldiers and knocking them back on their hooves. Sparkling rainbow light lit up the dark clouds above, and for a brief moment there was stillness. The Equestrian Army, equipped with armor that grounded them against the sonic rainboom, attacked the fallen soldiers knocked senseless by the fallout. Rainbow closed her eyes against the destruction, instead skidding to a halt before her friends and the Princess. “Pinkie..” she gasped, falling to the ground, her side was light, and her mind was dizzy. Blearily, she looked down, her numbed consciousness fading as it took in the stump that had been the price of saving this day. Pinkie cupped Rainbow’s face in her hooves, worry etched upon her face. Her mouth was moving, but strangely Rainbow could only hear ringing. Rainbow fought against the closing darkness to croak out the message that had to be delivered. “Limestone’s dead.” She felt Pinkie release her and she hit the fouled mud beside Celestia. She could laugh at the thought of dying here next to the pony who had sent her into battle, but instead she rolled onto her back and stared up at the murky, overcast sky, burning ash swirling above her head, allowing the cold heavy black to roll over her mind. The sisters would survive. The unit their army had been fighting was decimated. All for the price of a single wing. Her sacrifice.
Heavy.Heavy. Everything was heavy, as if she were chained to the earth and each hoof was like moving an entire mountain. The heaviness pressed down upon her chest, an oppressive suffocation that threatened to smother her. Her chest felt wrong, the heaviness pressed upon an unsettling emptiness. Her heart wasn’t beating! Panic ripped through her drowsy mind and she tried to push the weight off her chest, but found herself unable to move. Her eyes refused to open, her mouth refused to scream. She was bound in chains, powerless against the feeling of her own body’s silence. She lay there in an unending, suffocating darkness. Frantically, she combed her mind. What was the last thing she remembered? How did she get here, to this torturous limbo? Flashed of incoherent babbling memories fought each other within her mind, and the mare found herself overwhelmed. An enormous red stallion laughing. A small yellow filly with a bright apple red mane with her mouth open, screaming at her with tears in her eyes. A purple wing covering her face. Voices whirled around her, and she could only make out snippets of them. * * * “Where are…?” “Now wait a gosh darn minute! I aint…” “The timberwolves are a-howlin’!” “Granny, I…” “.....APPLEJACK!” The last voice was a deafening roar, and with it the memories coalesced into a single image. Applejack began to understand. Twilight had been monitoring the Zap Apple Harvest, something about preserving the magic of the Everfree in the face of the advancing urbanisation. The signs had all happened as normal, except one. The timberwolves had not just been content with mere howling this year. They had left the forest, running through the apple grove in an enormous pack, teeth gnashing and deep growls echoing through the trees. A filly had screamed. Apple Bloom had friends staying in the treehouse for some kind of slumber party. Applejack had run fast, faster than she had ever run in her life. Her mighty hooves had shredded the ground, her heart pounding and breath leaving foam upon her lips. There had been nothing but desperation. The timberwolf had stood over her baby sister, her tiny, precious sister , and she hadn’t even stopped to think. She had simply run towards the fetid stench of the beast, barrelling through it as another had leaped towards her, defending it’s starving mate. Pain. Shrill screaming. A wing soft on her cheeks. The finally, the voice of a grieving, rage filled Princess. “I can fix this.” * * * Applejack felt a hum run through her body, a strange vibration that pulled her from the painful reverie. Lights flickered on, revealing a purple muzzle was pressed against the glass in front of her. Slowly, Applejack blinked, fighting down the nausea at the alien soundlessness of her body. She found she was able to move now, slow movements that were closer to pushing her heavy limbs. Whatever the humming noise was, it at least gave her that much. The door to the glass cage opened, fog and steam gushing everywhere. Applejack found herself being lowered to the floor, and balanced steadily on the thick limbs that now made up her legs. She couldn’t feel the floor, nor could she feel the air in the room. There was only the suffocation, and the maddening hum. “Applejack?” Twilight’s voice was soft. Applejack wearily raised her head, and almost took a step backwards. Twilight was an old mare, barely any of the purple was left within her mane. Her face was ancient and wrinkled, her wings had barely any feathers. Applejack couldn’t talk, so she blinked rapidly, trying to communicate that she was alive. What had happened to Twilight? How long had she been out? “Calm down!” the ancient mare patted her head, and Applejack was disturbed to find that she couldn’t feel that either. “I gave you a voice box this time.” Gave..? This time?? “Try focusing your thoughts really hard on where your throat used to be.” Applejack quelled her trembling mind and instead followed her friends instructions, pushing her thoughts out through a magical speaker. “Twilight? What happened? Where’s Applebloom? What have ya done t’ me?” her voice was garbled at first, but the last part came out clear as day, albeit monotone with a strange crackling sound. “You died.” Twilight said sadly. “I’ve been trying to bring you back. Over and over and over, but you just never worked right.” “Worked right? Twilight darnit, what have ya done to me?? What d’ ya mean ah died?” Twilight ignored her, and was dragging a mirror over to them. Her frail body was so small in the enormous and gleaming lab. She placed the mirror in front of Applejack, who felt horror bubbling up inside her mind creating a great pressure that she couldn’t even scream to release. Where once rippling muscles and fleek fur would have greeted her, polished orange metal and machinery remained. Her face was a twisted mockery of what it used to be, expressionless with dead eyes that simply looked back placidly, with none of the dread that she felt reflected within them. “How-How many times?” even her voice was empty and flat. “Eight thousand, seven hundred and sixty three AJBOTs were created over my lifetime. Some worked, but were flawed. Some went mad. Some didn’t work at all.” Twilight bit her lip before opening her mouth to continue, but Applejack cut her off. “Mah family?” “AJ…” “Mah family! How long have ya’ll been keeping me here performin’ these experiments?” “Two hundred and seventy years. Alicorns live a long time. But I kept my promise! I fixed you!” her tone was pleading. Applejack stopped hearing the mare who was wearing Twilight’s face, retreating inside her mind. This wasn’t her friend. Her family wasn’t gone. This was wrong. So wrong. This wasn’t happening. Her head hung low to the ground as her mind raced, refusing to accept the truth before her. Her eyes fluttered closed, seeing only her family in front of her. Rage. Pure, white-hot rage. Her head snapped towards the old mare. “You turned me into a monster! Put me back!” shoving all of her strength into the weighty body, she turned towards Twilight, anger and hatred burning within her. “Ah’d rather be dead!” There was a beep, and her body froze mid stride towards the aged pony. She found herself encased in silent, suffocating darkness once more. Even the hum was gone - only her hearing remained. She tried to speak, but nothing came out. There was a sigh. “I had hoped that this one would be more reasonable. Lab Report. AJBOT8764 has reacted the same way as AJBOT8720 through 63. Recommendations to remove the voice box. Modifications to eradicate the memory of expiry completely are needed.” Applejack sensed the mare was near her, and she heard the soft tap of a hoof against metal. “Don’t worry, my friend. I will fix you, and bring you back better than ever. I promised.” Twilight called out to someone. “Put this one in storage. I can still use the parts.” Applejack felt herself moving, and then there was nothing. Just the darkness, and the silence.
Heat.The heat bore down upon her fur, the coarse feeling of the dry hair as if it would be set ablaze at any moment. The sun held its relentless gaze upon the mare, unflinching and unyielding in the clear, cloudless sky. Her hooves crunched against the parched dirt, there was no life in this soil, no movement. Instead it was crisp and dry, crumbling as each hoof imprinted her weight then lifted away, the broken grains being whipped away by the hot, cruel wind. The breeze fluttered her tail, heavy and damp with the sweat of her trek across the barren land, yet it offered no respite from the sun, no cooling of her soaked fur. Instead it warmed her further, sending a shudder of stress through her body as it tried to create more sweat in its desperate need for coolness, reaching for moisture reserves she no longer had. Her nose burned with the hot wind, it dried out her sensitive nostrils and filled her lungs with the same tormenting heat that scorched her entire body. She swallowed; a mistake. It only served as a reminder of her parched throat, itchy and rough from the incredible thirst that had dogged her every step. Her mouth was dry, the water for saliva long sacrificed for her body's need for hydration. Her tongue felt swollen and heavy, like lead against her teeth. She knew she had to drink soon but there was no pure water, not for miles. Her only hope was that the night would bring with it dew, or a storm would suddenly arise from nowhere, as it had done before. These were vague hopes, her practical thoughts pointing out that the sun was at its zenith and there was nary even a wisp of cloud in the sky. False hopes for a mind raving from thirst. Her hooves lifted slower from the dirt now, grazing the ground before sinking back into the hot earth. She noticed the firey touch of each grain, a small scalding heat against her chipped and broken hooves. Her legs felt weak, trembling as they struggled to continue with her march across the bleak sand. The soil was red, staining the bright mint of her coat a muddy, bloody colour. It was streaked with rivulets of sweat, creating a masterpiece of crimson shades upon her fur. Dead tufts of plant life dotted the landscape, the grass brown and lifeless. She knew from cruel experience that biting into that grass was a terrible experience, the very points of the plant were as sharp as a sewing needle, and it was as bitter as tainted water, offering no nourishment and stealing what moisture remained in her mouth. Her stomach rumbled at the thought of food, but the urge to slake her thirst was greater than anything, all consuming. As if her mind had turned to sadistic treachery, it conjured images of flowing water, of cool glasses filled to the brim with beads of perspiration running down the outside. It reminded her of all the times she had wasted water, splashing it upon her face or even washing her mane with it, when it could have been saved for this moment, to fight the screaming thirst that bit into her throat. Her body stopped, and she stood still. Her ears flicked to and fro, hearing the ever present whine of cicadas, the rush of the hot wind that burned the inside of her nose, even the thudding of her own heart as it pulsed in time to the ache in her head. There was no other noise but those, and if she shifted, the scraping of her hooves against the dirt and rocks sounded as loud as cannon fire. She lifted one leg as if to keep walking, but found her face burning as if on fire when it instead collided with the scorching ground. She lay there, the pain of touching the earth with her entire body pushed out by the obsessive cravings for water, which swallowed her mind. Reaching a hoof behind her, she slowly retrieved a canteen from her saddlebags. Staring at it, she turned it in her hooves, lost in thought, her mind torn between drinking and simply laying here for the buzzards. Finally, her choice was made and she lifted it to her lips, sipping slowly at the dark, viscous fluid. It could hardly be called water, it was closer to poison. There was no way to remove radiation from water, and it was all she had. It quenched her thirst all the same, she had to resist gulping it down greedily, knowing that a dose of this size would simply end her bid for freedom before it had even began. The greasy feeling water settled into her shrunken stomach, roiling and twisting her innards into whatever eldritch abomination she would become at the end of the journey. She felt a sense of wrongness within her, an alien feeling that seeped down to her bones. However, her thirst was now held at bay, and she wearily pushed herself to her hooves, the trek back to Equestria beginning once more.
In Defense of Equestria.There was shouts and clattering outside of my tent, soldiers shifted to and fro as they prepared for the dawn. I paid them no mind. I stood before a mirror listening to the din, staring down at the stranger I had become. Where once warm eyes had twinkled mischievously, now cold and calculating darkness remained. Hard lines marred a face that could have been called beautiful, a mouth held firm in a thin line and a deep scar encircled my throat where a particularly bold assassin had tried his luck, and almost succeeded. My horn sparkled to life with a glow as gold as the sun. There was a time when such a colour had been a sign for hope, now the sight of my magic sent Ursa Major screaming in fear, for the wrath it brought would scorch the earth and all who dwelled upon it. Clasping the armor that rested in a pile beside the mirror, I slid each piece in place. Deep bronze and gold clicked around my body, hiding the ghost of the shimmering white fur that was now dulled and grey from stains and other unsavoury things. Methodically, silently, I placed each piece upon myself, feeling my weight grow heavy with the burden and my golden clad hooves dig into the soft ground. My mane, which had been carefree and gamboled playfully in solar winds, now hung limp by my side, the weight of all I had seen and done had sapped the magic from it entirely. I bound that too in golden rings, an errant hair blocking my sight could mean the end of thousands. Even my wings bore the burden of protection, those plates were enchanted to as to protect the delicate bones but still allow me to fly. When it was done, I stood twice my weight, a literal glittering battering ram of fire and fury. A far cry from the genteel Princess I used to be. I stepped out of my tent to raise the sun, my routine that had previously held such mystery and beauty was currently as mundane as eating a bannock. If Equestria stopped to behold the sunrise each day then we would be leaving ourselves vulnerable to the enemy which had plagued our homes and sacked our cities. A sunrise was nothing in the face of such demons. I shifted my eyes to the sky as my charge hauled itself over the horizon, the atmosphere surrounding it was a deep and cruel crimson. I know that today would see bloodshed. The mornings never lie. “Princess Celestia!” Twilight Sparkle ran to my side, parchments and plans spilling from her saddlebags, where they hung awkwardly over her own golden armor. The Element of Magic was askew on her head, I smiled wryly and straightened it with my hoof. “What is it, my faithful student?” “The Crystal Army has moved it’s encampment over the night, they are now just over the ridge. Two hours march, an hour if we gallop and push the soldiers.” she shuffled a map to the front of her papers, a glowing mark etching out where our enemy was camped. “I’ve contacted General Dash, she says she can have them ready to go within the hour.” My eyes trailed over the army that had come to the aid of Equestria. Potters, gardeners, housekeepers. They were hardly the stuff of legends, yet in this world, a legend they each would become. I would remember their names, each one etched into my soul, for those names would be the ones that I would write upon the letters of grief to sent home to what remained of their families. “Very good, Twilight. Ready them and we will set a quick pace. Perhaps we shall have the element of surprise today.” “Yes, Your Highness.” We would not have the element of surprise, I could feel the air was heavy with foreboding and sadness, as if the very land and wind were crying in mourning of the battle to come. The Royal Guard was long gone, lost to the blind obedience and brutality of King Sombra’s hypnotized army. Equestria's remaining hope was pinned upon these humble ponies. All I could do was be at the front, and unleash the rage that burned within me at my little ponies being used for fodder to feed Death’s unending appetite. Sometimes I felt as if my cries of despair was the music to his banquet of war, and that he rejoiced in it. The ground rumbled, and a wall of black armor and glowing eyes crested the hill above our station. This was what the sky had tried to tell me, what the wind had begged me to know. “To arms!” I bellowed, my voice shaking the earth as much as the fearsome horde that bore down upon those whom I loved. “Fall back to me! To me!” Beating my enormous wings, I scooped up an ornate bronze battle axe and hurtled myself into the sky. The axe began to heat up with the might of my magic, the power of the sun lighting the enchanted runs upon its hilt. My helmet appeared upon my head, summoned by my student who was running between the ponies below me, howling orders and shoving the inexperienced soldiers into place. The axe, fully charged, burst into flames as hot as Tartarus itself, and I swept my wings down, pushing into the morning sky. The sun shone bright behind me, burning as if in time with my own righteous fury. The swarm of crystal soldiers had reach my beloved army. I plummeted towards them, hatred for what I had become fueling the swing of my axe into the masses, bones and flesh falling before my fury. For Equestria.
