Of course it had to be here.
Applejack stacked the final barstool against the doors with a resigned scoff at her fate as there was a strange and disturbing groan outside the blocked off heavy entrance, and checked the worn shotgun again, just to make sure. It was an old weapon now, one of the first of its kind to come into being. Fully carved wooden stock, needed cycling after each shell was fired, and worked on gunpowder-filled rounds, but the lever-action was as sturdy a gun one could get in the current day, and she'd carefully maintained it almost religiously for the past decade or so. Granny had given it to her all those years ago when she was going off to war, as it had been passed down from her mother too for times of great need. It had carried her through that hellish nightmare.
She didn't put much stock in modern firearms. Light boxy things made of polymer and plastic that fired magical energy beams and burned through flesh. Sure, it was easier to use; no need to account for sway or much recoil, but they jammed too occasionally for her liking, like a rusted part in a tank tread that made it slow down. Weren't worth the trouble they caused. She'd seen dozens, if not hundreds of folk taken apart in the midst of this nightmare from relying on such weaponry, the energy weapons made to make saving themselves easier just failing them at the critical moment when the gun should have fired, just the same as they had when they'd been rolled out en masse for the trenches later on in the war.
She cycled the action and deftly caught the shell in her hoof as it flew out, just to be sure, before loading it back into the chamber. It never hurt to make sure. She'd taken it apart this morning and oiled it with the little grease she had left behind the bar. She'd been firing it so much the past few days, trying to save as many others as possible. The barrel had almost warped from how quick she'd been shooting, but it hadn't been enough to help. Too many to save, too many had died.
This had all come so fast, it had been like a fucked up fever-dream on repeat day after day, playing the same twisted moments continuously in her head as if punishing her for her failings. Things would lurch and ponies would fall down missing chunks of meat before they were fallen upon and consumed. Nothing they did could get them away, no matter how much they had fought, cried, or begged to some higher power. She'd given them the mercy of a shell if she could, but sometimes she had to close up the doors and leave them to a horrific death, it wasn't fair on them.
The colt down the road that delivered newspapers around the town everyday had survived somehow, until yesterday. He'd been a cute lad, bit young for her tastes, but Applebloom would have liked him. He'd sported a pale white coat and a cutie-mark of a simple golden horseshoe, as if luck was his talent. Maybe he had been lucky enough to survive the way he did going from place to place and daring the streets for a time. He'd been like a Runner, delivering messages down the line at the risk of his own death, defying the fates and hoping a bullet or mortar shell didn't have his name on it.
She'd shed a tear and raised a glass of whiskey for him when that golden horseshoe was torn apart to bloody shreds, that nice pale coat soaked in blood. Just another she didn't manage to save. She'd failed to save so many, then and now.
Pouring another one out to pass the time, she scanned the small gaps in the shielded windows of The Orchard with a wariness she'd never been able to shake. She didn't sleep much, didn't want to, and hadn't really had a good night's rest ever since coming home. But that was alright; it was serving her well now, it was important to be able to wake at the first sign of shelling. The whiskey soothed her throat in a smooth way, more than doctors and medical wards ever could.
Applejack scratched the tip of a hoof against her right hindleg, the old scarring where she'd caught some shrapnel giving her a familiar ache that was too common now. She knew there was danger all around her, it always gave her trouble when something bad was near, it always told her the shelling was going to start again. Granny had the same thing with her hip, it's what saved them all when this first began. The wizened Matriarch of the Apple Clan had sensed the impending assault before she had, taken up the heirloom from the mantlepiece Applejack now carried in her own hooves, and had fought off the horrendous monsters that came for them all as they crashed through the windows with all the fury of an enraged Hydra. She'd pushed them out the back door and handed her the shotgun with its bandolier, told her, Mac, and Applebloom she loved them so dearly, and said to be on their way, slamming the door shut and locking it.
The old girl had taken down four of them with just her hooves before they utterly destroyed her, taunting the disgusting things as she fell, fighting until she couldn't. An Apple to the core, to the very end.
They'd run for the barn at first, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle had been camping out in it while Applebloom had come inside to wish everypony goodnight, and they'd followed the screams and cries of desperation. She and Macintosh had fought past the horde with Applebloom chiming in with an occasional shot. She'd blown them apart with the shotgun while Mac bucked them like the trees in the apple orchard, and he and his little sister hit precise shots with their Witherly Revolvers. They cleared a path and kept it open, their discipline was the same as it always had been fighting side by side, they'd been big damn heroes before, they weren't going to leave foals behind now.
They'd gotten clear, and they'd all run then, trying to get to the library in town as it was the main place to go in an emergency. Scootaloo had always been such a sweet filly, but she couldn't fly well, if she could it might have saved her from the one that came behind. She had been too crippled to join the front, she'd had to make do sending care packages from home, but it had raised their spirits and kept them going. Applebloom and Sweetie watched as no matter how much Applejack fired the shotgun, the thing had dragged Scoots back into the swarm and ripped her belly open, they'd all gotten away while the creatures were distracted with the young mare's entrails. She'd felt some guilt that she'd not been bringing up the rear, she'd focused too much on her little sister. The commanding officer should have always been the last one out, it was how a Captain was meant to be.
She'd felt more guilt that she was glad it had been Scootaloo and not Applebloom, she'd never told her sister that though. If she could do it again, maybe things would have been different, but maybe she'd be the one that fell and she wouldn't have been there to keep her family alive for that bit longer, so the way things had gone was well enough, even if it hadn't mattered in the end.
She had taken the rear after that though, wouldn't make another mistake like it if it could be helped she'd thought, kept everyone close together as they moved into town away from Sweet Apple Acres. She'd had half a mind to shoot the folks pushing past angrily trying to make their way around the horde and up to the farm, but it was pointless to waste the ammo, and they'd died for the attempt anyway. Macintosh had struck anything away that came near enough so that he or she could blast them in the head, it took two shots to make sure they stayed down.
Close quarters in the streets like this had been a blessing for the heirloom in her hooves, same as it had been when she'd brought it to the trenches. Her good luck charm, better than a symbol on a haunch. Only she'd had Dragonsbreath rounds then, and they'd made short work of anypony stupid enough to invade the line. She'd have liked some for these horrific monsters, but old fashioned powder did the trick just as easy. They'd made it to the library with a few close calls that their strength of will had pulled them through.
Twilight and the rest of her dear friends had thankfully been holed up already, Twilight had burst the oak door open and cleared a twenty-hoof wide berth from the entrance with a single charged magical blast from her horn, wonderful mare. They'd hurried in and slammed the door shut, and a few other Unicorns had assisted in piling on the barricades after covering them with the modern beam weapons. As luck would have it only one of them had jammed.
They'd been safe.
They'd mourned Granny and Scootaloo, and countless others.
Rainbow Dash had been one of the reasons why so many were here, why so many had lived to fight on. She'd been clearing the cloud line up for scheduled overcast weather when she'd spotted the waves of horrors coming into Ponyville, said she'd seen them come from the direction of Equinisi in the West, that she'd put bits on it that it was some kind of weird magical weapon that they were deploying to weaken their enemies for another invasion.
Maybe Dash'd been right, the Equinisi hated Equestria something fierce, but she doubted it was the way of things; they'd been too weak after the war to pull something like this. It was a far cry from chlorine and mustard gas raining down, and they'd sent Dragon and Gryphon mercenaries as a forward force at the start of the war. This didn't seem like their work.
Macintosh and Fluttershy had embraced and kissed, happily reunited. She was happy to see it happen, and she was glad they got to be together in the end. They'd calmed all the foals down between them, better than others could. As the evening wore on and the horrendous noise outside rose to a screaming fever-pitch, it had been Macintosh's calm aura and Fluttershy's ever soothing voice that had made the foals stop crying, and stopped others from doing anything insane in the wake of the baleful energy that the creatures emitted.
Applejack, Macintosh, Applebloom, and Rainbow Dash had kept watch. There weren't many of the old guard left in Ponyville anymore. The ones that had stood up and volunteered to fight against the King's enemies when the call came, before the conscription a year or so later. They'd been there, and they'd felt the pride in their chests as they marched willingly into the fire. Not many had made it back, those that had still hadn't really returned, they'd left their minds back in the mud. She wished that stubborn old mule Cranky Doodle were still around, he'd have taken dozens of these nightmares down from a thousand metres out and not have broken a sweat.
He'd eaten his Witherly a month after coming home. Poor bastard.
It didn't matter to most that Applebloom hadn't volunteered at first, they all still saw her as one of the old ones despite her young age. She'd stayed home with Granny to look after her, as most mares her age tended to do, but she'd always had that noble Apple Clan streak and she'd joined into the war a few months before the conscription came in. That was enough for most, the endless respect was there that she gave up a quaint life at home. She'd have been too young for the conscription had she not left already, but she'd gone along to back up her kin anyway.
So naturally she had volunteered when her big brother and sister had to go on a supply run through the screeching abominations. Applejack had never been able to stop her sister once her mind was truly made up. She'd been the best Runner of their whole platoon, and eventually she'd taken a few bullets for the honour, and kept on going till she collapsed into the dirt. She got sent home early, got a red stripe on her uniform for the cause. She wanted to tell the filly no, but maybe the young mare would have been just what they needed.
Twilight had known they'd not had much time to gather food and water before the horde had hit the sleepy town, but she couldn't just send the only three Pegasi in here out on an errand when they would be integral if they needed a swift exit and she couldn't provide one. Fluttershy had never been a fighter, and Derpy Hooves was as simple-minded as they came, a lovely mare though. Most other Pegasi had taken off to the cover of the clouds, and not looked back. In a way she didn't blame them, but it didn't stop her from cursing their cowardice either. Applejack supposed it was better they starve with their families up there anyway, they'd been seen to turn tail from an enemy now, so they'd likely be shot on sight if they tried coming back down.
Not Dash of course, she'd never abandon her friends, or her post. Didn't when the shelling had come near, nor when rival snipers had pinned her down, She'd stood tall in the face of an enemy charge into the front of the trench under cover of gas. Applejack had stood with her, they'd held off the forward advance on their position along with Macintosh, just the three of them alone when everypony else fell. Dash had gone home with a leg blown off and a few new holes to breath from, but she'd still been here to fight with everypony, and still moved faster than light. She joked a few times that losing the leg had been an improvement to her speed.
They'd made a run for the town hall as there was a cornucopia of food, water, ammo, and medical supplies held in the basement after the war ended; an ample stockpile carefully built up for future emergencies, and this situation had certainly qualified. Dash had gotten in, scouted the place out quicker than Macintosh could spit tobacco a metres distance, and kept them alert of all the places the evil things had gathered inside. This had been one of the locations many had attempted to run to, but the horrors had followed and ponies hadn't secured the entrances, nor had they been great shots with their weapons.
She, Macintosh, and Applebloom made short work of the creatures lurking within and made it to the basement, but carrying the supplies back was a dangerous game. Applejack and Macintosh had shared a smile then, it had been like running the dynamite to the Sappers under heavy bombardment. Getting hit carrying explosives if they couldn't gallop fast enough down the line meant a few of their fellows might get an express trip back home in a box.
Snips and Snails had been excellent Sappers, quieted more than a few enemy machine guns between themselves. Snails had never been all that fast on the draw, and it always took him a while to do what he did, but he'd never broken under the stress, and he always got it done eventually. Applejack had been given the order to pull him out of a collapsing tunnel, but he'd diligently stayed down there, very slowly shouting up in his simple way that he'd have the fuses lit in no time. Snips wouldn't abandon his best friend, he was kind of like Dash in that way. The tunnel had collapsed, but they'd taken out that Equinisi gun, and they'd taken out a massive hole in their forward trench.
Their sacrifice had allowed them all to push forward and take the enemy position.
They'd been pushed back to the previous line in less than a month.
Macintosh led the charge out of the town hall with Dash covering him from above with her Entfield, nopony had ever seen a mare burn through her rifle mags like Dash did, and soldiers were all too glad to offer up one of their own so she could take down more of the enemy. She'd busted out of the building strapped with at least thirty magazines, and they managed to shoot their way past the waves of horrors, parting them under the withering storm of collective fire as they all pushed through, and they'd tumbled through the heavy entranceway of the library as Dash emptied her last mag, before she dove through the upper balcony window.
The fire of bullets had drawn more of the cursed things.
For the next few days they'd all played a very nice game of everypony-shut-the-fuck-up. The thick walls of the giant tree had held, and the monsters couldn't make it up high to the upper levels to get in that way.
Until they did.
They'd started to climb on top of one another to get inside. Nopony noticed until they were smashing through the library's circular window on the upper level, and Applejack's leg hadn't helped with that seeing as there was so much danger around them anyway. Dash was already taking care of them as Applejack got up top and gave assistance, with the few armed with beam weapons below firing into the twisted masses. After what felt like hours it had been clear that they weren't going to stop coming in, and Twilight started teleporting the young out first, with Macintosh, Applebloom, and Fluttershy going with them to ensure they stayed safe on the other end.
In the ensuing evacuation and chaos, they'd gotten down below, surrounded Rarity and Sweetie Belle and ripped pieces out of them, even as Rarity had gone down stabbing one of the things with a pair of knitting needles in a futile attempt to save her sister. She'd been a great contributor as all of Applejack's friends had been during the war, turning her Boutique into a powerhouse and sending clothing, uniforms, and bandages to the front. She'd given one last scream as Pinkie rushed in to her aid, but it hadn't helped even as Pinkie had done her best to giggle at the ghosties and beat the shit out of them with a giant tuba. The girl had never been quite all there in the head, but it didn't mean she wasn't a brave soul that was loved by her friends. She'd always been very fond of big fires, liked explosions a bit too much too, didn't get accepted when she volunteered for being incredibly unstable, and got passed over during conscription having been cited as far too unstable. A shame; she'd probably been the best Sapper alive and alerted everypony to danger even more than Applejack had. She'd baked a lot for the war effort instead, and oddly enough, more than a couple of her 'special recipes' had been refined by the top brass and used to shell the enemy trenches. They'd gone over the top more than a few times under the protection of fiery explosives that had a funny pink trail to them.
As Twilight got the last of the civilians out, she'd been clawed across the side coming back in, and was bleeding profusely from the dark magic that had torn her open. She'd had an ill feeling since the remaining Apple Clan had first arrived and hypothesised to her best friends that this was some malevolent eldritch plague that turned ponies into soulless monsters, and they'd dismissed that at first. Applejack had only believed it when she witnessed first hoof what happened to Rarity and Pinkie. The abominations had settled for tearing apart Sweetie and in turn had mostly left Rarity be, and Pinkie had carried the Seamstress kicking and thrashing from her little sister while having bits torn away from their bodies, and the both of them had slowly been consumed by something daemonic before her very eyes.
It was only thanks to Dash and a slight buck that she'd come to her senses. Twilight was in a bad way, and shouted that Pinkie had brought explosives with her when she'd come along, the mad mare had always carried some kind of ordinance around somehow. She fended off multitudes of the creatures with blasts of her horn, and Applejack saw within the blink of a few seconds that she had been turning into one of the fiends she was fighting. Applejack hated that she wasn't the last out, as she should have been, but Dash grabbed her and hauled her out as Twilight hefted up Pinkie's homemade recipe for disaster in her hooves, shielding herself as the monstrosities swarmed and she began to glow brightly like a beacon, even as her coat darkened and took on a disturbing aura. The last thing Dash and Applejack saw were her eyes glowing impossibly bright by the depths of her own near unfathomable power as she let out a vicious scream in the name of her home, as they zipped away from the library at high speed.
Then the giant tree ceased to exist, as did the surrounding several hundred metres as an absolute super spell of an explosion rocked through the air and a hazy magical wave of light energy blew outward and up into the sky as she'd empowered Pinkie's explosives to an insane degree. She'd hoped it might have thinned the horde.
It was a little funny in a way; Twilight had been the second-biggest pacifist during wartime next to Fluttershy, and did her best to work with the Princesses to end the war after the King fell in battle on the frontlines. She'd always been powerful, and Applejack had never held it against her dear friend that she'd refused to fight, even if most looked down on her for it when she'd gotten passed over for conscription by virtue of being a student to one of the Princesses, but she couldn't help but imagine how much quicker the war would have been over if they had a hundred Unicorns like Twilight down in the muck with them.
At her end though, she'd fought for Equestria.
The resulting shockwave that passed through Applejack and Dash had knocked them for six, and they slowly fell to where Dash's keen eyesight had spotted where Twilight had blinked everypony else to. Far across town, towards the Everfree. Twilight had spoken about that the past couple of days, and everypony had agreed that getting out of the town and trying their luck toward Canterlot was their best bet. They just... hadn't really expected to have the situation be so expedited.
But the already-in-shambles plan was even further in shambles as a separate wave came in from the Everfree as they came near to landing, from the stream of darkness pouring over the hills from the North, as they were already coming from Canterlot. Macintosh and Applebloom were standing shoulder to shoulder as they held off the incoming evil, moving with the remaining populace as Fluttershy did her best to direct them in the chaos and the few armed amongst them fired off shaking shots that rarely hit.
No time to get clear now, there had been possibly one other place Applejack thought they'd have been safe, with few places to break in from and doors heavy enough to withstand a barrage. She'd made the choice, went into full Captain mode, and ordered Dash to drop her in and move to assist their friends. Dash grinned and obeyed just as she had then, Applejack wasn't far off the ground when she'd landed in a roll, but it did give her an ache she still felt. Adrenaline had seen her through it as she'd rushed forward and met with her siblings, barking orders that they instantly deferred to as she'd known they would.
They'd understood the iota she'd said 'Orchard' and Macintosh and she took up the rear and defended the flanks while Applebloom helped Fluttershy direct ponies to the east of the town's outer edge. Dash was valiantly sniping down anything horrific that came too close to the civilians and covering everypony's blindspots with careful shots, she'd barely had time to bring any extra ammo before they'd departed the library. That had gone for all of them.
Applejack had never felt such fierce pride in Applebloom as the filly bravely put herself before others, shooting down lunging horrors as they abounded and bucking the disgusting nightmares away whenever she had to swiftly reload. It seemed like the young mare was just what they needed again, and she had been.
But this time she hadn't succeeded. None of them had.
It happened almost abruptly as they reached The Orchard, before Applejack could save any of them, and she couldn't see how she'd have done anything more than what she had, but it had still been on her, she'd taken them under her command and she'd failed. Macintosh had turned for a split second, and she'd seen the foul monster strike out at him just as Dash had fired at one of the freakish fiends that had jumped for the simple-minded Derpy, and Applebloom was already bashing away a few that had come at her, unable to respond in time. That had left her to save him as he fired at one of the things reaching towards a civvie who's beam gun had evidently jammed at the critical moment, she'd brought her shotgun around and up and fired fast.
But she had failed him, as she'd failed all of them.
It was all over in minutes.
The wicked claws had sunk deep into his chest as the blast decapitated the beast, she'd heard herself scream and that had drawn Applebloom's attention, Dash unloaded round after round relentlessly as numerous nightmares sought to end the distracted filly, and more of the eldritch horrors had simply amassed and crashed into the civilians liked a baleful tidal wave of malice. In her final moments, Dash saw Macintosh snarl and power through the teeming horde as Fluttershy tried to save a group of foals that had clustered together, and loyal to the end Dash had chosen her best friend among friends, leading a divebomb down into the horde and smashing into the fleshy wall that had risen up to consume the timid Pegasus and the ponies she would die to defend, just so they could have a few more precious seconds of life. Applejack shouted to no avail over the high cacophony of terror that the creatures were emitting as they swarmed for a feast.
Fluttershy had saved so many during the war, she'd never been on the frontlines but she'd been stationed far back where the frontlines had come to her. Such tender care she'd had for everypony, even tending POW's with the same respect and devotion she'd shown fellow soldiers, always prioritising the youngest when she could. She'd never had an evil bone in her body, it was selfless she should die for the young.
Applejack didn't blame Dash for her choice, as she didn't blame her loving brother for trying his damndest to reach Fluttershy before he was taken down. He was smashing left and right, he'd ran out of ammo several shots ago and hadn't cared to reload, he was bleeding from bits gouged from his sides and his legs. Applejack knew the score now, and she saw him gravely nod to her and Applebloom in the same time that she'd already moved to save their sibling.
She held the shotgun in one hoof, firing off shots and cycling the action with deft spins as her other hoof wrapped around Applebloom's midsection, dragging her off her hooves as she bashed her shoulder into the heavy doors of The Orchard. She watched, unable to do anything as Macintosh thundered into a trio of the horrendous abominations to distract them from his beloved so he might reach her, hold her in their final moments; but even as they turned upon him and bit, clawed, and tore away, Fluttershy was set upon and run through, the foals ripped apart. Even as Applejack fired the shotgun until it she ran out of shells, and Dash was screaming and using her Entfield's fixed bayonet to stab and shout and try to free her foalhood friend as her body was shredded, before being dragged down herself.
She grabbed Applebloom's Witherly Revolver and fired to keep the monsters at bay, Applebloom quickly understanding the one thing she could do, kicking with her back legs against anything that attacked as she unlocked The Orchard's heavy doors, before more of the abominations came to finish the two off. Just as a fiends claws were about to tear apart Applejack's face, her chest was slammed into from above by an incredibly injured and dying Derpy Hooves that knocked the beast aside, and she careened backwards taking Applebloom with her into the pub, as the grey Pegasus gave her a weak smile when she landed with a meaty thud, barely blocking the doorway as she was eaten alive before them. Applejack didn't dare waste the sacrifices given as she immediately threw herself forward again and smashed the massive doors shut in the still smiling mare's face with Applebloom's fast help.
She collapsed back as the doors harshly bucked, and she had already rushed behind the bar and lifted up a long metal slab they used to block the door from the inside, Applebloom diligently rammed down the heavy shutters across all of the small windows, and had moved to grab a second metal slab to go block the back entrance before Applejack had turned to give the order. Good filly.
Everything was tense for the next few minutes as the noise had risen again, the endless freaks outside doing their utmost to break in for their final victims, but The Orchard held.
Applejack shakily picked up her shotgun, handed Applebloom her Witherly, and retreated behind the bar, pulling out a spare box of shells and bullets she kept hidden under it for when the situation warranted such an action. They quickly reloaded their weapons, and waited for something to go wrong.
But something already had, and Applejack had loathed what had come next.
Applebloom had collapsed, and there was no hiding the blood that soaked her hindleg, she'd been hit by one of the beasts coming inside. Just a single scrape along her inner leg, but it was more than enough. Applejack hadn't even had time to grieve for her big brother, or her friends, and she knew; she knew what she had to do as the light started to wane in her little sister's eyes and a strange disturbing pallor affected her sibling's body.
Applebloom had managed a weak smile, and said she loved her big sister.
Applejack had cried as she carefully held the Witherly to her head.
She'd at least given Applebloom what she hadn't been able to give most; mercy, and pulled the trigger before her little sister could ever become one of those things wailing outside.
The little body slumped, stopped changing before her eyes, and calmed. She'd torn down a curtain from one of the windows and draped it over her sister, and tucked her away in a back room to keep her body safe, kissed her goodbye. It was stupid, she was stupid, and she'd failed to save anypony, hadn't even saved her own family. There was no safe. She'd gotten them to come here, ordered them along, they'd fallen in line as good soldiers should and obeyed just like they did in the trenches. Their deaths were her fault, just like it had been her fault when she commanded the platoon over the top and anypony had died. Just as it had been when she'd led them into the enemy trenches and they were cut down by waiting rifles. It was all her fault. Maybe somepony would have told her she didn't have to blame herself so hard, but there was no one else here from the old guard now. She was the last one. A good commanding officer was meant to be the last one out, but not like this...
She'd briefly considered using Applebloom's Witherly on herself, but she couldn't bring herself to do it. With all the sacrifices that had been made she couldn't just throw it all away, it wouldn't bring any of them back or change that she'd condemned them to their fates. Her apologies to Cranky, besides; it was the cowards way out.
Two days since then, and here she still was.
The noise outside had stopped after the young colt with the golden horseshoe for a cutie-mark had died, and it was chilling as to why. Had the grisly things finally finished off everypony but her now, and entered a state of mindlessness? She didn't know, she didn't pretend to, she just had the barest flicker of hope that she might avenge her family and friends if she could live long enough to get help. She wanted to drop endless bombs, have Ponyville hit with shelling until nothing remained. It was better for the town to be destroyed than to stand as a monument to all their deaths.
The creatures had milled, shuffled and shifted around, made noise on occasion. But beyond that they'd done nothing until yesterday. It was why the colt had thought he could pass through and reach The Orchard, why she had opened the doors and blasted anything apart that was near the entrance, but they'd just gone back to howling and tore him to pieces as he'd run between them. Maybe his death had been her fault too, it certainly felt that way.
When night fell again the howling resumed anew, but it was far darker, and she took another drink as the small quakes began to make the bottles on the back shelves ripple. Now something big was on its way, and she had a feeling it was coming for her. She hadn't been wrong in her assessment as he quakes grew bigger and more intense, finally stopping outside the barred front door. She scoffed again, of course it had to be here she'd die. She shook her head and sighed with a sardonic smile, it made sense in a way. She'd always wanted to die in her orchard, but this hadn't been exactly what she was thinking of at the time.
With a heavily low guttural roar from whatever had caused the quaking, the front of the Orchard exploded inward in a whirlwind of sharp debris and splintering wood that she'd ducked behind the bar to avoid the worst of. She hadn't been overwhelmed at that second, the vile creatures had simply waited impassively as she rose from behind the counter, and her heart thundered in her chest as she bore witness to the overwhelming horde, and gazed upon the unspeakable eldritch abomination before her.
A literal Daemon. It had escaped Tartarus.
This was all the doing of a mighty daemonic Lord wreathed in umbral shadow and glowing flames, making an army of the dead for its own uses. The hellish twist-horned being glared down on her with nothing but malefic hatred and promises whispering in her head of mind-shattering pain that would never end. That Equestria would meet its end in balefire and misery now he was free, that with the rest of the Elements of Harmony all dead and consumed he could not be stopped, nothing would be able to kill him and Equus itself would be doomed to eternal suffering at his claws, and the universe would never find peace.
She gasped desperately as her heart jumped out of her chest and blood pumped in her ears, but she took solace in her fear as she looked around at the endless masses of monsters. If these things could die then it was possible he could too, no matter how much he lauded himself as unstoppable.
She wasn't dead yet, she still had a shot.
Applejack hefted her shotgun and took aim at the bastard. She might not even scratch him, he might break her with a glare and torture her forever for her numerous sins, but she was going to try for her family and friends. They deserved that much.
She wasn't going down without a fight.
An Apple to the core, to the very end.
Author's Note
Just something going around my head I wanted to put down, it's not the most well-crafted story, just a few ideas thrown together of Equestria in a WW1 setting.
