Chapter 10 - The Quickest 60 Minutes in History

“Twilight! Twilight!” I yelled. My voice was starting to give way. I had been trying to wake Twilight up for about an hour. We were running out of time. We had only an hour till the mind guard spell was broken.

“Ugh… wha- what happened?” Twilight slurred as she came to. I explained to her as best as I could.

“We better get moving.” I said “Were running low on time.” We walked into the Castle. Everything seemed normal in the entrance.

“All right. Now if I was sent to guard the spirit of harmony where would I be?” Twilight wondered. Remembering that I saw an orange glow coming from the top of the keep, I suggested we try there. 50 minutes left. We entered the keep and continued to climb. I remembered that Twilight could reverse the gravity and get us up to the top really quick but I hesitated knowing that she was already overworked. 40 minutes left. We made it to the top of the keep to find a locked door. I could see an aura on the other side and the outline of a pony. We began trying to bust the lock. It was harder than it looked. The lock held tight no matter how many ways we picked at it. Fed up with the lock I proceeded to kick the door in. Sometime later the door gave and fell down.

“Applejack! Thank goodness we found you!” I exclaimed. The figure turned and looked at me. Something wasn’t right. Her eyes were glazed over and she was walking clumsily.

“AJ? What’s wrong?” Twilight asked. Suddenly Applejack let out a horrifying scream. We jumped back, unsure of what was happening. Without warning Applejack ran full steam strait at us. We moved out of the way in the nick of time before she bucked the wall behind us. The force of her kick knocked out the wall and the exterior of the tower collapsed around us. We expected to see the sky above us but instead the image inside a kaleidoscope was in its place.

“Welcome hero!” Said a deep voice “To your final resting place.” I turned to see that Applejack was walking towards me. She began to speak but instead of her voice the deep voice spoke. “Allow me to introduce myself.”  It said “I am Iniquitous. The being of dishonesty.” Suddenly Applejack disappeared and reappeared directly behind me. “As you can see. We are not in the Castle of the Regal Pony Sisters. We are in fact, inside your little head.” She disappeared once again and reappeared in midair. “It’s been fun toying with you but let’s get down to business.” And with that she dived at me. I tried to dodge but she moved with my movement and hit me in the chest. I expected the blow to hurt but what I felt was by far worse than I had imagined. I was overcome with fear. I couldn’t hurt Applejack. She was my friend!

“What’s wrong? Is the mighty hero scared that he might hurt his friend?” She mocked. Seeing that she wasn’t going to land, I took to the sky only that this was easier said than done. Iniquitous must have been messing with the gravity because I couldn’t takeoff. “What’s wrong? Does the little Pegasus not know how to fly?” she teased. I was furious at this comment and began to flap my wings viciously. Suddenly, as if a spring released, I shot up like a rocket. I tried to bank left and found myself turning right! “Wow you can’t steer either!” Iniquitous hollered. She was playing me for a fool. I could see her to my left on her back laughing hysterically. I again tried to pitch right and this time I went left like I was hoping. However Iniquitous was one step ahead. Instead of flying at her I was now heading straight for the ground. I tried to break but only found myself flying faster. I hit the ground… hard. I struggled to get back to my feet and face my opponent. “Give up hero! You’ll never win against me in this realm!” She demanded. Then it hit me.

“You think I’ll give up that easily.” I asked. “If so you are more of a fool than I thought.” And with that I thought of Iniquitous slamming to the ground, and to my surprise, she did. When she stood back up she looked very shocked.

“H-how did you do that?” She stammered.

“You see Iniquitous; you foolishly told me your weakness.” I explained. “You said that we are battling inside my head. So I have control; not you!” I then proceeded to attack her in thought and every attack I thought affected her. She tried to retake control over me, but my willpower prevailed. After a few minutes of intense fighting she fell at my feet.

“Th-this is impossible!” She exclaimed. “Nopony has ever been able to hurt me.”

“Well I’m no ordinary pony.” I said. I then proceeded to drive out Iniquitous who was embedded in Applejack. Iniquitous screamed as she was forced out of her body. “Leave this place and never return.” I demanded. She shuttered in fear and then vanished. Suddenly reality appeared around me. I had never been so happy to have normal gravity effects in my life.

To my amazement Applejack was unharmed. She was alive and well.

“Thanks Jared. Whatever that thing was, it won’t be bothering us anymore.” Applejack stated. She seemed very calm for the situation. This made me relax as well. “Because of your acts of valor in the face of dishonesty I am pleased to present my spirit of harmony to you; the spirit of honesty.” She said. Suddenly an orange aura appeared around Applejack. The aura concentrated into one point, creating a small orb of light. Just like with the spirit of magic, it launched itself at me and embedded itself inside of me. I felt a sensation similar to the sensation I felt from the spirit of magic, only this one was more pronounced. It filled my nose with smells of fresh apple pie. I could hear the wind blowing through the trees, and the flavor of cider tickled my taste buds. I felt energy coursing through my body as I absorbed the power of the spirit of honesty. “You truly are the hero of legend.” Applejack exclaimed.