My Cousin Apple Storm
Part 21: The End Game of Overwatch
by Neoraichu
This story takes place after the events of 'The Saga of the Great Kingdom'.
…
Princess Celestia wondered if she was staring at her own doom as she hovered with the bound and unconscious Rainbow Dash on her back. The mouth of the lightning cannon looked like a the largest tunnel she had even seen from her perspective. And the massive ball of lightning power grew stronger and stronger even as she looked. She knew she wasn't fast enough to evade, and if she teleported away, she would be leaving Dash behind to her demise, a prospect that the Princess could not bear to think about.
Her magic shield have saved them from the 'sneak attack', but Overwatched promised the Princess that the overloaded shot she was charging up would destroy them both. She was beginning to believe that Overwatch was right about that. While she could raise the sun (and the moon), lightning was just something she wasn't 'meant' to control.
At the moment, she wished she had confided in Applejack about where she was going, because her storm goddess power would have really come in handy right then. She looked around for help when she finally noticed the ground fog that had crept in while she flew over in search for Dash, and she felt hope at last.
"If you are so righteous," she called, "Do what you must! If fate has decided you are the right one, then rule in my place and know the headaches I have every day!"
"Don't think you can sweet talk your way out of this, Princess!" cried Overwatch, "The glory of the Pegasus race is now here!"
As the ball of energy began to leave the barrel, an orange blur began rising from the fog being dragged behind her mystical mallet.
"Not if I all has anything ta say about it!" came a call from below.
Time seemed to crawl by nanosecond by nanosecond as the two seemed to converge on the same point in space and time. When the lightning ball was a scant twenty feet or so away from her, Sleipnir Applejack was in her way, using her own body as a shield. The electricity engulfed her, the power being blocked by Applejack's new weather control power. As if by reflex, she directed the electrical charge back down the same path and back into the lightning cannon.
The lightning cannon exploded as Applejack began to fall from the sky, but before the Princess could even think about using her power to save her, another form shot up from the fog vowing, "Fear not, fair maiden! Fandralson the Third shall save thee!" True to his word, he caught her before she could fall even twenty feet.
"I ain't consenting ta nuthin," sighed Applejack before she passed out.
"I gave my word as a warrior and a gentlestallion, fair maiden, to do naught with thee before thou beggest me to."
Celestia couldn't help but smile at his confidence. "You have my gratitude, Warrior of Asgard," she said, "For myself, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash."
"Fair maiden," he said, "The painting of thou I hast seen appearing in thine Great Halls of Asgard pale before thy true beauty. Tis an honor beyond words to aid thee in the least little way. I honor the mighty Odin and the beautiful Frigga by honoring you."
"Flatterer," she said with smirk, "but I cannot have a dalliance with you no matter how charmingly you present yourself. It just would not do for a Princess of this land to behave so."
"Tis my eternal loss, my lady."
Overwatch flew into the sky from the wrecked building. She was singed and smoking, apparently having been burned with electricity over much of her body along with possible flames and fragments from the exploding cannon.
"Surrender," said the Princess, "Your plan is ruined, and you only disgrace the Pegasus of Cloudsdale by pursuing it any further."
"I... won't... rest... until..." swore Overwatch, but she was cut off when she was ironically struck by a lightning bolt from a stray cloud loosed from the cloud factory. She coughed once and fell down into the fog below with an audible thud as she hit the ground.
But Pegasus and Royal Guards were coming from every direction when they both say and heard the explosions, or the lightning ball shooting into the sky just before then. They rushed to take Rainbow Dash from the Princess' back, but Fandralson the Third refused to let anyone handle Applejack other than himself.
"Someone go down there and arrest what's left of Overwatch," she said to the guards as she looked down into the fog below. Two guards flew down to comply with the Princess' request. "In the meantime, I insist Rainbow Dash and Applejack be taken to the best hospital in Cloudsdale and given the best treatments they can get... at the expense of the Crown."
...
Applejack awoke in a hospital bed. She was surprised to see who was there with her. Twilight Sparkle, Spike, Big Macintosh, Cousin Apple Storm, Rainbow Dash, and Princess Celestia herself were all looking at her anxiously.
"How long has I been out?" she asked.
"You've been out for two days," said Twilight.
She looked at her bandaged body, then at the bandaged bodies of big brother and her cousin, and said "An why ain't you in hospital beds alongside me?"
"I'm fine," said Big Macintosh and Apple Storm as one. They looked at each other and laughed just a little bit.
"They came to me and begged me to take them to Cloudsdale," said Twilight, "So I loaded up the balloon with the Cloud Walking Spell and flew us all up here."
"And we all is mighty grateful few all ya done, Twilight," said Apple Storm.
"E-yup," added Big Macintosh.
Applejack looked Apple Storm right in the eyes when she said, "Take it back, cousin. I wasn't meant ta have this kinda power. What I am now scares me. I understand now what you must feel every day. Take back the godly powers, cousin. They were meant for you."
"I ain't sure I'm worthy any more, cousin," said Apple Storm as she looked down.
"Ya won't know until ya try."
"Then we has ta wait. Wait til we all are out of here. When we are outdoors in a wide open place where no one can all git hurt, then I'll try to reclaim the power of the ancestors of Thor."
"Ain't like I got much else ta do, cousin."
Big Macintosh grunted and stumbled slightly as he felt some pain from his bruised ribs.
"I looks like y'all ain't got much ta do either, big brother."
"I can't leaves tha farm..."
"I all can handle things, cousin," said Apple Storm, "The farm is all in good hands, an so is little Apple Bloom. It'll give me somethin else ta do til it's... time... to..."
"Nurse!" called Applejack, "I all gotta another guest fer ya! He all needs ta be looked after good!"
"The Crown will pay, I promise," said the Princess.
"I ain't gonna..." protested Big Macintosh.
"Consider this rest and observation as a direct order from the Crown itself, Big Macintosh," warned the Princess.
He gulped hard and said, "Yes Ma'am."
"Good stallion," she said with a smile.
"Hey, and at least I ain't gonna be alone here," said Applejack.
"You'll never be alone," said Twilight, "even if I never found the Elements of Harmony, I still think we would be friends."
"Thanks," she replied, "That all means a lot."
"One way or another, I think you six were destined to be friends," said the Princess.
"Too bad we ain't got another Elemental of Harmony ta give you, Apple Storm," answered Applejack, "Cause I all know you would deserve one."
"That would be... not necessary," said Apple Storm awkwardly.
"You never know," said the Princess.
Applejack looked at Celestia and said slyly, "Is there all somethin you ain't tellin us?"
"Of course not," she replied.