*** Preface ***

A young crimson unicorn stood on a dark blue, ethereal plane in the midst of an all consuming darkness. He closed his eyes, and his visions began to fill the empty space. A jet black alicorn threatening the Crystal Kingdom, a Changeling queen conquering Canterlot...

He focused harder, and images of a strange dragonequus and nightmarish alicorn also appeared before him. He squinted his eyes closely at the dragonequuus in particular.

"His name..." The stallion's horn flared red, and the image of Discord grew and pushed the other's into the darkness.

"Discord. HE was the first child. He came long before the others..." He trailed off as the glow from his eyes faded along with the image.
Suddenly, a bright flash rocketed through his mind, and the silhouettes of several unicorns appeared, surrounding him. The only thing he could see of them were their bared smiles, with teeth all sharper than any of those one could find in the Everfree forest. The smallest in front of him stepped forth, and smiled devilishly.

"Daddy has been waiting so long for us to come. " she chuckled. "The elements are useless to you now." The stallion recoiled. Was she speaking of the Elements of Harmony?

"What do you mean, they're useless to me?" he demanded. The silhouette only shook her head, her grin growing wider with each swing.

"Your master, our daddy, will return, and Celestia..." she paused, and frowned maliciously. "She will be the first to know."

The stallion stomped towards the silhouette, horn aglow.

"Tell me more! Why is HE returning? When?" He picked her up by the throat with his magic, but she only frowned more, before fading into the black.

"No! Come back!" He roared. One by one, they all began to fade, and the plane supporting him shattered, leaving him falling through the void.
***************

*thwack*
The sounds of hooves on tree bark could be heard echoing throughout the Apple family orchard as Applejack continued her mid-summer harvesting. She bucked the tree once more, and all of the apples hanging on it piled into the saddle-buckets at her sides.

She let them slide casually off of her back, and sighed, enjoying a rare mid-evening breeze. Silently, it faded away, and she cursed the weather pegasi under her breath, wiping large beads of sweat off of her brow.

"I swear, I don't even know what they're paying those ponies for, anyway. There ain't been a cloud in the sky for days." she grumbled.

And so there hadn't. The parched earth and all the citizens had been begging for rain, and yet the pegasi of Cloudsdale allowed the scorching heat to continue. Summer was scheduled for massive heat waves, and August was more than appropriate for one.

She collected another two bucketfuls of apples, and promptly sat beneath the tree she had just cleared of fruit. She kept expecting a certain cyan-colored pegasus to bring her one of the soft, fluffy life-savers and push it over her head as she worked. Applejack always enjoyed seeing her rainbow-colored mane, her powerful wings, even stealing glances at her flanks when she thought she wouldn't be caught. She looked forward to her company almost everyday that Rainbow Dash wasn't working with the weather teams. But she never came. She hadn't been around for months.

Instantly, Applejack regretted even thinking about her, and fought to hold back her tears. The weather teams had managed to get by without Rainbow Dash, and her friends, even Fluttershy of all ponies, had moved on to some degree, but Applejack couldn't bear the thought of her friend's passing lightly.

She began recounting the story Twilight had told her through gritted teeth and tear-swollen eyes. There hadn't been a murder recorded for decades, almost even a century. And yet, just back in spring, equine remains were found in the Everfree Forest, just a ways away from the horrified Zecora's hut.

Word spread across Ponyville, Cloudsdale, and Canterlot faster than a wildfire in a dry field, or orchard, as it were. Celestia herself came to examine the horribly mutilated corpse, and reacted less out of disgust, and more out of shame that such a crime had been committed. She sent word to all of her loved ones, but only after notifying Twilight through a heart-wrenching, not to mention mortified letter. She had insisted that Rainbow Dash be cremated, but Twilight and the others, and an especially concerned Applejack demanded to see her.

Though hesitant, the sun-godess sent for a royal escort of her friends, save Spike, to Canterlot, as well as a separate guard for the corpse. Days later, they were brought to the least used building in the palace: the mortuary. When they had all arrived, Celestia nodded to the elderly coroner, and he pulled the table out of the wall of preserved bodies. Applejack, much to the coroner's dismay, suddenly yanked the cloth off to reveal their fallen friend and fellow Element.

Applejack stifled a sob as she retched painfully, forcing the image to return to her mind once more.

The pegasus' wings were missing, having been cut off as if a wild manticore had gotten to them, and both of her cutie marks were absent as well. There were charred holes in all four of her hooves, and her entire torso had been cut open and emptied, leaving a husk of bones and rotting flesh.

Pinkie Pie held Fluttershy quietly as they both quivered relentlessly, mortified at the sight. Rarity turned a sickly shade of green and vomited, in a very un-ladylike manner, in the nearest wastebasket, almost fainting from the shock. Twilight only turned her head after scanning the body. All but Celestia backed from the table, leaving the alicorn and the farmer pony standing, shocked.

She barely managed to grasp the cloth and bring it back over to her friend's body, slowly backing away with widening eyes. She didn't want to believe, no, just DIDN'T believe this had happened. She turned her head to the coroner and asked the one question even Celestia had been hesitant to ask in front of her friends.

"H-h-how... did th-this happen...?"

He swallowed painfully, and glanced up at the princess, scratching his head in confusion. She shot him a look that told him that the choice was his to make. With everything but a small effort, he painstakingly pointed out the ways she had been tortured, and even estimated how long it had been before she had died.

"I think...about 4 hours, Miss Applejack..." he stammered, ashamed he had even gotten this job for a cutie mark, let alone doing it. A chill ran down Applejack's spine as she analyzed the calculation.

"She w-went through... th-that, for four hours?" she stuttered. He remained silent, unmoving.

"I think... no, I know I don't need to hear any more of this." Celestia announced. "I'm certain none of you wish to, either." She turned to the other mares in the room, carrying tear-lined faces plastered with looks of horror. Not one of them spoke. The coroner nodded, and pushed the table back into the wall with a dull slam.

And here Applejack was, expected to have accepted the permanent absence of her friend like everypony else.
She stood slowly, wiping the flowing tears from her eyes. "

C'mon, Applejack. G-get yerself together." she muttered through a sob.

Ready for a dinner she wouldn't have the stomach for to eat, she slowly trotted beck in the direction of the farmhouse. Big Mac'll probably do my work for meh, she thought. She chuckled bitterly to herself. She knew what would happen. He would see her slightly reddened eyes, and immediately head out to the fields of fruit-bearing trees. No matter how much she insisted on doing it herself, he did her share of harvesting while she was still in her heart-broken state.

She stopped moving, shaking her head. Heart-broken? Where did that come from? Sure, she missed her friend dearly, but did she really care for her THAT much? Sure, she had admitted to her friends and, more reluctantly, to her family, that she was a filly-fooler, but as far as she could tell, Rainbow had been completely heterosexual, despite her flamboyant mane and tomcolt-ish attitude. There wouldn't have been any chance for them to get together, so why did she feel this way?

She shook her head a second time, stomping her hoof. It doesn't matter, she thought, finally holding back the silver streams on her cheeks.

"It's too late... I can get through this. Just like the others." she declared to nopony in particular. She drew in a large breath, exhaled, and continued towards her home as it grew dark, a little more confidence in her step. Not much, she noted, but a little but more.

***************

Out in the Everfree Forest, a smal cave glowed a soft, pulsating red. It was nearly the same shade of red as the sun setting behind the trees. The eerie light subsided after a few seconds, and out of the cave stepped black-maned, crimson unicorn. He yawned quietly, and leaned his head back to stretch, loudly popping a few spots in his back.

Pleased with himself, he looked up towards the sky, and closed his eyes. His horn shone softly, and his vision began to leave his body. His mind raced past the trees in the forest, and began to ascend and descend the various hills outside it lined with apple trees. Soon, a small town of quietly mingling ponies came into view. They all appeared to be returning to their homes, including one orange Stetson-clad mare.

"It's her," he gasped quietly, focusing his magic on her. "She's safe. She's not like the others."

Slowly, the vision faded, and his sight returned to normal. He exhaled softly, letting the stress of his spell fade with ease. He turned in the direction of Ponyvillle, and began trotting towards it.

"Applejack, I will save you." he muttered. "I can't let him start this again."

Author's Note

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