*** Chapter 3 ***

Applejack felt herself lying on something hard and unbelievably cold. It felt as if the skin she was lying on were solid ice. Barely opening her eyes, her dark environment was a blurred mess, and her head began to throb horribly. She could barely remember anything that had just happened, except for a nightmare, Big Macintosh falling to the ground, and a blinding red light.

"I gotta find a way outta here," she thought. "Wherever here is."

She attempted to move her legs in an effort to stand, but red-hot arrows of pain told her that mobility was not an option. Applejack winced, and exhaled heavily, trying to figure out what to do now. She opened her mouth to yell for help, but no sound came out other than her breath. Again and again she called out, with little to no sound reaching her ears.

"Alright, where in the hay am I...?" she thought, opening her eyes wider and trying to get a view of her surroundings. She noticed that not only was she lying on a concrete floor, but every surface of the room appeared to be concrete as well. The only exit she could see in the room was a large wooden door towards her left, bolted shut. In the middle of the dark room was what looked like a steel table or bench supported by a platform, too tall to see what was on top. An old lamp hung above it from the ceiling, flickering weakly. The air she was breathing was ice-cold as well, and she could see steam rising occasionally from the edge of the table. She gasped silently, anxiously eyeing the table.

"Maybe somepony there can help me figure out what this place is!" she thought. She tried moving her legs again, and was met with a burning, though weaker, pain than before. Deciding that her escape was more important, she ground her teeth together as she forced herself up on one leg, then another, and finally to a standing position. Her legs buckled uncontrollably as she trotted towards the steps leading to the table. She saw the steam coming from above the table rhythmically, confirming her thoughts that a pony was indeed there, and ignored her aching limbs as she started up the steps. She kept her eyes glued to the top of the table as she ascended the stairs, stopping halfway up. The pony on the table was unconscious, her cyan chest moving up and down slowly.

"Wait a second..."

Applejack could see the mare's lightning cutie mark, as well as the stand-out rainbow-colored mane and tail. Applejack took a slow step forward, unable to think. Another step forward, and she was able to see the unconscious face of Rainbow Dash. Applejack's brain did a double-take as it processed this new information. How could this be? She saw the pegasus' body in the Canterlot mortuary, but here she was, safe and sound. Her only love was supposed to have been forever taken from her, but something brought them both here to be in each other's presence once more. Tearing up, Applejack reached out to stroke the pegasus' hoof, only to have her own phase right through it.

"What in tarnation...?" she thought, shocked. She pawed at Rainbow Dash's hoof, and then different spots in her side, her hoof going right through without feeling every time. "Why can't I touch her? Why can't I speak?" She looked around the room, only able to see what the little lamp above her shone on directly. "What is goin' on here?" she thought miserably. Just then, a loud creak made Applejack turn around to look at the door. A large cart covered with a tarp rolled into the room, followed by a familiar pink earth pony.

"Pinkie Pie? What's she doing in a place like this?" Applejack wondered.

The fun-loving mare had a blank look on her face as she trotted in, not noticing the cowpony next to the table she was approaching. "Must not be able to see me, I guess" Applejack chuckled in her head, sweat beading on her forehead while she stared at Pinkie. Applejack moved to the other side of the table to get a better view of the pink mare as she withdrew a small syringe from under the cart and silently made her way up to Rainbow Dash. She hovered the needle over the pegasus' chest and plunged it in, slowly pressed down on the end, injecting Dash with a clear fluid. She left the needle in for a moment and studied the pegasus' face for a moment, then her body. She moved the ends of Dash's limbs towards the edges of the table, and yanked out several strange-looking brown straps from under the table. Applejack stared the pink pony down for several seconds, unable to comprehend what she was seeing. A voice in her head broke the silence: I will show you...

Applejack blinked several times, unable to remember what the voice was talking about. She couldn't even remember why she recognized the voice, either. Pushing the thought back in her mind, she re-focused on Rainbow Dash, who was now bound in multiple places by the straps. Even her wings were splayed out on either side and tied down near the base. Pinkie Pie now wore a small grin on her face, seemingly proud of her work. Dash's face began to contort, and she moaned softly.

"NNNNNnnnnnn..."

The party pony's ears perked up, as well as her smile. "Wake up, Dashie!" she chirped. Applejack frowned slightly. She had always disliked the pink mare's use of her special nickname for Rainbow Dash. "It's time to get ready!" Pinkie Pie giggled, her eyes widening as the pegasus' eyes cracked open. She looked around dumbly, blinded by the lamo hanging above her. She turned to the pink mare.

"Pinkie...Pie?" she groaned. The mentioned mare nodded excitedly, her poofy mane bouncing in unison. "What's going on here...my head hurts..."

Rainbow Dash slowly regained feeling in her body, and a shocked look broke on her face when she realized she was unable to move. She struggled against her bindings but couldn't make them budge anywhere. She flapped her wings vainly, unable to make more than a light breeze.

"Pinkie Pie! What are you doing? Where am I?" she demanded. Pinkie only giggled hysterically, staring her right in the face.

"Where are you? You're in my basement, silly!" the pink mare had to fight giggling in the middle of her sentence.

"WHY am I in your basement, then? You said we were going to your place for dinner after Pound Cake's first flying lesson!"

Pinkie Pie rolled her eyes, patting Rainbow Dash on her bound head. "We ARE here for dinner, but I'm sorry to say that little Pound Cake will have to find another teacher." she said the last few words while pouting her lips like she was speaking to a foal, making Dash cringe in anger.

"What?! What do you mean?"

Pinkie Pie's grin got even wider as she clambered up on top of the table, and leaned her face right over Rainbow Dash's.

"We'll be having dinner, of course. But first, let's have some dessert, hmm?" A sultry tone took over Pinkie's voice as she spoke, sending a chill up Dash's spine. Applejack's mouth fell open as Pinkie pressed her lips to the side of the pegasus' neck, earning a small coo in response. Applejack blinked slowly as a blush spread across her face. Rainbow Dash struggled slightly as Pinkie kissed her directly on the lips, but soon calmed down as the pink mare slid her tongue into the pegasus' mouth. The kiss lasted forever in Applejack's mind, and she felt a twinge of envy strike her heart. Dash exhaled slowly as Pinkie leaned away from the pegasus, a smug grin on her eyes and eyes half-lidded as she studied the now aroused pegasus.

"You know I'm not that interested in mares, Pinkie," Dash huffed, looking towards the ceiling.

"I also know that you're a very flexible mare," Pinkie added nonchalantly. Dash flinched, looking back down towards the pink mare, who began to nip gently at her chest. "A very experienced, flexible mare." Pinkie kept pressing kisses down Rainbow Dash's body and began stroking the inside of her thigh, making Dash roll her eyes towards the ceiling, her cyan cheeks now burning red. Applejack's heart began beating faster as she watched the pink mare draw closer and closer to the pegasus' thighs, and felt that familiar burn between her haunches. Never before had she been so confused and so aroused before, and she couldn't force herself to look away. Finally, Pinkie paused at the very center of Dash's hindlegs, and looked up towards her face.

"It's not so wrong to eat your dessert before your meal, is it?" she asked innocently, earning a frantic moan from the pegasus. She closed her eyes and nodded her head. "I suppose not." Applejack's heart skipped a beat when she heard her favorite mare groan deeply as Pinkie buried her snout in between Dash's haunches. She began to lick up and down the pegasus' leaking marehood, making her grunt in arousal and struggle against her lower bindings. Pinkie stopped to look up, and recieved a small whimper in return.

"Why did you sto-ooop?" the pegasus whined. Pinkie chuckled softly.

"I forgot to bring something. Give me a moment." With one final kiss to Dash's nethers, the pink mare hopped off of the table and started down the steps, heading towards the covered cart. Applejack shook her head and began to organize her thoughts, walking around the table towards Dash's hindlegs. "What just happened?! Why is Pinkie doing this?" She figured the pegasus had the same thoughts, but was probably more concerned with the unanswered burning in her nether region. Pinkie soon returned with a long, black floppy object sideways in her mouth, smiling coyly. Applejack couldn't believe what she was seeing.

"Do you see this, Dashie?" she mumbled over the toy. Dash looked down and her eyes widened and gasped.

"Do you want this, Dashie?" Pinkie asked, placing it in between Dash's hindlegs and climbing atop the table once more. The pegasus' head shook in small movements as she tried to nod.

"Yes, yes, oh PLEASE, yes!" she begged, her marehood clenching for a moment.

Pinkie Pie nodded, sliding one end into her own marehood, and positioned herself over the desperate pegasus.

"Since you asked so nicely..." The pink mare grinned and slowly pushed her hips forward, sliding the toy into the cyan pegasus. Once she felt her crotch connect with Dash's, she rocked her hips backward, and forward once again. The pegasus moaned loudly in bliss, her face nearly crimson. Applejack backed up and nearly fell off the pedestal trying to analyze the situation. The mare she once thought to be dead, in front of her but still so far away, being rutted by one of her closest friends. Minutes passed as the pink mare quickened her pace, making Rainbow Dash writhe even more in her bonds. Her moans shortened into breathy, high-pitched squeaks as she began to reach her climax. Applejack had to fight the urge to snake her hoof towards her hindquarters, and the smell of her love's arousal made it even harder to focus.

"Aaah~hhh... Pinkie, I'm gonna... AAAH-" Rainbow Dash moaned out, her face contorting slightly as she rode the waves of pleasure going through her body. Pinkie stopped suddenly and pulled the toy out of herself and Dash, a wild grin spreading on her face. Throwing the toy off of the pedestal, Pinkie dived her face into the pegasus' haunches once more, eagerly lapping up the remnants of Dash's climax and making her squeak loudly in surprise. Applejack turned her head away in both shock and embarrassment. Just when she thought it couldn't have gotten worse, she looked over her shoulder to see the look on Pinkie's face. Her grin had turned into a ravenous smile, and her eyes had a strange twinkle in them, something that sent chills up Applejack's spine. Pinkie was enjoying this more than any normal filly-fooler would. Then again, Applejack couldn't think of anything normal about Pinkie.

"Ah! There we go! Done with dessert!" Pinkie chirped, jolting her head back when she was finished cleaning Rainbow Dash of her juices. The pegasus only stared at her with a half-closed eye, breathing heavily. Pinkie Pie wiped her face with a hoof quickly and breathed in and out a few times to calm herself. "Time for dinner now," she said slowly, almost disappointed that her "meal" was finished so quickly. Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow questioningly.

"What- HAH- are you doing now?" she asked, watching Pinkie trot down the steps once more. The mentioned mare only turned and giggled eagerly, and ran down the rest of the way to her cart. "This doesn't make sense..." Dash muttered under her breath, observing the large cloud of steam escaping her mouth. She waited a few moments in silence before watching Pinkie return with the handle of a wooden box in her mouth. "What's with the box?" she asked.

"It's for our dinner, silly!" Pinkie laughed, rolling her eyes. "You'll see, Dashie." She ran her tongue over her lips as she opened the box, removing two wide, steel tubes and a small, flat mallet. She set the tubes and mallet in between Dash's hindlegs and set the box below the table on the platform. With some difficulty, she took one of the tubes up in her mouth and set it vertically on top of one of the pegasus' front hooves. Dash looked at the tube and then back to Pinkie nervously.

"What? What are you going to do with that?" A bead of sweat formed on her brow as she watched Pinkie Pie pick up the mallet in her mouth and walk over to the side of the table with the tube. Pinkie's grin turned into a focused frown with her tongue sticking out as she lifted the mallet in her hooves and brought it above her head.

"Please try not to move, Dashie. If you do, I might mess this up." she said calmly.

"Wait, mess what up- !" Rainbow Dash froze mid-sentence as Pinkie slammed the mallet down on the tube, driving it into the pegasus' hoof and sending small spurts of blood into the pink mare's face. Dash immediately cried out in pain and surprise, and flapped her wings vainly, her flight instinct trying to take over her thoughts and lead her away from her prison. Pinkie leaned down to inspect her work, squinting at the half-inch of tube sticking out of the top, and nodded decisively before returning to the end of the table to pick up the other tube. She trotted over to Dash's other side and repeated the action, sending blood into the air, some of which flew towards the shocked Applejack and fell through her, landing on the floor.

I will show you...

Applejack's temples throbbed horribly for a second, making her fall to the platform and hold her head. That voice... where did she remember it from? She slowly stood back up as the pain subsided, just in time to see Pinkie Pie take some strange looking wires out of the box under the table. They were very thick, and had large-toothed clips on the end. One end of both wires fed into a small control that Pinkie held carefully in her mouth. She spat it out onto the table, and proceeded to attach the clip-ends of the wires onto each of the tubes protruding from the pegasus' hooves. "What's going to happen now...?" Applejack wondered, now terrified of the pink mare, who now wore the same manic grin and eyes she had just earlier.

"Are you ready, Rainbow Dash? Oooh, this is going to be so cool!" she said, interrupting every few words with a stifled laugh. Rainbow Dash only looked at her with terrified eyes, holding back tears and biting her bottom lip in pain. Pinkie Pie slammed her hoof down onto the control, and it began to emit a slowly increasing whine, until it became an almost silent siren. Applejack watched the pegasus begin twitching slightly, her eyes rolled back into their sockets. Her spasming increased in intensity as the control got quieter, and the metal tubes in her hooves began to char around the ends. Applejack rushed over to the pegasus and tried to yell out her name, but still no sound came out. Tears began to stream from her eyes, and she laid her forehead down next to the twitching mare. Moments passed, and the only sound that could be heard in the room was erratic gurgling escaping the pegasus' mouth.

"Alrighty! Done!" Pinkie yelled excitedly, pressing the button on the controller eagerly. It's whine gradually loudened and the pitch dropped dramatically until the noise became undetectable. The pegasus' body twitched occasionally as Pinkie withdrew another syringe like the last and injected Dash with it. Slowly but surely, her eyes drifted open, and she moaned pitifully, looking around in a daze. Pinkie Pie bent down and retrieved a pair of fireproof mitts from the box underneath the table, and trotted over to Rainbow Dash's side.

"Safety first, Dashie!" the pink mare giggled as she undid the clip on the first tube. The skin around the tube had turned black, and the remaining hoof inside of it was thouroughly darkened and had shrunk slightly, with cauterized blood coating the outside of the chunk. Pinkie carefully removed the darkened tube from the pegasus' hoof and retrieved the piece of electrocuted flesh inside. With a blissful smile, she removed the small bits of bone inside and popped it into her mouth, moaning softly as she chewed. Applejack's stomach lurched and she nearly vomited on the floor. Rainbow Dash's composure was not so strong, and she vomited violently away from Pinkie, some of it covering her other front leg. The pink mare stopped mid-chew and gasped so hard she nearly choked on her morsel. She slapped Dash across the face with the back of her hoof, a look of pure malice on her face.

"Hey! I was gonna eat that!" she roared, before stepping back, ears turned backwards. Her anger quickly turned to a disappointed pout. "And it was pretty good, too." Suddenly, she perked up and the manic grin plastered itself on her face once more. "You know, there's a word for what your straps are made of! Leather!" Rainbow Dash only looked at the insane mare confusedly. "It's the skin of some animal all cooked-up and dried and stuff! It's really strong, but it doesn't taste nearly as good as pony skin." She frowned slightly before shrugging her shoulders. "Anyway, it's time for the next course!"

Applejack shuddered violently and closed her eyes as the pink pony left her alone with Rainbow Dash once more. There was no way she could watch any more of this. She laid on the platform and covered her head. "Go away, go away, go away," she pleaded in her mind. "Please be a horrible, awful nightmare!" A sudden scream from Dash made her eyes pop open, tempting her to look above her head. She could see Rainbow Dash's limbs fighting incredibly hard against her restraints, and she could hear the table creaking slightly from her fighting.

"NO! DON'T DO IT, PINKIE! I'M YOUR FRIEND, SO WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS?!" Dash wailed, grunting as she failed to escape her binds. A dull slap could be heard, followed by the pegasus' wimpering and Pinkie's calm, yet sinister, voice.

"It's time for dinner. Everypony who's had my special dinner has gotten the same treatment." Applejack could see a large cleaver rise towards the lamp, and disappear behind the edge of the table. Large droplets of blood flew up and coated the ceiling as well as the lamp, and Rainbow Dash wailed in agony. The cleaver rose again, and hit its target even harder, sending more blood into the air and causing Dash to scream louder. More and more Applejack could hear the *shunk* of the cleaver landing on the pegasus, who continued to cry and beg and scream with each successive hit, until there was a loud snap and Dash screamed so hard her lungs hurt. Applejack had to resist the urge to jump up and try to soothe her precious mare, knowing that nothing she did would help. She also knew she couldn't bear to see what had happened to Dash. Still, once the hacking resumed and Dash's screams grew more frantic, Applejack reluctantly stood up and surveyed the mess on the table. She had no clue what drove her to continue watching the pink mare's brutality, but she instantly cursed herself for it when she saw the state Dash was in.

"Almost... there..." Pinkie grunted, sufficiently covered by the pegasus' blood, and hacking violently at her with the cleaver. Dash's right wing was crudely severed, and in a matter of moments, the bone in the left snapped under Pinkie's assault and came free with a large splatter of blood, causing Dash to squeal and cry out in pure agony. Her face was covered in her own blood which flowed from the open wounds, and her eyes fluttered weakly around the room. She had damaged her vocal cords so much in screaming, all that came out of her mouth was a weak mewling as Pinkie voraciously bit down on one of the bloody stumps attached to her body. Dash's eyes slowly shut, her breathing going steady and her body relaxing. Frustrated, Pinkie dug under the table for another syringe, but came up empty.

"Awwwww, looks like I'm gonna have dinner by myself now. Note to self: buy more of the active-wake-me-up-stuff. Adre...Adreena...Adrenaline!" Pinkie shouted to no one in particular. She stepped backwards towards the steps and surveyed Rainbow Dash, now going into shock from the pain. "I figured she wouldn't need it, so I didn't buy as much. Wasn't THAT silly of me?" she muttered, smacking herself lightly in the head before starting down the steps again.

Applejack leaned over the table, her headache returning. She began to cry over the body of her only love, and pounded soundlessly on the table again and again. Her silent cries turned into sobs as she hit the table even harder, and then became full on shrieks of inaudible grief and confusion. She didn't know what else to do; there wasn't anything she COULD do. She froze as she saw Dash's lips moving slightly, and leaned her head down close to the tattered pegasus.

"Apple...jack..." she whispered weakly. "I can... hear you..." Applejack's heart shattered as she heard her name leave the mare's lips. "I... I'm sorry... for not... loving you..." The cowpony's breath stopped as she recieved Rainbow Dash's agonizing last words, and she stayed silent as the mare passed away before her. She was unable to cry, unable to think. Her head pounded violently with the rhythm of her heart, and she lost all feeling in her limbs. As she fell off the platform and to the floor, she heard something speak to her while her vision clouded with red once more.

"Speak not to your friends nor family of what you have seen. It must remain with you and you only until the time is right to reveal the truth," She closed her eyes slowly, allowing the numbness in her body, mind, and spirit to take over, and blacked out the moment she struck the floor.

Author's Note

Hope you enjoyed reading. I recommend you read this while listening to the orchestral piece, "Lux Aeterna."