Catastrophic Charmby McSlendyChaptersChapter IChapter IIChapter IIIChapter IVChapter VChapter VIChapter I"Mine." The word echoed in his head. It was only through his deep understanding and his deathly experiences did the simple word fill the man with dread. His mind raced as he turned around, realizing that he had finally been found. His breathing then became ragged, at the horrifying sight of the glinting knife that was jagged. He immediately took a step back, bracing himself even before his assailant, a woman, could attack. In her eyes, this man was her greatest prize. She smiled as she took a step closer; who knew he was such a teaser? He was of a tall muscular build, with emerald eyes and long blond hair - his personality was that of a complete gentleman who was also fair. And to boot, he was her forbidden fruit. His fear of her was understandable; her sanity was long since questionable. The man gulped. He would rather have let himself be beaten to a pulp. Seeing her breath in the air was akin to seeing death. He ran away. His stalker followed him as if he was her dog gone astray. At this however, she frowned. They were both fog bound. The relieved man ran to the coming fog to his advantage, as his hands were still in tight bondage. "Why do you keep running away from me, my love?" Her calm sad voice, as beautiful as it was, was a signal for danger. Reading between the lines, the man knew she was hiding her anger. He skidded to a stop and hid himself in a thick bush, already feeling the wrath of a woman scorned in the wind's gush. In his pain, he involuntarily gasped, adding to his worry of not knowing when he would breathe his last. Under the shadow of the night, the park where they were in the quaint town didn't feel quite as right. Lamp posts were dark yet flickering, and the countless insects in the trees were no longer bickering. Instead, there was a stone-cold silence. Alone, frightened, and tired, the man wished he had a gun, and a gun license. She was near, and high was his fear. It took his entire will to stop himself from grinding his teeth, as various bugs were climbing up his bare feet. He remained in a crouched position, as his sanctuary would be the subject of suspicion, were he to be seen by the woman whose eyes were a bright aquamarine. Her footsteps were becoming more and more distant. The man bolted away in an instant. "Do you not love me?" She had heard him run, and he was beginning to be of no fun. But nevertheless she eagerly followed, ignoring the tree whose trunk was hollowed. Only when she was a far distance away in her sprint, did the man feel glad that she didn't take the hint. He walked away silently from his hiding spot; glad that his lengthy practices in sneaking weren't at all for naught. "I will find you and make you mine!" Her voice was far away, almost minute. In the tree tops above him, there was a calming hoot. "That was so close." But then he heard the cock of a gun behind him. "Oh, crap." He paled, as he knew his chances of dodging a bullet were grim. "My darling." The new voice belonged to another woman, another stalker. It was smooth, silky, soft; befitting of an eloquent speaker. He knew who this woman was, and thus, his face became a mask. To this woman, he was an infamous lady-killer. And his latest crime was her murder - and her death as his newest victim was figurative, of course. Despairing, the man had to wonder whether if he had self-inflicted a deadly curse. It was obvious that she savored every moment he spared her, even if he never intended to. The pleasures he gave her long ago - his enigmatic air, his polite manners, his kindness and his personality - were all more than enough to unbalance her state of mind, although on a late cue. All she ever wanted from him was his love and his undivided attention, so that she will die happy again and again while he was in her retention. But his mere presence alone was enough to make her snap - and she always prepared for him a good trap. Like the one he had found himself in. She wondered if wanting him for herself was a sin. She raised her revolver to aim at his temple. Her giggling was gentle. "My darling. My beloved darling. You are finally mine and mine alone." The man, defeated, sighed and closed his eyes. This was his end, he surmised. "I don't think so!" The voice belonged to yet another woman; another pursuer. The man cursed inwardly in recognition - he wished his meetings with her were fewer. Her hair was an assortment of rainbow colors - and she looked at him as if they were lovers. This angered the woman with the gun; for her own attempt to keep him to herself had come undone. On her lips was a grin, but it was not directed at her adversary's misfortune. Suddenly she became a distortion; her speed was her weapon. Faster than the eye could see, she kicked the gun out of the second stalker's hands. The discharge of a bullet wasn't part of her plans. Instinctively, the man ducked - his messy red shirt was now no longer tucked. "Back off! I got to him first!" "I beat you! So that means he's mine!" To make things even worse, the first stalker returned in a show of force. "No! He's mine!" The one who they claimed they loved wished he was already dead - he wanted to cut twice his own life's thread. The tight ropes around his hands continued to bite deep into his skin, even though they felt thin. His bare feet's soles bled. Looking down, he could only see small puddles of red. They paid him no mind, for they were distracted by the first stalker's appearance ill-timed. "You?!" "He's going to love me!" At this claim, the man winced. This was not going to end well, he was convinced. "No, he'll love me!" "No, he won't!" The blond backed away. His face showed dismay. "Yes, he will!" "He won't!" "He will!" He realized where this was coming to. He hoped the argument would not follow through. "BIG MACINTOSH! TELL US WHO YOU LOVE MORE!" At the mention of his name, the man knew it was too late. He was going to suffer his easily foreseen fate. "WHO DO YOU LOVE MORE?!" "Uh..." He was doomed. Their shadows loomed. "ANSWER US, MAC! ANSWER US!" There was no point in giving survival a try. He was going to die. "MAC!" [>!<] "WAKE UP!" A feminine voice in his ear yelled. "AHHH!" A deep scream was the response. What happened next was chaotic. Big Macintosh had literally jumped up on his bed from a flat sleeping position. While it was near-impossible to do so, his body ignored the laws of physics and only then did he find himself deep under his thick and heavy bed sheets. In his panic, he wildly flailed his hands, making his tangled situation worse. Everything became a blur as he fell from his bed. Then his head hit something hard and cold. It was the floor. As he began to lose his consciousness slowly from the pain; his strained ears could pick up someone nearby calling out his name - and his body being nudged vigorously. As his vision dimmed, he could see a dark figure in his sights. It looked familiar... He involuntarily tensed; for a moment he thought he was still in his nightmare. It turned out to be Applejack, though. He immediately felt relieved. But before Big Macintosh could do anything else, he passed out. Chapter IIBig Macintosh was back in his nightmare again. He knew he was, as he was still followed by lust's chain. Three women, whom were all mentally unstable, in the act of chasing a man of purity and goodness, made the perfect setting for a grim bloody fable. This man was the small, innocent and fearful rabbit, and they were the lanky, hungry and menacing pack wolves - all of this was due to their respective Xanatos Gambit. It was unfair, the man believed so. Their so-called 'love' was in the air. Far from the park, the running man tripped in the dark. His pained gasp was forthright; it echoed throughout the cold night. Struggling to get up but succeeding, he still swore under his breath. He did not want to die a violent death; not now, not later, not ever. But it was too bad he couldn't sever his 'relationships' with them whenever. He limped near a desolate rocky street. Now he had to be discreet. But what was the point if his feet left bloody tracks? There was no time to relax. 'Survive', his mind screamed. The stalkers were soon to arrive. He did not want them breathing down his neck - for their damning presence, there was no need to check. He leapt over the wooden fence that barred his path. He would certainly meet his doom if he was ever cornered by at least one psychopath. To keep running away was his plan. Those women were just misguided and their love for him was forever unrequited, and he could never bring himself to hurt them even if other men can. His destination was the apple farm, where he hoped he would not come to any harm. His own home was going to become his safe haven. In the dark fog that followed, a single deep caw was let loose from a raven. The house was in his sight - and the windows were ripe with golden light. Never did he think he would be glad to see them that bright. But then he skidded to a stop, for a figure stood between him and his house... There was no mistaking that light blue tank top. It was Rainbow Dash. And on her left cheek, was a nasty gash. "Hello, Mac. Still running?" Macintosh went into a full-blown panic. That 'loving' look in her eyes had immediately turned manic. He turned tail and ran the opposite way. So much for attempting to avoid one of them for at least a day. The rainbow-haired woman watched him run with glee; he was oh so fast when he had to flee. She let him go, giving him a head start - she did not have the heart to keep up with him before he had gone the length of a stone's throw. True to her feelings, she reappeared a few yards in front of him. His chances of evading her completely were slim. She stepped forward menacingly, brandishing the same jagged, but now bloody knife that the first stalker held devilishly. "You do know that I can always catch up to you, Mac. Why run? We were made for each other. We should be together." "We're only going to be together when I'm dead, you crazy bitch!" "Then I'll make love to your dead body!" The man was left silenced. His urge to scream at this claim was unsuppressed. "Are you kidding me?!" "No!" She closed the distance, raising the knife. Mac began to wonder what caused her obsession with his life... [>!<] Big Macintosh groaned as he was waking out of his dream world. He was still lying on the floor of his room, and a blurred Applejack was in his vision. His vision then cleared; everything remained the same since the last time he had seen them, albeit the fact that his sister now looked relieved at him. She immediately offered a hand to help him up - and he slowly accepted it. Only when he was on his feet did he feel the effects of his concussion. "Ow." "Mac! Are you okay?" She asked quickly. Her other hand held a bottle of pills."Feel dizzy? Feel like you want to vomit? Forgot what happened?" He reached for the bottle, but instead of taking it, he lowered her hand down. "No, not at all." "Are you sure?" She insisted. Mac grunted and massaged the back of his head. "Yes, Applejack. I'm sure." He glanced at the clock, but his eyes didn't linger on it. How long was he out? Rather than finding out for himself, he turned to his sister. "How long was I out?" "Thirty-two minutes." She said simply. The man raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Really? I was out for that long?" "Yeah... you were breathing deeply too. Sounded like you were running for your life." She mused, mostly to herself. Big Macintosh paled. "I was?" She nodded, then her face changed to convey worry. "Yes." "What's going on with you, Mac? Is there something you're not telling me?" She continued. "There is... but I'd rather not tell you. You won't look at things the same way again." He mumbled. "Just please, Mac, tell me. I can handle it." She said, but there was a hint of nervousness in her voice. Big Macintosh leaned closer to her ear. "You won't. For your sake, I'm not telling you. This is my problem, not yours." "Brother... please." She begged. "You've become cold and withdrawn. Apple Bloom's scared of you now. I am too." "I... I can't." He looked away slowly. "Like I told you, this is my problem, not yours. Let me deal with it alone." "Please!" She half-sobbed. "I don't know what's happened to you, but you're still my brother! Let me help you!" It took his entire will to ignore her. "I'm going to go bucking now. I'll see you outside." Applejack slowly broke down sobbing as he left his room. It was killing him deep inside, but he had to endure it. But compared to the horrific things he experienced, this was an easy one to manage. He sighed as he stopped in front of the first apple tree in the first row of many apple trees. He dropped his deep baskets under it. The apple bucking on his side of the ranch was going to take some time. But Big Macintosh was fine with this. It was better than letting his family know that three psychopaths each wanted him for their own - dead or alive - and that they would hurt or kill anyone who would even try to stop them from getting him. He sighed again. He hoped that he would do no deliveries later today to three certain places he wished to avoid... [>!<] Deep in Everfree Forest, a house's inhabitants were slowly coming to life. Fluttershy yawned as she rose from her slumber. Angel Bunny, who was sleeping on her chest, fell down without warning. From his messy position on the bed, he sleepily glared at his owner, shutting his eyes again to get back to sleep. She giggled, then picked him up and placed him to a more comfortable position somewhere else. "Good morning, sleepyhead." She said, scratching her pet bunny's ears. The fluffball enjoyed the feeling, then hopped to the bed and returned to sleep on her pillow. She smiled at this. Fixing her bed minus the pillow, Fluttershy stretched and promptly went to take a shower. Her smiled widened with each step, for she was busily scanning the pictures that she took and glued on her walls. They reached the ceiling, where she had painted a blue butterfly wing design on it to match the colours in her room, now covered completely. All the pictures she glued on to every blank space she could find shared a similarity: They all held pictures of Big Macintosh. And some of them weren't of the decent kind, too. Out of all the pictures, two particularly stood out. In one, there was Big Macintosh, giving a sleeping Apple Bloom a piggy-back ride on the way back to the farm from school. Beside him was a smiling Cheerilee, holding a book close to her chest, looking at the man. Well, that was what she looked like in the picture before Fluttershy crossed her out. The other one had Big Macintosh in his jeans, with a half-naked Cheerilee straddling him in her apartment. The picture was taken through a window, so the images were slightly blurred, but it was clear enough for Fluttershy to draw a red circle around her head. As for the man, there were some written text near him, but they were smudged. The captions on the same picture read "DEAD" below the woman and "MINE" below the man respectively. The pinkette stopped in her tracks to observe the second picture. She dropped her smile instantly. "Soon..." She murmured, her hand instinctively reaching for the knife wound she sustained on her arm last week. "You will be mine again, Macintosh. That bitch will die for taking you away from me." She hissed. "You will be mine." She proceeded to enter her shower after calming herself, taking off her clothes. She had a lot of things to plan. Chapter IIIInside the house, Applejack could hear her older brother and someone else yelling. Whatever the subject was about, there was no telling. The long-haired blond peeked through her room's curtain, for the identity of her brother's 'associate' was uncertain. Suspicion was swelling in her chest - she saw in the darkness outside that Big Macintosh was partially undressed. And suddenly, there was a sickening, flesh-tearing sound. The blond man was instantly downed. Immediately, she screamed. He was hurt badly, it seemed. She rushed to get the first aid kit behind her door, not minding the commotion she was causing, since her eyes had saw the oozing bright red blood not pausing - Mac's body was bleeding more. His face was pale. He found it hard to inhale. From the cold muddy ground, he realized he was unbound... But his hands' freedom came at a cost; for parts of his wrists' skin were lost. Rainbow Dash was long gone, overjoyed to get a small part of him and so on. She had one of her long overdue goals finally accomplished. At this however, she was barely astonished. But never she minded - now she had something of his own to look at when her feelings for Macintosh had to be reminded. As he lay bleeding, the light in his eyes were receding. His thoughts were scattered. Amidst this, clearly he remembered the moments he spent with Cheerilee that mattered. [>!<] In a way, it was quite funny. They first met on a day that was sunny. That same day was the first day they went to kindergarten school together - they were drawn to each other like birds of a feather. The roots of their romantic relationship was simply pure love at first sight. They truly felt something to one another, alright. Not one person could refute that. A logical argument, they would fail to arrive at. The years wandered pass until they became graduates of Canterlot's only university. All that time, they still held feelings for each other, no matter their lives' diversity. Everyone, including their teachers as well as their parents, preferred to leave them be. Nobody was willing to ruin a happy, yet not full heartedly pursued shy relationship that anyone in love could easily relate to and see. She was his cute, fair lady, and he was her smiling, gallant knight. Anyone who disagreed with the fact above had to answer to their friends' combined might. [>!<] He was brought back to the world of consciousness. Mac wasn't sure of it, as he wondered if he had really been unconscious. There was no light of any kind filtering in through the tiniest gaps of his closed eyes. Had Death's cold clutches caught him after his demise? He felt nothing. There was no noise - not even a fly's slightest buzzing. This was getting eerie, he decided. He opened his eyes with the remaining strength his body provided. He was still lying on the ground. Raising himself on to sitting position, the lack of a stinging pain on his wrists was a sign that he was cured of his unexpected flesh wound. But how? For once, it didn't seem to matter now. What mattered the most was keeping his 'secret' safe and his sanity intact. Still he had to ponder: how much had his family suffered by his new attitude's impact? He shook those thoughts away; it was better for them not to know than them being dragged into the hidden fray. He had to change from being generally friendly to depressingly cold for their sakes - they knew not how high were the stakes. 'This is for the best', Mac always repeated in his head. Though it still would come as a surprise for anyone to hear that others now wished him dead. "Brother! What in the Princesses' names happened?!" Applejack cried as she approached, carrying a first aid kit. Her brother had never seen her this frightened, he had to admit. She rushed to his side, taking out what she could out to ease his pain. Wiping her eyes out of disbelief at the lack of anything bad on his body was something she had to self-restrain. Her mouth fell open. The logical set of actions she would have followed was broken. "What in the... Where is the blood?! Where are the wounds?! What the heck is going on?!" Big Macintosh knew she was in a state of horrified confusion, so had to use this fact for an allusion. "Magic, and a bondage fetish gone almost horribly wrong. That's whats going on." He struggled up until he was on his feet, ignoring his heart's skip of a beat. He had lied. But he was going to let it slide. "Wha... What?" The younger sibling continued to stare. He mentally cursed; he had to find a better excuse next time with great care. "Just... just don't ask why, okay?" "Uhm... okay. But who hurt you?" He put his head down in shame. Oh well, it wouldn't hurt to say a name. "Ms. Dash." "Oh, right... wait, what?" It wouldn't have been easily proven to be true, but whatever she was thinking was perhaps, not good for you. "Yeah... about that, she's into men that way." Macintosh shrugged. "For real?" Then his mind flashed back to the exact moment he was drugged. Again, he mentally cursed. Of all the things he hadn't expected to be spiked with sedatives, it had to be the bottle of cider he was given and drunk back at the Sugarcube Corner, of course. Whoever spiked his drink took the chance to 'bring' him somewhere safe where nobody could hear him scream. If his captor hadn't been attacked by his other stalkers, his family would have been forced to assemble a search team. Thankfully, amidst their fighting, he had woken up and escaped. But seconds later did he chillingly realized that he nearly was going to get raped. His missing coat, footwear and unzipped jeans were proof of it. His peaceful night out drinking alone had become something that was beyond the level of shit. This was way past getting out of hand, although the idea of being wanted viciously by women to other men was grand. "You know what? Forget about what happened and what I said. I need a damn cold shower." The wind rustled the countless leaves in the trees. It was followed up with a cold breeze. "Look, I'm not sure if I have any idea on what's going on, but I need answers, Mac. We need to talk inside. Now." He sighed, though it sounded better than staying outside. "Fine. But let's not talk about this ever again." Now Mac had to limit how much of the truth he would have to spill. Otherwise, Applejack probably might fall ill. [>!<] Big Macintosh had finished his side of the ranch, while Applejack was close to finishing hers. After several hours of non-stop full apple crate managing, the eldest walked to the truck, revving it up then driving towards the road that led to Ponyville without a word. Looking over her shoulder discreetly, Applejack could see that Mac had glanced at his wristwatch, before he picked up the truck's usually slow pace. To her surprise, he then sped off without wearing a seatbelt. Disregard for safety meant that it was important. "Where's he going?" Applejack asked herself whilst noting it, before returning to work. The dots were slowly connecting in her mind. One thing was for certain - a woman was involved. But... was that it? Inside the house, Apple Bloom was peeking at Applejack through her slightly closed windows. Seeing such tension between the two of them was something she didn't see everyday - and it troubled her. Why did her eldest brother, of all the people she never disliked, had to turn downright distant, even to his family? Barring her thoughts, she picked up her walkie-talkie. "Sweetie Belle? Are you there?" There was silence for a few seconds, then her friend responded. "Yes, I'm here. Are you okay, Apple Bloom?" "I'm fine. Things have gotten worse at the farm, though. My older brother and sister fought again... I think." "That's not nice. Why don't you ask your sister to let you have some fun? Me and Scootaloo will pick you up." "Uhm... okay. But I'm not sure if she's going to agree. I'll see you later, then. Hopefully." She put it down as doubts began to form in her mind. Better to ask her older sister if she could hang out with her friends for a while than to get out and do that without her permission, thought. Just as she was going to leave her room to get herself some water, there came a new, unexpected voice from the device. It was Rarity. And she sounded really, really eager. "Hello? Apple Bloom? Are you there?" The little girl rushed back to pick it up. "Hello, Ms. Rarity. Why are you using Sweetie Belle's walkie-talkie?" "I was going to ask if Big Macintosh is there, deary. Or... is he out of the farm at the moment?" Apple Bloom's eyes narrowed. The seamstress never called her before. Why now? What did she want from him? Sure, he had become distant, but Mac was and always will be her loved older brother; there was always time to make things right between them all, and Apple Bloom still wanted him to be with her teacher, Cheerilee, not with anyone else. So she had to lie, not wanting to take any chances of romance between Rarity and Mac. "No, Ms. Rarity, he's here at the farm working on the apple trees, but I reckon it'll take him another hour or two to finish up. He can't talk to anyone right now, he's got his hands full." "Oh, I see... Well, can you call me back when he's free?" She sounded disappointed. But there was a kind of tone in her voice that Apple Bloom couldn't put a finger on. "I'll try. I'll talk to you later then, Ms. Rarity." Rarity went off and was replaced by an excited Sweetie Belle. "Apple Bloom, we'll be there in ten minutes despite whatever your sister will say. See you soon!" "Okay! But where are we going to hang out, anyways?" "The Sugarcube Corner! Last I heard, Ms. Pie was going to make an apple cake. We could help her bake it! It'll be loads of fun!" The redhead grinned for the first time in days at the good news, feeling excited. "Sweet! I'll get the right to take a slice out of it first!" "Not if I can help it!" Both giggling because they knew there was much fun to be had later, they put the line down at the same time. Apple Bloom hadn't forgotten about Rarity's earlier call, though. It had put the youngest Apple in a state of suspicion. She knew she had best keep an eye on her for now. Now she wanted to ask her friend Sweetie Belle if she noticed anything different about her older sister lately. It seemed like things weren't as they appeared to be at first glance... As she walked outside to ask her sister about her upcoming visit to the Sugarcube Corner, her gut feeling became active. For some reason, Apple Bloom believed that somehow, something far away was not going to end well. Chapter IVIt was a long rocky drive, but at the rate Big Macintosh was covering ground at the moment, it was only going to take him only a few minutes' worth of fuel to get himself to his destination. He didn't give a damn about the fact that the police could see him drive at that reckless speed and force him to pull over for everyone else's safety. What was more important now was to see Cheerilee and see if she was alright. But he had something to do first. Going off the main road, he set off in the direction of Zecora's hut deep in Everfree Forest. He needed her advice. As eccentric the local alchemist was, she was the one of the few women whom he could trust without any fear of the possible consequences. After all, she was the one that cured his little sister from the dreaded Cutie Pox. They never met eye-to-eye on a regular basis before, however. He had to remain careful. If she held feelings like his stalkers had for him, there was no telling what kind of love or wrath she would unleash upon him. Visiting her alone also had unfortunate, sexual implications - if he would refuse her possible advances, she would be able to make all sorts of horrible claims - and nobody would be able to prove her wrong. The following scandal for everyone involved would shame the Apple family into leaving Ponyville. Although unlikely, this was something that Big Macintosh wished to prevent, but without some spiritual help, his secret, which he considered was more valuable than what could happen in the next minutes or so, would eventually be revealed. He was faced with a hard choice, that much was sure. But now was not the time to think about it all. He had to remain focused whilst driving - otherwise, the results would be messy. There was a sudden nip in the air as he drove deeper into the forest. The dirt road began alternating between dry and muddy. The slow-moving giant clouds above it shadowed the farther parts of the area. The sun was still high, but unfortunately the light it provided was not enough to pierce the thick grey clouds nor the dull green tree-tops. The growing darkness ahead made Big Macintosh weary. Then it rained, making everything darker. He grunted as he slowed the truck's speed. "Just when visiting Zecora seemed easy to manage..." Mac grumbled. The blond then rummaged through the glove compartment. In it, he only found a small umbrella and a flash-light. They were better than nothing being used at all. He already had his phone with him in his pocket, but he wanted nothing to do with it. The last time he cared to check, he had about six-hundred thirty-two ignored voice messages. Most of which came from three certain women. He remembered the nights he spent deleting the voice messages save the ones which came from friends. The first time he experienced this was disturbing since he listened to all of them; their voices full of emotion yet were dripping in a strange mixture of love and lust - all of which were each begging him to come back to them. Eventually, this freaked him out to the point that he deleted them as soon as they appeared, but as it turned out, these women had plenty of free time on their hands. At least every five minutes or so - or depending on what kind of day it was - new messages would pop up, only to be then replaced by newer and newer messages. Mac had given up all hope in deleting all of them. It was unending. He immediately stopped thinking about it. Though he hated to admit it, he was scared by their senders. "Why had they turned out like this?" He thought. "Was it because I was nice to them?" A bright flash of yellow from something on the road up ahead caused him to naturally brake, breaking his thoughts. And it just happened that he braked on muddy ground. The truck began to skid, then began to swerve, and eventually, it began to spin. Everything became a blur as he lost control, like when he fell from his bed while under the bed sheets earlier that morning, but with an enhanced feeling of nausea and muted horror. The wind-shield wipers cleared Mac's view long enough for him to see that he was going to crash... [>!<] The impact was felt throughout the forest, causing the nearby wildlife to scatter in surprise. Not far away, Zecora immediately woke up from her nap. "What the..." She mouthed groggily, before the true nature of the sound finally revealed itself to her. "Huh?" "A crash?" She asked herself in disbelief before getting her cloak. "And I thought it was Rainbow Dash..." Putting it on quickly, she rushed out of her door to the pouring rain. Ignoring the pellets of cold water pestering her face, she quickly made her way to the crash site following the direction of the black smoke's origin. The rain made it hard for her to hear and see clearly, but she had to manage for the sake of the person in the accident. Finally, she made it to the road. She saw a red truck, whose wind-shields were cracked beyond recognition. The driver's cracked door was hanging ajar - a sign that the impact was strong. Upon closer inspection, she realized that this truck seemed familiar. Seeing the logo on one of the crates in the back, she discovered that it was the Apple family's delivery truck. And she knew that the only person allowed to drive it around was none other than... The horror of knowing who drove the vehicle then kicked in for Zecora. "Big Macintosh!" She screamed as her legs sprung forward automatically, hoping that he wasn't hurt badly. When she reached the door, to her surprise, nobody was there, although there were traces of blood on the seats. "Oh no..." She murmured in shock. "Please do not let it be so..." She then looked around. There were no discernible footprints in the mud leading away from the vehicle. And now she felt like she was being watched, but from where? She couldn't care to guess, plus the fact that the man had gone missing after the crash was straining her attention span - where could he had gone? Rather than risk getting lost while searching for the concussed man, she had to call for help. Although she knew the forest more than anyone else, there were still dangers that lurked within, waiting for unwitting prey. Timberwolves were dangerous, more so in a weather like this. The woman hoped that, wherever Mac went, it wasn't too late. "Stay put, Mac! With help, I'll come back!" She yelled to her surroundings as she ran to Ponyville's direction. High above the truck, on a strong tree branch, Fluttershy smiled as she stroked her unconscious ex-boyfriend's hair. [>!<] Cheerilee was worriedly thinking about her lover. It had been a week since she last saw of him - and the feeling in the pit of her stomach wasn't easing itself in the slightest. She glanced at the clock above her apartment door. It was past noon already, and he still hadn't come. She clutched her phone closer to her chest; she had already attempted to call him, but he never picked her call up. She tried to think about happy things to pre-occupy her mind. Her mind reeled back at the night where she was drunk from drinking with friends at a bar and brought home to her apartment by a half-sober Macintosh. The details were sketchy, but both remembered clearly that they ended up making love under the influence of alcohol. That night was the same night where she had lost her virginity to him. And she didn't regret it, either. Nor did Mac. Actually, it was the one thing they needed so they could be together at last without any doubt. But after a pregnancy test, it turned out that their fate together was truly sealed - she was pregnant with his child. It came as a shock to Mac, but to Cheerilee it was more than good news, despite their lines of work and home life. After awkward apologies and arduous talking (in Mac's case) they fully accepted what had happened, and they immediately planned what to do next as an official couple. Although they hadn't told anyone about it yet. One thing was for certain: he would propose to her in front of everyone. Only then would everyone know. She blushed at the cute thought. Their decision to make it official would make three young girls extremely happy with the news. But then that feeling in her stomach worsened. Call it her gut feeling, but she felt that her future husband was hiding something from her. That, and she hadn't seen him in a week, caused some internal doubts. She shook those doubts away. He probably was too busy all week long like the way she was teaching at school. Maybe that was the cause of his absence. But still, she had sent text messages to him, and so far there was no reply. Was he preparing a surprise? Was he out of town? Was he avoiding her for a reason? So many questions popped up in her head, but all were silenced with her belief that he would remain forever faithful to her. After all, he was the father of their child. He wouldn't leave them for another woman without a word or reason. She glanced at the clock again. Hopefully he had read the latest text message she sent him and was rushing to her by now. Long, silent moments passed. She sighed sadly, before attempting to call him again. Her call, once more, wasn't picked up. "Mac, where are you?" She asked herself mournfully shortly afterwards. Chapter VIt was dusk, and Applejack was alone, with Apple Bloom still at the Sugarcube Corner and Granny Smith taking a bath. She was expectantly waiting for her brother at the front porch, done with her work a while ago. She sat at the rocking chair her grand mother usually occupied, looking at the road leading to town, repeatedly attempting to call her older brother on the phone. And despite her stubborn efforts, there was no response from him at all. It was irking the freckled blond to no end, as she had received orders for apple crates earlier, only to tell the callers that they couldn't do deliveries today due to... unexpected developments. While disappointed, they expressed interest calling some other time, but the woman wasn't so sure how long she could keep them willing to buy. "Gosh darnit, Mac." She muttered under her breath, checking her watch. "Where are you when I need you?" Though she wasn't too concerned with the lost chances of getting some monetary inflow for the farm, they needed the money to manage the entire apple farm. Her brother's absence was giving her - and the rest of the family too - plenty of trouble like the time he got injured before that day before an applebucking season. He better give her a good explanation of why he left earlier today. Otherwise, she couldn't imagine how well she'll react to whatever he was going to say for his excuse. It was so unlike her brother, leaving without a word, but if the seasons could change, then so can people. Applejack, by this time, firmly believed that he seeing someone. But the question was, who was he seeing? Or worse yet, how many women was he seeing? Evidence was piling up. Deep and careful thinking, as well as half-buried memories from last week's various events, pointed fingers to many women, and rather than rushing in blindly and accusing said women of sleeping with her older brother instantly, she narrowed the numbers down. So far, three names were still in her head: Cheerilee, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy. Big Macintosh having a relationship with Cheerilee was understandable; the two of them knew each other since kindergarten and even graduated together. Him with Rainbow Dash, on the other hand, was still likely, but their personalities clashed with each other. And the blond tried her hardest not to dwell on her supposed BDSM fetish. She only got her brother's word about that. And so far, she hadn't had the guts to ask her best friend about it. Then with Fluttershy. She knew they had a loving relationship that lasted a year. What caused its abrupt breakdown was still a mystery to her - and the man acted as if he never knew her intimately, but if asked, he would simply shrug and say they just drifted apart. Even she was surprised when she heard about it. The blond felt that there was more than he let on about the relationship. A man like Macintosh and a woman like Fluttershy wouldn't just 'drift apart'. Something horrible must have happened between the two of them. It was troubling to think. It took them a year to hook up. They only took a day to then break up. Did they had a fight? It was one thing to respect one's desire to leave personal matters alone. It was another to snoop around in them. She wanted to find out what the reason was, but common sense said that it wasn't worth it. And besides, she knew her brother well enough to guess that if his buttons were pressed beyond their limit, the result would be scary. Applejack sighed in frustration, ridding her mind of unneeded thoughts, then turned to glare at the road. "When I get my hands on you, you will regret acting unlike yourself..." She muttered to herself. A rising trail of dust clouds in the distance caught her attention. Before she knew it, she was on her feet, ready to release a string of anger-fueled ranting at her brother as soon as he walked up to her. Something wasn't right, however. He was driving up to the front porch instead of the truck's usual parking spot right next to the barn. To her surprise and annoyance, the car he was driving wasn't a truck. She blinked. "What in tarnation?" Big Macintosh obviously was not the kind of person to waste their hard-earned income on another car, so it had to be someone else driving up to her. Upon recognizing what kind of vehicle it was, she froze. It was a police car, belonging to a local officer by the name of Johnny Law, a tall toned man with black hair and blue eyes. And an officer coming to the house could only mean... Oh no. The sympathetic look she saw on the man's face as his window lowered did not help ease her fears. [>!<] Big Macintosh awoke in a pitch-black room. He was wet all over, his worn jeans felt like they were torn at the most random of places, his dirty work shirt was unbuttoned, and his legs felt like they had been hit by weights. He groaned and tried to get his hand to clutch his face. But he couldn't. He realized afterwards that he was tied to an old metal chair, whose frame was half rusted. Panic kicked in. Being tied up meant bad news. The blond still had enough strength in his arms to attempt breaking the chains binding him, but decided that it wasn't the right time. He could barely move his legs, and if he did, then they hurt. Added with the fact that he just regained his consciousness, his body - more importantly his legs - still needed to recover from the aftershock of the accident. Plus, he knew where he was. Of course he would know. This wasn't the first time he was tied up down here. The air smelled of familiar animals and fruits. He was in a certain ex girlfriend's basement. "Shit." He would have chosen a more colourful word to express his horror, but his mind focused on escaping. The door to the basement suddenly opened. White light rushed in, revealing a figure entering through the frame before it was shut. The basement returned to darkness. There was a click, and the light bulb above him turned on, temporarily blinding Mac. Eyes hurting, he swore once more. A giggle came from the new presence. "Good evening, Macintosh." An all too familiar voice greeted him as his sight returned. He looked up despite himself. A petite woman dressed in a buttoned cream-coloured gown was descending the stairs, the wood beneath her feet creaking. Dust fell down from their steps in small layers, having not been used until recently. Her long pink hair was combed and clipped neatly, and her oddly glowing aquamarine eyes were focused on the man sitting in the middle of the room. She began humming a tune he was familiar with. It was from a local folk song, one that the man knew by heart. It was his favourite tune, but her humming it did not make him feel at ease - only more willing to escape. Her lips rose to show him a warm, genuine smile. Why she did so however, the man did not want to think about it. Finally reaching the bottom of the stairs, she walked towards him... with another gleaming, jagged knife in hand. "Fluttershy." The blond venomously spat as she approached, still humming. "Still hate me as usual, I see?" The pinkette asked, before giggling then resuming her humming. "Let me go!" Macintosh roared, his deep-seated anger for his ex-girlfriend surging. The woman fell silent, but her captive could see that she was fighting back an urge to hurt him. "I'd rather keep you down here." She said darkly. "I love you, Big Macintosh. I always did, even after you left me." Despite her light weight, his legs began to hurt when she started to straddle him. Her free hand was caressing his face, whilst her knife hand was dangerously close to his jugular vein. Mac was repulsed by her touch - although it was smooth and gentle - with good reason: even though she looked sane, she was still mentally unstable. "But I wonder if you love me back. Do you? Of course you don't. You love Cheerilee." She murmured. He paled. "H-How did you..." She knew about what happened. Somehow, she knew. Cheerilee's life was on the line. Knowing Fluttershy, she would kill her and his child, and there would be nearly nothing he could to stop her in his injured state. He had to buy time, but how could he tell her about his crazy ex soon coming to get her? He had no options. The pinkette leaned her face closer to his own, breaking his sentence. She smelled nice, as she probably took a bath before going down to see him, while he smelled faintly of smoke, dirt, and blood. Her caressing hand moved to exploring his chest, cheeks blushing and lust flaring up - but she still kept that disturbing, warm smile. "I followed and watched you." She whispered in his ear. "I hate to admit it. You did her harder than you did me." She followed up in her action by kissing him in the neck, just right above where she placed her knife. Both a chill and a sensation of pleasure ran down his spine - and though he was determined to not to be seduced by her, it was hard to concentrate while a knife was ready to slit his throat only at a moment's notice. "Leave her out of this. She has no clue about us!" He whispered back fearfully, ignoring the pleasure he felt. She narrowed her eyes and dropped the smile. "Oh, so you care about her more than you cared for me?" He unintentionally gulped, earning his neck pricks from the knife's sharp edges. "I..." She put a finger on his lips, smirking as she saw the look on his face. "Don't answer. I know you do." She swooped down to kiss him - not on his neck like before, but on his lips. The action was as gentle as her earlier touching, but smoother, and though he was unwilling, he was getting aroused by this. Long, agonizing minutes later, Fluttershy finally broke the kiss. She was satisfied with what she had felt and done... for the moment. "You can do whatever you want to me, but leave her alone. Please. Just leave her alone." He begged breathlessly. "I'll... think about it." She said smugly, toying with him. "In the meantime, why don't we talk about ourselves?" Big Macintosh reluctantly nodded in response; he was going to have the damned 'talk' with her. He had nothing in mind to say to her to dissuade her from whatever she was going to do after it, and she made a point of reminding him about what previously happened in the basement with a casual twirl of her knife occasionally. "First things first... Why did you leave me, Mac?" Her voice was lowered, but he could see her turn serious. A flashback of Fluttershy screaming madly as he restrained her from hurting a pizza delivery girl who was inadvertently flirting with him replayed in his mind. Then came another flashback in which he was pulled away to an alley, to his shock, by three pretty women who each asked for his number... only for them to be attacked by the pinkette. The man sighed, remembering all too well the reason why, wishing he forgot what it was. "I left you for your own good, Fluttershy. You became obsessed with me." His voice was barely a whisper. "But isn't that a good thing?!" She snapped. "I was keeping you faithful to me, because you were mine!" "You also alienated one of my friends. You hurt Wind Whistler for just talking to me." He said solemnly. "She had it coming. I know you wanted to cheat on me, and you wanted to do it with her!" She defended. "That's a lie. I never wanted to cheat on you back then." He countered calmly. "Oh yeah?! Then what about that time I caught you on top of her, huh?!" She shrieked. Great. The mention of that incident caught him slightly off-guard. "I... tripped. It was just an accident." It didn't sound convincing, but as far as he cared... better him dead than Wind. "Like there was anything for you to trip on the floor! You wanted to screw her there and then!" She snarled. Fluttershy cupped his chin and pulled his face closer to hers - so close that they felt their breaths. The look on her face suddenly relaxed to show depression and - if Mac wasn't hallucinating - regret. Tears were forming in her eyes, and the grip on her knife was weakening. The man, seeing this, looked away. He had forgotten that she was still a human being, like him. He was the reason for her sorrow and her anguish. If he only kept her in check, she wouldn't have turned out like this... "Your affections are so fickle, Mac." She whispered sadly, tears flowing slowly. "I thought you loved me." "You were the only man that gave me all what I ever wanted: love, companionship, and happiness. I felt so lonely and depressed each day that eventually I... wanted to kill myself. But you found me in time, and stopped me from dying. And that same night, when you said you loved me, I thought you meant it. I believed you... and look at what's happened to me!" The pinkette gestured to herself with an almost maniacal swing of her knife, sobbing all the while. "I didn't want anyone to take you away from me, because I didn't want to be alone and depressed! Sure, the animals keep me company and they love me, but it's not the same! That's why I acted that way to every woman I saw you with! How could you leave me, Mac, after all the things I've done to keep you?! How could you throw me away like that?!" Big Macintosh was too guilty to say anything remotely comforting to her. He looked down at his feet in shame. She continued. "You're the cruellest person I've ever met! Why did you show me your love if you planned to make my life worse by breaking up with me?! You could've just left me to die that night! You shouldn't have admitted your feelings to me! I never felt so hurt after you left me crying and screaming your name at my door, watching you walk away, begging you to come back..." But then her wrath returned. Her shedded tears more or less enhanced the creepiness of her following words. "And now... I've learned what I could from all my mistakes. The only thing I have to do is to make you love me again. I don't care about what it'll take to make you mine forever: If I have to kill my only friends, then I will. If I have to kill the Princesses, then I will. If I have to kill you, then I will. I will go that far to keep you to myself Mac, and no-one will stop me." Despite the room basking in white light, the eerie glow of her aquamarine eyes became prominent. "As for that bitch Cheerilee, I'm going to punish her for defiling you. I'm going to make sure that her death will be slow!" Without warning, she embedded her knife deep into the chained man's right knee. He screamed into a world of pain. The way she stabbed it ensured that not also did her action make his right leg near useless, but also ensured that if he tried to escape, he would have a harder time on his hands. To make things worse, she left it stuck deep in his flesh. The jagged knife's sharp and pointy edges were enjoying their fill of his blood, as was the tip of the hilt. "Don't worry, Mac..." She murmured in a loving tone. "When I'm done with her, I'll keep you company for the rest of my life." The blond's vision was dimming. As he watched Fluttershy leaving his prison with a petrol canister, he cried for his true love. "Cheerilee... I'm so sorry..." [>!<] The moon was rising in the sky, but for the people left at the Sugarcube Corner, nobody seemed to care about what time it was. There were no customers remaining; the bakery was closed. Inside, three young girls and their 'teacher' were eating the last of their baked goods - an exquisite apple cake that was really hard to make. The atmosphere in the room was a cheery one as they filled their stomachs with the sugary goodness of the rapidly depleting cake. Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle were poking fun at each other, while Pinkie Pie was content to listen to their laughter as she washed the used kitchen utensils, having already finished her share. That was the case until someone banged on the door. The laughter stopped and everyone stared at it, wondering who would want to go to the bakery at this time of the night. The only adult went to it, drying her hands with a towel. Though the door had a peep hole, it was hard to see who was behind it because of the darkness. "Sorry, but we're closed!" Pinkie called out to the person as she opened the door, wanting to see who it was. To her surprise, it was Lyra Heartstrings. She looked distressed and was sweating. "Pinkie! People need your help!" She breathed. Apparently it seemed that she had run a great distance. "There's a fire!" "What?! Where?!" She asked as surprise turned to concern. The children around the table glanced at each other at the news. "Someone set fire to the apartment block three houses down from where I live! Firefighters are already on the scene, but they can't get to the people in the deeper parts of the building! That's where you come in! You have to do your impossible thing and get as many people as you can from out of there, before it's too late!" Barely finishing her sentence, the cyan-haired women fainted due to her exhaustion afterwards. Pinkie caught her. "Girls! Listen up! Take care of Ms. Heartstrings while I save those people!" She ordered as she gently put Lyra to the floor. Before they could respond, Pinkie ran to the nearest drawer, opened and then jumped into it, then closed it from the inside. The young ones were left in awe at the impossibility of the action made possible. Scootaloo bravely went forwards from her spot at the table to see if she still in there... She only saw shining utensils when she opened it. "Did... Did I just see...?" The purple-haired girl asked herself in disbelief, but even she couldn't finish what she wanted to say. Sweetie Belle shrugged it off as she gathered their cooking mittens to pile up as a makeshift pillow for the unconscious woman. Scootaloo just stood at where she was, still in denial about what just happened, while Apple Bloom quietly forced herself to help in anyway she could with whatever knowledge of first aid she learned from her older siblings. As the reality of the situation dug in, Apple Bloom couldn't help but think that her earlier feelings were proven true. "I hope they're okay." She whispered, not realizing that the apartment burning that night was occupied by her teacher. Chapter VI"We interrupt this early morning program to bring you special news." "An apartment was set on fire in Ponyville last night and firefighters were unable to quell most of the flames. Witnesses claim that a figure seen lurking near the building was responsible for the crime. Updated status reports show that at most two people went missing in the chaos with a confirmed total of sixteen men, twelve women and ten children barely rescued. The fate of the two missing people are yet to be discovered by the authorities; more of the story will unfold today at twelve." "Also from Ponyville, local apple farmer 'Big' Macintosh Apple has gone missing in Everfree Forest, after his delivery truck was found wrecked beyond repair in the area, presumably due to an accident. Police investigators believe that he braked to avoid hitting something on the road, but unfortunately lost control of his vehicle in the process. A volunteer search team has already been organized and has begun searching for him, but so far there has been no luck in tracking his current whereabouts." "In other areas of Equestria-" [>!<] It was during the early hours of the morning that the police department found itself tensed after they saw and heard the news. Then, after what felt like an eternity, Applejack threw the remote control so hard to the screen that it actually shattered into several pieces of electronics and plastic. The alert police officers and arrested criminals alike in the vicinity jumped up in surprise, before they nervously returned to doing whatever they were doing as if nothing out of the blue ever happened. Everything returned to deathly silence again. Ever since she arrived at the precinct with Johnny Law, things were jumpy to say the least. The aforementioned police officer approached her calmly from behind, causing her to spin around, giving him a spiteful 'What?' look despite her teary-eyed appearance and shaking fists. She shook her fists, because she desperately wanted to punch her older brother for acting so damn careless in the first place, and she was teary-eyed because she knew there was a chance that she won't see him ever again. Unfazed, Johnny continued. "Ms. Apple?" "Yes, Officer Law?" She asked with a forced voice. His cool blue eyes scanned her. "You have visitors coming to see you. Your friends." "Tell them to mind their own businesses! And tell them to go away! I don't need their sympathy!" She snapped. The black-haired man sighed at her mixed feelings. "I'm afraid it's too late for that, Ms. Apple." He neatly sidestepped out-of-the-way just in time for the blond to see them coming towards her. There was Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Rarity and Twilight Sparkle as well as Spike, all looking... well, as sympathetic as they could be to her. They looked as if they had just woken up, still sleepy, but the librarian was not included in this view. She seemed to have no need of rest and probably spent some time reading more dusty old tomes of magic or watching late night TV. She was the first to put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. Everyone else either hugged her or gave comforting words. Spike and Johnny hung back and watched them. She looked around. Seeing their faces and hearing their voices turned out to boost her emotional state opposite to what she actually thought. She felt at least happy that her friends, despite her earlier outburst, hadn't abandoned her at the very moment she needed help - normally it would be her brother that would've done a similar thing for her - and now she found herself calming down rapidly due to their presence. "You didn't have to go and see me, everyone." Applejack muttered dejectedly. "As you can see, I'm perfectly fine." "No, you aren't." Twilight whispered to her. "Look at yourself - you're a mess!" Closing her eyes and mouthing an incantation, Twilight caused an aura of purple magic to surround her. She was confused as she felt reinvigorated. Her tears disappeared as the aura dissipated. The stress she endured withered away, the feeling of helpless anguish slowly washing away. Now she was feeling good, but then she felt sheepish at the fact that she had destroyed a remote control and TV via throwing it away in her moments of grief. Which both happened to belong to the police. Who were also helping in the search effort to find Big Macintosh. "Thanks. I guess." "Anytime." They turned to the rest of their friends. But it felt like they were missing someone. "We came here as fast as we could when we heard the news." Fluttershy began. "I know it's horrible for you, darling, but we will find him and bring him back to you." Rarity promised. "Even if it'll take a lot of time, we'll still do it. What are friends for if we aren't willing to help?" Rainbow Dash added. Applejack smiled in appreciation. "I... I don't know what to say. Thanks everyone." Twilight returned the smile. "You're welcome. Again, what are friends for, Applejack?" The moment was interrupted when Johnny's cellphone began to buzz. "Pardon me." He apologized, before leaving the room and taking it out to answer it somewhere else. [>!<] Spike watched him go; heart-to-heart women talk between his older friends, especially something that involved serious adult matters, wasn't really his thing. He'd rather be somewhere else, and, knowing that though he could say something to alleviate the Apple's sorrow, he could not find the right words to say. So he left discreetly while the others were focused on comforting her, temporarily willing to be forgotten by them. Walking through the corridor of passing policemen, some of whom looked tired from recently apprehending criminals, Spike admired the trophies and medals displayed on the walls and glass cabinets - the golden sheen of the cups, the shine of the medals, and especially the unbelievable cleanliness of them all - and wanted to snatch one out for himself, but refrained from doing so as a camera was watching him not too far away. Who would be stupid enough to steal from the police in front of one, anyways? Now, he had wondered what it'd be like if he was one of them, having a badge and uniform of his own and catching and putting behind bars anyone who had committed a crime. Sure, he may be a kid, but there was no telling what he'll turn out to be once he was all grown up. Being an officer of the law seemed awesome; the payroll was good, he could own a gun, and most importantly, he could be famous. Fame was something the purple clothed kid wanted to have. He would be happy to know that there were people out there admiring him for his efforts, respecting his judgement, and appreciating the work he'd do to keep their entire community safe as a police officer. They would also love him, hail him as a hero, eventually worship him, and then, at the height of his career, would he be able to finally get the woman of his dreams: Rarity. But alas, he was still a boy, and what he thought was nothing more than wishful thinking. And speaking of Rarity, he had a burning desire to make her his. Of course, it was heart breaking for him, with Rarity seeing him as just a kid with a crush on her every time he stopped by and helped - oblivious to the fact that, yes, he did really love her - added with the problem that she was seeing someone else; whose identity he had yet to find out. From what he guessed, it was obvious she was with a man who neglected her almost always... And who was certainly good-looking and undoubtedly, tall and muscular. There were only a few men in Ponyville that met all the above criteria, and by 'few' they were 'rare' in a way. But good looks, height, and muscles weren't everything a woman could want from a man. There was also the account of his wealth, his personality, and finally, his status within society itself. Filthy Rich was the only person around in miles to ace all the criteria that Spike knew Rarity liked in a man. But then again, the kid deemed that the man himself was innocent of any association with her. He knew he had no good reason to cheat on his beautiful and loving wife. He had no good reason to ruin his reputation with the people of Equestria. And he had no good reason to create a massive scandal that would see him lose all what he held dear by being found 'visiting' Rarity while he wasn't there in her Boutique on 'business' terms. Everytime Spike thought he finally found out who it was, he would only end up back at square one due to one tiny error or misplaced detail about the said someone. Love could only get him so far, but he was determined to find out once and for all, and, if he could muster up his courage, make him leave by saying that Rarity only liked him for his money and good looks, not for his personality or his love... So that Spike could continue to be with her. But if that wasn't enough to make him leave the seamstress, well... "I wonder where the police keep their guns." [>!<] Apple Bloom was in her room studying, with Granny Smith having falling asleep in her chair outside after waiting for Applejack to return. It was like a normal day at the farm: no arguments, no crying, no tension, but with no older siblings in sight. After she was delivered home by Lyra's friend Bon-Bon in her car last night, you would expect her to rush to her older sister and ask if she knew about what was going on in town. Imagine her surprise when she found a note saying she was asked by the police to help their task force and agreed to because they desperately needed her help. And of course, imagine her concern when Applejack also mentioned in the note that her brother ran into some 'technical difficulties' with the truck and may not return home until night or possibly tomorrow morning as well. Which was strange. The truck never broke down before. So the night passed by quickly for her after showering and going to bed because it was past her bedtime. The morning after, she was worried because her older brother still hadn't returned from his trip to wherever he was going yesterday. Two older siblings not in the house or not out working on the trees was something she could never get used to. It was just weird in itself. Only the homework given to her by her teacher a while ago (which she usually finished at the last second) was the only thing that could keep her company and pre-occupied. Right beside her papers on her study table was her trusty walkie-talkie, recharged and ready to be used. Tempted to use it, but remembering that her grades were slowly falling and that she kept it hidden from her busy family, she returned to answering her math paper, struggling to resume with question number six as it had asked her to use Pythagoras' Theorem to calculate the length of a triangle's hypotenuse. By now it was too much for her mind to handle. She groaned in frustration and slumped on the table, her pen falling to the floor from her lax hand. "If only big brother was here." She murmured. Her walkie-talkie then blurted out a voice. "Good morning, Apple Bloom. Are you there?" It was Scootaloo. Glad for something that would grant her reprieve from her mathematical problem, she eagerly reached for it. "I'm here, Scootaloo. Good morning. What's shaking?" There was a sort of hesitant pause from the other end of the line. "Are you feeling okay? Have... Have you seen the news lately?" "Yeah, I'm fine. And about the news, I haven't. Why'd cha ask?" A near-muffled gasp followed, followed by a somewhat coincidental cough. "Oh, nevermind that. Just curious. Anyways, do you need help with your math homework? I finished mine already." A sudden change in subject always meant that the talker was hiding something. The red-head knew this very well as she was both instigator of the ploy - when she wanted to lay her older siblings off her back when they were close to finding out what she had been up to lately - and victim of it when she caught them doing something they normally didn't do, like the time she found Applejack eating oranges from a crate in the barn. "Woah woah woah, wait, hold on a moment. Really, why'd cha ask me if I've seen the news?" "Uh... its nothing, Bloom, really! Like I said, I was just curious!" "Sure you are. I can tell you're lying to me, Scoot. You're such a bad liar, you know. Can you just tell me what is it?" Dead silence followed. A minute passed, then another. Three minutes later, there was still no response. "... Hello? Are you still there, Scootaloo?" Then the sound of the line being closed abruptly interrupted the silence. Apple Bloom winced from the noise. "Darn it!" She half-mouthed as she covered her right ear. Once the ringing in her ear was gone, she returned her device to its stand, grumbling about giving the purplette a stern talking to later after she had done her homework, but also in the meanwhile wishing she hadn't ignored her offer of help with her math paper. The five remaining unanswered questions on it didn't look so appealing or easy the last time she dared to see for herself. "The news, huh?" She said to herself, cupping her chin in deep thought, put off by them. She pondered about why her friend refused to answer her question or confirmed her thoughts. It wasn't like Scootaloo, but since she had been through hay and back with her on many occasions along with Sweetie Belle, she must have done so for good reasons. Really, really good reasons. As willingly as she could, the red-head tried to return to her homework, trying to avoid getting too thoughtful about it. However, the more she tried to quell her curiosity, the more she became reluctant to continue with her increasingly difficult math questions. Then it got the best of her. Her concentration completely snapped. Her paper can wait. She had a twelve o'clock news channel to watch. "Okay Scootaloo, I'm going to see what it's about. This better not be a waste of time." Sneaking down the stairs to make sure her grandmother would stay asleep, she turned on the TV. She was completely unprepared for what she was about to see and hear. [>!<] Octavia, her violin and bow in hand, walked up to the stage with her fellows to the cheer of today's audience. It was the start of one of her many tours across the land with her companions. Their musical talents near-legendary, and often employed by the rich to perform at concerts or at events such as social gatherings, it was no wonder that they were having the time of their lives, being paid by others to do what they did best; make wondrous classical music. In the Canterlot Royal Theatre, the lavish seats were all occupied. But the air was stuffy, and it was rather warm. For the people watching them live on TV, they were much, much comfortable. Fluttershy couldn't say otherwise, having finished visiting Applejack, apologizing for being unable to stay for long. As the sounds from the audience subsided and the musicians sat down, the conductor raised his baton to signal the beginning. In perfect unison, the violins let loose their sweet, enchanting music. Octavia held a small smile as her hands guided her bow instinctively. It was unnoticeable from far back, but very much noticeable up front; the conductor shared her smile as his trained hands continued to lead them onwards with amazing accuracy and skill. Then he gave a signal after several minutes worth of violins playing - it was Octavia's time to shine. The pinkette at this point let herself ease away her troubles, her ears losing track of the gentle music being played. Sighing in relaxation after two hours' worth of taking care of her animals, she stretched her arms and wrapped them around the muscular, but unmoving form of the missing Big Macintosh Apple... Who was actually catatonic, with his emerald eyes staring lifelessly at the flat screen. Forgetting the TV, the pinkette pulled herself closer to him and kissed him on the cheek affectionately. "How are you feeling, Mac?" There was no response; his despondence only provided silence. She took it as she usually did - her mind provided her the answer she wanted to hear from him. "I'm good, Fluttershy. Just enjoying the music, but not as much as I'm enjoying you being with me." Flattery from him, imagined or not, was something she had to get used to. "Aww... How sweet of you, honey." "Not as sweet as you are. I love you so much, dear." They looked at each other, Fluttershy blushing as Big Macintosh smiled at her. When in reality, he wasn't. Actually, Big Macintosh had no semblance of will left in him anymore. Who wouldn't, after being chained in a basement for Celestia only knows how long and being given the burnt shirt of your dead would-have-been-wife earlier? The pinkette only knew how much Cheerilee had suffered. He was not given any details of her death or her suffering; not knowing proved to be twice as horrible to knowing. But he had to know. Her blood was on his hands, and Celestia damn him if he didn't remind himself that every waking moment from now on. Did she make good on her threat? Did she set fire to her? Did she stab her to death? Or did she do all three? The pain he felt right now, both physical and emotional, was worse than planned cruel and cold-blooded torture. And Fluttershy was just getting started, because she had all the time in the world now that he was hers again.
Chapter I"Mine." The word echoed in his head. It was only through his deep understanding and his deathly experiences did the simple word fill the man with dread. His mind raced as he turned around, realizing that he had finally been found. His breathing then became ragged, at the horrifying sight of the glinting knife that was jagged. He immediately took a step back, bracing himself even before his assailant, a woman, could attack. In her eyes, this man was her greatest prize. She smiled as she took a step closer; who knew he was such a teaser? He was of a tall muscular build, with emerald eyes and long blond hair - his personality was that of a complete gentleman who was also fair. And to boot, he was her forbidden fruit. His fear of her was understandable; her sanity was long since questionable. The man gulped. He would rather have let himself be beaten to a pulp. Seeing her breath in the air was akin to seeing death. He ran away. His stalker followed him as if he was her dog gone astray. At this however, she frowned. They were both fog bound. The relieved man ran to the coming fog to his advantage, as his hands were still in tight bondage. "Why do you keep running away from me, my love?" Her calm sad voice, as beautiful as it was, was a signal for danger. Reading between the lines, the man knew she was hiding her anger. He skidded to a stop and hid himself in a thick bush, already feeling the wrath of a woman scorned in the wind's gush. In his pain, he involuntarily gasped, adding to his worry of not knowing when he would breathe his last. Under the shadow of the night, the park where they were in the quaint town didn't feel quite as right. Lamp posts were dark yet flickering, and the countless insects in the trees were no longer bickering. Instead, there was a stone-cold silence. Alone, frightened, and tired, the man wished he had a gun, and a gun license. She was near, and high was his fear. It took his entire will to stop himself from grinding his teeth, as various bugs were climbing up his bare feet. He remained in a crouched position, as his sanctuary would be the subject of suspicion, were he to be seen by the woman whose eyes were a bright aquamarine. Her footsteps were becoming more and more distant. The man bolted away in an instant. "Do you not love me?" She had heard him run, and he was beginning to be of no fun. But nevertheless she eagerly followed, ignoring the tree whose trunk was hollowed. Only when she was a far distance away in her sprint, did the man feel glad that she didn't take the hint. He walked away silently from his hiding spot; glad that his lengthy practices in sneaking weren't at all for naught. "I will find you and make you mine!" Her voice was far away, almost minute. In the tree tops above him, there was a calming hoot. "That was so close." But then he heard the cock of a gun behind him. "Oh, crap." He paled, as he knew his chances of dodging a bullet were grim. "My darling." The new voice belonged to another woman, another stalker. It was smooth, silky, soft; befitting of an eloquent speaker. He knew who this woman was, and thus, his face became a mask. To this woman, he was an infamous lady-killer. And his latest crime was her murder - and her death as his newest victim was figurative, of course. Despairing, the man had to wonder whether if he had self-inflicted a deadly curse. It was obvious that she savored every moment he spared her, even if he never intended to. The pleasures he gave her long ago - his enigmatic air, his polite manners, his kindness and his personality - were all more than enough to unbalance her state of mind, although on a late cue. All she ever wanted from him was his love and his undivided attention, so that she will die happy again and again while he was in her retention. But his mere presence alone was enough to make her snap - and she always prepared for him a good trap. Like the one he had found himself in. She wondered if wanting him for herself was a sin. She raised her revolver to aim at his temple. Her giggling was gentle. "My darling. My beloved darling. You are finally mine and mine alone." The man, defeated, sighed and closed his eyes. This was his end, he surmised. "I don't think so!" The voice belonged to yet another woman; another pursuer. The man cursed inwardly in recognition - he wished his meetings with her were fewer. Her hair was an assortment of rainbow colors - and she looked at him as if they were lovers. This angered the woman with the gun; for her own attempt to keep him to herself had come undone. On her lips was a grin, but it was not directed at her adversary's misfortune. Suddenly she became a distortion; her speed was her weapon. Faster than the eye could see, she kicked the gun out of the second stalker's hands. The discharge of a bullet wasn't part of her plans. Instinctively, the man ducked - his messy red shirt was now no longer tucked. "Back off! I got to him first!" "I beat you! So that means he's mine!" To make things even worse, the first stalker returned in a show of force. "No! He's mine!" The one who they claimed they loved wished he was already dead - he wanted to cut twice his own life's thread. The tight ropes around his hands continued to bite deep into his skin, even though they felt thin. His bare feet's soles bled. Looking down, he could only see small puddles of red. They paid him no mind, for they were distracted by the first stalker's appearance ill-timed. "You?!" "He's going to love me!" At this claim, the man winced. This was not going to end well, he was convinced. "No, he'll love me!" "No, he won't!" The blond backed away. His face showed dismay. "Yes, he will!" "He won't!" "He will!" He realized where this was coming to. He hoped the argument would not follow through. "BIG MACINTOSH! TELL US WHO YOU LOVE MORE!" At the mention of his name, the man knew it was too late. He was going to suffer his easily foreseen fate. "WHO DO YOU LOVE MORE?!" "Uh..." He was doomed. Their shadows loomed. "ANSWER US, MAC! ANSWER US!" There was no point in giving survival a try. He was going to die. "MAC!" [>!<] "WAKE UP!" A feminine voice in his ear yelled. "AHHH!" A deep scream was the response. What happened next was chaotic. Big Macintosh had literally jumped up on his bed from a flat sleeping position. While it was near-impossible to do so, his body ignored the laws of physics and only then did he find himself deep under his thick and heavy bed sheets. In his panic, he wildly flailed his hands, making his tangled situation worse. Everything became a blur as he fell from his bed. Then his head hit something hard and cold. It was the floor. As he began to lose his consciousness slowly from the pain; his strained ears could pick up someone nearby calling out his name - and his body being nudged vigorously. As his vision dimmed, he could see a dark figure in his sights. It looked familiar... He involuntarily tensed; for a moment he thought he was still in his nightmare. It turned out to be Applejack, though. He immediately felt relieved. But before Big Macintosh could do anything else, he passed out.
Chapter IIBig Macintosh was back in his nightmare again. He knew he was, as he was still followed by lust's chain. Three women, whom were all mentally unstable, in the act of chasing a man of purity and goodness, made the perfect setting for a grim bloody fable. This man was the small, innocent and fearful rabbit, and they were the lanky, hungry and menacing pack wolves - all of this was due to their respective Xanatos Gambit. It was unfair, the man believed so. Their so-called 'love' was in the air. Far from the park, the running man tripped in the dark. His pained gasp was forthright; it echoed throughout the cold night. Struggling to get up but succeeding, he still swore under his breath. He did not want to die a violent death; not now, not later, not ever. But it was too bad he couldn't sever his 'relationships' with them whenever. He limped near a desolate rocky street. Now he had to be discreet. But what was the point if his feet left bloody tracks? There was no time to relax. 'Survive', his mind screamed. The stalkers were soon to arrive. He did not want them breathing down his neck - for their damning presence, there was no need to check. He leapt over the wooden fence that barred his path. He would certainly meet his doom if he was ever cornered by at least one psychopath. To keep running away was his plan. Those women were just misguided and their love for him was forever unrequited, and he could never bring himself to hurt them even if other men can. His destination was the apple farm, where he hoped he would not come to any harm. His own home was going to become his safe haven. In the dark fog that followed, a single deep caw was let loose from a raven. The house was in his sight - and the windows were ripe with golden light. Never did he think he would be glad to see them that bright. But then he skidded to a stop, for a figure stood between him and his house... There was no mistaking that light blue tank top. It was Rainbow Dash. And on her left cheek, was a nasty gash. "Hello, Mac. Still running?" Macintosh went into a full-blown panic. That 'loving' look in her eyes had immediately turned manic. He turned tail and ran the opposite way. So much for attempting to avoid one of them for at least a day. The rainbow-haired woman watched him run with glee; he was oh so fast when he had to flee. She let him go, giving him a head start - she did not have the heart to keep up with him before he had gone the length of a stone's throw. True to her feelings, she reappeared a few yards in front of him. His chances of evading her completely were slim. She stepped forward menacingly, brandishing the same jagged, but now bloody knife that the first stalker held devilishly. "You do know that I can always catch up to you, Mac. Why run? We were made for each other. We should be together." "We're only going to be together when I'm dead, you crazy bitch!" "Then I'll make love to your dead body!" The man was left silenced. His urge to scream at this claim was unsuppressed. "Are you kidding me?!" "No!" She closed the distance, raising the knife. Mac began to wonder what caused her obsession with his life... [>!<] Big Macintosh groaned as he was waking out of his dream world. He was still lying on the floor of his room, and a blurred Applejack was in his vision. His vision then cleared; everything remained the same since the last time he had seen them, albeit the fact that his sister now looked relieved at him. She immediately offered a hand to help him up - and he slowly accepted it. Only when he was on his feet did he feel the effects of his concussion. "Ow." "Mac! Are you okay?" She asked quickly. Her other hand held a bottle of pills."Feel dizzy? Feel like you want to vomit? Forgot what happened?" He reached for the bottle, but instead of taking it, he lowered her hand down. "No, not at all." "Are you sure?" She insisted. Mac grunted and massaged the back of his head. "Yes, Applejack. I'm sure." He glanced at the clock, but his eyes didn't linger on it. How long was he out? Rather than finding out for himself, he turned to his sister. "How long was I out?" "Thirty-two minutes." She said simply. The man raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Really? I was out for that long?" "Yeah... you were breathing deeply too. Sounded like you were running for your life." She mused, mostly to herself. Big Macintosh paled. "I was?" She nodded, then her face changed to convey worry. "Yes." "What's going on with you, Mac? Is there something you're not telling me?" She continued. "There is... but I'd rather not tell you. You won't look at things the same way again." He mumbled. "Just please, Mac, tell me. I can handle it." She said, but there was a hint of nervousness in her voice. Big Macintosh leaned closer to her ear. "You won't. For your sake, I'm not telling you. This is my problem, not yours." "Brother... please." She begged. "You've become cold and withdrawn. Apple Bloom's scared of you now. I am too." "I... I can't." He looked away slowly. "Like I told you, this is my problem, not yours. Let me deal with it alone." "Please!" She half-sobbed. "I don't know what's happened to you, but you're still my brother! Let me help you!" It took his entire will to ignore her. "I'm going to go bucking now. I'll see you outside." Applejack slowly broke down sobbing as he left his room. It was killing him deep inside, but he had to endure it. But compared to the horrific things he experienced, this was an easy one to manage. He sighed as he stopped in front of the first apple tree in the first row of many apple trees. He dropped his deep baskets under it. The apple bucking on his side of the ranch was going to take some time. But Big Macintosh was fine with this. It was better than letting his family know that three psychopaths each wanted him for their own - dead or alive - and that they would hurt or kill anyone who would even try to stop them from getting him. He sighed again. He hoped that he would do no deliveries later today to three certain places he wished to avoid... [>!<] Deep in Everfree Forest, a house's inhabitants were slowly coming to life. Fluttershy yawned as she rose from her slumber. Angel Bunny, who was sleeping on her chest, fell down without warning. From his messy position on the bed, he sleepily glared at his owner, shutting his eyes again to get back to sleep. She giggled, then picked him up and placed him to a more comfortable position somewhere else. "Good morning, sleepyhead." She said, scratching her pet bunny's ears. The fluffball enjoyed the feeling, then hopped to the bed and returned to sleep on her pillow. She smiled at this. Fixing her bed minus the pillow, Fluttershy stretched and promptly went to take a shower. Her smiled widened with each step, for she was busily scanning the pictures that she took and glued on her walls. They reached the ceiling, where she had painted a blue butterfly wing design on it to match the colours in her room, now covered completely. All the pictures she glued on to every blank space she could find shared a similarity: They all held pictures of Big Macintosh. And some of them weren't of the decent kind, too. Out of all the pictures, two particularly stood out. In one, there was Big Macintosh, giving a sleeping Apple Bloom a piggy-back ride on the way back to the farm from school. Beside him was a smiling Cheerilee, holding a book close to her chest, looking at the man. Well, that was what she looked like in the picture before Fluttershy crossed her out. The other one had Big Macintosh in his jeans, with a half-naked Cheerilee straddling him in her apartment. The picture was taken through a window, so the images were slightly blurred, but it was clear enough for Fluttershy to draw a red circle around her head. As for the man, there were some written text near him, but they were smudged. The captions on the same picture read "DEAD" below the woman and "MINE" below the man respectively. The pinkette stopped in her tracks to observe the second picture. She dropped her smile instantly. "Soon..." She murmured, her hand instinctively reaching for the knife wound she sustained on her arm last week. "You will be mine again, Macintosh. That bitch will die for taking you away from me." She hissed. "You will be mine." She proceeded to enter her shower after calming herself, taking off her clothes. She had a lot of things to plan.
Chapter IIIInside the house, Applejack could hear her older brother and someone else yelling. Whatever the subject was about, there was no telling. The long-haired blond peeked through her room's curtain, for the identity of her brother's 'associate' was uncertain. Suspicion was swelling in her chest - she saw in the darkness outside that Big Macintosh was partially undressed. And suddenly, there was a sickening, flesh-tearing sound. The blond man was instantly downed. Immediately, she screamed. He was hurt badly, it seemed. She rushed to get the first aid kit behind her door, not minding the commotion she was causing, since her eyes had saw the oozing bright red blood not pausing - Mac's body was bleeding more. His face was pale. He found it hard to inhale. From the cold muddy ground, he realized he was unbound... But his hands' freedom came at a cost; for parts of his wrists' skin were lost. Rainbow Dash was long gone, overjoyed to get a small part of him and so on. She had one of her long overdue goals finally accomplished. At this however, she was barely astonished. But never she minded - now she had something of his own to look at when her feelings for Macintosh had to be reminded. As he lay bleeding, the light in his eyes were receding. His thoughts were scattered. Amidst this, clearly he remembered the moments he spent with Cheerilee that mattered. [>!<] In a way, it was quite funny. They first met on a day that was sunny. That same day was the first day they went to kindergarten school together - they were drawn to each other like birds of a feather. The roots of their romantic relationship was simply pure love at first sight. They truly felt something to one another, alright. Not one person could refute that. A logical argument, they would fail to arrive at. The years wandered pass until they became graduates of Canterlot's only university. All that time, they still held feelings for each other, no matter their lives' diversity. Everyone, including their teachers as well as their parents, preferred to leave them be. Nobody was willing to ruin a happy, yet not full heartedly pursued shy relationship that anyone in love could easily relate to and see. She was his cute, fair lady, and he was her smiling, gallant knight. Anyone who disagreed with the fact above had to answer to their friends' combined might. [>!<] He was brought back to the world of consciousness. Mac wasn't sure of it, as he wondered if he had really been unconscious. There was no light of any kind filtering in through the tiniest gaps of his closed eyes. Had Death's cold clutches caught him after his demise? He felt nothing. There was no noise - not even a fly's slightest buzzing. This was getting eerie, he decided. He opened his eyes with the remaining strength his body provided. He was still lying on the ground. Raising himself on to sitting position, the lack of a stinging pain on his wrists was a sign that he was cured of his unexpected flesh wound. But how? For once, it didn't seem to matter now. What mattered the most was keeping his 'secret' safe and his sanity intact. Still he had to ponder: how much had his family suffered by his new attitude's impact? He shook those thoughts away; it was better for them not to know than them being dragged into the hidden fray. He had to change from being generally friendly to depressingly cold for their sakes - they knew not how high were the stakes. 'This is for the best', Mac always repeated in his head. Though it still would come as a surprise for anyone to hear that others now wished him dead. "Brother! What in the Princesses' names happened?!" Applejack cried as she approached, carrying a first aid kit. Her brother had never seen her this frightened, he had to admit. She rushed to his side, taking out what she could out to ease his pain. Wiping her eyes out of disbelief at the lack of anything bad on his body was something she had to self-restrain. Her mouth fell open. The logical set of actions she would have followed was broken. "What in the... Where is the blood?! Where are the wounds?! What the heck is going on?!" Big Macintosh knew she was in a state of horrified confusion, so had to use this fact for an allusion. "Magic, and a bondage fetish gone almost horribly wrong. That's whats going on." He struggled up until he was on his feet, ignoring his heart's skip of a beat. He had lied. But he was going to let it slide. "Wha... What?" The younger sibling continued to stare. He mentally cursed; he had to find a better excuse next time with great care. "Just... just don't ask why, okay?" "Uhm... okay. But who hurt you?" He put his head down in shame. Oh well, it wouldn't hurt to say a name. "Ms. Dash." "Oh, right... wait, what?" It wouldn't have been easily proven to be true, but whatever she was thinking was perhaps, not good for you. "Yeah... about that, she's into men that way." Macintosh shrugged. "For real?" Then his mind flashed back to the exact moment he was drugged. Again, he mentally cursed. Of all the things he hadn't expected to be spiked with sedatives, it had to be the bottle of cider he was given and drunk back at the Sugarcube Corner, of course. Whoever spiked his drink took the chance to 'bring' him somewhere safe where nobody could hear him scream. If his captor hadn't been attacked by his other stalkers, his family would have been forced to assemble a search team. Thankfully, amidst their fighting, he had woken up and escaped. But seconds later did he chillingly realized that he nearly was going to get raped. His missing coat, footwear and unzipped jeans were proof of it. His peaceful night out drinking alone had become something that was beyond the level of shit. This was way past getting out of hand, although the idea of being wanted viciously by women to other men was grand. "You know what? Forget about what happened and what I said. I need a damn cold shower." The wind rustled the countless leaves in the trees. It was followed up with a cold breeze. "Look, I'm not sure if I have any idea on what's going on, but I need answers, Mac. We need to talk inside. Now." He sighed, though it sounded better than staying outside. "Fine. But let's not talk about this ever again." Now Mac had to limit how much of the truth he would have to spill. Otherwise, Applejack probably might fall ill. [>!<] Big Macintosh had finished his side of the ranch, while Applejack was close to finishing hers. After several hours of non-stop full apple crate managing, the eldest walked to the truck, revving it up then driving towards the road that led to Ponyville without a word. Looking over her shoulder discreetly, Applejack could see that Mac had glanced at his wristwatch, before he picked up the truck's usually slow pace. To her surprise, he then sped off without wearing a seatbelt. Disregard for safety meant that it was important. "Where's he going?" Applejack asked herself whilst noting it, before returning to work. The dots were slowly connecting in her mind. One thing was for certain - a woman was involved. But... was that it? Inside the house, Apple Bloom was peeking at Applejack through her slightly closed windows. Seeing such tension between the two of them was something she didn't see everyday - and it troubled her. Why did her eldest brother, of all the people she never disliked, had to turn downright distant, even to his family? Barring her thoughts, she picked up her walkie-talkie. "Sweetie Belle? Are you there?" There was silence for a few seconds, then her friend responded. "Yes, I'm here. Are you okay, Apple Bloom?" "I'm fine. Things have gotten worse at the farm, though. My older brother and sister fought again... I think." "That's not nice. Why don't you ask your sister to let you have some fun? Me and Scootaloo will pick you up." "Uhm... okay. But I'm not sure if she's going to agree. I'll see you later, then. Hopefully." She put it down as doubts began to form in her mind. Better to ask her older sister if she could hang out with her friends for a while than to get out and do that without her permission, thought. Just as she was going to leave her room to get herself some water, there came a new, unexpected voice from the device. It was Rarity. And she sounded really, really eager. "Hello? Apple Bloom? Are you there?" The little girl rushed back to pick it up. "Hello, Ms. Rarity. Why are you using Sweetie Belle's walkie-talkie?" "I was going to ask if Big Macintosh is there, deary. Or... is he out of the farm at the moment?" Apple Bloom's eyes narrowed. The seamstress never called her before. Why now? What did she want from him? Sure, he had become distant, but Mac was and always will be her loved older brother; there was always time to make things right between them all, and Apple Bloom still wanted him to be with her teacher, Cheerilee, not with anyone else. So she had to lie, not wanting to take any chances of romance between Rarity and Mac. "No, Ms. Rarity, he's here at the farm working on the apple trees, but I reckon it'll take him another hour or two to finish up. He can't talk to anyone right now, he's got his hands full." "Oh, I see... Well, can you call me back when he's free?" She sounded disappointed. But there was a kind of tone in her voice that Apple Bloom couldn't put a finger on. "I'll try. I'll talk to you later then, Ms. Rarity." Rarity went off and was replaced by an excited Sweetie Belle. "Apple Bloom, we'll be there in ten minutes despite whatever your sister will say. See you soon!" "Okay! But where are we going to hang out, anyways?" "The Sugarcube Corner! Last I heard, Ms. Pie was going to make an apple cake. We could help her bake it! It'll be loads of fun!" The redhead grinned for the first time in days at the good news, feeling excited. "Sweet! I'll get the right to take a slice out of it first!" "Not if I can help it!" Both giggling because they knew there was much fun to be had later, they put the line down at the same time. Apple Bloom hadn't forgotten about Rarity's earlier call, though. It had put the youngest Apple in a state of suspicion. She knew she had best keep an eye on her for now. Now she wanted to ask her friend Sweetie Belle if she noticed anything different about her older sister lately. It seemed like things weren't as they appeared to be at first glance... As she walked outside to ask her sister about her upcoming visit to the Sugarcube Corner, her gut feeling became active. For some reason, Apple Bloom believed that somehow, something far away was not going to end well.
Chapter IVIt was a long rocky drive, but at the rate Big Macintosh was covering ground at the moment, it was only going to take him only a few minutes' worth of fuel to get himself to his destination. He didn't give a damn about the fact that the police could see him drive at that reckless speed and force him to pull over for everyone else's safety. What was more important now was to see Cheerilee and see if she was alright. But he had something to do first. Going off the main road, he set off in the direction of Zecora's hut deep in Everfree Forest. He needed her advice. As eccentric the local alchemist was, she was the one of the few women whom he could trust without any fear of the possible consequences. After all, she was the one that cured his little sister from the dreaded Cutie Pox. They never met eye-to-eye on a regular basis before, however. He had to remain careful. If she held feelings like his stalkers had for him, there was no telling what kind of love or wrath she would unleash upon him. Visiting her alone also had unfortunate, sexual implications - if he would refuse her possible advances, she would be able to make all sorts of horrible claims - and nobody would be able to prove her wrong. The following scandal for everyone involved would shame the Apple family into leaving Ponyville. Although unlikely, this was something that Big Macintosh wished to prevent, but without some spiritual help, his secret, which he considered was more valuable than what could happen in the next minutes or so, would eventually be revealed. He was faced with a hard choice, that much was sure. But now was not the time to think about it all. He had to remain focused whilst driving - otherwise, the results would be messy. There was a sudden nip in the air as he drove deeper into the forest. The dirt road began alternating between dry and muddy. The slow-moving giant clouds above it shadowed the farther parts of the area. The sun was still high, but unfortunately the light it provided was not enough to pierce the thick grey clouds nor the dull green tree-tops. The growing darkness ahead made Big Macintosh weary. Then it rained, making everything darker. He grunted as he slowed the truck's speed. "Just when visiting Zecora seemed easy to manage..." Mac grumbled. The blond then rummaged through the glove compartment. In it, he only found a small umbrella and a flash-light. They were better than nothing being used at all. He already had his phone with him in his pocket, but he wanted nothing to do with it. The last time he cared to check, he had about six-hundred thirty-two ignored voice messages. Most of which came from three certain women. He remembered the nights he spent deleting the voice messages save the ones which came from friends. The first time he experienced this was disturbing since he listened to all of them; their voices full of emotion yet were dripping in a strange mixture of love and lust - all of which were each begging him to come back to them. Eventually, this freaked him out to the point that he deleted them as soon as they appeared, but as it turned out, these women had plenty of free time on their hands. At least every five minutes or so - or depending on what kind of day it was - new messages would pop up, only to be then replaced by newer and newer messages. Mac had given up all hope in deleting all of them. It was unending. He immediately stopped thinking about it. Though he hated to admit it, he was scared by their senders. "Why had they turned out like this?" He thought. "Was it because I was nice to them?" A bright flash of yellow from something on the road up ahead caused him to naturally brake, breaking his thoughts. And it just happened that he braked on muddy ground. The truck began to skid, then began to swerve, and eventually, it began to spin. Everything became a blur as he lost control, like when he fell from his bed while under the bed sheets earlier that morning, but with an enhanced feeling of nausea and muted horror. The wind-shield wipers cleared Mac's view long enough for him to see that he was going to crash... [>!<] The impact was felt throughout the forest, causing the nearby wildlife to scatter in surprise. Not far away, Zecora immediately woke up from her nap. "What the..." She mouthed groggily, before the true nature of the sound finally revealed itself to her. "Huh?" "A crash?" She asked herself in disbelief before getting her cloak. "And I thought it was Rainbow Dash..." Putting it on quickly, she rushed out of her door to the pouring rain. Ignoring the pellets of cold water pestering her face, she quickly made her way to the crash site following the direction of the black smoke's origin. The rain made it hard for her to hear and see clearly, but she had to manage for the sake of the person in the accident. Finally, she made it to the road. She saw a red truck, whose wind-shields were cracked beyond recognition. The driver's cracked door was hanging ajar - a sign that the impact was strong. Upon closer inspection, she realized that this truck seemed familiar. Seeing the logo on one of the crates in the back, she discovered that it was the Apple family's delivery truck. And she knew that the only person allowed to drive it around was none other than... The horror of knowing who drove the vehicle then kicked in for Zecora. "Big Macintosh!" She screamed as her legs sprung forward automatically, hoping that he wasn't hurt badly. When she reached the door, to her surprise, nobody was there, although there were traces of blood on the seats. "Oh no..." She murmured in shock. "Please do not let it be so..." She then looked around. There were no discernible footprints in the mud leading away from the vehicle. And now she felt like she was being watched, but from where? She couldn't care to guess, plus the fact that the man had gone missing after the crash was straining her attention span - where could he had gone? Rather than risk getting lost while searching for the concussed man, she had to call for help. Although she knew the forest more than anyone else, there were still dangers that lurked within, waiting for unwitting prey. Timberwolves were dangerous, more so in a weather like this. The woman hoped that, wherever Mac went, it wasn't too late. "Stay put, Mac! With help, I'll come back!" She yelled to her surroundings as she ran to Ponyville's direction. High above the truck, on a strong tree branch, Fluttershy smiled as she stroked her unconscious ex-boyfriend's hair. [>!<] Cheerilee was worriedly thinking about her lover. It had been a week since she last saw of him - and the feeling in the pit of her stomach wasn't easing itself in the slightest. She glanced at the clock above her apartment door. It was past noon already, and he still hadn't come. She clutched her phone closer to her chest; she had already attempted to call him, but he never picked her call up. She tried to think about happy things to pre-occupy her mind. Her mind reeled back at the night where she was drunk from drinking with friends at a bar and brought home to her apartment by a half-sober Macintosh. The details were sketchy, but both remembered clearly that they ended up making love under the influence of alcohol. That night was the same night where she had lost her virginity to him. And she didn't regret it, either. Nor did Mac. Actually, it was the one thing they needed so they could be together at last without any doubt. But after a pregnancy test, it turned out that their fate together was truly sealed - she was pregnant with his child. It came as a shock to Mac, but to Cheerilee it was more than good news, despite their lines of work and home life. After awkward apologies and arduous talking (in Mac's case) they fully accepted what had happened, and they immediately planned what to do next as an official couple. Although they hadn't told anyone about it yet. One thing was for certain: he would propose to her in front of everyone. Only then would everyone know. She blushed at the cute thought. Their decision to make it official would make three young girls extremely happy with the news. But then that feeling in her stomach worsened. Call it her gut feeling, but she felt that her future husband was hiding something from her. That, and she hadn't seen him in a week, caused some internal doubts. She shook those doubts away. He probably was too busy all week long like the way she was teaching at school. Maybe that was the cause of his absence. But still, she had sent text messages to him, and so far there was no reply. Was he preparing a surprise? Was he out of town? Was he avoiding her for a reason? So many questions popped up in her head, but all were silenced with her belief that he would remain forever faithful to her. After all, he was the father of their child. He wouldn't leave them for another woman without a word or reason. She glanced at the clock again. Hopefully he had read the latest text message she sent him and was rushing to her by now. Long, silent moments passed. She sighed sadly, before attempting to call him again. Her call, once more, wasn't picked up. "Mac, where are you?" She asked herself mournfully shortly afterwards.
Chapter VIt was dusk, and Applejack was alone, with Apple Bloom still at the Sugarcube Corner and Granny Smith taking a bath. She was expectantly waiting for her brother at the front porch, done with her work a while ago. She sat at the rocking chair her grand mother usually occupied, looking at the road leading to town, repeatedly attempting to call her older brother on the phone. And despite her stubborn efforts, there was no response from him at all. It was irking the freckled blond to no end, as she had received orders for apple crates earlier, only to tell the callers that they couldn't do deliveries today due to... unexpected developments. While disappointed, they expressed interest calling some other time, but the woman wasn't so sure how long she could keep them willing to buy. "Gosh darnit, Mac." She muttered under her breath, checking her watch. "Where are you when I need you?" Though she wasn't too concerned with the lost chances of getting some monetary inflow for the farm, they needed the money to manage the entire apple farm. Her brother's absence was giving her - and the rest of the family too - plenty of trouble like the time he got injured before that day before an applebucking season. He better give her a good explanation of why he left earlier today. Otherwise, she couldn't imagine how well she'll react to whatever he was going to say for his excuse. It was so unlike her brother, leaving without a word, but if the seasons could change, then so can people. Applejack, by this time, firmly believed that he seeing someone. But the question was, who was he seeing? Or worse yet, how many women was he seeing? Evidence was piling up. Deep and careful thinking, as well as half-buried memories from last week's various events, pointed fingers to many women, and rather than rushing in blindly and accusing said women of sleeping with her older brother instantly, she narrowed the numbers down. So far, three names were still in her head: Cheerilee, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy. Big Macintosh having a relationship with Cheerilee was understandable; the two of them knew each other since kindergarten and even graduated together. Him with Rainbow Dash, on the other hand, was still likely, but their personalities clashed with each other. And the blond tried her hardest not to dwell on her supposed BDSM fetish. She only got her brother's word about that. And so far, she hadn't had the guts to ask her best friend about it. Then with Fluttershy. She knew they had a loving relationship that lasted a year. What caused its abrupt breakdown was still a mystery to her - and the man acted as if he never knew her intimately, but if asked, he would simply shrug and say they just drifted apart. Even she was surprised when she heard about it. The blond felt that there was more than he let on about the relationship. A man like Macintosh and a woman like Fluttershy wouldn't just 'drift apart'. Something horrible must have happened between the two of them. It was troubling to think. It took them a year to hook up. They only took a day to then break up. Did they had a fight? It was one thing to respect one's desire to leave personal matters alone. It was another to snoop around in them. She wanted to find out what the reason was, but common sense said that it wasn't worth it. And besides, she knew her brother well enough to guess that if his buttons were pressed beyond their limit, the result would be scary. Applejack sighed in frustration, ridding her mind of unneeded thoughts, then turned to glare at the road. "When I get my hands on you, you will regret acting unlike yourself..." She muttered to herself. A rising trail of dust clouds in the distance caught her attention. Before she knew it, she was on her feet, ready to release a string of anger-fueled ranting at her brother as soon as he walked up to her. Something wasn't right, however. He was driving up to the front porch instead of the truck's usual parking spot right next to the barn. To her surprise and annoyance, the car he was driving wasn't a truck. She blinked. "What in tarnation?" Big Macintosh obviously was not the kind of person to waste their hard-earned income on another car, so it had to be someone else driving up to her. Upon recognizing what kind of vehicle it was, she froze. It was a police car, belonging to a local officer by the name of Johnny Law, a tall toned man with black hair and blue eyes. And an officer coming to the house could only mean... Oh no. The sympathetic look she saw on the man's face as his window lowered did not help ease her fears. [>!<] Big Macintosh awoke in a pitch-black room. He was wet all over, his worn jeans felt like they were torn at the most random of places, his dirty work shirt was unbuttoned, and his legs felt like they had been hit by weights. He groaned and tried to get his hand to clutch his face. But he couldn't. He realized afterwards that he was tied to an old metal chair, whose frame was half rusted. Panic kicked in. Being tied up meant bad news. The blond still had enough strength in his arms to attempt breaking the chains binding him, but decided that it wasn't the right time. He could barely move his legs, and if he did, then they hurt. Added with the fact that he just regained his consciousness, his body - more importantly his legs - still needed to recover from the aftershock of the accident. Plus, he knew where he was. Of course he would know. This wasn't the first time he was tied up down here. The air smelled of familiar animals and fruits. He was in a certain ex girlfriend's basement. "Shit." He would have chosen a more colourful word to express his horror, but his mind focused on escaping. The door to the basement suddenly opened. White light rushed in, revealing a figure entering through the frame before it was shut. The basement returned to darkness. There was a click, and the light bulb above him turned on, temporarily blinding Mac. Eyes hurting, he swore once more. A giggle came from the new presence. "Good evening, Macintosh." An all too familiar voice greeted him as his sight returned. He looked up despite himself. A petite woman dressed in a buttoned cream-coloured gown was descending the stairs, the wood beneath her feet creaking. Dust fell down from their steps in small layers, having not been used until recently. Her long pink hair was combed and clipped neatly, and her oddly glowing aquamarine eyes were focused on the man sitting in the middle of the room. She began humming a tune he was familiar with. It was from a local folk song, one that the man knew by heart. It was his favourite tune, but her humming it did not make him feel at ease - only more willing to escape. Her lips rose to show him a warm, genuine smile. Why she did so however, the man did not want to think about it. Finally reaching the bottom of the stairs, she walked towards him... with another gleaming, jagged knife in hand. "Fluttershy." The blond venomously spat as she approached, still humming. "Still hate me as usual, I see?" The pinkette asked, before giggling then resuming her humming. "Let me go!" Macintosh roared, his deep-seated anger for his ex-girlfriend surging. The woman fell silent, but her captive could see that she was fighting back an urge to hurt him. "I'd rather keep you down here." She said darkly. "I love you, Big Macintosh. I always did, even after you left me." Despite her light weight, his legs began to hurt when she started to straddle him. Her free hand was caressing his face, whilst her knife hand was dangerously close to his jugular vein. Mac was repulsed by her touch - although it was smooth and gentle - with good reason: even though she looked sane, she was still mentally unstable. "But I wonder if you love me back. Do you? Of course you don't. You love Cheerilee." She murmured. He paled. "H-How did you..." She knew about what happened. Somehow, she knew. Cheerilee's life was on the line. Knowing Fluttershy, she would kill her and his child, and there would be nearly nothing he could to stop her in his injured state. He had to buy time, but how could he tell her about his crazy ex soon coming to get her? He had no options. The pinkette leaned her face closer to his own, breaking his sentence. She smelled nice, as she probably took a bath before going down to see him, while he smelled faintly of smoke, dirt, and blood. Her caressing hand moved to exploring his chest, cheeks blushing and lust flaring up - but she still kept that disturbing, warm smile. "I followed and watched you." She whispered in his ear. "I hate to admit it. You did her harder than you did me." She followed up in her action by kissing him in the neck, just right above where she placed her knife. Both a chill and a sensation of pleasure ran down his spine - and though he was determined to not to be seduced by her, it was hard to concentrate while a knife was ready to slit his throat only at a moment's notice. "Leave her out of this. She has no clue about us!" He whispered back fearfully, ignoring the pleasure he felt. She narrowed her eyes and dropped the smile. "Oh, so you care about her more than you cared for me?" He unintentionally gulped, earning his neck pricks from the knife's sharp edges. "I..." She put a finger on his lips, smirking as she saw the look on his face. "Don't answer. I know you do." She swooped down to kiss him - not on his neck like before, but on his lips. The action was as gentle as her earlier touching, but smoother, and though he was unwilling, he was getting aroused by this. Long, agonizing minutes later, Fluttershy finally broke the kiss. She was satisfied with what she had felt and done... for the moment. "You can do whatever you want to me, but leave her alone. Please. Just leave her alone." He begged breathlessly. "I'll... think about it." She said smugly, toying with him. "In the meantime, why don't we talk about ourselves?" Big Macintosh reluctantly nodded in response; he was going to have the damned 'talk' with her. He had nothing in mind to say to her to dissuade her from whatever she was going to do after it, and she made a point of reminding him about what previously happened in the basement with a casual twirl of her knife occasionally. "First things first... Why did you leave me, Mac?" Her voice was lowered, but he could see her turn serious. A flashback of Fluttershy screaming madly as he restrained her from hurting a pizza delivery girl who was inadvertently flirting with him replayed in his mind. Then came another flashback in which he was pulled away to an alley, to his shock, by three pretty women who each asked for his number... only for them to be attacked by the pinkette. The man sighed, remembering all too well the reason why, wishing he forgot what it was. "I left you for your own good, Fluttershy. You became obsessed with me." His voice was barely a whisper. "But isn't that a good thing?!" She snapped. "I was keeping you faithful to me, because you were mine!" "You also alienated one of my friends. You hurt Wind Whistler for just talking to me." He said solemnly. "She had it coming. I know you wanted to cheat on me, and you wanted to do it with her!" She defended. "That's a lie. I never wanted to cheat on you back then." He countered calmly. "Oh yeah?! Then what about that time I caught you on top of her, huh?!" She shrieked. Great. The mention of that incident caught him slightly off-guard. "I... tripped. It was just an accident." It didn't sound convincing, but as far as he cared... better him dead than Wind. "Like there was anything for you to trip on the floor! You wanted to screw her there and then!" She snarled. Fluttershy cupped his chin and pulled his face closer to hers - so close that they felt their breaths. The look on her face suddenly relaxed to show depression and - if Mac wasn't hallucinating - regret. Tears were forming in her eyes, and the grip on her knife was weakening. The man, seeing this, looked away. He had forgotten that she was still a human being, like him. He was the reason for her sorrow and her anguish. If he only kept her in check, she wouldn't have turned out like this... "Your affections are so fickle, Mac." She whispered sadly, tears flowing slowly. "I thought you loved me." "You were the only man that gave me all what I ever wanted: love, companionship, and happiness. I felt so lonely and depressed each day that eventually I... wanted to kill myself. But you found me in time, and stopped me from dying. And that same night, when you said you loved me, I thought you meant it. I believed you... and look at what's happened to me!" The pinkette gestured to herself with an almost maniacal swing of her knife, sobbing all the while. "I didn't want anyone to take you away from me, because I didn't want to be alone and depressed! Sure, the animals keep me company and they love me, but it's not the same! That's why I acted that way to every woman I saw you with! How could you leave me, Mac, after all the things I've done to keep you?! How could you throw me away like that?!" Big Macintosh was too guilty to say anything remotely comforting to her. He looked down at his feet in shame. She continued. "You're the cruellest person I've ever met! Why did you show me your love if you planned to make my life worse by breaking up with me?! You could've just left me to die that night! You shouldn't have admitted your feelings to me! I never felt so hurt after you left me crying and screaming your name at my door, watching you walk away, begging you to come back..." But then her wrath returned. Her shedded tears more or less enhanced the creepiness of her following words. "And now... I've learned what I could from all my mistakes. The only thing I have to do is to make you love me again. I don't care about what it'll take to make you mine forever: If I have to kill my only friends, then I will. If I have to kill the Princesses, then I will. If I have to kill you, then I will. I will go that far to keep you to myself Mac, and no-one will stop me." Despite the room basking in white light, the eerie glow of her aquamarine eyes became prominent. "As for that bitch Cheerilee, I'm going to punish her for defiling you. I'm going to make sure that her death will be slow!" Without warning, she embedded her knife deep into the chained man's right knee. He screamed into a world of pain. The way she stabbed it ensured that not also did her action make his right leg near useless, but also ensured that if he tried to escape, he would have a harder time on his hands. To make things worse, she left it stuck deep in his flesh. The jagged knife's sharp and pointy edges were enjoying their fill of his blood, as was the tip of the hilt. "Don't worry, Mac..." She murmured in a loving tone. "When I'm done with her, I'll keep you company for the rest of my life." The blond's vision was dimming. As he watched Fluttershy leaving his prison with a petrol canister, he cried for his true love. "Cheerilee... I'm so sorry..." [>!<] The moon was rising in the sky, but for the people left at the Sugarcube Corner, nobody seemed to care about what time it was. There were no customers remaining; the bakery was closed. Inside, three young girls and their 'teacher' were eating the last of their baked goods - an exquisite apple cake that was really hard to make. The atmosphere in the room was a cheery one as they filled their stomachs with the sugary goodness of the rapidly depleting cake. Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle were poking fun at each other, while Pinkie Pie was content to listen to their laughter as she washed the used kitchen utensils, having already finished her share. That was the case until someone banged on the door. The laughter stopped and everyone stared at it, wondering who would want to go to the bakery at this time of the night. The only adult went to it, drying her hands with a towel. Though the door had a peep hole, it was hard to see who was behind it because of the darkness. "Sorry, but we're closed!" Pinkie called out to the person as she opened the door, wanting to see who it was. To her surprise, it was Lyra Heartstrings. She looked distressed and was sweating. "Pinkie! People need your help!" She breathed. Apparently it seemed that she had run a great distance. "There's a fire!" "What?! Where?!" She asked as surprise turned to concern. The children around the table glanced at each other at the news. "Someone set fire to the apartment block three houses down from where I live! Firefighters are already on the scene, but they can't get to the people in the deeper parts of the building! That's where you come in! You have to do your impossible thing and get as many people as you can from out of there, before it's too late!" Barely finishing her sentence, the cyan-haired women fainted due to her exhaustion afterwards. Pinkie caught her. "Girls! Listen up! Take care of Ms. Heartstrings while I save those people!" She ordered as she gently put Lyra to the floor. Before they could respond, Pinkie ran to the nearest drawer, opened and then jumped into it, then closed it from the inside. The young ones were left in awe at the impossibility of the action made possible. Scootaloo bravely went forwards from her spot at the table to see if she still in there... She only saw shining utensils when she opened it. "Did... Did I just see...?" The purple-haired girl asked herself in disbelief, but even she couldn't finish what she wanted to say. Sweetie Belle shrugged it off as she gathered their cooking mittens to pile up as a makeshift pillow for the unconscious woman. Scootaloo just stood at where she was, still in denial about what just happened, while Apple Bloom quietly forced herself to help in anyway she could with whatever knowledge of first aid she learned from her older siblings. As the reality of the situation dug in, Apple Bloom couldn't help but think that her earlier feelings were proven true. "I hope they're okay." She whispered, not realizing that the apartment burning that night was occupied by her teacher.
Chapter VI"We interrupt this early morning program to bring you special news." "An apartment was set on fire in Ponyville last night and firefighters were unable to quell most of the flames. Witnesses claim that a figure seen lurking near the building was responsible for the crime. Updated status reports show that at most two people went missing in the chaos with a confirmed total of sixteen men, twelve women and ten children barely rescued. The fate of the two missing people are yet to be discovered by the authorities; more of the story will unfold today at twelve." "Also from Ponyville, local apple farmer 'Big' Macintosh Apple has gone missing in Everfree Forest, after his delivery truck was found wrecked beyond repair in the area, presumably due to an accident. Police investigators believe that he braked to avoid hitting something on the road, but unfortunately lost control of his vehicle in the process. A volunteer search team has already been organized and has begun searching for him, but so far there has been no luck in tracking his current whereabouts." "In other areas of Equestria-" [>!<] It was during the early hours of the morning that the police department found itself tensed after they saw and heard the news. Then, after what felt like an eternity, Applejack threw the remote control so hard to the screen that it actually shattered into several pieces of electronics and plastic. The alert police officers and arrested criminals alike in the vicinity jumped up in surprise, before they nervously returned to doing whatever they were doing as if nothing out of the blue ever happened. Everything returned to deathly silence again. Ever since she arrived at the precinct with Johnny Law, things were jumpy to say the least. The aforementioned police officer approached her calmly from behind, causing her to spin around, giving him a spiteful 'What?' look despite her teary-eyed appearance and shaking fists. She shook her fists, because she desperately wanted to punch her older brother for acting so damn careless in the first place, and she was teary-eyed because she knew there was a chance that she won't see him ever again. Unfazed, Johnny continued. "Ms. Apple?" "Yes, Officer Law?" She asked with a forced voice. His cool blue eyes scanned her. "You have visitors coming to see you. Your friends." "Tell them to mind their own businesses! And tell them to go away! I don't need their sympathy!" She snapped. The black-haired man sighed at her mixed feelings. "I'm afraid it's too late for that, Ms. Apple." He neatly sidestepped out-of-the-way just in time for the blond to see them coming towards her. There was Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Rarity and Twilight Sparkle as well as Spike, all looking... well, as sympathetic as they could be to her. They looked as if they had just woken up, still sleepy, but the librarian was not included in this view. She seemed to have no need of rest and probably spent some time reading more dusty old tomes of magic or watching late night TV. She was the first to put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. Everyone else either hugged her or gave comforting words. Spike and Johnny hung back and watched them. She looked around. Seeing their faces and hearing their voices turned out to boost her emotional state opposite to what she actually thought. She felt at least happy that her friends, despite her earlier outburst, hadn't abandoned her at the very moment she needed help - normally it would be her brother that would've done a similar thing for her - and now she found herself calming down rapidly due to their presence. "You didn't have to go and see me, everyone." Applejack muttered dejectedly. "As you can see, I'm perfectly fine." "No, you aren't." Twilight whispered to her. "Look at yourself - you're a mess!" Closing her eyes and mouthing an incantation, Twilight caused an aura of purple magic to surround her. She was confused as she felt reinvigorated. Her tears disappeared as the aura dissipated. The stress she endured withered away, the feeling of helpless anguish slowly washing away. Now she was feeling good, but then she felt sheepish at the fact that she had destroyed a remote control and TV via throwing it away in her moments of grief. Which both happened to belong to the police. Who were also helping in the search effort to find Big Macintosh. "Thanks. I guess." "Anytime." They turned to the rest of their friends. But it felt like they were missing someone. "We came here as fast as we could when we heard the news." Fluttershy began. "I know it's horrible for you, darling, but we will find him and bring him back to you." Rarity promised. "Even if it'll take a lot of time, we'll still do it. What are friends for if we aren't willing to help?" Rainbow Dash added. Applejack smiled in appreciation. "I... I don't know what to say. Thanks everyone." Twilight returned the smile. "You're welcome. Again, what are friends for, Applejack?" The moment was interrupted when Johnny's cellphone began to buzz. "Pardon me." He apologized, before leaving the room and taking it out to answer it somewhere else. [>!<] Spike watched him go; heart-to-heart women talk between his older friends, especially something that involved serious adult matters, wasn't really his thing. He'd rather be somewhere else, and, knowing that though he could say something to alleviate the Apple's sorrow, he could not find the right words to say. So he left discreetly while the others were focused on comforting her, temporarily willing to be forgotten by them. Walking through the corridor of passing policemen, some of whom looked tired from recently apprehending criminals, Spike admired the trophies and medals displayed on the walls and glass cabinets - the golden sheen of the cups, the shine of the medals, and especially the unbelievable cleanliness of them all - and wanted to snatch one out for himself, but refrained from doing so as a camera was watching him not too far away. Who would be stupid enough to steal from the police in front of one, anyways? Now, he had wondered what it'd be like if he was one of them, having a badge and uniform of his own and catching and putting behind bars anyone who had committed a crime. Sure, he may be a kid, but there was no telling what he'll turn out to be once he was all grown up. Being an officer of the law seemed awesome; the payroll was good, he could own a gun, and most importantly, he could be famous. Fame was something the purple clothed kid wanted to have. He would be happy to know that there were people out there admiring him for his efforts, respecting his judgement, and appreciating the work he'd do to keep their entire community safe as a police officer. They would also love him, hail him as a hero, eventually worship him, and then, at the height of his career, would he be able to finally get the woman of his dreams: Rarity. But alas, he was still a boy, and what he thought was nothing more than wishful thinking. And speaking of Rarity, he had a burning desire to make her his. Of course, it was heart breaking for him, with Rarity seeing him as just a kid with a crush on her every time he stopped by and helped - oblivious to the fact that, yes, he did really love her - added with the problem that she was seeing someone else; whose identity he had yet to find out. From what he guessed, it was obvious she was with a man who neglected her almost always... And who was certainly good-looking and undoubtedly, tall and muscular. There were only a few men in Ponyville that met all the above criteria, and by 'few' they were 'rare' in a way. But good looks, height, and muscles weren't everything a woman could want from a man. There was also the account of his wealth, his personality, and finally, his status within society itself. Filthy Rich was the only person around in miles to ace all the criteria that Spike knew Rarity liked in a man. But then again, the kid deemed that the man himself was innocent of any association with her. He knew he had no good reason to cheat on his beautiful and loving wife. He had no good reason to ruin his reputation with the people of Equestria. And he had no good reason to create a massive scandal that would see him lose all what he held dear by being found 'visiting' Rarity while he wasn't there in her Boutique on 'business' terms. Everytime Spike thought he finally found out who it was, he would only end up back at square one due to one tiny error or misplaced detail about the said someone. Love could only get him so far, but he was determined to find out once and for all, and, if he could muster up his courage, make him leave by saying that Rarity only liked him for his money and good looks, not for his personality or his love... So that Spike could continue to be with her. But if that wasn't enough to make him leave the seamstress, well... "I wonder where the police keep their guns." [>!<] Apple Bloom was in her room studying, with Granny Smith having falling asleep in her chair outside after waiting for Applejack to return. It was like a normal day at the farm: no arguments, no crying, no tension, but with no older siblings in sight. After she was delivered home by Lyra's friend Bon-Bon in her car last night, you would expect her to rush to her older sister and ask if she knew about what was going on in town. Imagine her surprise when she found a note saying she was asked by the police to help their task force and agreed to because they desperately needed her help. And of course, imagine her concern when Applejack also mentioned in the note that her brother ran into some 'technical difficulties' with the truck and may not return home until night or possibly tomorrow morning as well. Which was strange. The truck never broke down before. So the night passed by quickly for her after showering and going to bed because it was past her bedtime. The morning after, she was worried because her older brother still hadn't returned from his trip to wherever he was going yesterday. Two older siblings not in the house or not out working on the trees was something she could never get used to. It was just weird in itself. Only the homework given to her by her teacher a while ago (which she usually finished at the last second) was the only thing that could keep her company and pre-occupied. Right beside her papers on her study table was her trusty walkie-talkie, recharged and ready to be used. Tempted to use it, but remembering that her grades were slowly falling and that she kept it hidden from her busy family, she returned to answering her math paper, struggling to resume with question number six as it had asked her to use Pythagoras' Theorem to calculate the length of a triangle's hypotenuse. By now it was too much for her mind to handle. She groaned in frustration and slumped on the table, her pen falling to the floor from her lax hand. "If only big brother was here." She murmured. Her walkie-talkie then blurted out a voice. "Good morning, Apple Bloom. Are you there?" It was Scootaloo. Glad for something that would grant her reprieve from her mathematical problem, she eagerly reached for it. "I'm here, Scootaloo. Good morning. What's shaking?" There was a sort of hesitant pause from the other end of the line. "Are you feeling okay? Have... Have you seen the news lately?" "Yeah, I'm fine. And about the news, I haven't. Why'd cha ask?" A near-muffled gasp followed, followed by a somewhat coincidental cough. "Oh, nevermind that. Just curious. Anyways, do you need help with your math homework? I finished mine already." A sudden change in subject always meant that the talker was hiding something. The red-head knew this very well as she was both instigator of the ploy - when she wanted to lay her older siblings off her back when they were close to finding out what she had been up to lately - and victim of it when she caught them doing something they normally didn't do, like the time she found Applejack eating oranges from a crate in the barn. "Woah woah woah, wait, hold on a moment. Really, why'd cha ask me if I've seen the news?" "Uh... its nothing, Bloom, really! Like I said, I was just curious!" "Sure you are. I can tell you're lying to me, Scoot. You're such a bad liar, you know. Can you just tell me what is it?" Dead silence followed. A minute passed, then another. Three minutes later, there was still no response. "... Hello? Are you still there, Scootaloo?" Then the sound of the line being closed abruptly interrupted the silence. Apple Bloom winced from the noise. "Darn it!" She half-mouthed as she covered her right ear. Once the ringing in her ear was gone, she returned her device to its stand, grumbling about giving the purplette a stern talking to later after she had done her homework, but also in the meanwhile wishing she hadn't ignored her offer of help with her math paper. The five remaining unanswered questions on it didn't look so appealing or easy the last time she dared to see for herself. "The news, huh?" She said to herself, cupping her chin in deep thought, put off by them. She pondered about why her friend refused to answer her question or confirmed her thoughts. It wasn't like Scootaloo, but since she had been through hay and back with her on many occasions along with Sweetie Belle, she must have done so for good reasons. Really, really good reasons. As willingly as she could, the red-head tried to return to her homework, trying to avoid getting too thoughtful about it. However, the more she tried to quell her curiosity, the more she became reluctant to continue with her increasingly difficult math questions. Then it got the best of her. Her concentration completely snapped. Her paper can wait. She had a twelve o'clock news channel to watch. "Okay Scootaloo, I'm going to see what it's about. This better not be a waste of time." Sneaking down the stairs to make sure her grandmother would stay asleep, she turned on the TV. She was completely unprepared for what she was about to see and hear. [>!<] Octavia, her violin and bow in hand, walked up to the stage with her fellows to the cheer of today's audience. It was the start of one of her many tours across the land with her companions. Their musical talents near-legendary, and often employed by the rich to perform at concerts or at events such as social gatherings, it was no wonder that they were having the time of their lives, being paid by others to do what they did best; make wondrous classical music. In the Canterlot Royal Theatre, the lavish seats were all occupied. But the air was stuffy, and it was rather warm. For the people watching them live on TV, they were much, much comfortable. Fluttershy couldn't say otherwise, having finished visiting Applejack, apologizing for being unable to stay for long. As the sounds from the audience subsided and the musicians sat down, the conductor raised his baton to signal the beginning. In perfect unison, the violins let loose their sweet, enchanting music. Octavia held a small smile as her hands guided her bow instinctively. It was unnoticeable from far back, but very much noticeable up front; the conductor shared her smile as his trained hands continued to lead them onwards with amazing accuracy and skill. Then he gave a signal after several minutes worth of violins playing - it was Octavia's time to shine. The pinkette at this point let herself ease away her troubles, her ears losing track of the gentle music being played. Sighing in relaxation after two hours' worth of taking care of her animals, she stretched her arms and wrapped them around the muscular, but unmoving form of the missing Big Macintosh Apple... Who was actually catatonic, with his emerald eyes staring lifelessly at the flat screen. Forgetting the TV, the pinkette pulled herself closer to him and kissed him on the cheek affectionately. "How are you feeling, Mac?" There was no response; his despondence only provided silence. She took it as she usually did - her mind provided her the answer she wanted to hear from him. "I'm good, Fluttershy. Just enjoying the music, but not as much as I'm enjoying you being with me." Flattery from him, imagined or not, was something she had to get used to. "Aww... How sweet of you, honey." "Not as sweet as you are. I love you so much, dear." They looked at each other, Fluttershy blushing as Big Macintosh smiled at her. When in reality, he wasn't. Actually, Big Macintosh had no semblance of will left in him anymore. Who wouldn't, after being chained in a basement for Celestia only knows how long and being given the burnt shirt of your dead would-have-been-wife earlier? The pinkette only knew how much Cheerilee had suffered. He was not given any details of her death or her suffering; not knowing proved to be twice as horrible to knowing. But he had to know. Her blood was on his hands, and Celestia damn him if he didn't remind himself that every waking moment from now on. Did she make good on her threat? Did she set fire to her? Did she stab her to death? Or did she do all three? The pain he felt right now, both physical and emotional, was worse than planned cruel and cold-blooded torture. And Fluttershy was just getting started, because she had all the time in the world now that he was hers again.
