Pinkie stumbled out of the house, feeling sick as the image of Fluttershy’s corpse being ripped apart by animals was fresh in her mind. She hadn’t quite been prepared for that. She swallowed the bile rising in her mouth as she trotted along to the next and nearest destination - Sweet Apple Acres.

She shook the memory of the sight she had just seen. She thought instead of the plan. Who she would kill, what order. Applejack was closest, of course. She lived right on the edge of the Everfree as well. She had to get this all done in a timely matter - if the bodies of the Elements of Harmony kept turning up, ponies would begin to suspect.

But who after Applejack? Rainbow Dash? Pinkie felt worse as she remembered her close friend. They had hung out more than anypony else she knew. How could she…

“Wipe that thought away, Pinkie,” she whispered to herself. “You just killed the Element of Kindness. That blood is on your hooves… There’s no ‘how could you’, anymore. Just ‘how will you’.”

Pinkie took a deep breath and continued on her way, thinking now only on how she would kill Applejack. Brutality might not work on this one. Applejack was much stronger than Fluttershy was. She would undoubtedly fight back. Worst of all, Pinkie still had to make these look like accidents. There had to be explanations for these bodies.

She gulped ruefully as she thought of the dent in Fluttershy’s head. Perhaps she had gotten overzealous. There would be a lot of blood; more than, perhaps, what would be logical for the height the cage fell at. And what about the fragments of glass? What if ponies put two and two together and figured out that she had been murdered? That a vase hadn’t just happened to fall off the desk, and that she had actually been murdered?

She stopped in her tracks as she thought of it. Applejack… Honesty. She would have to admit to what she did, in any circumstance. She would never be able to do anything wrong without admitting it.

She thought of a horrible idea. A horribly wonderful idea.

*~*~*~

Applejack was bucking apples. It was something she always did, of course. There really wasn’t anything unusual about it, and there really was nothing more to say on the subject. Apples were just her calling. She hit the tree again, smiling as she heard the crate beneath it begin to fill.

Applejack liked that it was a simple task. Hard work, but simple. You hit the tree here, the apples fall from there to there, and you take them to a specific place for a specific purpose. She tugged the crate up onto her back, smiling. It was off to the barn with this batch - luckily, it wasn’t a long walk. Though, Applejack wouldn’t mind a walk in the morning. The air was crisp this time of year, and though It might be early, it’s the best time to buck apples. Wakes you up.

Still, today seemed somewhat off to her. Too quiet, too simplistic. It was strange; no birds flew overhead, so the orchard was an eerie, tranquil place. It made sense, she supposed, that there were no birds - it was starting to become fall, after all, and some birds had the common sense to leave all by themselves. Still, the quietness felt… unnatural.

“Heya, Applejack!”

“AH!”

Applejack jumped up high, surprised as she turned to see Pinkie. Odd that she was up so early. Still, she looked happy enough. “Consarn it, Pinkie, y’just up and gave me a heart attack!”

Pinkie giggled. “Woops! Sorry, AJ.”

“What brings you down t’the orchard?”

“Oh, well, I was actually hoping I could talk to you? Maybe in the barn or something? I’ve got something really important to tell you.”

Applejack tilted her head. “An… why can’t y’just tell me out here? We’re already in private.”

Pinkie’s eyes darted back and forth. “No telling who could be listening!” She made a spooky little face, going ‘ooooo~’ under her breath. Applejack smiled and rolled her eyes. Just Pinkie being Pinkie again. “So come on!”

“Alright, alright…” Applejack was headed to the barn anyways - it wasn’t really much of a trouble, after all. Together they walked, their hoofsteps silent against the ground. Yet another strangely quiet thing. The only sound was the wind in the trees, though it wasn’t really a whistling sound. More like a quiet whisper that rustled through the leaves and apples. Pinkie smiled as she walked, glancing around at the leaves as the wind slowly made them dance. Applejack noticed she wasn’t bouncing as she usually did. Maybe she was tired from the early hour?

They reached the barn quickly. Applejack opened the door and trotted inside, dropping the crate of apples off by the others. She sighed in relief at having the weight off her back. “Now, what’s it y’wanted to tell me?”

“Weeeell… I sort of need a favor.”

“A favor?” Applejack tilted her head. “What sorta favor needs t’be asked for in private?”

“Well, you see,” Pinkie said, “I accidentally murdered Fluttershy and need a fall pony for it!”

Applejack began to nod, out of politeness, before processing what her friend had just said. She then stopped and stared at the bubbly pink pony. She stared for awhile in silence. After a moment, she cleared her throat. “That… wasn’t really a funny joke, Pinkie Pie.”

Pinkie tittered and giggled, waving a hoof in the air as though brushing the comment aside. “That’s cause it wasn’t a joke, silly! I really did kill Fluttershy, but nopony can know, so I’m asking you to admit to killing her!”

Applejack took a step back. “Pinkie, that’s enough foolin’ around! S’not right to joke about serious stuff like that!”

Pinkie rolled her eyes, huffing out a sigh. “I PINKIE PROMISE, I’m telling the truth about killing her! Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!”

Applejack’s eyes were wide in horror. One of her closest friends… She couldn’t be lying. Nopony breaks a Pinkie Promise, especially Pinkie Pie. That meant… Applejack felt sick. She felt very very sick. “P-Pinkie…”

“Ah, don’t be sad, AJ! We’ll have this all sorted out in a jiffy! I just need you to write me something!”

Applejack shook her head, unsure whether to charge at Pinkie and tackle her to the ground, or stall with conversation before running and getting the guards. “Pinkie… A-Ah’m not doin’ any favors for you! Y’killed one of… Y’killed Fluttershy! Y’MURDERED HER!”

Pinkie shushed her, looking around. “Not so loud! If you keep that up, everypony will know what we did!”

“WE?!” Applejack fought the urge to punch her, still trying to maintain a slightly level head. She started to pace, getting closer to the barn door. Pinkie didn’t seem to notice - thank Celestia for that. “Pinkie Pie, what d’you mean by ‘we’? Ah sure as heck didn’t have anythin’ to do with… with THAT! P-Pinkie, how could yah?”

“But that’s just it, Applejack! You DID have something to do with it! And you’re even going to admit to it!”

Applejack stopped, confused, next to the door - and Pinkie - now. “What d’you mean, ‘Ah’m gonna admit to it’?”

“Simple,” Pinkie said. “You see, all you’re going to do is -”

Applejack was on the ground before she knew what was going on. Pinkie had charged her mid sentence, slamming her hoof into Applejack’s skull. Applejack cried out in pain, caught by surprise. She quickly tried to push Pinkie off of her, but Pinkie was moving too fast with her punches for Applejack to recover. Applejack had to focus on trying to dodge the smacks and slaps. Had she not been so focused on the matter at hoof, she might have realized how careful Pinkie was being - she wasn’t doing anything that would leave lasting damage. She was only distracting her, not fully hurting her.

Applejack was so busy trying to fight back, she hardly felt the rope Pinkie had grabbed begin to wrap around her hooves. She only felt them as she finally pushed the Pink mare off her. She stood, but nearly fell over as she felt the rope coiled tight around her back hoof. She glanced at it, surprised. Pinkie smiled as she was this, and picked up another rope while Applejack tried to escape her current bindings.

Applejack didn’t have time to take it off before Pinkie grabbed her forehooves and binded them behind her back. She tried to get back at Pinkie, squirming and knocking her head back, shouting all the while. Nopony was near, however - all the Apples were either fast asleep or in the far orchards.

Pinkie took precautions, however. After tying down all of her friends hooves to posts by the front door, she tied a rope around her friend’s head, sliding it into her mouth to keep her gagged. “There,” she said as her friend finally fell silent. “I always knew my speedy reflexes would come in handy! Maybe I should’ve been the Iron Pony.” She giggled and sighed with a sense of nostalgia. “Now…”

Applejack tried to twist her head around as Pinkie moved behind her. She could just see the pink tail in her peripheral vision. She looked to be sorting through some of their old tools. While she was busy, Applejack tugged at the ropes. They were tight enough to hold her, but again, not tight enough to leave markings on her hooves. She thought for a moment, and realized the fact she should’ve grasped earlier. Why was Pinkie being so careful not to hurt her? She had already murdered somepony else, and she had her trussed up like a turkey now. What was she planning?

“You see, Applejack,” Pinkie said, bringing the farm pony back to earth, “I need your help. If anypony thinks I killed Fluttershy, I might not be able to finish my job.”

“Mooffb,” Applejack said, attempting to question what said job was. She bit at the gag in her mouth; too tough to bite through.

“Well, you see, Fluttershy was just my first target. I need to kill ALL of you for this to be done.” Applejack’s eyes widened as she realized Pinkie was going to kill her. She felt tears begin to rise as she realized her friends would die soon as well. Her resolve hardened - she had to stop Pinkie.

Pinkie glanced at her, hearing the small sniffling. “Oh, don’t cry, AJ! You’re not real, so it doesn’t matter!” Pinkie giggled. “I’m just saving myself from a fate worse than your death. The real you would understand what I’m doing. I’m sure of it.”

Applejack gasped as best she could as Pinkie stepped back into her vision again, this time holding a device they had put away after getting Winona. A Cattle Prod.

It had been invented by unicorns about 7 years back. A device that used magic to shock an animal and could help herd it. It didn’t leave any marks, thanks to the magic, but it could go from a gentle shock to stunning an elephant, depending on how high the settings were. Applejack tugged at the ropes, realizing slowly what Pinkie had in store for her - they were still too tight to escape from, but she thought she felt one on her forehoof slide ever so slightly. It wasn’t enough.

Pinkie looked at the device with casual interest. “This looks like it can get pretty painful! That’s why I picked it out - I used to work on your farm, remember?”

She did remember. Pinkie had helped out, and then there was that time she had switched cutiemarks. She nodded as best she could, eyes wide, with fear instead of sorrow now.

“Good! Well, I found this nifty little device last I was here. I was thinking, on the way from Fluttershy’s, just how I would kill you and keep it a secret. Then I realized - what if you had killed Fluttershy? You would have to admit to it! Then I thought, ‘but Pinkie, if she admitted to it, she would have to go to the guards!’ But then I thought, ‘what if she was dead before she went to them?’ and I realized the only way to make this all work is to have you kill yourself!”

Applejack took a minute to process everything she had said. Kill herself? She would never…

“I know what you’re thinking. You think you’d never do it. But that’s just it - I’ll help you do it! It’s the least I could do for a friend like you!” Applejack recoiled as Pinkie got dangerously close - but she was simply taking the gag out. Applejack let her, confused until she held up a pen she had shaken out of her mane. She watched as she also produced a small slip of paper. “All you have to do is write the note!”

“N-Note,” she said in a wavering voice.

“Duh! They always leave behind a note!”

Applejack felt that sickness rising again. She swallowed to try and settle her stomach from the carefree joy of the murderer before her. “A-Ah’m not gonna do it,” she said with her shaking voice. “You’re never gonna break me.”

Pinkie sighed, frowning. “I was hoping you weren’t going to say that.” Applejack struggled, but Pinkie slipped the rope back into her friend’s mouth. “That means I have to use this.” Pinkie put her attention the to cattle prod, flicking it to the lowest setting. It hummed to life, a yellow pulse lighting between the two metal bulbs. “Round one, then,” Pinkie said as Applejack’s only warning.

Applejack gasped as it touched her skin. It was white hot and cool all at the same time. She felt it spread through her body, like a shot into her fur. She shuddered - it had lasted only a second, but the after effect was still there. Unconsciously, her body pulled in the other direction of the cattle prod.

Pinkie frowned at her slow reaction. “Not nearly as painful as I was expecting.” With a smile, she turned it up. The humming got louder as the machine in her hooves sparked. “There! Let’s try this!”

Applejack gasped and bit down hard in the gag as it touched in the same place on her side. The hot pain didn’t last for a second this time - it was a burning, lingering feeling on her side that pulsed through her body. She was reminded of the times when cooking, as boiling water splashed in little droplets onto her hooves. It was as though those drops had all centered on her side. She tugged away, grimacing as the ropes tried to keep her in place.

Pinkie smiled. “Much better.”

She began her repeated assault on the mare, smiling the entire time. Again and again, she prodded the farmer, grinning as she writhed. She started on the sides, then the chest, then the hooves. Applejack struggled the entire time, trying to stay strong. As Pinkie moved to her hooves, however, Applejack began to weaken. The pulses were taking their toll. She began to shy away from the electric volts, wincing as the ropes pulled. Pinkie paused for a moment as, when she pushed the electrodes against her friend’s skin, she heard a soft whimper of pain. “Oh? Are you ready to give up yet,” she asked, smiling. “It’s getting late in the day, and somepony will surely be here soon.”

Applejack was strengthened by that thought. If she could just stay strong for a little while longer, maybe, just maybe somepony could stop this madness. Maybe she could be vital to stopping Pinkie P-

She couldn’t hold back a short scream of surprise and shock as the prod hit her again on a much higher setting that before. Pinkie grinned sadistically as she held it there for a few seconds, watching her friend thrash around in her binds in pain, crying out. “Oopsies,” she said, giggling as she pulled it back. “Guess my hoof slipped!”

Applejack went limp in the ropes, eyes welling up with tears. For an instant there, she could swear she felt her blood boiling. She tried to stop them, but tears began to fall from her face, one at a time, until there was a steady march of moisture down her face. She whimpered softly into her rope, bitterly angry at herself for showing weakness. She was angry at herself, and at this monster who was doing this to her. That monster was making her cry. She was making her weak.

Pinkie smiled a bit ruefully. “It’s okay to cry, Applejack. I did too, at first. I cried a lot! But you’ll be in a better place soon.” She held up the pen and paper again. “All y’gotta do is confess.”

Applejack looked at the paper. For a fleeting instant, she thought about it. She could just give up. She could give in and stop the torture and just forget about what Pinkie had done and what she would do. But there still had to be hope left, right? Somepony could stop her. She couldn’t just give up.

Swallowing around the gag, she shook her head no. She shut her eyes tightly as she heard Pinkie’s sigh, followed by an even louder hum. She bit down hard, but screamed again as she felt the blinding agony of the magic against her skin. Pinkie started jabbing her in split second intervals, three times in a short row. Applejack never felt a break between the prods.

She kept crying. She just couldn’t seem to stop. Surely, the machine was leaving marks? She knew it wouldn’t, though. She knew that the magic was too efficient - it dug beneath the skin, not into it. There was no hope that on her dead body, they would find the marks of her torture. She would be lifeless with no good explanation other than the fact that she had killed herself.

She tried to stop thinking about that route. Someone would find her.

But as she kept thinking it, she lost hope it would come true.

She hardly realized as Pinkie pulled the prod away from her. She opened tired eyes as Pinkie lifted her chin up. She was hanging loosely from her bonds, tears rolling down her face. Pinkie hugged her, and Applejack couldn’t help but find some perverse comfort in the embrace. She needed comfort; her body ached with sorrow and pain. “There there,” Pinkie whispered.

Applejack wanted to recoil. But this pony promised her there would be something better. Something better than remembering Fluttershy was dead. Something better than sitting here, helpless, in pain, as no one looked for her. She was just in the background, helpless, as she was ignored. No one knew she was here. No one would know…

Pinkie pushed up her chin again, smiling reassuringly. “You can trust me, Applejack,” she said softly, comfortingly. “You can go to sleep… safe and sound… I’ll take care of everything, Applejack. You don’t need to worry about anything anymore.”

Applejack sobbed softly, muttering something through her mess of tears and the gag. “What was that, Applejack?” Pinkie slipped the gag out of her friend’s mouth.

“Give… give me the pen… please…”

Pinkie smiled and put the pen in her friend’s mouth. She lifted up the paper. Crying and writing through blurry eyes, Applejack wrote. She wrote out everything. Everything she had to write out in order to be free of this. She didn’t try to tell the truth on the paper - she knew Pinkie would check it first. If she tried to tell everyone who the real killer was, Pinkie would just make her wallow in her hatred longer. Lying was the only way out, now.

She let the pen fall from her mouth as she finished writing. As expected, Pinkie read it all. “Oh Applejack,” she whispered as she finished. “I had no idea you felt this way…” She hugged her friend again, leaning towards her ear. “Do you want to die, Applejack?” There was a pause before her sobbing friend nodded. Pinkie smiled softly. “I’ll give you what you want, then.”

The bonds were removed. Applejack lie on the floor, simply crying. Pinkie took the ropes not covered in tears or saliva and fashioned them into a lasso. Applejack looked at it. How simple a noose it was. Simple was the way she wanted to go, after all. Short. Sweet. Simple.

Pinkie got a chair and hung it up high, leaving the lasso hanging down. It was about a head too tall for Applejack to reach without a stool of some kind. The perfect height.

Pinkie helped her listless friend stand. “You’re almost done, Applejack. See? Your halo is here already.”

Applejack looked at the noose through dead eyes. She knew she could fight back right now. She knew she could. But she knew it was hopeless, now. If she tried, Pinkie would overpower her. She was simply too weak. She would, and would always be, too weak to have helped. Too weak, too ignored, too useless to have helped anypony regain hope. She nodded softly, not saying a word.

She stepped onto the chair Pinkie placed under the noose. Shaking out her mane, she stuck her head through the lasso. Pinkie tightened it for her - how thoughtful a friend she was.

“Are you ready to go,” Applejack heard. Her only response was to kick out the chair from under her herself. She wasn’t about to let Pinkie kill her. Her last act of defiance. Her last act of hopeless hope.

Pinkie hung her head as she heard a snapping sound. She smiled softly. “Now she’s an angel,” she whispered, her mind overtaken with that same fogginess from earlier. She felt the element around her neck buzzing. She had already ended two.

With a happy heart and a joyful bounce to her step, she left the note by the chair. She trotted out of the barn, happy to see nopony outside. They would be there soon, however - the sun had risen fully by now, and Ponyville would be awake.

Time for the next victim.

Author's Note

Whew. That took awhile. Lemmie just say, THAT WAS INTENSE.
Soooo intense.