Good Intentions

7
"Refractions and Reflections"

Twilight and Applejack parked it on the fake dirt floor of the lab. AJ went through her bag slowly and set the red gem on the ground.

"Ah couldn't believe it," Applejack said. "Hopefully, this is a different one... but the place they'd found it in was recently dug up by ma brother!"

"AJ, you don't think--"

"Ah certainly hope not, Twilight..." the farm pony replied, cutting her friend off. "Isn't there some way to find out?"

"The Princess said I just have to ask the crystal to show me what happened..." Twilight looked down at the gem and picked it up... both ponies holding it in their hooves. "Gem, would you please show us what happened right before you were taken from here?"

The gem instantly glowed a brilliant red, making clear the truth the ponies had sought after for days. Both fell silent.

* * *

The jewel showed in a red hue a perspective from the rafters above the center of the lab. Silent and motionless, it looked like a still image. For minutes it showed nothing new, to the point Twilight was going to ask it to hurry up, when suddenly they heard -- from inside their own heads -- the door creaking open. It caused them both to jump, but they were far too glued to take their eyes from it.

A large pony came in. Big Mac. He casually looked around the room, as though it were a place he was welcome to come alone. The farm pony looked over the machine, then up to the rafters... squinting. His eyes went wide.

With the nudge of a nearby chair, scraping against the hardened floor, Big Mac positioned himself below the gem and plucked it with his teeth, setting it on the table by the machine. They knew it was him to begin with, yet they held out hope they were mistaken. Now close enough to make out the fine details, it was unmistakably Big Mac.

He put his hooves on the controls casually, as if intimate with the machine already. To know what he was doing, he must've been more observant than he looked. There was a level of comfort in his image that surprised even Applejack.

The purple Unicorn kept a hoof to her month, fighting the urge to say something accusing about her friend's brother, when he turned towards the glass and opened it. Silence was better for Twilight, at least for the time being.

"Doesn't hurt to try," his voice echoed in their brains as he chucked in his usual, deep way.

The ponies saw him drop something very tiny beneath the glass, immediately closing it up. He turned to the crystal console and began to tinker as his voice conveyed his thoughts aloud:

"Lemme see... There were just five crystals Twilight touched, then a yellow or a green. Can't possibly be too hard."

Big Mac pushed the crystals as the machine sang a familiar tune.

The machine played the tune of replication in their heads, having cloned a second set of whatever he put beneath the first glass. He opened the second glass and threw whatever it was to behind himself, where it hit a table.

"Though Ah should shake ma head at myself for failing, that was a pretty good first try," he commented.

The farm pony messed with the controls yet again. Twilight and Apple Jack looked at each other, completely lost as to what they would see next...

A melody filled their thoughts once more, then a brilliant flash illuminated the room, so bright it was even blinding to the two staring into the crystal. Big Mac turned his head over to the other glass and they knew from the echo that he was excited. Something very large was curled up beneath it.

* * *

The mares could see the stallion smiling smugly under the red haze. He needed no words... whatever it was he had come in to do, it had been a success.

He lifted the glass. This thing, whatever it was, immediately stretched its limbs and turned over.

"Big Mac?" Echoed an errily familiar voice. "Where am I?"

Neither mare could believe her eyes. Big Mac had cloned his own sister Applejack. Her image was red and distorted, but they knew it had come out well. She had everything but the hat, perfect as the machine was known to do. Big Mac, however, would have known better than either of them just how perfect she really was.

"Hey sis," Big Mac said, gently. "How y'all doin' tonight?"

The image of Apple Jack replied:

"Wh-what's going on... why am I in Twilight's lab?"

Grinning in response, Big Mac was deflecting with his answer:

"Don't you worry about that none. Not one bit!"

The mare in the gem was not amused:

"But Ah have no idea how I even got here--"

"Shhh." Big Mac cut her off, gentle as ever. "You'll understand soon enough. Now, kindly do me a favor, AJ... if you would! Turn towards me, just a bit more than you are now, and we can get started. Can you do that for me, little sis?"

Though clearly confused, she did as she was asked... as the real Applejack probably would have:

"Uh, alright. Like this? ... and what're we doin'?"

Big Mac seemed almost to back up after she complied, but that was only done in the way he did it before a strike. The giant's tone changed, as did his demeanor.

"That is just perfect!" The stallion slammed into his sister's clone as if doing a belly flop into a swimming pool much too small. "Now don't you move! Not that ya can much."

Watching this the real Applejack felt sickened and betrayed by her own eyes, head, and brother. This was uncharacteristic of him -- she had to be watching a monster at work, not Big Mac. He was a gentle giant, harmless as a foal! Twilight looked up to see if she was okay. AJ's eyes were off to the side... tuning out the visual aspect of the display, which had already become unnervingly violent.

"Git off of me right now!" Red AJ snapped. "This ain't funny, Big Macintosh. Wait a minute... If you're fixing to do what I think ya are, I'm not gunna keep quite about it! I'll tell all ma friends, and me and RD'll string you up by yer back legs while Pinkie turns you into a Piñata! I ain't warning ya twice..."

Laughter was the response. A type of fake, hallow sound neither of them had ever heard coming out of Big Mac before echoed in their brains:

"Ya talk way too much, AJ!"

Unseen to both as to why, Apple Jack's image cried in what sounded like pain, clearly scared as she was being overpowered:

No! Please... don't do this to me. Ah'm your sister! It ain't natural!"

Twilight felt happy to be the only one looking this at this point. Much like a horror movie she knew what was coming next. This was not recorded to amuse her, however... The Princess would never lie about something like this, even on her own life.

"Ah said you talk too much, AJ!" Big Mac shouted, placing both hooves on the young mare's neck. She stopped making sounds now, save a gurgled noise here and there, but still struggled for her life. "Shhhh, shhh. It'll be okay..."

The brutality had reached a point where Twilight couldn't watch either. She looked up at the real Apple Jack, who was in tears, rocking rhythmically to the sounds and covering her ears... not that it did any good since it was all being projected into her head. Worried for her friend's state, she tried to reach out to the real AJ with a hoof, but the farm pony pulled away, removing both hooves from her ears and scowling.

It came to them both then that they had no choice in this. Together they looked into the crystal, both of them wanting desperately to make it stop. They watched to see just how far Big Mac would take this, whether he would finally stop, and in fleeting hopes they'd find out why he was doing this.

The sound of glass shattering beneath their struggles followed. AJ's image kicked wildly as stallion's giant torso struck the console... causing crystals and broken glass to spill everywhere.

By this point, Big Mac's movements had become rhythmic. It was easy to tell he wasn't just strangling the mare anymore... the sounds beneath it all became wet and gutteral. He confirmed their thoughts as his voice echoed in their minds:

"in ya go, now! In ya go. There! There' a good mare!"

Applejack listened helplessly to her own muted cries of humiliation, terror, and disgust. Applejack, even safe before Twilight, wanted to throw the crystal through a window. An unseen force stopped her from doing that, however. Her eyes were glued, morbidly and curiously, as the events grew even more morbid as time went on. She was, in actuality, watching her own rape and likely death. Twilight was there for her, even though that did nothing.

* * *

After about two minutes of thrashing, Big Mac finally cried out in ecstasy... falling on his victim hard. Neither pony moved for a good long while.

"Like a velvet glove, AJ!" Big Mac finally groaned. "You feel like a velvet glove! Better, and far tighter than I ever imagined. Sweet as nectar, moist and crisp.the best golden delicious on the farm. Hard to believe you don't like stallions... we truly are missing out because of your selfish proclivities!"

Applejack's spent big brother stallion pulled himself from the mare who's head was rocking back and forth, clearly half-conscious:

"No, no, no...," she weakly cried. "Please... no more. Ah just want to go home. I'll put this all behind me and never tell any pony. I promise! Can't things go back to the way they were just yesterday?"

"Shut up, AJ!" Thundered Big Mac, bringing down his fore hoof on her stomach with explosive force. She doubled over and ended up on her side.

The stallion rubbed his chin, looking down at his sister image in pain:

"I know you ain't really ma sister," he said coldly, smiling down at her. "So I don't feel too bad about any of this, really. Maybe wrecking the place, but that was far from ma original intentions. Ah know I should care a bit more for you... but I don't. Not one bit! Ah'm entirely free from guilt, and as a matter-o-fact... it feels pretty nice."

She'd spent the moment looking up at what she thought with all her existence to be her brother with uncomprehending eyes, crying. He had made her mad, though, in spite of everything he'd done to her... AJ had some fire in her:

"What'd ya mean I ain't your sister!?! Am to! Flesh and blood, Apples together forever as we've always been... you've said so yourself with the rest of us more times than Ah'm sure Twilight herself can count! Why'd you say such an awful thing to me, Big Mac? What did I ever do to you?"

Chuckling once, he responded:

"You're just a thing. Ain't even gunna dignify by callin' you AJ no more. You're nothing more than a doppelganger. You don't matter one bit, to me, or your so-called 'friends.'"

"Please, Big Mac... Ah don't know why you're doing this to me."

Big Mac did not answer, and the mare continued to plead with him:

"Please tell me this is just a nightmare. Please! I'm so scared..."

Big Mac laughed again in his hallow tone as the clone he was quite disconnected from cried. What was more disgusting than anything in all this was Applejack seeing her own true colors... knowing that she would be just as helpless, should Big Mac ever turn on her like this. He was physically capable, this was proof. AJ's image began to wretch and cough, as if so scared she was getting ready to vomit. Seeing this, there was a sudden change... AJ knew Big Mac couldn't stand the sight of vomit. Showing some compassion for the first time in the lab, Big Mac stopped and hung his head.

"Oh, you really do have me convinced now. You at least have some feelings..." He sighed. "Alright. Come on... let's go." He offered the clone a hoof. "It's over."

Applejack watched herself take his hoof hesitantly at first... then trustingly once he smiled and their hooves made contact. He pulled her into a familiar embrace she knew quite well. They saw the eyes of the clone so close, trusting Big Mac despite all that he had put her through. He patted her back, his hooves going higher each pat... until they reached the back of her head. He grasped with almost a vice grip. One loud sound was heard by both ponies minds:

Snap!

Applejack, as Big Mac had created her, fell over and was not moving... dead.

"Quick, easy, painless." Big Mac sounded almost proud of his work. "But why did I do it before we got back to the farm? Gah... even Ah'm going to get tired carrying her that far. Least it's late." He looked down at the corpse before him. "Truth be told, AJ... if you can still hear me, which Ah doubt, I always wanted to kill another pony. Just to see what it's like... Lemme tell you Ah can see the draw after doing this. Ah got no excuse to kill a real pony, though. Gotta take care of ya now. No pony's gunna recognize ya once Ah'm done. Give the leftovers to the pigs. This crystal... Ah can't decide to keep or bury. Prolly bury it elsewhere. You are going to make the best fertilizer for ma saplings, according to what Ah've read at least."

They watched him put AJ's lifeless image over his shoulders, then pick the crystal up in his mouth. The rest they could figure out... they needed to see no more, and wanted to see no more.