Bittersweet Apple Acres (DARKFIC)

Ponyville was quiet, as everypony heard a loud alarm in the distance. The alarm blared from Sweet Apple Acres, immediately sending everypony into a state of panic, knowing that it only meant death. It was the Apple Family's alarm, and meant that they needed ponies for their production line, now that they had run out of the required materials they needed to make their applesauce, composed of a very special ingredient that gave it that sweet and bitter taste. Everypony knew what gave it that taste, which is why they were hiding in any place they could find.

The special ingredient was pony blood, however the Apple Family didn't just use a pony for their blood, but also the food that they ate. Sweet Apple Acres was a slaughterhouse for ponies, and anypony that was ever taken to the Sweet Apple Acres were never heard from again. The process was haunting, and was only known of, due to one of the Apple Family's own kin revealing what really goes on behind the barn doors, and the punishment was death. The young filly was Apple Bloom.

Ever since, anytime the alarm rang, everypony resorted to hiding in places that the Apple Family would never think to look, now that they knew that there was nothing "sweet" about Sweet Apple Acres. Over twenty ponies had been forced from Ponyville to their assured deaths, and now only thirteen or less remained, hiding for their lives.

The alarm stopped, as everypony settled into their hiding spots, praying that they would not be found. The sound of the Big Macintosh's large hoofs pulling the apple cart became louder, as the Apple Family arrived just outside of Ponyville. The cart had stopped, but the fight for survival had only just begun, because the one Apple that most ponies feared due to her being persistent, was the third youngest; Applejack.

Her hooves planted on the ground, hitting with loud thumps that sounded like thunder to the inhabitants of Ponyville, along with her lasso wrapped around her neck. The lasso was her key tool to the ponies that ran either out of fear, or somehow escaped. The lasso was something everypony feared, because Applejack never missed her target. Nopony had ever escaped the Apple Family's clutches. Once you were in Applejack's lasso, you were done, never to be seen or heard from ever again.

Applejack wasn't surprised that Ponyville was empty of its inhabitants, because ever since Apple Bloom had spilled the beans on what really happens behind the doors of Sweet Apple Acres. Whenever the Apple Family arrived, Ponyville was a ghost town. She stepped forward, standing next to her brother.

"Must we do this every time?!" shouted Applejack. "Why can't y'all just come willingly!? It doesn't really matter what any of you ponies do. We've got all day, and even if we have to flip this entire town upside down, we'll find ya."

Applejack's tone had lowered, as she stomped her back-right hoof against the ground, alerting the ponies in hiding that she wasn't kidding. Her persistence was strong, and she wouldn't give up until somepony eventually was either found or surrendered. The Apple Family wasn't amateurs to luring ponies out of their hiding spots, and knew how to lure their prey out of hiding using more than just one tactic. They never had to do any searching. That was always the Apple Family's last resort, and had never had to resort to doing so, because fear was their key element.

Applejack started with her usual tactics. "Think about what y'all are doing, hiding away from us," she said in a grim voice. "All that y'all are doin' is starvin' yourselves. Without our applesauce, you will die of starvation, and we know just how much all of you love the sweet taste of the applesauce we provide."

Applejack wasn't lying. It was true that their applesauce was the only source of food available to the Ponyville inhabitants, and unless they have their special ingredient, the Apple Family would be unable to make the applesauce. Most ponies would rather die, but if this tactic didn't work, Applejack had other ways of luring a pony out of hiding.

"Being stubborn, as usual," said Applejack. "Alright, what about your fillies and foals? Think about them. Do you like to see them starve? If that's the case, then we should just take all the applesauce you selfish ponies have, and let all of you starve. You'll be thinkin' twice about your decision when your fillies and foals are cryin' to you for food that you so selfishly gave up due to your own selfishness!"

Applejack's words caused the ponies to become motivated a little, staring at their fillies and foals in their arms, and the outcome that would happen if the applesauce were to be taken. Applejack decided to do something that would motivate at least one pony for sure.

"Better yet, JUST SMASH THE JARS OF THE APPLESAUCE!" exclaimed Applejack. "MAKE EM' SUFFER!"

Applejack's older brother, Big Macintosh followed his sister's words. He unhooked himself from the apple cart and proceeded into a nearby shop where over twenty jars of the applesauce remained stacked upon the shelves. With a hard buck against the wall, the jars of the applesauce fell from the shelves and landed on the wooden floor, smashing to nothing but shattered glass.

Below, the ponies could hear the glass shattering, and knew that Big Mac would just continue to do as Applejack said, until nothing was left. Some foals were starting to cry, giving the Apple Family a perfect chance to find them, and take them by force.

"KEEP SMASHIN' THEIR ONLY FOOD SOURCE TO NOTHING, BIG MAC!" commanded Applejack. "ONLY A FEW SHOPS REMAIN, BEFORE THERE'S NOTHING LEFT!"

Big Mac didn't hold up, and did as his sister said, erupting the sound of shattering glass once more, causing the ponies to panic. The Apple Family's persistence was working once again, and soon they'd have their prey.

The shattering glass continued, until there was only one shop left, and the ponies were starting to get scared. How would they survive if the Apple Family gave them no food? The moment was approaching. Somepony would give in.

Applejack decided to give the ponies a final nudge, knowing it would work. "Only one shop remains, everypony! Unless you want your fillies and foals to die of starvation, somepony needs to come forth," threatened Applejack. "Big Mac, finish...

Applejack was interrupted.

"STOP!" yelled a fellow earth pony. His mane was red in a spiky style, and his body was a light brown.

Applejack expressed an evil grin, seeing her persistence had paid off once more as the earth pony walked closer.

He spoke from under his breath. "I'll go," said the pony.

Applejack giggled. "State your name."

"My name is Crimson Flash," he spoke.

"Well, Crimson Flash, be proud that you just saved your stubborn folk from starvation," spoke Applejack. "Now, to be sure you can't pull anything along the ride back to the farm, I'm going to have to lasso ya'."

Crimson Flash was terrified, as Applejack prepared her lasso. She spun it in a 360 pattern, until it was at the right speed, then tossed it violently at Crimson Flash, wrapping him up tight. The rope was so tight that Crimson had a hard time breathing, and the pain increased intensely, as Applejack tugged the lasso once more, breaking some of Crimson's ribs. He shouted out in pain, as Applejack grabbed a sack of some sort from Granny Smith, and placed it over Crimson's head.

She tightened the sack to where Crimson could only inhale the smell of the sack, which was a horrid smell of death. Crimson gagged, followed by a series of vomiting, only for it to be thrown back into his face. The acid burned, and the smell was putrid, causing Crimson to vomit more and more.

Applejack walked to Crimson, grabbing his head and pulling it back, causing his own vomit to fall back into his mouth. The pony choked while gagging from the taste of his own stomach acid.

"Swallow it!" commanded Applejack, thrusting Crimson's head back harder.

Crimson had a hard time hearing Applejack through his gagging and choking. As a way to get his attention, Applejack slammed the pony in the side of the head with her right hoof. Crimson coughed, as Applejack gave him the command again.

"Listen to me when I'm talkin' to you!" she yelled.

Crimson couldn't breathe or talk, as Applejack thrust his head back more violently.

"Swallow it, and if you upchuck it again, I'll make you swallow it again!"

Crimson heard Applejack loud and clear and swallowed his own vomit, nearly vomiting again. Applejack threw Crimson's head forward, colliding it to the hard ground. It wasn't enough to knock out Crimson, as he whimpered, refusing the urge to vomit. He breathed heavily, as Applejack along with Big Macintosh threw the fragile pony onto the wagon, hitting the wooden surface of the wagon hard.

Applejack turned toward Ponyville.

"Next time, we won't be so nice!" she said, making her way onto the cart.

Big Macintosh hooked himself to the front of the cart, then trotted out of Ponyville, back to Sweet Apple Acres.

The ride seemed like eternity for Crimson Flash, as they approached the farm, hearing the faint squeaking sound of the rusted sign just above the entrance of the farm. The squeaking sounded more like the screams of all the victims who had met their fates just beyond the doors of the barn. Even though his head was covered, Crimson could still see through some small holes in the bag over his head. The sight was faint, but he could see that they were just outside of the barn.

His heart raced, as the cart came to a halt, and listened as he heard Big Macintosh make his way to the back of the cart. Crimson knew that he was finished, feeling a hard kick to his right flank, causing him to fly out of the cart, hitting the ground hard. He landed right on the side of his rib cage, hearing two ribs snap. The pain was too severe not to scream, which he did. Applejack grabbed him hard, kicking him with her right leg into the side of his body. The pain increased, causing Crimson Flash to start crying.

Applejack didn't approve of his screaming nor his crying, leading to her dragging his fragile body to a nearby water tap, and placing his head right beneath the tap. She pumped the tap, until water came pouring out, drowning the pony. He struggled to breathe, coughing from the water entering his nostrils. The water was becoming unbearable, until Applejack stopped pumping the water, and thrusted Crimson's head forth, relieving his nostrils of the water, but he still coughed and struggled to breathe.

"Did I tell you to scream!? Did I!?" exclaimed Applejack, still gripping Crimson.

Crimson struggled to answer, causing Applejack to become furious. She violently placed his head beneath the water tap again, and once again pumped water out of the tap, drowning the helpless pony. After drowning Crimson once more, Applejack stopped pumping water, and thrusted his head forward, relieving his nostrils once more of the cold water.

"I won't ask again!" yelled Applejack, holding Crimson's head forward.

Crimson couldn't answer, so instead he shook his head, hoping Applejack would accept his attempt at an answer.

"Hmm. I'd rather you answer me with words, but I guess I'll make an exception, for now that is," she replied.

Crimson was relieved, but he knew that Applejack was only playing with him. He knew his nightmare had only just begun, and the worst was yet to come. He just had no idea how far the Apple Family went with their torture. This was only the mild stages of his torture, and what ever was behind those barn doors was where the true torture would begin.

The sound of the barn doors opening sent a chill down Crimson's spine, knowing that this was it. He wanted to take a breath of fresh air, but the putrid-scented bag over his head was preventing that. Now he knew the bag's purpose, to prevent any fresh air from being inhaled, because the Apple Family liked their prey as miserable as possible. He couldn't move or breathe, as Applejack dragged him beyond the barn doors, into the Sweet Apple Acre's slaughterhouse.

Applejack removed the sack, hearing the barn doors shut. His vision was blurry for a second, as he tried to regain full vision on what stood before him. Once his vision was clear, all he saw was a gigantic machine. It had a large opening at the top of a flight of stairs, composed of a row of rotating blades, a single chute leading to just above a conveyor belt.

Above the conveyor belt was a large number of small tubes, designed to extract what ever went through the blades to flow into jars along the conveyor belt. It wasn't hard to figure out what the machine was designed for, due to a brown substance caked on the ends of the small tubes. Crimson recognized the substance as dry blood.

Applejack untied her lasso from Crimson's body, and carried him up the stairs, seeing he was far too weak to even try and fight her. At the top of the machine was a metal plate just above the entrance to the machine, which was caked with blood. The metal plate had four metal rings designed to hold the victim's limbs against the wall.

"Get against the wall!" commanded Applejack.

Crimson had nowhere to go except through the machine, so he followed Applejack's orders, and stood up against the wall, as Applejack locked Crimson's limbs in the restraints, and around his neck, so he couldn't attempt any sort of escape. The smell of urine and feces lingered below him, from past victims. Another distinct smell lingered as well, but he was too weak to even tell what it was. He gagged from the feces, but didn't dare vomit.

"Enjoy your stay in the slaughterhouse, sugar," said Applejack in a sarcastic tone. "Don't worry, we have many plans for ya. Especially me."

Suddenly, Applejack jumped Crimson's level, invading his personal space, and landed a french kiss. Crimson wanted to push her away, but the restrains were too strong, so Applejack continued to french kiss him, sticking her tongue deep into his mouth. Biting her tongue would do zero good, so Crimson didn't even attempt that, and just allowed her to torture him. She finished, pulling her tongue out of his mouth, and wiping away saliva from her mouth.

"Dinner will be ready soon," said Applejack. "Hope you like apple liver."

Applejack walked out of the room, hearing her sinister laugh echo throughout the room.