Bittersweet Apple Acres (DARKFIC)

The next morning, Crimson peeked his eyes open, confused on where he was at first, but once he came to realization on what had happened the previous day, his confusion disappeared. The entire night, he had been dead weight in the metal restraints, causing his limbs to ache. He didn't know if that was an intended step in the torture, but nonetheless, it was painful. Crimson braced himself upward, using any bit of strength he had left in him, wondering what Applejack had in store for breakfast.

He was incredibly dehydrated and needed some water, due to his mouth being completely dry with only the taste of vomit, rotten apples, and even the apple liver he was forced to eat. The cuts that Applejack had made on his upper and lower chest looked infected, and it wouldn't surprise Crimson if they were, seeing the same knife was probably used on many other past victims for many other methods of torture designed to slowly kill the victim. The thoughts of the methods made him shiver, causing him limbs to surge in pain from them pounding against the hard steel.

After a few minutes, he attempted to calm himself, hearing the sound of only the wind creeping through holes in the barn wood, and the row of saw blades below him creaking from the wind's force. He had never felt so weak in his entire life, and Crimson had had many weak moments in his short life of nineteen years.

Crimson was born in the local Ponyville hospital, and weighed the usual weight of a newborn foal. His mother, Hazel Flash had gone through a twenty-hour labor, until finally the time had come for Crimson to be born. His father, Maroon Flash was a hard-working stallion that had a full-time job in a faraway place, and due to his occupation, couldn't attend his own son's birth. Hazel understood the reason, due to them being a poor family, and needing money in order to keep a roof over their heads.

Everything was working out fine, until one day, an accident occurred on Maroon's work site, and the result was over twenty ponies ending up in the hospital with severe injures, while a mere five lost their lives in the accident. Maroon was one of those five ponies, immediately causing everything to go south for the Flash family.

The fatality devastated Hazel, while young Crimson was too young to even know what was going on. At first, Hazel had thoughts of suicide, but knew that Crimson needed her, and suicide would only make things worse for the young foal. Times were hard, but Hazel managed to raise Crimson into a healthy earth pony. Once again, everything seemed to be back on track, until the first alarm rang from Sweet Apple Acres.

The Apple Family arrived, but nopony knew of the horrors that happened beyond the barn doors, so nopony suspected anything. The Apple's arrived asking if anypony could lend them a hoof at the farm, due to Big Macintosh being sick. Nopony suspected anything, so five ponies volunteered to help out at the farm. One of those five were Hazel.

Time passed. Crimson waited for his mother to return, but she never came. The following day, Applejack came alone, and lied through her teeth that there had been a terrible "accident" on the farm. Everypony believed her, seeing her story was believable. She claimed that the ponies were helping to lift bails of hay, and just out of nowhere the hay pile was tipped over, and landed on the ponies that had volunteered, snapping their necks and killing them.

Seeing it's a common farm accident, nopony thought otherwise. That was, until a filly who had snuck onto the wagon, told the real truth of what really happened. The ponies were unsure to believe Apple Bloom or not, seeing she had always had a wild imagination, but from the descriptions she gave in the true story, it was beyond anything a filly as young as Apple Bloom should even know about. The words were still burned in Crimson's mind.

"She's lyin'! My sister along with Big Mac and Granny Smith slaughtered those ponies! The new grinder that our family just purchased isn't meant to grind up apples! It's meant to grind up ponies, after they're tortured in the most horrible ways possible! Believe me when I say this! Don't listen to my sick and twisted sister! SHE'S EVIL!"

Apple Bloom's testimony against Applejack was literally unbelievable, until the Ponyville inhabitants watched as Applejack's true colors were revealed. After the testimony, Applejack kicked Apple Bloom so hard it broke her small rib cage, while she called Apple Bloom a "no-good disgusting rotten apple." Apple Bloom pleaded for mercy, but through her pleas, Applejack did the unthinkable in front of Ponyville. She placed her hoof on Apple Bloom's small neck and pressured down on it, until there was a "snap" sound that would haunt everypony's eardrums for the rest of their lives.

Ever since, Ponyville had been in fear of the Apple Family, unable to do anything about the family's twisted killing lifestyle. The ponies tried to leave Ponyville, but had been stopped each time by other members of the Apple Family. The inhabitants of Ponyville were literally trapped and had nowhere to go, except to their deaths when their time came.

Crimson's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a door opening below him. He could've only assumed that it was Applejack, coming to feed him something terrible for breakfast. What sick and twisted game was she planning this time? Crimson didn't have to wait long, as Applejack walked up the flight of stairs carrying a plate of what looked like pancakes. Strangely, they didn't look gross, only delicious.

"Mornin' sugar," she said in a normal tone. "How was yur' night?"

Her behavior was not of a psychopath, but of just a normal pony. This had to be another sick game that Applejack was playing. He didn't want to risk anything, so he quickly answered Applejack.

"It was ok, my sweet Applejack," he lied.

Applejack expressed a normal smile. Crimson was having a hard time figuring out if Applejack was just playing with his emotions, or if she was actually being nice.

"That's good," she said, preparing a bite for Crimson. "It's usually, "it was horrible," "let me go," or "you're crazy."

"Can I ask something, my sweet Applejack?" asked Crimson.

"Usually, I'm the one that supposed to do that, but I suppose one question wouldn't hurt," replied Applejack.

Crimson looked at her confused. Yesterday, she was branding his flanks, drowning him, slicing him open if he gagged, breaking his bones, and even forcing him to have sex. Now, here she was, the same Applejack, being polite. Crimson couldn't let his guard down though. The Apple Family was very cunning, and knew how to give their prey false hope. She had to be playing with him, but what sort of game? Was she playing a bipolar game?

"Well, are you going to ask, or just sit there all day with a stupid look on your face?" asked Applejack.

"Sorry, my sweet Applejack," he said.

"It's fine. Just ask already."

Crimson didn't want to push his limits, so he went on with his question. Something nopony knew.

"I'd just like to know what made your family become murderers?" he asked, gulping.

Applejack looked at him funny, then proceeded to answering.

"Finally, a question that nopony has ever asked," she said.

Crimson was shocked.

"Nopony ever asked that?" he said.

"Nope," claimed Applejack.

"Well?" said Crimson.

"I'll tell ya', while you eat your pancakes for me. Is that fair?"

"I suppose," he said, as Applejack shoved a bite into his dry mouth.

"Well, it all started one day during Applebucking season," said Applejack. "It was a normal day, nothing different. I was finishing up in the orchard, and my back hooves felt like they were full of lead. I finished bucking the final tree, when I suddenly felt a surge of pain through out my back legs. It was no surprise to me, seein' I'd faced multiple sprains before, but this one was different. My hooves were bruised and startin' to crack. To help settle the pain I sat down against a tree and relaxed my back hooves on an apple basket."

The story interested Crimson, as he ate the pancakes, not noticing anything bad about the pancakes, only that they tasted like regular pancakes. Applejack continued with the story.

"I thought it was empty, but it turns out there was one apple in that basket. I had no idea that my hooves were bleedin', and the blood had actually soaked the apple, until I decided to have myself a bit of a snack. The day was so overwhelmin' I wasn't even paying attention to the blood on the apple, and took a large bite out of the apple. At first, the apple tasted like iron, due to the amount of blood on the apple. I was about to spit it out, until I mixed the blood with the sweet juice of the apple. That's when it happened, and I tasted it more and more, only for me to love the taste."

Applejack stopped for a moment, shoving another bite into Crimson's mouth. Crimson knew that couldn't be the only reason. How did she get her family to agree with this lifestyle?

"My sweet Applejack, how did you get the others involved?" he asked.

"That's what comes next," she said. "I knew this could be the discovery that could save our farm, seein' Sweet Apple Acres was tight on money and literally fallin' apart. However, I knew I had to convince Big Mac and Granny Smith another way, so I came up with a plan. To get most of the iron taste out of the apple, I sliced the apple into slices, and blended it together, until it was an applesauce. I presented it to Big Mac and Granny Smith as a dessert one night, while keepin' Apple Bloom out of it, seeing she was the biggest loud-mouth around."

Crimson knew very well what Applejack was referring to, hearing the sound of Apple Bloom's neck snapping echo in his mind. The sound made him quiver as Applejack continued.

"They all tried it, and loved the taste. Not long after tryin' the applesauce, I revealed what the special ingredient was that gave it that "special" taste. As expected, Big Mac and Granny Smith were surprised, and wondered if it was worth it. As a start, I volunteered to donate the blood for the applesauce, and seein' I'm old enough to make my own decisions, Big Mac and Granny Smith had no way to stop me. Everythin' was goin' just fine, and nopony knew that my own blood was in the applesauce, until I was caught in the act."

"I was at a rodeo, sellin' the applesauce, and as usual, ran out of applesauce, seein' it was a high seller. When I got the chance, I moved to an area where I thought I wouldn't be seen, and pulled out a pocket knife so I could cut myself. Once I made the cut and started bleeding it into a jar, a local rodeo pony walked near my hidin' spot, and was caught. Nopony was ever supposed to find out the secret ingredient, so it had to be done."

Crimson felt a chill run down his spine, as Applejack continued.

"The pony looked at me, as I pulled the knife out toward em'. They did the usual speech, "oh, I swear I won't tell anypony," but I knew that was dead lie, so I grabbed my lasso, wrapped em' up, and finally slit their throat."

The story had just taken a scary turn, and Crimson knew that they had to be coming close to the end. Applejack continued, shoving the few remaining bites of the pancakes into Crimson's mouth. He still couldn't tell the type of game Applejack was playing.

"Once I saw the amount of blood gushing out of the pony, I knew that I alone wouldn't be able to provide the required amounts of blood for the applesauce, and the production was too great to just call it quits. I grabbed the jars I had, placed it by the pony's neck, and within seconds, I already had enough blood for over twenty jars. That's when it hit me. Maybe, me alone wasn't enough, but with some persuasion and trickery, we could use other ponies for the production of the applesauce, and y'all know the rest from there."

Applejack had finished, and CrImson couldn't believe what he had just heard. Applejack could've started a secret blood donation program or something, rather than taking a dark and grim path. He was shaking a little, which Applejack noticed.

"Ahh," she said in a sarcastic tone. "No need to be frightened, sugar. Like I said when you first arrived. We have many plans for ya', especially me."

Crimson was expecting the worst, but instead Applejack just gave him a wink and gathered up the plate and fork. Immediately, Crimson was confused, until she placed a bucket beneath his body, meaning he was about to lose some blood. His heart rate started to speed up, not knowing what was coming next. The nice Applejack was gone, and psychopath Applejack was back.

Applejack grabbed the knife from the plate, which he recognized as the same knife from the previous night.

"What are you doing, my sweet Applejack," he asked.

She gave him a sinister giggle, then proceeded to what she had planned.

"Oh, it's so cute you call me "sweet," when I'm as cold as ice, sugar," she said in a low tone. "We've gotta get y'all opened up."

Applejack's words made his heart drop, as she took the tip of the large knife, and cut it straight down from his upper chest wound, to the one on his lower chest.

Crimson screamed from the blade's slow movement. Applejack was making sure that Crimson felt every bit of the pain, cutting at an accurate speed. The knife hit many nerves, causing him to jump. Each time he jumped the blade would sink deeper into his flesh, causing him to start breathing heavily and scream more and more.

Applejack finished the cut, then watched as tons of blood came gushing out of the open wound. It fell into the bucket below, creating a low thumping sound against the metal surface of the bucket. Crimson felt as if he was done for, but the incision that Applejack had made was not enough to kill him. As the blood fell into the bucket, Applejack added to the torture and reopened the wounds that she had made with the knife the night before, causing more blood to gush out of Crimson's body, into the bucket below. Crimson was close to passing out.

Applejack noticed the young pony slowly starting to pass out, and slapped him hard across the face, keeping him awake.

"Now, now. We can't have ya' fallin' asleep, when I'm going to need you wide awake while I close the wound," she said evilly.

She turned away from him, only to turn around and slap him hard across the face.

"Tell me I'm "sweet"! she commanded, slapping him again.

Crimson struggled to stay conscious, causing Applejack to get irritated.

"Tell me I'm "sweet"! she commanded, hitting him harder than before.

"Y-Y-You're s-s-s...

Applejack slapped him again, giving the same command.

"Y-Y-You're...

"I CAN'T HEAR YOU!" she shouted into his ear.

"Y-Y-You're s-s-sweet," muttered Crimson.

Applejack punched him hard in the face, knocking some teeth out.

"LOUDER! YOU'VE SAID IT MULTIPLE TIMES BEFORE, SO WHY CAN'T YOU SAY IT NOW!?" commanded Applejack, already pulling her hoof back for another punch.

"YOU'RE SWEET!" he yelled with every bit of strength he had.

"See. Was that so hard?" she said calmly.

Just when Crimson thought it was safe, Applejack punched him again. This time, hard enough to knock him out.

"But, I'm not sweet. I'm your worst nightmare," said Applejack with a laugh as Crimson passed out.