Kill the five

“Vengeance is a murky, twisty road. When walking it, you must never lose track of your target. You must keep the mind sharp and clear with only the goal in focus. Lose your focus, you lose your target.”

“What should I do?”

“Get something that will act as a constant reminder of your targets and what they did. Something that will awaken the memories each time you look at it.”

Before I went on my bloodletting rampage in a quest for vengeance that was the advice Nightglade gave me should I ever leave. Something that will keep me remind of what they did, huh? I knew exactly what I should get, Nightglade.

It was a dark fall afternoon. The sky was grey and heavy droops of water fell on the ground, forming little brown rivers on the road and caking Apple Bloom´s hooves in mud. She wore a hooded cloak to protect her from the cold water as she walked up to the boutique.

She knocked on the door and a white unicorn came to greet her.

“Welcome to Rarity´s boutique.” She said with a kind voice. “Come in, come in.” She ushered the stranger in. “Anything I can help you with? Need a dress sown? Or perhaps a good raincoat?”

Apple Bloom folded back her hood and looked Rarity straight in the eye. She brushed her mane a little. “I want to buy a hat.”

“Oh, what kind of hat?” Her blue eyes sparkled with joy as she used her horn to pick over twenty hats down from the mannequins. Everything from fedoras to top hats floated above the two mare’s heads. But a single one was the kind that Apple Bloom wanted.

“I want a country hat.” She told Rarity in a plain voice.

The white mare was stunned. For a moment it looked like as if she might just drop all of the hats she was suspending.

“Is that a problem?”

Rarity shook her head. “Oh, it’s no problem. It’s just that I don´t have any in storage and it would take me a little while too make.”

Apple Bloom shrugged. “I have time.”

“Okay.” Rarity put the hats back in their place. “Let me just get your measurements.” She picked a set of measuring tape out of a drawer and wrapped it around Apple Bloom´s temple. The notion tickled Apple Bloom somewhat but she made sure not to move.

“Are your sure that you want a country hat?” She asked while rolling out some of the leather she was going to use for the hat. “It would be a lot simpler if you just bought one of the hats I have in storage.”

“Are you sure there is no problem with my order?” Apple Bloom asked. “You seem to be somewhat anxious about it.”
“It’s not about that hat exactly. It’s just that…” She paused before starting to cut. “It brings back some bad memories.”
“Oh, sorry.” Apple Bloom apologized. “I didn´t mean to offend you.”

“It’s alright.” Rarity´s smile returned, albeit visibly forced. “It was a long time ago. I shouldn´t have it affect the clothes I make.” She returned to cutting the leather for the hat and Apple Bloom sat down on a soft pillow. She leaned against the wall and closed her eyes. Rarity hummed softly as she started stitching the bits of leather together. The sound was so soothing that Apple Bloom felt herself getting drowsy. The combination her tired legs and soothing melody produced by Rarity put Apple Bloom to sleep.

Like most times she slept, nightmares came to haunt her. She saw Ma burning again. But this time she wasn´t tied to a stake and the fire´s weren´t started by a pony wrapped in bandages. She started burning when she tried to hug Apple Bloom. The flames covered Ma in seconds, they blackened her fur and made her eyeballs burst into steamy fluids. But the flames didn´t hurt Apple Bloom. Even when Ma pressed herself against Apple Bloom, clutching her in her hooves and pressing her against her chest. The flames didn´t burn. They just felt like bits of soft, silken fabric flicking against her skin.

Ma screamed in pain as the fat beneath her skin started to melt and dripped from her body. Apple Bloom´s eyes searched madly for something to douse the flames. It wouldn´t have mattered if she did find something. Ma refused to let go of her. No matter much Apple Bloom pushed and struggled she couldn´t escape her mothers grip.
Even when Ma´s flesh had been turned to black ash and only a burned skeleton remained, she still couldn´t escape.

“Excuse me.”

Apple Bloom woke violently and was just about to ram her hoof into whoever woke her, when she saw that it was just Rarity.

“Where you sleeping?”

Apple Bloom nodded and rubbed her forehead. “I had a nightmare.”

“Well it was just a dream.”

Apple Bloom wasn´t sure whether to laugh like Nightglade or make a snarky remark. But she quickly decided to do neither. “Is it done?”

“Why yes.” Rarity´s horn started glowing and she presented the hat to her. It was a dark shade of brown with matching stiches, so small that Apple Bloom hardly noticed them at first.

“Beautiful work.” Apple Bloom smiled and put it on. It fell right into position, right above her ears. As if she had been wearing it for years.

Rarity shed a tear that ran down her white cheek.

“I don´t look that good in it, do I?”

Rarity wiped the tear away. “It’s just that you just look almost exactly like an old friend. She died years ago.”

Apple Bloom was about to correct her but stopped herself. “How much do I owe you?”

“Oh, it’s on me.”

“Thank you.” Apple Bloom smiled and tipped the edge of the hat before leaving.

Outside the rain was still coming down hard. The moment she stepped out of the boutique she heard the raindrops smattering down on her hat and saw the water dripping of the edge. A shrieking wind grabbed her coat and pulled it. The strings dug into her neck while drops of rain smacked her in the face. She looked up on the grey sky and saw flashes of lightning spreading across the clouds, followed by titanic roars.

Apple Bloom squinted for a moment before making her way to the center of Ponyville. The road was covered in mud with small, thin brown rivers running in little creaks and puddles. The ground was cold and wet beneath Apple Bloom´s hooves. She recognized an old store standing in a street corner.

At this point I felt both like an old mare, nostalgically visiting the town I grew up in and a complete stranger passing by a place I have never seen before in my life.

She stared into the storefront with her golden brown eyes. The lights were turned off and only a soft grey light filled the store, making it hard for Apple Bloom to see anything inside.

A thunder bolt cracked across the sky and a bright, white light flashed across Ponyville. For a brief moment Apple Bloom could see what was hidden behind the glass window. A collection of bakeries and cakes standing on top of plates. Each one of them covered in colorful glazing and some of them were decorated with beautiful marzipan roses. The sight of them made Apple Bloom´s mouth water. She sighed and leaned against the wall. “Don´t forget why you are here.” She told herself.

Apple Bloom wandered past the city hall and made for the edge of Ponyville. She was heading for a more neglected part of the town.

The graveyard was as dim and grey as the sky above it. Tombstones were either overgrown with vines or worn down by elements. Only the resent ones were still easily readable. Despite that it only took Apple Bloom a few moments to find the graves she was looking for.

A set of six tombstones stood in line next to each other.

“Applejack.” She read on the first. “Daughter, sister, friend.”

“Big Macintosh.” She read on the second. “Son, brother, friend.”

When Apple Bloom tried to read the rest she felt tears blurring her vision and the hard lump that had been growing in her throat stopped the words from escaping. She fell to the ground and her hooves started shivering as if she was bitten by harsh cold. Tears ran from her eyes until they started to burn, she cried until her lungs started to ache.

She stayed like this until she saw the sixth tombstone. Apple Bloom got up, wiped away her tears and read the text on it.

“Apple Bloom.” She read. “Daughter, sister, friend.” Her hooves started to tremble and her eyes formed a harsh frown. With one turn on her back hoof she used the momentum of the turn to knock the tombstone over. It hit the ground while Apple Bloom had her back faced to it. She turned and looked down on the fallen stone.

“I am not dead.” She said to the tombstone. “Ya hear that?” She slammed her hoof down on the text and rubbed. “I am not fucking dead.” She stomped on the tombstone until she saw blood mixing with the rain. She turned to the other graves. “And I will avenge you.”

Apple Bloom tore five pieces of string from her coat and sewed them into the hat´s edge.

“Five.” She said, quietly, before the thunder roared again.