Applejack sighed as she shifted in the bed. She couldn’t sleep. It wasn’t the unfamiliar bed; she had slept in other beds plenty of times before during Pinkie’s slumber parties. Surprisingly it wasn’t the presence of the chain, either. Applejack noticed that the metal had been quick to heat up, thanks to her own body temperature, making it easier to ignore. It wasn’t even the remains of that chicken pot pie she had eaten. Sure, she had a strong stomach, but she was still surprised that the pegasus pie hadn’t come back up.

No, Applejack was lying awake because of her guilt. It was eating away at her faster than a herd of vampire fruit bats loose in the apple orchard. How could she have just sworn her life away like that? She knew the answer, even though it continued to torment her.

“Ah did it for mah family,” she whispered, trying to drive the guilt away. “S’long as Ah help ‘er, they’ll be safe.”

“Of course you did.”

The voice came from the door and Applejack knew exactly who it belonged to without even lifting her head. “Keres,” she said coldly.

The butter-yellow mare in the doorway chuckled and approached the bed. “Just keep telling yourself that. But, I want you to remember something.”

She had reached the side of the bed and was staring down at Applejack menacingly.

“Remember that you are mine.”

Applejack gulped as she stared into the icy blue eyes of her captor, but she didn’t back down. “How long am Ah gonna stay here?” She spoke with confidence despite the fear that lived just under her strong exterior.

Keres raised an eyebrow. “Until I am finished with my work.” She unlocked the padlock and, as the chain fell from Applejack’s neck, smiled. “Until then, you belong to me. But enough of that, let’s go get some breakfast.”

Applejack followed her host/captor into the kitchen and slid into an empty seat. She stared at the pie slice that sat in front of her with a mixture of disgust and hunger.

She glanced up as Keres sat down opposite her and dug into her own slice. “You know, I’m not going to give you anything else, so you’d better eat up.”

Applejack grimaced as she picked up a fork and hesitantly took a bite.

She hated herself for it, but she actually liked the flavor. She tried not to think about who was in the pie as she swallowed the rest of her slice.

When she was finally done, Keres set another plate in front of her. This one, however, did not contain a slice of pony pie. There, resting in the middle of the plate, sat a lump of flesh. She glanced up curiously at the pegasus before asking, “What the hay is that?”

Keres smirked before answering. “That belongs to our little friend over there,” She pointed to the skull that was still resting on the mantle. “I want to make your friends suffer, and I realized that the only two ways to truly make our dear Rainbow Dash suffer are to take away her little sister and her best friend. I already did the first, but she doesn’t know about that yet. I’m sure that Twilight Sparkle will tell her once she’s gotten better. But I haven’t quite taken you away from her yet.”

Applejack stared down at what she now recognized as the heart of her little sister’s best friend. She had no idea what Keres was planning, but she already knew she wasn’t going to like it.

“Now, what I have planned will take you away from her as well, doubly crushing her. For this to work, you will not be harmed, but I will need to cut the ends of your mane and tail off. Not a lot, but just enough to include those red bands of yours.” Keres stood up. “I’m going to go get scissors while you think it over. But you should know that I’m making you do this whether you agree or not.”

Daring Do puffed up and shouted across the expanse, “You’re wasting your energy, cowponies! Take my advice and save some of that giddyup to get back to your camp before Old Tex catches you and turns your hide into his new holsters! You’re never getting the crown from me!”

Rainbow Dash grinned as she snapped back to reality for a moment. This new Daring Do book was awesome! She was barely five pages into it and Daring Do was already beating up bad guys and stealing precious artifacts. This time a gang of cowponies had found the Doomed Diadem of Xilati, but Daring Do had swiped it right from under their snouts.

Rainbow loved reading Daring Do, but this one particular scene made her think of Applejack. Now, of course, Rainbow knew that the honest farmpony would never turn evil like those cowponies. It was just that the multi-colored speedster missed her best friend.

And... maybe more?

She shook her head. Now was not the time to get sidetracked. She had an epic adventure story to read.

However, before she could dive back into the awesomeness that was Daring Do, a nurse pushed the door open. “Miss Dash? A package came for you. Did you want me to give it to you or should I leave it on the table?”

Rainbow Dash looked up. “A package? But I didn’t order anything from Amazeb.ra. Huh. Anyway, I’d love to have it now, please. It might be a gift from one of my adoring fans!”

The nurse rolled her eyes but ignored it. She was used to the Wonderbolt’s antics by now.

Rainbow set aside her book and held the package in her hooves. It wasn’t very big but it looked pretty nice. Its wrapping was a glossy crimson while it was topped with a golden bow. The pegasus threw caution to the wind and ripped it open to see what her fan had sent her.

She sat there for a moment, staring at the contents, not quite sure what to make of it. No, she knew exactly what it was. She just didn’t want to face the facts. Tears flowed freely as she sobbed harder than she did when Tank first hibernated.

There, sitting on some tissue paper, rested Applejack’s signature hair ties. Her mane and tail had been cut a couple inches above, so the bands were still holding that straw-like hair together. But that wasn’t what Rainbow was weeping about. Right in between the two hair ties, somepony had placed a pony heart. It wasn’t hard to figure out who it belonged to.

But the icing on the cake was the tag that was attached to the package. It read:

To Rainbow Dash Sincerely, Keres

Author's Note

Credit for the Daring Do quote goes here. I did enjoy reading the sample, but it was just a coincidence that that particular book started out with a group of cowponies. Buuuut I figured I could link it back to Applejack easily, so I'm not complaining

Also, in case it wasn't clear, amazeb.ra was my attempt at Equestrian-izing amazon.com. I couldn't think of anything better, so don't judge me.