//-------------------------------------------------------// Apple Pie -by MikeyBoo- //-------------------------------------------------------// //-------------------------------------------------------// Missing Rainbow //-------------------------------------------------------// Author's Note Hi there all! :pinkiehappy: https://static.fimfiction.net/images/emoticons/pinkiehappy.png I've had this idea for way way way too long, and I figured I'd finally write it out! Before you think this is just another Cupcakes rip-off, I just wanted to make it clear that this will not be a copy paste of the original, and I will not even be referencing the original story aside from the fact that Rainbow is deceased. I want this work to be as original as possible. Any feedback is appreciated! I will post the next chapter as soon as I finish it. This first chapter doesn't contain any gore! Missing Rainbow The door to Sugarcube Corner opened, the bell jingling as the door hit it. Applejack approached the counter, looking for her bouncy pink friend, who worked and lived in the pastry shop. "Pinkie Pie! Where are you? Did you get a letter from Rainbow Dash yet?" Applejack looked behind the counter, but she saw nopony there. She was just about to yell again when Pinkie Pie sprang up from behind the counter. Applejack was certain she wasn't there a moment ago, but just chalked it up to Pinkie's usual shenanigans. "Well hiya Applejack! How's my favorite maybe-cousin doing today?" Pinkie Pie was as bubbly as ever, smiling from ear to ear a smile that on any other pony's face would look downright scary. "I'm doin' fine, thanks. But I wanted to see if Rainbow sent you another letter yet." "Oh! Of course, yeah, lemme just grab it. I'll be right back!" Pinkie pulled a lever, and whooshed down to her party planning cave. Applejack figured that must have been how she had appeared so suddenly earlier. Applejack nearly jumped out of her skin, though, when she heard Pinkie's cheerful voice from behind her. She whirled around to find that Pinkie was in front of the closed front door, a letter rolled up and held by her hair. "Gosh darnit, Pinkie! You nearly scared the hooves off'a me!" Pinkie giggled cutely. "I'm sorry, AJ, didn't mean to spook ya! Wanna read the letter?" Applejack nodded, reaching a hoof out as Pinkie's seemingly sentient hair placed it gently in her hoof. She skimmed through the letter, written in typical Rainbow dash fashion. In other words, it was written quickly and messily, by mouth. Applejack let out a snort of frustration. "She cancelled her visit here again!" Pinkie Pie looked somber, but smiled nonetheless. "She sprained her wing, AppleJack, it would be torture to make her fly all the way from the Wonderbolts headquarters to Ponyville." Applejack narrowed her eyes. "I wasn't sayin' she should fly on a sprained wing. What in the blazes gave you that idea?" Before Pinkie could respond, AJ continued, "What I meant was, we should go and visit her! I know that she's strugglin' right now, but so am I! She's my marefriend and I miss her!" Applejack did an uncharacteristic pout. She hadn't been able to see Rainbow in nearly two months! Every visit was cancelled for different reasons, and it was always Pinkie reassuring everypony that there would always be next time, and not to press the matter. "Yes, but-," Pinkie started before she was cut off. "Dagnabbit! I'm going to go see her! You don't have to come if you don't want to but I need to-," "NO!" Pinkie Pie screeched before covering her mouth with her hooves. Applejack was caught completely off guard, and simply stood there, jaw agape. Pinkie quickly recovered. "I- I mean, um, before you go, can you help me with some baking? I was making a care package to send to Dashie, and if you're already going her way, you can bring it to her in person!" Applejack slowly recovered from her shock, shaking her head and blinking rapidly. Pinkie's scream had been ear-piercingly loud. "Well, ah, ah suppose ah could stay, if yer makin' somethin' fer Rainbow." Pinkie Pie let out a huge sigh of relief. Her mind was racing. If Applejack traveled to the Wonderbolts HQ, she'd discover that Rainbow Dash wasn't there, and hadn't been there in two months. Then, of course, everypony would become suspicious as to how Pinkie was getting mail from Dash from the HQ, with nopony sending it. Applejack would think the worst, ever protective of her marefriend. Pinkie Pie knew that AJ truly was an extremely honest pony, and that if she even began to suspect for a second that Pinkie had something to do with Rainbow Dash's disappearance, she'd go straight to Twilight. No, Pinkie had to make a tough decision now. It was off schedule, out of order, and not really planned, but it was her only option. It was time to open her secret room in her already secret party planning cave for another night of deadly fun. Pinkie Pie hadn't prepared for it at all, let alone tailored something specifically for Applejack as of yet, as she was pretty far down the list of the random numbers she had assigned everypony in town. She supposed that she'd have to make the preparations while Applejack was unconscious. That meant she'd have to do a bigger than normal dose of her special ingredient to ensure she stayed asleep long enough for Pinkie to do a proper dramatic reveal. Add that to the fact she'd have to do a higher dose anyways because of AJ's massive muscle mass and sturdy earth pony body, and it seemed like she might actually use up all of her current stock on one pony! Replacing all of it would make a sizeable divot in her bank account, but such was the way life went. While all this thinking was zipping through Pinkie's mind, she had led Applejack to the kitchen and set her up at a mixing station. "Just keep mixing this batter until there isn't any lumps left, okay? I've gotta go downstairs to get some more of my super special ingredient, so I'll be right back!" Pinkie Pie hopped away, disappearing around the corner. Applejack chuckled to herself. Everypony knew that Pinkie's "super special ingredient" was really just some brown sugar, but she supposed Pinkie had to keep up the ruse or else she couldn't call it a secret any longer. Applejack worked her muscles as she mixed what she figured was cake batter, she let her mind zone out a bit as she got lost in the rhythm of mixing. She heard hoofsteps approaching, and looked to see Pinkie with a plate of cookies held in her mouth. The pink pony set the plate down, before turning to Applejack. "I'm trying out some new flavor combinations, and I figured since you and Dashie are so close, you'd be able to try these and tell me which ones she'd like." Pinkie looked hopeful, and AJ stopped her mixing to inspect the cookies. "Okay, what are the flavors?" "I can't tell you, silly! Try them and find out!" Pinkie smiled ear to ear yet again, and this time Applejack felt a sense of unease roiling deep within her. She brushed it off as paranoia, she figured she was probably just tense because she wanted to see Rainbow. "Alright, lemme have a taste." She grabbed the closest cookie to her, shoving it in her mouth and chewing quickly. The first one tasted like chocolate chips, but there was another flavor she couldn't quite place. She swallowed the cookie, and opened her mouth to comment on the flavors but she was cut off. "Go on," Pinkie said, before shoving another cookie into Applejack's mouth. "You have to try all of them!" Applejack had barely managed to swallow down the second cookie when a third was thrust into her mouth, followed by another, and another. They all had unique flavors, but it was hard to review any of them when she had no time between cookies. She attempted to stop Pinkie, holding a hoof up. Applejack wanted to speak, to give her opinion on the cookies, but Pinkie was relentless. After ten cookies, Applejack started to feel dizzy. She wasn't sure if it was lack of air or something else, but her world began to sway a bit. Pinkie shoved in the last cookie, and helped Applejack's quickly tiring body to finish chewing and swallowing the last bit. A solid thud sounded throughout the bakery as Applejack's limp body hit the floor, hat landing off to the side. "Wow, AJ," Pinkie mused out loud to herself, "you're stronger than I thought. I was almost certain six cookies would've been enough to send you reeling, but you ate all of them!" Pinkie stooped, and flipped Applejack's hat up, and it landed on her head. The brown of the hat looked drab next to her bright pink mane. She smiled ear to ear down at Applejack. AJ's eyes were spinning in their sockets, her pupils rapidly dilating and contracting in response to the heavy drug coursing through her system. Applejack couldn't hear Pinkie, even though she saw her mouth moving. There was a ringing in her ears, like she had just stuck her head in a bell and rattled it around. Everything in her vision went fuzzy, colors morphing and seeming to blend together. The last thing she saw before slipping into the ever-welcoming darkness, was Pinkie Pie's smiling face. That too-large smile, spreading farther than a pony's mouth should go. And those empty, empty blue eyes. //-------------------------------------------------------// Awakening //-------------------------------------------------------// Awakening Applejack's eyes fluttered, but didn't open. Her head was throbbing as if she'd been skewered by Celestia's horn, and she had to debate to herself whether or not she actually wanted to open her eyes to start yet another day on the farm. Her memory was fuzzy. Had she drank too much cider and blacked out? She hadn't done that since she was a teen. Applejack struggled to sit up, and immediately realized that she wasn't in her bed after a night of drinking. She was strapped down by what felt like chains of cold steel. Her eyes snapped open, alert, and AJ prepared to fight anypony she had to. Inches from her face were two bright blue eyes, and she let out a gasp. Or she would have, if her mouth hadn't been gagged by... by an apple? Biting down hard, Applejack tore through the apple with no issues, chewing and swallowing it down easily. With her mouth free, she finally shouted, "What in the HAY is goin' on here, Pinkie Pie?!" If Pinkie had any reaction to Applejack screaming inches from her face, she didn't show it. Her smile grew wider, as she backed away from the furious orange mare before her. She sat down on the cold stone floor, and put on her best clueless face. "Gee, I dunno Applejack, I woke up right before you did!" Pinkie said, puffing out her lip and showing puppy-dog eyes. In moments, though, Pinkie devolved into manic giggles, clutching her belly as she rolled on the floor. She laughed and laughed as if she had just told the funniest joke known to ponykind. Applejack was flabbergasted. Lying straight to her face? What had gotten into Pinkie Pie? Narrowing her eyes, she looked down at the absolutely ecstatic mare on the floor, and she again asked, "Pinkie. Pie. I'm only going to ask one more time. What. Is. Going. On." Applejack didn't state her question like a question, she spoke with pure confidence, her gaze as steely as the chains holding her. Pausing in her giggles, Pinkie breathed deeply trying to catch her breath before getting to her hooves, and sweeping her forehoof in a wide circle, gesturing to the room around her. "Make yourself at home!" Applejack was a hair's breadth away from losing her mind, but she humored the pink pony and glanced around at her surroundings. There was some light emanating from several bug lamps, all of them red. On her far right, against a wall, several shelves stood tall with bulging cardboard boxes that looked like they were one touch away from bursting. She quickly glanced to her left, and her face blanched. It was Rainbow Dash. "Rainbow! Oh, thank Celestia, this is just some weird prank." She let out a sigh of relief, but when she got no response, she looked harder at Rainbow's form. The rainbow maned mare was cast in shadow, and something seemed off about her. "...R-Rainbow?" Applejack asked again, meekly. With a bounce in her step, Pinkie Pie grabbed a lantern off of the floor and pranced over to the silhouette of Rainbow Dash. As she got closer, Applejack could make out more and more of her marefriend. She didn't like what she was seeing. Rainbow was suspended from the ceiling by strings, looped under her barrel and holding her legs in a running pose. Her head was held aloft by yet another string. Applejack let out a meek whimper. "Why aren't you excited Applejack? You wanted to see your marefriend soooo badly earlier, and now you're just staring at her!" Feeling her stomach drop, Applejack clenched her eyes shut, muttering to herself, "It's a nightmare, it's a nightmare, oh Luna help me..." Pinkie chuckled. "You're not dreaming, silly! You are one hundred percent, absutively, positutely awake!" Slowly opening her eyes again, she looked once more at the body that used to be her marefriend. The slightly swaying form of Rainbow Dash was undoubtedly dead. Applejack bit back tears. As much as she knew it would be completely normal to cry after finding out the love of your life was dead and strung up like a piñata, she couldn't give Pinkie Pie the satisfaction of seeing the ever-stubborn Applejack cry. "So," Pinkie began, sidling up next to Rainbow's hanging corpse, "what do you think? Pretty well preserved, isn't she? She's been dead for two months now and yet she still has a bit of blush in her cheeks. She's happy to see you, too, Applejack!" Dead for two months. All this time, her marefriend had been sitting dead in her friends basement, or wherever they were. Her sadness was quickly overcome by her anger. She was going to rip Pinkie apart, piece by agonizing piece! She tried to kick her legs, attempting to do her most powerful buck, but she barely moved a centimeter. "Oh, Applejack, I couldn't just let you get away that easily! We've got so much planned for tonight!" "...We?" "Me," she pointed a hoof to herself, "you," a hoof to Applejack, "and Dashie!" She finished her statement by jumping to put an arm around Dash's corpse. The strings supporting the blue mare strained with the added weight of Pinkie Pie, but the ever bouncy mare quickly hopped away again. "Pinkie Pie, I don't know what's gotten into you, but you can't just go around killing ponies!" Applejack felt real and truly drained for the first time since Tirek had taken her earth pony magic. She was exasperated, and couldn't stand Pinkie's ever-bubbly attitude. Struggling to remain calm, figuring the only way out of this was to keep a level head, Applejack looked at Pinkie Pie judgingly. "Well duh," Pinkie said, rolling her eyes, "it's all randomized. I don't do this every day!" "What in the SAM HILL do you mean randomized? You just randomly decided to kill one of your best friends, my marefriend," Applejack shouted in fury. So much for remaining calm. "Oh, that's simple, I-" Pinkie began, before being cut off by Applejack. "I don't want your "tragic backstory", or your monologue or whatever the hay you're about to say, Pinkie Pie! Let me go! You can't do this, you can't keep doing this! How many ponies have you murdered, Pinkie Pie? You're a real lunatic, you know that!? When I get out of this I'm gonna buck you into next week, so hard you'll wish you were an apple tree because I would hit it softer than I'm gonna hit YOU!" Applejack gasped in some air, but as she was doing so, Pinkie slammed a gag in her mouth. Instinctively, she tried to bite down again, but this time her teeth met steel. Her whole face vibrated comically, and she thought she could feel one of her teeth crack. "Sweet Celestia, Applejack, are you sure you're related to Big Mac? You're probably one of the loudest ponies I've brought down here. Except maybe Rainbow Dash. I had hoped that we'd have some fun conversation while I worked, but I suppose that I can pick up the slack," Pinkie said with a frustrated sigh. "Anyways, what I was trying to say before you so rudely cut me off, was that this is usually randomized. Everypony in Ponyville was assigned a number at random, and every year a number is chosen." Applejack let out a muffled grunt, which Pinkie took to mean: "Why?" "How do you think I get the ability to do things that normally only unicorns can? Appear at random, predict the future, make things appear at will, you know, all the 'Pinkie' stuff I do. I made a deal when I moved here." "A deal?" Applejack asked. But it really sounded like, "Amf mfrrff?" "Yup! The ruler of Tartarus has a summer home beneath Ponyville, more specifically beneath Sugarcube Corner! I've learned an awful lot from him. Did you know that he's the one who created Discord? He did it out of boredom, apparently, but he accidentally created the Lord of Chaos, and then couldn't do anything to stop him!" Pinkie giggled loudly, clutching her tummy again, "Isn't that just the funniest thing, Applejack? Discord was an accident, and ended up being so chaotic that nopony could control him! BahahahAAA" Pinkie's hoof slapped down hard on the metal table on which Applejack was suspended, causing a loud "CLANG" to echo around the room. "Aaaanyway, I met him when I was digging out my party planning cave. He offered me 'power beyond belief, in exchange for my soul'. I cut him a deal, for moderately chaotic powers in exchange for a sacrifice every year or so. That's why Discord has such a hard time understanding me! We're like, practically magic siblings." Applejack let out a frustrated grunt, and a muffled sentence. "What was that, Applejack? I can't quite hear you. If you promise to behave, and stop being such a rude filly, I'll take the gag out. How about it, Apples?" Pinkie hopped onto the table, face hanging upside down in front of Applejack's With a glare, Applejack mulled it over. She didn't want to do anything to give in to this crazy mare's ramblings, but her jaw was starting to hurt. She nodded, even though she knew she'd have to really reel it in to avoid screaming at Pinkie. "Okie dokie lokey!" Pinkie yanked the gag out, Applejack's teeth aching from the metal ball, and having it so forcefully removed. "Now, what was it you were saying?" Pinkie said with a saccharine sweet smile. Applejack coughed, flexing her jaw muscles before speaking, "Tartarus has a Lord?" "Who do you think takes care of Cerberus?" "Ah, ah dunno, ah guess ah always figured one of the Princesses did that. What's this 'Lord's' name?" "His name is Lord Tartaros." "Lord Tartarus? Isn't that a little cliche?" "Not Lord 'Tartarus' Lord 'Tartaros'! Tartarus was named after him!" "So his name is basically the same thing as the place he rules, but pronounced slightly differently?" Applejack was genuinely confused. "Applejack, for Celestia's sake its spelled differently." Pinkie slapped a hoof to her face, sighing deeply. "Oh," Applejack said. "Ah don't suppose you could let me go, then? Seeing as you only need one sacrifice a year and... and you already took Dash?" As she said Dash's name, her voice wavered, but she kept her gaze steely. Maybe she could barter her way out of here, and then get Twilight and the princesses to throw Pinkie in Tartarus. At least she'll have a friend there. "No. You're not a sacrifice, Applejack. You asked too many questions about Rainbow, so I had to do an off the schedule session just for you. How special!!" Pinkie smiled, as cartoony hearts appeared beside her face, flowing out behind her and lighting her up with a pale red light. "Yeah. Special," Applejack said with a grumble. "What if... what if I Pinkie promise not to tell anypony?" "Sorry AJ, you're not getting out of this. You're one of the most honest ponies in all of Equestria, there's no way you'd be able to keep a secret like this." "Can ah ask... where are we anyhow?" "The caves beneath my party planning cave. If you're wondering, no, nopony can hear you from here." "Then why were you concerned with me bein' so loud?" "Oh, I just didn't appreciate your attitude and threats. You'll do plenty of screaming tonight. They always do." Pinkie walked to the side of the room with the shelves, and pulled out a box that was so full AJ couldn't actually tell what was keeping it held together. She slammed the box down on the floor next to Applejack, and the orange mare strained to turn her head enough to see what was in it, but all she could tell was that it was full of shiny things, and some things that used to be shiny. With a blast of confetti, Pinkie Pie appeared above her on her other side, with a large cutting knife held in her teeth, smiling like a filly on Hearth's warming. She set the knife down on the table. "You ready Applejack?" Applejack gulped, letting out a meek whimper, her pupils turning to pinpricks. Her eyes darted over to the still suspended Rainbow Dash. She let out a breath. She needed to be strong, for Dash. "Ah... ah don't really feel like ah have a choice, Pinkie Pie." "Good answer!" The night had only just begun. Author's Note Warning: Needless story building that nopony wants to hear, and a story that nopony likes anyways. I'm writing this for me, more than anypony else, cause the ideas just wont leave me. Actual warning: referenced death, implied murder, general creepiness //-------------------------------------------------------// Sliced Apples //-------------------------------------------------------// Sliced Apples With a bounce in her step, Pinkie Pie trotted back to the front of the table, moving the table so it laid flat. Once it was down, she had perfect access to Applejack's stomach and chest. Applejack was silent, strapped to the table and anticipating a stab or a slice or maybe even for Pinkie to kill her outright. Pinkie did none of those things. She reached back into the box and pulled out a container full of some sort of liquid, and cut the packaging off with the big knife she had grabbed. The container was set on the table as she continued to root around in the box for something. Applejack strained to read the label of the container. It said "Cisatracurium" which was definitely not a word that Applejack had ever seen. She silently debated asking what it was, but by then, Pinkie had turned around. She had an unopened surgical syringe in her mouth, that she set down next to the container. "Pinkie Pie? Is that... some sort of anesthetic?" Applejack really hoped it was, because she was certainly not looking forward to the night's promise of agonizing torture. "Nooo silly! Its a paralytic. I can't reach all of your body with the straps and chains on, so I'm gonna paralyze you from the neck down. Now, usually surgeon ponies can only use this for general paralization of the whole body, buuuut with just a dash of chaos magic I can make sure that your face is left unparalyzed," Pinkie smiled at her own cleverness. "But why though?" Applejack blurted out. "So we can still talk, silly! You're only gonna be around for one more night, and we'll have all night to catch up before you have to go." Applejack knew exactly what she meant by "go" but she silently prayed to any deity that existed, that there was some way to get out of this. Maybe the paralyzing thing won't work, and she could knock Pinkie out the second she's released! "Applejack, did you forget that I can tell what you're thinking? This medication is going to work, sorry." "Fuck," Applejack let slip a curse word. For the first time that night, Pinkie was the one who was shocked. "Applejack, I've never heard you curse before! At least, never one of the big ones," Pinkie smiled, "it's so sweet that you let me experience that before you're gone." "For the love of Celestia can you stop pretending like you're the good guy here! You keep talking like I'm heading to a nice summer home in Saddle Arabia! You are going to kill me and you're sitting here getting sentimental over me SAYING FUCK!" Applejack seethed, trapped in a hole with the craziest pony in Equestria. "Applejack, do you want the gag again?" "NO! I WANNA GO HOME!" Applejack finally lost it, and burst into tears. "Ah, ah didn't *hic* even get to say," she let out a whimper, "to say goodbyyyyyye," she sniffled loudly, crying out to the mostly dark room, "Granny *sniff* Big Mac *sniff* A- Apple Bl- Bloo- APPLE BLOOM!" She sobbed loudly, tears flowing down her face and drenching her neck. "I wanna go home," she said, quieter, "please..." her crying stayed consistent, tears continued coming, but she quieted down again. Pinkie stood there, not saying a word as Applejack finally broke. She had expected it, everypony usually had a point where they broke down in tears, but this was quite the reaction from the strong-willed Applejack. "It's okay, let it out," Pinkie said, finally showing a bit of remorse and compassion. "Don't act like you're my friend, you bitch," Applejack spit out. "You are so far gone, you don't even care when you kill somepony that loved you like family. Somepony that might actually BE family. Ah.. ah can't believe you. You're a Monster." Applejack shut her eyes, and turned her head away as far as it would go. Pinkie's poofy hair deflated a bit. She never much liked this part, when everypony would finally lose all patience with her and say such hurtful things. But, regardless, she had to continue. And she had to remain as cheerful as possible. If she let things like this get to her, she'd have to stop her sacrifices. What she didn't tell Applejack was how she would be punished if she failed to do a sacrifice annually. Not just her powers would be taken away. "Look, Applejack. I know you don't want to call me your friend, and I understand that... but I have an obligation. So, I would appreciate it if you tried a little to... think of this as a bonding experience." A glob of spit landed in Pinkie's eye. She finally cracked, and slammed her hoof on the table. "Applejack, you do something like that again and I won't just gag you, I'll cut out your FUCKING TONGUE, DO YOU HEAR ME?" The room shook with her outburst, pure chaotic energy flowing around her pink head. Applejack's eyes once again turned to pinpricks and she nodded her head. No sense in making this worse than it already was. The room calmed down as Pinkie did as well. She did an about face and picked up the syringe where she had dropped it, still sealed in it's factory packaging. She walked behind a shelf and pulled an IV drip out from behind it with her. From the box on the floor, she took out some rubbing alcohol and some gauze pads. Moving to Applejack's stretched out foreleg, she wiped down a small portion of it and hooked the syringe to the IV. The syringe was really just a small butterfly needle with an attached reservoir to monitor the dosage. Once everything was hooked up and working, she inserted the needle into Applejack's foreleg, applying pressure. Applejack barely flinched, as she had been on an IV before after the time she had gotten a heatstroke one summer while bucking apples. A tiny bit of blood spurted out regardless, splatting unceremoniously onto the shiny metal of the table. Pinkie stuck the needle, after it was inserted fully, to Applejack's foreleg with some sticky tape. Returning to the shelves, Pinkie brought down several more boxes, feeling Applejack's eyes on her the whole time. Finally, she pulled out a small metal table on wheels, the sides rusted a bit with age. The wheel made an annoying squeaking noise with each turn, as it was brought closer to Applejack. "Sorry about the squeaky wheels and... and how some of my tools aren't exactly up to par. I thought I would have a lot longer to prepare than, well, this." Applejack found herself nodding apologetically, before catching herself and freezing. She couldn't possibly be feeling sorry for this.. this... murderer, could she? She was too tired, though, from her previous outbursts, and from the paralytic flowing through her veins, to really fight the feeling. Applejack closed her eyes briefly, thinking to herself. She thought, maybe, maybe if she could understand everything from Pinkie's point of view, she could find peace before her inevitable demise. "Pinkie Pie. Ah.. can ah ask you some questions, seeing as I'm not long for this world anyway?" Applejack asked, defeated. "Sure you can, AJ," Pinkie said, a bit of cheer returning to her previously melancholy voice. "Well... first ah guess, uh, was it you or- or, uh, that Tartaros fella that came up with the whole sacrifice thing?" "It... it was him. I, well, it was more of a mutual agreement I guess. He wanted my soul, and was willing to do a lot to get it, because things like that give him power. But I uh, I'm a born rock farmer, and I can't be budged that easily. Plus, I like my soul right where it is. But, since I had kind of barged in on his summer house, he said I had to give him something. And I mean, he did say he'd give something great in return, but I really didn't like the idea of becoming soulless." Applejack was nodding along as she listened, even as she saw Pinkie grab a scalpel, a bone saw, and some clamps to set on the smaller metal table. "So I asked, was there anything else I could give him, and he said sacrifices. I... I was young, and scared, and I figured that, as long as I kept my soul I would at least still be myself, even if I had to m- murder somepony every year," Pinkie sighed. "So, what was he going to do if you didn't give him anything at all?" Applejack asked, picking up on Pinkie's somber mood. Pinkie Pie figured that Applejack was paralyzed by this point, so she added an extra chain around her neck, and carefully released all of the ones holding her to the table from the neck down. She kept the ones that were only on her upper hooves, because they weren't really in the way. "He said... well, he said he'd do a lot of things. If I didn't willingly give him something, he'd take something forcefully. But he didn't want to just take my soul forcefully, because that wouldn't be enough suffering. He.. he said he would take Marble's soul... I couldn't let him turn my sweet little sister into.. into... a soulless thing." Pinkie Pie's eyes narrowed as she picked up the scalpel, holding it delicately in her hooves with the grace of a clawed creature. "And now I'm bound to a contract anyways. If I fail to give him a sacrifice, he... well, let's just say murder can't come close to comparing to what he'll do." The knife was set down again. Applejack was confused, but she saw Pinkie turn back to the rubbing alcohol again. Pinkie felt Applejack's curious stare, and looked up to meet her eyes. "I'm sorry, AJ, I'm just... a bit frazzled. I don't think I've ever told another pony about this. I wonder... if your element is at play here." Pinkie let out a soft chuckle as she wiped a towel soaked in the rubbing alcohol onto AJ's stomach, acting as a disinfectant. "Ah suppose.. ah guess that would make sense, though I've never had my element do anythin' like that before," Applejack said quietly, more to herself than to Pinkie. "Well, let's just say long story short, this is now my obligation to society. One pony must die yearly so... so that total annihilation doesn't rain upon ponykind." Pinkie was back to holding the scalpel. "Okay, time to get started for real this time. "Why can't you just... kill me outright and save yerself some time?" "I, uh... kinda developed a taste for pony after all these years, and I have to remove the organs anyways, so why not do some of it while you're still conscious. Tartaros doesn't keep the bodies or the souls that I sacrifice, just the life essence. So don't worry, your spirit will cross over and you'll see Rainbow again." "Wait, hold up an apple pickin' moment. Yer gunna eat me??" "Well... yeah. I was thinking it'd be fun to make an apple pie with a real apple," Pinkie let out a cute chortle, her nose scrunching up with her laugh, "I mean honestly though, ponies taste pretty dang good." "Ew... that's somehow worse than the murder thing," Applejack was slightly green, thinking about eating ponyflesh. "Oh, Applejack, don't act like that. You've always loved my annual holiday treats. For Hearthswarming, or Hearts and Hooves Day, or even my Nightmare Night candies a couple times." "You... you've been feedin' us ponies?!" "Yeah, and you seemed to enjoy them probably the most out of any of our friends. Honestly, Applejack, I remember one year you ate ALL of my Hearthswarming fruitcake. That year was... hmm let me think.... ah yes! That year was Honey Cake! He tasted great, and nopony could tell at all because fruitcakes just kind of look weird and fleshy to begin with!" Applejack felt bile rising in her throat, remembering how she had pigged out on that fruitcake that she had thought only had fruits and nuts in it. "I recommend you don't throwup, AJ." "Ah, ah'm try- t- tryin' ughh," Applejack choked out, swallowing down the spit that was gathering in her mouth. "It's not even that bad. Dragons eat other dragons all the time and nopony questions them." "Ughhh. Can we please stop talking about this," Applejack pleaded, as she was teetering on the edge of throwing up all of the cookies that Pinkie had force fed her. "Sure! It's time for my first incision anyhow." The knife penetrated Applejack's flesh with a sharp prick, sending a jolt of pain through her paralyzed body. The feeling of the scalpel mere millimeters beneath her skin somehow felt ten thousand times worse than the needle had, but then Pinkie pushed it deeper. Applejack's eyes shot wide open, unable to recoil in pain due to most of her body being paralyzed. A few small tears trickled from her eyes, falling delicately off of her bottom eyelashes to land on her cheek. Once Pinkie had the scalpel deep enough, she began to drag it, skin spreading like butter as she sliced through it. Blood was welling up from the cut but Pinkie ignored it. She was slicing a practiced incision into her belly and chest, one straight line, straight up and down. Applejack gritted her teeth, looking down to see the scalpel flowing through her skin easily as if it was made to be sliced open. Blood was now pooling in her belly button as Pinkie finished the incision, peeling away the skin to reveal the taut muscle beneath. There was blood everywhere, and though Applejack prided herself on not being squeamish, the combination of the pain and seeing so much blood caused her to feel faint. Pinkie had prepared for this, though, and quickly pricked her neck with a small syringe. Whatever was in it was enough to bring her back to being fully awake. Applejack was confused, though, because she only felt that energy in her face and mind, and not in her still paralyzed body. "Experimental drug from Zecora. It's like 12 cups of coffee compressed into a tiny little bit of liquid," said Pinkie, answering AJ's unasked question. "Very useful and much more convenient than adrenaline shots." Pinkie's attention returned to the incision, grabbing a couple of the clamps to hold open the skin as she went back to slicing, this time to cut away the muscle that still covered Applejack's bones and organs. She didn't bother with cauterizing the incision, but she did dab over it all with a few towels so the scalpel would be less slippery with the blood. The pain that was coursing through Applejack's body had stunned her into silence. She thought she had understood pain before, but this was like nothing she ever could have imagined. The jolts of pain pulsated with every beat of her heart, and she could feel the blood rushing in her ears as her body was overwhelmed with sensation. When she was a little filly, she remembers a day where she decided to see what it felt like to pet the fire in the fireplace. The flames that had licked at her fur and singed her skin would have been like feathers brushing against her in comparison to the feeling of her muscles being sliced apart and her insides being opened up to the dank air of that hole in the ground. She truly felt like she was in her tomb, slowly suffocating at the bottom of a pit as ponies went through their daily lives so very far above. Soon, her muscle had been sliced through and clamped open. Pinkie turned to grab the bonesaw, her hooves darkened with the blood of her friend. She looked up to meet Applejack's mostly vacant expression as she continued to bleed out on that table. It was time to harvest her organs, and so she injected some more of Zecora's drug. It had no effect, and as she watched the life slowly drain from her friend and possible cousin's eyes, she let one small tear of her own drop free from her own eye. It splashed to the floor, but was quickly lost in the pool of blood that was slowly trickling outwards from the table. "Sorry, AJ," muttered Pinkie Pie. But she had to finish the job. Author's Note Is this the end? Maybe. Probably. I don't know. There's more of a nod to the original Cupcakes in this chapter. Dunno if I'll write anymore after this chapter, at least not for this fic. Maybe I'll write a fun porn next or something. Hope you liked it anyway. I should sleep.