Return to Bittersweet Apple Acres

Flora had wandered for what had felt like hours of going in a circle, nothing but the sight of large rusted pipes and the lingering smell of mold and rot to accompany her the entire trek. Any trace of pain had all but faded in her back leg, and she was thankful that some mysterious god with a forgiving heart had spared her further dread.

However, that didn't extinguish the clear fear that was creeping through every bone in her body at the lack of any sign of additional occupants within this monolith of a maze, causing her heart to ache at the possibility that her closest friends may already be eternal occupants of Sweet Apple Hell.

She didn't even want to think that possibility could be true, but she had come to the full realization that this place wasn't fantasy or anything like her world. This place was alive and truly evil, it's lifeforce kept alive by the blood and fear of anypony who dare enter its domain.

Reality and logic were irrelevant here, and it's demented leader was of no exception. She still struggled to believe that she'd seen a headless body speak words from a nonexistent mouth and walk straight as if it could see clearly. Her heart had sunk at the sight of the infamous cutie mark of three red apples, having to blink twice to be absolutely sure what she had seen was real.

Her injury was real.

The danger was real.

The demented mare that had been deheaded by Crimson Flash twenty years prior was alive and as lethal as she was when she and her family still had reigned over Ponyville.

Every one of her beliefs about the tragedy that Princess Flare had attempted to bury with all of her grief had been proven true. The Bittersweet Apple Massacre had occurred in history, and, just as Crimson Flash had stated, instead of learning from the past, ponykind, by burying a horrid truth, had been doomed to repeat mistakes.

It's exactly why Flora and her friends were currently fighting for their lives, and it was only their fault for meddling with a greater force than they could've imagined.

Rounding what felt like the billionth corner, Flora came to a larger opening, glowing an eerie yellow light. As unsettling as it was, Flora actually felt like she'd made some progress in this endless labyrinth of horrors, and upon walking into the massive opening, her ears perked at an abruption in the silence.

The sound of a muffled cry.

Flora's heart skipped a beat at the sound, the voice sounding more feminine than that of a male stallion or, sickeningly enough, colt. The cry seemed higher than any sound Sarah could produce, but Flora wanted to be absolutely sure, working toward the sound's source.

It came from the far side of the area, eventually leading Flora to the far north wall. Flora had heard that victims of the Apple family had been found within walls as stuffed "trophies" upon the full investigation of the farmhouse, and that sent shivers down her spine.

Luckily, she found a handle that slid open the wall upon scaling the wall for anything to allow her access to the victim. Sliding it open, she was met with a single wall, where a lone mare hung on the wall.

Upon closer inspection, Flora nearly lost her stomach, four large and rusted nails being the only thing holding her to the wall. Streaks of dry blood stained her fur from down from where her hooves had been impaled with the nails, along with large trails of blood visible from the inside of her mouth staining her lower jaw.

The rag covering her mouth was stained with tons of her crimson life support and her eyes were bloodshot and swollen from Celestia-knows-what.

She had a messy mane of blonde, stained with coagulated blood, dirt, and whatever else her torturer had stained her with, and her light pink fur that covered the majority of her body wreaked of what Flora assumed was a mix between death and piss.

She looked horrible, and upon her noticing Flora, it was clear that her voice had long since faded away after screaming and begging endlessly to nothing but the rotted wood and creaking pipes.

Her voice was only a raspy croak that resembled the sound of somepony taking in a long and weak breath. It was just audible enough for Flora to have caught, but only that and nothing more.

"Shhh, I'm going to get you out of here," Flora informed low enough for only her and Jane Doe to hear, starting to look around for something to dislodge the nails.

She eyed her surroundings carefully, only to find no tool to remove the nails, to which she cussed in her mind at, knowing the only tool she had that could potentially work was her teeth.

The thought of pulling an ancient nail from a gory wound didn't even cross her mind as she positioned herself at the mare's uppermost legs first, digging her muzzle into the clearly-infected flesh wound, and working to grab the nail head with her front teeth.

The mare grunted mildly under the pressure, but allowed Flora to just continue her efforts. Flora mainly focused on just getting her teeth on the nail head, eventually managing to dig deep enough to grip and start to pull the rusted object from the wound.

Blood started to leak from the scabs that had been reopened by Flora's actions as, with extreme force, the nail started to slide from the wound, having come loose from the wall rather easily. Flora wasn't sure if she was just wasting her time, but the fact a fellow pony was in disarray and potentially set up for much worse was enough to make her act regardless.

At the sight of Jane Doe's leg collapsing from the wall to her side, along with the nail's stiffness dissipating, Flora knew the nail was out. She spat out the nail and turned back to the victim, noticing that she had nearly dislodged her other hoof just by the use of gravity.

Her body weight leaning forward had nearly been enough to pull her other leg from the wall, to which Flora assisted, grabbing her other front leg and yanking it from the wall. It didn't take much force, the leg falling forward almost instantaneously, Flora working fast to catch her upper body before it fell forward hard onto the floor.

She succeeded and lowered the mare onto the ground, surprised that the mare didn't even attempt to stand. Flora didn't object though, assuming the victim was too mentally and physically exhausted to do anything at all. Another clear sign of her exhaustion was due to the fact that she had barely even jumped or made a noise from the first nail being pulled out, meaning either her nerves were somewhat shot, or, similar to Flora's "rehabilitation," the pain had just become mute and nonexistent to her from the countless injuries she'd taken.

It was a sickening thought that she didn't even want to believe true, but as she started on her back legs, coming free with very little effort, it became very apparent that pain wasn't even existent to this poor pony. The nails had dug deeper down her legs from her being unable to balance her own body, and she hadn't even flinched or yelped at the newly dug wounds.

All she did was emit those same raspy croaks that spoke a story of a broken and forgotten mare that once lived a happy life outside this place. They sent shivers down Flora's spine each time as she finally managed to free her back legs from the wall, leading her to helping her to her hooves.

"Miss, I need you to try and use whatever strength you have to stand up against my side," Flora instructed softly, to which the mare didn't even respond to.

Flora tried again, still keeping her voice low enough to not draw attention from afar, only to still receive no response. The mare only continued to stare blankly with her near-dead amber eyes, cloaked with a fog that made her seem dead.

Flora still didn't give up, recognizing the behavior as a result of trauma and paranoia. It was completely understandable due to the fact that she'd been through Celestia-knows how many unfathomable tortures and horrors that would plague any mind with incurable trauma.

She tried again, this time putting her muzzle right next to the mare's ear to give better clarity.

"Ma'am, please. We need to move as fast as possible," she instructed once again, relieved at the sudden action of a flicker of the ear she was speaking into.

That followed with the mare's left eye meeting Flora's gaze and the croaks now turning into raspy grunts, growing in speed with each second.

Upon hearing that the grunts were muffled, only then did Flora realize that she had forgotten to remove the bloody rag from her muzzle, working quickly to untie the rag and remove it from her face.

However, upon the sight that followed the unveiling, Flora's eyes burst to the size of dinner plates and her right hoof covered her muzzle in horror.

Now she knew why the mare really couldn't say anything.

Her mouth was a bloody mess, her gums bruised and swollen, and where her teeth should've been was only sharp and jagged remnants of what used to be teeth. However, the most haunting part of the entire display before her eyes was the absence of her tongue, the entire bottom of her mouth being nothing but a crimson abyss.

Her tongue had been cut out, ridding her of any speech or voice for the rest of her life. Flora's blood turned to ice instantly, and she quickly lost her stomach on the floor.

Never before had she seen something so horrifying and tragic. She'd seen plenty of horror movies and read tons of horror stories, but this…

This was what true horror was, and immediately, every single fear she'd received from a scary story or movie was extinguished and replaced by this sight alone. Her body excreted all of her Nightmare Night delights violently, up until there was nothing left, and all that followed were coughs.

"Sweet Celestia…

That sight would never leave her memories like a tattoo to skin, and as she turned back to the mare, she quickly did her best to recollect herself. She could see tears gliding down Jane Doe's cheeks, to which she wiped away gently and returned to her original goal.

However, just as she was about to say something, a familiar sinister sound met her ears. The same laughter she'd heard upon her arrival there along with echo of hoofsteps; a sound that caused her to gasp in absolute panic, turning her head to the middle of the room where a headless figure stood with their lasso secure around their neck.

Bittersweet Applejack had found her and was there to claim her first eternal torture slave.

"Well well, looks like I've found ya, Goldilocks," Applejack spoke deviously. "An' here I was thinkin' that you and yur little group of nimwits would actually be challengin' for me. Looks like yur just as weak and stupid as the others who have dared to tread here out of curiosity."

Another chuckle escaped her lips as she started to walk a little closer, to which Flora just stared in horror at.

She was frozen and stuck in place with no idea of what to even do.

"I see ya found my lovely little pet. Cute, ain't she? I call her "Tongueless" or "Mute," seein' she started doin' everythin' I said after I shut her little protests and complaints up with just the slightest little yank. Bloody mess it was, but it was worth the effort, seein' I got myself an obedient pet and her lovely crimson life supply made for a large profit. Everypony wins and is happy in the end."

The stories Flora had heard could not have ever amounted to what she was hearing. She was in the presence of a truly dedicated serial killer that put every bit of passion into her craft in the most demented and twisted ways imaginable.

"She's fucking crazy… It's like she doesn't even care or think about anypony except herself… Like she's not capable of emotion or regret… I-I need to run!"

But where could she run? There was only one way out, and it was blocked by the psychopath now less than ten yards from her. Her eyes searched for another alternative exit, but there was no other possible way or opening within the room. What was she going to do?

"Hehe, no way out Goldilocks," Applejack taunted as if she'd read Flora's mind. "Especially if you still plan to go through with your pointless effort to save that lost cause. She was caught and bound here long ago, sugar, and saving her is nothing more than adding extra weight to your back. She's already dead and trapped forever, and soon you will be too!"

She was no more than a foot from Flora now, and the evident smell of copper and rot was enough to tell. The sight of the headless monster appeared like a human to an ant from Flora's perspective, and it was intimidating beyond belief.

She knew she needed to run.

To do something.

But she couldn't move and felt as if she were frozen in place like a concrete statue.

The shadow of Applejack now blanketed her body under the dim lights, and all she could do was just close her eyes and pray to wake up in her bedroom to the sound of her clock alarm any second.

"It's just a bad dream… It's just a bad dream… It's just a bad dream…

Applejack's laughter permeated her ears like drums, her heartbeat joining and causing her head to pulse.

"Welcome to the slaughterhouse, slave," Applejack capitalized in a whisper that tickled Flora's eardrums.

She awaited some sort of agonizing pain to purge her body, her eyes still shut and her voice quivering in absolute fear. Every sound seemed to fade away like the end to a music track, essentially putting Flora into a state where her mind had become a dark and eternal void. Something she assumed as purgatory or limbo, up until something broke her from it.

"Flora!" a voice shouted in pleading.

The voice was familiar and as all sound returned to her, it was clear who she had heard.

Opening her eyes, she saw that Applejack had been attacked by Trevor, and he had her in a momentary stun.

"Flora! Get up! We gotta go!" Trevor yelled, and, now back to her senses, Flora responded.

"Trevor! Where did you com-

"Flora! We need to go!" he yelled bluntly, grabbing her hoof and pulling her up hastily. "She's not going to be down for long! We need to put some distance between her and us!"

Flora caught the urgency, but despite the urgency of the situation, she couldn't just leave Applejack's "pet" to suffer.

"I can't just leave her here!" Flora objected, pointing to the floor. "She's a pony too!"

Trevor grunted at that, having just heard the truth about said mare from Applejack's own mouth while eavesdropping just out of view.

"Didn't you hear her?! She's already unsavable, Flora! We can't save her, and unless we get out of here, we're next!"

Flora frowned, holding her ground in retort.

"I'm not leaving without her, Trevor! Anypony can be saved!"

"Not here, Flora! This is beyond our power!"

"My mind is made up! So, either leave or put her on your back! You have plenty of strength to carry her!"

Trevor couldn't win, so with a very audible grunt of annoyance, he made his choice.

"Ugh, fine! You win, Flora!"

Quickly, Trevor lifted Jane Doe up onto his back and settled her to where she wouldn't fall off, then he turned back to the exitway and signaled Flora to start running.

Flora listened and took off as fast as possible, taking off back into the labyrinth. She made it around the first corner, up until a sudden scream made her stop and skid to a halt. She turned back around to where she could see the wide opening again, but what she saw immediately brought tears to her eyes and caused her stomach to turn.

Trevor was stopped in place, and from his back up to the entire back of his neck had been impaled with hundreds of thin crimson strands, breaking through out from the underside of his body. Massive amounts of his blood was already pouring onto the floor from his hundreds of wounds, and all Flora could do was stare at the sight that had been caused by her and her only.

Trevor mumbled in pain, frozen in place from the hundreds of piano string-like strands that had him pinned. All he could move was his eyes, meeting Flora's in a stare that only spoke one thing.

"R-run…

He mumbled before all of the strands simultaneously shifted and ripped Trevor's stock and muscular body into nothing but chunks of pony meat of several different sizes.

Flora screamed instantly, her body being showered in Trevor's blood and her emotions going into a spiral of chaos as she followed Trevor's last request and ran like hell back into the labyrinth.