Rarity's Revenge

Heavy hoof steps could be heard, then the swing of the double doors, and Starlight was mildly confused to see Big McIntosh. She didn’t think much of it at first, until Phoenix himself stepped back a few paces when the red stallion came in. Big Mac was only mildly disturbed by the twisted amalgamation of pony body parts that was Starlight Glimmer. Rarity had warned him that he would be walking into a horror movie, but he had mentally prepared himself for the dreaded possibility that his younger sister’s body had been found, not the patchwork pony he was actually seeing. Big Mac, living on a farm, had seen his fair share of dead animals and blood – they bred pigs and cows after all; they sold the meat to Equestrian carnivores like the diamond dogs, and mammals giving birth was a very messy experience.

“Big Mac, thank you for joining us,” Rarity smiled. “this is Phoenix Blaze; he is the one giving us this opportunity.”

“Pleasure to make your acquaintance.” Phoenix said, briefly bowing his head.

Big Mac responded with a deep, respectful bow to the demon alicorn.

“And I believe you know Starlight Glimmer.” Rarity said sweetly.

“Eeyup…” He responded in a voice almost as deep as Phoenix’s.

“Starlight, you’ve met Big Mac before, right? Applejack’s older brother…” Rarity turned to a frightened Starlight, who nodded fervently. “Now Big Mac, I’m afraid I must impart some very bad news to you, so prepare yourself.”

Starlight started to worry. She knew that the official word on the elemental ponies was that they were missing, but she feared what the stallion’s reaction would be once Rarity told him the truth – that Applejack was dead. More so, she didn’t know exactly what Rarity was going to tell him about the death, who caused it and how exactly she died.

“I realise that this must be a terrible shock, dear, so brace yourself,” Rarity stated. “it is my solemn duty to inform you that Applejack is not missing, she is gone; permanently.”

“Eeyup…” Big Mac replied calmly.

Starlight was very confused by the stallion’s unusually cool reaction to hearing that his little sister was dead. Perhaps he was in shock from seeing her disfigured body.

“I know, I know, it’s heartbreakingly wretched news isn’t it?” Rarity nodded, placing a hoof on his shoulder. “but I’m afraid it gets worse.”

Starlight silently pleaded with Rarity not to say anything else, zealously shaking her head and staring at her with wide eyes. Rarity merely grinned in response and narrowed her eyes at the lilac-pink mare.

“The pony responsible for her death is right here,” Rarity gestured to Starlight. “and you should know that, although Applejack’s death was quick, it likely was not painless, due to the fact that she was electrocuted.”

“Eeyup…”

As Rarity continued to divulge information about the situation in which Applejack died, and what Rainbow Dash was forced to do to the body afterward, Phoenix leaned toward the frightened Starlight and whispered in her ear.

“There are three things all wise ponies fear; the sea in a storm, a night with no moon and the fury of a gentle stallion,” He growled. “I come from a realm of unspeakable horrors, where the screams of tormented ponies fill the air, but even I would fear being on the wrong side of him right now.”

Suddenly, Big Mac’s lack of emotional reaction to the explosive things Rarity was saying made way too much sense. Where there was once confusion, now came a quickly rising coldness, as Starlight observed Big Mac’s calm demeanour from a different perspective. His reserved replies and unchanging facial expression were instilling in her a level of fear she had never thought possible. The terror she had experienced during this whole ordeal was nothing compared to what she was currently feeling; it weighed on her stomach like a spiked rock and triggered a wave of ice-cold dread unlike anything she’d ever known.

“That’s why I brought you here, Big Mac,” Rarity gave him a sympathetic look. “I wanted to give you the opportunity to let off some steam and get some vengeance of your own, on behalf of your younger sister.”

“That’s mighty kind of y’all.” He stated.

Big Mac began to approach the eight-legged creature that was responsible for Applejack’s death. He still had that vague look of peace upon his face, frightening Starlight to the point that she stumbled backwards trying to get away from him. She barely got a couple feet away from him when two metal cuffs reached up from the ground and grabbed two of her back fetlocks, and she felt a sudden jolt of electricity run through the back legs that weren’t hers.

“Nuh, uh, uh,” Rarity sang. “I told you not to attempt an escape, now you’ll have to be restrained again.”

Two more metal cuffs appeared and latched onto her two forelegs – the ones that belonged to her in the first place – sending a brief shock through them and up her chest. Starlight could not stay still, stomping her free hooves and pointlessly pulling backwards, as Big Mac’s eerily calm face continued to stare her down. The large red stallion turned and bucked Starlight with his back hooves, knocking her down with a sickening crack. Starlight’s vision was spinning wildly, and her jaw hurt so much that she was sure it must be broken. As she lay on the floor, dazed and nauseous, she felt a sharp, overwhelming agony in her forelegs from Big Mac stomping down on them with his massive hooves. He stared her in the eye, his face still blank, as he put every ounce of strength he had into breaking and fracturing every single bone in Starlight’s front limbs. She wailed as loud as she could through the pain of her jaw, and from beneath the stitches that held her mouth shut, getting louder with every irregular crack of bone.

“Oof, that looks bad,” Rarity jokingly winced. “having fun, dear?”

“Eeyup.” He snarled, moving onto the next pair of forelegs – the ones harvested from Diamond Cutter.

Although the cerulean legs were not hers, they had been connected to her correctly, and she was able to use them – which made them a viable target for Big Mac. Inch by inch, he began stomping on them, again throwing all his strength into crushing the entire length of the forelegs. Bones broke and tore through the skin, blood came out in spurts, and still Big Mac maintained a steady face throughout. As she lay face down on the floor, Starlight could feel the skin on her muzzle tearing with every physical flinch of her face. Why? What was the point of all this? Why would Rarity go to all the trouble of transforming her into this monstrosity if she was just going to be destroyed? Phoenix was owed a soul, and a tribute, both of which he’d been given in spades, so she concluded that this was purely for vengeance. Starlight began to curse the boastfulness of her younger self, when she’d said Rarity could seek revenge on her; that said, she could never have predicted how far the white unicorn would go.

“I would love to see what those back legs can do,” Phoenix grinned at Big Mac, who simply nodded in agreement. “here, allow me to assist.”

Phoenix’s dark crimson aura ripped up the section of the floor that Starlight was chained to, propping it up so she was dangling vertically as if she were on a wooden rack. She cried and wept in pain as the cuffs on her front fetlocks caused her to hang by her shattered forelegs. She couldn’t even see Big Mac because she was lying face down when Phoenix moved the floor. On the plus side, it meant she also wouldn’t see the damage he was about to do. Big Mac put all his energy into his back hooves and bucked with all his strength. Immediately, the bones in the legs he had struck were fragmented; Starlight screamed so much that she tore her mouth open, her jaw hung awkwardly as she yelled, and the bloodied stitches fell to the floor. This was a stallion that could buck down 90 percent of the apples in any given tree with just a kick from one hoof and had been known to run at full pelt for up to an hour; his legs were deadly weapons. With just a few more hits, he had completely pulverised the internal structure of her back legs into powder. She shrieked wildly, and a waterfall of tears stained her coat as she could no longer move her back legs without excruciating pain surging through her body like fire.

“Why??” Starlight screamed. “For the love of Celestia, WHY??”

“What do you mean ‘why’? You’re the one who told me to do this – I believe your exact words were ‘seek whatever punishment for me that you deem appropriate’,” Rarity reminded her. “and it gives me great satisfaction to see you destroyed at the hooves of somepony this powerful.”

Rarity’s words cut into Starlight. It was bad enough that she was bested by a unicorn she considered below her, but to be taken out by a lowly earth pony was too much. A unicorn of her calibre deserved to die on a magical battlefield of great magnitude – a magnificent duel that could determine the survival of all ponykind – not being beaten to death by a blue-collar farm pony. Phoenix dropped the part of the floor that he had held up for Big Mac, and Starlight squealed in anguish as her body hit the ground, the pain momentarily multiplying from the force. Big Mac bowed his head to Phoenix in appreciation, before circling Starlight’s body like a predator.

“Most impressive,” Phoenix praised, observing the damage. “what a pity he is too pure to go to Tartarus; I could make good use of him there.”

“Oh good,” Rarity sighed in relief. “to be honest, I was worried that doing this would send him there.”

Phoenix shook his head.

“It takes more than one count of grief-induced madness to send someone as wholesome as him to Tartarus,” Phoenix explained. “he who has worked hard since he was young, and even harder since his parents died; with his efforts and selflessness, he has kept a roof over his remaining family’s heads, working doubly hard since losing his younger sister.”

Big Mac stared at Starlight, then glanced over at Rarity.

“I wanna be able to see her suffer while I do this,” He mumbled in his deep voice. “can y’all do that for me?”

“Of course, I can!” Rarity agreed.

As Big Mac loomed over his target, who feebly glanced up at him with pleading eyes, Rarity ignited her horn and manifested a two-screen spell. One drifted in front of Starlight’s face, which was livestreamed onto the screen placed in front of Big Mac.

“Thank you kindly.” Big Mac said coolly.

Starlight screamed in horror, and then extreme pain, as Big Mac reared onto his back hooves and brought his front hooves down on her body. She could feel various bones breaking and her organs blatantly rupturing, with every additional stomp he took. He observed as she cried out in agony and began coughing up blood to the beat of each brutal strike. For the first time since he arrived, Big Mac’s face was changing. His neutral, deadpan expression was slowly twisting into a wide, malevolent smile, and he started laughing hysterically. He savoured every cry, every pained expression, every drop of blood she spilt, and he didn’t stop until his hooves were drenched in her crimson fluids. She was battered, bruised, bloodied and almost flattened, but even after all that, she still wasn’t quite dead. Big Mac was confused. He looked over at Phoenix and saw his horn alight with magic and concluded that, despite the immense damage to Starlight’s body – internally and externally – she was being kept alive with his powers. Starlight wanted to die, escape the pain, escape this horrific situation, but Phoenix wouldn’t let her. Not yet.

“Am… am I dead yet?” Starlight choked out.

“Nope,” Big Mac smirked. “but you deserve to be, after what y’all did to my sister.”

“I’m sorry; I’m sorry for what I did, I’m sorry about what happened to your sister, and to the others,” She wept, taking short, shallow breaths. “please… please forgive me.”

“Nope.”

And with one final show of power, Big Mac stomped on Starlight’s head with every ounce of his strength. Her skull collapsed, teeth and bone fragments flew in all directions, and blood and brain matter sloshed across the floor. Starlight Glimmer was finally dead. Big Mac panted. The adrenaline of his anger finally wore off, and he collapsed to the floor exhausted. Rarity sat beside him and stroked his mane comfortingly.

“You did very well, Big Mac,” She cooed. “Applejack would be proud.”

“Eeyup.” He smiled as a single tear rolled down his cheek.

Phoenix magically raised the heavily altered form of Starlight into the air. She flopped down like an eight-legged stuffed animal, that had been removed of its stuffing and dipped in a bucket of blood red paint. His horn glowed brighter and brighter, and in a flash of light, the hollow body of the mare burst into flames. The radiance of the airborne blaze brought Big Mac a strange sense of consolation – it reminded him of the bonfires they had on the farm when disposing of dead or damaged apple trees. They all watched as the fire raged for several minutes, then slowly died out, leaving behind a pile of ash that Phoenix once again blew into nothing.

Big Mac sensed that his job was done, and he gratefully hugged Rarity. The unicorn gave him a chance he never would have gotten – to punish the pony who took his sister away. He knew he couldn’t tell Granny Smith or Apple Bloom the truth of Applejack’s disappearance, or what he had done to avenge her, but it was something he needed to give himself closure, and with his own soul rested, he was able to be stronger for his grandmare and baby sister. He looked at Phoenix and bowed as he would toward the Princesses. Phoenix whinnied in appreciation, and Big Mac took his leave, making a mental note to have a shower when he got home; his coat was red, and the blood splatter blended into it, but he knew it would be a good idea to wash away the evidence regardless.