Deep beneath the barn of Sweet Apple Acres there is a room. Inside that room is a single bolted metal and wood chair, and beneath it sits a large glass bowl. It is these two things that have kept Granny Smith’s apple pie a prize winner and the Apple family on the outskirts of Ponyville for the past few hundred years.
The medicine had now worn off and Twilight tried to focus her eyes.
“So you’re awake?” Applejack hugged the other pony and grinned ear to ear. “I was afraid you wouldn’t wake up, and then I’d have to do this all alone.
“Applejack is that you?” Twilight tried to stand up but found she was unable to move. “I can’t feel my horn. Applejack, what’s going on?”
Eyeing the horn sitting lifelessly beneath the chair that housed Twilight, Applejack cleared her throat. “It’s uh, just a little precaution.” She tightened the restraints around her friend. “Don’t want any mistakes or issues after all.”
“AJ?” Twilight licked her lips nervously and pulled at the ropes, little beads of sweat beginning to form on her forehead and cheeks. “Whatever it is, you don’t have to do this.”
“I’m afraid I do.” Applejack furrowed her brow and shrugged apologetically. “It’s just the way things are.”
“That’s not true.” She watched as Applejack trotted over to the table. “That’s not true- AJ what’s going on!?”
Even though she faced away from the tied mare Applejack nodded sympathetically. “It really isn’t so bad.” She ran a hoof over the instruments on the wood in front of her. Knives, screwdrivers, picks, hacksaw, wires, a power drill… “Ah!” She smiled and raised a hoof. “This one’s my favorite.” Her leg held up a rusted spoon and she giggled. “Always makes me think of apple pie… the dish that is,” She was still chuckling as she trotted back to the chair in the center of the room. “not my cousin.”
“Applejack? Applejack please, you don’t have to,” Twilight sobbed and tears began forming at the edges of her eyes. “you don’t have to do this.” Her voice broke and tears rolled down her cheeks freely. “Please AJ, you don’t have to…”
“Hush now sugarcube.” Applejack caressed the others cheek softly with her free hoof, brushing away the tear streaks. “I told you it’s just how things are… and you know I don’t lie.”
“P-p-please.” Twilight held nothing back now and she strained forward against her rope bindings. “What about Spike and Owlowiscious? Who’ll,” She couldn’t continue and her head sunk down towards the ground. “Who’ll keep them fed and housed... and” Her mane stuck to her forehead and cheeks, plastered down by tears and sweat. She sobbed audibly. “Who’ll love them?”
Applejack seemed truly concerned for a moment and she hugged her friend. “Now Twi, I promise you,” Switching from a hug to a pull she grunted and pushed the purple pony’s body against the back of the chair, snapping Twilight’s head back up. “Ain’t no harm gonna come to them critters.” She stroked the mane off of Twilight’s forehead and away from her face. “Now I ain’t gonna lie,” Placing a firm front leg against the other’s neck she lifted the spoon. “This is gonna hurt.”
“AJ no, don’t! Please!” Twilight tried to struggle, tried to lift her hooves, push the farm pony off of her, or even bite her. But the other pushed harder on her neck and Twilight found herself unable to breathe. “AJ…” Her tongue lolled from her mouth and her nostrils widened to the size of baseballs.
“It’ll be over in a minute Twi.” Twirling the spoon around the other’s violet eyes, bending the lashes round the cupped base which was becoming slick with tears.
“No, no, no, no…” She sounded almost alien as the words came out in a barely audible whisper and her eye followed from the spoon to her friend’s firm eyes.
“Here we go!” And so saying she dipped the spoon in. It passed deep behind the white and she juggled it about, detaching the wire of tissue that held it in place in the back.
“ARHhgnnAHH!” Twilight bucked back and forth in the chair. Still unable to breath, her lower jaw hung loosely in the air, and she gnashed at the air when she could. Dug her hooves into the wooden handles , leaving wiry ruts in them.
“Hush now sugarcube!” Applejack wrestled the rusty handle back and forth in the socket. “It’ll pop any second now and you can relax.”
Twilight convulsed heavily throwing the other pony off momentarily and allowing the purple unicorn a much needed gasp of air. “Ahhh!” Thick tendrils of snot whipped from her nose, which writhed about as if having a mind of their own. The liquid joined the blood and tears trailing from her cheeks, in a salty congealed mess on her lips. “AJ please no more! Please whatever you want…” She glanced about wildly causing the spoon’s handle to twitch around in the eye socket and sending waves of nausea throughout her.
Shaking her head Applejack stepped up onto the bolted chair and placed one back foot on each of the other mare’s front hooves and returned her front one to the other’s neck. “Sorry about that Twi.”
“AJ” Her single good eye clenched shut in pain Twilight could no longer see the element of honesty atop her. “I beg you.” Her voice died out once more as her windpipe flattened under the strong orange forearm of the other.
“This shouldn’t have taken so long.” Applejack frowned and snorted in annoyance. “Really by now you should have passed out and for that I’m honestly and truly sorry.” Ripping the spoon and eye loose from the head of her friend, she dropped it into the glass bowl to skitter to a halt beside the unicorn’s horn.
“Its… its,” Twilight couldn’t form the words and she gritted her teeth to keep the blood from pouring it’s coppery way down her throat.
“Still,” Applejack slinked over to the toy table some ways off and picked up the power drill, pulling on the trigger a few times to test it and getting the long needle like bit to become a blur of motion. “I promise this one won’t take as long.” Then leaping forward she pounced onto the edges of the chair and pierced the twisted drill bit straight through Twilight’s remaining violet eye, pulling the trigger; mixing the black with the white and causing the ultra-bright purple into a gooey orangish-red mush. It flows out in globs down Twilight’s cheek.
“AJAAAAAAHH!” The purple mare’s yell was cut short by globs of her ‘once eye’ being drawn in through her nostrils and nearly choking her.
“Almost there now, hang tuff sweetie!” Applejack peeled all six inches of the drill in and out of the others eye, leaving ragged fur and meat swirls each time it pulled out close to the socket’s edges.
Twilight had lost her voice to the pain. Her teeth cracked and tore at the flesh of her gums and her lips were blistered bloody worms. Her senses had numbed from the shock, the shock of the power tool liquefying her final hope of sight away. It literally immobilized her plush frame in an arch that pressed the ropes so deep into her skin, her chest and stomach rubbed raw of fur. The friction it made caught fiber against skin and the rope hungrily ate the tiny sawdust like tissue that was created, engulfing and swallowing it deep within its sinewy folds.
“There, there, that parts all done.” Applejack lifted her eyes skyward, worn out slightly from the pressure of applying the hundreds of tiny holes. But peering between her straw-colored hairs made the orange pony pause in anger and she tossed the drill away suddenly. “Ah man!” She reached a hoof up to her head and yanked the aged cowpony hat down off of her matted straw mane. “That messy drill got some on my hat.”
Her ears flattened and she snorted in annoyance. She shut her eyes and counted to ten, remembering the calming technique her and Twilight had gone over long ago. Taking a step away from the still ‘muscle-locked’ unicorn with each number she could feel her composure coming back. When she called out, “One.” her rear legs bumped against the instruments table. She popped opened her eyes and turning in a half circle dropped the hat down beside the hacksaw. “Works every time!” She made a note to write Princess Celestia about that sometime soon. Then turning her attention back to her hat, she took a deep breath. “I’ll clean you later.”
“Apple…”
Turning, AJ’s forehead wrinkled in concern. “Are you ok Twi? I tried to make it fast.”
“Ap-p-p-l… a…”
Hurriedly grabbing a cleaver and cloth from off the table Applejack returned to her friend’s side. “Twilight, what’s wrong?” She took the handkerchief and began to dab the other’s cheek.
Twilight could feel the cool fabric and with each touch she flinched. It sucked out her blood and exposed the tiny termite like holes that destroyed the left side of her face. Rather than help it did more harm and pulled what little scabbing that was created away. Her body still had not unwound and the ropes in some places had even begun to eat through to the muscles, flexing in constant agony. She tried to move her lips and form the words, any words, to get some relief but they wouldn’t come.
When she felt like she had done all she could to ease her friend’s pain, Applejack put the soaking square of fabric back on the ground; allowing the floorboards a chance to eagerly lap the juice up. “I’m gonna need one more part from your face.” Applejack looked down nervously and her hoof tightened around the handle of the meat knife. “But I promise this one will be the fastest of them all.”
The wave of fear and nausea that hit Twilight at the sound of those words is impossible to describe. She could hear her friend lean up against her. She could feel the metal of the blade begin to press at the top of her neck, just below her jaw. Yet, she couldn’t utter a single word, couldn’t move or see the horror that was bound to happen. If she were in any other situation at any other time she would be laughing at this. She was Twilight: bookworm extraordinaire. The pony with more knowledge than the entire library of Ponyville and yet she was unable to speak even a simple ‘no’.
“Ready?” Applejack positioned the knife against the skin just under the jawbone and pushed up, with speed that only years of farming and practice could teach.
Suddenly there was no thought in Twilight’s mind. Her body went limp and the ropes slurped as they pulled away from her and everything went black. Then everything was white, and then a deep, deep, red. Her nerves returned to her in a violent rush and with it her threshold of pain was pushed to its threaded edge.
“SWACK!”
“Darn, wanted to get it in one hit.” Applejack swung her arm back, flinging dots of fat and muscle off of the chef’s blade and into her excited face. Very carefully she reached back down and prying open Twilight’s half connected lower jaw with her free hoof, she positioned her arm to come at the masseter muscles from above. “One more and it’ll be free, so don’t you worry too much Twilight.” This time, it worked and the jaw cleanly dropped away from the purple mare’s face and slid down Twilight’s belly ropes, creating a small “plunk” sound when it slid into the beautiful glass bowl at the chair’s base.
“Raaaaghhllelar!”
“Come on now sweet heart it’s over.” Applejack tried to cover the bookworm’s screeching trachea with her hoof, but with the lower jaw gone it was impossible to fully cut off the gargled yells. “Hush won’t you!” keeping one leg firmly against the tied pony’s newly added neck hole, Applejack reached down and grabbed the swollen tongue from out of the glass bowl of parts. The muscle had gone a deep purple with large white lumps and sticking her own tongue out at the sick sight, the farm pony tried to feed Twilight’s taster back into the unicorn’s neck.
"Apgrhle! MhhnOOO!!” Twilight’s had long since scraped the hooves away from her front legs and the bloody stumps peeled back, as she rolled beneath the coils that bound her to the chair. Her eyeless sockets oozed thick globs of yellowish puss, the closest thing to tears the unicorn had left, each time her raw white bones scraped into sight against the iron enforced wood. She shook her head violently and could feel her own tongue trail down her trachea and gag her.
Applejack blew a few stray strands of her forelock away from her face. “Twi, Please don’t make this difficult.” She shoved the tongue in all the way, only to have it flap back up out of the throat. “I’m trying to make this as gentle as possible.” When only screams met her pleas and the thrashing head of her friend refused to accept the tongue back in a second time, Applejack threw the piece of meat down onto the cold wooden floor in frustration. “That is it! I’m trying mighty hard to help you out here.” She had stepped back and away from the writhing figure in the chair and stamped her foot down angrily, her tail twitching in time with little spasms. “I don’t wanna go get Big Mac and trust me you don’t want me to either.” She rolled her eyes and dabbed at the sweat on her forehead. “He’s not nearly as friendly as I am.” Then trotting quickly to the table and back she held up a bottle of cooking oil. "This should be the last of it and by far the least worrisome for the both of us, so don't you worry Twi it'll all be over soon!"
Twilight felt her tail quickly become drenched in oil. She felt hooves shape and thread the hairs to stand up in spikes at different points along the tail bone.
“This oil part is more for the smell really. Hang tight and I'm gonna go get the tool from the table. I’ll be back faster than you can say country fried chicken.” Applejack had spoken softly in consideration for her friend’s presumed inevitable sensitivity to sound. However, she had misjudged the timing for at this point twilight couldn’t hear her farm friend above the throbbing in her head and the pounding in each exposed gash upon it.
She could feel some of the clumps of her mane that she had rubbed off while struggling in the chair. It clung to her through the ropes on her legs and stomach; each one complemented with a slick spade island of skin. It was a feeling a thousand times worse than the loss of her eyes; than her jaw even. At least with her eyes she could not see or feel the results soak against her. Feel the lifeless chunks of flesh meld to other cuts on her body and scab into one pulp-like mangle of flesh. Island of purple and magenta hair above it scratching and sticking to the wound with each quiver or jolt that ran through her. She wanted to disconnect her mind and if she could move her head in enough she told herself that she would slice her own neck with her exposed upper jaw. But the movement required strength and that she did not have. So instead she squirmed, whimpered inaudible cries and pleas with each drip of blood that bound flesh to unequal flesh. Her body twitched along the ropes, accepting the burns it caused and blood it pulled as equal trade for the small comfort of separating one clump of fallen hair from a leg, her stomach, a shoulder.
“Alright now,”
Applejack had returned and Twilight almost swore that despite staring out from blank sockets, she could see her friend’s ever present smile and her orange brows ever furrowed in deeply hidden concern. It added little comfort and she choked out an “augha” from the hole at her throat; a plea that could only rely on inflection and tone to portray her hope for a quick finish.
“Don’t you worry about it Twilight,” Applejack held up a thin red candle in front of the half harvested mare. “This parts relatively painless, but it does hurt the pride some. Well, that’s if you’re attached to your looks.” Circling to the back of the chair and the hole where Twilight’s notched tail jutted out. Checking it once again to ensure that the oil hadn’t dried in her absence Applejack straightened the spikes she had formed once more. “Here we go!” She excitedly tilted the candle dripping hot wax onto the cones of hair. They erupted in steam and caught a cold ember of flame that she quickly nursed with the candles own.
The result was sudden and quite beyond the earth pony’s expectations. A massive tongue of deep blue erupted, spreading from cone to cone and removing all of the hair in seconds. However Applejack had been so overjoyed to move on she had forgotten the towel and the flame now worked on the raw skin and bones of the tail.
It hit twilight in waves and she slammed her head against the back of the chair, trying to find a point of any kind to pierce through her skull and shut her head down. As deep black spots appeared where firm lush skin had been she rocked the chair in agony, her tail wagging about like a puppies.
“Darn I knew I forgot something.” Applejack was now truly troubled and she blew out the candle as fast as she could. She turned to go but realizing the tail was now too far gone to be salvageable, no matter how fast she was, removed it with the only thing available: her teeth.
Twilight didn’t even feel the crunch that tore her tail away from her. She didn’t feel the trail of skin that stubbornly remained, get stamped and cursed loose. She didn’t even feel her upper thigh’s tense and un-tense as they bucked in place. She felt relief and she let it out in a gurgled wail of satisfaction.
"See it's not all bad." Applejack winked. "But, with the tail gone I'm going to need a substitute. I guess I'll be right back once more."
Twilight ignored the farm pony. Her world had become a blackened void of violent bursts of pain and uncontrollable spasms, she had no time for friendly voices. She was sure that her mouth was still there as were her eyes; she could feel them pulsate and burn. Yet for some reasons her screams were tainted, faded, and quiet. Her Eyes… A spasm gripped her and she could no longer feel her left front leg. She had... She had broken free of the ropes! She waved the leg ecstatically about to make sure and she cried for joy. One arm down, She pulled and tugged at her other front leg. One to go… When was the last time she had opened her eyes?
Applejack carefully stripped the muscles out of the twitching mass of flesh, placing it in glass bowl carefully. “This’ll make for some fine filling.” Discarding the hair and bones with the other scraps around them she reached for Twilights remaining upper arm. “It’s only this last one sugarcube, then we’ll be all done.”
Twilight let out a sigh of relief. Using what little of her strength she had left. She pulled and pushed at the bonds containing her other upper leg, and after a searing flash of agony it was freed.
“There now.” Applejack took a deep breath. “Whoa doggies! I thought this’d never end.” After taking a moment to gain her strength, she climbed atop the empty chair arms. “It’s all gonna be over soon.” She coiled her lower legs up under her and bent down and firmly positioning both front leg at the base of the unicorn’s neck, just below the cut off jawline.
Twilight thought about Spike, the princesses, her life in Canterlot, her friends in Ponyville. “Oh’ don’t you worry about me Spike.” It’d been so long since she had read him to sleep. “I’ll be right with you soon.” She told herself gently pulling away from the chair. “We can get that letter sent to the princess about what I learned today with AJ.” She was finally free. “How friends are forever… Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Applejack…” She smiled.
“Goodbye Twilight, you were the best friend a pony could have.” Applejack kissed her friend on the nose. Then bucking the handles she shot up, snapping the others head back and breaking her neck.
“Did you know.” Twilight felt herself drifting out from the barn basement. “You’re all my very best friends too.” and she left.
“Is it ah’m… Finished?” Granny Smith’s voice waded in from above and Applejack shakily stepped off of her friend’s limp body.
“Just finished Granny, Give me a second to collect it all and I’ll be right up.” Then as an afterthought she added, “And tell Big McIntosh that I left her back legs on. So when he comes down here to clean up he has something to make it worth his while.”
“Well er’hm... I’ll let him know. Now make sure… and hurry up dear. Them zap apples are mighty particular about what they’re willing to be mixed with and ahm, ahm...” The elder pony’s voice cut off for a second, the started back up abruptly. “If’n it don’t get mixed soon I’m sure they won’t take it kindly.”
The smell of sliced apples and buttery crusts glided down and Applejack licked her lips excitedly. “Best apple pie in all of Equestria.” After a moment she added much louder, “Granny I got her horn, an eye, her jaw, and the meat from two legs. Oh! And I’m getting the brain, Is that gonna be enough?”
“Should be dearie!” The melodious voice of Granny Smith floated down.
“Alrighty then.” Sliding the glass bowl of ingredients to rest directly in front of the chair, Applejack pushed her friends head forward and sighed. “I’m surely gonna miss you Twi.” She smacked the back of Twilight’s eye socket, cracking the bone and exposing the pulsing member beneath. “It’s just the recipe needs to be perfect.” She fed the strings of the young mare’s brain into the glass. “You’re the most special pony I know. Besides,” Stroking the lifeless mane before her Applejack looked one last time on her friend. “Now you’ll be the cause of happiness for everyone in Ponyville one final time.” Then she quietly sped up her work, threading all of the purple mare’s knowledge into the crystal bowl of award winning apple pie ingredients.