Another Apple Sleep Experiment

Chapters

Twilight's Commemoration Preparation [Part 1]
Room for one more, Fluttershy? [Part 2 Scene 2]
Lose Somethin' Rares? [Part 3 Scene 1]
Just One More Race... [Part 3 Scene 2]
A Final Showdown [Part 4 scene 1]
Loose Ends and Lost Friends [Part 4 Scene 2]
A Pink Party Pony's Surprise [Part 2 Scene 1]

Twilight's Commemoration Preparation [Part 1]

Autumn in Ponyville. While the rest of Equestria readied themselves for Nightmare Night the next month, Ponyville busied themselves with preparations for their memorial. “Commemoration” was the name it was given by the princesses years ago, as it was the only title that seemed appropriate. Although this year marked the seventh anniversary of the memorial’s creation, it was still a sore spot for most Ponyvillians. It was created in lieu of Cider Season, at the once active Sweet Apple Acres. Commemoration is a time to reflect and honor those who were lost to the great massacre. Most ponies were never truly given a satisfying reason for the senseless killings all those years ago. The princesses remained as tight-lipped as the survivors did. Eventually, between Twilight’s reassurances and the lack of new victims, fear and anxiety in Ponyville slowly ebbed. It was Twilight who initially proposed the memorial in the hopes that it would ease the pain, and bring normalcy back to Ponyville. Of course, in doing so, she and her friends had become the unofficial conductors of the memorial. They nursed their own sorrows by making each year better than the last.

It was the evening before the festivities, and magic was ringing in the halls of the Castle of Friendship. An alicorn, two unicorns, and a pegasus were scrambling to finish their decoration contributions as the sunset drew nearer.

Flying overhead of the throne room, Fluttershy was attempting to place a thick, purple drape, adorned with ribbons, onto the rafters, according to Rarity's specifications. A task that seemed easy enough, had it not been for Rarity’s refusal to settle for anything less than perfection.

“No no no, that simply will not do!” Rarity shrilly called to the pale yellow pegasus. Fluttershy sighed in frustration, lowering her hoof and holding back the urge to roll her eyes.

“What’s wrong this time?” Fluttershy called back to her friend in exasperation, wondering how Rarity could be so far away, yet still see some imagined imperfection for the placement of said drapery.

Rarity didn’t seem to catch, or mind, the pegasus’s tone.

“It’s a quarter of an inch too far to the right! Even I can see that. While I am grateful for your help, Fluttershy, you know how flawlessly decorated the castle must be for our future guests.” Rarity called out, hoping her friend would follow and agree with her logic. She looked away from the ceiling for a moment, to finish the stitch she had started on a vast tapestry draped over her hooves. The tapestry was twenty feet in length, and nearly took up the entire map-less table in the center of the room. Along with the complicated stitch work, and bright appealing colors, Bonbon’s silhouette took center stage in the piece, her name expertly sewn beneath it. When Fluttershy didn’t echo Rarity’s logic, Rarity turned to Twilight to back-up her statement.

“Wouldn’t you agree, Twilight?”

Twilight Sparkle, the princess of friendship, didn’t seem to heed the growing tension between her friends as she busied herself with a checklist; it was nearly as long as Rarity’s unfinished masterpiece. She glanced up from her scroll, tired eyes locking on the unicorn, before following her gaze to the drapery above.

“It looks great, Rarity.” Twilight muttered absently, as the quill in her magic jotted down yet another unchecked task.

“Just move it slightly to the left, Fluttershy, and you’ll be good. We don’t really have time to fuss over silly details like that.” Starlight Glimmer firmly chided, like a mother scolding her misbehaving children. Starlight’s horn was aglow, and she was busying herself with ice picks and a giant slab of ice. She’d been sculpting for the better part of an hour now, and she took great pride in the art she was able to create thus far. The sculpture showcased each of the fallen, and Starlight only hesitated for a moment when she reached the smooth surface of ice, where the fourteenth pony would be. Starlight’s heart panged and stomach clenched. She swallowed back a burp of bile, knowing that it would do no good to bring up her objections for the sixth consecutive year. This memorial had become a staple in the lives of Ponyvillians. Ponies understandably wanted that fourteenth pony remembered and honored; even if, unbeknownst to them, she was the pony who had slaughtered the rest.

Rarity bristled at Starlight’s comment dismissing her initial statement.

“And… how exactly do you suppose that the ice sculpture won’t melt by tomorrow?” Rarity asked, and though the question was genuine, her tone reflected her inner bitterness.

“I've done my research. There’s a spell that prevents ice from melting; I found it in an old book in the library.” Starlight answered tactfully and devoid of annoyance. Still, Rarity was unimpressed.

Fluttershy said nothing, secured the drape in place, and flew back to the ground before Rarity could protest yet again. Rarity pursed her lips to the side in defeat, she was clearly out-numbered.

“It’ll do.” Rarity finally said with a sigh. “Next, I’ll have you hang the floral arrangements.”

Fluttershy’s ears dropped, along with her stomach. Just when she finally felt freed from Rarity’s discerning eye, she was thrust back into the thick of it again.

Starlight rolled her eyes and put the finishing touch on the final sculpture. As much as she would have loved to take a step back and reflect on the ice sculpture’s mastery, Starlight instead turned away from it. She was hoping nopony would notice its completion, so she wouldn’t have to be reminded of that final face. However, a pegasus desperate to get out of floral-hanging duty, was only too pleased to offer up a compliment.

“It’s lovely…” Fluttershy said with an encouraging smile. She trailed off a little when she too saw the fourteenth face. Seeing that confident, unbridled joy on that frozen, lifeless face, was too much for her delicate sensibilities. She could do nothing but suffer the impact of the tidal wave of grief.

“I… I miss her.”

Fluttershy’s statement hung in the air like a dead weight. Rarity, Twilight, and Starlight paused whatever they were doing to linger in that awkward silence, while they simultaneously stared at the ice. Unlike Starlight’s bitterness, or Fluttershy’s grief, Twilight was grappling with deep-seeded guilt. It may have been several years now since she had seen that pony’s face, but she could never forget their final conversation.

“Applejack, I don’t know what you’re talking about. There was no potion… you worked yourself too hard and it caused a mental break.”

Twilight could only speculate how painful those words, those lies, must have been to the former Element of Honesty. When she reflected on that day, she still wasn’t sure what compelled her to leave her former best friend in such a callous way. On better nights, she could justify her actions by remembering how important friendship is for other ponies in Equestria to embrace. Even if she, the Princess of Friendship, had failed her friend, she could still turn it into a lesson. She impressed upon others the importance of what she had learned, and hoped that would be enough to prevent something like this from ever happening again. If she was found culpable, it would create a lasting and damaging effect to the ideals she was supposed to uphold. Even so, the profound, painful grip of remorse would never truly let her forget that it was her choice to leave Applejack the way she did. So, Twilight resigned herself to an unspoken atonement, and guard over Ponyville like an immortal sentry. She took the role so seriously, in fact, that she turned down her former teacher’s request to rule all of Equestria, and allow the royal sisters to retire.

The silence in the throne room had now lingered for too long, but no pony was willing to be the first to break it. Luckily, the double doors across the way burst open and ended the silence for them. A bright pink earth pony paraded into the room. She triumphantly pushed a large dessert cart into view.

“I’m BAAAAACK!” Pinkie Pie called out joyously with a voice so powerful it could have alerted the entire castle. She hurriedly pushed the cart towards the others to show off the various cupcakes, pies, custards, pastries, and the elaborate four-tiered cake that she had prepared in the castle’s kitchens.

“Oh, my. You made… more?” Fluttershy asked nervously, her eyes beholding the trove of sugary delights with more horror than appreciation.

“I don’t know how many ponies are coming to the party, and I want EVERY pony to try as many different desserts as they’d like!” Pinkie answered swiftly, blissfully unaware of Fluttershy’s skepticism.

“There are only so many ponies in Ponyville.” Starlight said pointedly. She glowered at the ever-growing mountain of desserts.

“True, but that doesn’t count the ponies of Canterlot, Cloudsdale, the Crystal Empire, Trottingham, Hoofington, Appaloosa…”

“Wait, what?” Twilight interjected, finally resting her quill to join the conversation.

“I’m just so superly duper-rifically nervous-ited for the party, I sent scrolls EVERYWHERE! This year’s celebration will be SO BIG that all of Equestria will commen-ce-crate with us!I Rememberate? Come-member-ate? I can never remember what it’s called.” Pinkie giggled, then quickly added. “So get those taste testers, tester-ready! It’s time for the next course of creamy, dreamy cupcakes!”

There was a collective churn of stomachs in the room at the mention of trying Pinkie’s desserts. She had started baking three days ago, and hadn’t stopped. It wouldn’t have been so unbearable if she wasn’t so insistent on her friends trying and approving each new batch. Everypony was well beyond their tolerance of concentrated sugar.

“I have every flavor you could possibly think of! Strawberry, raspberry, boysenberry, bumbleberry, banana, orange, BLUE, and--” Pinkie stopped mid rapid-ramble, and her demeanor instantly dropped. She’d unintentionally told a lie, just then, by declaring that she had made every flavor. There was one flavor she had purposefully left out, a flavor and ingredient she would never use again. Ponies had asked her periodically why she no longer baked apple desserts, but she would simply state that apples reminded her too much of sadness, and the subject would be dropped immediately.

Once again, the silence hung in the air, but this time was cut short by the sound of a speedy pegasus zipping through the open doors and completing the circle of friends.

“Sorry I’m late! We’re planning, or decorating, or something now, right?” Rainbow Dash asked, hovering over her throne chair around the circular table. Rarity scrunched up her face in disapproval.

“The rest of us certainly have been. We’ve been here since dawn, and still have so far to go! This is only the tenth tapestry, you know. I’ll have to stay up all night to finish the rest! What could POSSIBLY have been more important than this, hmm?” Rarity snapped.

“Me and the Wonderbolts--”

“The Wonderbolts and I.” Twilight immediately corrected.

“Whatever. We were practicing the routine we’re gonna perform tomorrow, and I wanted to make sure it was just right! And then, well, Spitfire made a comment about how I was going to tire myself out, and I said that even with all the practice, I could STILL whoop her ass in a race… and it sort of turned into me racing all the wonderbolts to prove a point.” Rainbow admitted with a guilty smile.

“My animals haven’t been fed all day! We really could have used your help.” Fluttershy interjected in exasperation, and Rainbow was surprised to see her, of all ponies, aggravated at her absence. She knew it must be serious if Fluttershy was frustrated.

“I-I’m sorry! I’m here now though, and I’m still not too tired to help! Here, I’ll hang these.” Rainbow said, gathering some of the bouquets on the ground and zooming around the room. Rarity’s eyes widened in horror, she trusted Rainbow Dash the least to hang her floral arrangements just right. She tried to protest, but Twilight spoke first.

“That’ll save us some time. Since Pinkie Pie apparently invited all of Equestria, we have to get these tasks done as quickly as possible. I’ve divided our duties into separate lists.” Twilight said, horrifying the bunch by levitating long scrolls of checklisted items to each of her friends.

”If we get started now, we should finish about an hour before the celebration begins.”

“Sure wish a certain little assistant was around to help us.” Rarity grumbled bitterly while eyeing her task list. “But, I suppose one does have to leave the nest eventually and forge a path all their own.”

“Don’t worry, Rarity! EVERYPONY is invited, and we can catch up all day tomorrow!” Pinkie exclaimed happily, rolling the checklist and depositing it into her mane as if to glean the information on the scroll through osmosis.

“But, first, we’ve got work to do.” Starlight asserted. A collective sound of sighing around the room was followed by various admissions of agreement. It was going to be a long night.

~*~

The hours ticked by, and eventually, Twilight Sparkle found herself hunched over a desk in her bedroom. Her eyes were transfixed on a specific scroll laid out in front of her, while a quill, held aloft in magic, waited for its next cue. Twilight broke a moment of long, unblinking concentration, when the candle she had ignited to write by, snuffed itself out: its wax spent. She ignited a new candle and sighed, crumpling the parchment in her magic and tossing it aside with the other discarded failures. Twilight peered at the task list she had meticulously written for herself, but the nagging feeling in her stomach prevented her from moving past the little check box labeled: ‘Write the hostess speech to start the memorial’. She knew that it had to be just right. Somehow, she had to convey that it was okay to celebrate the life of their loved ones, and still feel sorrow for their absence. She needed everypony to feel safe, secure, and protected by their princess. She also needed to stress the importance of friendship, during trying times like these; and that was the part tripping her up the most.

Just as Twilight pulled a new, clean scroll from her desk drawer to start again, she heard frantic hooves pounding against the stone floor. The sound was growing increasingly louder as they approached from down the hall. Typically, Starlight Glimmer would graciously knock before interrupting her mentor, but there was no hesitation now as she burst through the bedroom doors. Twilight saw the terrified look on Starlight’s face and whirled around to face her. Aside from panic, the only thing Twilight noted out-of-place was a scroll held too-tightly in Starlight’s magic, hovering nearby.

“Starlight? What’s--”

Starlight didn’t answer, but magicked the scroll to the princess so hastily it almost collided into her face. Twilight dodged the throw, taking the scroll from Starlight’s magic into her own, before scanning the semi-crumpled urgent message. As she read, reality refused to sink in. Only a few key words and phrases stuck out in the alicorn’s mind: “escaped”, “a struggle”, and “The canterlot guards can’t recall the past few days.” She was living in a waking nightmare, and each word she read pulled her deeper into a soul-shattering terror. Twilight re-read the scroll once, then twice again in silent panic, while a distressed Starlight waited on baited breath for what to do next. When the princess didn’t pull her darting eyes away, or speak, Starlight finally interjected.

“If it’s been days,” Starlight said in a hushed, frightened tone, “She could be in Ponyville by now.”

Twilight glanced up at Starlight with pin-prick pupils. Despite the bile rising in her throat, she forced herself to remain calm, and take back control of the situation before her own fears and guilt incapacitated her completely.

“We need to get word to the girls, they’re the only ones who know that Applejack is still alive and--”

Twilight stopped abruptly when she and Starlight both heard rustling from above. The sound was muffled, but both mares' minds spiraled with all the possibilities: Was it a window opening? Was it hoofsteps? Was it something knocked over in haste? Neither of them could be sure, but both feared the worst.

“I’ll check it out.” Starlight said, vanishing before Twilight could respond.

Twilight’s heart was racing and beads of sweat formed on her brow. How could this be possible? How could Applejack escape? Perhaps Applejack’s story softened the heart of one of the guards, and he helped her escape? But even if she had escaped Canterlot’s prison, where would she go? What would she do? How would she react to seeing her friends again? How would she react to seeing Twilight again?

Twilight’s heart was so fast and loud now, that she felt as though she were trapped in the belly of a great drum. She realized she had been uselessly pacing for an unknown amount of time, just trying to grapple with the cascading horrified thoughts of what was to come. Blinking a few times, she forced her hooves into action, praying that she could devise some kind of plan to fix this egregious mistake. Twilight learned long ago never to underestimate what Applejack was capable of, and knew she would need specific supplies before she began the hunt. She raced to the far side of the bedroom, and ignited her horn. She had to ignore the hiccup lapses of magic, from sheer anxiety, to find a specific stone in the wall behind her bed. The stone pressed deeper into the wall with magic, as the bed began to rumble. Slowly, a platform under the bed gave way to a secret set of stone steps, leading to a dark room below. Twilight galloped down the steps, two at a time, as torches along the walls ignited, to shine her way forward. She stopped at the bottom, skidding on her hooves, to a horrifying sight. There, on the ground, lay the remnants of the magical lock that was used to secure her secret laboratory entrance. More terrifying still was the light pouring in from behind the door, slightly ajar.

The unmistakable clatter of glass slamming onto a wooden surface from within sent a new wave of anxiety through Twilight. It ripped through her like a bolt of lightning. She pressed forward, thrusting the door open to see the horrible reality in the flesh.

Applejack. The orange earth pony who had haunted her thoughts, and dreams, for seven long and languishing years, was standing unabashedly amongst a collection of empty potion bottles. Her fur was pale, almost cream-colored from the lack of sunlight. The wounds that once marred her coat had healed into a series of scars, some fresher-looking than others. Her standing gate was still irregular from the bones in her back hooves setting wrong, all those years ago. Deep dark circles lined sunken eyes, and an unmistakable lack of nourishment left the earth pony looking almost skeletal, with fur clasped tightly to a frail frame.

Twilight opened her mouth to speak, but words wouldn’t come. Thoughts wouldn’t solidify. Her body refused to move. How did she get in? Did she use the other passage? What happened to the lock? It was supposed to keep everypony out; to keep her work secret and safe.

“Finally caught me, huh?” Applejack said, her voice was far removed from the happy country-tinged accent that Twilight once knew. Now there was a deep grackle, and a roughness akin to somepony dying of thirst. “Gotta say, thought you’d be here sooner. Suits me just fine, though.”

“Apple…” Twilight breathed, tears welling in her eyes.

“Yup. That dirty little secret you’ve been trying to hide for years. Betcha thought I would’ve faded into obscurity by now, huh?” Applejack said, her tone taunting and cruel. “‘Fraid not.”

Applejack turned away from the stunned princess to clasp another potion bottle by the neck. She didn’t hesitate, tilting her head back as she brought the rim of the bottle to her mouth. The swirling, purple liquid disappeared past her lips, and into her gullet in two deep gulps. With a satisfied exhale, the earth pony mockingly licked her lips for any excess potion that may have lingered there. Twilight didn’t know how it was possible to be even more horrified than before, but seeing that carelessness provoked a panicked outcry.

“No! What are you doing?! You don’t know what that potion does!”

“Huh. Guess I’ll figure that out, won’t I?” Applejack said, her demeanor eerily calm and devoid of concern.

“Why?!” Was all Twilight could add, her brain unable to grasp such behavior, especially from AJ.

“It’s been so long, I can’t remember what it looked like. What color, what consistency. I need it. I need to feel that again.” AJ replied, her tone growing ever darker. “And I ain’t got time to pour over your incessant drivel to find out.”

Applejack motioned to the bookshelf of journals that lined the laboratory walls. Twilight had recorded every potion, and observation of their effects, since her time as a student at Celestia’s school. It was a lifetime of work, and Applejack would have been there for hours.

AJ kept piercing eye contact with Twilight as her hoof slowly reached for yet another unlabeled, and unknown potion bottle. She was able to flick the stopper from the top, and hold it aloft in her hoof, but this time was thwarted by a blast of magic. The magic shattered the glass and caused the earth pony to recoil. Twilight had firmly planted her hooves on the cold stone ground, a renewed sense of focus apparent by her horrified and worried expression.

“You’re looking for the sleepless potion? That’s what started this mess! It’s why you’ve been locked away, why you killed all those ponies! Why, in Equestria, would you think I would keep that!?” Twilight demanded, tears staining her cheeks as her guilt roared itself to the forefront of her mind.

“You? Throw out a chance to study something? I may be out of touch, but I ain’t stupid.” Applejack snarled, casually brushing the pieces of shattered vial from her fur.

“You… you’ve consumed ALL of those?” Twilight gaped in horror, her eyes finally beholding the graveyard of discarded bottles, beakers, and vials around her laboratory. She stuttered in disbelief. “B-but… not all of my potions are for ponies! There are SEVERAL that can’t be ingested!”

“Guess you better hope these kill me then, huh? Dangerous to combine so much magic… I can only imagine the hell I’m in for if I drink the wrong ones. Not that it matters. I suppose death’s another way out of this hell you’ve saddled me with.” Applejack answered.

Twilight couldn’t help but shutter at the unemotional way Applejack shirked off her own uncertain doom. Her eyes quickly scanned the potion bottles that remained, but she couldn’t be sure if that one was among them or not.

“Does that make me the experimenter… or the experiment?” AJ asked rhetorically as she reached for yet another potion bottle. Twilight didn’t hesitate, focusing her magical blast at the next potion to stop her. This time, however, Applejack was able to move quickly to the side and avoid the stream of magic. One second she was standing a few feet from the princess, and another she was across the room, bracing herself against the wall. Twilight’s magic had landed on a bookshelf, destroying some of her journals. Singed pages fluttered about the room. Both ponies were initially stunned at Applejack’s new-found agility, but AJ’s surprise melted into an eerie delight.

“Hah! Super speed? That’s awful handy! You’ve been holdin’ out, Twi. What would Rainbow say if she knew you had something like this, all along?”

“Drop it!” Twilight screamed, her voice cracking as she ignited her horn again, her crosshairs on Applejack’s new position.

“If you say so.” Applejack answered with a shrug, taking the potion in her hoof and smashing it against the floor.

POOF

A great plume of green smoke overtook the room instantly, and Twilight reared back, inhaling the gaseous byproduct with a gasp. The immediate burning sensation in her nostrils started a wave of guttural coughing, so loud that she almost missed what Applejack said next.

“Heightened vision, too? Twilight fuckin’ Sparkle, you’ve outdone yerself.”

Twilight gritted her teeth, and tried suppressing the burning in her throat, to find the earth pony through the haze. She ignited her horn, but the light was useless against the thick green fog that lingered. To the left, Twilight heard the sound of glass sliding into AJ’s hoof. Despite the limited visibility, it seemed that AJ was STILL going to down as much potion as she could find. Twilight knew she had to take action, and that it was better to stop Applejack than try to salvage her work. So, deeply chagrined, Twilight blasted magic in that direction, wincing at the sound of her precious equipment exploding on impact.

Applejack laughed in response, clearly unharmed. Her voice was now coming from the right side of the room. Twilight whirled around again, desperate to stop her. It became very apparent that AJ was enjoying her new speed, and sight, as her voice bounced from one side of the room to the other.

“What’s wrong? Having trouble aiming? Now why’d you go and shoot over there… Are you blind AND dumb?” Applejack continued on, unscathed and unceasing.

Twilight was on auto-pilot now, striking every direction she could with a singular stream of magic. The lab became a magical frenzy as potions, books, machinery, and equipment exploded in disarray. Still, the princess knew she couldn’t react; she couldn’t afford to lose her concentration. However, the longer Twilight struggled, the more confident Applejack became. AJ delighted in adding to the chaos by smashing more potions on the unforgiving stone floor. They each created new plumes of colorful smoke, that consumed the room to keep her concealed.

“Stop!” Twilight screamed out in a fit of coughing, collapsing to the floor for the hope of some shred of fresh air that lingered there. Her magic was only making things worse, and the swirling colors of the room were so thick, it looked as though she could grasp the very air in her hooves.

Twilight shakily and slowly pulled herself up again. She’d given up the hope of finding a clean breath, and did the only thing her brain could think of: chase Applejack on hoof. In her clumsy, desperate pursuit, she ran into just about every piece of furniture that still remained in the laboratory. Unseen objects nicked her fur, her mane and tail would occasionally catch on some kind of hanging debris, and little shards of broken potion bottles bit into her hooves. No matter where she turned, AJ seemed one step ahead, taunting and laughing at her frenzied flails.

“You couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn! Gotta be quicker than that, Twi. Gonna let me get away? Awww yer not even tryin’. Ya gotta WANT it! That secret of yours is comin’ out tonight! What’ll Ponyville think?”

Eventually, Twilight heard Applejack’s hoofsteps rapidly ascending the stone stairs towards the bedroom. Applejack was escaping again, and Twilight was no closer to finding her, than she was the door leading out. Panicked, she raced forward, her hooves colliding into a wooden table that had previously avoided the carnage. The splintered pieces raked across the flesh of her torso and forelegs as she fell. The impact of the fall disoriented Twilight, and the smoke inhalation was causing an unparalleled dizziness. Her ears were ringing loudly, but through its shrill scream, she still heard another beaker burst. Liquid splashed on her front hooves, but the sensation turned from wet and cold, to sharp and scorching in mere seconds.Twilight cried out in pain when she heard the sizzle, and felt the burn of acid eating into her flesh.

Still, she couldn’t stop now. Nothing else mattered but getting to, and stopping, Applejack. Not only were ponies in danger, but her secret shame would be laid bare for all the world to see. What horrible consequences would follow? How many more ponies had to die before Twilight would succumb to the reality that Applejack was beyond saving, in any capacity?

As Twilight struggled to find her bearings again, a scream from above pierced through the mist. It was a horrifying scream of terror that snapped Twilight out of flight response, and into fight response. With renewed focus, she teleported herself from the mess below, her horn still hiccuping with unstable magic. She tried to trace the origin of the sound, and appeared just outside of Starlight Glimmer’s room.

“Starlight! It’s Applejack! She’s in the castle!” Twilight screamed out, pulling the handle on the door, only to find it wouldn’t budge.

Another scream, this time in defiance, came from within. Twilight slammed her body against the door, hoping it would give way, but it remained firm.

“Starlight! Let me in!” Twilight shouted, pleading with the mare who she could clearly hear tussling with somepony else from within. When more slams to the door didn’t give way, she backed off and blasted it with magic. However, her spell instantly deflected, as if it met an invisible, magical shield. It ricocheted and whizzed over Twilight’s head, colliding into one of the castle pillars behind her. Twilight jumped aside when the pillar collapsed into a pile of gemstone-textured debris.

“Replace me, do ya?!”

Twilight heard Applejack’s voice behind the door and she grew more desperate. The crumbling pillar beside her gave her a frantic, but potentially helpful idea. She shifted her focus from the door, to the wall beside it. Twilight’s horn steadily grew with light and magic, as she gathered all the strength she had for this singular spell. When she released it, the magical collision roared through the hallway as stone crumbled, and dust billowed. The hole it created in the wall was barely large enough to fit her frame, but Twilight pressed forward. She sucked in a deep breath and squeezed, contorted, and pushed herself through the wall. The dust hadn’t settled, so Twilight had to squint through yet another haze to find both Applejack and Starlight Glimmer. It was then that Twilight’s eyes fell on a gruesome sight.

“STARLIGHT!”

The unicorn mare was laying on the opposite side of the room, near the ruins of what were once her belongings. As the dust from the explosion slowly settled, some of the destruction in the room came into view. The bed was in pieces, feathers from the pillows still adrift in the air, mixing with the dust from the explosion. The armoire was nearly unrecognizable, all that remained were sharp splinters of wood and strewn about clothing. The mirror that once stood atop a vanity table was smashed into tens of thousands of pieces that were scattered about the room in disarray. Clothing, tapestries, childhood memorabilia: eviscerated. Then there was Starlight herself, who was in a similar state of upheaval. Her skin was marred with fresh injuries, the red soaked through her fur so thoroughly that wounds were indistinguishable from one to another. A bone in her back hoof was jutting backwards, disconnected from its place. But, most notably horrific of all, was a cascade of blood oozing through hooves that clung desperately to a severed jugular.

“Wh-why?” Starlight asked, her breath caught in her throat. She was looking up at something that had been hidden in the haze. Twilight blinked a few times, to bring her eyes fully into focus in the dim light, and found Applejack looming over Starlight. There was a strange, unnatural and unnerving smile on the earth pony’s face, looking pleased with herself for ridding the world of her so-called replacement.

It was this moment that Applejack was no longer a pony, in Twilight’s eyes, but a demon that needed to be destroyed. Clearly magic was no threat to this evil beast, so Twilight changed tactics, gripping a sharpened shard of mirror in her magic and leaping towards Applejack with a frenzied cry. Surely the weapon would instill some fear, and at the very least, draw AJ away from Starlight.

Much to Twilight’s surprise, her plan worked. Applejack’s face contorted to that of surprise, maybe even shock, and she didn’t stick around long enough to see if the alicorn could bring herself to murder a pony in cold blood. She whizzed past Twilight so quickly, it seemed as though she was flying. In less time than it took for a pony to blink, Applejack leapt out of the hole the princess had just made in the wall, and disappeared without a trace. Twilight could do nothing but stare after her, her magic finally failing as the shard of glass clattered to the ground. She knew the severe consequences that would soon follow if she didn’t pursue her, but Twilight’s mind wouldn’t detach itself from the need to save her friend.

Starlight. Starlight. Starlight.

Her heart beats were drumming loudly again, echoing Starlight’s name over and over as she allowed insanity to creep into her reality.

“T-twi-i…light?” Starlight stammered, each syllable uttered only strengthening the waterfall of life drenching the mare’s fur, and pooling beneath her.

Twilight cried out unintelligibly, collapsing on the floor beside her friend. She wanted to hold her, to ease the pain, to promise she’d be okay, to make it stop… but it would only delay the inevitable. Starlight’s gasping and gagging was fading, and Twilight could do nothing but watch as Starlight clung to her last shred of life.

“Please, please don’t go. Please don’t leave me!” Twilight managed through garbled cries. She watched Starlight’s face change from fear, to confusion, and finally to sorrow. Twilight knew she should have said something, offer up some kind of solace or peace, but words wouldn’t come. Instead, she helplessly kept her gaze locked on Starlight’s as seconds slowly passed them by. The princess’s stunned silent grief was the last thing Starlight Glimmer witnessed in this world before slipping away to darkness.

Twilight let out a scream that would echo through every hallway in the castle. She pulled Starlight into her embrace, cradling her body against her chest like a mother coddling a child. Twilight was consumed in grief, letting no other emotion take precedence despite the severity of the situation around her. She didn’t have long to dwell in it, however, when she felt a large, heavy object slam into the back of her head, and the alicorn collapsed onto the floor.

Room for one more, Fluttershy? [Part 2 Scene 2]

BANG BANG BANG

The sound of a very hungry bear’s bowl colliding with the floor, repeatedly, was grating on Fluttershy’s last nerve. However, he was not the only protester in the little cottage on the outskirts of Ponyville. More than a dozen of Fluttershy’s animal friends were squeaking, shrieking, screaming, or roaring defiantly to be fed. She knew her animals would have been hungry after she’d dedicated all of her time to helping her friends, but they were far more unforgiving than she would have thought.

“Alright! Alright…” Fluttershy said in exasperation as she headed towards the cupboard in the kitchen where she kept nuts and berries. She held a small brass key in her hoof and placed it into the lock on the cupboard, turning it to the side to allow her access. She hated the idea of locking food from her animal friends, but what else could she do? Angel, and some of the other forest creatures, would often attempt to raid her stash of food, and gorge themselves until they were sick. This left nothing behind for any creature else.

“I’ve fed you three times already since I’ve come home, I don’t know why you’re all acting like you’re starving to death.”

The animals didn’t respond, snatching the portions of food she’d pulled out of the cupboard, before she could even lower her hooves. Fluttershy sighed in a mixture of annoyance and relief, seeing her ravenous animals quiet at last as they satiated their hunger. She knew they were all very capable of hunting and gathering food for themselves, but they refused. She wondered, regretfully, if they had relied on her for too long, and lost the ability to do so. She turned back to the cupboard, locked it, then made her retreat from the over-crowded kitchen.

Fluttershy’s hooves felt heavier than she remembered them being. She poured over the day’s events in her head, wondering how it could have dampened her spirits so significantly. She knew Rarity had an issue with perfectionism, yet her constant ‘requests’ for slight changes had whittled down Fluttershy's resolve. Twilight certainly didn’t help with her long list of tasks, which only a small fraction Fluttershy would deem important. She found herself with a pang of bitterness too, at Rainbow Dash’s sudden appearance at the end of the evening. Fluttershy had worked so hard, for so long, just to have Rainbow casually show up and decorate twice as much in 10 minutes, than she had in 5 hours. If only she could stand up to Rarity. If only she could rationalize with Twilight's demands. If only she could turn away Pinkie’s stomach-churning desserts. If only she could avoid the waves of guilt and pain she felt seeing that ice sculpture of Applejack. If only.

Fluttershy’s thoughts were far more negatively charged than she would have liked, and it gave her pause.

“I think I’m just exhausted.” Fluttershy muttered aloud to herself, dragging those tired and near-useless hooves towards her bedroom. However, before she could take a single step inside the doorframe, Fluttershy’s ear swiveled around to an unfamiliar sound: slow, drawn-out hoofsteps. She wasn’t sure why, but the sound instantly filled her with fear. Fluttershy snapped her head to look behind her, but found nothing.

Fluttershy shook her head and pressed a forehoof to her temple. She massaged the skin to try and calm herself, but found little relief. She went to move again, and the hoofsteps returned, louder this time. She was sure she hadn’t made it up in her delusion, so Fluttershy briskly walked back down the hallway towards her living room.

“Hello?” She called out, hoping no pony would answer.

“Whatcha been doin’ to them animals, Fluttershy? I ain’t never seen a more frenzied pack of wild vermin.”

Fluttershy’s fears roared to the forefront of her mind when she came face-to-face with the only mare who had ever broken her spirit, and faith, in ponykind. Though her face was obscured, the familiar orange hue, apple cutie mark, worn stetson, and gathered blonde mane and tail were unmistakable. Nevertheless, she didn’t linger too long on Applejack’s overall appearance, but looked instead to the sharpened blade atop a thick shaft held firmly in her grasp. It only dawned on her when she saw the stains of old dirt, that this was once a shovel. Now, though, it resembled much more of a weapon.

“Eep!”

Fluttershy’s wings flared and she soared to the ceiling of her living room to put as much distance between herself and Applejack as possible.

“Ya never were one to mince words, were ya?” Applejack added with a dry, coy chuckle.

“H-how did you… WHERE did you come from?” Fluttershy demanded in a meek voice that wouldn’t have intimidated a flea.

“That’s not the right question to ask, Fluttershy.” Applejack said, calmly wiping the end of the shovel with a handkerchief like a chef cleaning a knife before carving into meat.

“W-what?”

“What ya should be askin’, is what I’m gonna do while I’m here.” Applejack added, tilting her head towards the ceiling and locking eyes with Fluttershy for the first time. Fluttershy’s pupils shrank in horror when she saw the eerie, unholy red glow of AJ’s irises. It was so prominent, a crimson illumination tinted the rest of her face, making her smile all the more terrifying.

“What HAPPENED TO YOU!?” Fluttershy screamed, pressing herself into the farthest corner of the ceiling, praying that AJ wouldn’t make a move in her direction.

“Oh, I’ve got all KINDS of new tricks. Wanna see?”

Fluttershy didn’t reply. She could tell by Applejack’s intonation that whatever she would have shown her, would have been a terrifying sight. Instead, Fluttershy darted from the room to the kitchen. She knew better than to waste time trying to appeal to somepony who was obviously gripped by terrible, dark magic.

Fluttershy’s first priority was the same one she’d had most her life: saving the animals. She was almost surprised to find them all still busily chomping their third dinner, despite the unwelcome visitor only a room away.

“Go! Go little friends! Get out of here!” Fluttershy screamed, gesturing her hooves wildly while checking over her shoulder for Applejack. Only some of the animals looked up at Fluttershy when she shouted at them, and even the ones that did, eventually turned a cold cheek to resume feeding. Fluttershy didn’t have time to calmly explain why it was so dangerous for them to stay in her cottage. She had to act fast, and efficiently. Fluttershy scooped up a pair of chipmunks and flew to the window, gently tossing them onto the tree branch outside. They rolled into each other in confusion, before getting up, and shaking their fists angrily. Fluttershy was getting an earful of their squeaky objections.

“Run! Now!” Fluttershy hollered back at them, before scooping up the next group of critters and pushing them out of the doggie door. She moved faster than she had ever moved before, determined to save them from some unknown fate. Harry, the bear, was the last one she had to move, and he was far too large to move on her own. Despite her pleas in desperation, he refused to budge. With no other options, Fluttershy sucked in a breath and bore her stare down upon him with no mercy. Harry stared blankly, slack-jawed, before scrambling to leave the kitchen through the door, where many of her other animals were attempting to sneak back in. Unfortunately for them, they were steamrolled by a retreating bear instead. Fluttershy immediately slammed, and locked the door. She pressed her body against it, and squeezed her eyes shut in fear.

“There you go again. Putting the lives of pests and vermin above pony folk. Guess it was too much to ask to keep faith with your friends, when it’s them animals you really give a damn about.” Applejack said, walking slowly and calmly towards the kitchen. The shovel in her grasp was dragging across the wooden floorboards, and the scrape of metal felt like it was carving into the inside of her skull.

Fluttershy ventured a look at the mare again, and the red glow seemed only to brighten the longer she stared. Eventually, Applejack stood between Fluttershy and her way out; the pegasus knew she was trapped. She closed her eyes again, silently vowing she wouldn’t dare look a third time into those deep, horrifying, red irises.

“Then again, you’re swayed one way or the other by any pony with an opinion, ain’t ya? I don’t even know if there’s a single thought in that empty head of yours that is truly your own. You know who takes orders and does what they're told without question? Critters. That’s all you are, huh? An over-sized, dumb critter.”

Fluttershy’s eyes brimmed with tears. She’d been called many horrible things over the years, but this one especially hurt. Did other ponies see her this way? How exactly WAS she different from just another blindly loyal pet? Fluttershy’s careening thoughts were interrupted when the animals on the other side of the door slammed themselves into it defiantly. They were screaming, chirping, chittering, and demanding to be let back in. How was she going to convey what was happening? Was there even any danger? All Applejack had done was berate her... But those eyes, those glowing ungodly orbs; Fluttershy was sure they could only mean danger. She braced herself against the door as best as she was able, withstanding the repeated blows from her misguided animal friends.

“Wanna know the thing about critters, Fluttershy?”

Fluttershy’s eyes were still squeezed as tightly shut as she could get them, but she could tell Applejack was getting closer. Still, she didn’t respond. What would have been the point? If somepony wanted to frighten, berate, and debase her, there was little she could do to stop it. Fluttershy could hear the shovel scraping closer and closer, as her whimpers swallowed her screams. When the sound stopped, Fluttershy held her breath, willing her body to come to a complete stand-still as if it would somehow shield her from what was to come. She felt a hot breath of air on her snout, and could smell a horrendous unknown stench that followed. The shovel moved again, this time it sounded like it was being held aloft. In a voice no louder than a whisper, Fluttershy heard the words:

“It ain’t a crime to kill a critter.”

Fluttershy’s eyes snapped open and she screamed, darting away from the shovel poised above her. She wanted to make a break for the front door, but she caught sight of Angel bunny in the corner of her eye. She gasped, and lunged towards him fearfully, the pair tumbling across the kitchen to land under the table, and against the wall. It knocked the wind out of Fluttershy, keeping her disoriented and slumped to the floor. Once she’d taken a few deep breaths, she twisted her body to the side, just as a soft whirring zipped past her ears. Before she could see what it was, she heard the thud of Angel bunny next to her.

“NO!” Fluttershy screamed, seeing that the weaponized shovel had effortlessly sliced through her beloved pet’s flesh, splaying him out before her. She turned away immediately, puking violently on the floor amidst a cascade of tears. Her sobs were loud, but they didn’t completely drown out the sound of Applejack simply, and stoically, opening the door to the animals waiting outside. The sound of the handle clicking and the old hinges squeaking, was enough to snap Fluttershy out of her grief. She sucked in a frightened gasp. Her animals! She had to save them, so she clambered her way out from under the table in a frenzy.

Fluttershy was so convinced that Applejack was going on an animal killing spree, that what she actually saw, momentarily, stunned her into place. AJ wasn’t attacking the animals at all. Her hoof was gingerly cupped to Harry’s ear, and she whispered something Fluttershy couldn’t catch from her distance away. Fluttershy didn’t understand what she was seeing; Harry was calmly staring straight ahead with a glint of recognition and understanding in his eyes. Her breath caught in her throat when AJ’s gaze moved to lock on hers. Even so, Applejack didn’t stop whispering to Harry. But… this wasn’t logical. It just didn’t make sense. Applejack couldn’t speak to animals…

‘Unless… that glow… it IS dark magic!’

Fluttershy’s gaze detached from AJ’s long enough to see Harry’s new pair of glowing red eyes. Something deep inside Fluttershy was awoken the second she beheld his new, unnerving, and evil, illuminated face. It was like an erupting volcano, red-hot anger that had been kept dormant for too long finally unleashed. A few dark whispers from Applejack was all it took? Mere words and her animals could be swayed? Just like Fluttershy when her friends told her to feel one way or another, they’d just succumbed. Pushovers, all of them. Useless, mindless animals with no real capacity to make their own decisions, or come to their own conclusions.

The pieces were slowly falling into place. Applejack wasn’t going to get her own hooves dirty. She had something far darker in mind for the pegasus and her demise. Fluttershy took one final look at Angel’s mangled, soulless body, then let out a guttural scream that could have shaken the cottage’s foundation with its magnitude.

Harry roared defiantly back at Fluttershy as the pair raced towards each other. Fluttershy’s mind was in a frenzy, no clear thought could penetrate the anger radiating from the tips of her wings to the base of her hooves. She had always been grossly underestimated when it came to speed, agility, and strength. She used that to her advantage now as she zipped around Harry, landing blows to his torso and head as he swung wildly at her. His claws were bared, and he was able to get a good swipe of Fluttershy’s left flank in the struggle. She screamed out in pain, glancing to see the damage, and only finding a dark representation of how she felt. He’d sliced into her cutiemark, marring it with blood. It was soon soaked through, invisible from the spreading crimson. Animals don’t have cutie marks anyways.

“Animals kill other animals all the time! Survival of the fittest, Fluttershy!” Applejack called out from somewhere within the cottage, following it up with fiendish laughter.

Other animals started to enter the fray, their glowing red eyes unforgiving as they bore down on the mare they had once viewed as a saint, and a mother. A final pang in Fluttershy’s heart echoed through her chest at the sight of her animals turning on her as they did. But these weren’t her animals anymore, Applejack had seen to that. Fluttershy couldn’t comprehend how she had the capacity to meet each of their blows with one of her own. Her thoughts, her feelings, her pain; all pushed out of mind for the will to live. Even through the screeching of birds, screams from forest critters, and roars from Harry, Fluttershy could hear Applejack’s whispers. More and more of her friends were turning on her, intent on the kill. Fluttershy kicked and swatted the smaller creatures away from her as she focused on Harry. His attacks were the most volatile, after all. Applejack’s laughter grew more thunderous and reverberated with each animal Fluttershy had to fight away. Finally, Fluttershy wrapped her hooves around Harry’s neck and pulled hard. The sickening snap was jarring enough for the other attacking animals to silence themselves temporarily. Harry made a soft grunt, like the last gust of air leaving his lungs, as he collapsed hard onto the ground.

Reality was slow to set in, creeping up inside Fluttershy with each swift heartbeat. She had done the unthinkable. The remaining animals looked upon her with the same fear she had shown Applejack minutes earlier. Fluttershy saw reflected in their glowing eyes a tiny glimmer of their old selves, stuck in shock. It was Applejack’s voice coming from behind her that finally broke the silence. It was not to Fluttershy that she spoke, but to the animals she had corrupted.

“Finish her.”

The words, sickly sweet and sinister, erased any hope Fluttershy had to leave her cottage without more death by her hooves. She gave into her outpouring of rage, induced by heartache, as the sweet cottage on the hill turned into a house of horrors.

Lose Somethin' Rares? [Part 3 Scene 1]

Luna’s moon shone directly overhead as a strong autumn wind beat mercilessly against Carousel Boutique. The gusts were powerful, and eventually worked their way through small cracks between a window and its sill. Rarity jumped, and gasped out in surprise, when the pane gave way and opened to the roaring wind outside. She steadied her breath and trotted to the window to firmly press it back into frame. A voice called out from a room above the boutique, and carried down to the nearly empty shop below.

“What was that?” The voice said, notably annoyed at being bothered at such a late hour.

Rarity looked up at the staircase with chagrin.

“Just the wind, Sweetie. You can go back to sleep.” Rarity called to her sister, but received no reply. She bitterly wished she could be like Sweetie Belle right now: warm in bed and drifting off to a contented sleep. But Rarity’s tapestries remained unfinished, so she could not afford such a luxury. Instead, Rarity clung to the anticipation of a soft pillow, and a proud sense of accomplishment. She just hoped Luna’s moon would still be in the sky by the time it became a reality.

With the wind muted, the boutique’s ambience quieted to the soft hum of a sewing machine, and rustles of fabric fed into it with precision. The 13th, and most elaborate tapestry to date, was nearing its completion. Rarity hoped it and the many other tapestries she had created, would remain hung in the castle, or perhaps town hall, long after Commemoration’s conclusion. After all, these weren’t silly ice sculptures, or party decorations to be cast aside at the end of the night. These were intricate pieces of art that Ponyville could embrace year-round.

At last, the sewing machine stopped on its final stitch. Rarity carefully pulled the tapestry free from the machine, cut the excess thread, and held it aloft in her magic. She remained stone silent as she stared at the silhouetted depiction of the stallion it bore. The drive and determination to complete her task was pushed aside for darker, unwelcome thoughts. She was familiar with these thoughts and memories, and chagrined that they assaulted her mind now when time was a crucial factor. But like the flow and ebb of waves crashing into a shore, there was no stopping their occasional flooding of her consciousness. It was always the same memories, played out like a picture show, incessantly reminding her of the night that changed everything. A night seven years prior. A night whose secrets she would keep until her dying breath.

That night began with such hope and confidence in Rarity. After weeks of study and preparation, Twilight was finally ready with ‘a cure’. No longer would Rarity have to hear about the massacres found in that once thriving apple orchard, or about the monster that lingered there. A monster that only Twilight and her friends knew to be Applejack. They all gathered at the outskirts of Sweet Apple Acres, and each were given a small syringe of that mysterious remedy. Rarity recalled clutching the syringe tightly in her hoof, and feeling an odd reassurance of safety and hope. Her friends all felt varying degrees of anger, fear, and betrayal, but Rarity felt conviction. If this was the cure, it meant that the fault did not lie with the pony, but with the potion. Applejack, the real Applejack, would never allow such monstrosities to occur. To Rarity, she was the unwilling and unlucky vessel for dark magic to corrupt and possess. Applejack would be found, cured, and their lives would resume with normalcy and peace. This was the delusion Rarity chose to embrace.

So, boldly, Rarity ventured out into that cursed orchard. To cover more ground, it had been decided that each friend venture out on their own, though even Rarity felt trepidation at such a prospect. She recalled the eerie silence in those trees, and the uncertain fear that hung in the air. After some time wandering aimlessly, she happened upon a victim yet to be discovered. Their desiccated corpse was shriveled and dried from the intensity of the heat wave Equestria was suffering. Enough time had passed that wildlife had already picked it clean of tissues and organs, leaving only bones and patches of colored fur behind. The shock, and stench of the decay, brought instant tears to Rarity’s eyes. She refused to investigate it further and give an identity to the poor pony victim, but made a mental note instead where to send ponies for the remains on the following day. Rarity swallowed her fear and repulsion, and pressed onward. Soon after, she happened upon a second undiscovered corpse strewn about the orchard in Rarity’s path. Then a third. Seeing the gruesome death first-hoof like this was weakening her resolve, and corroding her sympathies. Rarity’s hope wavered as dimly as the unicorn magic she used to act as her light in the darkness. Still, she forced her hooves to press onward. She knew she was getting close, and was mentally preparing for the shock of what Applejack had become, when she found the fourth butchered pony. At first glance, he was unrecognizable like the others, but a bloodied patch of fur bearing a cutie mark caught Rarity’s eye. She didn’t want to believe it, but her pinprick pupils landed on a torn mustache, and finally a wide and unblinking blue eye whose hue perfectly matched her own. There was no mistaking him now: Hondo Flanks, her father. An overwhelming sensation of a thousand pricks of needles assaulted her skin, and the world around her was swaying off kilter as if she could not find balance. Seeing somepony she loved so brutally annihilated had shattered her resolve, and her mind. Had her legs given out? Had she passed out? Had she even screamed at all? Those memories were lost to her. All she could recall was being frozen in grief, and would remain on the orchard floor until she was discovered hours later in that harsh, hot sunlight.

Rarity never spoke of that night. Not even to Sweetie Belle, whom she learned after the fact, had been in those very trees that same evening.

CRASH!

Rarity screamed out again when the same window she’d closed minutes earlier erupted into a cacophony of shattered glass. The gust of wind that followed blew out the candles that Rarity had lit to sew by. She put a hoof to her chest, to steady her heartbeat, as she ignited her horn with magic to light her way. She walked carefully towards the window to inspect what had happened. However, her hooves came to an abrupt halt when she spotted what laid amongst the glass debris. It was small and old, rusted and weather-worn from exposure to the elements. A long cloudy cylinder held what appeared to be a solidified solution inside. On one end of the cylinder was a broken metallic tip that Rarity knew had once been a long, sharp needle. On the other, a plunger that was now rusted in place and unusable. She fearfully stepped closer, her mind refusing to believe it could be the very syringe she’d carried all those years ago. Before she could brave a chance to pick it up, however, she could hear a voice above the wind outside.

“Lose somethin’?”

That voice. The gruffness and graggle was both familiar, and foreign. Rarity’s eyes shot up to see a figure outside the boutique, shrouded in darkness and the haze of new rainfall. Swallowing back the lump in her throat, Rarity raced to the door of the boutique and pulled it open with her magic. She had every intention to confront the unknown assailant for what had happened to her window, but the rain pitter-pattering on the doorstep gave her pause. Getting wet was notably the least of her problems, but the instinct not to venture into it granted her some precious time to think before she acted. Was an encounter with a potential stranger in the dead of night really an intelligent pursuit? Rarity was rapidly weighing her options when the shrouded figure made their presence known, and walked with a confident stride towards the door. Rarity realized she’d made a mistake, and backed away quickly. She gripped the handle of the door in her magic to slam it shut, but it was too late. The intruder had jutted out their hoof to keep the door open.

“Nuh uh. Can’t run away this time.”

Rarity and the intruder were only a few feet from one another, but the aggressor’s identity remained a mystery. The only lightsource at Rarity’s disposal was her unicorn magic, but its meager blue tint did not offer her many helpful clues for distinction. Rain had flattened whatever style their mane and tail had been in before the storm, so all Rarity could make out was a strange, sopping wet, pony-shaped creature inching ever closer towards her. A small inkling started to build in the back of her mind when she heard that deep, raspy drawl.

“G-Goodness! It’s an absolute down-pour out there. Come inside! You must be drenched!”

Rarity’s years of putting on a professional demeanor for customers was serving her well in this terrifying ordeal. She didn’t know if this pony was dangerous, or if they could be fooled, but she held firm to the facade. She motioned for the pony to come further inside as she forced a smile.

“Let me get you some towels, and perhaps something soothing to drink?” She asked, looking for any excuse to distance herself from this stranger.

“Why’d you let me do that, Rares?”

Rarity’s breath caught in her throat, and her hooves froze in place. Only one pony had ever called her ‘Rares’, the only pony this couldn’t possibly be, and yet...

“Applejack…?” Rarity dared to ask. She brightened her horn’s glow to take in the details before her. An object barely passing for the term ‘hat’ was practically in shreds as it laid limp and wet atop the pony’s matted mess of a mane. The eyes this pony had were sunken into her skull, listless and almost devoid of color. Her skin sagged in places around her eyes that made her appear far older than she was. It didn’t help that the fur itself was paler than the warm orange hue she remembered, like Applejack had been sun bleached. Rarity glanced away from her face to take in the rest of Applejack’s wrinkled, marred fur and hooves. She noted that Applejack’s frame was bulkier in places than she remembered, as if the elapsed time apart had been spent honing the strength that was present in Applejack from the beginning. When she let the terrifying reality finally settle, she returned her eyes to AJ’s to find a piercing gaze that was firm, and bore into Rarity.

“I’m waitin’.” Applejack said, her voice softer now, a whisper, but still stern and unforgiving.

“Let you do… what? I don’t understand.” Rarity admitted, her facade breaking down faster than she would have hoped.

“That night. You and I both know what ya saw.” Applejack said, taking a step closer to Rarity. Rarity stumbled back a few paces. Her heart was pounding so violently she could feel it in her temples.

“I… Applejack I couldn’t… I mean…” Rarity scrambled for words. She did indeed know what Applejack was talking about, but she had denied that thought, that reality, for so long that she convinced herself it wasn’t true.

“I don’t know what I saw!” She lied, her voice growing in hysteria. “I saw MY FATHER, that’s what I saw!”

Applejack cocked her head to the side in confusion like she wasn't expecting that response. She moved again, but pushed past a confused and frightened Rarity, to stand at her work station instead. Applejack reached out with a withered hoof towards the tapestry waiting there, and stroked the fabric depiction of Hondo Flanks.

“So what? You just… gave up on saving me, then?” Applejack said, her voice even softer now with a pang of sorrow.

“No! I… I wanted… I h-had every intention… I was so scared, Applejack! I didn’t know if you caught my gaze or not. I didn’t want to be your next victim rotting in your family’s orchard.” Rarity pleaded. Images assaulted her mind as she was unable to force back the memory. She did see Applejack that night. It was after the discovery of her father’s corpse. She theorized later that she must have found her before Twilight or Rainbow Dash had. She could have spared her friends, and sister, from what was to transpire that night. Instead, Rarity chose to remain frozen on the ground, while AJ slinked back into darkness.

“It weren’t like I was comin’ at ya. If I hadn’t seen ya, you coulda snuck up behind me with… that.” Applejack motioned to the broken glass and the old syringe beneath the window sill. Rain was pouring in from outside, and a clap of thunder roared into the dimly lit room.

Rarity was at a loss for words. She’d had that very thought time and time again, only now it was made real by the pony she failed to cure.

“Did you see what happened to Dash? Twi? What about them youngins’? Scootaloo? Did ya see how it affected yer sister?” Applejack asked. Rarity knew she was dancing around the gut punch, but knew that it was coming. Applejack stared Rarity down, as if she was waiting for Rarity to mention the name of the final pony present at that horrible scene. When Rarity didn’t respond, Applejack’s demeanor instantly changed. She took the tapestry in her bare hooves and tore at the fabric, ripping into it as easily as tearing a piece of parchment.

“No! Applejack PLEASE!” Rarity pleaded again, frantic this time and reaching out for her ruined tapestry.

“What happened, Rares? What happened because YOU didn’t cure me sooner? TELL ME! I WANT TO HEAR YOU SAY IT!” Applejack screamed, but Rarity detected sorrow amidst the rage. Applejack tore into the tapestry again, but Rarity lowered the hoof she’d raised in protest. Guilt had encompassed her, and she no longer had the will to stop AJ from her destruction. Rarity took a couple of steps back, with her ears flat against her head. Eventually, she turned away completely, refusing to watch Applejack make tatters of her father’s likeness.

“Oh. I see. Yer still lyin’ to yerself, ain’t ya? Ya still think yer innocent.”

“No. I’m not innocent. I know what I didn’t do, and what I… what I could have done.” Rarity snapped, bitter defeat in her tone. She’d suppressed this shame for years, but knew eventually she would have to confront it. She just hadn’t expected to do so like this.

“Say her name.”

Rarity looked up in shock to see Applejack standing on the other side of the room, when she hadn’t heard her make a single hoofstep. She whirled back to see the remains of her father’s tapestry before realizing Applejack wasn’t satisfied with just one tapestry.

“Applejack, please… I know you’re angry with me, but you don’t have to do this!”

“SAY. HER. NAME.” Applejack screamed, tearing another tapestry down the center. When she did, Rarity’s all-consuming guilt morphed itself into anger.

“STOP IT!” Rarity screamed, using her magic to rip the tapestry from AJ’s grasp, exacerbating the damage. Applejack continued her destruction while Rarity desperately tried to stop her.

“I’m not the one who took dangerous magic from Twilight! I’m not the one who didn’t heed her warning! I’m not the one who slaughtered pony after pony on my FAMILY’S property! I’m not the one who tried to kill our friends! APPLE BLOOM WASN’T MY FAULT!”

Applejack stopped suddenly at the mention of her sister’s name. After a long pause, she looked up at Rarity with tired, soulless eyes.

“There now. Was that so hard?” Applejack asked listlessly.

The gathered tapestries in Applejack’s hooves were then unceremoniously dropped, and she walked away from their remains. Rarity seized the opportunity and raced to protect them from further harm. She fought back the urge to sob as she gathered weeks of ruined work into her hooves. Silent tears fell onto their shreds, but they weren’t shed for the loss of art. No, these tears were for her returning guilt, unearthed and unyielding.

“Rarity?”

Rarity’s head snapped up the second that Sweetie Belle spoke. Sweetie was standing at the base of the staircase looking from one side of the room to the other, taking in the sight before her. When her eyes fell on Applejack, she screamed in unadulterated fear, and sprinted back up the steps.

Something dark and evil started growing in Applejack’s sinister expression. Rarity didn’t know what it meant, but she knew to be afraid. She tried to scramble to her hooves to stop AJ from whatever she was planning to do next, but was caught up in the tapestries’ tatters.

“Applejack, this is between you and me! You leave Sweetie out of this! I’m guilty, alright? It’s MY fault! Just… leave her alone!” Rarity screamed, her voice cracking as she ignited her horn with magic. She levitated anything within magical reach to hover around her as make-shift weapons, hoping it would be enough to intimidate Applejack. Sewing scissors, pins, bolts of fabric, needles, and even the sewing machine itself hovered around the frightened unicorn as she kept fighting to be freed from the mess of her ruined art.

“You’ll never understand my pain.” Applejack said coldly, her icy gaze falling on the scrambling unicorn without a hint of concern. “I lost mah sister, so maybe you won’t understand until you lose yours.”

A frightfully similar sensation took hold of Rarity at the sound of those words. Those thousand needle pricks, and the nauseating swaying, assaulted her body as it had seven years prior. It was all she could do to remain upright as she watched Applejack ascend the steps after her sister like a bolt of frenzied lightning.

No. Rarity wouldn’t succumb, she couldn’t succumb. She’d left Sweetie Belle in danger once before, and this was her one and only chance to rectify that mistake. With an outcry of fear, Rarity thrust every object she’d held aloft in her magic after the fleeing earth pony. She didn’t wait to see if any of them had had any success before building up her magic for a second blast. The resounding explosion of light and destruction eviscerated the tapestries that held her down. There was no time to feel any regret for the loss, as Sweetie’s Belle’s distant screams urged her forward with single-minded determination. She raced up the steps, two at a time, her tiring magic building for a third blast. She had just reached the doorway to Sweetie Belle’s room, when Applejack opened the door and slammed herself into it. As a result, the door lambasted Rarity with enough force to send her careening down the hallway. Magic sputtered as Rarity screamed out in agony. She roughly collided head-first into an adjacent wall.

Through the cacophony of shrieking dissonant tones, Rarity could have sworn she heard something crack. There was no word for the pain of it all, just a continuous and searing white-hot agony that threatened her consciousness with every passing second. Still, Rarity refused to give into the comfort of darkness. She couldn’t fail her loved ones, not again. Not ever again.

“GUILTY! GUILTY! GUILTY!”

Applejack’s screams were barely audible over Rarity’s pain, but she latched onto them as an anchor in reality. Adrenaline wouldn’t pump through her veins forever, so she had to act now. Then came the sound of Sweetie Belle’s garbled cries. More anchors, this time pulling her to stand again. Her legs shook, each step a renewed tidal wave of needle-pricks with increasing intensity. She kept going. This was a pain she’d wish on nopony, enemy or otherwise, but she refused to relent. Her sight was greatly impaired, and her equilibrium suffered even worse. She fell flat on the ground, darkness encroaching. A single stream of blood flowed from somewhere above her eyes, coloring her vision in crimson before she swiftly wiped it away. Gritting her teeth, she crawled onward, then pushed herself up to her hooves and stumbled forward haltingly. The distance to Sweetie’s room was the most lengthy and languishing journey Rarity had ever experienced.

Finally, the opened door was within reach. As her hoof outstretched for the handle, hoping to steady herself with it, she caught sight of her sewing scissors. They had been part of the ‘weapons’ she’d flung after Applejack, and in a pinch, they would serve her just fine. She attempted to ignite her horn and hold them aloft, but her magic refused to respond. Rarity let out a winded sob, gathering the scissors in hoof. The feeling of the cold, weighty metal in her grasp: it was almost identical to what it had been like that night with the syringe. The past had caught up with her at last, and her greatest mistake was played out before her again with a choice. Rarity’s mind was made up.

With a frenzied cry, Rarity rounded the corner into Sweetie Belle’s room. Applejack was waiting for her there, their hooves colliding together at the same moment as a clap of thunder roared outside. The pair struggled for control of the weapon in the darkness, and Rarity couldn’t help but notice the absence of Sweetie Belle’s voice. She could only hope by the Princess’s grace, that Sweetie was unconscious, but alright. With each agonizing second, Rarity’s strength waned. She was losing the fight, and she knew it. In a fit of hysteria, she pulled away from Applejack, allowing her to keep the sewing scissors. However, Rarity thrust out her hoof when Applejack attempted to take a step. Much to her surprise, AJ’s footing caught hold and it sent the earth pony barreling to the ground. Rarity could only watch in shock through bleary vision as the scissors were propelled out of hoof, and skid in Rarity’s direction.

This hadn’t been the way she wanted it to end. There was so much left unspoken. So much was still unknown. She didn’t even know who she was killing now: a mare, or a monster? But Rarity couldn’t riddle out her morality, she wasn’t giving herself the choice. This was a kill or be killed situation, so she was going to commit. Rarity’s body screamed in pain as she forced herself up on her hind legs, syringe held aloft. No, not syringe, scissors. A weapon. Had she done this years ago with the syringe, she wouldn’t be here now, correcting her mistake with far dire consequences. There was a sickening sensation of falling forward as the blades, and the pony wielding them, thrust downward. Rarity braced herself for the impact with her victim, but the far more frightening surprise was the awkward stab hitting not pony, but floorboard.

Rarity released the scissors as her body rolled to the side, senses screaming. Somehow, Applejack had maneuvered out of the way of the final blow. For the time being, the world was spinning too violently for Rarity to find the right footing to stand, so Applejack had the advantage. As each second passed, dread built in the unicorn’s veins. She could only will her body on for so long before it would refuse to respond, and she was dancing around that last shred of consciousness. Somewhere in her stupor, Rarity’s ears twitched to the sound of thundering hoofsteps descending the stairs, followed by the sound of a door opening and slamming shut again. Applejack hadn’t remained to finish her off as she had expected.

Rarity slowly rolled onto her back, having to blink through the stream of blood obscuring her vision. She tried again to ignite her horn, and this time magic hiccuped to a dull light. Even just the act of turning her head to the side sent waves of piercing pain through Rarity. By some stroke of luck, she found what she was looking for right away: Sweetie Belle. Rarity gasped out in relief to find her sister so nearby. However, Rarity beheld the horror of her little sister’s face, and that relief vanished. Sweetie Belle’s mouth hung open slightly, blood pooling there from unseen damage within. It leaked onto the floorboards and soaked her purple and pink mane. All Rarity could see was frozen fear in those damp, milky, and lifeless eyes. She whimpered, her horn’s magic extinguishing on its own, sparing her from seeing more of what had become of her baby sister.

There she was again, frozen in fear and grief on the ground while the remains of her family rotted away beside her. This time, however, Rarity didn’t get to see the stars or feel a night wind blow. She had to mire in the smell of fresh blood and viscera, unseen but potent. Darkness was the only mercy left to Rarity, but even that only lasted for so long. A great flash of lightning from outside the boutique lit the room, and it was then that Rarity beheld what atrocity Applejack had left behind. The acrid smells in the room weren’t just coming from the corpse beside her, but from the very walls and ceiling. For even in that second of light, Rarity could see something scrawled over and over with her dear sister’s blood. The red of it was still oozing and dripping freely, making it sound as if the rain outside had leaked into the room. Another flash, as Rarity’s eyes beheld the final judgment that Applejack had bestowed on Rarity for her crimes. Guilty. Hoof-written and frantic, and found all over the walls, the ceiling, the canopy bed, the fixtures, and some furniture. Rarity didn’t have the strength to make a single sound at this macabre sight. She couldn’t even properly comprehend it now that the sharp pains, once kept at bay by adrenaline, came roaring into focus. Rarity’s heart beats echoed the sentiment she now felt for her sister's untimely demise.

Guilty… Guilty… Guilty…

Just One More Race... [Part 3 Scene 2]

Thunder clapped and lightning split the sky, but Cloudsdale’s grand Cloud-a-seum was unphased and untouched above the storm. The massive cloud structure was never truly in the same place twice as it floated freely above Equestria. It was the largest active pegasus arena, and the official home of the Wonderbolts, hosting their many races and airshow spectaculars. However, that was during the day, and at the present hour, it was long past Celestia’s sunset. Soarin, the Wonderbolts commander, was resting on a small section of the Cloud-a-seum’s base cloud, and reflecting on how unpleasant the place seemed when it was empty. He had grown accustomed to the sounds of a cheering crowd, or even the barked orders from his team captain, so it felt eerie to be absent from both. Even the sound of the rumbling beneath him couldn’t shake the uncomfortable silence, as he waited out the storm.

Cloudsdale would never admit it, but they’d been struggling since the infamous drought seven years ago to precisely regulate the weather. Planning and preparing for rain used to be simple and easily scheduled, but even with the most precise timing and ingredients, weather machines seemed to have minds of their own from time to time. Even so, Soarin hadn’t thought much of staying a little late at the Cloud-a-seum that night, until he heard the clap of thunder that started it all. He internally kicked himself for fussing over their Commemoration performance gear, rather than return home like the other Bolts. He wasn’t sure who to be more upset with: the weather workers who promised the storm would strike after the memorial, or the new recruit who forced him and their teammates to endure a grueling practice with her exceptionally high standards. Either way, he was stuck. He could technically fly through the rain, as he had many times before, but his limbs and wings ached from the laborious day. He decided that fighting wind, water, and lightning wasn’t in his best interests, especially before a big performance.

As he waited, Soarin reflected on the destructive nature of the storm. He winced at the thought of all of those perfectly placed outdoor Commemoration decorations ruined by a torrential downpour. But as time wore on, Soarin’s eyes grew increasingly heavy and his head slowly sank towards the fluffy cloud that held him. Before sleep took him, however, something swiftly broke through the layer of storm clouds, and brought with them a gust of icy cold wind. Soarin reared up and gasped out from the sudden onslaught of liquid spraying his coat and wings.

“Soarin? What are YOU still doing here?” Rainbow Dash, the source of that gust, asked in surprise.

“Me?! What are YOU doing here, Crash?” Soarin snapped back, using the nickname he knew she hated.

“I left something in my locker, not that it’s any of your business.” Dash replied curtly, her eyes narrowing in disdain. She could usually take the ribbing from the other Bolts, but Soarin was toying with her last nerve.

“If I wanted to get soaked I’d just fly through this damn storm!” Soarin remarked bitterly, shaking the feathers in his wings to remove any lingering moisture.

“Fraid of a little rain, huh?”

“I’m not stupid enough to race lightning bolts like some ponies.” Soarin replied a little too pointedly as he settled back down on the cloud’s edge.

“Hah! If I were, I’d win that race too. What was our final race time earlier? 15 whole seconds ahead of you, wasn’t it? Guess you’d better hope Spitfire isn’t looking for a new commander after that kind of defeat.” Rainbow chuffed. If Soarin was going to open the floodgates for a verbal sparring, rubbing today’s defeat in his face would be the perfect counter to that ridiculous nick-name. Dash didn’t ask at the time, but she wondered now if defeating every single Wonderbolt in a one-on-one race, on the same day, was some kind of record. She knew that kind of defeat might put some of the Bolts in a foul disposition, but it was worth it.

“I don’t want to hear it, Crash. You drilled us for HOURS over the routine, so it’s not exactly a ‘feat’ to beat us in a stupid race afterwards.” Soarin grumbled, turning away to keep himself from saying something he would regret.

“A stupid race? Try nine ‘stupid’ races. Practice couldn't have been THAT bad if I was still kicking ass! I can’t help it if YOU are all out of shape.”

Soarin grit his teeth and sucked in a deep, shaky breath. It took every ounce of restraint not to start shouting in exasperation and fatigue. Dash wasn’t normally this grating, but for some reason, today she was quickly eroding his resolve. Soarin’s only saving grace was the ebbing of the storm beneath him. After some silence, Dash continued:

“I bet I could do it again. Right now. Even AFTER helping Twilight and that pointless list.”

“You know what? You’re on. I don’t give a fuck if this exhausts you for tomorrow, you need to be reminded of your goddamn place!” Soarin asserted, jumping to his hooves and spreading his wings in preparation. He’d been resting for the better part of an hour now, and was confident that he could finally shut Rainbow up with a well-deserved defeat. “Three laps around the Cloud-a-seum, the entry arch is the finish line.”

Rainbow Dash didn’t argue, her brow furrowing as a smug smile spread across her lips.

“3, 2, 1, GO!” She screamed in rapid succession, taking off like a rocket, and leaving a streak of rainbow behind her. She could hear Soarin angrily shout something in response, but was too focused on the race to pay attention. The cold night air passed through her feathers at a break-neck pace, chilling every inch of her fur. Its icy grip felt as if it penetrated her very bones, adding to the intense fatigue that she fought to keep at bay. Despite her body’s warning signs, Rainbow grinded her teeth, refusing to believe that her ego had written a check that her body couldn’t cash. She was so focused on victory, in fact, that she didn’t notice the storm clouds dissipating beneath her until they were almost completely dissolved. When she was sure that her lead on Soarin was secure, Dash’s attention shifted to assess her surroundings; it was something she did subconsciously when she flew. Something sour permeated on Dash’s tongue as she took in the realization that a heavy mass of trees was directly beneath them. She hadn’t given much thought to the exact location of the Cloud-a-seum that evening, especially since the storm had previously kept her whereabouts obscured. Now, though, a slight fear was trickling up her spine and threatening to ruin her concentration. Could these be the very trees she had avoided for years? Could she be poised just above the only place in Ponyville she vehemently refused to visit again? Rainbow’s breathing quickened even more so than the rigorous pounding in her chest. She tried to block the thoughts that trickled around the fringes of her mind, by focusing on that final lap. It was ridiculous to allow something so inconsequential to deter her from her task. After all, a mass of trees was no threat to her, not when she was soaring hundreds of feet above them.

Success was inching closer and closer for Rainbow Dash. Perhaps that was why her attention ventured beyond the clouds; so assured of her win that she could focus on other things. Her line of sight lingered on those trees, trying to coax herself into believing they were truly inconsequential. That was when a glint of light caught her eye. It was only a glimmer amidst the dark grove, but it sent a paralyzing wave of shock through the pegasus. She seized mid-air, her limbs refusing to move to her brain’s commands. The abrupt halt was too sudden, and too late for Rainbow’s racing partner to avoid, so the pair of pegasi violently collided. Although it was enough of a shock to bring some life back into Dash’s hooves and wings, the sudden confusion of entangled limbs left gravity free to pull the helpless pair towards their demise below. Both pegasi fought to separate themselves; fighting, bucking, and screaming as they plummeted. Dash was able to get one final, clean buck to Soarin's chest, before the pair descended into the trees. Branches reached up to rake across wings and fur, ensnaring the ponies in their matted clutches. The sting of fresh wounds meshed with the choir of snapping twigs and rustled leaves. Finally, Rainbow’s flailing body impacted onto the hard, unforgiving ground. She heard a series of cracks, but couldn't be sure if it had been from within, or from the rain of tree debris crashing on, and around her. She laid on the ground, her chest heaving as she struggled to regain her breath. Her eyes were wide and afraid, barely blinking as they surveyed the scene above her. When the rustling ebbed, she ventured to look around to see if Soarin had landed nearby. Rainbow struggled to right herself, finding her limbs heavy, and any movement increasingly laborious.

“Soarin?” She called out, her voice cracking more than usual as she fought the rising terror in her chest. Dash couldn’t see much from the limited light under the cover of trees, so she flared out her wings to take off in flight. The problem was, only one wing responded. Dash could feel her heart pounding in her head as she slowly turned to find her left wing laying limp at her side. Seeing the marred, twig-encrusted feathered mess was bad enough, but it was what else Dash’s eyes beheld amidst the debris that delivered the worst shock. They were small, red, round, and straight from her nightmares. Dash reared back, every inch of her body screaming to flee.

“Soarin! Where are you? Say something!” Dash demanded, her mind spiraling. She peered back up at the trees but found only obscured shapes of leaves, fruit, and twigs against moonlight. It was a sight she’d seen before, and aside from the damp soil beneath her hooves, everything about this place felt familiar in the worst way.

“Ah told ya… Ah don’t want yer fuckin’ cure.”

Dash swallowed hard. That voice reverberated in her skull, dulling her senses. She squeezed her eyes shut and held her breath. No, not now. She couldn’t let the nightmares have control. For a brief moment, she lamented turning Twilight away all those years ago. She tried to insist that Dash speak to somepony about that night, but Dash stubbornly refused time, and time again. Maybe if she hadn’t, she’d have some kind of method to utilize now that would keep this phantom out of her thoughts.

“Soarin?” Rainbow meekly called out again, unable to get her voice level above a whisper. A gust of wind rustled the leaves around her, shaking some raindrops loose. The pitter-patter of the droplets on the moist ground sounded like rocks colliding into boulders in Dash’s ears. The musty scent in the air lingered in her nostrils, growing increasingly foul.

“AH AM THE HARBINGER OF FEAR AND THE MESSENGER OF TRUTH YOU SILENCE WITH HOPE!”

Rainbow’s hooves responded to the phantom in her mind, and she bolted in any free direction she could find. She couldn’t stay, what would have been the point? Her fear was already crippling her when she was hundreds of feet in the air; she would be even more useless now that she was grounded. Her eyes scanned for any signs of light, or life, as she tried desperately to outrun her thoughts. So frenzied were her movements, that she tripped and fell over an unseen object. When she hit the ground, she rolled until she came to a stop against something hard. For a long while, Dash remained disoriented, not knowing which way was up or down. When her eyes finally opened, she could assess that she was upright and against a tree, but her eyes fixated on the object that had caused her fall. Dash’s breath went still in her chest.

Even in darkness, the shape sticking out of the dirt in front of her was unmistakable. It was a long shaft with a metal end that pierced the ground to remain semi-upright. Though it was impossible to make out details with limited light, her mind filled in the blanks. Even so, it just couldn’t be possible. She’d destroyed that accursed shovel years ago. She’d watched it blacken and burn in firelight, the metal spade warping from the intense heat of the blacksmith’s furnace. This must have been a trick, a mirage that the phantom in her memories had conjured to torment her.

“And that truth… is that in the end, there ain’t nothin’ at all… ‘cept me”

Dash winced, covering her face in her hooves and shaking so violently she was sure she would lose consciousness. It was all she could do just to fight back the convulsions and gagging. Tears were freely streaming down her cheeks, until finally she pierced the silence by sobbing uncontrollably. Her garbled gasps for oxygen were the only sign that she was even still breathing. Dash gave into the years of suppressed anger, fear, and torment. She wasn’t sure how long she had been inconsolable, when she picked up a faint sound. Her ears swiveled behind her when she heard the movement of twigs and leaves. By Celestia’s grace, Soarin was alive and nearby. At least, that’s what she thought she heard.

“Rainbow Dash…”

The voice was low and ragged. Rainbow hiccuped through sobs that refused to cease, trying to fight through this immeasurable pain to reach her friend.

“Where are you?” She shrieked, choking on her words.

“Here in the orchard of course. Where else would I be?”

The voice was clearer now, no longer obscured by Dash’s cries and whimpers. It was not quite what she was expecting, however. The voice sounded both near and far away at the same time, almost like it was carried on the wind through the trees. The tone was far removed from Soarin’s natural timbre, but Dash chalked that up to the spiral she was enduring mentally.

The branches above her head started to quake.

“I can’t see you! Are you hurt?” Dash responded, a little more conviction in her tone. Focusing on Soarin helped to keep her mind busy from the fearful sights around her.

“I suppose, in a way, I am. Hurt by what you did, or at least what you tried to do.” The voice responded.

Some part of Dash knew the pony she conversed with now, was not the same stallion she would be groveling to for forgiveness later. Nevertheless, she carried on the conversation without allowing her better senses to recognize the potential danger.

“Can you fly? I-I think I popped my wing outta the socket, if you could just pop it back in, we can get outta here.” Rainbow said, realizing that she hadn’t moved and her eyes were squeezed shut to remain focused on the task at hoof.

“Ah won’t EVER go back! And nothin’ you pathetic ponies do or say can make me.”

Rainbow’s eyes popped open to pin-prick pupils. As much as her brain tried to deny it, there was no mistaking the voice now. Word-for-word, just as in her nightmares. Rainbow couldn’t face this; not then, nor now. She had to escape. All hope for rescuing Soarin was dashed as Rainbow leapt to her hooves and took off running again. As before, she didn’t make it too far before she was thwarted. Though it was illogical, Dash witnessed limbs and trees shifting, reaching out for her and impeding her path. Their gnarled branches shot out from decaying trunks, blocking any hope of retreat. Dash didn’t stop running, just changed course. To her horror, the process repeated itself until she was effectively imprisoned within a circlet of trees.

“We weren’t done.” The voice said, though it sounded far less ethereal. Dash whipped her head in its direction and spotted a faint pair of green eyes glaring at her from behind the fence of branches.

“You’re not real, you can’t hurt me!” Dash asserted, digging her hooves into the dirt floor in a readied stance. The eyes she’d stared into suddenly disappeared, and the voice responded to Dash’s left.

“That’s what I liked about you, Dash. The only pony I knew without a lick of common sense, just a whole lotta stupid.”

Dash found the eyes again, only to have them change to a position on her right.

“The only pony who thought she could cure me. Well, ‘You think there’s anything left in here to cure, Rainbow? Do you still believe you’re savin’ me?’”

“SHUT UP!” Rainbow screamed, charging at the trees where the eyes glowered into her skull. She beat against the branches between her and the taunting voice, ripping at them by mouth, and hoof, like she was dissecting trees to make her escape. As before, the eyes disappeared, but Rainbow didn’t deter from her task. If she couldn’t confront the assailant, she could at least free herself. Rainbow’s brow was thick with sweat, and she felt as though every nerve ending was alight with anxiety. Clumps of branches, twigs, leaves, and fruit were tossed over her shoulder during her frenzy. After some time, however, Rainbow let a sickening realization take hold: she wasn’t making any progress. No matter how much she tried, the underbrush never thinned.

Eventually, fatigue wrapped its jaws around Rainbow and she slumped to the ground, hyperventilating. Her breaths were so loud, in fact, that though she heard the voice again, it was unintelligible. Every ounce of her being wanted to collapse there and then, but her unadulterated sheer will refused to relent. If this part of her prison was impenetrable, then she would try someplace else. Rainbow turned around, and finally beheld the massive pile of debris she’d created. Her heart sank, realizing just how much she had fought through to no avail. Still, Rainbow wouldn’t give up. She took a shaky step forward, choosing a different patch of gnarled fencing to try next. By the third step, Rainbow heard something abnormal, a shifting sound beneath the pile before her. She shook her head, rejecting the dread that followed the noise. On the fourth step, the shifting grew louder, and Rainbow could see movement from the corner of her eye. Morbid curiosity caused the pegasus to pause, and see what was coming for her next. Branches were weaving into one another, thickening themselves and casting off their apples and leaves in the process. The discarded leaves braided together their stems, while the apples collected themselves into piles. The sounds it emitted were more than just the snaps and crackles, but also included wet sloshing and squelching. Rainbow then felt the very ground at her hooves begin to quake. She beheld, in shock, a series of roots that slithered along the ground like snakes towards the amalgamation, further strengthening it.

Dash wrenched herself away from the bewildering sight, deciding on a new tactic instead: she would dig her way out through the muddy soil at her hooves. Mud slung in every direction as the hysterical mare fought for freedom. A taunting laughter filled Dash’s ears. She grunted through gritted teeth, frustrated that the mud she excavated would end up sloshing back into place. However, she didn’t stop her fruitless endeavor, until the shovel from earlier whizzed past her, to plant itself into the muddy mound by her side.

“Here, try this.” The voice taunted before resuming its laughter at her expense.

Dash reached for the shovel before turning to see the final conglomerated monster in the center of the orchard prison. The creature was as tall as the trees that bound Dash, though vaguely pony-like in shape. Long twisted roots, branches, and bark made up the limbs and torso, while the leaves cascaded from the creature like a mane and tail. Six apples adorned its wooded flanks. But perhaps eeriest of all were the eyes on the pony-shaped face. Two sunken indents of writhing, controting tree limbs wove themselves in and out of the massive hollow sockets. When Dash lingered on the darkness within them, however, she could make out a faint image. Dash squinted her eyes, leaning forward slightly in hopes that the shapes would manifest themselves clearer in her vision. A strange shimmer, almost like a veil of dew, was reflecting from the darkness. Within that shimmer, Dash watched two smaller ponies take form. The ponies were identical: shying, frightened little mares clinging to their last shred of sanity. Blues came into focus, then reds, yellows, and the whole hue of the rainbow. These mares weren’t real, they were reflections. Dash was watching mirrored images of herself retreating away from her, and further into the darkness. This creature wasn’t just an enlarged pony timberwolf, it was something far more demonic.

At first, the thing appeared rooted to the ground, until Dash gave it the attention it wanted. The left forehoof then lifted itself, roots snapping from place, until it came back down hard, only a few inches from its prey. Dash yelped and bolted, keeping the shovel in her tight grasp.

“Ya wanted to kill me that night.” The voice that Rainbow Dash finally accepted to be Applejack, said. It was coming from beyond the prison of trees, and from the monster, simultaneously. “Welp, here’s your chance Rainbow. Fix your mistake, then.”

Rainbow screamed an agitated, frightened cry as she thrust the shovel into the thicket of branches behind her. Attacking the confinement’s walls seemed a smarter bet than the monster itself. Both monster and pony roared with laughter when the shovel bounced off branch and twig, as if made from a sturdy metal, and not wood.

Rainbow Dash knew there would be no other way out of this hell until she faced and conquered the demon. If Applejack wanted a fight, she’d give her one. With murderous intention, Dash started hacking away at the beast with shovel in hoof. To her delight, the monster was penetrable. Chunks of orchard debris fell off in heaps with every successful attack. The Applejack monster wasn’t remaining dormant, though. Earth-shattering stomps were made by tremendous hooves, each one unsuccessful. The massive head lowered to ram into the small pegasus prey, but it too would find only failure. Rainbow took great satisfaction seeing the beast ram into their wooded prison walls, and large pieces of itself snap and fall away. Even more gratifying were the outcries of anger and pain coming from the beast, as well as the voice from beyond their confinement. As Dash whittled the monster down, her confidence and anger grew. As it said, she should have killed AJ that night. Twilight was a fool to insist otherwise, when they could clearly see the irreversible evil that she had done. It didn’t matter how Applejack got free, or came to be here. It didn’t matter what strange magic she invoked now. This was a gift. This was Dash’s chance to truly save Equestria, the right way.

Dash had almost completely dismantled the orchard monster when she caught sight of something that surged exhilaration through her body: blood. The pony who wielded this behemoth must have been at its core. Dash didn’t hesitate, she took the shovel in both front hooves and pierced it completely through the center of the creature. The monster screamed in bloodied agony, before slumping to the ground, the rest of the flora falling away. Simultaneously, the branch barriers between the trees shriveled and dropped, opening several escape paths into the orchard. Dash was clutching her chest as she tried to steady her breath, relieved to finally be free. That was, until some branches gave way to show an orange earth pony mare standing proud among the trees. Her green eyes glinted in the darkness while an evil smirk played on her lips. Dread filled Dash’s mind. If AJ was there… then who did she…?

Dash knew she shouldn’t look. She knew AJ had played her a fool. She knew exactly what she was going to see when she turned back to look at the remains of the monster. She knew, but she also couldn’t stop herself from confirming it.

No… no, please no…

Rainbow turned her head to see the murderous shovel standing proud in the back of her pony prey. Their eyes were shut, tear-stained cheeks mired in mud. Hooves were splayed behind them, and wings let out a final twinge before falling lifeless on either side of the shovel’s spade. Soarin was gone, and it was Dash’s fault.

“No…” Dash whimpered, prying the weapon from her teammate’s back and spraying herself in his blood. She cast the shovel aside, collapsing on the ground and giving into her violent nausea, which ripped through her in wave after wave of shock and despair.

The sound of Applejack’s delighted and unhinged laughter eventually pulled Dash out of her stupor. Maybe the earth pony anticipated this being the end of Dash’s attempts to subdue her, but she would be wrong. Dash methodically pushed herself back to standing position and slowly reached for the bloodied shovel she had cast aside. She approached the distracted, laughing villain, keeping her hoofsteps as silent as possible as they carefully navigated around debris. Once she was sure of her aim, she lifted the shovel.

“GAHHH!!” Dash screamed, thrusting the weapon at Applejack, who only had moments to avoid the attack. Although she was chagrined to see herself miss, Dash did catch a hint of shock and fear in the earth pony, when she realized Dash was continuing to pursue her. AJ reared and turned on her hooves, racing deeper into the orchard; but this time as prey, and not predator.

“Let’s finish this.” Dash snarled, casually picking up the shovel and holding it aloft in her good wing. Each step she followed, she did so in confidence. One way or another, this was going to end before sunrise.

A Final Showdown [Part 4 scene 1]

In the stillness of night, a small pink light formed amongst the apple trees on the fringe of Sweet Apple Acres. Its glow progressively intensified until it had formed itself into a magical dome, and an alicorn emerged from within. Once the teleportation was complete, the light extinguished and the princess found herself alone under the deep cover of darkness.

Twilight Sparkle had many things on her mind that night, and none of them pleasant. She steadied herself with a slow, deliberate breath. If Applejack was going to flee anywhere, it would be here: her homestead. Twilight walked a few paces forward before she could see the farmhouse and accompanying barn in the distance. It had been abandoned for years now, a shadow of its former self. It was difficult to assess details in murkiness, but even without seeing the peeling paint or missing roof shingles, the farm emitted an aura of dread. Once the apple family was gone, no pony, extended relatives or otherwise, was willing to take up its residence. The thought of such horrific deaths occurring within that property’s limits effectively left the house and orchard behind. Now they remained only to serve as a ghost story or legend.

Twilight wondered why her magic had taken her to the fringe of the orchard, rather than the front door of the farmhouse, as she intended. She reasoned it was her frazzled nerves, or the combination of anxiety and grief still coursing through her veins. Starlight Glimmer’s final moments were imprinted on the princess’s mind, carving themselves into her memories. The pain these thoughts emitted had twisted itself into conviction. After all, an irreversible act of violence was the only logical, noble course of action. It was the only option left, as she’d already tried to show mercy all those years ago. In fact, Twilight was no different than her beloved mentor: Princess Celestia. Better, even. Celestia had once banished her sister to the moon, then justified her actions by convincing ponies of Luna’s villainy. She’d even allowed ponykind to celebrate the banishment with an annual summer sun celebration, and that was nothing compared to the creation of Nightmare Night further vilifying her sister. Twilight, at least, had acted with far more care and tact. No pony outside of herself and her friends knew of Applejack’s malignity. She was just another victim that could be honored and mourned. There was no celebration for her defeat, but instead a memorial. Celestia also hadn't had Twilight's foresight, she had to take on Luna's responsibilities herself, while Twilight was able to replace the missing element with a very capable Starlight Glimmer. Being a princess meant making difficult decisions, and until this night, Twilight felt certain that she had done what was right for everypony. She was the Princess of Friendship, and that carried a weight of responsibility. Mercy hadn’t worked, so a more permanent solution was needed. Regardless of her own feelings and emotions, this was the right thing to do.

Twilight took another confident step forward. Her ears swiveled back to the sound of something emerging from within the thicket of trees. Her heartbeats quickened, though not from fear. On the contrary, Twilight was relieved at the prospect of coming face to face with her target. Killing to defend herself from Applejack’s insatiable wrath, would provide Twilight with excellent rationalization for any lingering guilt. The alicorn immediately ignited her horn, though the magic hiccuped from her growing stress. Even a half-strength spell would cause damage though, so Twilight released it without a second thought. True, it was careless not to check if the approaching pony was Applejack, but it was clear from the time of her friend's death that rational thinking was absent from the alicorn that night.

Somepony cried out. The shrill yelp was from shock, and not pain. She must have missed. Twilight summoned her magic again, this time allowing the spell to strengthen first. She grunted with effort as the blast whizzed through the trees. It landed much harder this time, though it missed its target yet again. The spell collided into a tree, its trunk exploding into splintered wood.

“Not this time, AJ!” A voice tinged with anger and desperation cried out. The pony it belonged to, Rainbow Dash, ejected herself from tree cover to tackle the alicorn. Twilight, however, was slightly quicker to react. She caught and held Rainbow captive in levitative magic, before her blow could land. The pair froze and locked gazes with wide, shocked eyes.

“R-Rainbow? What are you doing here?” Twilight stammered.

“Twilight… Oh thank Celestia. I thought you were…” Rainbow trailed off in relief. The pegasus’s desire for vengeance wasn't quite as strong as her friend's, as thoughts of consequences tempered her objective. She exhaled her frenzied panic before gesturing to the magic that detained her above ground. Twilight blinked a couple of times to recover from the initial shock, then set the pegasus down gently.

Both Twilight and Rainbow held the silence to analyze one another. The pair immediately noticed that each of them appeared disheveled and haggard; a stark contrast to the beginning of this horrendous night. Twilight was marred with scrapes, deep bruises, and acid-burned hooves. Starlight’s blood was still encrusted onto her fur, making it difficult to tell a wound from a stain. Her mane and tail were a frizzy, tangled mess, and her eyes were wild with shock. Rainbow Dash, on the other hoof, looked notably more distressed than the princess. Her fur was tinted with faint, smudged crimson, as if she had attempted to wipe away the blood that lingered there. Her eyes were far more blood-shot and sunken than Twilight’s, and even in pale light, Twilight could see the tremor in her hooves. Most noticeable of all, however, was the limp wing swaying unnaturally at her side. They silently came to the same conclusion that neither pony looked entirely prepared, or even capable, of the act they had come to commit.

“What happened? Are you alright?” Twilight inquired at last, concerned.

“I’m here… So, let’s just skip the details.” Rainbow responded, her voice listless and resolved.

“I guess I don’t have to ask why you’re here.” Twilight whispered, wishing her friend could have been spared the weight of what act was to come.

“Yeah. We both know where this ends.”

Twilight and Rainbow Dash peered into the distance and lingered on the sight of the farmhouse.

“You don’t have to go. You don’t have to do this. There’s no point in both of us dirtying our hooves.” Twilight offered, hoping her friend would grant her this small mercy.

Rainbow Dash swallowed hard. She didn't correct the princess by volunteering the information that her hooves were already dirty. Although it was a trick orchestrated by Applejack, she still carried the guilt as if she had murdered Soarin of her own volition. Rainbow chose to change the subject instead.

“We should have finished this. She should never have left these trees alive. Ponies died because we were too weak to bring ourselves to do what was right! I’m not going to fail again.”

Each word struck Twilight like a series of sharp blades. She conceded. There were no small mercies this night, and there were no happy endings promised with the dawn. In lieu of a response, Twilight merely started walking towards the farmhouse, and the pegasus followed suit. Soon the pair left the relative safety of tree cover, to walk the bare, open field. The eerie similarities of pursuing Applejack now, versus seven years ago, were uncanny. The air was as thick and hot, the trees as shriveled and unkempt, and the dread as daunting and all-consuming.

The silence between the mares exploded into a symphony of metal springs and frightened screams. Sharp, jagged teeth embedded themselves into Rainbow Dash’s left forelimb with a strength that greatly outweighed her own. She’d fallen victim to a bear trap; a contraption she’d only ever heard existed, and never seen in use. Twilight gasped in surprise, whirling around to see the aftermath of blood oozing from new wounds, and the metal monstrosity holding her friend in place. Twilight immediately sprang into action, fortunate that she had read of these traps and knew, to some extent, how to release a victim from its clutches. Still, she would need to stop a pain-wracked Rainbow from thrashing first.

“Hold still! Hold still!” Twilight pleaded, her voice a frantic whisper, knowing that they were exposed, and Applejack could be waiting nearby. She raced to the pegasus’s side and attempted to ignite her horn, but magic didn’t respond. Dumbfounded, she tried it again, to no avail. Try as she might, the glow refused to come. Had her anxiety finally willed out over her magic? Rainbow’s hoof remained unassisted as she fought through grunts and whimpers to free it.

Amidst the searing pain, Dash mentally kicked herself for losing her weaponized shovel. It would have been the perfect tool to wedge the metal jaws apart. If only it had not been lost somewhere in the depths of the orchard. After hours of fruitless searching, the shovel had to be abandoned.

Dash grasped one side of the trap with her free hoof, straining to release its jaws. By the fourth attempt to ignite her magic, Twilight gave up, and chose instead to grasp the trap with her bare hooves to help Rainbow.

“On three. One, two, THREE!” Twilight cried out, forgetting to keep her voice down. The pair exerted themselves beyond their limits until the metal finally gave way. Rainbow wrenched her hoof free. She laid on the ground, clutching her left hoof to her chest, cradling it with her right one. Blood flowed freely from the puncture wounds the trap had left, and the trickles that spilled onto the grass mixed with the stinging tears of pain in her eyes.

A slight breeze rustled the leaves of the trees nearby, and gave way to a low, bemused chuckle. Twilight and Dash immediately, and fearfully, silenced themselves. They whipped their heads around, looking for the source they knew to be AJ.

“That looks mighty painful.” Applejack called out, still unseen by the two intruders.

“Applejack! Show yourself!” Twilight shouted in reply, more conviction in her voice than even she thought herself capable.

“I could, but it won't do ya a lick of good. Think that’s the only booby trap waitin' in the space between you 'n me?"

Twilight couldn't see the taunting villain, but the voice carried from the direction of the barn. A large stretch of land spanned between the anxious duo and Applejack, now correctly identified as a battlefield of unknown dangers. Their minds filled with horrifying ideas of what could be lurking for them there.

Twilight was no fool. She flared out her wings, intent on carrying Dash over the grassy minefield. Strangely, Applejack didn’t protest. Twilight darted into the air, but felt a small resistance to her flight. An impossibly tiny wire had been tripped by the princess, setting off an unseen catapult poised in a farmhouse window. A round glass potion bottle was flung at the alicorn and shattered on impact, soaking the princess’s fur with its contents. An immediate sense of shifted weight reverberated from the point of the potion’s contact to the tips of Twilight’s hooves and wings. With her breath caught in her throat and unable to make a sound, both mares plummeted back to the uneven ground beneath them. Rainbow was thrown out of hoof, and grunted as she involuntarily rolled a distance away. Twilight finally found her breath as pieces fell into place in her mind. She was all too familiar with this overwhelming, crushing feeling. ‘Hypergravity’ she’d called it, a potion that could increase gravity’s grip on any object or creature without affecting its mass. Even so, knowing its effects and experiencing them were two entirely different comprehensions. The slightest movement took three times as much muscle and concentration, and from an already exhausted alicorn, this movement translated into agony. Flight was now impossible for Twilight as her wings would be too weak to carry her weight into the air. She glanced out at the minefield before her with a heightened sense of dread.

“I take it you don’t fancy the earth pony life, Twi?” Applejack bellowed, chuckling in satisfaction.

Twilight groaned from her newfound strain, but forced herself back onto her hooves slowly. She ignored Applejack’s jab, hell-bent on completing her mission. She took a step forward.

“Twilight, NO!” Rainbow called out, seeing a trap poised for the princess to trigger. The ground looked uneven with freshly disturbed soil around a small mound. Twilight turned to look at Rainbow, but her movement progressed anyway. A sickly sensation of falling forward overtook the alicorn as the ground beneath the hoof gave way. The sensation was quick to disperse, however, as her hoof only fell a foot into the ground, and her other hooves could still maintain her balance. She thought, perhaps, she had corrected her mistake soon enough to keep this trap from ensnaring her completely, but a horrendous shock was in store for her. Twilight’s instinct was to pull her hoof free immediately, so she summoned the strength to attempt to do so in one pull. The problem was, Twilight failed to recognize the feeling of sharpened wooden stakes that laced this shallow trap. They had been ingeniously angled downward so that they would embed themselves into their victim only after an upwards motion. Twilight shrieked, wooden splinters implanting themselves into acid-burnt skin, tearing open her flesh and cementing her to the spot. The shock and pain muted Twilight’s better senses, and she was unsure how to liberate her hoof without her magic or sheer brute force. Her anxiety and fatigue had all but sapped her problem-solving capabilities.

Rainbow Dash knew this meant Twilight was effectively out of the pursuit, at least for now. Since being thrown, she lingered close to the ground to better spot the other booby traps in her path. She was almost certain she could avoid them and get to Applejack. Rainbow stood up and carefully tip-toed around the fresh soil mounds while Twilight watched in anticipation and horror.

“Oh, lookie here, Dash has a brain after all! Who’d a thunk it.”

“Shut up you stupid bitch.” Rainbow snarled, crouching close to the ground. Her eyes lingered, trying to spot any more trip wires. Meanwhile, it finally dawned on Twilight that she could dig herself out of her predicament with her free hoof. A frantic, shaky hoof dug into the soil around her ensnared one. Twilight was determined to free herself and assist her friend before Applejack’s traps could claim any more victories.

“Let’s see how smart your mouth is when I buck it clean off your fuckin’ face!” Dash yelled, now more than halfway across the field. She peered up towards the barn to check her progress and froze when she caught sight of AJ's silhouette leaning against the open barn door. A shovel with an uncanny resemblance to the one she had misplaced, was resting nearby. It peeked out of the barn, the only thing visible in the moonlight.

“See, I recall it bein’ the other way around last time. How’s that jaw? Still givin’ you issues?” Applejack asked as she pulled the shovel out of sight and presumably into hoof. Her muscular body was dimly lit in the barn door frame. Rainbow felt as if AJ was towering above her again as that dreaded timber monster, and the panic bubbled to the surface. Dash swallowed that down.

“That all you can come up with? I’ve heard better comebacks from Fluttershy!” Dash screamed defiantly.

Twilight finally pulled her ruined hoof free, and immediately shot her glance towards Rainbow. She was horrified to find Applejack exposed at last, her emaciated body pacing back and forth along the side of the farmhouse like a wolf eagerly anticipating its prey. Dash, on the other hoof, seemed unaware of her awaiting doom as she carefully continued onward.

Somehow, even in this mental haze, Twilight got another idea. She raced back towards the trees and bucked her hind legs into them to shake its fruit loose. She gathered what she could of the fallen apples, and started to throw them on the ground, one at a time. If the apple landed without incident, she would crush it under hoof. If the apple triggered a trap, she could avoid it. She would follow Dash’s lead on remaining close to the ground, as the tripwires above would be too invisible and unpredictable to set off on purpose.

Slowly, the pair of mares made their way towards their target. Twilight and Dash both anticipated Applejack fleeing when they got too close, as she had done in their previous encounters. However, it seemed the ex-farmer was going to stand her ground on what was once her land. Rainbow Dash broke through the booby trap laden land first, and immediately lunged at the mare. Applejack was ready for it, taking a wild swing with her shovel. Dash’s heart pumped with adrenaline as she eyed the sharp weapon in her enemy’s grasp. She avoided the blow, but didn't back down. Rainbow was determined to wrestle that shovel away from her target. Soarin would be avenged, and she was set on repeating the same deadly move on Applejack, in his memory. She lurched at the earth pony again, resuming a hopeless dance of trying, and failing, to land a blow, or ensnare the shovel.

From a short distance away, Twilight heard Rainbow struggling with Applejack, but had her eyes locked firmly on the ground so she could keep advancing. To her dismay, however, the apples she had gathered had all been utilized, and there was still a stretch of land to go. Twilight grimly accepted that she would have to keep to Rainbow’s method for the rest of her journey.

Dash was frantic, making asinine mistakes that a calm and clear-headed pony might not. This gave Applejack the advantage, and she happily struck Rainbow with the shovel at every given opportunity. Dash pushed through the pain of each blow, grateful at least that none had yet drawn blood. To any outside observer, it would be obvious that the pegasus was losing, but Dash wouldn’t quit. Eventually, Applejack started using other objects to assault her former friend. Bales of hay, gardening tools, and even the barn door beat Dash down. Finally, Twilight emerged victorious and blindly charged at the mare when she saw a disoriented Dash clutching her head from the most recent blow. She heard Dash scream out in anger as Applejack rammed directly into the alicorn, head-butting her back into a field of awaiting fatalities. Almost immediately, the alicorn triggered a trap. This time, it was a pit, far larger and more deadly than the first. The ground gave way, the flimsy seal of loose grass and fallen leaves collapsing into the pit along with most of the alicorn. Twilight’s front hooves dug into the dirt along the pit’s edge as she slowly slid back towards her doom. All Twilight could do was hold on, her heavy back hooves dangling over the waiting spikes at the bottom.

“Rainbow! RAINBOW!” Twilight screamed, terrified for her life, though it wouldn’t have been the first time this night. She heard, but couldn't see, more struggle between Dash and AJ. Twilight’s hooves started to slip backwards again, her forelegs shaking uncontrollably. She had almost given up hope on a rescue when she heard the sound of Dash’s final outcry. It initially sounded victorious, and a small hope started to grow in Twilight's chest. That hope quickly extinguished when the outcry was followed by the sound of a body falling to the ground, and then a horrific silence.

Two friends. Two faithful, loyal friends had now perished by this pony's hooves. Two friends too many. Twilight couldn’t, and wouldn’t give up. Now she was ponykind's last hope. A scream of effort that swelled in her chest, roared from her lips as she laboriously pried herself from the edge of the pit. The alicorn slumped on the ground, her heart pounding in her ears as she fought to regain composure and strength. She heard slow, careful hoofsteps approaching and knew this was her chance. If she could make Applejack believe she was too tired to carry on, she would have the element of surprise on her side.

Instead, the hoofsteps stopped a distance away, and Twilight heard a curious sound that she wasn’t expecting. Applejack was blowing into some kind of small tube, and the sound was followed by a small whistle of wind and a sharp pain in Twilight’s neck. She blinked, helplessly watching the details of the world around her slowly blur to faint shapes. She couldn’t be sure, but in her last breaths of consciousness, she thought there was something… off about AJ. She didn’t look right, even in dissolving shapeless form. However, the alicorn succumbed to unconsciousness before she could identify the abnormality.

Loose Ends and Lost Friends [Part 4 Scene 2]

Beep… Beep… Beep…

Twilight regained consciousness to the faint sound of a magical heart monitor. She listened to the rhythmic beeping, and could feel her pulse thrumming in her head. Strangely, the sounds from the monitor did not match the thumping heartbeats in her chest. Her sight had not yet been restored, but she could ascertain that her limbs were not laying naturally. In addition, her head felt heavier than her hooves, and her chest heaved with each breath. Unimaginable pain came in waves with her strained breathing, as if her need for oxygen was never quite satiated, and the rest of her body suffered for it. The agony was so expansive, that Twilight couldn’t help but moan and whimper as the world slowly came back into focus.

“Oh. You’re awake?” A voice asked, coming from a short distance away, though its tone was devoid of concern, and resembled more indifference.

More senses slowly eased into reality as Twilight shifted her weight against a cold, unforgiving hardwood floor. She couldn’t yet muster the strength to move her limbs, so she focused on regaining her sight instead. She blinked a few times, and squinted, trying to find the source of the strange voice. Shapes and colors formed into recognizable objects, aided by the daylight that was pouring in from a window. The room was familiar, and foreign all at once. Under a thin layer of dust, Twilight spotted a stetson hat that was neatly hanging on a hook on the wall. Nearby was a lasso, and a bookshelf used to store many trophies and ribbons. Other notable pieces of furniture in the room included a small bedside table near the door, an old green armchair in the center of the room, and a modest little bed.

Twilight had an inkling in the back of her mind that the bed in this room was somehow out of place. Perhaps it was because she could see the old grooves in the hardwood where the bed posts had once stood, or maybe because she was acutely aware of whose room this used to be, and it looked different in her dim memories. Regardless, the bed now resided against the wall adjacent to the door. Twilight assumed this was due to the various pieces of magical, medical equipment that surrounded it.

Even from the floor, Twilight could tell that somepony occupied that bed. The magical monitor she heard was attached to this pony, not her. Half a dozen hanging fluid bags, with tubes, were also connected to the pony hidden under the sheets. The contents of those bags remained a mystery. The pony themselves looked frail and sickly. They were laying on their back, eyes closed with a mask secured over their snout for oxygen flow. A thick, red blanket and apple-patterned bed sheets had been carefully, and lovingly, wrapped around them. This pony fit so snuggly in their place, that it seemed like they had remained this way for some time. Once Twilight’s sight had fully returned, she could also identify brittle blonde hair, and a cream-colored coat. No, not cream, it was orange, but it was so pale she had mistaken it for something lighter. There was only one pony this could have been: Applejack.

The sound of gentle hoofsteps and squeaking wheels caused Twilight to snap her head to the left side of the room. A yellow-coated, red-maned pony came from the bedroom doorway, holding a new bag of liquid that would replace an empty one in the medical equipment nearby. The pony’s mane, once held back by a bright pink bow, was now limp and hanging loose down her back. She had bags under her eyes and an indifferent frown on her lips. She seemed to ignore Twilight as she both walked and trundled towards Applejack. The pony was attached to a unique device. It had been built for this particular mare by Twilight years ago. It consisted of a pair of wheels, and a strong strap for a pony's waist, connected to one another by two interlocking metal bars. The pony’s back legs dangled freely above the ground, as those wheels acted in lieu of hind quarters. Twilight instantly recognized the pony. After all, she was her faithful assistant for half a decade.

“Apple Bloom? Is that…? G-get away from her! She’s dangerous!” Twilight said, her voice cracking with panic.

Apple Bloom chuckled once mockingly under her breath. She continued to ignore the princess as she carefully swapped the medical bags. Twilight wasn’t sure what was going on, but she didn’t like her growing feeling of trepidation. She finally attempted to move her hooves, but found them bound together; hogtied with thick, scratchy rope. Twilight tried her wings next, but the same rope had been wound too-tightly around her midsection, rendering them useless. Igniting her horn was her third attempt for freedom, but try as she might, no magic responded. Out of options, Twilight began thrashing to liberate herself.

“What is this? What’s going on? Let me out, Apple Bloom!” Twilight pleaded, her dry mouth and desperation caused the words in her throat to be painful when spoken.

“Which question do ya want me to answer first? What is this? It’s rope, dumbass. What’s going on? Well, I imagine you’re tryin’ ta get yer magic to work but it ain’t, is it? Remember that potion lesson you taught me about the ingredient called the ‘Powerless Poppy’? Ya know, the one they use to disable unicorn magic temporarily? Ya might find a fair few of them flowers planted around the place these days, or even their powder scattered here and there. I’m surprised you don’t taste the excess around your mouth.” Apple Bloom answered, her tone still reflected little, if any, emotion.

Twilight’s eyes widened as she tentatively reached her tongue out to check her lips. She did indeed feel some kind of powdery residue lingering there. Her mind was racing, grasping for any kind of logical explanation. When she settled on the only one that made sense, she frantically pleaded with Apple Bloom again.

“Apple Bloom, I know you want to believe that Applejack is still in there, somewhere, but clearly she’s dangerous! She’ll kill us all, you have to let me out of here so I can get you to safety!”

Apple Bloom paused mid-way through discarding the empty liquid bag. She looked at Twilight with a bemused and bewildered expression, almost as if she was seeing the alicorn’s stupidity for the first time. Suddenly, she burst into laughter. The idea was just so absurd, she couldn’t help herself.

“You think Applejack did that to ya? This mare, right here, did all that?” Apple Bloom asked confoundedly as she gestured to the sickly mare in the bed.

Twilight couldn’t answer that question, still searching the recesses of her mind for some clarity. Nevertheless, no explanation presented itself.

“I’d ask if the cure makes a mare an idiot, but AJ didn’t exhibit any signs.” Apple Bloom added.

“W-what?” Twilight whispered, frightened confusion stamped on her face.

Apple Bloom sighed loudly, exaggerating the noise to exemplify her impatience.

“I thought it’d be fun to mess with yer head for a bit, but it’s actually just kinda annoying. Why don’t I cut to the chase?” She offered, taking the green armchair from AJ’s bedside, and pulling it slowly towards Twilight. The scrape of the chair grating against the wooden floor sent a twinge of pain through Twilight's head, worsening the migraine she had already been suffering. She flattened her ears as the earth pony teen pulled the chair into place. Eventually, it came to rest in front of, and facing, Twilight. Apple Bloom then calmly unlatched the device’s belt from around her waist, and hoisted herself into the chair, resting the contraption nearby. Apple Bloom looked like a parent ready to tell their foals a bedtime story.

“Want me to start at the beginning or just answer your stupid questions?”

To say that Twilight was perplexed would be an understatement. She couldn’t yet mentally grasp the situation, and the questions in the forefront of her mind grew too numerous to sort through. After a few beats of silence, Apple Bloom interjected.

“Okay then, I’ll just start at the beginning.”

Apple Bloom leaned back in her chair and smiled smugly, like an old pony fondly reminiscing about a happy memory.

“I guess I’d say this tale starts a few years back. Granny had just passed from the grief of everything, and the strain of taking care of me ‘n Mac. Mac was a damned fool for gettin’ that heat stroke, and an even bigger one for waitin’ so long to get it taken care of. His mind and his kidneys were never the same. Of course, it didn’t help that I was laid up the way I was, unable to get outta bed. You can’t imagine what it was like for an old pony to have to take care of the grandchildren who shoulda been takin’ care of her. I don’t have to tell you what happened when she passed. Mac moved to Starlight’s old village cuz he found some unicorn mare willing ‘nough to take care of ‘im. Didn’t know then why you insisted on takin’ me in, though. I know now it was from the guilt of everything YOU had caused. I can still remember waiting for weeks for a letter from Mac asking me to come live with him ‘n his new marefriend. I had this contraption thingy now, so I wouldn’t be an invalid anymore… why wouldn’t he want me back? We were all each other had. That never happened, though. He’d lost AJ, then Granny… and Celestia help ‘im he tried with me, but everypony has their limits. I never got confirmation, but I know it was you that convinced ‘im to let me stay with you instead. He probably thought he was doin’ what was best for me…still hurt, though.” Apple Bloom briefly hesitated, bitterly clenching her teeth at the memory of her big brother’s abandonment. “Instead, while I was waitin’ on that letter that would never come, I intercepted a delivery at the castle. You remember, all them letters and packages from Pinkie Pie being sent back? Couldn’t figure why they’d come to us, nor who the hell would reject Pinkie like that. I’ll admit, I was curious. There was a note on top, said it was from the head prison guard in Canterlot sending you all the mail for ‘the prisoner’ like you requested. Odd, I thought. What prisoner would Pinkie Pie be sending cookies to? I brushed it off and forgot all about it… until a couple of years ago.”

“Ya see, one day, I was workin’ on my potions when I heard you talkin’ to Starlight. Ya’ll must not have known I was in the throne room close by. She was getting real smart with you ‘bout you going to Canterlot to ‘maybe visit her’ again. Couldn’t imagine who she was talkin’ ‘bout at first, but then them letters came to mind. They’d said Canterlot prison. Got me wondering, ya know? So, I brewed a mighty good sleep aid, drugged you, Starlight, and Spike, and went on a little excursion to Canterlot.”

“Apple Bloom…” Twilight whispered, horrified. She couldn’t believe the pony she had taken in, and raised like her own sister, would do something so callous.

“Oh it weren’t no more than a couple hours is all! I wouldn’t have to have done it if ya’ll didn’t hover around me so goddamn much. You were a worse worry wart than Applejack was.”

Twilight grimly recalled the paranoia of letting Apple Bloom out of the castle in her contraption. She was worried about what might happen if she fell, or if something jammed the wheels and Apple Bloom would get stuck. Perhaps Twilight could have been a little more lenient with her restrictions and concerns, but still.

“I’ll cut a long story short and just say that I found out your dirty, fucked up secret.” Apple Bloom said, her tone notably dark now. “That first time, I couldn’t do more than just catch a glimpse. I was unprepared, ya know? So I came back here and, well, I cried for days trying to make sense of it all.”

Twilight remembered that too, and could never get the truth out of Apple Bloom about what was wrong.

“Spike’s the one I eventually told the truth to. He didn’t believe me, ‘til I showed him. Guess you’d let me out of the castle if I had a little dragon chaperone, huh?”

“Spike…” Twilight whispered, extremely hurt. She hadn’t heard that name in over a year, and still didn’t understand why he had suddenly wanted to spend time in the dragon lands. She had previously chalked it up to teenage rebellion, or perhaps that cliche ‘year to travel and find yourself’.

“Yup. He was pretty hurt. He helped me snoop through your things when you weren’t looking, and we found all them notes you took about the Sleepless Potion. We found out that Applejack was the murderer because of your magic.” Apple Bloom emphasized. She didn’t wait for Twilight to come up with excuses, she just continued. “He was so disgusted, he left. I don’t blame ‘im, I almost did too.”

Twilight was enveloped in memories and anguish. Spike, the dragon she had nursed from birth, and raised like a brother, or even a son… could he truly hate her? In Twilight’s rationale, the decision to keep him in the dark about Applejack was done to spare him from the weight of the guilt that she and her friends had to bear. Finding out through Apple Bloom would turn Twilight’s selfless action into a selfish one. Twilight devolved into soft, heartbroken sobs. Spike hadn’t even given her the chance to explain herself. How could some-creature she loved and cared for so deeply, spurn a chance to make things right again between them? How could he have just left? Previous to this moment, there was no reality in Twilight’s mind that could compel Spike to abandon her as he did. The mental anguish greatly outweighed her physical pain.

“Eventually, I honed my skills makin’ them potions so I could drug the guards and go visit my sister. She told me that you implied that I died that night, not just broke my spine. If I didn’t hate ya before, I certainly did then.

“We came up with a plan to get her outta there. Well, I did... AJ didn’t really think it ‘right’ at first. She said I needed ta ‘move on’. Well, movin’ on could mean gettin’ out and running away too. Right?” Apple Bloom glanced over her shoulder at the motionless Applejack with underlying bitterness. “But it was one thing to drug the guards. It’s another thing to have a prisoner go missin’ altogether. We knew we’d need to account for you gettin’ notified, and potentially all of Equestria out lookin’ for her. Still, we eventually got everything all figured out. Every. Single. Detail. We were gonna make our way to Appaloosa so Braeburn could get us a cart to git out of Equestria altogether. You’ve been preaching friendship so much, there weren’t many places left that didn’t know about the ‘Princess of Friendship’ and her friends. We woulda found somewhere though. Everything was fine until… that damned guard hadn’t been late to work that night…”

Apple Bloom paused, her voice cracking as she recounted their plan derailing. She could still hear the unicorn stallion shouting at them and chasing them down the hall.

“Applejack got hurt. She got hurt savin’ me.” She spoke softly, offering no other explanation as she wiped a rogue tear from her cheek. “Hit her head real hard… she never woke up.” Apple Bloom thought she couldn’t feel a worse pain than that night seven years ago, until now. It was more than just opening an old wound, it was exacerbating it. It festered under the surface as she gripped the armchair, trying to suppress her tears. “I had to change plans last minute, so I brought ‘er here. I was just gonna nurse her back to health, but the longer I waited, the more the plan fell apart. All I wanted was just to escape and hide with my sister. But ya know: ‘Sometimes ya can’t have what ya want, it’s just how life goes.’”

It felt like a millennia since those very words were told to a young Apple Bloom by a potion-suffering AJ. It was the morning after the zap apple harvest, the first time she noticed something amiss in her sister. Apple Bloom would never forget the wild look in Applejack’s eye as she feverishly stirred pots of zap apple jam while simultaneously filling jars in the over-crowded kitchen. That naive little filly couldn’t understand the gravity of the situation at the time, nor how true those words would come to be.

“You did all of this three days ago?!” Twilight asked, gobsmacked.

Apple Bloom’s disposition changed again, trading her sniffles for a smile that eventually turned into a dry chuckle.

“Three days? Try three weeks.”

Twilight blanked. How was that possible? The note she received from Canterlot said AJ had gone missing two days prior. Had Apple Bloom somehow altered the guards perception of time? Had she somehow delayed the letter?

“I see that stupid look on your face, so lemme help your itty bitty brain riddle it out. Ya see, from what I gathered, the Sleepless Potion makes time all fucky for its victims.”

Twilight’s stomach dropped.

“The Sleepless Potion? How… how could you… WHEN?”

“Well, you were one hell of a potions teacher, and it was easy enough to follow yer notes. Oh, by the way, a magic lock don’t work well against acid, just thought you should know.”

Twilight paused her frenzied train of thought when she heard that. Apple Bloom was the reason the lock was broken?

“Thing is, I was a might smarter than ya’ll were about it. I actually studied and perfected the potion before I used it. I knew when to do it, too. Celestia and Luna were off on that ‘friendship summit’ thing YOU came up with, so we could ‘make friends’ with every creature else on this damned planet. I think you did it ‘cuz you don’t like them coming to Commemoration, huh? It’s just another reminder that you failed as a friend in front of yer precious teacher. They’re still gone, I believe. I Guess the llamas don’t wanna play nice after all.”

Twilight couldn’t look Apple Bloom in the eye when she riddled out the princess’s absence. It was as if Apple Bloom could see past Twilight’s eyes and right into her core, where her insecurities and failures overrode logic and common sense. How much heartache could have been prevented if she hadn’t been too ashamed to face Celestia and Luna? Apple Bloom didn’t seem to notice, or care, that Twilight was shying away from her, she just continued on.

It was perfect for me, though. I figured out that when the old recipe is turned into a gaseous form, the side effects don't show up right away. I released it in the castle when you and yer friends were planning that stupid memorial.”

“MY FRIENDS?!” Twilight screamed, snapping out of her shame in a blink of an eye. The thought that Apple Bloom’s twisted scheme could extend beyond her hadn’t crossed the princess’s mind, and now an entirely new and horrific reality was unfolding before her.

“Oh yeah. Pinkie’s the one who sent the letters, so it weren’t hard to deduce that they all knew. Why’d you think Spike was so hurt? You trusted them, and not him. Every single one of ‘em was just fine and dandy knowing my sister was rotting away in a cell for crimes she weren’t responsible for. Pretty damn fittin’ if ya’ll experience what ya put my sister away for, so you could see fer yerselves what happens to ya. I expected a shit show, and none of y'all disappointed.”

No, it couldn’t be true. It just couldn’t be possible. Twilight had slept, she was sure of it! She had to have slept… right?

Reality was slow to settle, but it trickled in bit by bit, and things started to make sense. Twilight remembered feeling ill, though not violently. It must have been due to the dilution of the gaseous state that kept her from being too sick all at once. At the time, she had also rationalized that her lingering fatigue had come from the anxiety of planning the memorial. Nausea, fatigue, irritability, manic episodes…not a single one of them would have believed their unusual behavior was anything except the manifestation of stress.

“Since we’re going in order, let’s start with Dash.” Apple Bloom said, folding her hooves and getting comfortable. “Weren’t a mystery why her manic state would manifest as Wonderbolt nonsense. She probably thought she was some goddamn prodigy-record-breaker or something. Cuz of all that exertion, she’s the only one who had shit happen the night before Commemoration.”

Twilight perked up at that statement. Hadn’t Starlight died that night? She was sure of it, she had been working on her speech…

“Can ya stop making dumb faces and let me finish?! I’ll get to you, I promise.” Apple Bloom remarked in exasperation. “Where was I? Oh, Dash, right. It’s mighty convenient that when yer cured, ya get yer memories back eventually. She said she raced Soarin, they crashed, and she fought ‘AJ’ in the orchard. ‘Course, she didn’t know at the time that it wasn’t an apple orchard, but a cherry one, and the only other pony down there was Soarin. He tried calming her down, and she killed ‘im. ”

“Wait… Rainbow is ALIVE?” Twilight stammered, focusing on the wrong thing yet again. Apple Bloom ignored her comment and continued on.

“It was still early on in her exposure, so she was somewhat coherent that things weren't as they seemed. I'm sure that PTSD didn't mix with the potion well, though. After she killed Soarin, she wandered off alone. Some ponies found Soarin's body the next mornin’ and got so freaked out, they canceled Commemoration.”

“What?”

“Yup. Soon as I heard Dash had gone missin’, and a pony was dead, I knew the rest of ya’ll wouldn’t be far behind. Unlike with her, I made sure I was around for everypony else's eventual break. I also promised the Mayor I would tell ya about Soarin and the cancellation. Ponies just figured you were mournin’ when you didn’t say nothing. Frankly, Mayor Mare was kinda shocked to see me since I usually boycott Ponyville around this time of year. I don’t live under your roof, or your rules anymore, so ya can’t force me to go. In fact, I’ve secretly spent the past couple of Commemorations with Applejack. You know, the reason for your disgusting cover-up holiday.”

Even though Apple Bloom spoke with conviction, Twilight was still convinced this was all an elaborate lie. There was just no way any of it could be true. Hanging onto that hope was the only thing keeping Twilight quiet, and somewhat sane.

“First things first, I was the one who intercepted the note about AJ’s escape. I was gonna wait until I was sure you were ready before I gave Starlight that letter, but I got impatient. Revenge stirs around inside ya like an angry critter bitin’ and clawin’ to get out. Lucky fer me, my timin’ ended up bein’ just right anyways. You were stressed out juuuust enough to break. Seems you didn’t even know I was there. 'Course, you’re the one who can fill in those blanks. What happened when Starlight showed you that letter?”

Twilight immediately recalled that first prickly tendril of dread that encompassed her chest, and the frantic events that followed. If Apple Bloom was to be believed, then AJ was never in her lab at all, which meant that she had destroyed it for nothing. But that couldn’t be true, could it? And hadn’t AJ so clearly slaughtered Starlight?

“She was just here!”

Words echoed in Twilight’s mind, words that she did not remember Starlight saying, but somehow felt familiar.

“She was just here! She ambushed me!”

Terrifying pieces were falling into place: Starlight barricading her door with magic out of fear, Twilight blasting in, Starlight looking frantic…

“I tried to barricade my door but she got through! You don't think she's here to replace me, do ya??”

“Replace me, do ya?!”

Those words… She recalled them coming from Applejack. Twilight’s breaths quickened as her body began to shake. More and more images replaced memories, truths replaced delusions. Twilight jolting towards Starlight with a shard of mirror, Starlight confused and trying to run away…

“It’s okay. I didn’t expect you to tell me anyways. I was there for the last bit, though. It looked like Starlight would win out with that dresser of hers, but you were quicker. Ya slit her throat before she could drop it on ya.” Apple Bloom said, ending the prolonged silence.

The sharp pain. She had passed out… hadn’t she?

“How could Starlight hurt me if she had already died?” Twilight asked, not realizing she had spoken it out loud.

“She was levitatin’ a dresser above yer head when you killed her. Once she died, it dropped. Simple as that. You laid there on the ground for a long while and I considered curin’ ya right then and there, seeing how you’d already killed ‘n all. Thing is, you were the first one I could observe up close! You used to always harp on me ‘bout takin’ extensive notes on my potion experiments. Isn’t knowledge the TRUE power, Twilight?” Apple Bloom asked, adding a dark enthusiasm to the question just to torment her former teacher.

“No. No, I immediately came here, to the orchard! I know I did!” Twilight insisted. It was that moment, in that unbridled panic, that Apple Bloom could finally confirm that Twilight had accepted her explanations as truths.

“Yeah, I bet you did.” Apple Bloom said with a shrug. “Cuz you eventually staggered up, covered in Starlight’s blood, and zapped yerself away. You went missin’ too. I was kinda pissed off that I couldn't see what ya were gonna do next, though. I figured for the rest of ya’ll, I’d cure ‘em when they’d done something unforgivable, rather than have five morons bumblin’ around my family’s orchard. I told ya, the potion fucks with your sense of time.”

Twilight felt an uncanny and well-timed grumble in her stomach. She could faintly taste apples on her tongue and more images flashed in her mind. Twilight recalled wandering aimlessly, unable to distinguish one grove of trees from another. An endless sea of apples was her unrelenting prison. The maze of their paths offered no guidance. She recalled teleporting on occasion, but with no clear thought of where to appear, and ending up in places with more unfamiliar apple trees each time. The only reason the alicorn did not perish was by eating the unkept apples in their gnarled branches. Dim memories presented themselves of Twilight lingering at specific, yet inconsequential trees, for hours on end. She recalled seeing slight movement in these trees, and her eyes fixated on them, waiting for that movement to morph into Applejack. She couldn’t let her guard down, after all. The AJ in her mind was enhanced with a great magic of Twilight’s own making. On the rare occasion that she could pull her attention away from one tree to another, her hooves wandered in endless circles. She had seen hoofprints in grassless soil patches and believed them to be Applejack’s tracks. She realized in this moment, she’d been following her own hoofsteps. Twilight now knew that finding the farmhouse at all must have been sheer coincidence.

"Next, it was Pinkie Pie." Apple Bloom recounted. "I think it was… five days after Dash went missin’ that she finally broke. She’d made so many desserts she was baking everypony outta house and home. The Cakes probably didn’t know what to make of it, truth be told. I got to the bakery, with the cure, when the place was already engulfed in flames. Pound was screaming about Pinkie killin’ his momma, and his daddy still bein’ inside. ‘Course by then, they couldn’t save him. Pumpkin's lucky she got out in time. They’re in Manehattan right now, I think. Living with some distant relative or something. Pinkie’s got some real bad burns to heal up from before she can face the Princesses, though.”

“Pinkie…” Twilight whispered woefully. She wished she could tell Apple Bloom to stop, but she just had to know what had happened to her friends.

"But what about Rarity? And Fluttershy!?"

“Yup, they succumbed too, in that order, actually." Apple Bloom started again. “Rarity lasted about a week, and ended up killin’ Sweetie; wrote ‘Guilty’ all over the walls in ‘er blood. At least we could agree on that part. Her guilt, that is. Afterwards, she spilled her guts out to me about dern near everything. Did ya know she was there that night seven years ago, and could’ve prevented all of this? I was a bit sad she was already rottin’ away in Town Hall’s holding cell when she confessed. Had I known that earlier, things mighta gone a little different.”

“But… Sweetie Belle was your friend!” Twilight protested, as if there would be some kind of logic to snap Apple Bloom out of this cold, calculated callousness.

“She ain’t my friend.” Apple Bloom spat. “She ‘n Scootaloo abandoned me, you oughta know that! Scoots claimed it was too difficult to ‘see me like this’, and Sweetie eventually blamed ME for what happened. Fuck ‘em both ‘s far as I care.”

Who was this monster, and how could she be wearing Apple Bloom’s skin? Twilight had done everything she could think to do for this young mare. She was a shoulder to cry on, a guiding hoof in her academic pursuits. She encouraged Apple Bloom to expand her horizons and rise above her pain. Where exactly had she failed her?

“Last, but not least: Fluttershy.” Apple Bloom said with a sigh, getting a little tired from the long-winded narrative, but still secretly reveling in it. “She broke about two weeks in, and had been starving her animals for Celestia knows how long. Before she started babbling all nonsense-like, she mentioned running into Angel, and snapping his neck on accident. Her critters retaliated, but o‘course that just led to more critter death. It’s funny, cuz all things considered, her crimes were the least… well, damnin'. Strange thing though, I cured Fluttershy, but that didn’t stop her from babblin’ nonsense and flailing about. It didn’t make sense! But, she ended up in the looney bin anyway.”

“Fluttershy’s in the mental hospital?” Twilight whispered, feeling a pang in her chest for her friend.

“Yup. Gonna stay there most like. Who knows, the others might join her, depending on how their trials go.” Apple Bloom added. She readjusted in the chair before continuing on.

“I gotta admit, it’s been a mighty interestin’ few weeks. Since you and the princesses weren’t around to investigate the new deaths and disappearances, the Canterlot guard had to come pokin’ about. Obviously they were gonna check Sweet Apple Acres. I’d already taken care of their memories from the escape, so it was just a matter of convincin’ ‘em that I hadn’t seen AJ about. That didn’t always work though, so I was making potions double-time to throw ‘em off our scent. Thank Luna guards is stupid, and their pea-brains are susceptible to magical potions. But I got worried that while I was busy watchin’ yer friends and waitin’ for them to break, that somepony would poke around where they ought not. So, I planted them flowers and set some traps around the farm. Besides, I was killin’ two birds with one stone knowin’ that eventually you ‘n Dash would stumble about these parts. Kinda crazy it was at the same time, huh? Dash is in Town Hall right now with Rarity, waitin’ on the Princesses. I think ponies wanted to find you first, hopin’ you’d riddle out why yer friends had gone so nutso. Gonna be interestin’ to see what they say when they find yer body instead.”

Had Apple Bloom just said what she thought she said? Twilight’s blood ran cold, and a deafening thumping in her head increased with every rapid heart beat.

“A-Apple Bloom, p-please…” Twilight couldn’t think of the right way to beg for her life. This wasn’t her little student, assistant, and protege. This was a monster pretending to be Apple Bloom, and monsters were difficult to appeal to.

“I considered lettin’ you live like the others, and gettin’ put away for life, but I don’t trust the princesses not to go easy on ya. They just seem like the type to pull some stupid loophole shit and set you free somewhere. True, you’d have to live with the guilt, but that just ain’t good enough for me. No, while you draw breath, I can’t find peace.” Apple Bloom finished, relieved the explanations had finally ended.

“It wasn’t my fault! I warned Applejack about possible side effects, but she took it anyway! I know I should have gone to the orchard with her and shake the trees myself but… but the princesses needed me. The drought was more important than some zap apples, or so I thought! I was wrong, okay? Wrong! But I’M not the one who murdered ponies for revenge! I’m not the one who tried to hurt her friends and loved ones. I’m not the one who crippled you!” Twilight shouted, throwing every piece of logic she had left at Apple Bloom, hoping something would stick.

Apple Bloom didn’t respond. She calmly reattached her device around her waist and walked to the side of the room previously obscured by medical equipment. An old, dirt-encrusted shovel was then slowly brought into sight, clutched firmly in Apple Bloom’s hoof. It wasn’t the shovel, Rainbow Dash had disposed of that ages ago, but it was fitting enough. She glanced down at her target, a firm-set grimace on her face.

“I don’t care. You betrayed her. You left her to rot, thinkin’ ya’ll could just sweep it under the rug and forget it. You threw her away like she was nothing! Funny how friendship don’t mean shit without honesty, huh?”

“Apple Bloom, listen to me I--” Twilight Sparkle’s plea was interrupted mid sentence when the pony wielding the shovel hit her hard across the face, knocking her out cold.

Apple Bloom methodically locked her wheels into place, then casually placed the sharpened blade of the shovel to the ropes that bound Twilight’s hooves. It took a little bit of time, and elbow grease, but eventually, the spade of the shovel cut her ropes. Twilight’s body flopped flatly onto the floor, making her into an easier target. Apple Bloom paused for only a second before she lifted her shovel above the alicorn’s body. There was no going back.

With a grunt of effort, the shovel came down hard and pierced the fur of Twilight’s torso. Soonafter, Apple Bloom pried it up, and thrust it down again. This time, the blade made contact with the alicorn’s left forehoof. The third strike nicked the stomach. Apple Bloom wasn’t the greatest at aiming, seeing how each thrust was supposed to pierce Twilight’s heart, but she was still surprised she hadn’t drawn much blood in her first few attempts. By the fourth thrust, Apple Bloom punctured an organ, and blood finally began to flow in surges. Apple Bloom’s movements went from calculated, to crazed. She screamed and sobbed as all of her bitterness and anger was funneled into the bloodied mare. That uncontrollable shake… It prevented her from keeping a proper grip on the shovel. After a final thrust, Apple Bloom’s assault ended. The shovel escaped her grasp, tumbling haphazardly onto the crimson and violet mass. She glanced in slight disbelief at what she had done. The blood spattered and stained on her sunny coat.

Apple Bloom’s heart was pounding in her chest as she stood motionless and loomed over the lump that used to be Twilight Sparkle. After a few minutes, she blinked rapidly to snap herself back to reality. She’d told Twilight that she’d perfected the Sleepless Potion, but the foolish princess hadn’t asked her what that meant. Changing some ingredients here and there, and microdosing her own exposure, had kept the earth pony awake since the beginning of her vengeful quest. She couldn’t afford to sleep and have Princess Luna stumble upon her dreams; all of which centered around her anticipated actions. The princess hadn’t found Applejack’s dreams either, and Apple Bloom was convinced it was because of a dreamless potion she had been slowly feeding into Applejack’s sleeping body. It couldn’t possibly be anything else, even if the magical monitor that showed brain activity had been consistently silent. No, there was a potion to fix just about everything, she would just have to work harder.

Apple Bloom took a slow breath to compose herself. She briefly left the room to find a wash basin. Apple Bloom soaked a rag in some warm water and carefully cleaned any visible droplets of blood from her fur and mane. Once she had finished, she returned to Applejack’s room and eyed the pony remains waiting for her there. She knew she ought to dispose of the body the way she had planned. The trouble was, her frenzied attack had completely sapped Apple Bloom of energy. Melting skin, tissue, and bone in a specially mixed acidic vat of potion would have to wait. It seemed ponies wouldn’t be finding a body after all. Apple Bloom’s hooves dragged on the floor as she walked and wheeled towards her sister’s bed. She gently pressed a latch on the contraption around her waist, freeing her from it as she awkwardly climbed into the bed, positioning herself beside her sister. Apple Bloom snuggled AJ from atop the covers, burying her face in her mane as she had done so many times as a filly.

“You can wake up, Applejack… Please wake up.” She whispered softly and lovingly to her big sis.

“You were right. I shoulda listened to ya… I’m sorry. I just couldn’t let it go.”

Author's Note

I wanted to take a moment to thank you, dear reader, for giving this story your time! Whether you liked it, loved it, hated it, or think it was 'Meh', I'm just so glad you're here. I welcome your thoughts, and I truly hope you experience Lost's interpretation of this piece on Youtube as she gave this story her own flare and added so much extra context that the written word would never have been able to accomplish! Thank you again, all my love, Magpie

A Pink Party Pony's Surprise [Part 2 Scene 1]

The sound of a pan clattering against the kitchen floor echoed through the quiet, sweet shop called Sugarcube Corner. The accidental drop was loud enough to wake the young Cake twins, who jolted upright in their beds. Living in a bakery, they knew that awful, loud clang rather well, but weren't used to hearing it at that time of night. They contemplated remaining in bed, rather than run the risk of being caught snooping, but curiosity won out, so the pair quietly scampered down the main staircase towards the kitchen.

Unsurprisingly to the twins, when they peeked around the corner of the kitchen doorway, they found a frazzled-looking Pinkie Pie. She was trying some kind of new balancing act the Cake twins hadn’t seen before. A bag of piping was in Pinkie’s mouth, which she was using to ice something onto a cake, while simultaneously grasping a saucepan in her left hoof, a cupcake tray in her right hoof, and attempting to open the oven with her back hoof. This left only one back hoof on solid ground to maintain her equilibrium. Although the sight would have been amusing to most, the twins exchanged glances of worry, rather than amusement.

“Pinkie Pie?” Pound Cake said, boldly interrupting whatever it was he was witnessing while his sister followed close at his hooves.

“Pound! Pumpkin! I didn’t wake you, did I?” Pinkie said, the words garbled by the piping bag in her mouth. When the twins could only offer a face of confusion in response, she giggled and spit the bag out onto the counter, while sliding the cupcakes into the oven, and setting a timer.

“Oops! I forgot I was doing that! I’m soooo superty-duper triple ripple sorry that I woke you up!” Pinkie exclaimed, picking up the piping bag with her hooves and resuming her icing endeavor.

“Why are you baking? Luna’s moon is still high in the sky.” Pumpkin observed, pointing out the kitchen window to the bright moon shining overhead.

“Welllll….” Pinkie started, then switched tasks yet again by sprinkling flour on the counter, while finishing an icing swirl. Even her normal Pinkie absurdities were multitasking as a rolling pin produced itself from her mane. “I’ve got extra crazy lots to do before the biiiig party tomorrow! Everypony in Equestria is gonna be there, and they’re gonna be HUNGRY! I still have 6 dozen cupcakes, 7 pecan pies, 12 caramel fritters, aaaaand another triple chocolate cookie cake with chocolate frosting and chocolate sprinkles! You know those Canterlot ponies, they looooove their chocolate!”

Initially, the twins didn’t respond, unsure how to answer such a string of absurdities. Eventually, they chose to offer their assistance rather than try to riddle out Pinkie’s logic.

“Want us to help?”

“Aww you silly filly billies should be snoozing in dreamland, not rolling out pie crusts and setting the caramel on the stove to soften!” Pinkie said, doing those exact actions as she spoke them.

“Pinkie Pie? What in Equestria?”

Pinkie and the twins' attention snapped to the matron of the family, Mrs. Cake, when she joined them in the kitchen. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes in disbelief at the sugary array stacked before her.

“Hiya Mrs. Cake!” Pinkie exclaimed with an energy and volume that was unwelcomed at this hour. Mrs. Cake recoiled at the sound as Mr. Cake finally made his appearance, completing the house’s inhabitants.

“Juuuust finishing up those desserts for the big party! The castle ran out of sugar, can you BELIEVE IT? So I thought I would finish up here, I knew you all wouldn’t mind! Sorry about the noise, I can be a taaaad clumsy when I’m quadruple tasking. Ooo I can’t WAIT to try all of these tomorrow! I might just have to make a “Caramel Chocolate Cherry Surprise Pie” just for me! I’m so hungry I could eat a dozen cupcakes all on my own!”

“Pinkie, dearest, don’t you think you could bake some of these things tomorrow after you’ve gotten a good night’s rest?” Mrs. Cake offered. There was a sincerity in her tone, but it was mixed with deep concern.

“Er, yeah, you’ve made plenty of desserts so far, I’m sure a couple cupcakes won’t be missed.” Mr. Cake said, echoing the sentiment while nervously rubbing the back of his neck. “Sometimes it’s easy to lose track of time when you don’t give yourself a break.”

Pinkie laughed, just as loudly as ever, while she slammed the pie dough on the counter and started to flatten it with the roller.

“Don’t you worry! Twilight’s included sleepy time on that big list she gave me of things to do! Soon as I’m done with the baking, I’ll get right on that list, and it’s off to beddy-bye for this pink pooped party prepping pony.” Pinkie said dismissively, unable to pull away from her tasks, even for a moment, to make eye contact.

“Maybe we should get your friends over here to help you in the morning, then.” Mrs. Cake said. “We wouldn’t want a pooped, pink, party-throwing Pinkie Pie, isn’t that right dear?”

Mrs. Cake sharply elbowed Mr. Cake as she gently nudged the twins towards the stairs. They looked back at Pinkie one final time, their brows furrowed in worry, before giving into their mother’s silent command.

“Y-yes! Your friends and… maybe your eccentric sister can come by. She’ll know how to help.” Mr. Cake said nervously, watching his family ascend the steps to their respective rooms.

“Sounds absotuvely-posalutely perfectly perfect to me!” Pinkie said, still not meeting his eye.

“Well, goodnight Pinkie Pie. I… hope you get some rest.” Mr. Cake remarked with a sigh, before he too climbed back towards the comfort of bed.

Pinkie Pie hadn’t noticed if the Cakes’ behaviors and comments had been anything outside of the ordinary. She knew they worried when she worked so late into the night, but this celebration was the most important party of the year, and she couldn’t afford a single slip-up. If even one pony left that party with a frown, she had failed. It would be a failure of Ponyville being able to heal. It would be a failure that would reflect poorly on Twilight, and that would mean more hardships for a friend she loved so dearly. But most importantly of all, it would be a failure to her very nature.

Pinkie took those dark, looming thoughts and buried them beneath her sheer determination to keep moving forward. She had just started cutting the third pie crust from the flattened dough, when the timer on the oven dinged. The party pony delightedly dropped the knife on the counter to grasp an oven mitt in her mouth. It was her favorite part of baking: opening the oven to the initial wave of warmth on her cheeks, and the sweet smells from perfectly golden pastries that followed. There was a comfort in that familiar aromatic embrace, a comfort that her frazzled nerves, and growing anxiety, needed now more than ever. Before her outstretched hoof could reach the handle of the oven door, however, Pinkie thought she heard more hoofsteps approaching. Her delight rapidly melted into annoyance. What had she done this time? She was sure she hadn’t made any additional noises to wake the Cakes. Were they coming back to lecture her again? How long could she continually reassure them that she was okay, before the happy facade would break?

“I see nothing’s changed ‘round here.”

Pinkie froze for a moment. She could have sworn that was Applejack’s voice coming from behind her. She giggled and shook her head.

‘Okay, maaaaaybe I do need some sleep. Now I’m hearing voices.’ Pinkie Pie thought absently to herself, oven mit still clasped tightly between her teeth. She refocused on the task at hoof, and the oven door swung open with ease. A pang of disappointment twinged in Pinkie, when that initial warmth and smell did nothing to ease the tightness in her chest.

“That any way to greet an old friend, Pinkie Pie? I’d have thought better of you, if I didn’t already know what a phony you were.”

Pinkie Pie had never heard voices in her head this clearly before, and the grim curiosity caused her to spin around with the cupcake tray still in mouth. When she stopped, she could barely believe her own eyes. There, standing at the counter with Pinkie’s empty pie tins and baking supplies, was Applejack. Pinkie screamed out and flung the cupcakes into the air, stumbling backwards onto the stove, and narrowly grazing the hot saucepan with her right hoof. The cupcakes went soaring, splattering around the kitchen, while the hot tin came whirling back down onto Pinkie’s back right hoof. She screamed again, but more in shock than in pain, kicking the hot pan away as quickly as possible, before letting her eyes focus on the mare before her.

Her eyes weren’t playing tricks, this wasn’t a dream or a cruel prank, this intruder was undoubtedly Applejack, but she wasn’t quite the Applejack Pinkie remembered. This Applejack looked haggard, like a sun-bleached, worn-out piece of leather. Her fur was matted and unkempt, along with her mane and tail, like a pony who hadn’t had a proper bath in years. Pinkie couldn’t see her eyes from underneath that old, tattered hat, but she could see the hateful grimace; and that’s what had startled her the most. Applejack wasn’t exactly alone either as she leaned against an old, dirt-encrusted shovel, and was wearing a belt with varying old gardening tools. Pinkie immediately recognized them, as the very kind that had once been used as AJ’s instruments of torture.

“Applejack?!” Pinkie said, her voice squeaking more than usual. “Applejack!”

Pinkie flung herself forward, her hooves outstretched like she was welcoming back a friend from an extended vacation. It was all Pinkie could think to do, knowing that her brain would need time to catch up with itself. Despite the innocence of the gesture, Applejack didn’t give her the satisfaction. She didn’t want Pinkie believing, even for a moment, that there was anything good left between them. She shoved Pinkie away, hard, and the pony fell against the sink, her head snapping back and forth so violently it gave her a headache.

“No, you don’t get to touch me like you give a damn.” Applejack snarled.

“But AJ…” Pinkie trailed off. She had a million thoughts buzzing around in her head, competing for a chance to form into words. So many things left unsaid, and so many questions; it only made her head throb harder.

“Don’t you ‘But AJ’ me.” Applejack snapped back, taking her hoof and setting it behind one of the empty pie tins, before rocketing it off the counter. Pinkie jumped and gasped out when the tin hit the adjacent wall. A ringing soon took hold in her ears, and wouldn’t relent. An unsettling feeling of dread was growing steadily in the back of her mind.

“Twilight made sense. She had to keep up that perfect little image of hers. I wouldn’t expect Dash to give a shit, and Fluttershy’ll do whatever the hell the rest of ya’ll tell ‘er to do. Rarity’s another story, but you Pinkie? What’s yer grand excuse?!” Applejack growled, violently flinging another pie tin across the room.

“Excuse?” Pinkie asked, voice shaking as she helplessly covered her ears from the increasingly loud timbre of ringing.

“For ABANDONING ME!” Applejack screamed, taking the shovel in her hooves and knocking every last item: ingredient and pastry, from the counter. Among the disarray, a bag of flour collided into the kitchen window, mere inches from Pinkie Pie’s head, and she had to bite back the urge to sneeze when its contents billowed around her.

“No, no, I didn’t! I swear! When Twilight told me the truth, I went there every day, Applejack, EVERY. DAY. I wanted to see you, but they wouldn't let me! I begged, I pleaded, I even tried to bribe them with cake! Twilight had to drag me away! I-I wasn’t going to give up, so she said I could send you letters and packages. I was writing three, sometimes four letters a day! I didn’t stop until they all came back… they said you’d rejected them.”

Applejack’s unforgiving and unrelenting gaze bore deeper into Pinkie’s.

“And you believed ‘em. Just like that? Some friend you are.”

AJ’s words stung like a thousand bees all attacking Pinkie’s heart at once. She had often wondered if it was truly Applejack who had sent back her countless letters, all unopened and unread. Deep, deep down in the pit of Pinkie’s stomach, she’d always known it was a lie.

“I… I shouldn’t have given up.” Pinkie admitted, strands of shame gripping around her heart like a vice. She hung her head, unable to bite back her tears. There was a brief uncomfortable silence between them while Pinkie succumbed to soft sobs. They were interrupted by the wind whistle of Applejack’s shovel whirling past Pinkie’s head, to land mere inches away, stuck into the wall beside her. She jumped, gaping at the shovel that could very well have implanted itself into her skull.

“Applejack?” Pinkie stammered, unsure how the conversation could have derailed so quickly that her former friend would want to harm her.

“I’m not really feeling very merciful tonight, Pinkie Pie. A lot’s changed since you knew me, and some things I just can’t forgive.” Applejack replied, the dark intonation erasing any doubt of the conviction in her words.

Applejack abruptly jolted towards Pinkie like a madmare, hooves outstretched for the party pony’s neck. Pinkie didn’t even have a chance to scream, she could only squeak in fear and duck out of AJ’s way. She scrambled, crawling towards the stove while Applejack pried the shovel from the wall.

“COME ‘ERE!”

Pinkie could hear the orange mare’s gallop, her rapid heartbeats in sync with AJ’s thunderous hooves. Pinkie jumped up from the floor and grabbed onto the only thing she could reach: the saucepan of caramel that had been melting on the burner. With an outcry of effort, she flung the pot and its contents in AJ’s direction. AJ let out a scream of pain and anger, the garbled sounds of her guttural shriek mixing with the ringing in Pinkie’s ears. The caramel contents spilled out onto the floor, as the saucepan clattered on the ground beside the pair of mares. At first, Pinkie couldn’t believe a pony could take a red-hot pan to the face, and still remain standing. But with grim realization, she remembered Twilight mentioning an aversion to pain as a ‘side effect’ from that accursed sleepless potion.

“You’re…. But…. they said they cured you!” Pinkie stammered. She was backing herself into a corner while the former farmer stalked ever nearer.

“And there you go believin’ them again! Do I look cured to you? You KNEW they were fuckin' lyin’. You KNEW I never got any of those letters, but ya still gave up. Ya gave up on me!”

Pinkie knew if she didn’t act fast she would surely meet her gruesome end. She gathered what courage and stamina she had left and charged into the mare, slamming her head into AJ’s chest and forcing her backwards until she hit the countertop. Pinkie didn’t take the momentary victory for granted. She extended her hooves to gather as many pastries and cupcakes as she could reasonably hold from the carnage on the floor. They would be her arsenal of weaponry. Taking one muffin in hoof, she desperately flung it in Applejack’s direction, following it up without hesitation with the remaining treats, one by one. Pinkie knew her chances of survival, and escape, would increase drastically if she chose to throw something heavier, or sharper. But she couldn’t fully comprehend those consequences. Objects like that could maim, dismember… or kill. Not Applejack, she couldn’t do that to Applejack. She’d already failed her, she couldn’t keep failing her.

The other mare didn’t need to contemplate the severity of such a situation, as Applejack unsheathed a spade from her toolbelt, and hurled it towards Pinkie. Pinkie dodged again, only running on adrenaline now, as she looked for a way out. She saw the back door was a few gallops within reach… but what about the Cakes? If her baking woke them before, what was to stop them from hearing this potential massacre? She knew she needed to get to the stairs and block Applejack from reaching them.

Pinkie veered to the side, choosing to run around the kitchen hoping to confuse Applejack. She made one mistake, though. Pinkie forgot the sticky caramel that was now soaking into the wooden floorboards near the discarded saucepan. Although it wasn’t enough to keep her stuck in place, it was plenty effective in tripping her. Pinkie fell forward, grasping the kitchen curtains as a fruitless effort to soften her fall, and snapping them out of place. She collided hard with the unforgiving floor, brain rattling in her head. A few seconds passed before Pinkie felt an incredible force yank her up by the mane, and press her face towards the still-lit burner.

Pinkie gritted her teeth and pushed back against the hoof that was trying relentlessly to incinerate her. She felt the heat singe the bits of fur on her cheek, but she refused to give up. In a moment of frightened insanity, Pinkie pushed her own face against the burner to shock Applejack enough to remove her hoof. It worked, and the pink pony pulled away from the heat as quickly as she was able. She didn’t want to assess the damage, she just needed to get away.

Maybe it was the final straw having to burn herself just to flee, or maybe it was the thought of the innocent Cakes in danger, but either way, Pinkie found herself with much stronger conviction. If she didn’t kill Applejack, Applejack would kill her. She was a failure, but she wanted to be a live one. Pinkie reached for some of the knives resting in their block on the counter near the sink. She screamed out, thrusting one at a time at the orange mare. She couldn’t be sure, but Applejack seemed to move faster than a pony ought to have been able. Not a single knife was successful in its endeavor. Even more frightening was the sight of AJ picking up the discarded knives like she was calmly collecting a deck of cards. Pinkie’s hoof eventually found nothing but air, and she quickly glanced to the side to see that the knives had all been thrown. In desperation, she grabbed the block of wood they’d been resting in, and threw that at Applejack, while sprinting away from the kitchen. Pinkie’s hooves beat against the ground fervently until she spied two of the very ponies she was trying to protect. Mr. and Mrs. Cake had indeed come downstairs to the horrendous noise, but their timing was deadly. As Pinkie Pie retreated, Applejack had decided to try her luck at knife throwing, and her aim was far superior to the frightened party pony’s. Pinkie collided into the pair of Cakes, thwarting her own retreat. She tumbled roughly to the ground at their hooves.

Screeching, buzzing, and drumming bees whizzed around in Pinkie’s head as a headache exploded from the sudden impact. Their angry noises mixed with the ever-present ringing in her ears. It was so encompassing, that it deafened the world around her. Pinkie only knew she was gasping for air because of the violent expansion and contraction of her chest, and the burning in her lungs. Louder and louder the chaos grew, and not even shaky hooves pressing her ears into her skull could stop its ascension. When Pinkie finally opened her eyes to look up, she saw Mrs. Cake’s face. The odd expression struck a chord in Pinkie; it was unnerving. The pastry shop matron was pale, wide-eyed, and shaking. She was looking down, though not at the pink pony at her hooves. Pinkie’s gaze followed hers until it fell upon the blade protruding from her friend’s chest. Pinkie opened her mouth to scream, but wasn’t sure if anything came out. From where Pinkie laid, it seemed as if Mrs. Cake was playing a macabre game of freeze tag. She didn’t move, her chest didn’t expand for breath, and her fixed expression didn’t change. Then, all at once, Mrs. Cake crumpled to the ground. Pinkie didn’t even see blood until Mr. Cake frantically pried the blade from Mrs. Cake’s chest, spraying Pinkie’s face with his love’s viscera.

Pinkie knew it in her gut, now. Applejack had won. There was no escaping this gruesome end.

Pinkie awkwardly scrambled backwards, wincing from droplets of blood in her eyes, clouding her vision. The sight before her was too much to bear, so she turned back towards the kitchen to face down her demise head-on. Instead of finding a murderous mare, however, Pinkie met the smiling face of what she could only describe as a demon, its figure aglow. It took a few seconds for her to realize that glow wasn’t just an otherworldly sight, but the beginning wisps of flames on the cupboards and counters. Fire had broken out in the kitchen, and Pinkie spied the fallen curtain resting, and burning, on the open stove top. This was her fault. Abandoning AJ, leaving her loved ones in danger, starting the fire from her carelessness, all of it.

Pinkie was ready to give up the fight, and curled into herself in anguish. But just as she was about to squeeze her eyes shut to await her demise, Pinkie caught sight of the twins. Somewhere in the confusion they must have joined everypony downstairs, only to find their mother's lifeless corpse. Their little cheeks were marred with tears as they tried uselessly to shake her back to life.

Pinkie didn’t know what strength she had left, but her hooves responded. She sprang up from the ground and screamed above the roar of the blaze at Mr. Cake.

“Get the twins and get out! Hurry!”

It was odd to feel the words in her throat, but be unable to hear them. The fire, and the damage it was causing, had taken the place of the ringing and humming, but it was still too loud to be heard over. Pinkie grabbed Mr. Cake’s hooves that were still clutched tightly to the body of his wife. He shirked her away from him angrily, but she kept trying to drag him up. Pinkie could see the flames in her peripheral vision. They were seconds from consuming them all. It was then she realized she could no longer see Applejack, and assumed she had fled once the flames overtook the kitchen. It was a small mercy to be able to help her loved ones without a crazed mare simultaneously trying to kill them. As Pinkie struggled to get a response from Mr. Cake, she grew to realize she couldn’t waste more time on a pony that didn’t want to be saved. No, she had the twins to think about now. Pound was closest, and her hooves wrapped around his little waist, prying him from his mother. He thrashed wildly, beat his hooves against Pinkie Pie, and even bit down hard into her foreleg. She couldn’t afford to release him, though, and silently withstood his frenzied resistance. Pinkie and Pound were closest to the back door, and the encroaching blaze had not yet overtaken it. She bolted towards their freedom until shaky, sweaty hooves were forced to fumble with a lock. Pound’s thrashing was only making things more difficult, but Pinkie clasped him tighter to her chest. Finally, the door handle moved, and a rush of fresh air entered the kitchen as the door swung open wildly. The gust of wind it created picked up the powder of flour scattered about the kitchen, and the flames immediately took hold.

A resounding explosion followed after Pinkie’s getaway, sending her and Pound flying into the street behind the bakery. Pound finally had leverage over Pinkie, kicking her away from him as he bolted free of her grasp. Luckily, the foal was wise enough to run away from the fire, rather than attempt any futile effort to save those within it. Pinkie didn’t have the strength or mental capacity to follow after him. All she could do now was lay in the street and stare.

Sugarcube corner was completely alight, burning away all that she loved. Tears stung the burn on her cheek as she helplessly watched the fire’s destructive glow. She kept her eyes locked, transfixed, on the orange mare standing in the window of the bakery’s kitchen. Applejack hadn’t fled at all, she’d remained to watch the fallout. Flames were licking the sides of her fur, but she did not burn. The unholy demon was immune.