🍎🦇That time Applejack thought Rarity looked delicious🦇🍎

Chapter 8

CURRENT STATUS

Twilight Sparkle inhabits Trixie

Sunset Shimmer inhabits Twilight Sparkle

Trixie inhabits Sunset Shimmer

Rainbow Dash inhabits Rarity

Rarity inhabits Rainbow Dash

AppleJack inhabits Fluttershy

Fluttershy inhabits AppleJack

PinkiePie inhabits Freako Funtime IceCream Surprise

Freako Funtime IceCream Surprise inhabits PinkiePie

Celestia inhabits Zecora

Zecora inhabits Celestia

(Wow this list is getting long isn’t it)

Rarity looked appetizing.

That was the thought that was slowly circling AppleJack’s brain on the night after their trip down the mountain.

It was a thought that she didn’t understand.

The pair of them had left the ruined fort the morning after their night there, having caught each other up with what the other had gotten up to. Rarity was less than pleased with Applejack’s description of RainbowDash’s impression, and AppleJack had been impressed by the pair's defeat of Dr. Cabaleron. They had ended up sleeping next to each other, wings covering each other’s body to preserve heat. Even though it wasn’t her usual body, AppleJack had still been blushing the entire time.

The trip down the mountain had been uneventful, the only real obstacle being the huge ravine. Luckily, Rarity had become quite adept with her wings by now. Nowhere near the level of the body’s usual host, but good enough to carry AppleJack across the huge drop.

It had been a strange experience for the newly turned yellow Pegasus. She was so used to being the one who carried others, yet she felt like she was the one needing to get escorted. She guessed that it was the feeling of uselessness that came with that which prevented her wings from functioning properly. She remembered Fluttershy saying that when she got really anxious, her wings would always seize up and stop working. She could only assume this was the same thing.

There had been a strange feeling in AppleJack’s stomach for the entire day. It didn’t feel like the anxiety she knew all too well from running a farm. It was more like a craving; one that she couldn’t place. It felt like a more primal version of being hungry, if that were possible. Just the inclination that something was missing. What worried her more was the further the day went on, the more the feeling started to increase. It was starting to get in the way of travel. Rarity had needed to stop her from accidentally walking into things multiple times as her brain had too much of a haze to properly take in her surroundings.

It all came to a head when AppleJack had straight up almost walked straight off a cliff. Despite assuring Rarity that she was fine, Rarity had insisted they stop for the night.

And that’s where AppleJack was now, sitting in one of the many caves that littered the lowest section of the mountain path, staring at the sleeping body of the pegasus inhabited by Rarity from the other side of the cave.

Thinking that she looked delicious.

She had tried to rationalise it the best she could. The pair hadn’t eaten that much today (as Fluttershy would usually be foraging). During most of their talks today, AppleJack had for some reason found it a lot harder to ignore how much she was smitten with Rarity, even though she was currently in the wrong body. Applejack had watched her carefully braid RainbowDash’s unwieldy mane with such delicacy and precision, even with her unusual hooves, all the while daydreaming of Rarity braiding her usual blonde haystack of a mane.

But that didn’t explain why she wanted to sink her teeth into her.

It would be so easy.

She ran her tongue along her surprisingly sharp teeth.

With the way Rarity’s neck was exposed, she could bite right into it.

Without even realising it, she had silently walked over to where Rarity slept. She stared down at her, eyes unblinking.

AppleJack wasn’t even aware that she was no longer in control. Instinct had taken over.

She also wasn’t aware that her ears had started to change shape, or that her wings had started to grow leathery.

She could hear Rarity’s heartbeat.

Badum. Badum. Badum.

Her ear twitched.

She slowly opened her mouth.

She started to move her head down towards the sleeping ponies neck, fangs ready to bite down and drain the creature of her blood.

Rarity mumbled something in her sleep.

“… The gala, applejack… you’d look handsome with it on…”

AppleJack’s brain was fog…

…But a searchlight of mental willpower was suddenly thrust through the haze, the lamp at the tower sitting at the top of the metaphysical lighthouse being one Rarity Belle who seemed to be having a dream about AppleJack.

This was enough to snap her out of it. AppleJack recoiled backwards, her features restoring to their usual Ponylike visage. They remained staring at Rarity, wide eyed. She scuttled as far away as possible from her, setting herself down against the cave walls.

She could feel her breathing quicken, the walls starting to close in as she looked at her quivering hooves. She was in complete disbelief at what she had been about to do.

“What’s happening to me…” she whispered, feeling her wings instinctively wrap around her like a cocoon. She glanced up at the gently rising moon outside, a much more terrifying prospect entering her mind.

“What’s happened to FlutterShy…”

“No.”

“Fluts! Come on, you know I can’t do this!”

“I c-can’t, RainbowDash…”

“Yes you can! You can do it! You have the strength of a thousand ponies right now! You know how buff AppleJack is!”

The pair stood at the doors of a boathouse. Rainbow Dash had tried (and failed) to pick the heavy duty padlock with a hairpin she had found in Rarity's mane, and she was now waiting on Fluttershy to break down the door with AppleJack’s strength.

“B-But it’s not our boathouse…” she mumbled, the huge horse shuffling her hooves in a very peculiar looking way.

“Fluts…” Rainbow Dash came over and gave her a little nudge. “It’s owned by the city guard! And since we are kind of the guard of Equestria, it’s kinda ours, right?”

“True…” said Fluttershy, caving immediately.

“Come on. We can come back and fix it together when we’re back to normal!”

Fluttershy looked down at Rainbow Dash pensively. It felt very strange to have to strain her neck THIS far down.

“… can we also go to the central Manehattan Zoo when we’re here to fix the door?” She asked quietly.

“Uhh, yeah? Of course??“ she said with a grin. “That sounds awesome!”

“Hehe…”

Fluttershy accidentally let out a giggle. Felt like it had been so long since she truly felt like she and her girlfriend were together again.

“Okay, now break us in!”

Fluttershy nodded as she furrowed her brow with determination.

She raised her hoof, and hit the lock with what she thought was a medium amount of force.

The lock shattered and the door flew off its hinges, flying into the boathouse and skidding along the ground until it hit the small boat that was docked there. The area around the door had also been destroyed, and splinters had flown everywhere. Fluttershy’s eye twitched.

“I… wow, Fluts, just meant the lock but… that works too!”

“I was aiming for the lock…” she said meekly.

Carefully, the two misbodied ponies entered in to inspect the boat. It was a medium sized boat with a small magically fuelled motor at the back, some stairs down to the hull as well as a small cabin. Fluttershy frowned. She probably wouldn’t even be able to fit inside the cabin properly.

“Come on!” Rainbowdash said as she excitedly leapt onto the boat, immediately shimmying below deck to get the motor started.

Fluttershy stood there for a good minute, terrified of the water. Usually it was no issue; she would just gently hover above it. But she’d need wings the size of parasols to lift this body off the ground. As well as this she couldn’t swim.

‘You got this!’ She heard Rainbow call out from beneath the deck.

‘You can DO this!’ She reassured herself as she stepped onto the boat. It almost immediately capsized.

“WO-OAH!” Cried Rainbow Dash from below, the sound of many tools and fishing gear getting thrown about. It seemed like she might have hit something else as well because the engine suddenly roared, suddenly pushing the boat into the night.

“WOOOOAOAAAUUUUGGGHHHH!!!” Screeched Fluttershy, who had almost been flung off the boat. She managed to hold on to the cabin with one hoof and onto her hat with the other. “SORRYSORRYSORRYSORRYSORRY” she whimpered, eyes shut tight.

Rainbow Dash bolted upstairs as fast as she could and launched herself inside the cabin. She gave her currently huge girlfriend a kiss on the cheek as she went by.

“YOU’RE ALL GOOD, HUN!“ she reassured, and spun the wheel around as fast as she could. The boat skidded around (fluttershy squealed loudly) the river, narrowly missing crashing into a harbour on the other side.

There were a few shouts coming from the shoreline, but Rainbow Dash could tell that the Manehatten guard was not in any position to actually chase them. She grinned wide upon noticing this, and faced the front again, the view screen almost entirely covered by the now cowering Fluttershy.

‘WAHEYYYY!!!!!” She cried out, as she pushed forward on the speed lever to max. “NEXT STOP!! PONYVILLE!”

“Uhm… RainbowDash… do you… know the way to Ponyville?” Asked Fluttershy anxiously.

“PFFT, no, but it’s fine! How hard can it be? I’ve flown this route hundreds of times!”

“Uhm… yes, Rainbow Dash, but, uhm… you can’t fly…”

Canterlot.

Sunset could hardly believe she was after all this time.

Her and PinkiePie were pulling the caravan through the streets of the Equestrian Capital. Twilight was atop the Caravan, covered in a blanket as she looked on the residents of the city sadly. It seemed to be business as usual in most regards, thankfully. Everypony seemed quite on edge, but most places were still open. There were a few houses that looked abandoned, however, and a few streets entirely cordoned off by the royal guard. A few of them nodded to the passing caravan. Most avoided eye contact.

PinkiePie had initially been smiling at everypony, but most had ignored her or actively avoided eye contact. Her ears flattened back as she drooped her head down.

Twilight had advised that they go straight to the castle, so it wasn’t long before they had arrived at the gates.

Twilight (with Sunset’s assistance) had gotten down from the top, and were walking side by side. She frowned as she saw how tense Sunset looked and gave her a small nudge.

“Don’t worry.” She said supportively. “She’s going to be happy to see you.”

Sunset winded a little. She appreciated how Twilight knew exactly what was wrong.

“It’s been five years…” she muttered. “And the only time I come back is when I’m forced to. Let’s just say I’m not exactly thrilled to bits right now.”

Twilight sighed a tiny bit. She had heard all about her insecurities about seeing Celestia again through their correspondence. Sunset had insisted she had moved on and was happy just living her life at Canterlot high, but Twilight could always sense that the wounds had never truly closed.

As they arrived at the gate, the guards there immediately brandished their horns.

“Hello. I am Sunset Shimmer. This is PinkiePie. And that is Twilight Sparkle.” Sunset said as calmly as she could. Twilight and PinkiePie nodded in confirmation.

The two guards glanced at each other , before the one on the left cast a quick spell. Twilight recognised it as a simple messaging spell.

In a few moments, a slightly unexpected pony appeared in front of them.

Princess Luna had teleported in with swirling shadows following behind her. She looked exhausted.

“L-Luna!” Cried out Twilight with relief, and moved up to hug her, but Luna put her hoof out to stop her.

“Please remain still, One who claims to be Twilight.” She said sternly, and gently closed her eyes. A small pool of dark magical energy came out of her horn, and gently wrapped itself around Twilight, who stood there nervously.

The pool of magic swiftly shifted to surround Sunset. It lasted a little longer and seemed to get more erratic. Sunset glanced over at Twilight nervously.

The pool then shifted over to PinkiePie. It started to shake violently, the liquid like magic starting to stretch towards the caravan. Twilight let out a little gasp. PinkiePie looked nervous, trying to swat away the energy to no avail.

Luna frowned, and dispelled the magic.

“Twilight Sparkle. I am glad to see you safe and well, despite the frail body you inhabit.” She said, smiling and bowing her head to Twilight. Twilight bowed back, Trixie’s misshapen mane flopping over her eyes to which she had to frantically smack it out the way with her hoof. She frowned at seeing her wound. “After we meet with my sister, you shall be going straight to the hospital.”

Twilight nodded.

“And… Sunset Shimmer… we meet at last” she continued, facing the being currently inhabiting the body of Twilight. Sunset felt herself shrink back. There was very little that truly scared her anymore, but the royal sisters were firmly second place on the list.

Number one was something bad happening to her Twilight.

“It’s… Uhmm- it’s an honour.” Mumbled Sunset, bowing her head and avoiding eye contact. It had only just clicked in her mind that she hadn’t actually met Luna before. Not from this world, anyway.

“My sister speaks fondly of you.” She said warmly, but her kind demeanour dropped as she looked at PinkiePie.

“You, however, are not a creature of this world.” She said, picking up PinkiePie with her magic.

“LUNA! We’ve been on like, BAZILLION adventures!” She told her hastily. “I-It’s me! The real Pinkie!”

“Then why did my spell act so erratically? It detects the overwhelming presence of the mirror dimension from you.” She said sternly.

“I-I can explain!” Twilight quickly interjected, having to speak quite quietly due to her wound. “S-She is the real PinkiePie! But she was swapped with a PinkiePie from the mirror pool!” She explained. Luna’s eyes narrowed. “Then where is her original body?”

“She’s inside the cart, tied up and stunned.” Said Sunset.

“I see. Why is that?“

Twilight motioned at her neck wound.

“I see.” Luna nodded with grave understanding. “PinkiePie’s appearance would suggest the creature in having her usual body is a violent one. I will have the guards take the caravan to the dungeon… and I am afraid we will have to have a guard at PinkiePie’s side for the duration of your visit.”

“What!?” Sunset had been on the same wavelength as Luna, but at this insistence she felt herself get a bit fired up. “Princess, no disrespect, but PinkiePie has been through HELL. Literally! We found her in Tartarus!” She said, moving over to stand in front of the still hovering PinkiePie, who’s eyes were already watering.

“That may be true, and this does appear to be the true PinkiePie, but we are unaware of what the mirror entity is capable of.“ she said, spreading her wings out, mane expanding in size slightly.

Sunset growled a little. “So? Me and Twilight will be with her, and I’m an Alicorn right now. Any danger and we’ll squash it. Do you have ANY idea what it was like for her? Being trapped for days all on her own? Thinking that she was going to be stuck there forever with no escape? Have some sympathy for the poor girl!” She said, putting her hoof down. She hated the idea of Pinkie being blamed for some that that wasn’t her fault.

Luna’s eye twitched. Twilight winced. PinkiePie covered her mouth with her hooked hoof in shock.

“Trapped for days, was she?” She said, and dropped the two onto the floor. She towered over Sunset, which immediately reinstalled fear into her.

“I was trapped on the moon for a thousand years, every moment of my existence being a cold, dark misery. I am not making this decision lightly, Sunset Shimmer.” She boomed down at her, darkness spilling out of her eyes.

“B-But… how do you… why would…” sunset Stuttered out.

Luna took a deep breath as she backed off, allowing Sunset to stand up. Twilight’s ears were folded back.

“We have some new information about this mirror entity.” She said calmly again, motioning for one of the guards to move over to PinkiePie. “Some that may change how you feel about the severity of this situation for you, Sunset Shimmer.”

Sunset felt her stomach do a horrible turn. What did that mean?

“Follow me inside. My sister and her host wish to speak.”

Twilight tilted her head. “Her host?”

-

Sunset had her head down as she entered the throne room. She could hear the light hoofsteps of twilight as well as the mismatches clunking of PinkiePie and her guard following along behind her.

She glanced up just long enough to see Luna descend down onto her throne. Celestia sat in her throne, smiling at the ponies as they entered. For a reason unknown to Sunset and the others, Zecora was also there, who was smiling too. Sunset was very aware that all eyes were on her, and so looked back down at the ground.

“Celestia!” Squeaked Twilight as she rushed ahead, giving the Alicorns tight squeeze. “I’m so glad you are ok!”

“It’s good to see you, Twilight Dear, although I am not as I appear.” She said, still smiling down at her as she used her large hoof to gently pet her hair. Twilight looked up in confusion. Why was she speaking like… ohhhh….

Her eyes moved down to the zebra beside her, who nodded. “I am afraid I am a victim of this too, Twilight. Luckily, I could not have hoped for a better host.” She said, revealing to the room that she was, in fact, Celestia.

Zecora bowed her head respectfully, appreciating the compliment.

Twilight moved up to Celestia, and with a nod from Zecora, gave her a right hug. Celestia smiled and hugged back, but her head was very much gravitating towards the smallest Alicorn in the room.

Sunset looked at Celestia, and gave an awkward little wave.

“Sunset Shimmer…” she said, ending the hug. She started to walk towards her, smiling wide.

Sunset felt her heart rate quicken and found herself falling into a sitting position as she approached. She let out a tiny whimper as she stopped a few feet in front of her.

“I am glad to see you again. It has been far, far too long.” She said simply. Sunset nodded, avoiding eye contact again. “Uhm- yeah.” She said, rubbing the back of her neck. Celestia’s smile faded a bit as she saw how apprehensive she was, and decided to instead move on to the matter at hoof.

“As I assume Luna has informed you, we have gathered more information about the creature that has done this.” She said, returning to her throne and sitting by it.

“Firstly, it seems to know about the elements of harmony, so we can assume that it has knowledge of our world. Secondly, we believe that their power extends far beyond simple swapping ponies. Lastly, our working theory is that it was once a pony, likely one with a personal vendetta against the elements.”

Twilight frowned at this as she started running through a list of enemies in her mind. She didn’t have any solid idea of which one it could be just yet.

“Uhm…” Sunset managed to speak up. She still avoided eye contact with everypony.

“May I ask how you learned this new information?”

Celestia smiled, and nodded to a guard.

“I believe that would best be explained by the source.”

A side door opened, and in walked a red and yellow Unicorn. Her back legs had been chained together with a loose fit chain to restrict movement but not to immobilise. Her sides were covered with bandages, as well as one of her back legs.

But that grin on her face made nobody have to guess who it was.

“The Great and Powerful Trixie has got a new haircut…” she said, flicking her twisty orange and yellow mane. Twilight let out a squeak of relief and immediately ran at her. She hugged her tight, compartmentalising her affection for the body she was in.

“You’re ok…” she whimpered.

“Twilight, did you really think being sent to a parallel universe and turned into a weird flesh monster was going to stop me from coming back to infuriate you?” She said, her smile genuine. She winced a bit at the wound she saw on her own body’s neck. “And I’m… glad you survived. Mostly for my own body’s sake, of course! But I suppose you being okay too is fine. I guess.”

Trixie looked up to see Sunset standing right infront of her. Twilight’s ears flattened and she shrank away, leaving the two ponies to stare at each other.

Sunset looked her up and down. It was a strange sensation looking at oneself like this. It was made even more peculiar for sunset as it had been quite a while since she had actually seen herself as a pony.

But, to be honest, she was more concerned about all of the bandages that were surrounding her body.

“Ah! Sunset Shimmer, was it! Hello! I am Trixie, the great and powerful! A pleasure to meet you, and for you, an honour to meet me! Your body is lovely, by the way! Wouldn’t mind being in it more~”

Sunset could feel that usual tense feeling start to fill her body upon hearing her voice being so boastful. She did her best to stay calm, even when she made that strange comment.

“What, prey tell, did you do with my body to fuck it up this much?” She asked. She could sense Twilight fidgeting beside her.

“Well! To explain that, I’ll have to tell you…” she said before pausing suddenly. Sunset’s eyes narrowed at the hesitation.

“I… Well, I met your date! Lovely girl, takes after my wife, haha” she said awkwardly, glancing at Twilight.

Twilight just glared.

Sunset’s eye twitched, her body growing more tense by the moment.

“And, well… When I told her that I was not her big sweaty guardian alpha date and was, in fact, Trixie, she was oddly determined to come through the portal with me to save you! That’s a dedicated girl you’ve got there! She even accidentally called you her girlfriend!”

Without blinking, Sunset moved closer to Trixie. She could feel the cola bottle that was her temper being shaken up with the force of an earthquake.

“Where is she?” She asked.

“Well…” Trixie said awkwardly.

Sunset slammed her hoof down, accidentally cracking the tile she was standing above, her wings spreading out as wide as they would go.

“Where is my Twilight.”

Luna stood up to intervene but was halted by Celestia’s stripy foreleg. “Let this play out, sister…” she muttered to her.

Trixie had shrunk back, her smile growing much more anxious. “W-Well, she… when we travelled through the portal, the c-creature in the mirror… she… T-took her. A-And cast me aside, smashing me through a mirror in the castle. Hence the bandages.”

The bandages on her usual body were the least of her concerns.

Twilight. Her Twilight.

She had been taken.

Sunset was her protector. She wouldn’t let anything bad happen to her.

She failed.

Sparks flew out of her horn as she remained motionless, breathing in and out through her nose as deeply as her Alicorn lungs would take. Twilight carefully placed a shaking hoof on her shoulder, but Sunset batted it away with her wing.

“Why didn’t you protect her.” She growled, and without realising it, started to levitate Trixie up into the air.

“I-I tried my best! I r-really did! But that thing, it was too f-fast for me!”

“Then you didn’t try hard enough.” She said, and started to compress the magic around Trixie. She had managed to restrain herself enough to not outright crush her, but she was dangerously close. Trixie started clutching her throat.

“That is enough, Sunset Shimmer.” Said Luna sternly, moving past Celestia. “Release her.”

Sunset had tunnel vision. Her hair had started to levitate slightly as she tried her very best not to lose control. Luna’s horn started glowing as she prepared a spell.

“She… Told m-me to tell you she… she loves you-“ Trixie managed to splutter out.

Sunset felt like she had just been hit in the stomach with a sledgehammer as she exhaled all of the built up tension in her body.

She felt a thousand emotions all rush towards her at once as she stumbled backwards, dropping Trixie to the floor. Luna kept her spell prepared, but did not grow closer.

“Sunset?” Said Twilight, but her voice was drowned out by the ringing in sunsets ears.

Too much.

This was too much.

She turned around and ran.

Trixie stayed on the floor as she watched her leave, frowning sadly. Twilight was in two minds about calling for her to stop, but by the time she had decided to do it, sunset had already escaped the room.

A horrible silence had filled the chamber.

Sunset ran. She didn’t know where she was running. She just ran.

She eventually reached a balcony where she leapt off, wings spread wide, gliding. She spun around in different directions in the air as she looked for a place to be alone. Everywhere was too crowded. Eventually, she spotted something in the gardens. The same hollowed out tree she had used as a secret den whilst still a student of Celestia. She would stay there for hours, creating and planning all the amazing things she would do when she became an Alicorn.

She didn’t think anypony knew about it, so it would have to do.

She landed messily, her hooves scraping along the grass and leaving quite a large mud trail. That was going to make a poor canterlot gardener's day significantly worse. She ran towards the tree and slid inside. Or, she tried. Sunset’s regular body could just about squeeze into the hole. Twilight’s body was a little smaller than Sunset, even as an Alicorn, but she did have one thing that blocked her entry.

Her wings.

Sunset fell down backwards, wings spreading out involuntarily. The sun was setting behind her, showing her winged silhouette against the tree.

She was an Alicorn.

Through the gap in the tree, she could see some of her scribbled drawings scattered around, curled by the passage of time. One big one remained, however. Pinned to the back wall of the tree was a huge diagram she had drawn of herself as an Alicorn, detailing how ‘epic and cool’ it would be when she had wings. Below her she had drawn an adoring crowd cheering up at her. The one thing she hadn’t drawn was anypony with her.

She may have desired this before, she didn’t want this anymore.

Fate had a strange way of giving you just what you want at completely the wrong moment.

She could feel frustration rapidly bubble up to the surface again. With a loud roar of anger, Sunset finally sliced the top off the shaken up bottle of fizzy drink that had been her emotions. A huge magical orb blasted out of her horn, and where the old tree had been rooted was now but a smouldering crater. Branches and sticks flew everywhere as well as scraps of paper. One landed directing in front of her.

A crude drawing of her standing with Celestia, both as Alicorns, embracing, as an arrow pointing to herself read ‘Best Daughter EVER.’

It was that which finally broke her down. She slammed her hoof down into the floor in frustration onto the drawing, leaving a muddy hoof print, and flopped over onto her side, curling up into a tight ball with her wings spread out behind her.

She had finally escaped her past back home. Sure, everybody knew what she’d done, but they had forgiven her. She had someone to love and someone who (apparently) loved her too. It now seemed like she might never see her again, except seeing her almost identical likeness in the body she was in now. What’s worse is that reaching her ascendant dream was just reminding her of how truly awful she had been to everyone and everypony around her when she was chasing it.

She didn’t cry. She didn’t have the capacity right now. She just lay there on the ground, shivering, the dysphoria of being in the wrong body finally properly setting in.

She didn’t know how long she lay there on the floor for. She sensed royal guards approaching a few times. Every time they did, she would make her horn spark and crackle menacingly. It seemed to make them go away.

Eventually, however, one of them didn’t go away. The soft hoof steps kept on approaching.

“Sunset Shimmer…”

She didn’t immediately recognise the voice, so assumed it was just some guard.

“Fuck off.” She growled, horn sparking rapidly.

“No. I don’t I will, as you so delicately put it, ‘Fuck Off’.’ The voice responded, sounding quite amused. Who even was that?

Sunset opened her eyes.

It was that strange Zebra from the throne room.

The cogs whirred.

Celestia.

Celestia laughed at the sudden realisation on Sunset's face as the Alicorn scrambled up into her hooves.

“Sorry! I-I’m so sorry! I didn’t realise it was you, I’m so sorry I’ll go sorry I’m sorry about the tree I didn’t mean to blow it up it’s ok I’ll-“ she started to scramble together a sentence but was stopped as Celestia placed a hoof on her shoulder, which silenced her immediately.

“Breathe, Sunset”, She said calmly, “You are not in any trouble.”

Sunset nodded very quickly, taking in big deep breaths as the repressed tears from earlier all started to fall out.

“It is a shame that this reunion that I have been hoping on for years had to occur under such unusual circumstances…” Celestia said softly. “But it is so, so good to see you, Sunset.”

Sunset wiped her tears away with a hoof, sitting down. Celestia sat down next to her.

“I’m s-sorry I never came back.” She mumbled. Celestia just smiled.

“May I ask why?”

Sunset let out a little whimper, turning her head away. “I was sure you’d still be angry with me… Even more so thanks to my stupid stunt with Twilight’s crown.”

Celestia remained silent. The tension this created compelled Sunset to keep on talking.

“And even though I know Twilight would have put in a good word for me, I still didn’t want to come back, even if you had forgiven me. It was far easier to pretend that you just didn’t exist and that if I just ignored it, the problem would go away…” she said, looking at her unfamiliar purple hooves. Something clicked in her mind..

“... A-And I guess I…” she said, finally looking at Celestia. “I guess I couldn't stand the idea of having to see somepony else being at your side as your pupil.”

Celestia’s smile faded a little as she said this. She tilted her head a little in thought, then looked down at the ground herself.

“I did not ever consider the effect that it might have had on you…” she said quietly. Sunset’s stomach dropped; she had just made HER feel bad now. Celestia restored her resolve and looked at Sunset.

“I assure you, Sunset, that if you ever want to return here in your usual body, you will be forever welcome to be my student. I never, ever stopped caring about you, and I never will. No matter what happens” she said with certainty. “No matter what happens. Do you understand?”

Sunset stayed quiet. She shuffled a bit at her reaffirmation of affection and she appreciated the offer, of course. But…

“I don’t want that.” she said. Celestia raised an eyebrow.

“I don’t want… this.” she said, motioning back to her wings. “Before, all I ever wanted was to be an alicorn… but I was doing it for the wrong reasons. I was doing it for myself, nopony else. Except maybe you. I just wanted your approval, and didn’t even realise that I already had it and… well, you saw what happened then. And now that I have them, everything is worse. The… person that I love has been taken by some sort of demon and everypony is going to be relying on me to make this all better. But I’m not really a pony, Celestia. I’m a person. I don’t fit here anymore. Of course, I’ll never forget all you did for me and how much your Twilight has helped me, and everything else… but my place is at Canterlot high. That’s where I’ve finally found a place to belong. Besides, I’ve made so many ponies AND people upset over the years and caused so much pain and suffering.. I don’t deserve these wings… and I certainly don’t deserve to be your student again.”

There was a long pause in the conversation as Sunset looked off in the other direction, purposefully ignoring whatever Celestia’s expression may tell her.

Eventually, Celestia spoke. Sunset was surprised to hear her voice sound somewhat teary.

“Sunset… you have no idea how proud of you I am…” she whispered. Sunset was surprised as she felt herself pulled into a tight hug.

“P-Proud?” She spluttered.

“You’ve learned the lesson I could never seem to teach you all by yourself… humility and empathy” Celestia said, wiping a tear from her unfamiliar eye.

“I…” Sunset said quietly, unsure how to respond. She thought about it a little. She had learnt those things… sure, the Twilights and her Canterlot friends had helped, but she had done a lot of that all on her own.

“You don’t have to come back after all this. But I would love you to come and visit sometimes.” Celestia concluded, moving away from the hug and dusting herself down a little. “As for being a student… I don’t think there’s anything else for you to learn… But the offer stands.”

Sunset felt a little shiver go up her back, and she felt a little smile creeping onto her mouth.

“I am going to leave you for now… Twilight and I are formulating a plan to rescue the Twilight from your world with help from the…” she gave out a little sigh. “The pony currently in your body.”

Sunset rolled her eyes. “How bad is she being?”

“Oh Sunset, you have no idea.”

Sunset let out a laugh. “Just make sure she doesn’t mess up my body anymore than she already has.”

Celestia nodded, gave Sunset a small reassuring pat on the back, then made her way back to the castle.

Sunset was left sitting on her own once more in an unfamiliar body in an exceptionally strange set of circumstances. Despite the lack of her Twilight… this was the most whole she had felt in quite some time.

Hell.

There was no other way to describe it.

AppleJack hadn’t slept at all. Every time that she felt herself start to doze off, she shook herself back awake. She didn’t trust her body anymore since she almost bit Rarity.

She had only said mumbled greetings to Rarity in the morning, insisting she was just worried about the situation. She refused to let Rarity know what was happening. Yes, honesty was important, but to be honest about this would mean being honest about a lot of other things that she really wasn’t ready to be honest about.

So here they were, walking along in an awkward silence. The path back to the crystal empire was a simple road with a few small woods clumped together. Everything was pretty icy, but they had been lucky with the weather; the blizzard that had kept them trapped had now passed.

AppleJack’s yellow wings were locked to her side, refusing to move no matter how hard she tried. Rarity kept on nudging her, asking if she was ok. She lied and said she was fine.

She lied.

AppleJack was angry at herself for doing so.

Her legs kept on shaking as they walked, and every now and again she would glance over at Rarity, her neck looking ever so enticing. It took all of her mental fortitude to keep her eyes forward on the road ahead, the huge spires of the Crystal empire sparkling in the distance.

But they wouldn’t make it there.

Applejack’s ears were constantly flicking, feeling hypersensitive and picking up every little noise. She swore she could hear Rarity’s heartbeat (which was NOT helping.) Luckily for her, it also allowed her to hear the hoof steps that had started to surround them.

“Rares…” she said, her voice quivering from her cravings, as her ears flicked upwards. Her eyes move left to right, scanning the area around them as if she was looking for timber wolves back on the farm. She couldn’t see anypony… but she could hear them.

“What is it, dear?” Asked Rarity with concern. She knew AJ all too well. She had tried her best not to push Applejack upon what was bothering her. She trusted AJ enough to know that if it was urgent, she would immediately be informed.

Or so she thought.

“P-Ponies… ambush…” she managed to get out, her eyes drawn to a patch of woodland just to their right. Her eyes narrowed, and without even thinking about it, made a few high pitched clicking noises. Rarity tilted her head.

AppleJack shut her eyes and has the strange sensation of being able to see through her ears. If anypony had asked her, that’s the only way she could describe it. She could visualise the outline of a pegasus hidden in the tree… slowly drawing a crossbow-

Click.

Before she could even understand what her body was reacting to, AppleJack had suddenly shot over to Rarity, pushing her out of the way of the crossbow bolt that would have lodged itself into Rarity’s hoof.

Rarity was completely taken aback as she was pushed. She went flying with considerably more force than she thought Fluttershy’s frail was capable of.

They landed with AppleJack on top of Rarity, hooves either side of her. Her eyes had turned a deep scarlet red and there seemed to be something primal surging through the yellow pegasi’s body. AppleJack was breathing very heavily, mouth wide open as she did. Rarity could clearly see her fangs now, which seemed to be elongating by the moment.

“A-AppleJack?” She managed to squeak out.
AppleJack’s eyes softened a little, her senses returning, and she tried to get words out.

“R… you… need to…” she said, holding her head with her hoof. “G-Get away…”

Rarity tilted her head in confusion, before letting out a cry. She pushed AppleJack away and leapt out of the way as a brown unicorn brandishing a hatched leapt down from the tree above.

“B-BANDITS!” Cried out Rarity, before growling with determination.

“Okay RainbowDash… I hope all your boasting isn’t just for show!“ she said, and leapt towards the unicorn, brandishing her wings behind her as her hooves collided with the Pony’s head. The speed at which she had suddenly moved towards the unicorn meant her blow did considerable damage, the unicorn stumbling back onto the ground. The unicorn let out a cry as she scraped her leg. As she stood up, a small trickle of blood was seeping from her leg.

Applejack had just gotten to her hooves when she smelt it. Almost immediately, her eyes were fixated on the unicorn.

It was there.

She could see it.

Blood.

The gaping pit in her stomach seemed to deepen into a bottomless pit as any semblance of AppleJack’s mind vanished, as if it were never there.

Only two things in the world existed.

The blood.

And AppleJack.

Letting out a screech, AppleJack was on the unicorn, fangs bared. Before the Unicorn could even react, Applejack had sunk her teeth deep into her neck. The Unicorn didn’t have a chance to scream as Applejack had lost any semblance of restraint. Rarity watched on in horror as Applejack tore the unicorn's throat out and smashing down on her ribcage with unnatural strength. A few more various masked ponies had descended from the trees, but all were too shocked to move any closer.

As the blood entered AppleJack’s body, her transformation began. In moments her form had changed to a Batpony. Her ears were pointed and jagged, wings leathery, fangs long and colours muted as she continued to feed on the dead Unicorn.

Rarity had scooted back against a tree, staring with wide horrified eyes as she watched the body of fluttershy brutalise the corpse. Hyperventilating, she tried to call out ‘AppleJack?, but no sound came out of her mouth.

One of the ponies broke and shot another crossbow bolt at AppleJack. Her ear shot up and she catapulted herself into the air with her hind legs, diving over the bolt and then shooting down towards the pony who fired it (an orange earth pony). Her wings unfurled and she swooped down on him, knocking him down onto the ground. He let out a single cry before a similar fate befell him, the fangs sinking down into him doing irreparable damage.

The few other bandits all started to run, one of them sending up a red flare spell, but one made the mistake of looking behind her. She was stopped dead in her tracks as those crimson eyes bored into her. Rarity recognised it as Fluttershy’s usual stare, but it somehow seemed even more powerful than before. AppleJack let out a low hiss, and the fleeing pony found herself slowly walking towards her, mouth open in a weird state of shock. As she got close enough, she stood still, unable to break eye contact with the Batpony. Applejack stalked closer like a hunter, and in a snake strike lashed her head forward, striking down on her neck and started to drain her blood. She still seemed paralysed.

Rarity stumbled to her hooves, her brain fizzing with panic. She didn’t know what had happened to AppleJack, but she couldn’t let it continue. Even if these ponies intended to per chance murder them, they didn’t deserve… whatever it was that was happening to them.

“G-Get off of her!” She finally managed to cry out. The batpony didn’t respond. She could see life draining from the pony’s eyes. She had to ACT.

She ran forward, and shoved into them both. RainbowDash’s body had enough athletic strength to push them both onto the ground. AppleJack unclamped from the pony (whose head fell to the floor), and changed her gaze to Rarity who didn’t react fast enough as she was suddenly tackled to the floor, pinned down against the rough ground.

“A-AppleJack!” Rarity cried out, struggling against the yellow batpony above her. In the creature’s crimson gaze there was a candlelight of recognition. But it didn’t seem to be enough.

As her fangs extended, AppleJack leant her head down and bit into the exposed neck of Rarity.

Rarity let out a cry, but almost immediately, her mind went foggy as she felt her body almost immediately relax. With one last gasp, she managed to splutter out:

“My Beloved…”

And slipped out of consciousness.

-

Something awoke inside of AppleJack as she heard Rarity speak, the batpony suddenly jerking away from Rarity’s neck.

To be more accurate, AppleJack returned into a state of consciousness.

The last thing she knew, she had just pushed Rarity onto the ground.

And now she was surrounded by corpses.

Her mind was still fuzzy, but she looked around in horror at the brutal wounds on the ponies that had attacked them. She coughed a little, specks of blood splashing out onto Rarity below her…

Oh fuck.

She looked down and let out a mangled cry of pained shock. Rarity lay there, her breathing very laboured, with two puncture wounds on her neck.

She felt her fangs… they were still sharp but had receded.

It was only then she realised her hooves were covered in blood.

The smell… the sight… the feeling of… fullness…

AppleJack took one last look at Rarity on the floor… and passed out.

The pair lay in a pool of blood, distant hoof steps approaching, their names becoming intertwined as they both lay motionless on the ground.

Author's Note

Thank you all so much for your patience with this one! I could feel myself starting to get a bit burnt out so i'm glad I took my time with this one!

Let me know what you thought down below <3