Hell On Wheelsby TheExhaustedBronyChaptersChapter 1: One Last BarrelChapter 2: The Perfect CupChapter 3: Blood AppleChapter 1: One Last BarrelNote: This is my very first work, ever. So please, be nice with criticism and such. I hope you guys like the idea I'm getting at here. Also, please keep in mind that this NEEDS to be proofread and I am fully aware of it. So don't go to the comments and simply tell me what I already know. Thank you and enjoy. One Last Barrel "Don't worry Flam. There are plenty more towns with plenty of ponies who would definitely want some of our top notch quality cider." Flim said, trying to stay focused on the road. "Of course! More ponies means more money! My dear Flim, Ponyville was only one bad bushel out of all the apples in Equestria." After driving for roughly two hours, they arrived in Trottingham. Several ponies began looking at the two brothers and their strange contraption with puzzled expressions. They were all asking the same questions. "Who are these two strange ponies? What is that... thing?" Flim hopped out of the seat and landed in front of the mass of ponies that have congregated around them. "Ah! Brother, it appears that we have arrived in Trottingham!" Flim shot a confident grin at Flam. "I must say that the long drive from Ponyville has left me quite parched." Flam did his best to look distressed. "Oh, have no fear brother! Surely you haven't forgotten about what you are sitting on right now?" Flam immediately perked up and took in a deep breath. "How could I have forgotten about the Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000?" "The super say-what-now?" A confused pony shouted out from the crowd. Hearing this, both Flim and Flam's ears perked up and they both shot their attention to the orange earth pony. "You there! Yes you! What is your name kind sir?" Having been singled out, the pony immediately regretted his choice of words. "Ummm... my name is Sunny. Who are you?" "Why I am Flim." "and I am Flam!" "We're the Flim Flam brothers and we're here to show you the wonders of the Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000!" The name sounded familiar to the orange pony. He heard of them when a message was sent all the way from Ponyville that two twins might show up here trying to sell cider. "Dear Sunny, I am writing this letter to let you, and all of Trottingham, know of two ponies that almost took away our farm. They called themselves the Flim Flam brothers and they have this crazy doo-hickey thing that makes cider. We just barely beat them in a stupid contest and chased them out of Ponyville. Watch out, they will probably make it to Trottingham in about an hour or so! They are nothing but thieves! Make sure to keep an eye on everyponies' bits! Sincerely, Applejack" Before Sunny could say another word, a cup was forced into his hands. It was filled to the top with a sparkling golden yellow liquid that smelled sweet. The aroma was simply overwhelming and he quickly gulped it down. It was delicious. The flavor was simply perfect. "Well? Does the cider go beyond your expectations?" Flam asked eagerly. "This sample is on us, no charge." Flim added. Sunny suddenly was in a tough spot. The cider was amazing, but because of these two ponies, all of Trottingham's beverage businesses would be beaten out by Flim and Flam. After a short pause, Sunny looked up and with a disgusted look on his face and gave a the brothers a word that they had only heard mere hours ago. "Bleeeh! This is disgusting! How could you possibly expect to sell this? Why would you expect anypony to drink this? Good thing this was free because I wouldn't pay for this with even a speck of dirt!" Flim and Flam both went silent. It must've been at least ten seconds of silence, but to Flim and Flam, it seemed like days. Never have they seen a customer so outspoken about their product. Of course, this was a lie, Sunny would gladly pay hundreds of bits for more, but he knew that it's for the best of Trottingham for everypony to go against the two salesponies. After another ten seconds of silence, Flim regained his composure. "I see that you don't enjoy our cider, that's such a shame. We understand. We completely respect your opinions." Flim looked at his brother and then back to the crowd. "We're sorry that we wasted your time. However, we are weary from traveling. Would it be troublesome if we remained in Trottingham for the night? You have my word that we will not pester you with our business and we will leave when the sun appears on the horizon tomorrow morning." Nopony seemed to object, after all, they weren't cruel ponies and enough damage had been done. Or so they thought. That night, the brothers had rented a room in a hotel and discussed their situation. "Unbelievable! How could this have happened?! There's no way that just happened!" Flam was clearly distraught by the whole incident. "Brother please, calm down, surely there must be a perfectly good reason as to why he didn't li--" he was cut off with a loud "NO! There is no reason! The quality test switch was turned on and we also brought some of the apples from Ponyville with us to use as our demonstration! It was the perfect cup of cider!" Flim was now starting to lose hope. "Well... I guess we should leave now. There's always the next town." Something about this statement hit Flam, hard. His mind started going crazy with more failures in each town they went to. He told himself, No, this can't be the end! I have to do something. That one pony back in Ponyville must've told them about us before we arrived. Flam closed his eyes and was soon lost in a deep thought. Flim, trying to knock some sense into his depressed brother, began lightly slapping his face. Flam then opened his eyes, looked at Flim, and a wide smile stretched across his face from ear to ear. "Excuse me, there is something that I must do." Flam gently pushed Flim out of the way and headed for the door. "What could that be?" Flim was puzzled, what could possibly have been going though Flam's mind? What was he thinking about doing? As Flam opened the door he looked back and said "I'm going to make one more batch of cider. It'll probably be our last, but it also just might save us from defeat." The next morning, the innkeeper went to go get some cider from the local general store. He opened the door to find a rather large barrel sitting on the front step. "What the hay could this be?" The puzzled pony asked himself. He gave it a nudge and heard a sloshing sound come from inside the barrel. With even more questions popping into his head, he began to examine the barrel and its surroundings to find a note being held down by the barrel. "We are so sorry that we wasted your time and I, we, are truly embarrassed by the lack of quality our drink contained yesterday. We have no other way of apologizing but the best I could do was provide you with a barrel of cider free of charge. Don't worry, I was extra careful that I used only the most high quality ingredients for this batch. This is the only way we could thank you." There was no signature on the note but the pony knew that it was obviously the Flim Flam brothers who wrote this. He lowered the note and looked out to the street to see tracks coming from the orchard and into the road leaving traces of where that machine had been. "Oh well, this will save me a trip to the store and a beating to my wallet, hehe." The pony chuckled as he rolled the barrel back inside. He rolled the barrel into the back of the storage room and pulled out a tap and stabbed it into the side of the barrel. The moment the opening was made, the pony got a whiff of something odd. It reminded him of cider, but at the same time, there was something else to it that was slipping his mind. "Weird, oh well. It's still early, and everypony is still sleeping. I guess the time I would have spent in the store, I can spend in bed." The earth pony chuckled at his lucky break. He went back to his room and fell asleep, completely forgetting about the barrel. Hours later, the inn was filled with ponies who had just gotten off work or were chatting with friends. By now, the innkeeper was reminded of the smell from this morning. It was stronger now, still smelled of apples but still had that extra mystery scent. "Sir, can I have three cups of cider?" A pony called out. "Three? I don't see anypony else at the table. Don't tell me that they're all for you, are they? Hahaha, of course, three cups of cider coming right up!" He went back to the kitchen and got three cups then headed to the storage room to see the barrel from earlier and walked to it to fill the cups. He put a cup under the tap and pulled the lever to be blasted by the smell from earlier. He tried examined the contents of the cup, but it was impossible due to poor lighting in the storage room. The only option he had was to walk into the dining room, but he was afraid to because now he realized what the smell was. He gulped and walked out into the light. "Hey man! What took you so long? Where are the other two cups?" The pony asked, now a little irritated. The innkeeper didn't respond. He just stared into the cup. What he saw was red. The smell from earlier, it was blood. Before he could ask himself who was in this barrel, strands of orange hairs began lining the side of the cup. He dropped the cup, letting its contents spill out onto the floor. The whole room went silent as they all stared at the shocked innkeeper. Chapter 2: The Perfect CupNote: Credit will be given to my best friends Shadow Streak, WaferThin, and Shinola for proof reading the latest installment of my first fan fiction. The Perfect Cup “One bad apple taken care of, but there are many more, all the ponies in Equestria think that you’re a bore.” “Flam? Flam!” Flam suddenly perked up.”You look exhausted, perhaps you should let me take the wheel?” Flim worriedly suggested. “Besides, there’s really no reason to be driving so fast. Your body can’t handle this much stress! After all, everypony has a limit to how much magic they can use.” Flam blinked and looked around at his surroundings. He noticed that they were driving along side an apple orchard and that the sun is now high in the sky. “Flim, how long have we been driving?” “I’d say about an hour, maybe less?” Flim replied, still worried about the condition of his brother. What’s gotten into him? Flim has been asking himself this question for about six straight hours now. He started acting strange back in Trottingham, like he wasn’t himself. Something about what he said last night didn’t seem right. “Oh my, I sure feel dizzy.” Flam looked as if he was about to faint. “Perhaps it’s best that we just stop for a little while and fix ourselves a nice refreshing cup of cider?” Flim suggested. He figured that this is a good idea, with his brother acting strange, perhaps a drink would fix him right up. “Alright, that sounds like a great idea, brother!” Flam’s horn stopped glowing and their quickly came to a grinding halt. “There are some apple trees just over that fence, surely whoever owns this orchard wouldn’t mind if we borrowed some apples? Nyahaha!” Flam gave a hearty laugh and jumped over the white picket fence that separated him from the first ingredient. Just moments later, he returned with six red delicious apples. He placed them into the machine and gave his brother a wave, signaling him to start the machine. “Um, Flim?” “Yes Flam?” “Do you smell something odd? It smells like something putrid.” It didn’t take long for Flim’s nose to discover the rancid smell that surrounded them. Before either of them could come up with any ideas as to what the scent could be, the cider was ready. The two brothers walked around the machine and pulled the lid off the barrel of freshly made cider. They were both blasted with an aroma that contained apples and something awful. upon examining the contents, they noticed that the cider was slightly discolored and had a slightly pink hue. “Well, brother, to us and our success!” The brothers cheered in unison and lifted their cups to their lips. After the first drops of cider touched their tongues, they immediately cringed and spat it out. “Perhaps it was the apples?” Flim tried to convince himself that it had nothing to do with their performance the previous day. “There must be something wrong with the Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000.” This made sense to the two salesponies, for it was highly likely that results of yesterday’s performance was caused by a fault in their machine. “Well, shall we head to Appleloosa for repairs?” “I was just thinking the same thing.” The ponies hopped into the seats and sped away. The brothers drove very carefully, as their only means of making money was in critical condition. They soon came across a small orange earth pony with a yellow mane and a brown stetson hat. They immediately recognized the character and stopped dead in their tracks. “What in tarnation?” As the dust settled, the ponies expression changed from confusion to pure anger. “Ah thought ah told y’all never to show yerselves around these here parts ever again!” “Applejack! Are you alright? What happened?” A cyan pegasus flew through the cloud of dust, “I saw a cloud of dust and rushed over as fa--” she stopped herself mid-sentence and frowned at the sight of two familiar looking salesponies. Flim and Flam knew exactly that they were still not on good terms with Ponyville, so they had to be short and sweet. “Oh, if it isn’t the young filly of Sweet Apple Acres? Applejake was it?” Flim broke into a nervous sweat. “It’s Applejack, and ah told you that I never wanted to see y’all here ever again!” “Please, do hear us out, we were just on our way to Appleloosa to get our, uh, machine repaired. You see there is--” “Ah don’t care, just move along. Ah swear, if I see you putting any cups into anyponies hooves, I’ll personally destroy that there precious machine of yours!” The salesponies gulped and quickly sped down the road. “So what, that’s it? Applejack, you’re just gonna let them go?!” The cyan pony complained. “Well, Rainbow, we beat their behinds pretty good last time, I reckon they won’t cause any trouble for us.” Applejack retorted. Rainbow Dash was still not convinced and flew away in frustration, she planned on having her own justice, nothing out of the ordinary for Rainbow Dash. The two ponies soon got a strange feeling, like they were being followed. They stopped and waited. They remember the rainbow pony’s behavior and assumed that it was her that was following them. “You can come out now!” Flim grinned. “We know it’s you, Rainbow Dash was it not?” Rainbow Dash flew down to the ground from the cloud she was hiding on and in an accusing tone said, “Alright, what are you two up to?” Flim gave her a puzzled look, “Well, if you’re looking for another contest, I’m afraid that we’re not stupid, so I don’t believe that we’re up to the anything. “Now if you’ll excuse us, we have places to be.” Flam was obviously very annoyed by this waste of time. As the wheels on the machine began to turn, something completely unexpected happened. Rainbow Dash wasn’t done yet, she still had one more card to play. “So, what did the good ponies of Trottingham think of your cider?” She asked. “Beg your pardon?” Now the brothers were legitimately confused. After a brief moment of thinking, Flim replied, “Well, if you absolutely must know, it was a total and utter fluke, I really hoped that orange pony would make everypony see things the way we do.” “Oh, I wasn’t talking about that batch of cider, I was talking about the one that was left as a gift for the innkeeper this morning. Speaking of orange ponies, what did he think of it?” In Flim’s head, suddenly all the pieces were starting to fit together. He knew that there was something odd about the barrel that Flam said he’d make. However, he was still in denial and nervously replied, “what are you talking about? What barrel?” “Ugh, don’t even try! I know it was you two that turned Sunny into cider!” At this point Flam’s eyes began to twitch and heard a voice that didn’t belong to anypony he knew. “Another bad apple, I told you there would be more. I believe that now is the right time to settle the score.” “Flam... d...did you...” Flim laughed, trying to convince himself that this was just a joke and his assumptions were all wrong. All this stress was too much for Flim to take in and he passed out. Without hesitation Flam activated the machine and put all his strength into the hose that would suck apples into the machine, he then proceeded to point the open end towards Rainbow Dash. “What the heck?!” Rainbow Dash began to panic and started to fly away. However, the cyan pegasus was not able to break away from the force of the Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000. There was a loud sound of rushing wind and then silence. “Ugh... my head... what happened?” Rainbow Dash awoke and quickly began to search around her environment and found that she was sitting on some sort of leather and noticed that there was a bright light shining in up ahead. Crawling up to it she looked out and saw what appeared to be Ponyville. "Heh, too easy, all I have to do is..." SMACK! "Ow! What the hay?" Rainbow Dash groaned. Wondering what she just hit, she put her hooves out to find that there was a thick pane of glass between her and freedom. She contemplated smashing through the glass, but soon ditched that idea. There simply wasn't enough room to move around. She stared out the window, trying to think of a way out, but her sight was soon blocked by a familiar face. “YOU! What do you think you’re doing?!” Said Rainbow Dash in a fit of rage. “Oho, it seems you’re awake, don’t worry, I’ll help you. I remember your strife and your pains earlier when you didn’t get your own cup of cider. I will make you a cup of cider.” Flam gave a wicked grin and walked off to the left. The puzzled Rainbow Dash didn’t understand why she was inside the machine if he was going to give her some cider. However, with this thought and the sound of moving gears, it all became clear. “Wait... hold on you guys! Please, you don’t have to do this!” Rainbow Dash Pleaded. “You guys? You must be talking about my dear brother Flim. Well sorry to disappoint, but it’s just me.” This puzzled Rainbow Dash, she assumed that since they were brothers, they'd always have each others' backs. The fact that it was only one gave her an uneasy feeling. “We, I am going to make you the best cup of cider that anypony has ever dreamed of! And it’s all because of you! Don’t you feel privileged to become one with your favorite beverage?” With those words said, Rainbow Dash began breathing harder and harder as she became fully aware of what will soon happen. “Oh my, I almost forgot! You my friend are not an apple. How silly of me.” Flam put his hoof on his face as he realized he almost made a mistake. “Since you are not an apple, the Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000 would just dispose of you, but I’m going to turn off the quality control check and let it do what it does best.” With the press of a button, a green light bulb that was right above her head lit up and with a loud buzzing sound, her view of Ponyville disappeared into the depths of the Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000. The buzzing became louder and louder. Her eyes quickly adjusted to the dark and saw what appeared to be a rather large gear that was about the size of a pony. She was getting closer to it and in a matter of seconds, her head would be crushed. Out of pure desperation, she used her agility to turn her body, however, this was still a pointless effort. For now she was being dragged into the machine hoof first. She felt the coldness of the metal gear brushing against her hoofs and she pulled them back as far as she could, but soon enough, her hoofs were immediately caught up in the machine. Her hoofs instantly shattered under the might of the gear. She screamed in agony as blood started oozing out from between the gears and began to pool around Rainbow Dash’s legs. At this point, she began sobbing. The amount of pain combined with never being able to see her friends again made her experience even more brutal. Her bones provided no resistance as they shattered immediately with a loud crack that would make anypony throw up. The gear was halfway up her legs when suddenly, the machine stopped. It became so quite, she could hear her own heart beat. She heard a faint voice calling to her. “Hey, how you holding up in there?” Despite being unable to think straight, she automatically linked the voice with one of the salesponies. “Hey, I learned something since we last met. I guess it’s true, you cannot rush perfection, the citizens of Ponyville have taught me that much that’s for sure. With that said, I’m going to take it slowly.” Flam started laughing like a madcolt as he turned the machine back on, reminding Rainbow Dash of the situation her legs were in. Weakly, the pegasus pony let out a broken scream, “PLEASE! JUST END IT HURRY! I BEG OF YOU!” Tears began flowing down her cheeks. “Ugh, did you not listen to what I just said? You can’t rush perfection! Can I get you something to drink while you are waiting?” Flam began to laugh hysterically at the joke he just made. It took a whole twenty seconds of bone crunching before the gear finally arrived at her waist. The combined sound and the pain of her internal organs being crushed was nothing she could imagine. With her legs gone, her intestines were loose and got caught in the grinder. The feeling of having her body being pulled apart from the inside was unbearable. She looked down at what was left of her body and immediately emptied the contents of her stomach. She tried to resist, and began desperately crawling away from the gear, further stretching her intestines. Despite her desperate struggle to live, the pain was too much and she stopped resisting, moments later the gear was at her chest. A loud snap was heard from the cyan ponies' chest. The gear had started snapping her ribcage. She immediately spat up blood that began to fill her lungs. She tried to scream but found out that her lungs had been pierced and ripped apart. She couldn’t breathe. With the amount of blood she lost, combined with the damage done to her body, she started slipping into a sea of black. She was no longer afraid as she had finally come to terms with her death. “I just wish I could see my fr--” Rainbow Dash's final thought was cut off as the gear finally crushed her head, ending the life of the rainbow pony. Flam, who was sitting in the front seat taking a nap, heard a whirring noise and saw that the glass tubes were filling up with a red liquid. He noticed that there were several colorful hairs in it. With this sight, he couldn't contain his laughter. Moments later, a bell rung and a barrel was dropped from the back of the machine. He got up from his chair and walked over to the barrel. He popped open the lid, put his hoof in, and brought it up to his mouth. It was warm like cider and the smell of iron was overpowering. “Oh my, there’s no way I could possibly finish this on my own. I suppose I could give the good people of Ponyville my thanks.” He looked at the barrel and admired his handy work for he had just created the perfect beverage. “Hey Applejack I hope I’m not being a bother but ummm... have you seen Rainbow Dash by any chance? I’ve been looking for her everywhere, she was going to show me a cool trick that she taught her turtle.” Fluttershy asked in her usual shy tone. “Hmmm, nope sorry sugar cube, ah guess ah just haven’t seen her since this mornin’. She went off all gung-ho when she saw the Flim Flam brothers.” “What? You mean the two that almost took away Sweet Apple Acres?” “Yea, that’s them alright, ah juss’ hope they’re long gone by now.” "Well, I hope Rainbow Dash is alright, she seemed really excited to show me her turtle." "Ya heard anythin' about the twins causin' trouble? I warned them that if ah saw them, I'd give them the whoopin' they'd never forget." “Well... ummm, they did leave something at your house.” “Pardon?” "They left a barrel on your doorstep." “Well, I’m just gonna have to go check that out right now.” As they walked towards the farmhouse, Applejack noticed that there were some trees that had been scratched up, nothing too serious, maybe the Flim Flam brothers bumped into it on their way out or something. She figured that there’s no sense worrying about it because they were long gone. They approached the house to see a wooden barrel sitting on their front step just like Fluttershy had said. “Ummm... there’s a note under the barrel. Oh but I didn’t read it! I just couldn’t! It’s rude to look things that aren’t yours.” Fluttershy tried to back out of the hole she almost dug. “Why thank you sugar cube. Much obliged. Now let’s see what this here note says.” Applejack pulled the note out from under the barrel. "Dear Applejack, I just want to say how awful I feel about this whole thing. I feel like it’s my duty to bury the hatchet, as the saying goes, and just offer this barrel of delicious cider as an apology. Sincerely, Flam P.S. Do not worry, I didn’t use any of your apples. I was able to get my own ingredients." “What does it say?” Fluttershy asked curiously. “I dunno what ta make of it, but I think that those two feel pretty bad 'bout how they treated my family and friends earlier. I guess that they have given' us a barrel of cider as an apology. Well, enough talk, I’m thirstier than a dried up sponge. Let’s open this thing.” Applejack opened the barrel with ease but was weakened by the sight she saw. Fluttershy immediately began to cry and Applejack looked down and closed her eyes and a tear fell into the red mixture. Chapter 3: Blood AppleProof read by: GummyTheAlligator and Shinola Blood Apple "Another one down, five more to go. There's no need to rush perfection. Sit back, relax, and enjoy the show." "Rainbow... I'm so sorry, I shouldda stopped you." Applejack was no longer able to contain her composure and immediately started sobbing. However, her tears were not of pure sadness, but hatred as well. "GrrrrrrrrrrrAAAAHHHHHHH!" She broke into a full gallop and ran as fast she could, hoping to catch up to the two responsible for her friends' murder. Her body was no longer in control, as it was overpowered by her emotions. She didn't feel the dust in her eyes, she knew that Rainbow won’t ever come back, but had to do something about all this anger she contained. She didn't even notice the pink pony in front of her. "Oh! Oh! Applejack! What's--" Pinkie Pie was unable to finish her question before she was knocked to the ground with a furious pony standing over her. "Ouch! Jeez Louise AJ, that hurt, what was that for?" Pinkie was confused as to why her best friend just knocked her to the ground. Instead of getting a verbal answer, she received a physical one. Applejack began stomping on her with her hooves, blinded by her rage. "Applejack?! What are you doing?!" Twilight was horrified at what she saw. At that moment, Applejack, completely exhausted, collapsed. The last thing she saw was a sobbing pink pony. Through the darkness, came a familiar voice, it was faint, but clear. Suddenly, the blackness surrounding Applejack began filling with a mixture of brown, orange, red, and yellow. The breeze was cool and made her shiver, but then the voice called to her again. "Applejack... Applejack? Hey, don't tell me you're tired already, we’ve got a race to finish! The leaves won’t fall by themselves you know!" She blinked her eyes a few times to make sure she wasn't seeing things, but to her amazement, standing before her was a beautiful cyan pegasus pony with a brilliant rainbow mane. "C'mon, earning the iron pony title won’t mean as much to me if you were sleeping the whole race!" Rainbow Dash said with a confident smirk. "Oh? Who said ah was gunna let y'all just win the title? I'm not givin' up that easy! After all, everypony will agree that I'm the iron pony." "Well, prove it. Ahahahaha!" Rainbow Dash's laughter got softer as she got farther away. "I'm commin' for ya Rainbow!" Applejack dashed off and was soon alongside her friend. They were almost at the finish line when something suddenly stopped Applejack dead in her tracks. Something didn't feel right. "AJ, whatcha stopping for? We got a race to finish!" Rainbow Dash complained. "Now hold on, something 'aint right here. I don't know what to make of it, but I have this terrible feelin' that none of this is real." "What the hay are you talking about? Of course I'm real. Oh you and your jokes, hahaha." Rainbow Dash laughed. "I'm being serious! You can't be real because you... you..." Her memories began rushing through her mind so fast, it made Rainbow Dash seem like a snail. "You died! YOU WERE KILLED BY... BY..." She said trying to fight back her tears. Rainbow Dash approached the confused pony and put a hoof on her shoulder and looked her in the eyes with an assuring look and said, "Applejack, I was hoping that we could just spend some more time together, I like you a lot, you're awesome." Applejack was now biting her lip trying to hold back her tears, "But sometimes, things just happen and now I need you to do something for me. I need you to wake up and go back to the others, they're worried about you. Besides, they still probably don't know what happened yet, so please, tell them so you can move on as soon as possible." "NO! I don't wanna wake up! If waking up means I have to leave you behind, why would I do that? You're my friend and friends stick with each other no matter what!" Applejack could no longer hold back her emotions and tears began flowing down her cheeks. "Hey, hey. C'mon, remember? Faithful and strong? You got to be strong Applejack, for me. You have to understand, this is not real. Please, do this for me!" Those words faded as Rainbow Dash began to drift farther and farther away into a sea of darkness. She awoke to see three ponies staring down at her. She was in Twilight's house. "R... Rarity? Twi'? Pinkie?" She said, exhausted from her previous ordeal. "WHERE'S RAINBOW DASH?!" She sat up and immediately began searching around the room. "Applejack, please be a dear and calm down, you mustn't strain yourself. You've probably been through a lot in the past few hours and we'd like you to fill us in on what you know." "Applejack, are you alright? Well, no, I guess you're not, after that run in you had with Pinkie Pie." Twilight stuttered, choosing her words carefully. "Well, duh, of course she's not alright! I mean, it's totally not like you to just crash into ponies like a madmare." Pinkie Pie said in her usual cheery attitude. "Pinkie, what happened? Ah remember seein' you but that's about it." "Oh my dearie, do you honestly not remember anything at all? My, you knocked Pinkie Pie to the ground and began stomping on her!" "Oh mah gawsh! Pinkie, I'm so sorry! I guess I was so angry that I just couldn't control myself." "Angry at what?" Pinkie asked curiously. "Oh, ah guess you don't know yet. I think it's best if ah show y'all what I'm talkin' about." She got out of bed and began heading for the door. The other three ponies just stood there, trying to take in everything that just happened. "Well, y'all commin' or what?" Applejack said in a strict, demanding attitude. Applejack was looking down at the ground the whole way to Sweet Apple Acres. No words were said, even Pinkie felt the change in the atmosphere and decided walking would be more appropriate that hopping. Upon arriving at the porch to Applejack's house, they were greeted by an unusually gloomy Apple Bloom, "Y'all here to check in on Fluttershy? She's in the house with Granny Smith. We found her passed out by a barrel about two hours ago. Sis, you don't happen to know what's in the barrel do you?" She asked. "Ah reckon ah do. However, this 'aint somethin' for you to be a part of, jus' go back inside and look after Fluttershy for me." "But I..." "AH SAID GO BACK INSIDE RIGHT NOW!" She roared. Everypony was shocked. Applejack has never been this angry with her sister before, they all got the chills as for what they were about to see was very serious. "O...okay..." Apple Bloom didn't cry, but just looked down in disbelief as she walked off to the house, still not comprehending her sisters' situation. "Alright, here she is." Applejack had no emotion on her face. "She? Who are we talking about?" Twilight was obviously confused. "Dear, I believe she's talking about the contents of the barrel and how this somehow relates to Rainbow Dash." "Could yer attention to detail be anymore spot on?" Applejack sneered. Before any extra remarks were made, Applejack popped open the lid on the barrel to reveal a crimson red liquid. "Applejack, where's Rainbow Dash?" Twilight said, now more confused than ever before. "Twi' this is Rainbow Dash, or at least what's left of her! It was the work of those two salesponies from a couple days ago. THEY KILLED HER!" The expression on her face went from blank, to extreme anger, "now, I'm going to settle this! I will avenge her. I will find those two ponies and kill them! Now how 'bout the rest of y'all? You gonna help me?" Nopony said a word, they were trying to make sense of all the information that had just been given to them. "I want to cry, but I just can't, I don't know why, but I think that something is telling me that this isn't the time, at least not until we stop the Flim Flam brothers." Twilight said, "I will, friends stick with each other to the very end! I need to write this to the princess as soon as possible." "Yea, you do that, but make sure to tell the princess that ah am the one pony that gets to personally deliver my own justice first." "I understand, after all, you've been hit the hardest out of everyone here." "Well, I'd absolutely hate to get my hooves dirty, but I'd, trot right through a mud puddle if it means helping out my friends." "What about you Pinkie? You gonna help?" Applejack asked. "Sorry Mr. And Mrs. Cake, but I think a different number just came up. I'm in!" With that said, the ponies went their separate ways to get some rest for the journey they were about to embark on. Applejack didn't want to break Fluttershy's already weakened spirit, but she felt that the yellow pony had a right to know. She walked into the house and was greeted by Big Mac. "Is Fluttershy upstairs?" "Eeyup." "Is she still asleep?" "Eenope." "Thanks, I'm just gonna head on up to check on her, alright?" "Eeyup." She walked up the stairs and into her room to see Fluttershy lying in her bed. She quickly noticed Applejack and asked, "Applejack, oh, I just had the most terrifying nightmare, I dreamed that Rainbow Dash had been in some sort of terrible accident!" These words hurt Applejack because she now knew the condition that her friend was in. "Fluttershy, listen, I'm sorry I can't put this any lighter, but, " Applejack paused, "Rainbow Dash is dead, I'm sorry that I'm so blunt, but I'm too exhausted to come up with more words." With that said, Fluttershy immediately passed out again, obviously this is too much for the delicate pony to handle. "Perhaps ah should just leave you here and fill ya in when this is all over, sugar cube." Applejack said as she tucked Fluttershy in and fell asleep on the floor beside the bed. She had a big day ahead of her and she needed all the energy she could get if they are to be successful. She dreamed of nothing. "Ugh... what a nightmare," Flim awoke to the rushing wind against his face, "Flam, I just had the most horrific dream! I dreamed that we ran into that orange pony from back in Trottingham and you... you..." Flim began shuddering as he couldn't repeat what he saw in his dream. "Made him into cider?" Flam said finishing his brothers' sentence. Flim froze up, it felt like he was in a full body cast, he feared that what he saw wasn't just a dream. "H... how did you know that?" Flam stayed silent and kept his eyes on the road ahead of them. "HOW DID YOU KNOW?!" Flim was now furious as this is when he'll start finally getting some answers, but at the same time, he wasn't sure if he wanted to be right. Flam responded with more silence. "ANSWER THE QUESTION! HOW DID YOU KNOW!" Flim already knew the answer, but he wanted to hear the exact words, "BECAUSE I KILLED HIM THAT'S WHY! YES! I DID IT!" This outburst broke Flam's concentration and stopped powering the machine, causing it to come to a screeching halt. "Why? Why would you do such a thing?" Flim asked in disbelief. "The voice told me to do it, if I didn't do it, I'd... we'd..." Flam stuttered. "What the heck are you talking about?" "Something has been talking to me since we left Ponyville, it's told me that everyone is against us. I'm telling you I had no choice, I HAD to do it!" Flim was left speechless as his own brother, who been his only family for as long as he could remember, become insane. He quickly considered the possibility of reporting him to the Canterlot Royal Guard, but Flim couldn't do that to his own brother, no matter what he did. "Flim, it's my turn to do the talking, now listen to me." Flam's attitude went from scared and confused to assertive and calm in an instant. "Now, the whole world is against us, that much is certain, but now comes the real question. What are we going to do about it? We both know that there are hundreds of ponies out there that mean to destroy us." Flim was left speechless as he had no idea that things had gone this far south for the both of them. "So, what you're saying is that we have to get them, before they get us?" Flim replied. "Yes, it's the only way, so, I'm only going to ask you once, are you my brother or are you just another pony that is trying to destroy me?" At that very instant, it felt like all time had stopped. It had become dead silent, the only thing Flim could hear was his heartbeat. Flim knew that he had to do the right thing for his brother. "I... I..." Flim's heart stopped and began to sweat, "I'm... your brother." "Indeed you are, and since you know what must be done, shall we continue to Appleloosa for the much needed repairs? After all, if we are to make the perfect cider, we need the Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000 to be able to match our level of expectations." Flim's heart was skipping beats. He still felt uneasy about his decision, but at the same time, he felt that what he did was right. He couldn't bring himself to betray his own brother, even if it means getting his hands dirty. "Yes, now, what exactly became of that rainbow pegasus?" He felt his nerves calming with each passing moment. Maybe this isn't so bad, only time will tell.
Chapter 1: One Last BarrelNote: This is my very first work, ever. So please, be nice with criticism and such. I hope you guys like the idea I'm getting at here. Also, please keep in mind that this NEEDS to be proofread and I am fully aware of it. So don't go to the comments and simply tell me what I already know. Thank you and enjoy. One Last Barrel "Don't worry Flam. There are plenty more towns with plenty of ponies who would definitely want some of our top notch quality cider." Flim said, trying to stay focused on the road. "Of course! More ponies means more money! My dear Flim, Ponyville was only one bad bushel out of all the apples in Equestria." After driving for roughly two hours, they arrived in Trottingham. Several ponies began looking at the two brothers and their strange contraption with puzzled expressions. They were all asking the same questions. "Who are these two strange ponies? What is that... thing?" Flim hopped out of the seat and landed in front of the mass of ponies that have congregated around them. "Ah! Brother, it appears that we have arrived in Trottingham!" Flim shot a confident grin at Flam. "I must say that the long drive from Ponyville has left me quite parched." Flam did his best to look distressed. "Oh, have no fear brother! Surely you haven't forgotten about what you are sitting on right now?" Flam immediately perked up and took in a deep breath. "How could I have forgotten about the Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000?" "The super say-what-now?" A confused pony shouted out from the crowd. Hearing this, both Flim and Flam's ears perked up and they both shot their attention to the orange earth pony. "You there! Yes you! What is your name kind sir?" Having been singled out, the pony immediately regretted his choice of words. "Ummm... my name is Sunny. Who are you?" "Why I am Flim." "and I am Flam!" "We're the Flim Flam brothers and we're here to show you the wonders of the Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000!" The name sounded familiar to the orange pony. He heard of them when a message was sent all the way from Ponyville that two twins might show up here trying to sell cider. "Dear Sunny, I am writing this letter to let you, and all of Trottingham, know of two ponies that almost took away our farm. They called themselves the Flim Flam brothers and they have this crazy doo-hickey thing that makes cider. We just barely beat them in a stupid contest and chased them out of Ponyville. Watch out, they will probably make it to Trottingham in about an hour or so! They are nothing but thieves! Make sure to keep an eye on everyponies' bits! Sincerely, Applejack" Before Sunny could say another word, a cup was forced into his hands. It was filled to the top with a sparkling golden yellow liquid that smelled sweet. The aroma was simply overwhelming and he quickly gulped it down. It was delicious. The flavor was simply perfect. "Well? Does the cider go beyond your expectations?" Flam asked eagerly. "This sample is on us, no charge." Flim added. Sunny suddenly was in a tough spot. The cider was amazing, but because of these two ponies, all of Trottingham's beverage businesses would be beaten out by Flim and Flam. After a short pause, Sunny looked up and with a disgusted look on his face and gave a the brothers a word that they had only heard mere hours ago. "Bleeeh! This is disgusting! How could you possibly expect to sell this? Why would you expect anypony to drink this? Good thing this was free because I wouldn't pay for this with even a speck of dirt!" Flim and Flam both went silent. It must've been at least ten seconds of silence, but to Flim and Flam, it seemed like days. Never have they seen a customer so outspoken about their product. Of course, this was a lie, Sunny would gladly pay hundreds of bits for more, but he knew that it's for the best of Trottingham for everypony to go against the two salesponies. After another ten seconds of silence, Flim regained his composure. "I see that you don't enjoy our cider, that's such a shame. We understand. We completely respect your opinions." Flim looked at his brother and then back to the crowd. "We're sorry that we wasted your time. However, we are weary from traveling. Would it be troublesome if we remained in Trottingham for the night? You have my word that we will not pester you with our business and we will leave when the sun appears on the horizon tomorrow morning." Nopony seemed to object, after all, they weren't cruel ponies and enough damage had been done. Or so they thought. That night, the brothers had rented a room in a hotel and discussed their situation. "Unbelievable! How could this have happened?! There's no way that just happened!" Flam was clearly distraught by the whole incident. "Brother please, calm down, surely there must be a perfectly good reason as to why he didn't li--" he was cut off with a loud "NO! There is no reason! The quality test switch was turned on and we also brought some of the apples from Ponyville with us to use as our demonstration! It was the perfect cup of cider!" Flim was now starting to lose hope. "Well... I guess we should leave now. There's always the next town." Something about this statement hit Flam, hard. His mind started going crazy with more failures in each town they went to. He told himself, No, this can't be the end! I have to do something. That one pony back in Ponyville must've told them about us before we arrived. Flam closed his eyes and was soon lost in a deep thought. Flim, trying to knock some sense into his depressed brother, began lightly slapping his face. Flam then opened his eyes, looked at Flim, and a wide smile stretched across his face from ear to ear. "Excuse me, there is something that I must do." Flam gently pushed Flim out of the way and headed for the door. "What could that be?" Flim was puzzled, what could possibly have been going though Flam's mind? What was he thinking about doing? As Flam opened the door he looked back and said "I'm going to make one more batch of cider. It'll probably be our last, but it also just might save us from defeat." The next morning, the innkeeper went to go get some cider from the local general store. He opened the door to find a rather large barrel sitting on the front step. "What the hay could this be?" The puzzled pony asked himself. He gave it a nudge and heard a sloshing sound come from inside the barrel. With even more questions popping into his head, he began to examine the barrel and its surroundings to find a note being held down by the barrel. "We are so sorry that we wasted your time and I, we, are truly embarrassed by the lack of quality our drink contained yesterday. We have no other way of apologizing but the best I could do was provide you with a barrel of cider free of charge. Don't worry, I was extra careful that I used only the most high quality ingredients for this batch. This is the only way we could thank you." There was no signature on the note but the pony knew that it was obviously the Flim Flam brothers who wrote this. He lowered the note and looked out to the street to see tracks coming from the orchard and into the road leaving traces of where that machine had been. "Oh well, this will save me a trip to the store and a beating to my wallet, hehe." The pony chuckled as he rolled the barrel back inside. He rolled the barrel into the back of the storage room and pulled out a tap and stabbed it into the side of the barrel. The moment the opening was made, the pony got a whiff of something odd. It reminded him of cider, but at the same time, there was something else to it that was slipping his mind. "Weird, oh well. It's still early, and everypony is still sleeping. I guess the time I would have spent in the store, I can spend in bed." The earth pony chuckled at his lucky break. He went back to his room and fell asleep, completely forgetting about the barrel. Hours later, the inn was filled with ponies who had just gotten off work or were chatting with friends. By now, the innkeeper was reminded of the smell from this morning. It was stronger now, still smelled of apples but still had that extra mystery scent. "Sir, can I have three cups of cider?" A pony called out. "Three? I don't see anypony else at the table. Don't tell me that they're all for you, are they? Hahaha, of course, three cups of cider coming right up!" He went back to the kitchen and got three cups then headed to the storage room to see the barrel from earlier and walked to it to fill the cups. He put a cup under the tap and pulled the lever to be blasted by the smell from earlier. He tried examined the contents of the cup, but it was impossible due to poor lighting in the storage room. The only option he had was to walk into the dining room, but he was afraid to because now he realized what the smell was. He gulped and walked out into the light. "Hey man! What took you so long? Where are the other two cups?" The pony asked, now a little irritated. The innkeeper didn't respond. He just stared into the cup. What he saw was red. The smell from earlier, it was blood. Before he could ask himself who was in this barrel, strands of orange hairs began lining the side of the cup. He dropped the cup, letting its contents spill out onto the floor. The whole room went silent as they all stared at the shocked innkeeper.
Chapter 2: The Perfect CupNote: Credit will be given to my best friends Shadow Streak, WaferThin, and Shinola for proof reading the latest installment of my first fan fiction. The Perfect Cup “One bad apple taken care of, but there are many more, all the ponies in Equestria think that you’re a bore.” “Flam? Flam!” Flam suddenly perked up.”You look exhausted, perhaps you should let me take the wheel?” Flim worriedly suggested. “Besides, there’s really no reason to be driving so fast. Your body can’t handle this much stress! After all, everypony has a limit to how much magic they can use.” Flam blinked and looked around at his surroundings. He noticed that they were driving along side an apple orchard and that the sun is now high in the sky. “Flim, how long have we been driving?” “I’d say about an hour, maybe less?” Flim replied, still worried about the condition of his brother. What’s gotten into him? Flim has been asking himself this question for about six straight hours now. He started acting strange back in Trottingham, like he wasn’t himself. Something about what he said last night didn’t seem right. “Oh my, I sure feel dizzy.” Flam looked as if he was about to faint. “Perhaps it’s best that we just stop for a little while and fix ourselves a nice refreshing cup of cider?” Flim suggested. He figured that this is a good idea, with his brother acting strange, perhaps a drink would fix him right up. “Alright, that sounds like a great idea, brother!” Flam’s horn stopped glowing and their quickly came to a grinding halt. “There are some apple trees just over that fence, surely whoever owns this orchard wouldn’t mind if we borrowed some apples? Nyahaha!” Flam gave a hearty laugh and jumped over the white picket fence that separated him from the first ingredient. Just moments later, he returned with six red delicious apples. He placed them into the machine and gave his brother a wave, signaling him to start the machine. “Um, Flim?” “Yes Flam?” “Do you smell something odd? It smells like something putrid.” It didn’t take long for Flim’s nose to discover the rancid smell that surrounded them. Before either of them could come up with any ideas as to what the scent could be, the cider was ready. The two brothers walked around the machine and pulled the lid off the barrel of freshly made cider. They were both blasted with an aroma that contained apples and something awful. upon examining the contents, they noticed that the cider was slightly discolored and had a slightly pink hue. “Well, brother, to us and our success!” The brothers cheered in unison and lifted their cups to their lips. After the first drops of cider touched their tongues, they immediately cringed and spat it out. “Perhaps it was the apples?” Flim tried to convince himself that it had nothing to do with their performance the previous day. “There must be something wrong with the Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000.” This made sense to the two salesponies, for it was highly likely that results of yesterday’s performance was caused by a fault in their machine. “Well, shall we head to Appleloosa for repairs?” “I was just thinking the same thing.” The ponies hopped into the seats and sped away. The brothers drove very carefully, as their only means of making money was in critical condition. They soon came across a small orange earth pony with a yellow mane and a brown stetson hat. They immediately recognized the character and stopped dead in their tracks. “What in tarnation?” As the dust settled, the ponies expression changed from confusion to pure anger. “Ah thought ah told y’all never to show yerselves around these here parts ever again!” “Applejack! Are you alright? What happened?” A cyan pegasus flew through the cloud of dust, “I saw a cloud of dust and rushed over as fa--” she stopped herself mid-sentence and frowned at the sight of two familiar looking salesponies. Flim and Flam knew exactly that they were still not on good terms with Ponyville, so they had to be short and sweet. “Oh, if it isn’t the young filly of Sweet Apple Acres? Applejake was it?” Flim broke into a nervous sweat. “It’s Applejack, and ah told you that I never wanted to see y’all here ever again!” “Please, do hear us out, we were just on our way to Appleloosa to get our, uh, machine repaired. You see there is--” “Ah don’t care, just move along. Ah swear, if I see you putting any cups into anyponies hooves, I’ll personally destroy that there precious machine of yours!” The salesponies gulped and quickly sped down the road. “So what, that’s it? Applejack, you’re just gonna let them go?!” The cyan pony complained. “Well, Rainbow, we beat their behinds pretty good last time, I reckon they won’t cause any trouble for us.” Applejack retorted. Rainbow Dash was still not convinced and flew away in frustration, she planned on having her own justice, nothing out of the ordinary for Rainbow Dash. The two ponies soon got a strange feeling, like they were being followed. They stopped and waited. They remember the rainbow pony’s behavior and assumed that it was her that was following them. “You can come out now!” Flim grinned. “We know it’s you, Rainbow Dash was it not?” Rainbow Dash flew down to the ground from the cloud she was hiding on and in an accusing tone said, “Alright, what are you two up to?” Flim gave her a puzzled look, “Well, if you’re looking for another contest, I’m afraid that we’re not stupid, so I don’t believe that we’re up to the anything. “Now if you’ll excuse us, we have places to be.” Flam was obviously very annoyed by this waste of time. As the wheels on the machine began to turn, something completely unexpected happened. Rainbow Dash wasn’t done yet, she still had one more card to play. “So, what did the good ponies of Trottingham think of your cider?” She asked. “Beg your pardon?” Now the brothers were legitimately confused. After a brief moment of thinking, Flim replied, “Well, if you absolutely must know, it was a total and utter fluke, I really hoped that orange pony would make everypony see things the way we do.” “Oh, I wasn’t talking about that batch of cider, I was talking about the one that was left as a gift for the innkeeper this morning. Speaking of orange ponies, what did he think of it?” In Flim’s head, suddenly all the pieces were starting to fit together. He knew that there was something odd about the barrel that Flam said he’d make. However, he was still in denial and nervously replied, “what are you talking about? What barrel?” “Ugh, don’t even try! I know it was you two that turned Sunny into cider!” At this point Flam’s eyes began to twitch and heard a voice that didn’t belong to anypony he knew. “Another bad apple, I told you there would be more. I believe that now is the right time to settle the score.” “Flam... d...did you...” Flim laughed, trying to convince himself that this was just a joke and his assumptions were all wrong. All this stress was too much for Flim to take in and he passed out. Without hesitation Flam activated the machine and put all his strength into the hose that would suck apples into the machine, he then proceeded to point the open end towards Rainbow Dash. “What the heck?!” Rainbow Dash began to panic and started to fly away. However, the cyan pegasus was not able to break away from the force of the Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000. There was a loud sound of rushing wind and then silence. “Ugh... my head... what happened?” Rainbow Dash awoke and quickly began to search around her environment and found that she was sitting on some sort of leather and noticed that there was a bright light shining in up ahead. Crawling up to it she looked out and saw what appeared to be Ponyville. "Heh, too easy, all I have to do is..." SMACK! "Ow! What the hay?" Rainbow Dash groaned. Wondering what she just hit, she put her hooves out to find that there was a thick pane of glass between her and freedom. She contemplated smashing through the glass, but soon ditched that idea. There simply wasn't enough room to move around. She stared out the window, trying to think of a way out, but her sight was soon blocked by a familiar face. “YOU! What do you think you’re doing?!” Said Rainbow Dash in a fit of rage. “Oho, it seems you’re awake, don’t worry, I’ll help you. I remember your strife and your pains earlier when you didn’t get your own cup of cider. I will make you a cup of cider.” Flam gave a wicked grin and walked off to the left. The puzzled Rainbow Dash didn’t understand why she was inside the machine if he was going to give her some cider. However, with this thought and the sound of moving gears, it all became clear. “Wait... hold on you guys! Please, you don’t have to do this!” Rainbow Dash Pleaded. “You guys? You must be talking about my dear brother Flim. Well sorry to disappoint, but it’s just me.” This puzzled Rainbow Dash, she assumed that since they were brothers, they'd always have each others' backs. The fact that it was only one gave her an uneasy feeling. “We, I am going to make you the best cup of cider that anypony has ever dreamed of! And it’s all because of you! Don’t you feel privileged to become one with your favorite beverage?” With those words said, Rainbow Dash began breathing harder and harder as she became fully aware of what will soon happen. “Oh my, I almost forgot! You my friend are not an apple. How silly of me.” Flam put his hoof on his face as he realized he almost made a mistake. “Since you are not an apple, the Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000 would just dispose of you, but I’m going to turn off the quality control check and let it do what it does best.” With the press of a button, a green light bulb that was right above her head lit up and with a loud buzzing sound, her view of Ponyville disappeared into the depths of the Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000. The buzzing became louder and louder. Her eyes quickly adjusted to the dark and saw what appeared to be a rather large gear that was about the size of a pony. She was getting closer to it and in a matter of seconds, her head would be crushed. Out of pure desperation, she used her agility to turn her body, however, this was still a pointless effort. For now she was being dragged into the machine hoof first. She felt the coldness of the metal gear brushing against her hoofs and she pulled them back as far as she could, but soon enough, her hoofs were immediately caught up in the machine. Her hoofs instantly shattered under the might of the gear. She screamed in agony as blood started oozing out from between the gears and began to pool around Rainbow Dash’s legs. At this point, she began sobbing. The amount of pain combined with never being able to see her friends again made her experience even more brutal. Her bones provided no resistance as they shattered immediately with a loud crack that would make anypony throw up. The gear was halfway up her legs when suddenly, the machine stopped. It became so quite, she could hear her own heart beat. She heard a faint voice calling to her. “Hey, how you holding up in there?” Despite being unable to think straight, she automatically linked the voice with one of the salesponies. “Hey, I learned something since we last met. I guess it’s true, you cannot rush perfection, the citizens of Ponyville have taught me that much that’s for sure. With that said, I’m going to take it slowly.” Flam started laughing like a madcolt as he turned the machine back on, reminding Rainbow Dash of the situation her legs were in. Weakly, the pegasus pony let out a broken scream, “PLEASE! JUST END IT HURRY! I BEG OF YOU!” Tears began flowing down her cheeks. “Ugh, did you not listen to what I just said? You can’t rush perfection! Can I get you something to drink while you are waiting?” Flam began to laugh hysterically at the joke he just made. It took a whole twenty seconds of bone crunching before the gear finally arrived at her waist. The combined sound and the pain of her internal organs being crushed was nothing she could imagine. With her legs gone, her intestines were loose and got caught in the grinder. The feeling of having her body being pulled apart from the inside was unbearable. She looked down at what was left of her body and immediately emptied the contents of her stomach. She tried to resist, and began desperately crawling away from the gear, further stretching her intestines. Despite her desperate struggle to live, the pain was too much and she stopped resisting, moments later the gear was at her chest. A loud snap was heard from the cyan ponies' chest. The gear had started snapping her ribcage. She immediately spat up blood that began to fill her lungs. She tried to scream but found out that her lungs had been pierced and ripped apart. She couldn’t breathe. With the amount of blood she lost, combined with the damage done to her body, she started slipping into a sea of black. She was no longer afraid as she had finally come to terms with her death. “I just wish I could see my fr--” Rainbow Dash's final thought was cut off as the gear finally crushed her head, ending the life of the rainbow pony. Flam, who was sitting in the front seat taking a nap, heard a whirring noise and saw that the glass tubes were filling up with a red liquid. He noticed that there were several colorful hairs in it. With this sight, he couldn't contain his laughter. Moments later, a bell rung and a barrel was dropped from the back of the machine. He got up from his chair and walked over to the barrel. He popped open the lid, put his hoof in, and brought it up to his mouth. It was warm like cider and the smell of iron was overpowering. “Oh my, there’s no way I could possibly finish this on my own. I suppose I could give the good people of Ponyville my thanks.” He looked at the barrel and admired his handy work for he had just created the perfect beverage. “Hey Applejack I hope I’m not being a bother but ummm... have you seen Rainbow Dash by any chance? I’ve been looking for her everywhere, she was going to show me a cool trick that she taught her turtle.” Fluttershy asked in her usual shy tone. “Hmmm, nope sorry sugar cube, ah guess ah just haven’t seen her since this mornin’. She went off all gung-ho when she saw the Flim Flam brothers.” “What? You mean the two that almost took away Sweet Apple Acres?” “Yea, that’s them alright, ah juss’ hope they’re long gone by now.” "Well, I hope Rainbow Dash is alright, she seemed really excited to show me her turtle." "Ya heard anythin' about the twins causin' trouble? I warned them that if ah saw them, I'd give them the whoopin' they'd never forget." “Well... ummm, they did leave something at your house.” “Pardon?” "They left a barrel on your doorstep." “Well, I’m just gonna have to go check that out right now.” As they walked towards the farmhouse, Applejack noticed that there were some trees that had been scratched up, nothing too serious, maybe the Flim Flam brothers bumped into it on their way out or something. She figured that there’s no sense worrying about it because they were long gone. They approached the house to see a wooden barrel sitting on their front step just like Fluttershy had said. “Ummm... there’s a note under the barrel. Oh but I didn’t read it! I just couldn’t! It’s rude to look things that aren’t yours.” Fluttershy tried to back out of the hole she almost dug. “Why thank you sugar cube. Much obliged. Now let’s see what this here note says.” Applejack pulled the note out from under the barrel. "Dear Applejack, I just want to say how awful I feel about this whole thing. I feel like it’s my duty to bury the hatchet, as the saying goes, and just offer this barrel of delicious cider as an apology. Sincerely, Flam P.S. Do not worry, I didn’t use any of your apples. I was able to get my own ingredients." “What does it say?” Fluttershy asked curiously. “I dunno what ta make of it, but I think that those two feel pretty bad 'bout how they treated my family and friends earlier. I guess that they have given' us a barrel of cider as an apology. Well, enough talk, I’m thirstier than a dried up sponge. Let’s open this thing.” Applejack opened the barrel with ease but was weakened by the sight she saw. Fluttershy immediately began to cry and Applejack looked down and closed her eyes and a tear fell into the red mixture.
Chapter 3: Blood AppleProof read by: GummyTheAlligator and Shinola Blood Apple "Another one down, five more to go. There's no need to rush perfection. Sit back, relax, and enjoy the show." "Rainbow... I'm so sorry, I shouldda stopped you." Applejack was no longer able to contain her composure and immediately started sobbing. However, her tears were not of pure sadness, but hatred as well. "GrrrrrrrrrrrAAAAHHHHHHH!" She broke into a full gallop and ran as fast she could, hoping to catch up to the two responsible for her friends' murder. Her body was no longer in control, as it was overpowered by her emotions. She didn't feel the dust in her eyes, she knew that Rainbow won’t ever come back, but had to do something about all this anger she contained. She didn't even notice the pink pony in front of her. "Oh! Oh! Applejack! What's--" Pinkie Pie was unable to finish her question before she was knocked to the ground with a furious pony standing over her. "Ouch! Jeez Louise AJ, that hurt, what was that for?" Pinkie was confused as to why her best friend just knocked her to the ground. Instead of getting a verbal answer, she received a physical one. Applejack began stomping on her with her hooves, blinded by her rage. "Applejack?! What are you doing?!" Twilight was horrified at what she saw. At that moment, Applejack, completely exhausted, collapsed. The last thing she saw was a sobbing pink pony. Through the darkness, came a familiar voice, it was faint, but clear. Suddenly, the blackness surrounding Applejack began filling with a mixture of brown, orange, red, and yellow. The breeze was cool and made her shiver, but then the voice called to her again. "Applejack... Applejack? Hey, don't tell me you're tired already, we’ve got a race to finish! The leaves won’t fall by themselves you know!" She blinked her eyes a few times to make sure she wasn't seeing things, but to her amazement, standing before her was a beautiful cyan pegasus pony with a brilliant rainbow mane. "C'mon, earning the iron pony title won’t mean as much to me if you were sleeping the whole race!" Rainbow Dash said with a confident smirk. "Oh? Who said ah was gunna let y'all just win the title? I'm not givin' up that easy! After all, everypony will agree that I'm the iron pony." "Well, prove it. Ahahahaha!" Rainbow Dash's laughter got softer as she got farther away. "I'm commin' for ya Rainbow!" Applejack dashed off and was soon alongside her friend. They were almost at the finish line when something suddenly stopped Applejack dead in her tracks. Something didn't feel right. "AJ, whatcha stopping for? We got a race to finish!" Rainbow Dash complained. "Now hold on, something 'aint right here. I don't know what to make of it, but I have this terrible feelin' that none of this is real." "What the hay are you talking about? Of course I'm real. Oh you and your jokes, hahaha." Rainbow Dash laughed. "I'm being serious! You can't be real because you... you..." Her memories began rushing through her mind so fast, it made Rainbow Dash seem like a snail. "You died! YOU WERE KILLED BY... BY..." She said trying to fight back her tears. Rainbow Dash approached the confused pony and put a hoof on her shoulder and looked her in the eyes with an assuring look and said, "Applejack, I was hoping that we could just spend some more time together, I like you a lot, you're awesome." Applejack was now biting her lip trying to hold back her tears, "But sometimes, things just happen and now I need you to do something for me. I need you to wake up and go back to the others, they're worried about you. Besides, they still probably don't know what happened yet, so please, tell them so you can move on as soon as possible." "NO! I don't wanna wake up! If waking up means I have to leave you behind, why would I do that? You're my friend and friends stick with each other no matter what!" Applejack could no longer hold back her emotions and tears began flowing down her cheeks. "Hey, hey. C'mon, remember? Faithful and strong? You got to be strong Applejack, for me. You have to understand, this is not real. Please, do this for me!" Those words faded as Rainbow Dash began to drift farther and farther away into a sea of darkness. She awoke to see three ponies staring down at her. She was in Twilight's house. "R... Rarity? Twi'? Pinkie?" She said, exhausted from her previous ordeal. "WHERE'S RAINBOW DASH?!" She sat up and immediately began searching around the room. "Applejack, please be a dear and calm down, you mustn't strain yourself. You've probably been through a lot in the past few hours and we'd like you to fill us in on what you know." "Applejack, are you alright? Well, no, I guess you're not, after that run in you had with Pinkie Pie." Twilight stuttered, choosing her words carefully. "Well, duh, of course she's not alright! I mean, it's totally not like you to just crash into ponies like a madmare." Pinkie Pie said in her usual cheery attitude. "Pinkie, what happened? Ah remember seein' you but that's about it." "Oh my dearie, do you honestly not remember anything at all? My, you knocked Pinkie Pie to the ground and began stomping on her!" "Oh mah gawsh! Pinkie, I'm so sorry! I guess I was so angry that I just couldn't control myself." "Angry at what?" Pinkie asked curiously. "Oh, ah guess you don't know yet. I think it's best if ah show y'all what I'm talkin' about." She got out of bed and began heading for the door. The other three ponies just stood there, trying to take in everything that just happened. "Well, y'all commin' or what?" Applejack said in a strict, demanding attitude. Applejack was looking down at the ground the whole way to Sweet Apple Acres. No words were said, even Pinkie felt the change in the atmosphere and decided walking would be more appropriate that hopping. Upon arriving at the porch to Applejack's house, they were greeted by an unusually gloomy Apple Bloom, "Y'all here to check in on Fluttershy? She's in the house with Granny Smith. We found her passed out by a barrel about two hours ago. Sis, you don't happen to know what's in the barrel do you?" She asked. "Ah reckon ah do. However, this 'aint somethin' for you to be a part of, jus' go back inside and look after Fluttershy for me." "But I..." "AH SAID GO BACK INSIDE RIGHT NOW!" She roared. Everypony was shocked. Applejack has never been this angry with her sister before, they all got the chills as for what they were about to see was very serious. "O...okay..." Apple Bloom didn't cry, but just looked down in disbelief as she walked off to the house, still not comprehending her sisters' situation. "Alright, here she is." Applejack had no emotion on her face. "She? Who are we talking about?" Twilight was obviously confused. "Dear, I believe she's talking about the contents of the barrel and how this somehow relates to Rainbow Dash." "Could yer attention to detail be anymore spot on?" Applejack sneered. Before any extra remarks were made, Applejack popped open the lid on the barrel to reveal a crimson red liquid. "Applejack, where's Rainbow Dash?" Twilight said, now more confused than ever before. "Twi' this is Rainbow Dash, or at least what's left of her! It was the work of those two salesponies from a couple days ago. THEY KILLED HER!" The expression on her face went from blank, to extreme anger, "now, I'm going to settle this! I will avenge her. I will find those two ponies and kill them! Now how 'bout the rest of y'all? You gonna help me?" Nopony said a word, they were trying to make sense of all the information that had just been given to them. "I want to cry, but I just can't, I don't know why, but I think that something is telling me that this isn't the time, at least not until we stop the Flim Flam brothers." Twilight said, "I will, friends stick with each other to the very end! I need to write this to the princess as soon as possible." "Yea, you do that, but make sure to tell the princess that ah am the one pony that gets to personally deliver my own justice first." "I understand, after all, you've been hit the hardest out of everyone here." "Well, I'd absolutely hate to get my hooves dirty, but I'd, trot right through a mud puddle if it means helping out my friends." "What about you Pinkie? You gonna help?" Applejack asked. "Sorry Mr. And Mrs. Cake, but I think a different number just came up. I'm in!" With that said, the ponies went their separate ways to get some rest for the journey they were about to embark on. Applejack didn't want to break Fluttershy's already weakened spirit, but she felt that the yellow pony had a right to know. She walked into the house and was greeted by Big Mac. "Is Fluttershy upstairs?" "Eeyup." "Is she still asleep?" "Eenope." "Thanks, I'm just gonna head on up to check on her, alright?" "Eeyup." She walked up the stairs and into her room to see Fluttershy lying in her bed. She quickly noticed Applejack and asked, "Applejack, oh, I just had the most terrifying nightmare, I dreamed that Rainbow Dash had been in some sort of terrible accident!" These words hurt Applejack because she now knew the condition that her friend was in. "Fluttershy, listen, I'm sorry I can't put this any lighter, but, " Applejack paused, "Rainbow Dash is dead, I'm sorry that I'm so blunt, but I'm too exhausted to come up with more words." With that said, Fluttershy immediately passed out again, obviously this is too much for the delicate pony to handle. "Perhaps ah should just leave you here and fill ya in when this is all over, sugar cube." Applejack said as she tucked Fluttershy in and fell asleep on the floor beside the bed. She had a big day ahead of her and she needed all the energy she could get if they are to be successful. She dreamed of nothing. "Ugh... what a nightmare," Flim awoke to the rushing wind against his face, "Flam, I just had the most horrific dream! I dreamed that we ran into that orange pony from back in Trottingham and you... you..." Flim began shuddering as he couldn't repeat what he saw in his dream. "Made him into cider?" Flam said finishing his brothers' sentence. Flim froze up, it felt like he was in a full body cast, he feared that what he saw wasn't just a dream. "H... how did you know that?" Flam stayed silent and kept his eyes on the road ahead of them. "HOW DID YOU KNOW?!" Flim was now furious as this is when he'll start finally getting some answers, but at the same time, he wasn't sure if he wanted to be right. Flam responded with more silence. "ANSWER THE QUESTION! HOW DID YOU KNOW!" Flim already knew the answer, but he wanted to hear the exact words, "BECAUSE I KILLED HIM THAT'S WHY! YES! I DID IT!" This outburst broke Flam's concentration and stopped powering the machine, causing it to come to a screeching halt. "Why? Why would you do such a thing?" Flim asked in disbelief. "The voice told me to do it, if I didn't do it, I'd... we'd..." Flam stuttered. "What the heck are you talking about?" "Something has been talking to me since we left Ponyville, it's told me that everyone is against us. I'm telling you I had no choice, I HAD to do it!" Flim was left speechless as his own brother, who been his only family for as long as he could remember, become insane. He quickly considered the possibility of reporting him to the Canterlot Royal Guard, but Flim couldn't do that to his own brother, no matter what he did. "Flim, it's my turn to do the talking, now listen to me." Flam's attitude went from scared and confused to assertive and calm in an instant. "Now, the whole world is against us, that much is certain, but now comes the real question. What are we going to do about it? We both know that there are hundreds of ponies out there that mean to destroy us." Flim was left speechless as he had no idea that things had gone this far south for the both of them. "So, what you're saying is that we have to get them, before they get us?" Flim replied. "Yes, it's the only way, so, I'm only going to ask you once, are you my brother or are you just another pony that is trying to destroy me?" At that very instant, it felt like all time had stopped. It had become dead silent, the only thing Flim could hear was his heartbeat. Flim knew that he had to do the right thing for his brother. "I... I..." Flim's heart stopped and began to sweat, "I'm... your brother." "Indeed you are, and since you know what must be done, shall we continue to Appleloosa for the much needed repairs? After all, if we are to make the perfect cider, we need the Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000 to be able to match our level of expectations." Flim's heart was skipping beats. He still felt uneasy about his decision, but at the same time, he felt that what he did was right. He couldn't bring himself to betray his own brother, even if it means getting his hands dirty. "Yes, now, what exactly became of that rainbow pegasus?" He felt his nerves calming with each passing moment. Maybe this isn't so bad, only time will tell.
