Professional cooking

Chapters

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Epilogue

Chapter 1

It finally happened. After centuries of doing the job, Cerberus failed to keep an eye on the gates of Tartarus for a little too long and now all the ancient evil creatures were roaming free, wrecking chaos all over Equestria. While both princesses were out there hunting the creatures in desperate attempt to save Equestria from impending doom, the citizens were hiding in the cellars of their houses, praying for it to end before it was too late. The city of Canterlot was mostly evacuated at this point, except for the royal guards on the streets fighting evil themselves, and six ponies gathered in the abandoned castle, trying to figure out the way to save their world once again.

"Alright everypony, I've gathered some useful information", Twilight Sparkle spoke up to her friends, "The only way to stop it once and for all is to get to the very center of Tartarus and once again awake the Dragon Orb which originally sucked all the creatures in long ago. But there is one problem!"

"How did I know that?", Rainbow Dash grumbled.

"The second any living creature would go past the gates of Tartarus, the evil forces inside would turn them into dust in an instant. I don't know any magic spell strong enough to protect anyone long enough to get to the center of Tartarus and live. Our only hope is that there will be something about it in the one book known to ponykind that is unholy enough to hold secrets needed for problems of this caliber, The Necroponicon!"

"Then what are we waitin' for, let's go check it!", Applejack started towards the door.

After a short trot, the ponies arrived at the library, where Twilight quickly found the ancient book and levitated it down with her magic.

"Let's see...", she started turning the dusty pages, until finally stopping at one particular page, "Oh, no!"

"What's wrong, Twilight?", Fluttershy asked with fear in her voice.

"I don't know how to tell you about it girls, but it says here... that in order to become immune to the evil energy of Tartarus, one has to consume a roasted pony!"

"WHAT?!", the other five ponies yelled in unison.

"Darling, but that's disgusting! And immoral...", Rarity pointed out.

"I know! That's why it's necessary. The only one who will be able to withstand something as destructive as the inside of the Tartarus itself is somepony who overcomes the disgust of doing something as wretched and unacceptable as consuming pony flesh, and it says here that the more effort was put into preparing the pony, the longer the protection will last."

Everypony fell silent for a long moment, not knowing what to say, or what to think, or what to do whatsoever in this situation.

"Listen, everypony", Twilight finally broke the silence, "I know this is very difficult for all of us, but this is really the only way we can save Equestria, we should have expected the solution for this kind of situation wouldn't be easy. It says here that one properly prepared roast is enough for five ponies to gain protection, which means... one of us would be just perfect. I understand if nopony will be willing to make that decision and I won't blame you, but knowing how much it means for Equestria, it'd be really great if somepony willingly voluntereed. I'd even do it myself, but as princess Celestia's personal student I have my responsibilities and I will be needed later."

"I can't either", Rainbow Dash spoke up, "All of Ponyville's weather depends on me!"

"Neither can I", Rarity joined her, "I have plenty of orders to complete, I can't disappoint my clients!"

"There's plenty of work in the orchard", Applejack mentioned, "and Ah have to do my part!"

"Cakes need me to help them with the twins!", Pinkie Pie appologized.

Everypony's eyes turned at Fluttershy.

"It's okay, I'm sure my animal friends will be able to take care of themselves without me. I can be eaten if that's what you want, I don't mind...", she lowered her head and started shuffling her hooves, which made everypony touched deeply with her pasiveness and resignation.

"We can't eat her! Oh, no no no!", Pinkie started protesting hysterically.

"But somepony has to do this, you heard what Twilight said?", Rainbow Dash cut in, not really happy about her close friend having to be consumed, or herself to participate in the dinner, but aware that this was Equestria's only chance.

An argument broke out between ponies, with two sides fighting over whether or not Fluttershy should be eaten, until finally a loud voice interrupted the further conflict.

"Cut it out!", Applejack rose her hoof, "Ah'll do it!"

Everypony fell silent in an instant.

"Darling, what are you talking about?", Rarity was the first to speak, "Don't tell me you want to be..."

"Well, somepony has to", Applejack interrupted, "And if we're gonna waste our time arguin' while every second counts, Ah'd rather do it mahself than wait 'til it's too late for Equestria!"

Nopony knew what to say, not that they would even dare to argue anyway, knowing that they didn't have any other choice, but also out of respect for Applejack's brave decision.

"Alright everypony, no time to lose, let's go!", Applejack was already on her way to the kitchen, only caring about the fate of Equestria and not in the least about the situation she got herself into. The others followed her without a word, terrified of what they were about to do, but also proud of their friend's determination. After a while, they arrived at an elegant dining room that was adjacent to the kitchen where Cadence's wedding preparation had taken place in a different time.

"Twilight, Rarity", AJ turned to her friends, "You go with me, we'll need unicorn magic in preparin' the roast. The rest of y'all, sit at the table and wait 'til the dinner is ready."

"Applejack, don't do this!", Fluttershy threw herself at AJ, "You know you don't have to!"

"Listen, sugar", Applejack put her hooves on Fluttershy's shoulders and smiled warmly, "Ah ain't happy about havin' to end up as a dinner, either. But what Ah want ain't important right now, all that really matters is Equestria's safety. Sometimes we all have to make sacrifices, and I'm happy that Ah can do this to help mah friends save our world. Don't worry y'all, we'll make sure Ah'll be so tasty that y'all will be diggin' it in like wild pigs!", she winked and her friends couldn't help but smile at how their friend was able to make them laugh even in her situation.

Rarity and Twilight entered the kitchen with Applejack, and the others at the table watched the door close behind them, knowing that the next time they'll see their friend again, she will be served on a hot platter as their dinner for tonight, and they will all have to eat it. And I used to think, Rainbow Dash thought to herself, that having to eat Pinkie's burnt pastries was bad.

Chapter 2

"Applejack, I just wanted to say how much I admire your noble sacrafice...", Twilight started saying when they were alone in the kitchen, but AJ, who was just putting her hat and saddlebags on the counter, didn't want to listen.

"Aw shucks, sugar, y'all really think Ah would miss the chance to be the only one who won't have to eat a dang pony flesh tonight?", she tried to joke about the whole thing, pretending she didn't even care. Twilight wanted to say something more, but Applejack was already busy gallopping around the kitchen and handling everything like a professional chef, already familiar with the surroundings as somepony who had helped preparing royal wedding in this very room.

"Let's see", she opened the cupboard with condiments, "Ah always ate loads of apples, so Ah would probably taste best with lemon pepper, oregano and... curry will do!", she took out three cans and put them on the counter.

Twilight and Rarity were astounded by their friend's devotion to helping prepare herself for dinner, but they knew Applejack wouldn't hesitate a second knowing that fate of everyone was at stake, so they didn't question any of her actions and just waited patiently to help their friend, who at the moment was examining the stove.

"Yup", AJ said after opening the door and peeking inside, "Ah should easily fit in there for roasting", she closed the door and cranked up the temperature, already starting pre-heating the oven so that there wouldn't be need to waste precious time for that later.

"Twilight, you go to that bookshelf over there and look for some good stuffing recipe in one of those cooking books", Applejack commanded, "Rarity, take five plates and bring them to the dining room, don't forget 'bout knives and forks too!"

"Stuffing?", Twilight and Rarity asked in unison, not very familiar with this kind of cooking since ponies rarely ate meat, and mostly when having griffons as guests.

"Well, before putting me in the oven, y'all have to fill me with something tasty first", Applejack explained, having experience with preparing all kinds of meals for all kinds of clients, "You wouldn't want to eat me with all those organs still inside, would ya?", Rarity shuddered at those words, imagining having Applejack's colon on her plate, and she quickly got herself busy taking the plates from a cupboard.

While Twilight was busy browsing through the cook books, Applejack was looking for a perfect platter to be served on. After rejecting platters from the stash that were too small or too big for her, she picked a nice oval one with fish ornaments on the rim. She looked at it for a while, then decided that it won't do after all and replaced it with similar one with apple ornaments.

"Hey Applejack, how about this one?" Twilight came over to her, hovering an open book with her magic. AJ took a look at the page, which described how to make a roast stuffing with buckwheat, sliced cabbage and tomato sauce. It was easy to make and all the ingredients were available.

"Perfect!", Applejack said, knowing her friends would love this one, and then Rarity came back from the dining room.

"Everypony is getting nervous back there", she reported, "Fluttershy just kept appologizing you in advance for participating in the dinner, and Pinkie asked if we will have to eat your hat too!"

"Rarity, good that you're back!", Applejack addressed her, "You and Twilight take some cabbage and start slicing it as thinly as you can, while Ah will go bring that sack of buckwheat from over there!"

AJ came over to the corner of the kitchen where huge gunny sacks were piled and quickly found one with buckwheat. She grabbed it with her teeth and started pulling it towards the table, where Twilight and Rarity were busy cutting the cabbage with knives levitated by their magic.

"Thinner, girls, thinner!", she instructed them, seeing how the cabbage they had shredded so far was still in rather big pieces, "it needs to be as thin as possible to mix well with the buckwheat!"

Rarity and Twilight moaned in dismay, but started shredding the cabbage more thoroughly, while AJ opened the sack.

"When you're done, take a huge bowl and mix it together, and don't forget about the sauce", she ordered them. "Ah'll be over there by the stove, makin' the gravy"

"Darling, aren't you getting too much into this?", Rarity was slightly creeped out by how seriously a pony could take being served for dinner, "I know you want to make it the best you can, but are all those details really necessary?"

"Remember what Twilight's book was sayin'?", AJ reminded her, "The better Ah'm served, the more immune y'all get after eatin' me", she didn't admit that it was also partly because she'd kind of feel ashamed to treat her friends to a roast without any sauce.

While her friends were busy shredding the cabbage as thinly as they could, Applejack was putting the ingredients in a small water-filled saucepan. Luckily the kitchen was really well equipped, so it wasn't hard to find bouillon cubes, onions, flour and butter which was just enough to make a quick gravy. Of course Twilight and Rarity could just use her own juices after taking her out of the oven, but she knew it would only took them even more time, so it was better to already have a pre-made gravy at that point. She put the saucepan on the stove, and while it was cooking, she came over to see how her friends were doing.

"That's all you've made?", she looked at the pile of cabbage on the table, "Do you know how much you'll need to fill me up? Here, lemme help y'all with that"

Twilight and Rarity moved aside a little to make room for AJ, who grabbed another knife and joined her friends in shredding. Having lots of experience in cooking, she was going much faster than both unicorns, despite holding it wrapped with her earth pony's hoof, and by the time gravy was ready some ten minutes later, the heap of shredded cabbage was much bigger.

"Alright, y'all can finish the rest without me, while Ah'll go take care of the rest of preparations", Applejack said and left towards the stove, where an aromatic smoke was raising from the saucepan. After taking a spoonful of hot gravy and test-tasting it, she concluded that it wasn't the best she had made, but good enough for a quick batch made from bouillon cubes. Having taken the saucepan off the stove, she went to look for the tomato sauce, and just a moment later she came back with a huge glass bottle to the table, where Twilight and Rarity were still working hard with the cabbage.

"Is THIS enough?", Rarity asked beggingly, pointing at a tall heap in the middle of the table.

"Will do", AJ said, putting the bottle on the table, "Now you use your unicorn powers to put it all in the bowl, while you Twilight do the same with the buckwheat in the sack. I'll take care of the sauce"

She grabbed the bottle with her teeth by its rectangular bottom and emptied it all into the bowl, where cabbage and buckwheat were levitating into in two streams of unicorn aura. With cooperation from three friends, the bowl was soon filled almost to the brim, and Rarity levitated a big mixing spoon to blend the contents together. After a moment of making circles frantically, the cabbage, buckwheat and sauce finally formed a unified mass, and she licked the spoon curiously to check the taste.

"Eww!" she made a grimace, "Darling, that tastes gross!"

"Of course it does, sugar!", Applejack rolled her eyes, "First it must be inside me while Ah roast in the oven. Why would anypony want to eat the stuffing raw?"

"Oh...", Rarity felt embarassed, not knowing such things since she had only had meat once, and it was a cutlet.

"Okay y'all, now listen up", Applejack became more serious, "Now that everything is ready, Ah can explain to you how to make the roast, so pay close attention and remember every detail, cause once y'all get goin' with it, Ah won't be able to help you anymore, obviously. First y'all need to stick a tube in the artery – Twilight will know how to find it – and drain all the blood so that you don't get messy doin' the rest. When you finally get rid of it all, you have to make a long cut in the underside", she ran a hoof along her chest and belly to demonstrate, "and remove all that stuff that Ah have inside, just put it in a bucket or something. You can give it to those guard dogs outside, poor doggies haven't been fed for Celestia knows how long. Then you fill me as tightly as you can with the stuffing, and once it's all inside, Rarity will sew the cut closed again. Next comes the tricky part, Rarity will have to carefully shave off all mah fur, so that you can sprinkle those condiments from the counter all over mah skin, or else the meat won't taste good. And then, with all the stuffing and condiments, Ah am ready to be put in the oven!"

She came over to the oven to explain everything better and opened the door. The heat from the inside blasted her in the face, indicating that pre-heating the oven earlier did its job, and it felt kind of weird to her knowing that pretty soon she would be inside this little inferno.

"After you put me inside and close the door, you'll have to wait for about an hour or two before I get nice and crispy. You can look through the glass once in a while to see how it's going. Then when you finally take me out and put me on the platter, warm the gravy up on the stove and pour it all over mah back. If there's some left, you can serve it on the side in a sauceboat. Then if you like, you can also decorate the platter with some nice garnish."

"Oh, don't worry about that, darling!", Rarity became excited at the possibility of trying her hoof at decorating a fancy meat dinner.

"And Rarity", Applejack turned to the elegant pony, "If you make me too frou-frou on this platter, I hope Ah give you an indigestion", she wanted to make it clear how she didn't want to be served.

"Applejack, a properly served roast for five ponies does have to look presentable!", Rarity scolded her, "You're not being served on a country fair, you know!"

"Fine!", AJ sighed, certainly not enthusiastic about the prospect of looking like some fancy-schmancy dinner for Canterlot snobs.

"Don't worry Applejack, we'll make you into a marvelous roast!", Rarity was already imagining all the possible garnish configurations to decorate her friend with, "We can even put a nice apple in your mouth which I'm sure would fit here perfectly!"

"Wait!", Applejack protested, then trotted over to her saddlebags and, after fumbling around a little, took out one of the apples she had carried with herself, "If an Apple family member has to be served for dinner, then only with Sweet Apple Acres apple in their mouth!"

"As you wish, I'll remember that" Rarity levitated the ripe, perfect apple over to the table.

"Alright, you girls remember everything?", AJ asked, to which the two unicorns nodded their heads, "Great, so I hope you'll make a great roast out of me that everypony will love, and that after eatin' it y'all will be able to save Equestria!"

"We promise to do our best!", they swore solemnly.

"Just make sure y'all eat everything, is that clear?", she regarded them sternly. "I ain't sacrificin' mahself so that you'd leave half of it on the plater!"

"Of course we'll make sure to eat every last bite!", Twilight smiled assuringly, trying to ignore the weirdness of the situation.

"Perfect", Applejack said and trotted over to one of the drawers. She took out a metal meat mallet with her teeth and brought it to Rarity.

"Here", she put the handle in the unicorn pony's mouth, "Let's get it started already"

"What do you mean?" Rarity asked nervously with the mallet in her mouth.

"For Pete's sake, you unicorns are so removed from reality!", Applejack sighed, "You can't just start preparin' me right now, first you need to hit me in the head as strong as you can, just like we do to pigs on the farm when we want to sell their meat to the pet food factory!"

"Applejack, I can't do this, you're my friend!", Rarity started protesting, feeling sweat coming on her forehead.

"C'mon sugar, just one good hit, Ah won't even feel anything!", AJ was starting getting impatient.

"I c-can't!"

"Just do it and let's get it over with!", AJ practically yelled at her.

Rarity wimpered under her breath, but she bowed her head back, took a deep breath and hit as hard as she could, just as her friend had asked. Unfortunately, with all the hesitation and guilt blocking her, as hard as she could only meant strong enough to give Applejack a big headache.

"OUCH!!! For Pete's sake sugarcube, do Ah look ready to be put in the oven to you?!", AJ was really angry now, with her head pulsing with pain like a locomotive's whistle, "C'mon, do it again, harder!"

Rarity simply backed away a little with fear, not being able to bring herself to it, which only made Applejack even more impatient. Annoyed that they were wasting precious time while Equestria's fate was hanging in balance, she grabbed the mallet in Rarity's mouth with her teeth and tried to take it away from her, although not really knowing what to do with it. The white unicorn didn't want to let it go, scared of what her friend wanted to do, and the two mares started fighting over the mallet. For few seconds, it was just moving back and forth from one pony to the other, until finally two opposite pulling forces launched it in the air. After spinning around few times, the heavy utensil reached the zenith and started falling down, landing straight on Applejack's head with a loud crack. The earth pony dropped to the ground with a derped expression frozen on her face.

Chapter 3

Twilight and Rarity looked at each other in silence, then at the motionless pony lying on the floor. Twilight carefully came closer and checked her pulse and heartbeat, then looked at Rarity and gave her a confirming nod. The other unicorn made a sigh of relief, glad to know that they were already past the worst stage. In a different time and place, she would probably be sad about what had just happened, but they both knew that they had to go throught it whether they wanted or not, so it was just good too know it would only be a regular meat preparing from now on.

"Rarity, levitate her over on the table while I will look for some long tube", Twilight commanded. A moment later, Applejack rested gently on the tabletop in the glow of Rarity's magic aura, lying on her back with her limbs curled comically, now with her eyes closed to hide that creepy expression, while Twilight was sweeping through the cupboards.

"Got it!", the purple unicorn triumphantly pulled out a roll of a transparent rubber tube with sharp tips. After going back to the table, she located an artery on Applejack's hind leg and, with some resistance, jabbed one end of the tube into it while dropping the other over the sink. After a while, the red liquid started pouring down the drain, and it didn't stop running for quite a while.

"Alright", Twilight said when Applejack was finally emptied of all the blood, "I think we can finally um, open her up."

Rarity reluctantly levitated a big knife from a holder on the counter and put it to Applejack's sternum. She really didn't like the idea of sinking a blade in pony flesh, but it was kind of comforting to know that Applejack wouldn't feel it anyway, so Rarity just imagined she was cutting through a really thick fabric and brought herself to stick the knife in AJ's chest. Not without difficulty, she started running the knife south, fighting against the tissue's resistance and trying to ignore the disturbing sounds. After finally reaching the teats, she spread the cut wide with her hooves, revealing all the Applejack's organs crammed tightly inside.

"Twilight, could you be so dear and take care of... gutting?", Rarity asked beggingly, "I find it rather... gross, if you ask me"

"Alright, but you help me with cutting", Twilight said, lighting her horn up. Applejack's liver started glowing with unicorn magic and slowly detached from the rest of sticky mass, only held in place by few veins and bladders. That's when Rarity used her knife to cut the organ free and, levitated with Twilight's magic, it ultimately landed in the nearby bucket. Then the two unicorns followed with the rest of Applejack's insides and soon the bucket was also filled with the earth pony's stomach, heart, kidneys, spleen, pancreas, long trail of intestines and everything else that could be removed. Finally, with plenty of space inside, Applejack was ready for stuffing.

"Rarity, get yourself a spoon and we'll both start filling her up", Twilight said, levitating the huge bowl of stuffing next to hollowed out Applejack. The two unicorns equipped themselves with spoons and started stuffing their friend with the contents of the bowl. Spoon by spoon, AJ was slowly filling up until the stuffing filled all the free space inside her, and there was still a little left on the bottom of the bowl. Then Rarity took a roll of butcher's string and used her sewing skills to carefully sew Applejack closed again. When she was finally done, it was hard to tell that the pony on the table ever had her internal organs replaced with cabbage and buckwheat, save for the stitches running from her chest to the pelvis.

"Okay, what was next?" Twilight asked, trying to remember the instructions Applejack had given them.

"Why, now's the time for a little shaving!", Rarity levitated over few kitchen utensils that were never designed for barber's shop, but with her sophisticated skills they would do just fine. Twilight watched as Rarity magically manipulated the utensils all over Applejack's body, precisely shaving the skin clean and watching carefully not to damage the stitches. A fountain of fur was falling on the floor as Rarity worked her magic to thoroughly shave every spot, until AJ was bald like a sphynx cat. They decided to keep her mane and tail intact, however, worrying she would look rather silly without them, and Twilight just put a protective spell on them so that they wouldn't get damaged by the oven's temperature.

"Well then, I guess she's ready for her condiments now?" Twilight looked at the three bottles.

"Hold on a minute, darling!", Rarity stopped her, "I think it's better if we clean her up a little before we start!"

She had a good point. Although Applejack had always taken a bath after work, a good cook knew that there's never too much hygiene when serving food for consumption, not to mention that they all did get kind of dirty on their way there. Rarity unwrapped a new kitchen sponge and soaked it in a hot water, then gave AJ quick cleaning until her skin was all wet and shiny.

"Alright darling, you can start seasoning her!", Rarity said after the water on Applejack dried a little, and the three bottles started levitating towards the table with Twilight's magic. After stopping above their goal, the lids opened, the bottles flipped over, and AJ was bathed in a rain of curry, pepper and oregano, sprinkled evenly in three perfectly synchronized streams by the OCD unicorn. When Twilight was done, Applejack looked like after rolling in a colorful sawdust.

"Okay, I think now is the time to, um, put her in the oven...", Twilight had some difficulty saying this aloud, somehow much more than seasoning her friend with condiments or even removing her insides.

As Rarity trotted over to the oven, Twilight levitated the stuffed and seasoned pony off the table. The white unicorn opened the door and was immediately assaulted by the now quite an intense heat coming from the oven, which didn't make it any easier for them to put their friend inside. She used her magic to slide the plate out and put a little oil on the surface, making it ready for Twilight to gently put Applejack on in sphynx position, with her head lying between her forehooves. It wasn't easy for them to bring themselves to slide the plate with Applejack back in, knowing that after taking her out again she wouldn't even be a pony anymore but a roasted dinner only resembling AJ in shape. Still, they knew that Applejack willingly did it for Equestria and that she would have been mad if they backed out after all this, so Twilight's horn lit up and their friend entered the hot oven on the sliding plate, with the door shutting behind her gently.

"Alright, now all there is left to do is wait until our dinner is ready", Twilight said with a guilty relief that they were finally done with their grotesque cooking.

The following hours were filled with slow, awkward waiting, only interrupted by occassional peeking through the transparent door into the oven to check how Applejack was roasting. At first the two unicorns felt uncomfortable seeing their friend inside this hellish environment, but it helped them to know that in her present state, the cruel heat wasn't in any way harmful to AJ – in fact, considering the circumstances, it was actually good for her since it helped her get nice and crispy. With every peek, Applejack was slowly turning golden brown, and in the meantime, Rarity passed the time planning how to garnish the earth pony when she's finally roasted, while Twilight got busy sweeping the floor that was all covered in shaved fur. When they were both left with nothing to do, Rarity decided to take the offal to those starving guard dogs outside. She came back after a while with empty bucket.

"You have no idea how hungry those poor beasts were, they ate everything in the bucket!", Rarity was pretty amazed, "But first, I had to clean Applejack's intestines from all the digested apples, eww!", she shuddered at the memory.

"While you were gone, I went to the dining room and announced to everypony that the dinner is already on the way", Twilight informed, "They... didn't know how to respond"

Finally, Applejack was ready to be taken out from the oven. They turned off the heat and opened the door, which immediately spread around an enticing aroma of roasted meat and condiments coming from the oven. The moment it hit their nostrils, both Twilight and Rarity felt saliva building up in their mouths, and they weren't proud about this. Applejack really did know the best condiments to be seasoned with!

"Okay, I'm pulling her out!", Twilight announced, lighting her horn up.

The plate with Applejack slid out onto the open oven door, and now her skin was brown and crispy, with juices dripping from tiny cracks created by the internal pressure. At first glance, she looked like she had fallen asleep during sunbathing for too long, instead of being served for them to eat.

"Rarity, hold her for a while above the plate to drain off the excess of grease, and I will warm up the gravy in the meantime", Twilight ordered.

While the purple unicorn was putting the saucepan on the stove, Applejack was levitating above the plate with Rarity's magic, dripping heavily onto the metal surface below. By the time she was relatively dry, Twilight had already put the beautiful apple-themed platter on the table. The earth pony levitated over and landed on the oval dishware as gently as Rarity's skills allowed, creating another tiny puddle of grease below her upon touching the metal. Since she had picked it herself so carefully, the platter fit her perfectly, with plenty of space around her to put the garnish. Rarity made great use of it, putting a carpet of lettuce leaves around the roast and then covering them with olives and cherry tomatoes.

"Gravy's ready!", Twilight announced with her magic levitating the hot saucepan. As soon as her friend put the last touches to her decorating work, she levitated the saucepan above Applejack and spilled its hot contents down her back. Not wanting their roast to flood in the sauce, she only used as much as needed, then put the rest in a nice decorative sauce boat which she placed on the edge of the platter, next to Applejack's hind leg. As a finishing touch to their culinary masterpiece, Rarity put the Sweet Apple Acres apple in AJ's mouth.

"Well, Rarity, I guess she's finally ready to be served, what do you say?", Twilight asked after putting a special spell on the roast that gave the meat magical protective properties for everyone who would consume it before entering Tartarus, according to the instructions in the book.

The elegant unicorn took a careful look at their finished work. It was a perfect roast, but there still seemed to be something missing. Then she got an idea. She took a nice, fresh carrot and slid it into Applejack's roasted marehood. With a silent scraping sound, the vegetable went in almost all the way to the base of the leaves.

"Perfect!", Rarity looked at it proudly, and Twilight only rolled her eyes.

"Okay Rarity, I'll take her to the table and you hold the door open for me!", the purple unicorn commanded while lighting her horn up. She carefully lifted the platter with Applejack off the table and started carrying it towards the dining room. Rarity went ahead of her and opened the door. The two unicorns left the kitchen with their dinner ready.

Chapter 4

The second the door opened, the rest of the ponies gathered at the table turned their heads nervously towards the kitchen. They saw Twilight and Rarity coming out with a huge platter hovering between them, and on that platter, in sphynx position and with her eyes closed, was lying Applejack. It was a little uncomfortable to them seeing her on this platter, steaming hot and with her back dripping with sauce, and despite her different coloration, they still had a hard time believing that now she was a stuffed roast and not the pony they always knew.

"Dinner is served!", Rarity tried to sound as casual as possible while Twilight was carefully setting their dinner on the table, and then the two unicorns took their seats among others. There they were, finally assembled together for their feast, with Twilight taking the head of the table, Pinkie and Dash on the left, Rarity and Fluttershy on the right, and Applejack in the center, on the table. Decorated with all that fancy garnish and served on a silver platter, she looked almost as elegant as when attending the Grand Gallopping Gala, except this time it wasn't her apples that would be served to eat. However, none of the participants were able to make any move, not really knowing how to act in this awkward situation.

"Tee-hee!", Pinkie finally broke the silence, "She has a carrot sticking out of her..."

"Pinkie, have some respect for Applejack!", Twilight scolded her, "It wasn't easy for her to make that decision!"

The pink pony fell silent in shame, and the others just kept sitting still without word, looking awkwardly at each other and at the roast on the table that used to be their friend just few hours ago. They knew they had to do this, but the idea of eating one of their friends for dinner kind of creeped them out, even though the pleasant aroma coming from the hot roast was really teasing. It was especially difficult for Fluttershy, who knew that if it wasn't for Applejack's heroism, it would have been her on that platter now. Finally, Twilight Sparkle decided to make the first step.

"Listen, everypony", she spoke up, raising from her chair, "I know it's not easy for any of us to do what we are about to do, but we have to remember that this is how Applejack wanted it to be. She only took this sacrifice to save our beloved land, and it wouldn't be fair to her if we backed out now. You should have seen how much effort she made back in that kitchen to make sure she'd be as tasty for us as possible, I'm pretty sure she would be happy to know that we enjoyed this dinner like nothing we have ever eaten before. Let's do it for Applejack. I'll take the first bite if it will make it easier for you", she smiled gently.

The knife and the fork on Twilight's plate lifted with her magic. She stuck the fork in AJ's sirloin and started cutting off a slice. The knife made a scraping sound when going through the crispy skin, and then started diving smoothly through the hot, juicy meat, and Twilight hated that smoothness. When the slice of meat was cut free and put on the plate, however, she noticed with a relief that seeing it separately made it easier to think of it not as eating Applejack but eating a roast. She cut herself a small piece of her slice for a start and slowly lifted the fork to her mouth.

"I hope Celestia will forgive me this", she said to herself while putting the aromatic meat in her mouth. She started chewing slowly, trying not to think too much about what she was doing... and then, to her surprise, she realized that she absolutely loved the taste! Not only was the meat itself top-notch, but the condiments Applejack had picked really did give her an excellent flavor. Of all the times she had tried meat dishes of different cuisines to learn about foreign cultures, she had never had anything nearly as delicious. She swallowed her bite and turned to her friends.

"Hey everypony, it's really great!", she said excitedly while already cutting herself another bite, "Go ahead and take a slice, you won't regret!"

The other ponies were a little surprised, but encouraged by their friend, they slowly started cutting off pieces of roast for themselves and trying it with grimaces on their faces. One by one, each of them responded to the taste the same way as Twilight, and immediately started chowing down like crazy. Only Fluttershy tried sheepishly to put a cherry tomato on her plate.

"Fluttershy, eat your meat!", Twilight commanded her sternly. The yellow pegasus squaked pathetically, but did as her friend said and cut herself a piece of loin. It took her the longest to finally put the meat in her mouth, but after chewing tearfully for few seconds, she started consuming as eagerly as everypony else, if not even more.

"I do have to say", Rarity remarked, savouring a piece of shank, "All those years of physical work on the farm did pay off, her meat is simply divine!"

By this time, any reservations anypony had just few minutes ago were gone, and everypony was actively participating in the feast, cutting themselves slice after slice of the unique meat that owed its quality both to lifelong excercise of Applejack's muscle tissue and her excellent help with preparations. At one point, Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash were even fighting over the last piece of the round, which turned out to be the tastiest. One plate after another, the roast on the table was slowly becoming less resembling of a former pony and more of a generic meat dish, while the participants kept placing new slices on their plates and pouring them with gravy, often with lots of stuffing on the side, which, just like Applejack had predicted, everypony loved.

The feast went on for quite some time, during which the five ponies ate every last piece of meat, and Pinkie ate literally everything (including, to everypony's disgust, even tail and mane), until all that was left on the platter was a pile of greasy bones. By this time, everypony was so stuffed that they all felt sick, but they still had Equestria to save.

"Well, girls", Twilight gasped heavily, "I guess now that our little dinner is over, we can finally set off to the gates of Tartarus"

"Too bad it's already all gone, I wish there was more" Rainbow Dash said while picking her teeth, and then she turned to Rarity, "Hey Rarity, how about you volunteer for the second course?", she snickered.

"Very funny, Rainbow Dash, very funny!", the white unicorn gave her a deadpan look.

The ponies slowly climbed off their chairs, deciding to clean the mess after themselves before they leave. After few rounds of taking the plates to the kitchen and cleaning the table, they already felt a little better, just enough to gather by the exit to the garden grounds, ready to go on their epic adventure.

"Alright, everypony", Twilight announced after dumping the bones in the waste bin and putting the dirty platter in the sink, "It's time for us to start our journey before it's too late for Equestria. I know it won't be easy, but we..."

She suddenly stopped, feeling something inside her stomach. It was her body reminding her that it wasn't used to ingesting so much animal tissue. She clutched her belly, bending with grimace and hearing gurgling noises coming from the inside. Before long, the noises were coming from everyone's bellies, and they started moaning and making grimaces, too. And then, Twilight felt an exploding sensation going all the way down her digestive tract. At this moment, her entire conciousness was focused on only one need, and from the look on everypony else's faces, she realized they were all thinking about the same thing. Without hesitating a second, not wanting to give each other any chances, they all started racing desperately towards the toilet.

Epilogue

Before they could finally go on their mission, the five ponies first had to wait in a nervous line to the toilet, jumping hysterically in circles and knocking at the door in fury. Eating one full roasted pony was a little too much for a small group of herbivores, but one by one they eventually got rid of all the waste that terrorized their bodies, and then they were finally ready to go.

After a long walk, they reached the gates of Tartarus and guess what, it turned out that Applejack's meat did give them a magical protection that let them enter safely. They descended to the deepest deep, witnessing nightmares that would make Chrysalis cry, until they finally reached the Dragon Orb. While her friends were keeping the evil creatures from distracting her, Twilight used all her magic to power up the orb, and ultimately all the ancient evils were sucked back in.

Equestria was saved. The five heroes were welcomed warmly by everyone, although the citizen of Ponyville were shocked to discover that they had to eat Applejack to succeed. After a while they were able to understand, however, that it was the only possible way to save them all, and that AJ was more than willing to make that sacrifire.

Applejack became a national hero, and she would always be remembered by every citizen of Equestria for her noble deed, there were poems written about her and statues erected in her honor. Her friends would never forget about the sacrifice she made that day in the kitchen, or about the devotion she showed toward helping them with their task.

But most of all, they would never forget the heavenly taste her own cooking had given her.

THE END