The Element of Corruption

It was well past midnight, and Applejack was asleep. She was having another dream, but this one was more of a nightmare. She looked back and saw the darkness getting closer. She couldn't outrun it this time. It finally caught up to her. She closed her eyes and screamed as the cloud consumed her into the darkness.

She opened her eyes again and saw that she was in a big white room, which seemed to just go on forever. She couldn't see where the walls were, since everything was the same colour. She wasn't even sure what she was standing on.

She began walking, not sure where she was going or what she was doing there. She didn't even know it was a dream.

In the distance, she spotted a small object, all alone in the long, endless world. She galloped towards it, as it was the only thing she could see. When she reached it, she instantly knew what it was. It was the necklace, the one that looked like her element. She picked it up and looked at it. She heard a voice, whispering to her.

Put it on...

Applejack looked around. There was nopony around. She wanted to put it on, but she knew what was happening. It was evil. It was trying to get her to put it on. She tried her best to hold back, but she couldn't. She clipped it around her neck.

At that very moment, the world turned black and started fading. She looked around, and then realised it was a dream, from which she was waking up.

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She opened her eyes and looked around her bedroom, which was dim in the moonlight. An insane look spread across her face.

"They're coming." she said to herself. "They're coming to take your necklace." She laughed a little. "I have to stop them. I have to protect it..."

Twilight woke up that same morning and quickly remembered what she had to do. She walked over to Carousel Boutique and got Rarity.

"Are you ready for this?" Twilight asked.

"Ready? How ready do we have to be? She can't be that bad." Rarity said.

"I want to get it off her as soon as possible. We have to get it off before the end of the day."

"It'll be fine, Twilight. It'll only take two seconds. We get in, we get her down, we take it off. Simple as that."

Twilight and Rarity gathered the rest of their friends and they all went to Sweet Apple Acres. Twilight pushed open the door of the house, and was quite shocked. The place was trashed.

They went upstairs and knocked on Applejack's bedroom door.

"Who is it?!" they heard Applejack yell from inside.

"It's us, your friends." Twilight said.

"Go away!" she yelled. "I know why you're here!"

"We're here to help you."

"No you're not. You just want my necklace!"

"Listen Applejack, it's evil! It's hurting you. You have to take it off!"

"Never!!"

Twilight pushed on her door to go in, but it didn't budge.

"Don't bother!" Applejack yelled. "I've pushed my bed in front of the door! You can't get in, and I can't get out."

Twilight turned to her friends. "We have to get in there somehow."

"What's wrong with Applejack?" Fluttershy asked.

"She thinks that we're always trying to take her necklace off her." Twilight said.

"He he. As if." Pinkie commented.

Fluttershy thought about this for a moment. "But isn't that what we're doing now?"

"Hmm... Oh yeah." Twilight realised. "Well, this is for a different reason."

Twilight looked through the crack between Applejack's door and the wall. She saw Applejack, whose colours weren't just faded. They were gone!

"Applejack! She's... missing her colour!" she cried.

Her friends looked through the crack as well.

"Whoa!" Pinkie Pie yelled

The four ponies sat on a bench outside of Applejack's house.

"What are we going to do?" Rarity asked. "She's insane."

"No I'm not!" Applejack yelled from her bedroom window, which was boarded up.

"We have to get it off her before today, or she'll completely lose it!" Twilight said.

"What are we gonna do?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Hang on a sec..." Pinkie Pie said as she looked around. "Where's Fluttershy?"

Fluttershy nervously knocked her hoof on Applejack's bedroom door. As the Element of Kindness, she thought she might have been able to convince her to let the others in.

"Go away, leave me alone!" Applejack said angrily.

"It's me, Fluttershy."

"Fluttershy? What do you want?"

"The others are trying to help you. Why won't you listen to them? It's for your own good."

"Good? My own good? If they were true friends, they'd leave me be!"

"But it's hurting you. You're not even orange anymore. Why won't you let them help?" she pleaded.

There was no answer. Instead, Fluttershy heard Applejack pushing her bed out of the way of the door.

"Come in." Applejack said, monotonically.

"Oh, thank you Applejack." she said as she entered.

Applejack stood by the doorway, with a plank of wood in her hooves. As soon as Fluttershy walked in, she struck it down onto her head. Fluttershy crashed onto the ground, blood dripping down her forehead.

She whimpered and cried as she lay on the floor, shocked by what Applejack had just done.

"Now tell them to leave me alone!" Applejack yelled.

Fluttershy didn't move. She was petrified of the plank that she held in her hooves.

"I said go!" Applejack yelled, striking the plank against her quivering body.

Fluttershy screamed as it slammed against her chest. In fear of getting hit again, she crawled out of her room. Applejack slammed the door behind her and pushed the bed back.

"Now leave me alone." she said as she lay down on her bed.

Fluttershy limped out the front door, causing her friends to scream when they saw her.

"Fluttershy, what happened?!" Twilight asked her.

"I wa- wa-" she stuttered under her tears. "I was asking her to l- let us in, but instead, she hit me with a plank of wood."

"That's it!" Rarity yelled. "She's taken this too far! I'm going to go have a chat with her."

Rarity went inside and the others heard her shouting at Applejack.

"How DARE you do that to Fluttershy!!" she screamed at Applejack. "Get out her now!"

The others heard silence for a few seconds, but then they heard a bang and a crash. A few moments later, Rarity returned with a bloody nose.

"That's it. She's lost it." Rarity said.

"We have to get in there and get the necklace off her!" Rainbow Dash said.

"We don't have to get in there," Pinkie Pie said thoughtfully. "We just have to get it off."

"Yeah, so?" Rarity said, holding her nose.

Pinkie smiled. "Well girls, I have an idea."

"Are you sure about this Pinkie?" Twilight asked her. "It's not long until sundown."

"Sure I'm sure. It's at least worth a shot."

"Okay. Go ahead."

Pinkie Pie walked over to Applejack's bedroom window, which was still boarded up. She had to get Applejack to look out the window, so she began her plan to get her to remove the planks.

"Applejack. Hey Applejack. Applejack? Hey Applejack, guess what? Applejack. Hello Applejack? APPLEJACK!!! Applejack..."

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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Several Hours Later~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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"Applejack? Are you there? Applejack? Hey Applejack. Hellooooo. AJ?? Do you want to come and play?"

Her friends were all covering their ears, when suddenly...

"Ahhhh!!!! I CAN'T TAKE IT!!" Applejack ripped the planks of wood off of the windows and looked out at Pinkie Pie. She was still holding her wooden plank. "What the hell do you want?!"

"Catch!" Pinkie Pie hurled a small red object at Applejack's face. It took AJ a moment to realise that it was a tomato, but by then, it had already exploded on her face. "Oh no. I'm allergic to tomatoes!" She began drawing back for a sneeze. "A- Ah- ACHOO!"

She sneezed, which caused the necklace to fly off of her neck, and to drop the plank of wood from her hooves. They fell to the ground.

"Quick! Get it! Get the necklace!" Rarity yelled.

Twilight walked over to necklace and picked it up. She looked at it and watched as it changed, before her own eyes, into her Element of Magic tiara.

"Oh no!" said Pinkie Pie. She picked up the plank of wood off the ground, and whacked the tiara out of Twilights hoof and smashed it to pieces.

"Whoa, Pinkie. Calm down." Rarity said.

They all turned and looked up at Applejack, who was looking slightly faint. They watched as she collapsed and fell out the window

"Applejack!" Twilight yelled.

They rushed over to AJ, who was unconscious, lying face first in the dirt. Twilight rolled her onto her back and put her ear up to her chest. Her heart was still beating, but it was much slower than it should have been.