Such woodenheaded ponies they were. Do they think their idiotic decadence to the Lunar Republic would prevail? No, they will die where they lay. Hiding from Celestia’s grasp. Now they will pay for their stupidity. They will drive each other mad, ruin their own alliance, perhaps they might even do something worse. Who knows? All Twilight knew was that five of Luna’s greatest leaders had an appointment with inevitable demise.
Oh, how could this have happened? A surprise attack on Ponyville? Some say Twilight Sparkle herself led the assault. Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Rarity, and Fluttershy were nowhere to be found. The town was a fiery disaster. A burning building here, sompony’s corpse there. The only safe place seemed to be underground. And there was a handful of ponies that knew this.
Everypony else was too busy mourning the casualties of the unexpected raid on Ponyville. The ones that were left scrambled to give the dead a proper burial, clean up the town, and reconstruct. Luna had fled to Appleoosa for a more stable base of operations and the other five were surely dead. Perhaps they were slaughtered at the rainbow factory. Maybe Celestia personally executed them. They could’ve just died in the attack. But one thing was for sure; they had to be dead. They would’ve been seen if they were still alive. Funeral services had been arranged to mourn the fearless leaders that had died.
Or so everypony thought.
“C’mon, everypony, push!”
“It’s not budging!”
“Harder, dammit! Push harder!”
“Oh... it’s no use. We’re going to be trapped down here forever and ever and there’s nothing we can do abou-”
Rainbow Dash had interrupted her.
“Fluttershy! Shutup and get a grip! We’re going to get out of here!” Dash screamed.
Fluttershy slunk away, nervously mumbling apologies and making scared squeals.
Applejack finally gave up on the task that involved pushing.
“Ugh, that’s it. We’re stuck down here. Looks like we’ll have to wait it out” She said
“Wait what out?” Rainbow Dash argued.
“Everypony is going to comb through the wreckage, right? Ah’m pretty sure somepony will find us down here, right?”
Dash nodded simply because it was easier to agree.
In case of an emergency, there had been one place everypony had agreed to be a good place to flee to. Applejack’s cellar. It was underground, out of the way, and even had plenty of supplies that could last about a week or so to accommodate the five rebel leaders of the Lunar Republic. In the chaos of the raid on Ponyville, they had managed to successfully make it to the cellar. Yet, it came with a price. The chaos of the attack had crushed nearly all of the pony-made structures of Sweet Apple Acres. There was simply too much debris lying on top of the cellars doors to push them open. All because of Twilight’s sadistic attitude towards her friends turned enemies after the betrayal. The betrayal between Luna and Celestia. Twilight and her friends.
Nopony enjoyed the dank conditions. Rarity voiced her opinion.
“Applejack, are you sure we can survive down here? The conditions seem awfully... inhumane.”
Applejack reassured Rarity about the situation on food and shelter. At least there was a fighting chance to get out of this mess, right?
Everypony seemed to settle into a depressed mood while waiting the rest of the night down in the darkness of Applejack’s dusty old cellar.
Applejack herself cried the most that night. She counted the losses over and over again in her sorrowful mind.
“Granny Smith, Big Mac, Apple Bloom, all dead” Just the thought alone brought tears to her eyes. “The entire farm... destroyed. We’re trapped in here for who knows how long... oh my Luna, won’t somepony save us?”
She was met by a familiar voice. It sounded like a Godsend. It was Twilight’s voice.
“Applejack, I know you’re down there.”
“Twilight? Is that really- how can I hear- Twilight, where are you?”
“In order, yes, it is me. You are not imagining anything. I’m listening and and speaking to you via my magic powers. And I’m watching upon you from the comfort of my own chamber in Celestia’s castle.”
Applejack sincerely tried her hardest not to cry out to the other four ponies.
“Can you... surely you’ll get us all out of this mess, right?”
She was met by a cold, unexpected response.
“No.”
Applejack was simply appalled.
“No? Whaddya mean no?”
“Celestia wanted me to destroy the Lunar Republic from the core. So I attacked Ponyville. I knew you would run for the cellars.”
Twilight paused for a moment, but it was impossible to chuckle over mental-magic speak.
“Very big mistake you see, I made sure you were trapped under all of the debris from your barns and what have you. Now you’re trapped.”
“Trapped until somepony finds us.”
“You don’t understand, Applejack. I know you. The Running of the leaves? Nightmare Moon? Discord? Even the Changelings and Sombra. We’ve been through so much together and learned well enough about each other. I was holding back before, but now I can kill you like I’ve been wanting to all these months, and there’s nothing you can do about it. And you know what? I decided to have some fun. I’ll watch you kill each other this next week. You are going to die down there. Have fun”
“You’re going to what? Ya’ll are sick! You’re-”
Twilight ceased her Connections.
Twilight was no longer communicating via magic, but Applejack was still screaming. Only this time, it was out loud. She happened to wake everypony else up, who then went to go comfort their friend. Applejack told them about her conversation with Twilight. Everypony simply blamed it on a dream. Of course, how could Twilight talk over magic? That’s unheard of.
Applejack thought otherwise. She had a theory that ever since Twilight had become a Princess, the successor to Luna, she had gained access to a vast new library of magic. Magic-mental conversing possibly being one of them.
The next two days passed quite uneventfully. The occasional period of screaming for help, some sobbing from Fluttershy and Rarity, and dwindling hope. An uneventful two days, indeed. That’s not to say the third was the same.
Rainbow Dash was the first to wake up that day. She stood in the spot she woke up in, thinking about anything and everything. When will they get out? Will they get out? What happens after that? Her thoughts were a whizzing pool of uncertainty until a small rustling got her attention. It was Pinkie Pie. She had just woken up. That’s when it hit Rainbow Dash. Pinkie had not said a single word ever since the attack, let alone a joke. Dash took it upon herself to try to talk with Pinkie.
Dash approached Pinkie and asked her if she was okay. The response was less than desirable.
The circumstances had lead to a rare side of Pinkie. The last time this had happened was when she conspired that her friends had been avoiding her. Only this time, the danger was real. Pinkie had an insane look on her face that made Dash wish never had approached Pinkie. What Pinkie said next made Dash wish she had never woken up at all. Her voice came out as a high-pitched rasp.
“I’m bored, Dashie. Do you wanna do something fun?”
The moment she said that, she grabbed a vacant gardening trowel. Pinkie Pie then tried to do the unthinkable. She was attempting to... stab Dash? Cut her? Whatever it was, it was to kill. Rainbow Dash, with her superior physical strength was able to disarm Pinkie and turn her weapon against her. Pinkie seemed to be attempting to kill Rainbow Dash in any way possible. Pinkie resorted to biting at Dash’s chest. There was only one option left. Dash resorted to beating Pinkie with the trowel.
Between the horrid sound of metal hitting against Pinkie Pie, Pinkie’s screams of “KILL ME! KILL ME!” and Rainbow Dash’s sobs, the rest of the trapped Ponies had woken up.
Dash did not stop the merciless beating when Pinkies screams had ceased, not when blood and internal organs seeped out of Pinkies mangled body, but only when Fluttershy, the closest to Dash, had tackled her off. Rainbow Dash panicked, and ended up blindly swinging around the trowel. One poorly placed swing was all it took to slit Fluttershy’s throat. Fluttershy fell to the ground, blood seeping, dead. Rainbow Dash did not continue her offensive. She remained frozen, staring at the scene of what had just occurred.
Applejack and Rarity both decided to stay as far from Dash is possible. Rainbow Dash tried to explain, but It’s hard to believe in excuses from a pony covered in the blood of her own victims.
Dash, Applejack, and Rarity did not say a word. The horrid, murderous aura filled the room, stopping any sort of negotiations. Silence.
Applejack thought on these events. Twilight had said that they will die in the cellar. To dead bodies lay in a bloody pile on the floor of the very cellar Twilight mentioned. Could she be right? Could Twilight have known? Nothing happened for the next twenty-four hours.
Rainbow Dash finally came forward to the two.
“Guys, I’ve been thinking this over. It’s my fault Pinkie and Fluttershy are dead. I killed them.”
No response from Rarity or Applejack.
“So I guess the last thing I need to do is just end it here and now.”
Rarity spoke.
“Wh-what do you mean by end it all?”
“I’m going to join Pinkie and Fluttershy”
With that, Dash plunged the trowler into her own throat. The very Trowel used to kill Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy. Rainbow Dash fell to the ground this time. She was not dead though, she had just enough life left to utter one sentence.
“You...wouldn’t... me... around... any...ways....”
Rainbow Dash passed on. She was dead.
applejack and Rarity had no idea what to do. they just stood in place, sobbing over their three dead friends. The depression that settled over the two was greater than ever before. They prayed for a wreckage crew to free them from the hell they were trapped in.
Instead of prayers, they received but one curse. The straw that broke the mule’s back. Rarity had gotten sick. Whether it was food poisoning, the poor living conditions of the cellar, or maybe even Twilight delivering one last blow to the group, Rarity had been extremely weak by the morning of the sixth day. That night, she passed out and never woke up.
Applejack was quick to come terms with Rarity’s death. Twilight had predicted it, the other three had died, why not take away her last friend? Applejack may have accepted the death, but that did not mean she was going to live with it. Who knows how long it will be until the wreckage of Sweet Apple Acres is cleared?
In a way, it’s advantages turned out to be it’s own weakness. It’s out of the way? It in turn becomes the last place to be combed for survivors of the attack. The place you check even when you know there’s nothing there.
No, Applejack would not accept a life like this. She would rather die than live without her best friends. So die she will. Join the rest. Become happy once more.
Applejack wrote one last goodbye note. A suicide note.
“If you are reading this, it is already too late. Me, my friends, my family, everything thatw as here is gone. I didn’t want to live like this, so I won’t. Goodbye.
-Applejack”
And with one final stroke, the finished the note. It was time. The trowel. The trowel that had took the lives of three of her friends will now take her own. Applejack took the trowel. Without a single regret, she died in the same manner as Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash. The edge of the trowel barely sharp enough, but it did the job. Applejack felt her throat open as it all slipped away. So this is what dying felt like. It’s like falling asleep. Only you don’t wake up from this dream. If the dream meant seeing her friends, her family, she was all for it. She embraced the arms of death.
No more than a few hours had passed since Applejack’s suicide. The doors creaked open. A young Stallion opened the cellar doors.
“Hey boss, I found a cellar! Should we check this place out?”
A few members of the wreckage crew entered the cellar to be met with a ghastly sight. The putrid odor of blood, innards, and any other sort of organic rotting material filled the area. The wreckage crew had just come across the corpses of five of leaders of the Lunar Republic conspiracy.
Quite a shame that they were found a day after Princess Luna had rallied a force large enough to attack Canterlot. The Lunar Republic had won and it’s leaders had died. One last victory for the Loyalists.
Author's Note
This is my first fanfic so It's okay if I fail epicly. Brony on.
