Their Beginning

Apple Bloom's POV

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Waking up in a cold room, Apple Bloom lay on the pale gray tile floor. She sat up, rubbing her head softly before her hoof came across a small bump. "What the?" She began.

"Silence!" a voice demanded.

Instinctively, Apple Bloom shut her mouth, remaining seated on the cold tile floor. "Before you ask," the voice began again, "you're here for one reason and one reason only. That reason being to kill, no matter who it is, you must not stop yourself. Got it?"

Apple Bloom simply nodded her head in response.

"Good, now, let's begin," the voice said, stepping out of the shadows. Her magenta eyes were cold as they stared down at Apple Bloom. The pegasus' face was covered with a black ski mask, hiding her mane accompanied with a dark gray jumpsuit covered with blood stains and smears along with holes cut into it where her cyan wings rested on her sides.

"Rainbow?" Apple Bloom began.

With a quick action, the cyan pegasus drew a knife from her hoof-satchel and, flying quickly passed Apple Bloom, she slashed the young filly's left side, leaving a thin but deep cut down the length of it. "You do not know my name, therefore you do not speak. Is this clear?" the pegasus questioned.

Apple Bloom fell to the floor on her good side, whimpering from the cut. She nodded her head in response as tears began to form at the corners of her eyes.

"Oh stop being such a wuss! Shape up, filly! Or you'll die out there!" the cyan mare screamed, her voice echoing off the steel walls. "Not that I wouldn't mind that," she added. "At least I wouldn't have to worry about some useless, pathetic filly ever again."

That was what made the little earth pony tick. "Ah'm not useless," she muttered.

The mare spun, her cyan blue hoof connecting with Apple Bloom's frail head and leaving a small gash. Blood began to seep down onto her face and Apple Bloom, still being just a filly, was outraged. She turned around, and with as much power she could muster, she bucked the cyan pegasus hard in her muzzle. The yellow pony looked at her from over her shoulder, blood seeping down her muzzle and into her mouth. The pegasus now was glaring hatefully at the young earth pony.

"How dare you!" she screamed angrily before launching herself at the filly and slamming her against the wall with brute force.

Being pinned against the wall, Apple Bloom had no other options. She bit down hard on the mare's neck as blood began to drip into her mouth. She didn't care, she just wanted this psycho pony off of her. Apple Bloom was pinned against the wall harder and harder as the mare growled hatefully at her from the pain she didn't want to notice. Apple Bloom opened one eye after her shoulder dislocated from the amount of strength the mysterious mare had on her. She was bigger and stronger, thus, Apple Bloom could die at any moment. "Leave me alone!" she yelped, flailing her back hooves until she kicked the mare hard enough so she backed off.

Moments later, the filly caught a reflection of light off what appeared to be silver. The knife. she thought as she dove out of the way right before the mare's hind legs connected with her jaw. Right before the mare had pinned Apple Bloom down, she had grabbed the knife in her hooves. "You are worthless," the mare said just before she grinned evilly.

Apple Bloom rubbed her muzzle on her yellow coat, a red smear appearing on it. "Not as worthless as you," she spoke calmly as she drove the knife into the esophagus of the older pony. Blood spewed from the wound as Apple Bloom began twisting it in a counter-clockwise motion.

The mare collapsed on top of Apple Bloom, blood only squirting out onto Apple Bloom's upper chest and neck. With an extended amount of effort, the filly finally managed to roll the pegasus off of her. After she had gotten that over with, Apple Bloom stood, looking at her side. The blood was still oozing out but slowly now, beginning to clot. She smiled. "Today was a good day," she spoke before she stepped over the pegasus, not bothering to look at whom it was who tried to kill her. "Ah may have hit a bump in the road, but that ain't gonna' stop me," she finished before stepping out into the light of what looked like a battle arena. "What in the name of Celestia?"

Four other fillies were visible in the star shaped, blood stained arena. The announcer said, "Let round one of the filly killer begin!" With that, the other eight baron flanked ponies charged at one another. Apple Bloom, still being confused and injured with the earlier fight, stood there motionless until a green coat, red maned pegasus colt flying at her with a knife clenched tight in his jaws. She finally began to come back to her reality, side-stepping the colt's attack and bucking him in the side. He dropped the knife and fell to the ground with a cracked wing and rib. Just before he was about to sit up, Apple Bloom pinned him down, slitting his throat with a quick motion.

More and more fillies and colts died, each being either slaughtered slowly or being thrown over the edge of the battle arena. Apple Bloom, getting a sudden rush from all this action, jumped in. She cut the flanks of two fillies with the knives they dropped before stabbing them each in between their shoulder blades and stepping hard on it when they collapsed to the floor, driving it through their chest and racing heart, ending their life. There were only three ponies left. One being herself, and the other two being what looked like two unicorn colt twins, aside from the reverse coloration. The one on the right had a yellow coat with an orange mane while the other had a orange coat and yellow mane, both having red eyes.

They both charged at her, knives held high with their magic. Apple Bloom took this into account and bucked one in the side and just before the other had stabbed her with his knife, she then moved in the neck of time, allowing the colt to stab his own brother in the back of his neck, killing him instantaneously. Her cunning ability made her unbeatable. While the other colt was busy having a realization of what he had just done, Apple Bloom bucked him hard, causing him to slide close to the edge of the arena.

"You made me kill my brother! Now, I'll kill you!" the colt yelled before enveloping the knife he dropped in his magic and tried to cut Apple Bloom's blood-smeared coat.

Apple Bloom simply laughed, skillfully dodging everything the young unicorn tried. "Ya can't kill me silly," she said, her pupils dialating and then constricting as she galloped towards the colt, still dodging every swing of his knife, "but Ah can kill ya!" she yelled, bucking him over the edge and throwing the knife over the edge, ending in his chest. She heard the sound of bones cracking as he finally hit the bottom with an echoing thud and she grinned sadistically. "Ah win."

*   *   *

Apple Bloom stirred in her bed, the yellow filly still tired and processing what went down the previous day, along with her odd dream. Scootaloo had come knocking on her door at four in the morning and she literally almost blew up on her. She sighed before rolling out of bed effortlessly and hit the floor with a thud, sweaty from her dream. "Ah don't wanna kill anypony at all," Apple Bloom muttered to herself as she walked over to her bedroom door and nudged it open with her muzzle. "Ah don't understand why Scootaloo wants to anyway," she continued, walking down the steps into the kitchen of the Apple Family's home.

"Hey Apple Bloom," Applejack began while making a batch of apple fritters, "are ya gonna try again today to see if yer cutie mark'll appear?"

Apple Bloom stood there, still confused and trying to conjure up a way to lie to her sister about today. "Uh, Ah dunno sis, we were actually just going to hang out today and see if we can uh, think of anythin' else we haven't tried," Apple Bloom paused before adding more to her lie, "but if we do think of somethin', Ah'll make sure ta tell ya, alright?"

Applejack nodded, dipping another apple slice in the deep fryer before placing it in a skillet on the stove. "Alright, now, be careful."

Apple Bloom hadn't paid attention to Applejack's last words as she darted out the door after taking three apple fritters in a basket and into the direction of the Crusader clubhouse. "Ah juz hope dis all worz out," she said with the basket handle clenched between her teeth as she dashed through ponyville.

*   *   *

Arriving at the Crusader clubhouse in a matter of minutes, Apple Bloom waited outside for Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle. They stepped out of the clubhouse, wearing camouflage clothes. "Put these on," Scootaloo ordered while trotting behind a bush and waiting with a backpack upon her back.

Apple Bloom did as instructed and put the suit on, picking up the basket once she was done and walking over to the bush. "Apple fwitter?" she asked them.

Scootaloo replied, "After we're done with our crusading for the day, as a reward."

Apple Bloom sighed and said, "Alright, but ya know these won't be tasty if not eaten right away."

Scootaloo rolled her eyes. "Fine," she said and plucked an apple fritter from the basket and ate it whole, swallowing in seconds. "Can we get going now?"

Sweetie Belle had taken one as well, savoring every bite. "Why the rush, Scoots?" she asked curiously with a mouthful of fritter.

"I want to start early," she replied in a matter-of-fact tone.

Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom glanced at each other momentarily and finished their fritters, standing up. "Alright then Scoots, let's go if you're in that much of a rush," Sweetie Belle said, skeptical of the situation.

Scootaloo nearly jumped out of her skin as she stood up, galloping ahead before turning around, "Let's go! There's not a moment to lose!" she yelled out to the two other fillies.

Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle trotted up to Scootaloo slowly, not aware of what might happen. "Okay, before ya lose yer head, let's go," Apple Bloom replied, galloping next to Scootaloo with Sweetie Belle close behind.

*   *   *

The three fillies found themselves at a cliff, Scootaloo in the lead. She looked uneasy, her eyes darting in every direction. "We're here," she spoke, laying out a small blanket and pulling out some scalpels.

"Not to be a bother Scoots, but," Apple Bloom began, "where exactly is here?"

Scootaloo cast a glance at Apple Bloom before returning to organizing the materials. "This is where I come to, well, think," she spoke without as much as a small sense of happiness.

Sweetie Belle was by the edge of the cliff, "Scoots?"

"Yes, Sweetie?"

"Why is there a stain of blood in this part of the grass?" Sweetie Belle asked, curious as to what her friend was up to.

"I hit my head one day," she orange filly lied.

Apple Bloom looked at her, "Didn't ya go get it checked?"

Scootaloo shook her head in response, her purple mane barely budging.

"It could be infected," Sweetie Belle noted before trotting back over to her friends.

Scoots simply shrugged, "Oh well, I'm fine, aren't I?"

Apple Bloom sighed. This filly, I swear to Celestia. she thought silently.

"Alright," Scoots said, "let's begin."

Begin what? Becoming murderers? Oh, what fun, Apple Bloom thought sarcastically. "Can we please get this over with? Ah don't want Applejack questioning me when Ah go home tonight," she muttered.

"Of course," Scootaloo said before giving chase to another squirrel, snatching it up in her jaw. "We'll start off small. First, we snap some of the critters bones."

Sweetie Belle looked at Scootaloo as she broke the poor critters forelegs and then its hindlegs in a quick snap. With her mouth agape, Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom sat down, the three fillies forming a triangle around the animal.

Apple Bloom, getting a feel for the violence, picked up a scalpel in a steady hoof and skinned the animal alive, placing the skin and fur to the side as the muscles twitched violently.

Scootaloo gave a nod of approval before following through and tearing the young creatures legs off. "Now, we remove the muscles," she stated, place a scalpel on each tender muscle before cutting it, blood spewing on onto her orange fur. "Damn it! Why is this so messy?" she yelled at the squirrel before continuing her cutting. She stopped once all the muscle was cleaned from the animal, it's heart slowing down rapidly from the amount of blood loss from it.

Sweetie Belle was, once again, feeling that odd way again. Unsure of this, she turned to Scootaloo. "Can you come with me? I have to tell you something."

Scootaloo looked up, "Okay, here Apple Bloom," she said, passing the scalpel to the yellow filly. She got up, blood on her chest and trotted over to the awaiting Sweetie Belle by the forest's edge.

Apple Bloom heard the bushes rustle, letting her know that her friends we now out of view. She drove the knife deep into the squirrel's left eye socket, blood squirting from the eye as it splashed onto Apple Bloom's yellow chest. "My bad," she smiled as she removed its other eye with what looked like an ice cream scooper.

The other two crusaders came out of the bushes, one looking shocked and the other looking shy. Apple Bloom shrugged it off and continued, cracking each rib and removing the remaining organs before she came to the heart. "Leave that for me," Scootaloo said, walking back over to an Apple Bloom with constricted pupils. "Are you okay, Apple Bloom?"

Apple Bloom snapped out of it, her pupils dilating again as she shook her head. "Ah'm fine, it's getting dark. Can we hurry?"

Scootaloo looked up, dusk was approaching as the sky of Equestria was turning a beautiful shade of orange, red, and yellow. With a nod of her head she said, "Alright." Scootaloo yanked the heart from the squirrels corpse, or what remained of it, and put it in the hole she dug from the previous time. "Done, all that's left is--"

"Can I...eat it?" Sweetie Belle asked, sounding ashamed and curious.

"What? Ya want to EAT that?" Apple Bloom said, disgusted.

Scootaloo smiled, passing the heart to Sweetie Belle after cleaning it off on her fur from the dirt. "Here," she said.

Sweetie Belle's mouth watered. She took the heart and bit into it, the sweet crimson splashing onto her tongue. She savored it before eating the rest as if it were one of Applejack's apple fritters.

Apple Bloom sat there, mouth agape and her eyebrows furrowed in disgust. She then ran over to the cliff, throwing up into the crashing waves and razor-sharp rocks below. She trotted back slowly to the group, laying on her side to calm her churning stomach. "That was gross, Sweetie," she grumbled, wrapping her forelegs around her stomach.

Sweetie Belle hung her head. "I'm sorry, I just wanted to try it," she apologized, explaining her reasoning.

"It's fine, just, please, never do it around me again. Ah don't wanna see it," Apple Bloom complained before standing up shakily. "Ah'm gonna go home. Applejack should be worried sick by now. Ah'll see y'all later. Night!" she yelled back, galloping in the direction of her home, Sweet Apple Acres.

*   *   *

Apple Bloom arrived home, her mane a mess and her bow half untied and lying over her right shoulder. She hadn't cared as she trotted up the stairs and pushed her door open with her muzzle. Applejack must have heard her for when she lay in her bed, ready to sleep, Applejack knocked.

"Huh?" Apple Bloom said, turning over onto her back but remember she had a blood stain on her chest and quickly turned back onto her side.

"Hey Apple Bloom, did ya find anythin' ya could use as yer cutie mark?" she asked, curious.

"Nah sis, we just wrote down some ideas all day and we went to the park," Apple Bloom lied.

Applejack nodded. "Well, ya better go bathe. Ah'll talk to ya more tomorrow," Applejack yawned wide, "Ah dunno about ya, but Ah'm beat," she told Apple Bloom before escorting herself out of the room and into her own, closing the door with her hoof, letting Apple Bloom know she was safe to roll over again.

Apple Bloom got up, trotting into the bathroom holding only a shower and she turned the water on, allowing the steam to fog up the mirror before she got in and rinsed off the events from today. She stepped out, feeling clean, and dried herself. She went to bed with a semi-dry mane and tail and her bow on her end table. "Goodnight," she muttered softly before slipping into the long awaited sleep her body needed.