A calm and beautiful end to the evening was the farthest thing from Applebloom's mind, her day had been horrible, tiring, endless, boring chores, missing a spot was met with an array of hostile and brutal tirades, “Moma shoulda killed you 'fore you was born!” or “Ya'll are a disgrace! The day you call yerself an Apple is the day I hang mahself fer tha hogs ta eat!”  The only positive aspect of today was that aside from the rude awakening in the morning, the physical abuse was absent, they must've figured if they kept beating her too often, she'd get scars, scars would bring questions and that is the lest thing they wanted. The red-maned filly lay in her bed now, watching Luna's moon rise to full brilliance and prominence. She let out a heavy sigh, all day she daydreamed and mused upon what her friends were doing, what of they got their cutie marks and she missed out? What if they went on some really cool adventure with Twilight and the others and she missed that too? Why do my siblings hate me? What did I do?

In her numerous fits of sobbing and bawling, she had come to terms with Granny's death, they didn't tell her but she didn't need them too, she was able to put it together on her own: Granny is old, now granny is gone, Apple Jack and Big Macintosh were real sad, now they're real mad....made sense, didn't make it okay by any means but at least she knew the cause of her misery.  She turned over so she was now lying on her stomach, the soft mattress felt good on her tummy which was unusually empty, Apple Jack and Big Mac didn't let her leave even the house to go onto the farm, nor did they feed her, she “didn't deserve the fruits of their labor, bein' the slacker she was.” All of this was truly ridiculous and initially unbelievable, prior to Granny's death, Apple Jack and Big Mac were the best siblings she'd ever known, they loved her infinitely, played with her, encouraged her to go out and be happy as herself, yeah they had their trials and tribulations but they were small, they were short, and they usually taught somepony something about themselves, something to improve, room to grow, not now; now it was the opposite, Applebloom was unwanted, a waste of space, time, and air. For not wanting a damn thing to do with her they sure put in the effort of keeping her there, why? Perhaps they were past the point of letting her go, she would talk if they did, and they would have to likely answer to the Princess, they weren't about to have their hard work torn from them over their whiny little sister.

All theses thoughts kept her awake and the longer she stayed awake, she knew the less sleep she would get, she dreaded waking up, she didn't want to go to sleep, but she didn't want to lay awake musing about misery either, she didn't want to be afraid, she didn't want to be hated.  Then it hit her: it's night time, she could sneak out without much of a hassle, she just had to be real sneaky about it, she could find Sweetie Belle or Scootaloo—wherever she was, now that she thought about it, she had never been to Scootaloo's house, or met any of Scootaloo's family, what if she was an orphan? What if she never knew her family? Applebloom figured she's one lucky pegasus then, at least she doesn't have to deal with shit like this.

Applebloom had a plan, and she was putting it in action, she really had nothing to loose, but everything to gain, she still felt a small tug of familial loyalty tugging at he conscience, but her stubborn nature ruled the moment and pushed it aside, she crept down the stairs ever so gingerly so as not to wake them, she snuck into the kitchen area, then into the foyer, her hoof was on the knob, freedom was just beyond this wooden slab, she turned it, slowly, then her hoof slipped, suddenly she felt two hooves, much bigger than hers, wrap briskly and forcefully around her waist, within a blink she was flat on her back, Apple Jack looking down at her with bloodshot, angry eyes.

“What the fuck do you think yer doin' Applebloom? Thought we told ya ta stay inside—fer yer own good...”

Apple Jack grabbed the filly up by her mane with her teeth and launched her into the kitchen tabled, and all of the glassware on it, Applebloom felt sharp stinging and cold from the air entering these new cuts and splinters. She didn't have much time to react as she was then yanked by the mane again and tossed into a barren side of the foyer, slamming hard into the old, unfinished wood floor, slivers abound her chin and forehooves, just as she came to, loud, fast hooves came behind her and kicked her, she then was in transit from the middle of the room into the staircase, good for her she stuck it flank-first, head first and she likely would have been done for. Her vision was blurred she could see blood streaming down her face, likely from her forehead where she had just been bucked by her sister's renowned, powerful hooves, there was no point in crying now, do or die.

She chose the first option.

Applebloom made a mad dash for the kitchen, finding a fork, she hurled it madly as Applejack charged, it hit with accuracy, airtight into Apple Jack's muzzle, causing her to stumble back slightly, the chase continued quickly though as Applebloom hopped onto the counter and galloped to the other side of the room, Apple Jack, blinded by rage, topped the counter and was right behind her, but unlike Applebloom who had to doge and clear sink fossits, dish racks, and other things, Apple Jack simply smashed through them, she also smashed through the rickety old wall between the kitchen and the foyer as the filly scampered unknowingly into a corner. She was trapped, her sister menacingly inched closer,

“Shouldn't a done that, you're a dead fucker now.”

As Apple Jack inched closer, ready to destroy her own sister, she was met with a hoof to the face, and a respectable one at that, a strong tug on her mane followed and she was on the ground, Applebloom wasn't done yet, she put her karate skills to good use and sent a chair at a reasonable speed into Apple Jack's face as the mare attempted to get up. Apple Jack stumbled and tripped backwards, slamming into a grandfather clock that was recently placed near Granny's chair, she smashed into the glass, Apple Jack then tore out of the clock, not before of course ripping some fur off by shooting through glass, she winced some but was dead set on her target, however, her target was prepared as well. Apple Jack found herself lassoed around the forehooves—tightly,  she plopped to the ground struggling violently to get to her back hooves, no use, the filly had the skill, and time to hogtie those as well.

Applebloom hopped onto Apple Jack's stomach, knocking the wind out of her. She stayed put and walked to the point where she was now looking down at her sister who had given up.

Appleblooms struggled to speak at first, fits of sound escaped her sporadically, she was trembling beyond measure, she finally glared down at her sister who lay there with a look of pure hatred.

“A-ah ain't gonna kill ya c-c—cause I love you..” she choked up some but she knew she had to continue, she was the big pony now and she had to teach her sister a lesson, “y'all hurtin' me—it ain't right! It ain't solvin' nothin an—a-and yer a damn fool if ya thought otherwise!” She threw up in her mouth, all the fear, the physical demands all catching up with her now as her emotions were in full swing, “Ah ain't gonna let ya do this Apple Jack, yet n-not gonna hurt me no more!--d-dammit!”

“Fine Applebloom”  A defeated Apple Jack growled, “Y'all get, I don't ever wanna see you again, an I don't ever wanna hear from you again, I fucking hate you, so does Big Mac, you ain't never been good for nothin'! All we was doin' was tryin ta help you and y'all try ta kill me instead—fuck you you piece ah sh--”

“ENOGUH!!”  Applebloom connected a impressive smash from her hoof into Apple Jack's face, blood and a tooth came sailing clear to the ceiling. Her sister was out, the bruise from the impact was already the size of her eye, Applebloom hurriedly scrambled for the door, leaving it open as she fled as fast as her little hooves would allow, she was covered in blood from her and her sister, she could feel stinging, throbbing pain, coldness both inside and out, she was sweating and panting, wheezing made its way ito her breaths as she kept pushing into town, the tears were flowing freely now, she knew where she needed to go, she wasn't stopping, not now, not ever.

Scootaloo wasn't sure why she had awoken abruptly from her blissful dream of earning her cutie mark jumping her scooter over six ursa majors and having everypony bow to her feet in praise of her awesomeness, really, it was pretty cool—despite that though the dream was escaping her, her subconscious scrambling to retain it—no luck. She groaned some as she remembered what had happened a few hours ago; as all of that flooded her mind again she started to hear the source of her departure from dream land, a faint knocking—no banging—on the front door the boutique. She shrugged, figuring Rarity would get it. She waited, listened, no hoofsteps from the room to her right, no light flooding under the door, and the banging persisted, growing louder it seemed. She finally mustered up the will to at least sit up to hear better, this turned out to be more of an exercise than usual, nature had yet to vacate her swollen belly and she snuggled to sit upright; that took long enough, she got down from bed and trotted out into the hallway.

She wasn't hearing things; somepony, or something was certainly slamming on the door, she thought she could hear words too, but she was too tired to strain her ears, instead she looked one more time to see if Rarity had been jostled from her “beauty sleep”, it appeared not. Either she had cotton in her ears or was doing an amazing job ignoring the persistent pounding.  Scootaloo grumbled something and made her way downstairs towards the door. Much to her surprise, Opalescence wasn't in Rarity's room, instead it stood diagonal to the door, back arched, fur frayed, and hissing violently as it anticipated this unwelcome guest. The cat stopped at the sight of Scootaloo approaching the door, now watching as if it were a show.  

Scootaloo was terrified by what she saw rush intro the house. Applebloom was—almost unrecognizable. Her signature bow was gone, her mane was tattered and the front portion that normally hung over her face had obvious signs of bite marks, blood was still trickling down her face, bruises both fresh and faded were opaque on her cream colored coat which was matted all around.  Before Scootaloo could pose any kind of question, the bleeding earth pony was now pressed into her, in a tight hug, much like she had been earlier in the evening, she was sobbing heavily and wasn't showing any intention of letting go. Scootaloo simply watched in confusion and horror as fresh blood continued to stream down her friend's hooves and now staining her own coat.

“A-Applebloom, what happened!?”

The farm filly continued sobbing frantically for awhile, she didn't bother moving her head, which still was buried in Scootaloo's chest, Scootaloo could feel see this bleeding wasn't going to stop without bandaging, she figured there was only one thing she could do at this point:

“RARITY!” She screamed with all her might, countless times. Her voice cracking at the sheer force behind her hollering would make Sweetie Belle jealous for sure. Finally, her caretaker stumbled to the top of the stairs and stampeded down as soon as she saw Applebloom and her horrific state.

“Applebloom, what in Equestria—!” Rarity shrieked as she snatched the filly and whisked her into the washroom, Scootaloo was quick to follow.

Applebloom relayed her awful story as Rarity cleaned and bandaged her wounds, Applebloom didn't move, she didn't even flinch, not even when Rarity had to sew a gash shut with just a needle and spare thread, it was primitive but with a bandage over it, it would have to do until she could get her to the hospital. By this point Applebloom had calmed some, tears still flowing down her face as the pain was still fresh; Scootaloo sat in the doorway watching and listening, cursing herself inside for not following her instincts and checking on her when she was with Sweetie Belle, maybe they could have prevented this.

Rarity was overwhelmed, between the sight of blood and trauma, let alone having to address it first hand, coupled with the graphic and vulgar descriptions from Applebloom of her these last few days, she was close to fainting.

“I—I am so sorry Applebloom” Is all she could manage, “If we knew—We--” Applebloom placed a hoof on her muzzle,

“No sense in thinkin' like that Rare, Ahm okay now—I guess. Ahm still scared though, what if they find me?”

“That isn't going to happen.” Rarity said sternly, “You are going to stay here for the night, you will be safe—I promise.” She turned to Scootaloo who was staring at her friend “Scootaloo, please, I need you to go get Twilight for me.” Scootaloo shook her head to pull her from her fixed gaze and looked at Rarity for a second, as if that would help her in recalling what she just said,

“Scootaloo,” Rarity was irritated now, “Hurry, go get Twilight I said!”

Without another word the orange filly scampered out of the boutique and through the empty streets of Ponyville, it was still in the thick of the night and Luna's moon was very bright, almost lighting the streets completely. Finally she found Twilight's tree-house and knocked on the door. A few seconds later, Spike answered.

“Scootaloo?” He said wearily, obviously he was stirred from bed like she was, “What are you doing here? Isn't it a bit la--”

“I don't have time to chat Spike!” Scootaloo startled Spike a bit by the volume of her voice, “Applebloom is really hurt and we need Twilight to come to the boutique now!” Before Spike could turn around to fetch his friend, Twilight had already shoved past him and was galloping to the boutique, Scootaloo in tow.

Twilight was sitting with Rarity on one of her “fainting sofas” which was located in the parlor room of the boutique, Applebloom was lying comfortably on an adjacent sofa, Scootaloo had gone to bed, satisfied that her friend would be in good hooves, and was also very tired from the other series of draining events that came to define today.  Applebloom was still awake, passively listening to the older mares converse, her injuries weren't too critical, or damaging but they sure were pronounced, though most of the bruises had either disappeared of faded to near transparency, the cuts and gashes were still covered with bandages, and it would take some time for the stitched one to fully heal.  What bothered the filly the most, and arguably, what still caused an aching feeling through her whole being what that her sister had done this to her; Applejack, the pony she trusted, loved, and coveted ad an example of honesty, work ethic, and morality, all of this now smeared and strained, the very fabric of what she considered reality was falling apart as questions continued to unearth contradictions. Her body was comforted and at ease but her mind was miles away.

“...I should have listened to Rainbow Dash,”  Twilight sighed, while she knew very well that hindsight was always 20/20 and really, would anyone had suspected, even in the extremes realms of speculation and conspiracy that the two most respected workers in Ponyville, whose family had provided for this community since its inception were even capable of conceiving, let alone executing such acts of verbal and physical abuse on such a trusting, impressionable filly?

“What could we have done Twilight?” Rarity had every intention of moving out of this phase of 'what ifs' and pitying as soon as possible, if she were sucked into that mode, they'd be there for weeks;

“I—You're right, you are absolutely right. I guess we have to just be thankful it wasn't any worse...” She trailed off as she looked over at Applebloom who seem uninterested in what they were saying, the filly let out a yawn and curled up into a ball, hoping sleep would soon come her way. Both mares were silent, Twilight fidgeting some as she distracted herself with the odd figures that the lighting of the moon and the shadows it inspired made on the various ornamental pieces that defined this room.  With this a thought cane to her: it wouldn't be long before AJ and Big Mac came looking for her, nopony else other then herself, Scootaloo, Rarity and Spike knew anything of this and she was certain the farm mare had every intention of keeping it that way, no matter what the cost.

“She isn't safe here.” Twilight stated dryly.

Rarity was somewhat caught off guard, “What do you mean Twilight? I am perfectly capable of taking care of he--”

“Are you perfectly capable of staving off Applejack and Big Mac? She is lucky she only faced one of them, and look at what happened! I mean no offense Rarity but—I mean, I can cast a force field spell around my home, she'll be much safer there.”

Twilight paused some, trying to think of a way to sugarcoat this back-handed assessment,

“You already have Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle, with how busy you are the last thing you need is another mouth to feed, and all the emotional attention she is going to require.”

Rarity simply nodded in understanding, verbally admitting her friend was right was out of the question but she wasn't about to push back, at least, not this time however she did have one point to throw in,

“You mentioned emotional requirements—where I am deficient in practical magic you are most certainly inferior in—dealing with such things delicately, how do you intend to deal with, you know, questions? Hard moral questions? Night terrors? I mean this kid had a near death experience at the hooves of somepony she loved! This simply isn't just going to wash over overnight, this is going to scar her for life!”

Twilight had never considered that angle until now, she knew she was more than capable of combating the surface implications, the injuries, and caring for her provisional needs but her friend had a point, she wasn't the best when it came to dealing with deep, personal afflictions—if anyone knew this it was Spike, cold calculated logistical abstracts were not really the perfect remedy for a heartbroken dragon looking for a soft shoulder to cry on.

“Fluttershy could help I'm sure...we really don't have much of a choice and right now if we expect to keep her out of harms way I'm afraid that addressing emotional baggage is going to have to wait awhile, give us enough time to get her away from this.”

Rarity simply nodded and excused herself to her room, it had been a ridiculous turn of events and she about had it with everypony and everything; between the sickness incurred witnessing and tending to Applebloom, to the heaps of stress and worry that Scootaloo created, it was enough to make anypony go mad. Twilight turned to Applebloom who still seemed either oblivious to the mare's conversation or in not much of a mood to talk, she raised her head as Twilight came to her,

“Applebloom, how about you come stay with me and Spike for a few days? I'll be able to maintain a force field around my house so nopony can hurt you—not that Rarity wouldn't do her best—I'm sure you understand.” She smiled, hoping that the filly would at least come along without hassle, and she did.

The two made their way silently out of the boutique and into the thoroughfare of Ponyville towards Twilight's residence. Once inside, Twilight hollered for Spike to prepare cocoa and cookies for the filly. In the meantime, Applebloom, watching the magical force-field take form outside, went to where Twilight was studying; initially she simply sat on her haunches and watched quietly, not focusing on anything in particular, but watching nonetheless. After some time she spoke, her normal voice intact:

“Twi?, Why do ya think she did that ta me?” Applebloom shot her head down and was fidgeting, she wanted to ask but, it felt wrong for some odd reason.

Twilight took some time to process how to answer something like this, one false word and the filly's life could plunge further into despair and confusion. She trotted to where the filly sat and sat next to her, she put a comforting hoof around her which immediately cued Applebloom so snuggle up next to her. The big, beady eyes of the filly prompted Twilight to speak:

“Well—I don't know Applebloom....I know deep down, if not now, then eventually, she will feel terrible for what she did—she loves you Applebloom, it's just not a good time right now.”

She paused for a second, disappointed by her loss of balance on the tightrope of cautious counseling.

“When ponies go through hard times—or are in a desperate situation, they do things they later regret. They aren't thinking clearly.”

“Ya think she woulda really killed me?” The filly stammered a bit.

Twilight was taken aback somewhat, Applebloom was obviously very displaced by the whole thing, and while the purple unicorn was unsure of whether her friend was capable of coldly killing her sister, it didn't happen so, it wouldn't have.

“No.”

Applebloom was quiet now, seemingly satisfied with those answers, she scooted closer so now she was wrapped in Twilight's hoof and pressed into her soft fur, it was warm and comfortable, especially on the wounds there which itched excessively. Spike, who had been eavesdropping, figured now would be a good time to bring out the snacks. He did so and the three of them ate in silence, Applebloom never leaving Twilight's side. When they finally retired to bed—it was dawn by this time—Applebloom insisted on sleeping with Twilight, and while it was a slightly awkward fit, Twilight's bed being small enough just to suit her, they managed to make it work. Next Chapter: The Dragon's Den Estimated time remaining: 6 Hours, 15 Minutes