Sweetie Belle was never one to look forward to school, save the time she was able to spend with her fellow crusaders, she trotted, saddlebag slung on her side as she made her way to Ponyville's schoolhouse. As the unicorn ascended a small hill, the school and its occupants revealed itself: she could see the usual cast of characters, Diamond Tiara, Snips and Snails, Scootaloo—still no Applebloom. Sweetie had grown used to Applebloom being gone but it still summoned a slight knot in her stomach, she wondered where she was, and why she wasn't around. She made her way to Scootaloo who sat in front of the fence-line just shy of the school's entrance, she seemed oddly downtrodden looking at her hooves that were dumbly pawing the grass below, something was certainly on her mind.

“Hey Scootaloo!” Sweetie Belle began as she sat next to her friend, “what's the matter?”

Scootaloo was quiet for a moment, she looked up at Sweetie, and then wheeled around to do a scan of their surroundings. After a few minutes she signed, turned to face Sweetie again.

“Can we go over there and talk?” Scootaloo said quietly, gesturing a hoof to an enclave in between some high shrubbery behind the school, nice and private.  “It's—was a rough night last night.”

Sweetie immediately followed her friend, a concerned look on her face. She had seen Scootaloo upset, and was pretty much considered a motherly figure in the regard that Scoots would confide and seek guidance and comfort from only her, even as the pegasus was comfortable with Rarity, it just wasn't the same. Besides, this news affected Sweetie Belle just as much as it did her, and frankly, the last thing she needed was Diamond Tiara making noise about it.

They climbed under the shrubs and into the small but secluded clearing, litter and love notes, as well as a recently discarded beer bottle were found up against the cement foundation of the schoolhouse. Scootaloo was silent initially, Sweetie realized she had to coax this out of her.

“What's wrong Scootaloo?” Sweetie asked, head cocked and face set in a concerned fashion.

The feathered filly opened her mouth to speak but retracted the effort.  She was trembling some now, subtly but noticeable.  Sweetie instinctively scooped her into a hug, Scootaloo had grown tired of being a sobby little cry baby, and indeed she kept that impulsion in check, she did let out a few sniffles though as the emotions crept up.

“Applebloom is really hurt.”  Scootaloo began, voice normal, albeit a bit less raspy. “She came to the boutique late last night and----it was awful, she had bruises amd cuts and was—very hurt.”

Sweetie Belle tensed up some and was shaking herself, her voice cracked and shook,

“I—is she okay?”

“Yeah—well – kinda” Scootaloo continued, pulling from Sweetie's embrace and staring at her friend.

“She's with Twilight now, Rarity told me she has a force field around her house so AppleJack or Big Mac can't get her.”

Sweetie was still a bit confused. “Wait—her own brother and sister did that to her?  Why?!”  That last one was a bit louder then she intended, she darted a look around to make sure nopony heard her. Contempt nopony did, she listened further.

“Applebloom said they were being mean to her after their grandma died—Granny Smith—they were calling her names and being bullies. She tried to leave the house and Apple Jack attacked her and I guess threatened to kill her if she tried to leave.”

Sweetie Belle's mouth fell agape, her memories of AppleJack were scarce, her older sister wasn't too fond of her etiquette, and she spoke with a funny accent like Applebloom. One memory that stuck out though and played in her head as she put the story together was the Sisterhooves Social only a few months ago: Sweetie and Rarity had been feuding, Sweetie felt her sister didn't love her. Applebloom had suggested they participate in the Social, Sweetie refused until finally realizing that, through seeing how AJ and Applebloom worked together and got along, all sisters have their moments of disagreement and disappointment.  She had a grand time, especially when she learned Rarity violated ever dictate of her code of conduct just to have fun with her and see her happy. The same AppleJack that encouraged Sweetie and her own sister to make amends and learn to love one another despite their contrasts and conflicts was now responsible for imprisoning and attempting to murder her own baby sister? It hurt her head thinking about it.

Scootaloo only watched her friend enter the same state of disbelief as she did the night before.

“Can we go see her after school?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“I don't see why not.” Scootaloo said, “Your sister is super-busy again so she wants me to be out and about anyway.”

Sweetie Belle chuckled some, she knew exactly how that conversation went, word for word. Her smile faded again though as her mind traveled back to the present. The school bell and the faint hollering of Cheerilee jarred them from their peaceful acquaintance and drew them into the schoolhouse.

Meanwhile on the other side of town, Spike was finishing the dusting of the first floor of the Ponyville Library. Applebloom had busied herself with a book about zebras and witchcraft, Twilight had gone to fetch some food and playthings for her temporary guest.  Spike finally climbed down the ladder and put away his cleaning tools, he then proceeded to sit on the stairs leading to their bedroom and longingly looked at the red-maned filly in the center of the room. Spike had come to admire the fame-filly after quiet a few adventures together, and while he didn't think of her liked he did Rarity, it was certainly close.  He got up and went to the kitchen, opening the refrigerator to see what was inside. It had been a long day already, he decided to relax with what appears to be a petite bottle of juice, Unknown to him, this was actually an alcoholic beverage. Twilight had meant to return them to Rarity who was kind enough to give her some for her recent studies which had been anything but relaxing, also, Rainbow had suggested that she “lighten up” if she was expected to be taken seriously—at least by her.  Spike chugged the entire drink and discarded the bottle in the trash, he then went to the basement to do some much needed organizing. After awhile he began to feel a little heavy in the head. As he finished his duties he came across a picture of the mane six, smiling and happy—it must've been some time ago. He focused on Rarity—she never payed attention to him like he wanted—Twilight always treated him like a child—he wasn't a baby, he was s dragon some pony out there loves him, he just has to get them to say it, A small thought entered his mind, why was he thinking about this right now and why did it seem....so painful?  He put the picture down and a wicked smile crept on his face . Applebloom likes him—she just doesn't know how to say it. Spike mused about the filly, his memories of her simply trotting around town were transformed and amplified in his intoxicated mind, resembling more of a slow motion scene from a romance film, all the light in the world shined on the filly's cream coat, she glowed, her mane, her bow, everything was so amazing about her. She was a goddess in Spikes mind, they were alone now, it was time to make his dreams come true.

Applebloom had put the book away and was now examining the kitchen herself, her stomach growled, Twilight was supposed to have come back some time ago and have Spike make sandwiches. She grumbled, where was that dragon anyway? Her question was answered as his voice slowly swept from the other side of the house,

“Applebloom?”  he said in a sing-song voice.  “pssssssst! Come here, I want to show you something really neat I found!”

“Ahm hopin' its food.” Applebloom said dryly as she trotted in the direction of his voice, she was excited though as any filly, something neat, in a room she'd never been in before.  She finally saw the door to the basement open, a purple clawed hand beckoning her to come.  She made her way to and down the stairs. Spike had gone already was was waiting for her near a messy pile of books and picture frames, a sincere smile on his face now.

“Hiya Spike, ah was lookin' fer ya—what'd ya find?” The filly was slightly nervous for some reason. The room seemed dimly lit and the dragon seemed awfully happy. She shook it off and trotted next to him.

******************************

“There.” Spike pointed toward the pile of books, behind it was blackness, whether this was a room or just a poorly lit part of the wall she couldn't tell. She initially skimmed the books and then looked back at Spike somewhat confused.  

“Ah see some books—and that's it.”

“Look closer, at the wall” Spike mused.

“Why don't ya get a flashlight? It's awful dark over here and ah can't see that well.” The filly strained her eyes and bent forward some to look closely at the way, she squealed as the suddenly was pinned to the wall and a dragon had started kissing her.

“Hey!” Apple Boom was startled and stumbled on her words, “S-stop it Spike!”

The dragon didn't listen, he had his arms around the filly as he looked at her longingly.

“Don't you love me Applebloom you beautiful, beautiful girl?” The dragon crawled onto her back and was stroking her with his claws. The filly winced and tried to buck him off, she didn't want this, not at all. The dragon then dug one of his claws into her side, a slight hint of anger and annoyance crept into his voice, his hot, smelly breath emminated a smell all too familiar to the filly, it reminded her of her sister on that horrible night, though she was frozen this time, confused, scared, but feeling completely helpless. She flinched as the dragon's sick paw stroked her flank and tail.

“You really need to be a good girl Applebloom, you can be naughty all you like but—but--” the drunk, scaly pervert found it hard to string words together at this point, “you need to be a good girl too.” he kissed her on the cheek, tears were starting to form on the filly's face. She did nothing as the dragon hopped down from his previous perch and he now forced the filly down own her back, she was shaking now, crying, somepony else she trusted was going to hurt her, she wasn't sure how, all she knew is she didn't want this, she wanted him to snap out of it and go away.

Spike crawled onto her stomach, he didn't do what his frantic instinctual impulses demanded he do, he figured his goddess would panic and escape, he didn't want that. Instead, her simply lie on top of her face to face, kissing her again, this time forcing one on her mouth, she turned her head and tried to avoid him but his claws pulled her back towards him.

“Please Spike! Stop! I don--” her muzzle was silenced as a paw went over her face,

“Shhhh,”  said the dragon, “you do want this, and I want you, and now I'm going to show you how much I love you—you beautiful girl.”

**************************

Applebloom was scared, but she had a thought—she was bigger than he was, she could most certainly put this punk our of her misery and that's just what she was about to do, she just had to wait. As the dragon slid to where he was sitting on her tail, she went for it. Both of he back hooves knocked the dragon clear into the wall with a loud slam. She scampered up, still shaking madly, not wasting any time she bolted up the stairs. She slammed the door shut and looked for a way to block it shut, she managed to find a few chairs and pushed them in such a way that the handle of the door would not move.  She ran for the door leading outside, just as the was to open it, it flew open, knocking her on her haunches.

“Oh my gosh Applebloom I'm so sorry!” Twilight gasped as she dropped her bags and went to the injured filly, she noticed some claw marks, the way this filly clung to her and was sobbing uncontrollably couldn't be from the door alone.

“P-pla-please Twilight!  Don't let him out!--don't let him out!” The filly pleaded as she wrapped tightly around Twilight.

“Wh-what do you mean Applebloom? What are you talking about?” Twilight began to panic...was it a monster? A thief?  What in Equestria was going on?  Instinctively, she called for her assistant.

“Spike?--Spike!”  she hollered, just then the trembling hooves shook even more and an ear piercing wail came from behind her.

“NO TWILIGHT P-LEASE NO!” Applebloom was screaming now, she was growing ill, she vomited in her mouth some, she was horrified, violated, and scared for her life.

“Applebloom!” Twilight was certainly scared now, She cradled the filly in her hooves, “What happened? What's wrong? What did--” the thought hit her—Spike did something, she wasn't sure what but she knew that at least. A lump formed in her throat, whatever her did, it was awful.  “What did he do to you?”

“He--”  the filly stammered between hysterical fits, “Ah—Ah don' know!”

She piece by piece, as her state of mind would allow, recited the events, her naivety was clear in her description of it all and for that Twilight was relieved, had she known his intentions, this likely would have been much worse, however, an unfathomable wash of rage took hold in the unicorn, she gently put the filly back down.  

“Wait out here.” Twilight said coldly, “I'll deal with him.”

Applebloom watched as the door shut.  Through her hazy vision she could see the semi-transparent pink tint of the force-field that sat just in front of the mailbox, it's massive dome shape arched high above the tree-house. She plopped down onto her stomach and buried her face into her hooves and cried. She felt used, useless, and a myriad of other horrid things, why was everypony trying to hurt her? Who would it be next? Her friends? She didn't want to know.

Twilight used her magic to simply incinerate the chairs and door that stood between her and a dragon that was about to have his ass handed. She found her assistant, passed out against a wall in the basement. She could see clearly where it all went down, she was sick, literally ill as Applebloom's descriptions now played out in a sadistic, horrific vision that seemed to appear as if a holographic recording was being presented. She marched toward the dragon, grabbed his tail with her mouth and dragged it up the stairs and into the main room.

This dragon was about to have a very rude awakening.

Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle made their way out of the schoolhouse and towards Twilight's Library. They noticed the force-field, and then they noticed their friend, face still covered and heaving sine vomit could be seem as well. They rushed to wards the giant bubble and stared shocked for a moment before Scootaloo attempted to penetrate the wall, only to be zapped and thrown back like a rag doll.

“Ow!” the pegasus groaned. It got Applebloom's attention. She shot up and looked at her friends, bags under her eyes which were bloodshot and shown the look of pain and betrayal. It was Sweetie Belle's turn to take a trip backwards as she tried to push inside. She then used her limited skill of magic, and while it started a small fire she had to stamp out, it did nothing else.

“Applebloom!” Scootaloo shouted, thinking that this wall was a sound barrier as well. “How do we get in?!”

“AH—don't know girls. AH don't know, Ah don't know--” her voice trailed off, she felt guilty for some reason, she wanted to see them so badly, she wanted a hug, but even she didn't have the means to go through the force-field and so she sat as close to the perimeter as she could, her friends did as well.

“Spike attacked me.” Applebloom mumbled as new tears manifested, “He had the same awful breath AppleJack did an—he tried to hurt me, he was kissin' me and being all weird—AH asked him to stop and--”  she stopped, the lump in her throat prohibiting any more from being said.

Sweetie Belle was unaware of what she was hearing but Scootaloo knew very well what the dragon did to her, she was furious and apparently had forgotten about the force-field.

“That son-of-a-bitch!”  Scootaloo screamed as she was sent backwards again, “The minute I get my hooves on that stupid dragon he is DEAD!”

“Twilight told me to stay out here.” Applebloom continued, “Ahm tired of being--” she choked up as her friends looked pityingly at her, at a loss as of what to do. “Ah want someone who—won't hurt me.” she whisped, head sunk low, ears flat. She put her hoof to the bubble, it wasn't rejected. The other filly did the same and were shocked to find that worked for them too, they couldn't go through but they could touch it as if it were a glass pane. Silence ruled for very long time.

Spike was suddenly awakens by a cold splash of water, the alcohol out of him now (much to Twilight's further dismay as she cleaned it up) he had no memory of what had happened. Twilight did though, and he was going to know it.

“SO you're awake huh?” Sneered Twilight, a look of disgust on her face.  “Of all the things I thought you would do this!  This wasn't fucking it!”  Twilight was fuming, it was very rare she swore, Spike knew this was serious.

“What did I--” was all he could let out before a powerful hoof clocked him in the jaw, sending him on his back.

“You sick piece of shit!  I-I can't believe you would be so brazen as to try to take advantage of her like that! She's a fucking filly you monster!” An aura of purple surrounded the dragon and he was sent sailing into a shelf of books. Blood now started to trickle down over his eyes, pain was everywhere, he tried to open his mouth but couldn't, somehow Twilight cast a spell to make him unable to use it, he knew how, but for some reason the commands from his brain to speak misfired and produced nothing. He looked up at his mentor, the same look of hared in her eyes.

“You are going to pay for this Spike, I swear to Luna you will fucking pay for what you did to her.” She turned around and bucked him in the gut, knocking the wind out of him and cracking some of his back spines, some splinters from the shelf pushed into his skin as well, his eyed widened in pain. He still had no idea who she was talking about until it hit him, the one memory he did have prior to blacking out.  He was scared now, he knew exactly who she was talking about. He wanted to tell her he had no idea, he would have never done it, he drank something funny and he couldn't remember a thing shortly after, it was all a big mistake, he felt awful but again, he was unable to speak. If Twilight kept this up he would certainly be crippled, if not dead, there was one thing he could still do, his fire breath was still operable, when Twilight charged at him again he frantically sent a distress signal, a specially encoded magical message that only Canterlot royally could decode and detect. He sent it to the princess. He was now on the other side of the Library, a magical ascent, followed by another buck sent him there, her was in serious pain, unable to move. He was facing the wall and frankly, he was fine with that, the less he needed to see the hare in her eyes, the less painful this would be. As he braced for another attack, a bright light overwhelmed his sense and a booming voice brought a splash of relief.

“Twilight Sparkle!” Princess Celestia boomed. She was clearly upset and had seen most of this assault.

“Princess! Spike--” Twilight was desperate to have this dragon banished.

“Silence!” Demanded the Princess, “You have violated one of the most sacred rules as my student--”

“Princess! You have to listen to me please! Spike--” Twilight was scared by her lack of usual warmth and patience.

“Enough!”  The princess was clearly angry now. “One more outburst and I will subject you to a less than linnet punishment. Your treatment of Spike is unacceptable, I don't know what has gotten into you but I will not have one of Equestria's dragons being abused like this!”

The Princess paused, anticipating a frantic response, Twilight had given up however, head low and ears flat.

“Now please, explain your reasoning for such malevolence.” The Princess attempted to calm herself some.

“Your highness—Spike has done a very horrible thing, he took advantage of a filly and attempted to have his way with her.  I wasn't simply going to let him do that!”

“Did you witness the act?”

“No Princess, I was away at the--”

“Until I have sufficient proof that such an act occurred, I am not going to pass judgment. I trust you Twilight but I cannot persecute this dragon based on hearsay, that is unjust and immoral--”

“She's outside! I can go get her ri—”

“Twilight.” The princess patience was waring thin. “Spike is a baby dragon, he is the equivalent of a filly in our species, I doubt he would do any such thing. You read into things far too much”

“But--”

“I will address this some other time, for the time being I am taking Spike with me. I have a very important meeting to attend and so I must go now.” The princess enveloped Spike in an aura and levitated him above her head. “This is not how we treat of fellow ponies, or dragons. If somepony has done an act of immorally, you do not respond with an immoral act yourself. “

With that, the princess once again dissipated in a  brilliant display of light, Spike went along with her.

Twilight sad on her haunches, silent. She stared blankly into space, her thoughts racing now. Spike had done something awful, was she to blame? Where did she go wrong in raising the dragon to encourage such rancid thoughts? Spike. The dragon she hatched, promised to care for and protect. She never envisioned the day where her endgame would be to end the very life she brought into the world, she was her child in a way—her baby—Applebloom.  She snapped from her barrage of “what ifs” and remembered that Applebloom was still outside/ She scurried out the door to find Applebloom sitting, staring down at her hooves. On the opposite side of the force-field were the other two crusaders. Bored. Scootaloo lay on he back, hooves behind her head and staring up into the sky, Sweetie Belle lay on her tummy, a bored look on her face, a small grove in the ground indicated she had been pacing—no—scooting back and forth for mote than awhile.

Twilight knew as soon as she parted the field, the crusaders would smother her endlessly, she took some time to walk up to Applebloom who was startled by her sudden company. Twilight placed a soft hood of the filly's shoulder, tears escaping the unicorn's eyes,

“Applebloom--” her voice trailed off and she found it hard to speak, “I—I'm so sorry.  That should have never happened.--I failed—I failed you.”

Applebloom simply looked up at her, a flat look on her face. “It's alright Twi, did ya give him what for an how come?”

Twilight smiled some, she was soldiering through this pretty well. “Yeah, I beat the shi—stuffing out of him.”

Applebloom let out a bit of a chuckle, both their smiles faded though. Applebloom looked over to her friends and back at Twilight. The pleading look in her eyes was enough to know she wanted them to come in. Twilight's horn glowed brilliantly as a small gap parted in the field, enough fro the two fillies to run through, in an instant they had Applebloom trapped in a group hug, Scootaloo being especially embracing.

“Well girls,” Twilight was going to make this a pleasant evening for Applebloom, this filly had been through more than most ponies could handle in a lifetime, “does hot chocolate and cupcakes sound good to you?”  

“YEAH!” The three fillies seemed to forget for a moment the travesty that brought them here and they rushed into the tree-house, bouncing in anticipation. Next Chapter: Ministry Of Harmony Estimated time remaining: 5 Hours, 58 Minutes