The scientist grinned at her unconscious captive, allowing a long-needed sense of relief to wash over her. No chance of having a letter unwillingly sent to Celestia now! All letters to Celestia would be sent only when she deemed it so. Scrolls, after all, could be sent by any fire if they were signed - Spike just happened to be the most convenient mode of transport.

And having taken out his second stomach, the unicorn thought, perhaps I could make that kind of fire for myself anyway...

She glanced over at the dragon's corpse, feeling a pang of regret as she stared at the body that had been vibrant and full of life not too long ago. Spike had, after all, been a helpful assistant, a great friend...

But the feeling left as quickly as it had come. Her job wasn't over, far from it. She had done what she had to for the circumstances. No time to think about those things, or clean up the mess her work on Spike had caused. The sooner she got this done, the better.

"That doesn't mean I can't have a little fun while getting Honesty though..."

Eager to get her perusal of the next Element started, Twilight tilted the table fully into a vertical position and unhooked its bottom wheels, turning away from the stuffed bodies of Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash; rolling the table over to its proper position underneath the Scalper before locking it in place. With a grin, she brought her electrical prod over to the farming pony's body and turned up the voltage, forcing it firmly against Applejack's side as she pressed the button.

"GAH!" The earth pony seized up at the sudden shock that jolted her awake, blinking her eyes into focus as a sense of vertigo overcame her. Dazed for an instant, both from the jolt of electricity still sparking through and the lingering effects of the drug, she was slowly able come back into full awareness. She realized she was, indeed, still in the nightmarish laboratory. With a heavy heart, it sunk in that she hadn't been asleep after all; this lab wasn't just a demented, subconscious creation, built out of her concern for Pinkie and Rainbow. It was real.

Pinkie and Rainbow...

It then hit Applejack as to who was missing from when she had last been conscious, and she became instantly alert. "Wh-Where's Spike?!"

Twilight's tone was smug. "Oh, you really want to know?"

Applejack's eyes narrowed, the implications of Twilight's words and tone hitting her like a brick to the face. "What did y'all do to him?!" she demanded, though she had a very bad feeling that she would regret the answer, especially considering what she had already seen here. The smell of blood and a faint trace of urine only caused her unease to intensify.

"Don't worry, I'll show you!" Twilight loosened the bottom locks enough to turn the table so that the young dragon's mutilated body came within her captive's sight.

A split second of horrified shock came over Applejack before, fighting back tears, she shouted in disbelief and anger. "SPIKE!"

Twilight only smiled slightly.

The farm pony's green eyes darted angrily in search of her captor, tears beginning to come to her eyes. This had brought her to the harsh reality that Twilight wasn't done with her work, and seemed to have no qualms about it all. To kill Spike... her assistant, her friend since she had been a filly... and in such a sickening way... "HOW... HOW COULD YA DO SUCH A HORRIBLE THING?!"

The unicorn came into Applejack's view again, expression undergoing a slight change, not quite so proud. She glanced at the partially skinned body, a something like a hint of sorrow in her violet eyes. "He's met with a terrible fate, hasn't he? It didn't have to be like this. He didn't have to die..." Her voice returned to a sinister tone as she shook her head slightly, now turning to the horrified, struggling Applejack. "But he was in the way. He threatened my base of operation. I did what I had to do."

"YOU'RE INSANE!" Applejack shouted frantically, trying to keep her eyes on her friend from her position.

"Oh Applejack," Twilight chided, coming out of the restrained pony's view as she began to circle around her. "It's necessary for my plan."

The earth pony's body shook in her fury, her chest heaving. "How could your plan justify MURDER?!"

"You want the future to be safe, right?" the mad scientist said softly, continuing her circling movement, never taking her eyes off of Applejack's upon coming within her sight. "The Elements must be analyzed and researched. If I did it like this without murdering the ones experimented on, my research would be halted for being dangerous. How could harmony ever be obtained like that? How can there be peace if the ones who wield that power in the strongest quantities are unable to be found?" She stopped and crept closer, staring into Applejack's eyes. "Don't you care about the future, Applejack? Or are you so stuck in your own head that you don't care at all? Just want everything to be so perfect in your life and all about you that you shout and accuse if anything goes wrong, like you did to me at Winter Wrap Up?"

"'Ah do care!" Applejack insisted, a bit of guilt seeming to come into her eyes as Twilight mentioned Winter Wrap Up, a look that she hoped her captor saw. She searched the violet eyes for any signs of sympathy, of compassion, of the Twilight Sparkle she had come to know. But there was only a calculating madness, frustration, and a grudge that seemed to be lingering toward her stubborn ways.

"If it weren't for the fact that you're the Element of Honesty," Twilight said firmly, "I wouldn't believe you. Stubborn, cocky, self-centered-"

Applejack grew furious, wincing as she tried to move only to be reminded of the metal bonds that restricted her. "Who're ya callin' self-centered?!"

The look the other pony gave her was incredulous. "What, you think I'm performing these just to better myself?" Twilight frowned at the farm pony's accusation. "I'm not doing this for me, I'm doing this for everypony. My intentions are good. My research is to bring Harmony back."

"Isn't there any other way?" Applejack's expression grew more desperate as she stared into her friend's eyes, so stern and cold in contrast to her own. "Some way that doesn't involve kidnappin' or murder?!"

A spark lit in the scientist's eyes. "Not now," Twilight said evenly, not breaking her stare. "I've come too far to give up now. I have to continue my work!" Tearing her eyes away from the stare of the other pony at last, a flash seeming to appear in the light, the young mare forced a sinister smile across her face and went out of sight.

Applejack tried to prevent fear from creeping into her voice, stunned by the cold, meticulous look her friend had given her the entire time their eyes were locked. Like the unicorn no longer saw her as a friend but only as an experimentation subject. "Twilight, what are you gonna do?!"

Rather than getting a verbal answer, she gasped as a dark magenta aura came within her sight, as different pieces of equipment moved toward her. One small machine was placed on the sides of her head - unknown to her, it was the same brain scanner that had been used on Pinkie and Rainbow. Wires and other metal clamps wrapped their cold tendrils tightly around her exposed hooves, as metal, dart-like needles sunk deep into them, a stabbing pain jolting through at each point of impact. Minuscule drops of blood could be seen around the needles, having punctured veins in the earth pony's strong hooves as they dug in deeper, nearly coming out through the skin on the other side.

"What in the hay are these things?!" Through the sensation of the needles and metal coils, she strained her eyes to try to see where Twilight had gone, but to no avail as the magical aura faded. Every attempted movement of her hooves was met with extreme discomfort. The impact of the needles still throbbed in her skin. "What're y'all doin' to me?!"

"Patience, patience, Applejack," the unicorn scolded, still out of the other's sight. Her voice seemed fainter to Applejack, as she was now moving off to one of her storage cupboards, removing a small fruit from it. Snickering, she came back over, holding up the fruit for her captive to see. It was an apple. "Now, do you know what this is?"

Applejack's look of horror was joined by confusion. "It''s an apple, Twi." The suspicion was clear in her eyes; this had to be some kind of trick. "What is this, some kinda twisted game?"

Twilight chuckled, eyes shining. "Something like that." She used her magic to levitate the fruit closer to the trapped pony, as if tempting her to take a bite. "Now, say it's an orange."

"That's crazy!" Applejack said, growing more confused and wary by the second. "I'd be lyin' if I said it was anything other than an apple."

There was a faint click before a light shock was suddenly felt in the pony's hooves where each needle-like extensions had been stuck, causing the earth pony to cry out in surprise. Luckily, it only lasted a brief second, but it was enough to quicken the pace of the captive's heart. "What was that for?"

"Just a simple shock treatment," Twilight said casually as she noted down Applejack's reaction. "You told the truth, so I shocked you. That's just the kind of thing I expected from you, miss Element of Honesty." A smirk played on her mouth. "But let's just see how long you can keep that honesty for..."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

The unicorn replied in an all-too-happy, sing-song voice that caused a chill to go down Applejack's spine. "Yooouuu'llll seeeee!". The unicorn seemed about to press something but there was a pause.

"Now Applejack. I want you to tell me something, and I want you to answer honestly, alright?"

The farming pony kept her voice steady. "You know 'Ah wouldn't answer any other way."

Twilight's tone sounded like that of a therapist talking to her patient. "Good, good. Well then... what was the last thing you said to your family?"

A gasp from the captured pony. A chill going down her back.

"Answer the question, Applejack."

Applejack swallowed, a lump forming in her throat as she thought of her family. "'Ah... 'Ah told them all 'Ah loved 'em and that 'Ah'd... 'Ah'd..."

"You'd what?"

Applejack's voice cracked, the thought of never seeing her family again fully setting in. "... 'Ah'd see them in the mornin'."

"Aww," Twilight said, looking over at her captive with a faint smile. "So you did unknowingly lie. But at least your family will always remember that you loved them!"

With that, a mechanical whir broke the silence as a machine started up, causing Applejack to look upward in fright.

The scalpel above her was lowering.

"Time for the Scalper to do its work on another subject!" Twilight announced, laughing happily as she worked the mechanical construct, watching eagerly as the #10 scalpel slowly moved closer and closer to the earth pony's head.

Applejack's eyes widened in horror at the sharp metal instrument. She attempted to move, but even attempting to kick her way out was rendered useless now - every movement caused a fiery pain due to the needles in her hooves.

"TWILIGHT!" she shouted, trying to think of some way out even as the scalpel loomed closer. "DON'T DO THIS!"

But the purple mare didn't listen, only seeming to increase the speed of the scalpel's descent. The blade inched closer and closer, until the earth pony's epidermis was sliced by the sharp blade.

Applejack bit her mouth and gritted her teeth, trying to hold back exclamations of pain that threatened to burst from her chest. But as the metal instrument plunged further and further through her head, reaching her muscle and blood vessels, the pain became too much. Applejack screamed from the spasms in her head, only adding to the constant stinging present in her hooves.

The device to monitor the patterns of her brainwaves measured her reactions to the pain that she felt. Her brain was reacting strongly to the agony from her sensory receptors and the emotions of fear and pain that overtook her.

"TWI!... TWILIGHT, STOP!"

Twilight heard her friend's pleas, but she didn't lessen the pain. She simply kept noting appearance and reaction to the scalpel's unyielding slice, causing the agony Applejack felt to intensify and blood to burst out of the veins, a crimson trail following the blade's path as it reached the bone of the captive's skull with a painful clang.

Applejack's vision briefly blurred at the jarring impact, the ache still remaining even as the blade lifted away from her skull and continued to traverse its circular path, shaving all but the front of the earth pony's bright yellow mane. Unrelenting, the machete was tearing away muscle and veins as it went, intensifying the trapped pony's misery.

At last, the metal blade rose up out of the pony's head, slowly bringing blood and strips of muscle along with it. One crimson drop fell from the scalpel, landing onto the strap which kept Applejack's head immobile as it trickled down onto her face like a teardrop.

The pony was breathing heavily, sweat dripping down her face and mixing with the blood drop as the pain lingered. Her eyes looked upward at the painful mechanism, searching in vain for Twilight. Hoping, praying, that the torment would be over.

Not even close.

As Twilight began to cleanse the scalpel, another push of a button brought the Scalper's main construct to life, its claw opening as it had done before, poised and ready to sink its grip into the pony's head. The captive screamed as the apparatus dug its grip within her marred head, tearing away all remaining bands of muscle that would keep Twilight from getting into the skull properly. The claw grip raised the final layer of skin, muscle, and blood, and moving the severed skin out of the way.

Hardly seeming to notice the afflicted pony's cries, Twilight quickly used her magic to open up her injection cabinet and bring over an adrenaline injector, quickly pressing it into Applejack's skin.

"That was just a little something to keep you conscious," she exclaimed, in response to Applejack's pain-filled, questioning gaze. "Now, it's time for the fun things!"

Applejack certainly didn't like that sound of that. "What... f-f-fun?" The pony was in a turmoil of emotions already - confusion, rage, fear, sadness...

Twilight laughed. "The pathway to getting that Element, of course!" The scientist brought her platform over to raise herself over Applejack's exposed skull, scalpel cleansed and ready. "You see, Applejack, in order to properly get a hold of that elusive Element, I need to take it from you. Just like with Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie."

The earth pony tried to look up at Twilight. She couldn't see that the unicorn was faintly smiling.

"In order to do that," the scientist went on as she brought both the scalpel and neuron manipulator close to the other pony's skull, "I need to manipulate you." She lowered the knife into the pony's skull, the bone splintering and the captive crying in agony. "I need to break you." She tilted her head slightly, glancing down at Applejack's eyes dripping tears before continuing on her work, carving the skull away. "But I'll be doing something rather interesting for you. It's gonna be new for me."

Applejack's green eyes managed to look up toward where she knew Twilight was, putting as much anger that she could in her trembling voice, forcing the word out through the searing pain in her hooves and head. "Wh-Wh-What?"

"You have the Element of Honesty, so you try not to lie. Therefore," Twilight chuckled, switching on the neuron manipulator, "I think I ought to tamper with that a bit..." She tilted her head, examining the brain structure closely, seeming lost in thought about which part of the brain to manipulate. The whole while, she still had her magic hold on the dial meant to shock her subject, just for when she needed it.

With that, she leaned over and used her manipulation tool on Applejack's brain, changing the neural pathways to different pain receptors, causing stinging sensations all over the pony's body, further adding to the pain that she already felt. Observing the brainwave patterns through the monitor, satisfied with the response as the earth pony let out a yelp of pain, she glanced at the nearby monitor and used her manipulator on the earth pony's hippocampus, allowing a change in the captive's memories.

Time for the fun part.

"There are different types of lies, Applejack," Twilight explained soothingly, levitating her trusty notebook nearby in preparation for her scientific observations. "Thus, I find it only right to get the Element of Honesty by undermining the different kinds..." A smile spread across her face. "I'll start off small - let's try a white lie first. Those are those little lies you tell somepony that may even be partially truthful."

"How're... you gonna... do that?" the earth pony managed to question. Her brainwaves clearly showed her fear, but there was also determination. "You... y-y-you can't m-m-make me l-lie..."

Twilight paused in her work at the earth pony's defiant words. So determined to keep hold of her personality and values. Her voice turned calm, sweet, almost seductive. "Oh Applejack..." she briefly tilted her head down just enough to see the other pony's wide, emerald green eyes. "I can do anything here."

Still playing around here and there with the neuron manipulator to cause more pain, the scientist then focused her main task on delving through Applejack's memories. Time for some conditioning, and her little shock therapy would help.

She allowed a memory to come forward for Applejack. A memory of when she was a younger filly, and talking to Big Macintosh in their house.

"I'm gonna go outside and have a look around the apple fields, alright Big Macintosh?"

"Eeyup," Big Mac replied in his signature manner. "But make sure you stay within sight of the barn. Ah' trust you, sis."

"... Big Mac..." murmured Applejack in the present, struggling to find her voice. "Twi.. you ain't gonna- agh!" The farm pony cried out in surprise as a small electrical jolt was shot along the wires and through each individual needle lodged in her hooves. The charge seeped into her, sending a tingling feeling all over her body. It wasn't enough to really harm the pony - it was a bit stronger than a shock from static on a rug.

"Ah ah ah, Applejack," the unicorn said gently at the pony's cry. "Telling the truth just gets you shocked like that, see?" She began to manipulate the memory slightly, just enough so that Applejack believed she had told a partial lie.

"I'm gonna go outside and... help Granny Smith with the apples, alright Big Macintosh?"

Twilight made sure to not shock Applejack then, reinforcing the idea that telling the full truth brought pain. Manipulating her memories like this would help, little by little, to break the earth pony's confidence and bring that Element out into the open.

"See? Wasn't it easy to tell that half-lie? No harm came from it, did it?"

Though that single memory of Applejack's had been changed, the rest of her memories were untouched, the pony still believing honesty was, for the most part, the way to go. She struggled to speak through the pain inflicted on her. "W-Well... h-half-lies c-can be... alright sometimes... they aren't always harmful, sometimes they're good!"

Twilight eagerly looked at the monitor. No change yet, at least not noticeable to her. Nothing yet... the scientist though to herself. That's okay, just getting started...

"That's just what I was hoping to hear," she went on aloud, observing a new memory to alter. "You need confidence to tell the truth. And I'm gonna break that." A smile. "Oh, by the way, I know your name isn't Applejack."

"What?! Of course it is!"

A click. A stronger shock coming through the needles that caused Applejack to cry out. The strong current caused her body to tense up, feeling scorches on her hooves where the shock had impacted them.

"See what happens when you tell the truth?" Twilight scolded. "The more you tell the truth, the more pain comes from it. By the way, it's not so much the voltage that kills you as it is the current - I've manipulated it enough so you'll feel more pain when the shock goes through your body/" She levitated the apple from before closer to her subject. "Now, let's do the 'barefaced' kind of lie, one that's obviously a lie to those who hear it. Come on, Applejack, say it's an orange."

"No. It's an apple." The response to her truthful statement was another click and a sharp jolt of pain, the current running through her systems before it switched off.

The unicorn scoffed. "Still just as stubborn as ever, I see. Come on, Applejack. Is it really so hard to lie about something trivial like this? It's just a little lie."

"Lyin' is... still wrong!" Applejack protested, trying to get her breath back from the lingering voltage.

"Oh, truth has done any better?"

"Yes!"

Twilight turned up the dial to 20 volts, sending its charge through Applejack's body. "Not here it won't!" Turning her attention, swiftly, back to Applejack's memories, she searched for another to manipulate, another to turn into a non-painful lie.

Aha, yes... a memory of her friends... when she first met Twilight.

"'Ah'm Applejack. We here at Sweet Apple Acres sure do love makin' new friends!"

... I remember that, Twilight thought, staring for a moment at the memory on the monitor. Applejack had been so enthusiastic then... her first friend in Ponyville...

Her friends...

But the thought left Twilight, pushing the memory out of her mind. No! she told herself firmly. Remember the task! You need to get the Element of Honesty! Just focus on corrupting her memories...

"'Ah... 'Ah met one of my best friends that day..." Applejack murmured as the memory came to mind.

A click. A shock. An angry roar from Twilight.

"YOU DIDN'T!" She glared down at the other pony, observing her heaving breaths and sweat dripping down her face. She could almost hear the other pony's heart pounding. "Tell yourself I was never your friend!"

"But you were!" Applejack cried.

A click.

Applejack shut her eyes, bracing herself for the pain.

It didn't come.

The mare slowly opened her eyes.

Another click. An instinctive shut of her eyes. Nothing again.

The farming pony, as hopeless as it seemed, clung on to a shred of hope. Had Twilight come to her senses? Had she been freed from this mad desire?

A chuckle from Twilight told her that wasn't the case.

"It seems my conditioning process has worked!" the unicorn said brightly. "All I need to do is have you hear the sound of the click, and you cringe to wait for pain! Negative stimulus at its finest!"

The clicking noise sounded again, and the captive pony really did get shocked that time. A powerful current through her that she had just been beginning to feel relief from.

"That's for telling the truth about me having been your friend," Twilight hissed. "Now lie!" Say I haven't been your friend!"

Tears fell down Applejack's face, some part of her, begging, pleading, daring to hope that Twilight would remember. "But you have!"

She has been your friend... since you came to Ponyville! the thought lingered in Twilight's mind, a desperate plea from her conscience within. She's your friend!

Another click of the machine. Another electrical pulse running through the machine, into her hooves and through her body, charring her coat at the touch.

"Do it! LIE!" The voltage and current increased as Twilight observed the suffering pony's memories still further, increasing the shock a little more every time she allowed a memory to come where the farm pony had told the truth. Making her think that truth brought pain. Causing her subject to be unable to meet anypony's eyes from within her memories.

Finally, there was a change in the signature of Applejack's brainwaves. A visible genetic pulse. Honesty was separating.

Yes yes yes! Only a little, but it's working!

"Say I'm not your friend!" Twilight shouted. Desperation to get her hooves on the Element, to have the threat eliminated, was causing her to become more desperate. "SAY IT!"

The orange pony was shaking, struggling and failing to hold back tears. "You're... y-y-you're..."

The frequency turned up still further. The memory became hazy to Applejack. The unicorn manipulating it so she only remembered pain. Physical and emotional. Destroying every bit of confidence.

"A-A-Alright! Y-Y-You're not mah friend!" Applejack's eyes were darting, each word hurting emotionally just as much as the physical pain she was being forced to endure, if not more. Applejack's heart ached with each word she said. "'Ah've hated you ever since I first saw ya! I've always been afraid of you! I've always hated you!" Her words were mixed with screams and cries of regret, confidence to tell the truth completely shattered. To her, truth was pain. She still cared for her friends, but to say truth would only bring agony with it...

There was an orange pulse in the signature. The spark of the Element of Honesty had shown itself. It was there... there but unreachable still.

The surge went up to 500 volts, then steadily climbed. Twilight was growing angrier, more desperate. She had conditioned Applejack to be afraid of the shock, to brace herself for pain when she told the truth - but it wasn't quite enough. There was still something missing, something, something. Well, Twilight would make it, she'd force it...

"LIE!" Twilight shouted in a frantic screech, . "DO IT NOW! LIE! LIE ABOUT EVERYTHING YOU CAN! TRUTH HAS ONLY BROUGHT YOU PAIN!" She upped the ante on the electrical voltage, causing the other pony's body to convulse further from the shock as the electricity jolted through her body, stopping the shock briefly and screaming at her captive, eyes blazing with light. "LIE OR I'LL SHOCK YOU MORE! I'LL KILL YOU RIGHT NOW!"

"A-A-Alright!" Applejack was choking through her sobs, her body trembling due to the intensity of the repeated electrical currents pumped through her system. "E-E-Everypony in mah family is c-c-captured, everywhere above us is a torture chamber, th-this place is the only place that's safe, y-y-you're the only sane p-pony... 'Ah'm n-n-not afraid of... y-you, Applejack isn't mah name, and.... and... Ah've n-n-never had... any friends before.... in m-m-mah life!"

Applejack's breakdown of confidence had caused her to spout lie after lie, no longer having the will to tell the truth anymore. With that, Twilight turned off the electrical voltage, letting the feeling subside, though the burn marks were clear on Applejack's limbs from where the electricity had fried her.

But though Applejack's words sprung out lies, her brainwaves showed truth. She was desperate, pleading, begging, regretting all she said. She wanted to take back all of it, in her head.

Twilight's ownthoughts were racing, faster and faster, as she observed this in the earth pony's brainwave patterns. Her rush to have Applejack lie was bringing out the Element somewhat, but not yet... It's not enough, not enough! I can't just have her be terrified to lie! That's only working part-way! I have to WARP HER, BREAK HER! Whatever it takes!

Seemingly freed from the agony of the shock treatment, Applejack forced her gaze to meet Twilight's, despite the lingering pain and her fear. "You... You're gonna l-l-let me.... g-g-go.... right?"

Twilight only laughed.

"... R-R-Right?" Applejack was lying to herself and she knew it - Twilight's manner made it clear that she wasn't getting free.

The deranged scientist grinned, making adjustments on the electrical controls as she glanced at the pony with a smile. "Sorry," she said in a distinctly unapologetic tone. "No can do. But don't worry," her tone turned, for a moment, happier. "I'll tell Apple Bloom and the others you're sorry, okay?"

Applejack's eyes widened, but if she was meaning to respond to Twilight, to vocally say not to harm her sister or anypony else in her family, it was too late. She didn't have the strength, physically or emotionally, to protest.

And Twilight wasn't done.

The scientific pony resumed the second phase of her work, carefully studying the hippocampus and amygdala in Applejack's brain. She had to really twist the suffering pony's perception. It wasn't enough to just scare her into telling the truth.... she had to warp the mind enough.

"Oh Applejack," she called out cheerfully, touching her neuron manipulation tool to the pony's brain eagerly, "time to do a little switch-around!"

With the monitor as a guide, before the earth pony could say anything to protest - lie or truth - Twilight brought forth the memory of their first meeting again. With a spark of the tool and its cellular alteration, she manipulated it, controlled it all...

Oh, how Twilight loved this control.

The claim was announced, in Applejack's memory, that the ponies at Sweet Apple Acres did love making new friends. And Twilight Sparkle began to slowly cause the memory to warp, perception to blur. The truth became twisted into a lie:

"We sure hate makin' new friends! We only want to hurt other ponies and make them our enemies!"

And due to this manipulation, the spark of deception warping her mind, Applejack believed the lies. Her brainwaves filled with hatred for other ponies, only wishing to hurt them, keep them away...

The scientist continued with her work, warping and corrupting Applejack's memories and emotions. Any trust and happiness that Applejack truthfully had for her friends were considered to be lies. But soon enough, Twilight began to have a little too much fun warping the other pony's brain. The memories became twisted, distorted. What was truth? What was lies? Honesty and deception were almost indistinguishable. But whatever Applejack thought was a lie, she'd say. Her confidence to talk had been somewhat relinquished now, thanks to the memory alteration, but when she did speak, all she told was deceit.
It was clear from the monitor, as the now visible orange Elemental light pulsed more visibly in the brain's patterns, that Applejack's mind was in a skewed state of morality. Truth would bring pain, so she'd lie... but how could she truly lie if she didn't know which was truly real and which was fake?

Everything kept changing for the earth pony. And through the constant twisting of memories and emotions, of her morality, she was in such a confused state that she wasn't sure what to say or do. She was, emotionally and psychologically, trapped in a turmoil of complete helplessness, only really reacting when the insane scientist manipulated the neural pathways to her sensory receptors to cause pain.

At last, the orange, sparking signature fully appeared at last. Honesty was just about broken.

Twilight grinned as the Element fully manifested, her wild eyes firmly on the pulsing, sparking form of the Element of Honesty, staring at it with a starving gaze. All too eager, she messed with Applejack's memories and emotions a bit more, skewing morality for the farming pony beyond repair. The brainwaves constantly fluctuating, unable to discern honesty from deception, fearing pain from truth but unsure which was a lie.

When the signature of the Element of Honesty became fully manifest, measurable, the deranged scientist eagerly snatched it up, placing it in a containment jar like the others. The process filled her with a sense of euphoria, glad to have the Element at last as she looked down at the broken captive. "Ha! Now even if you did escape, you'd be so broken you wouldn't even be able to tell anypony anything, would you?"

The only response was a glance upward from those bright green eyes.

"Thank you for showing the balance of truth and lies, Applejack, and how it can be blurred and twisted to completely change a pony," Twilight chuckled, sounding sincere. "I really am grateful... and I'm not lying."

The moment that she finished that last sentence, Twilight steadily turned the intensity of the current and voltage up to full power - 2,000, 10,000, 100,000 volts. And after that broken silence, Applejack was forced to let out a loud, agonized, unending scream. The electrical current shot through Applejack's skin, her veins, her organs, causing extremely painful burns and spasms. Some of the electricity came in waves and arcs, lightening seeming to circulate all around the suffering pony's body as the frequency rose higher and higher. The powerful electrical current was running its deadly course all the way through to her quickly beating heart, which was struggling its last to keep its owner alive.

Finally, after all she had gone through, the last of Applejack's strength, and attempts to resist, faded as the electrical voltage took its toll. The powerful charge caused the frantically pumping heart to halt in its blood flow, and beat no more.

The screaming stopped. The green eyes became glassy. The lifeless, charred body fell as limp as it could in its bounds.

Applejack was dead.

And Twilight, for a moment in the laboratory's sudden silence, stared at the body of her friend. Her first friend here, one of her best friends... gone just like the others...

But she tore her gaze away, looking meaningfully at the contained Element. The task to get Honesty was done. The unicorn hurriedly released the dead pony from the restraints, letting the body fall to the floor as she levitated a knife over, beginning to cleanly slice off the cutie marks for her book, separating them from the lifeless form that had once been Ponyville's best apple harvester.

The soul of the third Element-stripped pony thus left the physical world, joining the other two broken ponies in the void they had been condemned to. The young dragon had been lucky - he had been brutally murdered, skinned alive, true, but he had gone to the paradise where he would have been meant to go after death. But those bearers of the Elements had a core part of their personality taken from them by the wielder of Magic, trapping them in a cold purgatory.

All three there knew that the purple unicorn was quickly breaking down, her psyche shattering. But only Pinkie Pie wanted to beg Twilight to stop. Rainbow Dash didn't care, in fact thinking the purple unicorn would be better off dead. Applejack had lost all confidence to voice whether she truly cared or not.

But all they could do for the moment was watch. Wonder what the psychotic pony was going to do next.

"Okay, okay," Twilight muttered wildly to herself, gathering a few of her scientific measuring tools and bringing them close to the Element's form, trying to quell her pounding heart. "Applejack's gone, the main threats is eliminated. Just two more of my friends to go... but who next..."

After a moment of thought, the purple pony's eyes lit up. She glanced briefly over at Spike. Than toward her bookshelf. "I'll wait for a time, see what happens... but I think Rarity will be..."

A pause.

"... generous enough to give me her Element."