Applebloom ran. She galloped and leaped over the roots that grew across the old trail. The roar of the flames engulfing the Apple Jager stead grew fainter and fainter as she ran up the slope towards Sweet Apple Acres. After several minutes of running, she reached the old gate that bordered the fields and pastures of the Apple farm. The panicked filly threw herself against the closed gate, bashing it wide open. She knew ponies locked the gate often, as the Jagers weren't that welcome on the Acres.

Applebloom stopped and desperately gasped for air. Her lungs burned for oxygen, and she felt the muscles in her legs and hooves cramping. She was sweating, and tears streamed from her eyes. Applebloom looked back. From out here in the Sunlight, the entrance to the trail, from which she came appeared darker. Still she felt an evil presence in these woods. Something snapped and broke loose. Some fat squirrel tried to walk on a small branch and broke it, scaring the daylights out of poor Applebloom. She bolted from the gate and towards the nearest of the farm buildings. She hid inside a tool storage room, and slammed the door shut behind her.

Applebloom gasped for air until she caught her breath, then started crying. If what she just saw wasn't enough to convince her that Princess Celestia, the ‘Solar Mother,’ as religious ponies called her, had marked her for hell, then she had no idea what would be.
Seeing what happened to Ferra Apple Jager brought back those horrific memories and she wondered if the Everfree Forest had breached the huge limestone fence and advanced into this forest patch separating Sweet Apple Acres from the Jager stead. She saw no glowing aura of magic. Just an invisible entity piercing Ferra with that huge wooden pike, then planting her into the ground.

She shook and shivered with fear, and kept praying frantically to Celestia. After a degree or so (roughly 10 minutes in pony time), she slowly emerged from her hideout and left the barn.

Nothing seemed out of the ordinary here and now. She saw a few ponies coming and going along their chores and rounds. Applebloom wondered about telling Applejack about this, then she grew afraid of AJ hoof-beating her for telling such unholy tall tales.

So, the filly decided to go find Big Mac. She looked to the west, and gulped when she saw the large column of smoke rising above the forest. For all she knew, the raging fires would engulf the forest and sweep over the rest of the Apple land. But she didn’t want to be seen by any of the other Apples, so she took to a trail through one of the old zap apple orchards. These trees were larger and more elongated than normal apple trees, and in the winter when they bore no leaves, they looked like skeletal monstrosities.
And since it wasn’t zap apple season yet, ponies had no real business here. She figured the lot of the family were hastily planting new trees where all the sick ones got chopped down.

Applebloom came across an old and decayed shack. The roof was covered completely in moss, and the exposed wooden frame had turned gray. She then saw the two hulking stallions standing guard. She scattered, and hid behind a bush.

Both stallions were from the Appleton family. One was called Brassapple, for his shiny brass-colored coat and mane, the other was a grey colored stallion with a green mane, called Great Pommer. Applebloom had no intent on making contact with these two. And she figured by the looks on their faces, they were ready to pound anypony who dared attempt to pass them. So she snuck around the back of the old shack, wondering why the hell they’d be guarding this old place to begin with-

Her hoof snapped a twig, and she heard a grunt, followed by furious hoofsteps coming around. She dashed up the old stairs and inside before one of them came around. Applebloom held her breath as Brassapple looked and sniffed around. He then turned and trotted back to the old road.

Applebloom heaved a sigh of relief. Then realizing she was safe inside the dusty old shack, the filly dared to take a look inside, and gasped at what she saw. There it was, the Flare, not that she knew what it was. It was a cylindric object, made of a silverish metal, with fancy engravings on it. It was too dark in here to see what the inscriptions meant, or the rusted panel and storage unit that contained the chemical mixes needed to arm and set off the device. She also had no idea this thing was the ultimate Celestia-summoning machine. So to her it had no real value. Not that she was sure Celestia would come to her aid or burn her to ash.

So the filly crept out of the shack and into the woods, and made her way back to the trail, safely away from the old shack.

After ten degrees (or an hour in ponytime), Applebloom made it to the busier part of Sweet Apple Acres. She had to be sneakier and quiet to avoid being seen. Then from behind some old crates, she spotted Applejack, standing out front of the Sweet Apple house, shouting at a Jager couple.

“Look, you varmint, Ah don’t care what you gotta say about yer discipline. One of yer little shits went an’ attacked a filly in town, and damn near ripped her little wings off. Ah was just over at the hospital talkin’ to the Cloudy family, and they’s mighty pissed off! Now Ah gotta smooth over this crisis, an’ its gonna cost me some real good bits! An Ah expect you to fully repay me fer what its gonna cost, what with the Cloudy family’s hospital bills, an’ all!”

“I am sorry for this...disaster,” Clawtooth Apple Jager grunted, “Where is he? I’ll give him a thrashing he won’t soon forget.”

“Your little abomination is locked up down at the town guard house. We’re gonna punish him real good, and make an example of anypony who dares pull this type o’ violence, you hear me?”

Clawtooth grunted, unsatisfied.

“If you want my advice, Whyn’cha go back to your stead, and cull all them little breathing abominations you and yer missus hatched up. They’s too savage like for these parts. Y’oughtta snap their little necks, butcher ‘em up and toss ‘em in yer infernal meat stews like you do with everything else around here!”

“What? How dare you speak of my foals that way!” Clawtooth shouted back.

“Shut yer snout! Be damn lucky we don’t just toss you Jager freaks on a fire and burn y’all! Ah don’t know who invited yer and yer family to Ponyville, but it sure as hell wasn’t me! You wanna make amends, put them little savages of yer’s all down, and bury them deep, then you and yer mares can pop out and raise some decent civilized foals fer once!”

“Miss Applejack, we surely didn’t mean for this to happen,” Thornseed, Clawtooth’s wife urged. Applejack merely stared at her impassively, then said, “You heard me, now get. You take care of them foals o’ yers, or we’ll do it fer’ you. Now get on back to yer farm already!”

A few more words were exchanged, and the two Jagers walked away, passing by Applebloom’s hiding spot. The filly almost felt bad for them, because she knew what awaited them back home.

Applebloom remained hidden, and a horrifying and tragic scene opened up in front of her. Two stallions, each wearing a townguard sash and badge, brought forth an emaciated pink mare into view, dragging her by the neck on a leash. She tried to resist, but was yanked forward, and dragged through the dirt until she could spring up and walk again. Her body looked pale, and the filly could count her ribs. She could hardly even stand as it were, almost with as much difficulty as a newborn goat. She was all matted with dirt, and covered with bruises and scratches, most of them caked with blood. Her mane was flat and hung sullenly from her head. Then through the dirt on the flank, Applebloom spotted the ultimate horror: the skin bearing the cutie mark had been scraped off. All that was left was a big ugly dirt-matted scab. Then the filly saw a curved yellow-ish line extending from the gash. Applebloom’s ice turned to blood and she gasped in horror a second time to realize it was Pinkie Pie.

But that wasn’t all. The fact that they skinned off her cutie mark would bring on an extremely terrible curse, right out of the depths of Everfree. Applebloom tried to hold back tears. If she cried now and was discovered, there’d be hell to pay. She was so sad over the loss of Pinkie Pie, and horrified for her and herself of what she knew the curse would do to her.

Nopony else knew about this curse, only Applebloom did. She had actually seen such horror.

About two years ago, Applebloom followed Twilight Sparkle into Everfree. Somehow the filly lost her, and ended up at some place called Sunny Town, inhabited by...’zombie’ ponies, whom said they were cursed in such a way for scraping off their own cutie marks. These zombies attempted to capture her, but she narrowly escaped unharmed. She made it out of Everfree, but Applebloom never did tell Applejack about that one. Even back then, AppleJack would have walloped her good for going near Everfree.

“Well, well, what have we got here?” Applejack sternly barked when the two stallions brought the sullen mare before her. Pinkie Pie took one look at Applejack, and panicked. she tried to resist, but the stallion holding her leash in his mouth violently pulled her forward, throwing her to the dirt, right infront of Applejack.

“This is the one you call Pinkie Pie, ma’am,” the huge grey stallion named Pomme Pound or Pompound for short replied, “We were ordered by Chief Pomme to bring her here. She said you were friends with her, and you’d...straighten her out.”

“Is that so?” Applejack grunted as she stared Pinkie down. Pinkie looked at the ground and didn’t return her glare. “Thank you, stals fer’ bringin’ her to me. Ah guess, as a friend, Ah owe it to this overgrown brat to straighten her out, teach her some discipline, and some lessons what it means to do some good, hard, work!”

Applejack saw the scabbed gash on each side of Pinkie’s flanks. “Who scraped off her flank marks?”

“Uhh, it was done by Jeresey Mac, on Chief Anna Pomme’s orders.”

Applejack adjusted her Stetson hat and scratched an itchy part on the back of her head. “Ne’er thought o’ that one. Good thing she did, it means this runt can start all over. Now that that curse mark is gone, she can work hard an’ earn a new flank mark that represents hard work, good reverence and some equine decency.”

Pinkie Pie cringed and shuddered with each snarled word from the orange hick. Tears began streaming from her eyes, and her her body shuddered. From her hiding spot, Applebloom could see how miserable she was, and felt some tears of her own come out. She hadn’t seen Pinkie in months, and wondered what the hell happened to her.

“Look’t me you varmint!” Applejack barked right in Pinkie’s face, “You cut out that snivelin’ right now, Ah ain’t gonna tolerate that shit fer a second, y’hear me? You’re a full grown pony, not some newborn foal, dammit! Ah’m gonna give you a minute to stop them waterworks, y’hear? Cuz if y’don’t Ah got ponies all over this farm who’ll hoofbeat yer sorry ass so bad you’ll wish you ain’t cried a minute in yer wasted life.”

As Applejack spoke, Big Mac and the crew of stallions he was put to work with showed up. He looked shocked to see Pinkie in such a state.

“So, here’s what yer’ gonna do, Pinkie: Yer’ gonna be workin’ hard doin’ the chores, diggin’ dirt, buckin’ apples, and whatever everypony tells you be doin, got it? Yer’ gonna earn yer livin’ out here. Y’ain’t worked a day in yer life, an’ it sure as hell shows. An’ there ain’t gonna be none of that foolin’ around partyin’ an’ laughin’ shit you use to do. An’ another thing, Pinkie: Ah’m gonna iron them problems out of you, like it or not. An’ Y’ ain’t gonna be touchin’ or seein’ another grain o’ that sugar shit y’been suckin’ on all them years. Ah bet Princess Celestia is mighty angry with you and she ought’ta burn yer flank in hell fer yer insolence an’ hooliganin’ around our here town-”

Pinkie started crying more, and Applejack snapped. She reached back and struck Pinkie in the face with a hoof so forceful it threw Pinkie to the ground.
“Ah said stop yer snivelin’!” Applejack shouted. Pinkie didn’t get up right away.

“Applejack, dear, who on earth this?” Applegem asked as she, Sangshine, and two other mares showed up.

“This here’s Pinkie Pie,” Applejack replied, placing a hoof on Pinkie’s head, seemingly threatening to crush her. “She’s that sugar addict from town, y’know the one that never shuts up, and gets all them foals into a frenzy and hooked on that sugar shit. Town guard arrested her and brought her up here fer me to straighten her out and put her in her place.”

“Hmph,” Applegem scoffed in disapproval. She looked down on Pinkie with utter disgust. “She looks like a horrid demon, diseased or something, Applejack, I don’t like this one bit. She must be burned, at once!”

“Naw, Gemmie, she ain’t no demon. Dumb bitch ain’t ate since she was thrown out of Sugarcube Corner. Hell, Ah doubt she even knows what real food tastes like. She’s just starvin’ is all,” then Applejack turned to face Pinkie, her forehoof still on the mare’s head. Pinkie grunted and cried in pain as Applejack pressed some weight on her. Pompound, and the other stallions stood by, because if Pinkie dared to fight back and hit Applejack, they’d pound her into a broken pulp. “This skinsack here is gonna be eatin’ alot of real food, even if it means Ah gotta ponysonally* cram it down her throat!”

“Well,” Sangshine said, also looking unsettled, “I’m sure the poor thing will regain her health quickly from our blood apples, but why must you be so hard on her? She looks as if she were beaten like a cat.”

“Townguard did it. To put her in line and shut her up, and make her learn she ain’t gonna be a party animal or be snortin or suckin that sugar shit no more. They softened her up real good. Should make mah job easier, not that she’ll be eatin’ her meals through a straw fer months if she so much as steps one hoof or says one word out of line.”

“I still think you should burn her. Seems like a lost cause to me,” Applegem lamented.

“That, Gemmie, will be a last resort. But Ah will make damn sure she don’t have to be burned, as Celestia as mah witness, we Apples will remake this bitch as a decent, honest, civil-like, decent-mannered, hard workin’ pony!” Applejack snarled, barking more in Pinkie’s ears than addressing Applegem.

“Very well,” Applegem resigned her argument. “Sangy dear, shall we go see how those new clothes are coming along?”
Sangshine nodded, “Of course. Applejack, feel free to send her to me, and I’ll get her sewing or-”
“Nope,” Applejack cut her off, “This bitch is gonna be digging dirt till the fall at least!”

“Very well. Cheerio.” And the two mares left. Pinkie still kept sobbing. She curled up in fetal position around Applejack’s hooves.

“So how’s about it, Pinkie? Because if you don’t work, you will burn, y’hear me?”

“No~!” Pinkie cried out in despair.

Applejack scoffed. “Pathetic. Real damn pathetic. Pompound! Take this varmint up to the old cellar up by Knot Hill, and lock her up in there.”

“No...please…”

“Uh, for how long, Ms. Applejack?”

Applejack looked down impassively at Pinkie. “Ah’ll give her a month to think about it. She’s afraid of the dark, well some good solitary confinement will change her attitude about reformin’ herself. Take her away!”

With a violent yank on the leash, Pinkie Pie was dragged away crying and weeping, and trying to struggle. Applejack reached out and bashed her in the face one more time, and she went limp.

Applebloom was filled with horror and revulsion at what she just witnessed. And stunned that Big Mac didn’t intervene and save her like he did for Twilight Sparkle. She didn’t understand, and felt frustrated and angry with her big brother. Big Mac was never afraid and he quarreled and fought with Applejack so many times before, and he won.

Applebloom left her hiding spot, and when no pony was looking, she dashed into a nearby barn, hid behind some boxes and cried.

It was insane. She always thought of Pinkie Pie as invincible, impervious, a force to be reckoned with what with her contagious laughter. Sure she was an oddball, but Pinkie Pie was always happy, cheerful, and definitely harmless. Foals were around her all the time, playing with her and laughing at her crazy antics. The Cutie Mark Crusaders loved her and always visited her at Sugarcube Corner. Out of all ponies, Pinkie was the one who fed the three fillies with all sorts of ideas on how they could get their cutie marks, and most of the time they tried out her wild ideas, much to the dismay and embarrassment of other ponies.

And on the days somepony was really sad, Pinkie, having just learned to have some empathy and to comfort a pony in distress by Twilight Sparkle, was there for them, especially sad fillies. She comforted them, then talked them out of their moods, and sent them home with cheer. Then there were days when Pinkie was feeling down, and the foals and ponies who she cheered up were there for her as well. But since last summer, ponies shunned Pinkie Pie more and more, and began telling their little ones to avoid her like the plague. Then Scootaloo told Applebloom and Sweetie Belle that Pinkie Pie was fired by the Cakes and kicked out of Sugarcube Corner. She briefly worked at a few other sweets shops, cafe’s and tea shops in Ponyville, and she ultimately disappeared. Last Applebloom saw of her was at Sugarcube corner, being cheerful as ever, and it broke her heart and wrenched her gut to see Pinkie just now. Then it hit her: the Apples broke Pinkie Pie.

Much to Applebloom’s horror, where she saw a bloom of life, she only saw despair and decay. It horrified her to see that Applejack had snuffed out one of the greatest lights in Ponyville. A beacon of laughter, and a ray of hope was what the fillies saw in Pinkie Pie. Many ponies felt a creeping darkness sweep over Ponyville as the Apples moved in, and when Pinkie Pie disappeared...

Applejack never liked her to begin with and always talked about how Pinkie Pie was no good, undisciplined, and all these other things. Shortly after Granny Smith’s death, Applejack instructed Applebloom and Sweetie Belle to keep away from Pinkie, and threatened to hoofbeat them if she caught them hanging out with her.

And a chilling realization hit her: the Apples just extinguished one of the last bright lights in Ponyville. The filly desperately wanted to escape Sweet Apple Acres now. She wanted to get the hell away like Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle did. Problem was that her aunts and uncles kept a tight watch on her by Applejack’s orders. Applejack was hell-bent on making sure she couldn’t run away like the other two did.

And between the fiery destruction of the Jager stead, and this, the filly felt that creeping despair, that the world was closing in on her and the fear of death slowly began to kick in. The family would keep her imprisoned on the farm, then the fire would come. She made a frantic silent prayer to Celestia, begging for forgiveness for everypony.

Applebloom wanted to escape, she wanted to take Pinkie Pie with her, but she was absolutely terrified of the curse. Partly, she wanted to find Pinkie, and escape from Sweet Apple Acres, get her to the hospital so they can patch up her flanks and maybe, just maybe Pinkie would get her cutie mark back….or Pinkie would die, and….become one of them.

Applebloom sobbed to herself. She had never seen such cruelty from her big sister in her entire life. Not even the hoof beatings compared to this. It was essentially a capital crime to scrape off a cutie mark or flank mark as adult ponies called it. Somehow doing so damaged a pony’s soul, spirit, and so forth.

Cutie marks are altered patches of fur, where extremely sensitive nerves are located. Any significant damage caused huge disruptions to the pony. Cheerilee said once that cutie marks were representations of their spirits or souls, and imprint of a pony on its own body. Applebloom heard plenty of stories of ponies being disowned or beaten to death among other Apple clans for getting an ‘undesirable’ cutie mark, however, stripping the skin right off was absolutely unheard of. And it lead to serious infections and diseases as the patch of skin with the cutie mark is very slow to heal.

It was worth a shot. After seeing Big Mac stand by and do nothing, she felt at a loss and didn’t really trust the big red lug brother of hers. Still, she was absolutely terrified, but enough to dare resist the Apple “way” and defy all the rules and orders. She checked one of the doors that lead to the outside, and looked in the direction of Knot Hill, and when nopony was looking, she bolted for the next hiding place.

Amidst this fear, Applebloom finally broke her delusion that things would get better. Things weren’t going to get better. This was a whole new way of life. And seeing what Applejack did to Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo (she threatened to pluck Scoots’ feathers all out), and now Pinkie Pie, she felt disconnected from her big sister, and viewed Applejack as a total enemy. After seeing this, the filly hated Applejack. For everything she’s done.

In one fell terrifying thought, Applebloom contemplated forsaking the Apple family, and redeeming herself before Princess Celestia. Applebloom also felt equally guilty at the thought of releasing the monstrosity upon the Sweet Apples. Why did those who work so much to be close to Princess Celestia have to be so cruel. The filly cried. She outright furious and upset. She wanted to go up to Knot Hill, and break out Pinkie Pie, and leave her to roam til she died and turned into...one of those things from Sunny Town that would go out and devour the other Apples.

Applebloom’s tiny simple little brain ached as she thought this out. Pinkie Pie turns into the undead, attacks the others, and starts an unholy pandemic on the Apple farm. Then ponies from Ponyville and around come and set the whole place on fire and burn them all...or Celestia blows everything to kingdom come.

Then part of her really wanted to rescue Pinkie Pie, get her to a hospital, and patch her up before the curse kicks in.

C’mon Abloom, pull yerself together. Scoots and Sweetie Belle made it out. Ah just gotta go. Oh please Princess Celestia, please let me an’ Pinkie Pie escape, and please make her all happy-like again.

She cautiously followed the ponies as they dragged Pinkie Pie, seemingly paralyzed in her hind legs, by the neck up the dirt trail.

Sweetie Belle magicked open the gate from the forest trail to Sweet Apple Acres, and trotted forward, that cold, cunning, impassive look on her face. After leaving the Jager stead in flames, she decided that all of Sweet Apple Acres would cease to exist by the end of the day.

She had a blank look on her face, and looked around, as if she were just some curious filly exploring the countryside. She looked up and saw clouds rolling in from the southwest. Behind her, the huge column of smoke rose higher and higher into the sky. no doubt the Apples would take notice now. She quickly fled to one of the nearby farm buildings, knowing Apples would be going down that trail...to see Auntie Ferra Jager...on that pike.

She passed a small house, just recently built for a new Apple family who just arrived. The mare was putting up clothes on a line to dry out, and her two foals were washing them. It looked peaceful, until they looked up and saw her. The reaction was intense. Seeing a unicorn staring at them instilled fear. These were magic-hating racist apples.

The mare shouted something at her foals and they scattered inside. Sweetie, face still blank, charged up her magic-

- and sent out a colossal blast wave that blew the entire house to smithereens, instantly shredding all ponies inside. The mare was violently thrown back and slammed into a nearby tree with such force, her entire skeleton shattered into dust. She was dead before she hit the ground.

The debris was blown back several hundred trots, and the trees swayed under the huge pressure of the wind. The blast was deafening. Sweetie Belle quickly took her leave, and disappeared.

The loud boom of the ‘explosion’ scared the shit out of Applebloom, and she felt warm urine trickle down her back leg. She was safe behind some bushes and under some trees, but the explosion still scared the wits out of her. In the distance she saw ponies stop what they were doing and looked westward in the direction of the explosion. However, there was no smoke, but a lot of the ponies did notice the plume of smoke rising from the western forest.

Nopony noticed Applebloom as they reacted to the distant smoke. Some stallions ran off to join others and check it out; mares and fillies resumed their work. Still scared and terrified of being discovered, Applebloom hid for a good ten minutes, then she continued sneaking around, and made her way up to Knot Hill.

Knot Hill was one of several small hills that dotted Sweet Apple Acres. Knot Hill was home to some old workshops where the Apples made and fixed their tools and equipment. There were also several cellars and old storage shacks. Applebloom bolted back and forth between hiding spots along the path, zig-zagging her way up to the workshop. She narrowly escaped being seen when a stallion rounded a corner, hauling a cart loaded with sacks. Applebloom held her breath as he passed, then slowly exhaled. She knew Applejack forbade her from being on her own. New rule was she was to be with a mare or stallion at all times. If she got caught, she was to be dragged back to Applejack, who would then hoof-beat her into a coma.

The filly made it to the workshop and storage shacks. All buildings were made of stone bricks, which now sported mold-filled cracks. These buildings were old, built around the time Granny Smith was a filly. She hadn’t been to this part of Sweet Apple Acres in years. Most of the time Applebloom was in the orchards or the fields.

The filly hid, and listened. Silence. No ponies talking. Place was deserted. Hell, there wasn’t even a breeze, nor did she hear any birds singing. There were always birds living in the trees here, and as Granny Smith said years ago, when birds and animals took off, terrible things were to happen. Abloom shuddered. Something terrible was already happening. She figured the ponies working up here all ran off towards the fire. The filly cautiously stalked her way around the shops and shacks.

“...Pinkie Pie…” the filly whispered repeatedly as she walked around. Pinkie obviously wouldn’t hear her, but she was too scared to shout. Applebloom checked around the storage shacks. There were four of them, each the size of a small cabin. The doors were secured with padlocks and chains. Applebloom knocked on the doors but no response. She approached the last storage shack, and right before she knocked, the filly heard the very faint sounds of a mare sobbing. she pressed her ear up to the door, and sure enough, she realized Pinkie was in here.

“Hey...Pinkie Pie..” Applebloom said, banging on the door with a hoof. “It’s me, Applebloom. Are...are y’ awright?”

No response.

“Ah’m...Ah’m awful real sorry fer what mah...sister did to you…” Applebloom nearly choked on her own tongue when she mouthed the word ‘sister.’ Applejack was anything but her big sister. She looked at the padlock.

“Uhh...Ah’m gonna go find a key so Ah can unlock this thing. Ah’ll be right back-”
Clank!
With a loud clank, the padlock unlocked itself, startling the filly. Applebloom jumped, and slowly backed away from the door.

Nothing else happened. The lock just hung on the latch, unlocked. Applebloom didn’t know how to react to this, other than to still be afraid. How the hell could the lock unlock itself? There weren’t any unicorns around for miles.

Sweetie Belle watched Applebloom from behind the bushes. She didn’t expect the filly to jump out of her skin when she undid the padlock. It took Applebloom several minutes to figure out which of these moldy old shacks Pinkie Pie was locked up in, but Sweetie Already knew. She had been hiding and watched the Apples drag Pinkie up the other path here.

If it weren’t for the bond these fillies had with Pinkie Pie, Sweetie Belle would have annihilated Pinkie along with the rest of these rabid earth ponies. Sweetie also had a series of spells that allowed her to ‘see’ through the shack, and detect Pinkie Pie’s soul, or life force, or whatever. And she knew the pinky pony was broken and hurting. Sweetie also knew she was dying.

A flashback opened up, taking her back to Aura Belle’s time. A memory of Aura Belle and some other unicorns rescuing earth pony survivors following a Pegasi attack on their village. They were just as terrified and full of despair. And to these harmless ponies, unlike those who sided with the Pegasi in an attempt to cover their own flanks and fight the unicorns, these ponies who were rescued and sided with the unicorns were given spells of ‘love’ to break them out of their despair. The flashback ended. Sweetie Belle recalled all the times Pinkie Pie was there for her and her friends, and all the times she made them giggle and laugh. She decided to rescue the pink pony, or at least spare her the wrath she was about to vent on these Apples.

Sweetie cast an invisible beam of magic on the padlock infront of Applebloom, and raised it clear of the rusty door latch, causing Applebloom to back away. Sweetie pondered how to approach her friend. She didn’t want A’bloom to demonize her or fear her. as far as Sweetie was concerned, Applebloom and Scoots were her only family. She’d gather them up, take Pinkie Pie, and leave Ponyville forever.

Sweetie Belle sined. Time for Applebloom to meet the all-powerful new and improved ‘Apple Belle.’

The padlock floated several inches clear of the rusty door latch, then dropped and hit the dirt infront of her. Applebloom looked around and saw nopony, no nothing. She didn’t know who or what unlocked the door, and had second thoughts about going in and finding Pinkie Pie. She began to think the Sunny Town curse was kicking in and turned to flee when she spun around and saw Sweetie Bell, just standing there. Out in the open. After she disappeared, after Applejack put out an apparent death warrant on her.

A’bloom was startled, and the two fillies briefly stared at each other for a split second, knowing the neither of them should be there. Then all the tension in them both broke, and they rushed at each other, and hugged each other tight.

Sweetie Belle was so relieved to see Applebloom in one piece, and almost forgot entirely about everything and the moment seemed like one of those lost moments when they met up to do their CMC adventures. Applebloom was just as stoked to see Sweetie Belle, seeing her the the first time in a long time. She only vanished the previous day but it felt like eons.

“Aw Sweetie Belle, Ah missed you so dang much!” Applebloom cried. She couldn’t hold back and it all just came out and the filly, normally stoic and hardy, burst into tears.

“I missed you too A’bloom!” Sweetie Belle said, more so relieved the filly was unhurt and how she could get her out of here.

“Ah...Ah can’t take it no more….” Applebloom sobbed…”Mah whole family’s gone evil, they...they ain’t even like mah family no more, they’s just some evil cult now!” Applebloom slipped to the ground and sobbed, while Sweetie stroke her mane. “An’...An’...Celestia’s gonna burn us all an’ send us to hell!”

“Shhh…” Sweetie said softly, trying to soothe her. “We’re not going to burn, nopony is going to hurt me or you ever again. We’re gonna leave here, find Scootaloo, and get as far away from this town as we can.”

“...w-wait...where is Scoots?” Applebloom asked. Last she saw of Scootaloo was the previous afternoon when she climbed aboard the poop card during the unloading of the manure. Applebloom tried to climb aboard, but she was caught and whipped until her entire flank was red and marked.

“She left Ponyville on the train this morning. She is safe.” Sweetie Belle said, still talking in that eerie calm voice that disturbed Applebloom.

“W-wait, how the hell you so calm? Ain’tcha scared?”

Sweetie Belle shook her head and said with confidence: “Relax, none of these Apple freaks are going to hurt us. I swiped a magic spellbook from Twilight Sparkle, and it has lots and lots of power. More power than Twilight herself. Ain’t pony will dare buck with me.”

“....whoa…” Applebloom breathed.

“Watch,” Sweetie Belle said, and she lit up her horn. Then she gently lifted Applebloom and herself off the ground then let them both down again.

“Pretty cool, huh?”

Applebloom nodded. “Wait, but what about them-”

“A unicorn! Get her!” A raging Apple stallion shouted, and he and his comrade, both pulling a huge wagon, both charged at them. Like bulls, they saw red, and charged.

Sweetie Belle formed a protective and invisible shield around herself and Applebloom. She wasn’t ready to scare the living manure out of her just yet with her deadlier spells.

The stallions roared as they charged full speed at the two fillies-

-and WHAM! slammed face first with all their weight into an invisible wall solid as a wall of granite. The cart they carried, loaded with heavy manure buckets, them slammed into them at full speed. One stal’s spine snapped on impact, another got his neck and head crushed as well. The buckets tipped over, flipping shit everywhere.

Applebloom gasped in horror at the sheer sight. She was already on edge from what happened to that Ferra Apple Jager mare earlier today, and seeing this nearly gave her a heart attack.

The two stallions both laid twisted and slumped up against Sweetie Belle’s forcefield gasping and groaning. The one whose neck was broken heaved his last breaths as death set in. The other, his spine was broken behind his front hooves, leaving only his rear body paralyzed and unusable.

Sweetie let her invisible shield dissipate. Her facial expression remained blank and did not change as she looked at the carnage. The stallion still alive was breathing heavily, and the filly noticed three of his ribs had been broken. He was also struggling to spout religious nonsense. “...and a great hell will befall the unicorn scourge…”

His head jerked and he was rendered unable to speak, yet still mouthed the words.

Applebloom was shaking. “...what...why…”

“These ponies wanted to kill us, or just me. It’s kill or be killed, Applebloom. I didn’t even try to kill, them. I just wanted to see the looks on their faces when they hit an invisible wall. No smart pony just charges at a unicorn who’s standing here, minding her own business. These morons were busted up by the cart. Idiots.”

Applebloom nodded. “...what...what did you do to him?” She began to feel revulsion from the smell of shit everywhere.

“I disabled his voice. He can pretend to talk all he wants, but he isn’t making any sound.”

“Swe...Sweetie Belle, Princess Celestia...she’s gonna burn us…”

“No, she won’t,” Sweetie said with solid and deadly determination. “I won’t let it happen. If Celestia really likes these bucked up Apples of yours, then me and you are in the wrong part of Equestria.”

Applebloom nodded, struggling to hold back tears. She was absolutely terrified, and it didn’t help seeing the thick column of smoke rising over the trees from the woods to the west.

“By the Light! What happened?” A mare screamed as she came on the scene, accompanied by three fillies. “Rocko! No! A unicorn!”
“Gimme a sec,” Sweetie muttered to Applebloom as she turned to face the new enemy. The mare in question was Sally Ann Applehill. She and her fillies lived in one of their new dogens at the bottom of the hill by the river.

“Applebloom, get away from that unicorn this instant!” Sally Ann shouted, “Oh Dear Lady Celestia, please help us, rid us of this unicorn murderer! Please hel-”

With a single spark of magic from Sweetie Belle, Sally Ann was unable to speak. She mouthed words, but no sound came out. She started freaking out, then she hit the dirt and went completely limp, give for her breathing.

“Momma!” one of the fillies cried out. Then the three fillies dropped too.

“You...you killed them…” Applebloom gasped.

“No, they’re all asleep,” Sweetie Belle said flatly.

“Can we please get outta here?” Applebloom whined.

“No, I want to check on Pinkie.”

“Shit, no!” Applebloom protested with alarm that surprised Sweetie. “She’s cursed! She’s got a curse of Everfree! She’s gonna turn into...turn into…” Applebloom started hyperventilating, and Sweetie cast a spell on her to calm her down and keep her from fainting. The soft warm magic tingle calmed her down, and she started sobbing.

“Take some breaths,” Sweetie said calmly, “and tell me about this Everfree curse of hers.”

Applebloom tried to stop sobbing. She sure as hell never wanted to talk about Sunny Town. She never told anypony, not even Sweetie or Scoots., for fear of getting in trouble for going into the forest. Sweetie Belle, totally socially blind before, now had instincts that indicated Applebloom had something to share.

“Ah...sorry...Ah don’t want to talk about it….”

“Yes, you do,” Sweetie said with a deadly calm voice, “I got the magic remember. I got more magic than some stupid Everfree curse. Pinkie’s got it, so tell me what it is, for her sake.”

“Oh...ok….Ah’ll talk…” Applebloom was terrified of Sweetie. She was loaded with Applejack’s stories about evil unicorns slaughtering earth ponies by the dozens, and of some tales of how all the Apples who built Ponyville vanished thanks to the unicorns.
Both Applebloom and Sweetie Belle saw Pinkie Pie. Sweetie Belle watched them drag her onto the farm, and routinely stop and hoof beat her. Applebloom witnessed Applejack’s cold-blooded treatment of her. They both saw that the pink mare’s cutie marks had been skinned off. “What do you know about her missing cutie marks, Abloom?” Sweetie demanded.

Calmed by spells, Applebloom tearfully spilled the oats about her ordeal. Two years ago, she accompanied Twilight Sparkle during the lavender unicorn’s trip to Zecora’s hut deep in Everfree. Applebloom took off and ventured along a trail and discovered Sunny Town. It was not much more than desolate ruins gripped by a curse that gave newcomers an illusion of a happy community, but eventually revealed itself and its true inhabitants if newcomers stayed too long. Before all hell broke loose, Applebloom learned from the locals that they were cursed due to skinning off cutie marks, believing they were the cause of all their problems. Then the illusion fell down and they all became rotting zombies and chased after her. Applebloom barely escaped with her life, and never told anypony about Sunny Town.

She also said that because somepony skinned off Pinkie Pie’s cutie marks, they brought the curse here, and when it kicked in...Applebloom broke down and cried again.

“There, there...you should’ve told us...and Twilight.” Sweetie Belle assured her.
“Applejack woulda hoof beat me fer good…”

“Applebloom, I can detect magic fields, and the stuff that comes out of Everfree is not present here. Even if that curse does open up, I’ll squash it! But I want to take Pinkie Pie with us. I’ll heal her up and make her the way she was.”

“Y’...Y’ can do that?”

Sweetie nodded. Then she opened the door to the shack.

It was dark in here. No light anywhere. The two fillies cautiously entered. Applebloom hesitated and stayed at the door. She had two choices, stay with Sweetie Belle and risk being afflicted by Pinkie Pie’s curse, or stay at the door and risk being attacked by some Apple pony. She panicked and stayed behind Sweetie Belle.

Sweetie lit up her horn to illuminate the place. It was a tool shack, empty of tools. And there was Pinkie Pie, a scrawny, wretched, flat-haired heap lying sprawled out on the cobblestone floor, chained by her neck to a wooden post. She sobbed, and didn’t move.

Applebloom didn’t go closer to her than two whole trots. Sweetie Belle walked right up to her and examined her. Using her magic, she detected Pinkie’s weak heartbeat, various fractured bones, scars, scrapes, welts, and bruises. The mare’s tail was cut almost to her flank, and most of her flattened mane was cut short. Sweetie detected the serious chemical imbalance, and realized this mare was depressed to the point she could hardly move. She looked at the gashes on her flank where the skin bearing her cutie marks was scraped clean off. Scabs partially formed, but blood still trickled out.

Then Sweetie Belle scanned her for any of that Everfree curse energy Applebloom talked about. There was none. She figured because Pinkie was skinned outside of Everfree and not at this Sunny Town hellhole, the curse couldn’t reach her.

Pinkie finally noticed Sweetie Belle standing over her and she began to cry out.

“Please...no more, no more!”

“I’m not going to harm you,” Sweetie Belle assured her. “It’s me Sweetie Belle...and Applebloom’s over there. I got magic now. I’ll make a shield around this place and nopony will hurt you.”

Sweetie looked closely at the gashes on her flanks. Extremely prone to infection. Deadly infection. “I need to cast a heal spell on your flank. It’s going to sting, but it will stop it from bleeding and keep the real bad germs out.”

Before Pinkie could respond she siezed up and cried out in agony, probably because of the trama of what was done to her.
Sweetie accelerated the healing and sealed up both gashes. Pinkie was left sobbing. “Go away! Just let me die!”

“No.” Sweetie Belle said, “You won’t die. And you won’t live like this either. I’ll burn up all these damn Apples, and I’ll make that bitch Applejack pay for what she did to us.”

“W-wait, what?” Applebloom gasped, “Sw-Sweetie Belle, no! Applejack’s really powerful, an...an...she can call down the favor or wrath of Celestia! An...an her whole family’s an army! An...An...she’s mah sister!”

Sweetie Belle didn’t even bother to reason with the hick filly. She beamed a gentle spell. Applebloom turned to run away but Sweetie got her right in the head, and she quickly fell asleep and hit the ground.

Sweetie levitated Applebloom and placed her next to Pinkie Pie.
“Shhh, go to sleep, Pinkie.” And the same spell was cast on Pinkie Pie, who passed out as well.

Both slept soundly and peacefully, but it was deep sleep. For their own benefit, Sweetie didn’t risk leaving them to be woken up. She formed an invisible wall around them, and another around the entire shack. As the two slept. the filly sealed the door shut, leaving the two in their slumber and tomb.

After Sweetie Belle was finished sealing those two in, she looked around. It was mid afternoon. The air was stagnant and there was not even a breeze. She remained emotionless and blank-faced as she gazed around.

Sweet Apple Acres was a beautiful land, even if it was occupied by the worst ponies she ever encountered. But from what she saw, it was an evil place. And evil things must be destroyed. These earth ponies were as despicable as the Pegasi above. Sweetie Belle had a brief flashback: Earth ponies attacking, and pillaging unicorn villages, dragging their unicorn captives out to open fields, chopping their horns off, and leaving them as an offering to the bloodthirsty Pegasi of that era.

It seemed earth ponies and pegasi were in league with each other. Basically, as the filly was taught in school, the earth ponies tilled the land, grew food to feed the Pegasi, and in turn the Pegasi brought good weather. And when earth ponies angered the PEgasi, such as fraternize with unicorns, the Pegasi scorched the land and starved the earth ponies. Yet the Pegasi forced them to farm the land and produce their food.

Sweetie Belle wondered if the Sweet Apples were doing what they did to appease the Pegasi. She shook her head. No matter. And she began walking in a slow, calm, and calculated pace. Sweetie Belle, empowered by the magic of ancient unicorns began shooting off sporadic invisible bolts of magic. Each bolt struck an object, and instantly, or within time, the object would melt or ignite.

Anypony unfortunate to cross paths with Sweetie Belle met a very swift and brutal end.

Author's Notes:

This is some really morbid shit right here :/

I was wondering what the hell happened to Pinkie Pie. Didn't think Applejack would scrape off her cutie mark (ok, yes she did). What the hell is that damn hick thinking??? One does not simply scrape off a cutie mark and expect a new one (presumably an apple) to grow in its place. Some friend she is. When I first thought of this it hit me right in the feels.

A lot of reference to Story of the Blanks. READ IT, I COMMAND YOU. One of my favorite creepypastas.
Aoshi Stark's fanfic is based on a video game by the talented guy [url=http://donitz.newgrounds.com/.
Donitz created Story of the Blanks, and Aoshi Stark's fanfic is based on the video game. I credit all SOTB references (Pinkie Pie's missing cutie mark, the curse of Sunny Town, zombie ponies, etc) to Mr. Donitz and Aoshi Stark (if added new stuff to the fanfic, i read it long time ago, can't remember everything]. All things MLP go to Hasbro.

Glad to have a chapter out before the end of the year, thank's y'all for patiently waiting. See how many dislikes this chapter will get. MWAHAHAHA! >:D