The problem with Sweet Apple Acres was that all the clans who came in and set up weren’t always together, and the little villages and steads that were built were spread apart. Sometimes ponies had no idea what went on in other parts of Sweet Apple Acres, and there was talk of starting up a weekly newspaper or having meetings so all ponies were updated on important details. Sometimes ponies in one clan, say the Applehills who occupied the southern river front and built their dogen houses, had no idea what went on over on the Appleyards’ or Apple Stones’ turf.

For Applejack, it was quite tough keeping up to date with and managing all the clans. However, the one day everypony spent together was every Sunday in the new chapel. A new choir of fillies and colts lead the congregation in hymns, and elderly ponies read from the Book of Sun (Celestia’s bible).

However, the real problem that was not factored into the overall plan Applejack had in mind to turn Sweet Apple Acres into some kind of little empire, was that when things went seriously wrong in one area, no warning system alerted the whole community.

So when Sweetie Belle finished slaughtering a family of Apple Flower ponies by sprouting flowers out of their flesh and causing them to die agonizing deaths, nopony witnessed it and the word never got out. It would be some time before somepony found the grisly mess of torn gore, and by then, the little white filly, with her cute little pink-purple mane, would be long gone, and remain undetected.

Somewhere deep in the Acres, a family of Applebarks were enjoying the nice calm afternoon when the breeze died and the air grew hot. Today was Sunday, and they had got back, and got out of their best chapel outfits. Two foals were playing in the yard out in front of the new house that had just been built. The mother mare was hanging clothes on the rope clothesline, and humming to herself. It was suddenly hot, but still gorgeous weather. It was a divine blessing on them from the Solar Mother. Hard work and piety always payed off. The stallion, her husband and father of the children was out assisting the clan nearby with a project.

The mare felt a kick within and paused, and thought fondly of the baby foal inside of her. It would be her third. “Won’t be long now, sweetheart,” she whispered, and resumed hanging the wet clothes. She was due in three weeks.

Hidden from view, in the woods nearby, Sweetie Belle gazed at them with blank but malicious look on her face. She never met them before, but their punishment would be no less. They wouldn’t even see it coming. She scanned the mare with her magic, and instantly knew she was pregnant. The two brats continued chasing each other around the yard. The mare resumed her work.

Sweetie sat in her hiding spot, pondering which lethal spell to use on them. She was inclined to kill them yes, but her ancestors wanted more than just death. They wanted these Apples to make the most horrendous exit imaginable. Then she got an idea.

The mother mare was humming to herself as she put up clothes on the clothesline when suddenly the unborn foal inside her began violently kicking and squirming. The kicks and movements instantly hurt the mare and she buckled, completely stunned and shocked. “Ugh….shh…...it’s okay…” she breathed, trying to rub her belly with a hoof, but the foal kept up the violent squirming and lashing out.
“Owwww…” It really hurt alot.

“Please...please stop….Solar Mother help me…”

Then she felt her water break. “No!....too soon…..Too soon….!” And the foal inside began really thrashing about. The kicks and punches forced the mare to the ground, and she started crying. She was scared out of her mind. “..C-Crunchy! Ste-Stemma! Go get your father, quick!”

Then the contractions came with unimaginable violent force and pain, and she lurched over on her side and screamed.

“Momma?” the filly named Stemma called, and came running. “Momma!”

The mare could only scream and grunt as the sheer agony took over, and felt like her body was trying to crush the squirming unborn foal, who fought back with a vengeance. But her muscles contracted, delivering searing pain. She was terrified for the foal. She couldn’t even talk no more, then she felt it. The sensation of the foal’s bones snapping under the pressure of her contracting muscles. She went wide eyed with terror, but the contractions did not let up and she felt more vibrations ripple through her as her uterus crushed the foal, like a snake crushing a mouse. Further sensations came out and she instantly recognized them as panic and agony from the foal itself, then she felt a big crunch, and she instantly knew the head had been crushed, and her foal was dead. But the contractions came further on, and in one violent burst, it all came out and splattered the grass around her. No foal. Just gore and chunks of bone.

The other two foals, Crunchy and Stemma, both screamed bloody murder when they saw it. And the mere factors of the bloody gruesome scene and the loss of a new family member weren’t the only things to haunt them if they lived to tell about it. It was their conviction that Celestia just destroyed the new foal and condemned the family. They could only shake and stare as they watched their mother convulsing on the ground. Then the next horror began. She suddenly screamed a pitch that paralyzed them both. It began as electrical sensations, followed by immense stinging. What was really happening was the grass began to grow quickly and violently. Up through the mare’s body and pierced every part of her. She struggled to move but was rooted to the ground, crying and screaming as the grass grew through her.
Then they saw the bloodied blades appear all over her body as they rose up, Thousands of blades, skewering the mare, and obscuring her from view. She shook and convulsed but within minutes, she stopped moving, and the grass continued the grow. What they were now looking at was a grassy lump. Nopony else would have guessed a mare just died. Death by grass. The foals panicked when they realized they were standing on grass and ran for the front porch of their house-

Whack! Both of them slammed into a stone wall. An invisible stone wall. Perfectly invisible. Well give for the shimmering air, but its not like they noticed that or even knew the concept of an invisible wall, crafted by unicorns via manipulation of air. They pawed at it with their hooves, then ran the other way and slammed into another wall, then another, and another, and they realized they were trapped. They both screamed as loud as they could for their father, who was long gone. They felt the walls closing in on them, and the wall above began refracting the sunlight, like a magnifying glass, concentrating the sunlight on them. Both screamed in agony as they were burned to ashes.

Sweetie Belle stalked onto the property like a cat on the prowl. She entered the house. It was a modest cozy looking home. One floor. Two rooms, one for the foals, the other the common room and parents’ sleeping space. Sweetie found a pot of porridge that the mare cooked up earlier this morning. Feeling starved, she buck kicked the pot and it spilled on the floor, and she gobbled it up like a dog. After she was done, Sweetie Belle left the crime scene. But she left behind some nasty surprises for the ponies who came back here.

As she walked, Sweetie Belle cast invisible magic beams at the trees, fences, houses, whatever she could find...that would burn nicely when approached by ponies. For an hour, she stalked her way around Sweet Apple Acres, cleverly hidden from the other ponies. Sometimes she merely shattered the wheels of a wagon or cart, or sabotaged things around the houses or barns, causing the local ponies to quarrel and fight. Other times, she burned ponies, she crushed them, she set on deadly diseases that left them puking out their entire organs and killed them in less than three degrees, she set blindness on some, flung bacteria and parasites at others, causing blindness and breathing problems.

One mare opened up her barrel of freshly churned butter to see a nasty green goop. She screamed and ran, accidentally kicking it over and spilling the septic stew. She gave one stallion such a massive sexual rush he violently began plowing a nearby mare until the others pulled him off and hoof beat him. These were just some of the terrifying scare-tactics Sweetie used to shock her foes. In other places, she rolled in thick blankets of black stinging acid fog that instantly burned the skin and flesh off of bones.

Sweetie made her way to the dogens down by the river. Home of the Applehills. She viewed them as buttons, and with a colossal magic force, she punched them into the ground with violent wind bursts, killing the ponies inside each one. Then she came up to the huge fence separating Sweet Apple and Everfree. The filly pondered how unlucky all of the Apple ponies would be if there was a breach, and the deadly beasts, serpents, and creatures of Everfree roamed onto their land and consumed them all alive. And there she found it. The breach Pinkie Pie once used when she went into Everfree and smuggled magic mushrooms back into Ponyville. The entire section had no power, and she cast her magic on it. The metal turned red hot, orange hot, then white hot, and melted until it rained on the limestone base below. Sweetie then took off, and delighted as she imagined those giant wooden timberwolves crashing through. It would be a slaughter fest.

And sure enough, creatures of all shapes, sizes, and lethalities began pouring in through the breach. Sweet Apple Acres was cracked wide open. During her little Sunday walk, Sweetie cast a new curse. She spread it in every tree and plant. It instantly made trees wither, collapse, and melt into a nasty goop that bubbled and boiled, searing the ground underneath it, then exploding into flame. It didn’t take long for the filly to walk through the old zap apple orchard.

Nothing happened at first, then when her magic went to work on the trees, they sizzled and burst in flurries of sparks and flames, and belched thick plumes of blue smoke.

As the afternoon dragged on, Sweetie Belle hastened her campaign of terror on the Acres. She teleported to pony settlements, set buildings on fire, ponies on fire, or caused them to instantaneously age or rot to death. She planted and accelerated flesh eating parasites and diseases in her foes and delighted in their agony as they died. By 70° in the afternoon (250° on a 360° clock), the Sun was above the mountains that bordered the western edge of the county. Smoke was rising up from Sweet Apple Acres, and Apple ponies were beginning to come across grisly scenes and panic, and word spread, and panic began to ensue.

Applejack winced as she gazed in the direction of the searing Sunlight. It had grown very hot over the course of the day. Over where her house was, not much of the chaos and turmoil had spread. She watched as she trotted about, and saw the crews of stallions hastily building the schoolhouse. Their progress was remarkable. Instead of building their own projects, the crew of 80 or so stallions gathered together and built everything one-by one. They hardly stopped, or even slowed in their work. Their wives and family members brought food and water to keep them going.

The orange hick mare briefly removed her Stetson hat and brushed the sweat from her brow. She wasn’t alarmed yet. Hell, she had no idea what was really going on. She was so busy running about, she took no notice of smoke rising from her vast property. Sure the Jager farm was on fire, and she smugly assumed that was Celestia’s work. And she ordered nopony to go and help them put out their fires. She thought about the Apple Jagers. Who knew her family tree included ponies as far out as New Pangaea. She remembered Sangshine telling her that it was she who invited them, saying the Jagers could be the family’s guard, and keep ponies in line.

As far as she thought, today was a good day. They had service in the morning down by the new chapel, then everypony went off and either relaxed because today was Sunday, or they went full out on their work. There was lots to be done around here.

Applejack saw Applegem come out of the house. “Gemmie! ‘Ey there been any word for me yet?”
“I’m afraid not, dear,” Applegem lamented, “I guess everypony is just that busy. Rather blistering hot weather, I don’t know how those men do it.” She pointed a hoof at the new schoolhouse. “It never gets this warm in Nimbuscait. Warmest we’ve had since I can remember was about 71 scales. I checked the thermometer outside your house and its registering over 83 scales!”

“Heh, well, this here’s good summer weather. Ah do prefer a few scales cooler than this but if our Solar mother wants it this warm, she can darn well have her way-”

“Applejack! Oh thank heavens you’re here!” A mare shouted as she came running along the trail up to the house.

“What is it, Ribbons?” Applejack demanded.

“I...I don’t know how to say this...you should come see!”

Applejack’s jaw dropped and her eyes widened so wide they nearly bulged out of their sockets. Then she screamed pure rage for a good minute. In front of her, orchards beyond orchards of all the new trees that had been planted...were reduced to stinking, steaming mush. Hell, not even the trunks remained, just pools and slicks of black, moldy sludge. And it bucking stank.

All that work, all those trees, gone. Applejack stood there completely dumbstruck. In the distance, she saw other trees rotting, drooping, wilting, and even melting.

“How….how the hay is this even possible?” she breathed, trying to keep herself together.
“It’s a terrible omen, dear,” Applegem said, just as terrified, “I’ve never even seen such a plague in my entire life,”
“Amen, sister,” Apple Ribbons breathed.
“Th-them...all them new trees was fresh, right out of Apple Stone, and Apple Hill! Ah just’ don’t get it…” Applejack said. “...Here we all are workin’ our hooves to the bone and now this! Oh Celestia, what in tarnation have we done to deserve this?”

“Applejack, do you think this could at all be related to that unicorn brat of yours?”

Applejack felt shivers up and down her spine. Celestia is punishing them for having Sweetie Belle on their property and in their family.
“Oh heavens no, say it ain’t so! Ah- Ah was just tryin’ to do that filly up right an’ all!”
“Seems She does not approve…” Applegem lamented. “I told you we should have burned her.”

“Y- y’know what, yer right, Gemmie, Ah should’ve listened to ya from the start! Problem is, she’s gone. Up n’ bailed school yesterday. Ah have no idea where she is.”

“That is not good,” Applegem murmured. “I say announce a hunt for her. Talk to your cousin Anna Apple Pomme at the town guard, and have them hunt her down. We’ll burn her, cleanse her, send her to hell and do it all proper.”

Apple Ribbons nodded in agreement.

“Fine. Look, Ah gotta get everypony onboard and stop this curse. Gemmie, you go in an’ tell Anna Pomme. Ribbons, you go with her.”

“Very well.”
“Yes, Applejack.”

The two mares took off, leaving Applejack alone with what was left of all her precious trees.

Eventually, by the time the two mares got to the gate by the road, they spoke to Apple Mustard, who took off in a full gallop to the guard house, and by the time Applegem and Ribbons got there, Anna Pomme sounded the alarm.

It was not quite clear the full extent of Sweetie Belle’s...coverage of the area around the farm until ponies began falling into her traps. Magically disguised pits with spikes at the bottom caught ponies and skewered them. Trees morphed into carnivorous abominations and snared ponies and shredded them alive. Anything that a pony walked too close to caught fire, and the tinder try woods began to light up as a wildfire spread rapidly. Thick fogs appeared out of nowhere and instantly corroded ponies to the bones, pockets of extremely cold air froze others to death, while roaming pockets of extremely hot air roasted them alive. Trees, rocks, lumps of dirt, tools, objects, buildings, and animals spontaneously combusted or exploded, killing all ponies within proximity. By 90° in the afternoon, Sweet Apple Acres was in chaos.

Applejack ran off to round up a force of ponies to dig trenches to stop the goop from spreading to unaffected trees. She quickly found out that when it touched ponies, the goop ate through them and delivered speedy inspections that gouged out flesh and bone within a degree. Applejack felt she was losing her mind. All of her worst nightmares were coming true.

She ran along the trails, and into ponies who witnessed the unthinkable. Over the course of the last few degrees, she discovered the results of the fires, traps and what-not that trapped and killed her kinfolk. One such incident, a family’s ten foals all laid strewn about the grass, completely disemboweled, their parents skewered on pikes (just like Ferra Apple Jager was).

In other little villages and steads that popped up, all the ponies were found completely disintegrated or shredded.
Applejack found the world closing in on her, and she was full of sheer terror. Still she ordered everypony she could find to go hunt Sweetie Belle. She had others set up a pyre. Other frantic Apples suggested sacrifices and offered up their own foals or even themselves to the flame to stop the carnage. Applejack was so shocked she couldn't respond, much less refuse. As she ran around Sweet Apple, guarded by the entourage she gathered up, including Big Mac, a fillyhood instinct to cry out for Granny Smith pulled at her heart.

The motley crew of ponies lead by Twilight Sparkle and Captain Promontory had spent the afternoon negotiating their way around and through the Apple fields, hiding from, dodging or fighting patrols of angry Apple stallions. Applestar, Orion and Quick Fix had a difficult time keeping their magic charged up, supplying Twilight (so she could ward off the enemies), and fighting the Apple ponies. Crafty Crate violently swooped down and drop-kicked all enemies, snapping necks, spines and crushing skulls as he did so. He was one hell of a brawler, which was why Chief Acorn Tibbs hired him. They needed some ponies who could kick ass like he did.

Apples even went after Derpy and fired arrows at her, but agile and quick (and scared) she was, she dodged everything thrown at her, leaving it to Pro, Crafty, Pigpen, Shortstack, and Clover to pound the attackers. Twilight and Rarity fired teleport and sleep spells to oust the enemies before the earth ponies protecting them could kill them.

A huge Apple stallion the size of a tank lumbered violently down the road towards Twilight. He roared like a monster and sped up, ready to plow her into the ground. Crafty folded his wings and plunged full speed at him and landed right on his neck and kicked as hard as he could, while clamping the stallion’s head with his hooves and wings, and twisted the stal’s neck so hard he ripped his head right off! The body stumbled and slammed into a tree.

The head hit the ground and stared at him, wide eyed, and jaw dropped. Crafty reached back and crushed it with an angry hoof.

“P...p...please don’t hurt me…” the mare, the only survivor of this patrol group, breathed. She initially told her stallions to kill Twilight and Rarity, and now she was absolutely terrified. Death by unicorn magic was a one way ticket to hell, no matter how good and pious an Apple pony was.

Twilight, Rarity, Quick Fix, and Orion stared her down. Crafty glared, breathing hard. He was ready to charge and bury this Apple bitch into the ground with one violent stomp.
Twilight charged her horn, and the mare screamed and took off galloping. Twilight fired a bolt of bright blue magic at the mare and she simply vanished.

“Whoa! You vaporize her?” Shortstack added.

“No, I merely teleported her...not too sure where, I just wanted her out of here…”

And of course the Apple mare appeared two trots above the burning brewery, and fell into the raging inferno, and was fried. Not that Twilight knew that.

“For buck’s sakes, Crafty, you’re psycho,” Pro grunted.
“Buck you, asshole,” Crafty snarled. “I didn’t compete in the Cloudsdale Gladiator Championships and win twice for nothing! Bring ‘em all on! I want meat, dammit!”

“Beastly savage,” Rarity muttered.

“Heh, pretty ponies like you don’t stand a chance out here, that’s why I’m here. Now let’s get movin’!”

The team marched slowly along the path towards the mountain of fire that swallowed the Jager house. The place had been burning for hours- much longer than it naturally should have. Twilight was constantly scanning the magic radiation around them. Magic residue was everywhere.

Now the path lead them through the blood apple orchards. They waited, watching Derpy fly about in the sky.
“Derpy, you see anypony around?” Twilight asked. Sure she spoke out loud but her thoughts reached Derpy. “....Alright, thank you so much. Keep flying, and stay low! Alright, Derpy says there’s no pony around. All the ones patrolling these orchards are gone, most likely up there.” Twilight pointed up to the plateau where Applejack’s farm, and all the rising smoke, was.

Pigpen and Clover gulped nervously. They sure as hell didn’t want to go up there. Neither did Quick Fix and Orion.

“Alright, let’s move,” Pro ordered, and the 12 of them moved on, right through the blood apple orchard. the blood apple trees bore bark that was black as night. The bark seeped out the deadly red sap. The black, red and white blood apples dangled from the branches. There was a creepy feel to the orchard that nopony liked. The trail narrowed and they almost had to walk single file. They came across a newly built shed, and a cart full of nasty smelling dirt, manure, or...the bloody mess of the dead. Twilight shuddered.

“Good heavens, what in Celestia’s name is that?” Rarity gasped.
“It’s….” Twilight whispered, “it’s their special fertilizer...made from the corpses of the dead ponies.”
“How...how do you know that?” Applestar asked nervously.
“...Sundowner,” Twilight replied. If only Sundowner was here with them to see this.
“That’s...just just plain evil…” Rarity said.

As the group unwarily walked through these creepy woods, they began to trigger some traps set earlier this day. In the distance, trees began smoking and exploded in spectacular bursts of flame. The ponies heard the explosions and saw the fires. The fire began spreading faster than they could comprehend, and soon more and more trees began bursting into flames like giant incendiary bombs. Everywhere they looked, a tree lit up.
“What the hell?”
“It’s a trap! Run!” Pro shouted. And the group took off down the trail, galloping at full speed.

Applestar tried to keep up, and she felt the flames right at her flank. She desperately tried to keep from tripping. As she passed exploding trees, Applestar felt the searing pain of the sap drops boiling through her fur and skin and she screamed. Trees exploded, blasting the others with sharp shards of bark and drops of sap. They shrieked, shouted, swore and grunted.

“Faster, Pigpen, old boy!” Shortstack shouted. He was on the smelly stallion’s back. No way he could outrun this on his own. Orion, Quick Fix, Pigpen, and Rarity tried desperately to keep up with Twilight and Pro.
.
Orion attempted to teleport, and he accidently fuelled the fires with more magic and the flames came at them in a series of spectacular round bursts nearly swallowing them. Smoke filled air rushed at them, blowing embers in their faces, making visibility difficult. Twilight jumped off of Pro’s back and galloped alongside him, casting her spell that tapped into the magic plane as she explained to them earlier. She used the extra energy to whip up air currents and clear the smoke and embers, but her little breeze spells were nothing compared to a pegasus.

Pigpen tried to run when a tree exploded right next to him. The stallion, and his buddy Shortstack, were both instantly filled with shards and sap, just pierced, and literally gutted by millions of chunks. They were thrown back off the trail and hit the ground. Dead.

Clover Grassblade and Applestar had no time to look back as they ran past. Then they saw it. An opening. They reached the end of the orchard-

A deafening sound of trees splintering echoed through the burning woods. Nopony paid attention as they desperately galloped toward the opening and the road beyond-

Promontory didn’t even see it coming. One instant he was running for his life, the next, he was crushed from the chest down as one of the burning blood apple trees fell on him. His entire rear body, from the neck down, was entirely crushed, and the acidic sap and the fire burned through him like paper.

Twilight Sparkle had just barely made it out when she turned around and saw it happen. Pro was galloping for his life, jumping over roots and rocks. He had that determined and pissed-off look on his face that screamed ’I am NOT gonna die today!.

As he ran, the hulking stallion was engulfed by the thick soup of smoke and acid sap vapor, and he burst out of the death cloud, out onto the dusty dirt road, triumphing over death once again. But as he leaped back out of the mists of hell, they all heard the loud explosive splintering noise from within the burning woods, and the huge tree, eleven trots high, fell, completely concealed by the smoke until the very last second, and like a giant wooden beam, it fell and crushed Pro.

The reaction Twilight Sparkle was not what she expected, hell, like the others, she didn’t even see Pro’s demise coming, but the sheer shock and terror of seeing her town guard captain, and ally (and in this case, her protector) crushed to a bloody burning pulp, delivered a high-voltage magic surge in her so strong it would have likely killed any other unicorn not trained in the field of magic.

Twilight gasped, her jaw dropped, and her eyes nearly bulged out of the sockets. She stood like that for a few seconds, much like the rest of the team, shocked and completely terrified. The huge tree, at least three trots wide, now blocked the path and split them apart. Twilight, Orion, Quick Fix, and Clover on one side, Rarity and Applestar on the other.

However, it was not the mere falling of this alien...evil like tree on a comrade that hit Twilight, it was the magic discharge that came with it. She sensed all the frequencies, and magic radiation that spread from this tree, much like others in the woods. This was no accident. Somepony, no, some powerful unicorn, whose magic signature she was already familiar with, cast some spells and deliberately set this tree to fall on passing ponies.

The stress in Twilight Sparkle hit its peak, and her cortisol levels shot up immensely. Her heart rate skyrocketed, and her breathing quickened. Her blood felt like it was boiling, and magic was shooting off inside her. Before she could snap, collapse, or die of a heart attack; or whatever, something else happened. Something that could only happen within a magically inclined, well trained unicorn, who’s teleport access to safety was cut off by dangerous magic radiation.

Deep within the chaotic pits of Twilight Sparkle’s subconscious, there lay a hidden spell she never even knew about. Sure Celestia taught it to her, but under a state of hypnosis or unconsciousness. And like hell Twilight would even know a good reason for this if she did find this spell planted in her brain. But now she was under extreme duress, and she, along with ponies she cared about, were now in imminent danger. The others were exposed to dangerous radiation, and they were at risk of becoming ill.

Then it hit. She unconciously activated that spell like a switch, and all at once she felt an immense surge of magic welling up within her. Magic from the magic plane, the planet’s all powerful magic field, generated from deep within the core. This would make any other unicorn explode like a bomb and cause a massive ‘magic’ eruption that would scorch the entire county, but she was ready.

A few seconds passed, then Twilight Sparkle, having been hypnotically trained for this breathed, and hit a solid state of calm as she felt such power flow through her. Trick was not to hold it all, but to let the magic flow in and out. Her magic system was ready, and instead of burning her inside out, it used the magic to strengthen her, and eliminate the pane.
Twilight Sparkle opened her eyes, and looked on in a state of clear ponies could only dream of. She would have been curious as to how the hell Sweetie Belle survived being exposed to such power, and from Scootaloo’s memories, she rationalized that those pissed off unicorns from the Second Era managed to intervene and prevent that filly from blowing herself to atoms.

Quick Fix and Orion immediately charged up their spells to throw the burning tree off of their captain-

A crackling blue bolt blocked their spells from reaching Pro, who died within seconds.

“Hey!”
“What the buck for?” Quick Fix shouted at Twilight.

Twilight Sparkle maintained her magic barrier between the two unicorn stallions and the burning tree. They could only watch as it consumed Pro alive. They knew he was alive. As his head became wrapped in flame, he continued to writhe and move about in agony, unable to scream or breathe.

“Twilight! Let down your shield, please!” Rarity shrieked. The other two turned, and were about to shoot their magic at her.

“No,” Twilight said with a calm, knowing voice that chilled the ponies who did not know what she knew.

“Are you mad? He’s dying for buck sakes!” Orion shouted.

The overpowered unicorn didn’t listen. Instead, on a whim of her very thoughts, she cast out waves of bright blue magic and carved a tunnel into the dirt, under the burning tree, then called the others to come through. Then she explained why she kept Orion and Quick Fix from saving Pro.

“Seriously, Twilight, what the hell?” Applestar cried.

“This fire,” Twilight shouted confidently above the roar of the flames, “Is fuelled by magic. Had you two beamed any of yours on Pro, the flames would have immediately spread and incinerated you two. I had no idea that tree was about to fall on him. You all saw it happen. He was crushed to death! No way I could heal him from that kind of damage! And you two, Orion, Quick Fix, I saved both your flanks just now…”

Twilight Sparkle panted, and tears began streaming out of her eyes as she looked at the burning carcass that was once their town guard captain. Sure she was all powerful, but she didn’t quite realize what was going on, and her mind wasn’t fully there, so her capacity to show some empathy was limited. Applestar also began to shed tears. Rarity was just as shocked by Twilight’s actions and revelations regarding fire and magic. Otherwise, the lavender unicorn would have passed for a frigid witch with a heart of ice.

Orion and Quick Fix grumbled to themselves. They had been trained in firefighting before, and remembered the brief lessons on magic fuelled fires. The earth ponies, well, just one now, that being Clover Grassblade, could only stare in confusion as they watched Pro burn. Pro’s head and neck, the only parts not crushed, had already stopped moving, and were burning to a crisp. This moment would haunt these ponies for the rest of their lives.

Crafty Crate flew overhead. Soon as the blood apple trees lit up, he launched himself into the air.
“Hey! Where’s the stinker and the midget? Hey, where the hell is Pro?!”

“They’re…” Clover panted.
“....dead…” Applestar panted. “Blown and fried to hell…”

Crafty looked and saw it. Even he went wide-eyed. Nopony said anything, so to him it was plain and simple- the burning tree fell and crushed Pro, then burned him. Oh man, if he flew in seconds sooner and saw Twilight Sparkle prevent the others from trying to save Pro, he would have smashed her head into the dirt. And somehow everypony- Applestar, Orion, Quick Fix, and Clover, wisened up pretty fast, because they didn’t say a word. They hated Twilight right now, and being caught up in their grief over the loss of their captain and mentor. Mad with grief, these ponies wanted to throw Twilight on the fire. But they knew she just saved their asses.

Twilight held back the tears and looked at them. Turned out she’d have to take over as the leader of this little group. There was no time for words, and as messed up, exhausted, and hell bent on stopping the chaos at Sweet Apple, as Twilight was, she figured there was really nothing that needed to be said.

She looked at them and said, “Unless any of you object, let’s move on. If you don’t want to come, you’re free to go. I really don’t care.”

Rarity obviously sided with Twilight, and the other three unicorns looked at each other. They wanted to bail, and run away from this hell, but they remained rooted where they stood.
“So, Twilight,” Orion asked, “You plugged into the magic plane, I see.”

Orion saw, alright. He looked into Twilight’s eyes, and saw a faint blue glow coming from her pupils.

Twilight nodded.

“You really sure you can mop up those Apples and take out that overpowered little what’s-her-face?”

Twilight simply nodded. She knew all the risks and dangers related to careless use of the immense power coming from the magic plane. She felt empowered and emboldened by all the magic flowing through her body. She was freaking high on that shit, just like Sweetie Belle was when she got that spellbook. Twilight felt like she could take on the world. And she was determined to let the Apples have it. Not in a sense of mass murder and bloodshed. She already thought out her attack plan: Freeze or trap all hostile ponies with her magic, and/or teleport them out of Sweet Apple to her long list of memorized teleport locations. Then she’d confront Applejack, lock that earth pony hick up in a magic ball to keep her safe and from harming anypony else, then she’d face off against Sweetie Belle, take her down, and cut off her link to the magic plane.

“H….hey Twilight?” Applestar asked nervously, “Um...is it safe, er I mean legal for you to use the magic plane?”

“I’ll accept whatever punishment Celestia gives me after this is over. Right now, all I care about ending this disaster. Let’s go.”

The group started walking. Nopony bailed. Except for Crafty. He was long gone.
“My, Twilight, you've suddenly changed...what happened just now, I surely missed something,” Rarity hissed as she trotted alongside her. Rarity was just as spooked to see the frightening blue glow coming from Twilight’s pupils.

“Heh,” Twilight chuckled, “For all I know, I finally snapped, Rarity. I have an enormous sleep deficit, I’m stressed way beyond my limits, or something like that, whatever Spike tells me, I feel like shit, two ponies and our best town guard captain just died, I’m torn up over that, I’m just too tired to go on a drama flair over it, and all of a sudden I involuntarily tap into the magic plane the moment Pro dies. I could have used this power a long, long time ago.”

“I agree with you, Twilight,” Rarity said quietly.

“I wonder,” Twilight added, “if this is similar to what Sweetie Belle went through by the time she stole my spellbook.”

“I...I’m terribly sorry, I wouldn't know…” Rarity said, abruptly stopping herself. She felt her throat tightening and her eyes welling up. She was completely distraught over Sweetie Belle.

“Well…” Orion mused. “...You know, Twilight, if you have infinite power or whatever, then you don’t really need us, do you?”

“Yeah Twi,” Quick Fix added, pulling Clover and Applestar close to him, “Us four could be, you know, a liability now…”

Twilight stopped and grunted, then she turned to face them. “Come to think of it, you could leave, then who would come to save you if you get caught by any more of these death traps or run into a pack of Apples or Jagers?”

“We...we could just go back the way we came…”
“Wait,” Applestar piped, “I’m….sorry if this...is asking too much, but….can you please teleport us somewhere?” The poor Apple unicorn was on the verge of a panic attack.

“That’s not going to happen,” Twilight replied, looking back at them. “I have no idea where you would end up, and obviously Ponyville is not an option. Celestia knows where I put that Apple pony. And I’m not going risk putting you in the hooves of our enemies so they can make you talk and blow my cover. Feel free to go off on your own, I won’t tell you what you can and can’t do if you want to go, but, now that I think of it, you ponies would do well to stay with me.”

“We have magic too, Twilight,” Orion retorted.

Twilight cast them a look that gave the three unicorns shivers. Really she was scanning them and their magic, then she said, “No, actually, you don’t. Your magic is nearly run out, mainly due to stress, and to all the magic static and radiation around here. I’m disappointed in you two actually, being unicorns working for the town guard, you should know better on how to maintain your own magic. So, you three are about as magically inclined as earth ponies. Now. You coming or not?”

Orion, Quick Fix, Applestar, and Clover looked up at the smoke rising from the apple farm, and were filled with dread. The three unicorns sensed all the chaotic magic discharges going on up there. But they knew she was right. There was no easy way out of this and they knew better to stay with her.

“So, I think you know which option is better,” Twilight told them, “Now lets move. I want to be up there before dark.”

Around the same time of Pro’s death, Town guard ‘chief’ Anna Apple Pomme managed to round up the entire town guard, and ordered them to Sweet Apple Acres. The Apples were insane, but their non-Apple comrades had serious reservations about charging blindly into flaming, smoked out, magically radioactive warzone where Twilight Sparkle was said to be on a murderous rampage.

The entire force, some 200 ponies, more than half of them Apples, and the lot conscripted citizen volunteers, had assembled in the town square.

“Allright, listen up everypony!” Apple Turner shouted from the podium, “We are all under attack! Twilight Sparkle is on the loose in Sweet Apple Acres, and she must be stopped! She is murdering ponies with her magic as we speak. Second target, is Apple Belle Sweet Apple, a unicorn foal whom the Solar Mother has placed in our care. She has turned evil and cursed the land, and must be captured so we can burn her. Once Twilight is finished at the farm, she will attack and burn this entire city to the ground! Your orders are simple: Find her, and kill her. Do so without hesitation. She is a force of evil, and will not stop until she is dead! We must persevere, and fight for our very right to live, dammit! Our pastors have spoken and prayed for all of you! Solar Mother bless us, and deliver us to victory! Now Charge!”

The Apples all roared and shouted their battle cry and began charging down the street. They were full of pure religious, righteous rage, and the delusion that they were invincible by Celestia’s will from any threat. The others who were forced to join the gang knew they had no chance, but the Apples, especially the newcomers from the spartan town of Pumice Pomme, made good on their threats to kill anypony who refused to join them.

The town guard force marched down the road towards Sweet Apple and when they got to the gate they charged in, roaring and raging.

Sweetie Belle was ready for them. As soon as the first half of the troupe charged across the Acres, she cast her spells, and the ground exploded with enough force it left a massive 5 trot (37.5 ft) deep crater in the ground. The rocks and debris embedded in the dirt tore them up like ragdolls, while those close to the center were magically incinerated, or died within seconds of lethal acute radiation exposure.

With the mere thoughts, Sweetie Belle blew up the ground several times, blowing ponies sky high, and shaking the world around her with deafening blasts. Those not killed immediately hit the ground, aided by intensified gravity, and broke bones, including their legs, flanks, and rib cages.

The first explosion startled everypony within earshot, and the townsponies rounded up for the raid saw their Apple comrades blown to shit. They ran the other way, down the paths into the fields west of town, crossing the pumpkin patch where Twilight Sparkle and company emerged from the sewers through that old door.

Sweetie Belle watched them all flee, zooming in on them with vision spells, delighting in the fear she inflicted on the. She was tempted to wipe them all out, but reminded herself of the score to settle with Applejack. The filly headed east, towards the farmhouse.

The surviving Apple ponies all retreated to cluster of new buildings around Applejack’s farmhouse, and used whatever they could to set up barriers, and barricaded themselves in a fortress around the farmhouse. Ponies were armed to the teeth with shotguns, spears, pitchforks, torches, and any other weapon they were delusional enough to think was useful against magic. The Sun was setting behind the mountains to the west, and everypony dreaded the night to come. The mares barricaded the foals inside the house and in the cellars, while stallions pushed a cart, spilling oil and cider to mark a wide perimeter, a safe 8 trots from the barricades of carts, wood, tools, building supplies, barrels, and any other loose objects they could get their hooves on.

Other stallions frantically rigged up some dynamite they brought with them (originally for construction purposes, so they said to Applejack when she asked). and set them out with enough fuse so they could be placed near the ring of flammable mud.

Others raided food storage barns and frantically wheeled carts into the fort, while Applemend (A.k.A. Heal), Sangshine, and others tended to injured ponies. In a show of pride, Applejack had ponies hoist the Apple family flag high above the farm house.

While all this went on, religious ponies frantically spouted verses from the Book of Sun and prayed for protection and deliverance.

“Applejack! They’re coming!” Apple Mustard shouted from the rooftop, “It’s the town guard!”

“Oh thank the Solar Mama!” Applejack breathed. Up on the roof, Apple Mustard squinted to see the hills in the distance and saw the mob of angry ponies and their torches charging onto the Acres. Then she saw the ground beneath them explode in a series of violent blasts, bright blue sparks of magic, and deafening booms that scared the jeebers out of all of them.

“Ah!” Mussy cried, “No...no way! That’s not possible! Solar Mother, help us!”

“She ain’t comin’ to help us!” Applejack shouted up to her, “We gatta ‘fend fer ourselves! Celestia’s mighty pissed off at us, an’ we gotta prove to Her we’s good ponies! Now git yer ass down here! and help us out!”

Mussy climbed down via a mountain of haystacks heaped up against the building, passing Big Mac as he and a group of stallions hastily nailed together a barricade using wood meant for the schoolhouse. The big red stallion looked tough and stoic, but deep down he was scared. What evil Applejack brought down on them all? Would he be forgiven if he died tonight? The big red lug tried not to think about it his mind drifted to thoughts of Cheerilee.

The loud explosions continued to echo over the roar of countless fires.

“Mah...mah farm...all gone, Ah don’t believe this shit!” Applejack snarled, trying to hold back tears. “After all Ah did to do good an’ right!”

Out on the road near town, Anna Pomme and Apple Turner saw their troops all blown into the air, and watched in shock, horror, and dismay as the clouds of parched dirt and dust drifted and settled.
“No…” Anna Pomme breathed, “No way….”
“Oh damn…” Turner murmured in a low voice, “We’re in trouble now. My mother always told me hell has no fury like a pissed off unicorn witch.”
Anna nodded in agreement. Further blasts were heard from the distance. The Sun had just disappeared behind the mountains to the west, and daylight was fading fast. The two ponies watched the glow of flames coming from Sweet Apple, and the nightmarish looking plumes of smoke rising above them.

“What do we do now? We can’t just-”

“You out of your mind, Turner? Those ponies are done for. I’m not giving up my life for all those bucking hick ponies. I have no idea what kind of conflict Applejack started, but I have no interest in going to hell with her. She’s on her own. I’m going back to Manehattan.”

Anna turned around, then looked back at Turner.
“You need a written invitation or what? Don’t be a fool, come on!”

“My...my wife...my brothers…” Turner breathed. His new wife, Apple Springtime, was in there, and now probably dead. He was hitched with her within days of arriving at Sweet Apple. Applejack even presided over the wedding. And Springtime was pregnant. And his eight brothers…

“Forget about them!” Anna Pomme barked in a frantic but cold voice, “They’re dead, you’re not, now come on! They chose to take up all that retarded zealotry, and look where it got them! You have any brains larger than a pea, you’ll come with me now, before that unicorn witch finds us and kills us too!”

Turner took one last look at the burning Acres, then turned and joined Anna Pomme, then they heard rumbling hoofsteps, and they saw a rising dustcloud pass through the cornfields, sunflower fields and pumpkin patches. The survivors of the force those two sent.

“We’ll gather up the ponies left at the guardhouse, and head north,” Anna declared. Turner nodded in agreement, and the two waited a few minutes before galloping off into the old trail the others took to get away.

Big Mac was working with the others putting up the barricade on the northern edge of their defenses, and he heard galloping hoofsteps. He didn’t know who or what it was, and like the others he had quickly become paranoid and edgy. Could be tricks, or could be death itself approaching.
“Who goes there!” Big Brick Applestone shouted. “Show yourself, or I’ll shoot!”
“It’s just me, Applebread,” the sheepish think green stallion said as he approached.
“Dang nab it, get your ass in here boy! On the double!”

Big Brick, a hulking grey stallion almost beefier than Roid Rage, hoisted a huge board up, long enough for Apple Bread to get through.

“Th-thanks, Uncle Brick,” Apple Bread breathed.
Big Brick grunted.
“Hey, where’s Applejack, I have a news from the town guard.”

”WHAT?” Applejack shrieked when A’Bread told her the news. “Ey, you serious? Tell me yer’ jus’ shittin! Tell me that, dammit.”

“No, ma’am. Twilight Sparkle’s on the loose and is believed to here. She broke out of the guardhouse around 80° this afternoon, and she’s the one who just blew up everypony who was coming out to help us.”

Applejack felt the blood drain right out of her. The orange hairs stood on end, and the skin beneath turned white. That’s what all that was about. Twilight’s come to kill them all.

“No, no, this...this can’t be! How’d she git out? Where is she? Y’ tellin me there’s nopony left to take her out?”

Apple Bread shook his head. “I saw it from outside. The whole town guard marched up to the gate, and they were blown to smithereens, that’s what all those explosions were.”

And Applejack thought it was Sweetie Belle. Now Twilight Sparkle was out for blood as well…

Author's Notes:

It begins...