Applejack couldn’t even believe it. Within minutes, her entire extended family, well those who joined her in this last stand at the farm house, were completely destroyed. Not all of them died from heart attacks or whatever, many laid there semi-conscious or comatose. She tried to get several ponies’ attention, but when she shouted at them or poked them with a hoof, they did not respond. She could tell that even if their bodies were alive and present, their minds were absolutely gone. All of those ghost freaks had left following the confrontation with that overgrown Apple Belle ghost, whose name Applejack refused to acknowledge. Aside from the flames roaring in the forests in the distance, all was silent. The rinf of flames set alight had been swiftly extinguished by the bat pony spirits.

Applegem was the only pony left alive and in one piece. The two had just resolved to kill Sweetie Belle once and for all, and then they set about finding anypony else who would join them, but with no luck.

Applejack found Sangshine lying in a heap, slumped up against the wall of the barn. She was whimpering and when Applejack shouted at her to snap out of it, Sangshine did not reply.

“Dammit,” Applejack cursed, trying to hold back tears. “Well, Gemmie, looks like it’s jus’ you an’ me. Let’s get ready. That magic spouting varmint might be comin’ real soon.”

“Who do you think it is? Must be that Twilight Sparkle unicorn,” Applegem speculated.

“Naw, it ain’t,” Applejack replied with a knowing voice. “It’s Apple Belle. Either way if Ah’m wrong, we kill it an’ burn it, then we get the hell outta here before this whole land burns up.”

Applegem, just as terrified, nodded, and the two mares gathered their weapons, a makeshift spear, and a pitchfork, and a couple shotguns. Applegem slipped her right forehoof into the cuff mounted to the weapon. How guns worked was they were designed to be pressed against the ground in order to fire, and angled so that the target would still get shot. With a free forehoof, the pony loosened and tightened the cuff on his or her other hoof to raise the weapon so it would misfire when not in use, and lower it to fire. Larger guns, like the shotgun Applegem had, had two cuffs for her right hind leg and her right forehoof. Now equipped, she was ready.

Apparently, growing up in Nimbuscait, Applegem’s father taught her and her brothers and sisters all to shoot guns, in case any unholy threats came upon them.

The two ponies climbed up and perched themselves on the roof of the house. Applejack lit the torch mounted to the roof, and they waited. It unnerved them to see the flow of red growing brighter as the forest fires approached. The two waited, contemplating fleeing to a safer location, then-

All at once every tree surrounding the farmhouse, barn, and cluster of buildings around them exploded and burst into flame. The noise of hundreds of trees splintering was deafening. Entire trees blew apart, and hit the ground, instantly on fire. Scared the living pulse out of both mares.

“Applejack, we should flee, we don’t want to burn!”

“Ah just might do that, Gemmie, Ah-“

Applejack’s jaw dropped and she saw the enemy approaching. It was Sweetie Belle stepping out from behind a burning bush, completely unharmed by the surrounding flames.

“By the Light! She did all this?” Applegem gasped.

“Yeah,” Applejack said, trying to steel her nerves. “Buck it, let’s kill her, move!”

Applejack leaped down from the roof of the house, and down a stack of crates. Then she ran through an opening where the barrier of wagons and tools collapsed. Applegem followed swiftly behind her, narrowly missing a falling chuck of burning wood.

Applejack seethed with rage and desperately tried to keep herself pissed off to keep the fear at bay.

“Ah’m comin fer ya, you little shit!” Applejack roared as she charged with her pitch fork. Applegem stopped several trots behind and readied her shotgun.

Sweetie Belle didn’t even flinch, but she stopped, and watched impassively as the orange hick mare charged at her, ready to jam that pitchfork right into her-

The little filly, powered with gigawatts of magic, threw up a violent blast wave, hitting Applejack like she just slammed into a brick wall; throwing her back several trots. Same thing happened to Applegem before she could fire. Applegem was thrown back, right into a burning bush!

Applejack tumbled and came to a stop on the dry grass. She jumped up, and instantly heard Applegem screaming. “Gemmie!”

She saw Applegem struggling to jump and thrashing about, completely in flames. Applejack gallop-

And slammed face first into a solid invisible wall. She tried to move again but hit three more walls. She bashed and buck kicked the invisible barriers with her hooves. “Git yer infernal magic off o’ me!”

But Sweetie Belle didn’t verbally respond, using her magic, she lifted Applegem out of the burning bushes, and accelerated the flames consuming the Nimbuscait pony who hit her on the horn and brought up the whole de-horning thing. Applegem screamed in tones that sent shivers down Applejack’s spine.

Sweetie Belle dropped Applegem right infront of the orange hick and forced her to watch as she burned. Applejack witnessed the horrific process. Applegem’s eyes were fried and, and her pale green coat had already fried up to a crispy black. The smell of burning pony flesh assaulted Applejack’s nose. Applegem screamed as she thrashed about, her mane and tail now burned completely off, along with the hairs of her coat. Soon the flames reached her voice and she was screaming no more. Applejack teared up as she saw clouds of steam and fat burst up through the skin. She violently banged against the invisible walls, full of rage and completely helpless to help her friend. Then the bullets inside the now-red hot shotgun exploded, shattering the clip that encased them, blasting metal shards into the burning mare’s body. The shots that escaped the burning corpse ricocheted off the invisible cube surrounding Applejack.

It was a good 20 minutes before Applegem stopped burning. All that was left was a charred black lump of carbon that remained of Applegem’s bones and flesh. She was burnt completely through.

Applejack teared up and screamed. “Ah’kill you! Ah’ll bucking kill you!”

During this whole time, Sweetie Belle contemplated what she wanted to say to Applejack. With the spirits of the angry dead released from her, she had free range over what she wanted to do with Applejack. Sweetie, and only Sweetie could see Aura Belle standing at a distance, watching her.

“No you won’t” Sweetie Belle said in a dead calm voice. “You won’t touch or hurt anypony else again.”

“Lemme outta this infernal cage!” Applejack screamed. “You little bitch! Y’ should’ve burned up like that bitch Rarity! Ah should’ve chained you two up in there! Send yer little ass to hell already!”

The words struck Sweetie Belle like lightning, and she gasped, and she got flashbacks of Rarity, and the fire that destroyed the Carousel Boutique. But the very subtle hint in Applejack’s furious, hateful words revealed a much bigger hint, one that exposed…

Applejack’s problem is that she never thinks before she speaks, she simply thinks out loud, especially when agitated, like right now. And she should not have said what she just said. She always strongly told Sweetie Belle and everypony concerned that the Carousel Boutique burned down by accident, that Rarity screwed up and something ignited, and burned the place to the ground. Why wouldn’t she say that? It was the honest truth, coming from a hard working earth pony who preached honesty.

Well, Sweetie Belle was furious, and she was about to find out. Instead of releasing Applejack, she shot a powerful beam of magic, getting the hick mare right in the head, and piercing right into her brain. Applejack screamed. It hurt so much she felt like a red-hot metal spike was being driven into her brain.

As she began hacking into Applejack’s brain and sifting through memories for what she was looking for, Sweetie Belle reflected back on the events before Rarity’s shop burned down.

In the weeks and months before the fire, hell even long before, Rarity and Applejack were always quarreling with one another. Rarity huffed and puffed about how Applejack was a simpleton, a savage, a cretin, a hick, a racist, a magiphobe (unicorn hater), and such. And when Sweetie Belle went to see Applebloom, Applejack talked about how Rarity was nothing more than a spoiled, posh, decadent, self-absorbed uppity whore. Especially in the last year or so before the fire, the two always clashed with one another, and tried to convince other ponies around them the other was the bad one.

And after the whole Sweet Apple Sisterhooves thing, Applejack kept making repeated comments about how the filly would be happier and healthier living and working on the farm, instead of ‘learnin’ witchery’ in Rarity’s ‘magic saturated unholy hovel.’ At times when Rarity was overwhelmed with work or when she was angry with Sweetie Belle, Applejack made routine attempts to convince Rarity to hoof the filly over to her. And Rarity would lose it and start shouting at Applejack.

As Sweetie Belle searched Applejack’s mind, she discovered that the reason Applejack wanted to ‘adopt’ her was the bond that formed in the hick mare’s mind when Sweetie Belle wanted to adopt her as her new big sister, only during which time she was mad at Rarity. Sweetie also found that Applejack had been mentally unstable for a lot longer than she appeared to be. Applejack had thought of her wanting to be family with her as a sign from Princess Celestia, the ‘Solar Mother,’ as religious ponies called her, to take Sweetie Belle and raise her as an earth pony farmer, or ‘raise her right.’
Then Sweetie zoomed in on the memory that nearly brought her to tears: the day the Boutique burned down. The day Applejack instigated the fire. Applejack confronted Rarity that morning after Sweetie Belle had already left for school.

Applejack was furious. This was the last straw. That magic sow Rarity had spoiled some apples. Nopony dares touch her apples with magic. Hell, these apples she had in her sidebag got moldy from a fungus she thought came from magic, which was totally not true. Magic kills fungi. Organisms have to be evolved and equipped with the proper systems to handle, maintain, and expel magic. Without those means, the organism will die from exposure, and simple life forms such as mold, fungi, grass, and such were killed instantly.

She angrily banged a hoof on the door. A few seconds went by. No answer. “Rarity! Git out here right now!” Applejack shouted. “Ah got a bone to pick with you!”

The door opened. Rarity, wearing her eyeglasses, fabric measuring tape around her, mane a mess; was really busy and not up for this.

“What is it now, Applejack? I’m very busy and I’m not in the mood for your shenanigans.”

“Shenanigans, Rarity? You wanna talk shenanigans? You got some real good explainin’ to do! Take a look at what you did to mah apples!” Applejack pulled open her sidebag, and put the apple right under Rarity’s nose, forcing the unicorn fashionista to step back.

“Hey, watch it!” Rarity shrieked. “Get that thing out of my shop!”

“It ain’t in yer shop!” Applejack snarled, then she shouted, “Y’ see that mold on it? That’s the work of yer magic!”

The apple was more than half covered in a glossy blue mold, and was rotting away.

“How many apples at home have this mould on them?” Rarity asked, trying to be productive about this.

“Too bucking many, that’s how many! Ah got six trees and 18 buckets of apples covered in this shit! You put it on mah apples, Ah know you did!”

“Oh please, I haven’t been to your apple farm in months!” Rarity shot back.

“Then it was that little beast of yers!” Applejack snarled.

“How dare you call my Sweetie Belle such a name! She would never do a thing like that. She can’t even cast magic yet, and if she did something that naughty, I’d ground her in her room for a month! I’ve taught her better than that.”

“Quit makin’ shit up, Rarity,” Applejack argued, “That little abomination of yers is a loose animal, and needs to be put in a cage the way ye been raisin’ her, thinking the world owes her a livin’ jus’ like you do! You ain’t the least bit a lovin’ mother like you ought to be. Everypony knows you never wanted her!”

“Enough!” Rarity shouted, “Says the angry earth pony who beats her own for not being a…perfect pony doll! Leave my Sweetie Belle out of this, and put away that disgusting apple. Now quit looking for somepony to point your hoof at, grow up, and deal with it!”

“Ah’m grown up like a full grown milk cow!” Applejack screamed, “How dare you insinuate that Ah’m makin’ this up! Y’ can see yer filth right here on mah apples! Ah got ponies to feed and bits to make, Light-damn it. If y’ got any decency in you, you’ll stop with yer stupid hokey fashion work and make me something to cure these apples.”

Rarity remained unmoved, but she was just as livid. “For your information, my dear, magic kills fungus, it doesn’t foster its growth. And if I cast my ‘infernal’ magic on your apples, you’d be having your hissy fit over how much magic is in those apples! You’ve got a lot of nerve accusing me of fouling your apples. Now please go. Talk to Twilight, she’ll solve your bloody mold problem. She ought to give you an attitude adjustment as well.”

Like hell Applejack wanted to talk to that insane mad scientist purple Canterlot unicorn who took over the library. She viewed Twilight as a dangerous witch and cringed to work alongside her during their Mane Six business. Now, Rarity could have told her that blue mold came from Everfree, but then Applejack would have flipped her shit and accused her of bringing in Everfree pests.

“Don’t you dare tell me to go anywhere, missy,” Applejack snarled. “Ah isn’t leavin’ ‘till something’s done about this! An’ it’s you who’s got the attitude problem! Ah am pissed off, and rightfully so! Mah family built this town from the dirt up, then all you dang horners came in and are ruining everything. Ah’m givin’ you the opportunity to make good on this and fix these here apples, and get that disgusting blue shit off mah property. It’s about time you unicorns show some decency and prove you ain’t entirely a self-serving overgrown horner harlot.”

“Oh for heaven’s sakes! Burn the infected trees and all these bad apples. Problem solved once and for all. Now begone, you savage…mud pony!” Rarity shouted back.

Applejack’s eyes widened for a brief second and she picked up an idea from Rarity’s words. A very dangerous idea. Then Rarity tried to slam the door in her face, and bam! Got her right on the nose. Applejack slammed both front hooves on the door and violently pushed as hard as she could, shoving the door wide open and throwing Rarity back, slamming her into a full rack of dresses, which tipped over and spilled onto the floor. Rarity fell back and landed on a box of pin cushions, damaging it, and she felt the sharp ends of hundreds of pins pricking her flank. “Oww!”
Rarity teared up and looked up at her former friend with shock and fear. Never had Applejack been violent towards her.

“You got a lot of nerve slammin’ that door in mah face!” Applejack snarled, wiping the blood from her nose with a hoof. “Y’ know what, Ah’m finished with you. Fine. Ah’ll burn them trees you unicorns cursed. But get this: You are going to hell for all yer sins, and yer gonna burn. An’ don’t you ever let me catch yer precious little brat near mah farm again, or she’ll be getting’ punished real good. Good day.”

And Applejack turned away and walked out, leaving the rotting apple on the doorstep. With Applejack gone, Rarity got up, used her magic to pull the pins out of her ass, and tried to clean up. Then she tossed out the bad apple, shut the door and locked it, then ran up to her bedroom and cried. She cried over a lot of dumb things when stressed out and was known for her flairs of drama, but what Applejack just did to her hurt a lot.

Applejack angrily stormed her way back to Sweet Apple Acres, vowing vengeance on the unicorn bitch who refused to help her. Bah! All these damn unicorns were only out for themselves and they didn’t care how many earth ponies they screwed over. Well two can play at that game, the orange hick thought bitterly. So she went back to the farm, got some oil, and lit up the infected trees and all those buckets of good apples gone to waste.

As the trees burned, that dangerous idea became the source of entertainment in her mind. Rarity has to burned. Burn down everything she’s got, along with her whole shop and her in it. Send her to hell. Rid Ponyville of her filth. And that little Sweetie Belle bitch too.

So she enlisted the help of the newly arrived Appleyard clan, who had just moved here a month ago to help with the autumn harvest and creation of new farm land. Applejack didn’t dare mention such a thing to Big Mac or Granny Smith. The Appleyards on the other hoof, harbored a seething hatred of unicorns, and showed little objection to her proposal. “An’ don’t ferget, the school has its lunch hour from 180° to 190°, and that Rarity’s little unicorn bastard is goin’ home fer lunch. That’s when we light the place up, they both burn, and the problem’s solved.”

So Applejack pretended to be showing her relatives around town and showed them the boutique, and at high noon that day (180°), they hauled a bunch of coal and oil into town, and began dousing the building. The Carousel Boutique was on the outskirts of town, and not too many ponies were around to really pay attention to what the Apples were up to. The superstitious ponies didn’t dare set hoof inside.

By the time the Appleyards told Applejack the deed had been done, a column of smoke was rising above town. By the time the town guard and pegasi were on it, the place had become a raging inferno, and nopony was able to get inside.

Applejack was relieved…until she went into town and ran into that flying featherbrain Derpy, who landed right in front of her, or nearly on top of her. “Hey watch it, y’ bird brain! Look where yer’ goin!”

“Sorry.” Derpy said as she opened her sidebag, and took out a very important letter and have it to Applejack, then without a word, the looney pegasus leaped into the air and flew off, away from the rising smoke, which terrified the Pegasus.

Applejack opened and read the letter, and her heart sank and she was filled with dread. It was a letter from the school, informing her that due to the fire, and Rarity’s disappearance, Applejack was to take Sweetie Belle back to her home, as per an agreement she signed a long time ago. Applejack seethed with rage. Those damn Appleyards failed to burn the filly too- No, she didn’t even go home for lunch today.

Applejack was horrified at the prospect of a magic spewing unicorn on her farm, and she went to the town’s office to talk to ponies and have somepony else take Sweetie Belle, and they flatly turned her away, scolding her for refusing to help at a time like this.

So Applejack, pretending to be upset and concerned about Rarity and Sweetie Belle, remembered Sweetie Belle wanting to be in her family instead. Well, the filly got that wish now, and Applejack put aside her fears and prayed and pledged to Princess Celestia she would take that filly in and raise her right. And she was certain, or hoped Rarity died in the fire.

So that was orange hick mare’s mentality when she showed up at the school later that afternoon.

Having reviewed these memories and learning that Applejack tried to kill Rarity, Sweetie Belle, with all her magic and might, was royally furious and full of hate.

“It was you…You burned down the Carousel boutique…and my home…” Sweetie Belle seethed with an icy rage. “You tried to kill Rarity!”

Applejack’s eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets when she realized Sweetie Belle knew everything she tried to forget, the evil deed she tried to forget. A deed committed out of hate and religious righteousness. Well, she didn’t feel so righteous about it anymore.

Using her magic, Sweetie Belle conjured up wind spells and gravity spells, and threw Applejack up into the air, more than 50 trots. Applejack screamed as she fell, and landed like a cat on her hooves, shattering every bone in her legs on impact thanks to the gravity spell. Applejack cried out from the pain of her bones splintering and she fell and hit the ground.

Sweetie Belle lifted her and dropped her again, and each time Applejack hit the ground, more bones shattered. Then the mare felt a rib snap, and plough right through her heart. More bones skewered her lungs. She should have died, but Sweetie Belle kept her alive. She was going to let this hick bitch live longer than she wanted to.

In all her rage, Sweetie Belle wanted to blow Applejack out of existence, but she kept hearing those voices in hear brain saying over and over, ”Don’t kill her! Make her pay! Don’t kill her!”

So the filly did the next worst thing: she killed Applejack, but kept her alive at the same time.
And to the filly and her ancient masters’ delight, the heal spells she learned via that spellbook contained properties that delivered searing pain upon healing. A popular type of heal magic used for torture.

But with Applejack unable to breathe nor scream, Sweetie Belle lit her on fire and watched the mare writhe in agony, and kept healing her as she burned alive. And all this time, she spoke telepathically to the farmer hick about how pissed off she was for everything Applejack did to her. She let her burn for twenty minutes before getting bored. Not that Applejack was the least bit bored. Sweetie extinguished the flames and looked at the smoldering fried corpse of her enemy whom was being kept alive by magic preservation and fueling of the brain and nervous system within.

“Is this what you wanted to do to me?” Sweetie Belle asked in a cold, unforgiving voice. Using her magic, she made her angry voice-cracking speech ring out louder, and assaulting Applejack’s ears, piercing her brain and deafening her.

“Remember that unicorn colt they burned in Nimbuscait?” Sweetie shouted. “Did they fry him just as bad?”

Applejack’s body shook and shivered. The skin, seared black, peeled off the roasted pony.
“Aww, the poor Applejack’s burnt and needs to be cooled down…”

And Sweetie brought down a blast of frigid zubzero wind, instantly frost-biting the hell out of Applejack. Then she got bored and healed her back to perfect health.

Applejack layed there in front of Sweetie Belle, whimpering. Sweetie Belle, with no expression on her face, was thoroughly enjoying this. And she had pulled out traumatic memories from Applejack’s past.

“Auntie Applejack,” Sweetie Belle mused, “Remember how your daddy used to beat you? He’d hoof beat you into the ground like you did to me and Applebloom. Then he lashed you and spilled hot water all over where he hurt you. All because you said no to the cult solar priest in the city near your home town.

“That’s right, your daddy gave up his precious little Applejack to the sexual lust of the old priest. And he ploughed you real hard and left you waddling home like a goose with a splintery wooden spoon shoved in his ass. Your father offered you, and your mother up to every priest he went to so they could ravage you. You remember taking it from Father Grimes when you were 15 years old? He nearly ripped you apart. He had you locked up in his church while your father worked his construction job in Nimbuscait.”

Applejack cried. Horrible, horrible memories. It was all true. See, an ugly thing about these solar cult or cult solar or sun colt or whatever ponies was that the cult religion’s leadership forced its members to adhere to celibacy, with priests, bishops, monks, pastors, and whoever not being allowed to marry. A twisted rule of law was set up to deal with these priests’ lust: All young mares had to be ‘blessed’ by these sick, often filliphile priests before they could be eligible for marriage, and they could be forced into the priests’ beds anytime even if they were married. The religion, which worshipped and was fully denounced by Princess Celestia, had been around so long, even before the end of the Second Era, before the whole Nightmare Moon thing, that earth ponies were brainwashed or born into it, and even as their fillies cried from being hurt in such a way, they themselves were forced to believe such predation was a divine blessing.

Applejack’s father, Great Gunsmith Jack, pimped out her and her mother, Ambrosia to as many religious ponies as they could find. While many thought the ‘procedure’ was to be done only once and by one priest only, Gunsmith Jack (or Gun Jack for short) was obsessed about divine blessings, and he used his wife and daughters (all four except Applejack) to get in good standing with cultist ponies everywhere. Applejack’s three older sisters were executed for resisting the priests.

Applejack remembered seeing her mother cry all the time, then her father striking her for crying. Same thing if she cried. She was forbidden to see it as a bad thing, and townsponies viewed her as abnormal since she was the only filly anywhere unhappy at being pimped out and abused.

Then the Apple Post disaster memories flood Applejack’s brain next. Unicorns attacked her father and mother. Gun Jack was killed, Ambrosia was survived but contaminated with magic and thrown in the fire. Granny Smith, who was visiting from Sweet Apple stalled that grisly execution long enough for Ambrosia to bear Applebloom, whom Granny Smith took with her, along with Big Mac and Applejack back to Sweet Apple.

Sweetie Belle taunted her with these memories, as if she was ripping off old scabs and injecting the bleeding wounds with venom. Applejack cried and cried. She was hurt horribly, and even more so at having been trained to feel guilty for not liking the abuse she endured. She always felt like she was going to burn in hell for not being greatful at being ‘purified’ and ‘sanctioned’ by the priests. Hell, part of the reason she went to Nimbuscait last fall was she wanted to give herself to Father Grimes again to atone for her ‘ungratefulness’ as a filly. But the whole dehorning Sweetie Belle thing and being run out of town cancelled that plan.

She never talked to Granny Smith about this shit, because she thought Granny Smith was naturally in favor of such behavior of ponies. Had Granny Smith known about this, she would have tried to rip Father Grimes’ head off.

But Sweetie Belle was making her relive this shit, with all the pain amplified by a hundred times over. Then Sweetie got bored of that. “I’m sorry, but you’re simply damaged goods,” the filly told her in an icy voice. Oh look, you see that?” The filly pointed to the suddenly-appeared patch of blue mold on Applejack’s fore hoof.

Applejack whimpered like a pathetic newborn foal. “Get it off! Fer the love of Light get it off!”

“Okay,” Sweetie Belle said, using her magic to rip off Applejack’s entire right foreleg in a violent move, spewing blood and chunks everywhere. Applejack screamed and watched in horror as Sweetie tossed the leg to the ground infront of her. “Now watch the blue mold devour your leg through a rapid time spell,” Sweetie instructed, and Applejack watched as the blue mold reduce what was left of her amputated leg to a pile of grime within three minutes.

“And remember, Rarity had nothing to do with it,” Sweetie spoke, “Pinkie Pie brought that shit in from Everfree by accident when she smuggled magic mushrooms back into town. She sat against a tree during winter, it rubbed off from her, and didn’t grow until early summer…

“…And you tried to kill my sister for it!”

Sweetie cast her next spell, instantly skewering Applejack with spear of magically hardened dirt, and lifted her into the air. The hick tried to scream, but the dirt spear running through her body squeezed her lungs, heart and throat, making it impossible to even make a sound.

Sweetie Belle just callously glared and watch Applejack, now completely impaled, struggle and writhe, her leg stump spewing blood. All the orange hick could think about was agony...if she could even think at all at this point.

“I impaled your distant cousin Jager cousin just like this,” Sweetie said in an unnaturally loud voice. “And so to so many of your kin,”

Applejack continued to squirm.

“What’s that?” Sweetie Belle asked, feigning curiosity. “Can’t talk all right like now, can you?”

No word from Applejack.

“If you remember correctly, this is how the guards from the Nimbuscait province decorated their borders. They skewered thousands of earth ponies and unicorns as a warning sign to outsiders. I saw them on the train when we went in. That lady freak, Apple Canelle Frost Apple, said having a dead unicorn skewered on a big iron stick in the town square, or hidden on the farm, is a blessing to keep the magic away. And they made the lives of those living in Nimbuscait a living hell. You got beaten, violated, imprisoned, hell, I think you know the rest. You really thought all that ended and you started a new life here? You’re wrong. You carried the hatred of those earth pony zealots all the way here, and you’ve seen what you let happen!”

Sweetie Belle continued her rant. “Your precious daddy threatened to hurt you and kill you. He sought to do you in like the solar cult’s inquisition does to its victims, by the book. A book written by an ancestor of Grimes himself; a book that would have instructed your father to skewer your eyes with a hot iron spike; to skin you alive if you stepped out of line any which way. You cowed in fear, and held on to their hokey religion for some hope. You faithfully attended their savage, inponane spring lotteries. You saw the ugliness of their corruption. You watched the very same lot of ponies burn your mother alive. And you came out here, and sought to sow this kind of evil, meanwhile playing the role of an honest hardworking hick.”

Applejack, still impaled, with the top end of the hardened dirt spike sticking out of her mouth, gagged.

Sweetie Belle finally noticed the orange mare’s trademark Stetson hat lying in the dirt. With her magic, she picked it up.

“Your father wore this,” Sweetie continued in her unnatural voice, “The worst Apple earth pony to have lived. He even lead hunts against unicorns and unbeliever ponies! He raided towns and villages, took ponies prisoner and killed them! He fought tirelessly to expand Nimbuscait’s reach across the land. And you followed him every step like a dog. And now you wear this thing with pride. You’re even a traitor to your fellow earth ponies. As your brother Big Mac once told me, ponies of your kind are enemies of unicorns and earth ponies alike. You’re even an enemy to your own family. Got them on the bandwagon and had your enemies kill them all!”

Applejack continued to squirm, still struggling to comprehend the absolute agony she was under. But Sweetie Belle noticed a tear shed from her eye.

Sweetie grunted, and instantly made the hardened dirt pillar disappear, dropping Applejack to the ground. Sweetie then cast another agonizing healing spell to put the orange mare back together again, making her scream at the top of her lungs.

Healed once more, Applejack gasped, coughed, and sobbed.

“Not so tough now, are you?” Sweetie Belle said, raising a hoof over the Stetson hat.

Applejack saw this and snapped. “Don’t y’ dare touch that hat, it belongs to mah father, and to hell with yer false accusations you with! Celestia will put you in hell fer all this!”

Completely unmoved, Sweetie stomped the hat. Applejack lunged- and smacked her face full force into an invisible wall. Again and again when she tried to charge at Sweetie Belle who slowly and maliciously decapitated her precious hat, driving her insane. Then Sweetie lit it on fire and glared menacingly at Applejack who was forced to watch it burn. When it comes to settling scores, sentimental value doesn’t mean shit.

Twilight Sparkle, Rarity, and Maud Pie heard that scream over the roar of the flames.
“We’re getting close…” Twilight said, her voice shaky. She could feel the currents and voltages of Sweetie Belle’s immense magic field fluctuating around her.

“At least we know she is alive,” Maud commented flatly, “...until I put a rock through her heart.”

“No,” Twilight said strongly. “Applejack is not to be killed. I’ll end this, and she will be brought to justice….so will I…”

“Hmph, seems this over powered fiend who’s taken over my Sweetie Belle is already punishing her,” Rarity sneered. “So, Twilight, how do we-”

Without warning, Rarity hit the magical barrier Sweetie Belle had set up. Perfectly invisible, until she walked right into it. There was a flash, followed by a loud electric crackle. Rarity was instantly blown back three trots and slammed into the ground and tumbled for a few feet.

“Rarity!” Twilight’s jaw dropped. No sooner than Rarity hit the ground, Twilight instantly galloped back after her. Seeming to not really care, Maud trotted towards her as well.
Rarity was unconscious, and lay twisted about the debris on the ground. Twilight scanned her body and saw that her heart had stopped. She instantly began pressing her hooves on her friend’s chest, and performed a CPR-like procedure, all the while zapping her to kickstart her heart.

Maud stood a few hooves back and watched. Rarity, she knew from Pinkie Pie’s past letters, had been a friend to her sister.

Twilight was having no success. “No...please…” Tears began welling up and streaming from her eyes. She was losing Rarity fast. She would not be able to live with herself with Rarity’s death on her conscience. Twilight tried desperately and furiously to resuscitate her comrade. But Maud, also being able to sense magic (to a lesser degree), somehow knew when to deliver a precise strike that would kickstart her heart. And just as Twilight began to lose hope and break down crying, Maud made her move.

In an instant, Maud Pie sprang from where she stood at lightning speed, and closed the distance between her and Rarity in microseconds. she spun herself around and delivered a powerful, but extremely precise kick to Rarity’s ribs, striking right in between two ribs, and delivering a strong enough shockwave that shook the unicorn’s body, hitting the heart with enough forces to trigger electrical and magical responses needed to get that heart beating again.

And, she applied enough force that she send Rarity flying several hooves. The shock of it all was instantaneous. Rarity felt so much pain she felt she had been shot. Her heart hurt like a stake had been driven into it, immediately forcing her into consciousness. She was wide awake before she hit the ground again. When she landed, she gasped for air and sucked in much needed breaths and cried out in agony. Her whole body hurt. Maud got her exactly in the right nerves.

“Maud, what the hell?!” Twilight screamed at the top of her lungs.
“She’s alive. Go tend to her,” Maud said, pointing a hoof in Rarity’s direction. Twilight didn’t know whether she was to be furious with Maud or happy she kicked-started Rarity, so she took a surprise, half hostile glance at the seemingly bored, uncaring Pie mare, then galloped over to Rarity, who was struggling to get up, full on pain and adrenaline.

Rarity sat on her hind hooves gasping as the pain slowly began to subside. Tears ran down her cheeks. Whatever just happened hurt like hell.

“Rarity!” Twilight called as she ran up to her. “Are you alright?”

“What...what...what was that?!” Rarity gasped, flabbergasted.

Seeing her friend was walking, breathing and talking again, Twilight simply wrapped her hooves around her and embraced her tightly. She was so relieved Rarity was alive.

“Hey~! Easy, Twilight, alright, let go of me, you’re...squeezing me!”

Twilight let her go. “You hit some magic barrier, and it sent you flying. I...I thought you were gonna die!”

“Oh, pish posh, Twilight, I’m still here! What do you mean I almost died?”

Twilight was too frantic to properly explain. “Take...take a look at your ribs. See that bruise?”

“Aye! What in Equestria did I...land on?”

Twilight pointed a hoof at Maud. “She did it. You were out. Your heart stopped. You weren’t breathing…then she gave you...a hoof kick, like ponies do when playing football.”

Rarity glanced at Maud, not quite able to take it in, but she believed Twilight none the less.

“You’re welcome,” Maud said flatly.

Rarity simply nodded, too shocked to really say much else. Not that Maud really cared for thanks, or that she had a real reason of her own to actually save Rarity.

“What’s this...magic barrier you’re talking about, Twilight?” Rarity demanded.

Twilight Sparkle fired up some magic and shot a short beam in the direction they were walking. When the glowing violet beam struck the invisible barrier, there was a violent electrical explosion, accompanied by a bright flash.

“You...you smacked right into it,” Twilight said. “I should have sensed it. Buck me!”

“No use trashing yourself over it, dear,” Rarity chided her, “You’re not the most powerful unicorn in Equestria, and it seems our foe is more than a little advanced than the two of us combined.”

Frustrated, Twilight banged the ground with a hoof. Then the air echoed another blood chilling mare’s scream coming from where the three were trying to go.

“I...I gotta figure this out. I need time, though...to conjure up the right spill to make an opening without killing all of us.”
“Hey, what on earth does Maud think she’s doing?” Rarity asked, making Twilight spin around to see Maud Pie stepping towards the invisible barrier.

“Maud! Don’t!” Twilight shouted after her.

It seemed Maud Pie knew something that the smartest unicorn in Ponyville didn’t. Like a dog, she sniffed the ground, plants and trees around the barrier. Somehow, her sixth sense informed her exactly where this barrier was, and right up to where her nose was inches from meeting over a hundred thousand volts of magic and electricity combined, she sniffed the air, and picked up the faint odour of ammonia and ozone.

One thing about magic is that it breaks down atmospheric nitrogen, which comprises around 75% of Equestria’s atmosphere, the air ponies breathe Oxygen gas makes up the other 19% with the remainder of the composition belonging to trace amounts of random chemicals. While electricity converts oxygen gas into ozone (which then breaks down soon), nitrogen gas, if exposed to magic in the presence of water vapor, is converted into ammonia.

Maud grunted, unimpressed. That idiot, Rarity should have picked up the smell quickly enough to step back and think there was something right infront of them.

But Maud had a trick of her own. The earth pony geologist reached into her side bag and pulled out two rocks, comprised of a strange mineral called aqualite, popular among unicorn communities for several purposes. Aqualite, extracted from the deep earth, or from surface basalt, appears opaque, gray, and dull, and spotted with embedded chunks of other minerals. Pure aqualite, which is expensive as hell, has no foreign minerals and can absorb a hell of a lot more magic. When saturated with magic, aqualite turns a dark, crystalline, translucent blue. When she asked in geology school, Maud was simply told by her instructor, ‘Don’t ask.’

But she knew how to make these rocks, only good for unicorns, useful to her. Maud reached into her sidebags and pulled out two hoof claws (or hoof hands) that had magnetic plates on them instead of actual claw-like appendages which enable ponies to hoofle (handle) small objects. With these on her forehooves, Maud picked up the aqualite rocks.

“Maud! What are you doing? Stop! don’t be a fool!” Twilight Sparkle shouted as she came running towards her.

“Stay back!” Maud threatened, “Or I’ll kill myself.”

That stopped Twilight in her tracks. “What?!”

“Do not come any closer,” Maud said, “And don’t touch me with your magic, lest you want a rock in your brain.”

Twilight couldn’t even believe that threat, but the thing with Maud was that she was so expressionless, you couldn’t tell what kind of meaning she applied to her monotone words, even if she was serious about that threat.

Ignoring her, Maud Pie heaved herself up on her hind hooves, and slammed both rocks into the magic forcefield. Bright blue bolts shot back and forth along the shield, and began converging on the rocks. Maud spread them apart, to the point she had to slide a hoof out of one claw so she could move the other rock further away. A bright blue zig-zag pattern of energy pulsing between the two rocks was dazzling. Maud then placed two more aqualite rocks at the center of the zig-zag pattern. Using a spare set of hoof claws equipped with magnetic plates, she spread the two new rocks in a vertical direction, creating an opening!

Twilight’s jaw dropped. She couldn’t believe it! Rarity’s eyes bulged when she saw this. So now they were looking at the opening- a diamond-shaped gap, illuminated by the high voltage glowing ring of magic bouncing along the rocks.

“Let’s go, we have minutes before these rocks fill up and this closes,” Maud called, then she jumped through the barrier (scaring the shit out of Twilight, who expected her to be instantly fried).

“Maud, wait!” Twilight and Rarity both leaped in through the barrier. No later had Rarity jumped over the lethal magic, the rocks, all now turned bright blue, simply dropped to the ground, and the opening closed, sealing the three mares in.

Applejack lay on the ground, all curled up in a fetal position, sobbing. Sweetie Belle was making her relive her painful past memories and the guilt of her crimes, with stimulation increased a thousandfold. She also made Applejack experience the raw sensation of being burned alive, and suffering scores’ of ponies horrible deaths, causing the orange hick to scream over and over again.

“So, you said you were going to destroy me? When are you going to do that? I’m still here,” Sweetie Belle said with a sneer. “I just destroyed your daddy’s precious little hat. The hat of the stallion who sold you out to be plowed in the rear by Equestrie’s ‘finest’ cult priests…”

These words triggered Applejack...and Sweetie cast a rage spell on her, and like a pissed off bull seeing read, she charged, and this time there was no magic barrier to stop her.
Applejack roared as she picked up that pitchfork and charged at the little filly with it, and got her right in the face.

Applejack may as well have tried to drive that pitchfork into a solid rock wall, even as the blades struck Sweetie Belle’s green eyes. Her own momentum betrayed her and rammed her by the stomach into the handle of the pitchfork. Applejack choked as it struck right below her ribs, getting her right in the liver.

With some magic, the pitchfork instantly shattered, like it was made out of a weak clay or something. Applejack hit the ground with her face right at Sweetie Belle’s hooves.
Sweetie Belle lowered her head and looked Applejack right in the eye.
“My turn.”
And she struck the orange mare so hard in the face she sent her flying right into a tree.
Applejack felt every bone in her spine shatter on impact, then she fell and hit the ground.
She desperately tried to crawl away- she couldn’t even move. She was paralyzed from the neck down.

She watched in horror as Sweetie Belle approached her.

“I was looking through your memories, and I found what you did to Pinkie Pie,” Sweetie said in a deathly calm voice. “Don’t worry, she is safe. Safe from you.”

Pinkie Pie’s life turned upside down the day she returned home to the Sugarcube Corner from the County Candy Fair up in the famed Sugarlands Valley. She greeted Mr. and Mrs. Cake with her usual cheer, only for an awkward moment where she was told she had been replaced by some mare named Cookie Chip. They were finished with her and told her to leave and not come back. Pinkie had been oblivious to the results of her own behavior and never understood why ponies shied away or looked down at her.

Feeling like she had been stabbed in the heart, Pinkie Pie sadly turned around and walked out. And so began a long spiral of failed attempts to secure jobs at any of Ponyville’s bakeries, or anywhere else in town. The real downer hit weeks later when she was forced to attend a hearing during which she faced being banned from Ponyville, but with the deciding vote, Mayor Mare cancelled that bid, and warned Pinkie to stop making scenes and seek help. With no job, and no means to support herself, Pinkie was forced to apply for town assistance, that being welfare, in the form of a small public apartment on the edge of town, and daily food stamps, enabling her to get two square meals a day...of vegetables and oats at the market.

Pinkie struggled like hell to fight her depression and regain the favor of ponyfolk, but they increasingly shunned her, especially the growing number of Applefolk who came to town. Applejack chased her away from the apple stands, hell she even ran Pinkie out of the market. Pinkie had to learn to carefully avoid Applejack and other certain ponies.

She even considered leaving town, but Mayor Mare, being something of a court judge, didn’t want to pass the ‘burden’ to any other town, and instructed the town guard not to let Pinkie Pie leave Ponyville, unless she was on Mane 6 business, which the pink pony failed many times to convince them she was when she tried to enter the train station.

Instead she was sent out to the fields as day labor, and kept under watch by some wiley farmers. She also got a threat letter from the town guard saying if she ‘illegally’ left Ponyville, she would be arrested and jailed for up to a whole season. Pinkie was urged to volunteer, but very few ponies opted to take her in. Eventually, she stopped going out at all, sometimes not even to go down to the watering hole to bathe.

And of course, Pinkie never mentioned any of this in her letters to Maud, which without her knowledge, had been blocked. Pinkie Pie would have sought out Twilight Sparkle, but she had been out of town all through fall and winter, on important business in Canterlot. Then she felt a searing shame for asking for help or even somepony to talk to.

In late winter, following complaints from other ponies in her building, Fluttershy showed up at her door...not to offer help, but to shyly, and sadly say she had been ordered to take Gummy away. Pinkie refused to give up her baby alligator after having so much taken away. She furiously lashed out and slammed the door in Fluttershy’s face. Fluttershy broke into tears when Applejack gave her heck for ‘wussin’ out.’

So some angry Apples broke into her apartment and seized Gummy when she was out at work...shovelling out the manure in the tunnels below. The only job she could get.

After that, Pinkie refused to go out, and eventually disappeared when concerned ponies began knocking on her door. One night, during Hearthswarming, she attempted to sneak past the guards into the train station. Dressed up and posing as part of a theater group, Pinkie slipped by the town guards unnoticed, and proceeded to board the train when some pony who forgot something frantically rushed out, not seeing her intime, knocked poor Pinkie off the step ladder onto the icy brick platform. Her bonnet and wig came off, exposing her face and hair. The town guards immediately tackled her to the ground and dragged her away, kicking and screaming. To silence her and not disturb the crowd, they threw a sack over her head, and dragged her out through a hidden exit. She was stashed in a backroom, then when the town was asleep, taken to the dungeons in the guard house. And thats where she was until she was dragged by the neck to Sweet Apple Acres.

Applejack knew about all of that. She issued the orders, and turned ponies against Pinkie. She despised that mare, and sought to break her down completely, and re-make her.

Sweetie Belle reminded Applejack of all this, and made her endure every bit of suffering she put Pinkie Pie through. Sweetie Belle, having loved Pinkie Pie, hated Applejack for what she did to her.

“And then you had her cutie mark scraped off,” Sweetie Belle sneered. “Because you wanted her to grow an apple on her flank, isn’t it?”

Applejack whimpered. She was too traumatized to say much.

“Well, now it’s your turn.” Sweetie Belle said, Applejack’s eyes widened.

Using blades made out of magic and wind, Sweetie Belle slowly and sadistically sliced into the skin on Applejack’s flank, and began cutting and peeling off her apple cutie mark. Applejack screamed from the agony. Then Sweetie flipped her over and cut off the other cutie mark. She forced the orange hick to watch as she burned both patches of skin, and sniff the putrid smell of burning pony flesh.

“I’m finished with you. Now it’s time to die. But before that…”

As Sweetie Belle spoke, the few hundred spirits of the vanquished she released upon the Apples earlier began returning. Like starving wolves, they hungered.

“...I should tell you what will happen when you die. You won’t go to your precious pony heaven. You won’t even go to Celestia. My friends here are from a realm of the dead. The dead of billions of ponies who were slaughtered by the likes of you, and the Pegasi to whom your kind pandered to. You will drop into this world, created from their memories and their dreams and nightmares. From there, they will consume you non-stop as they had consumed each other and themselves. You’ll know nothing but grief, pain, agony, remorse, regret. Actually, you don’t even die, you are removed from your body and sent to this hell. I know. Because I was there,” Sweetie explained coldly. It’s true, the spellbook took her into that hell, and spat her back out.

“I put a spell on you to connect you to these ponies and the lost worlds they occupy. From there you may contemplate your crimes against ponykind until the end of time...or such as the Sun has swallowed this planet, destroying the means for any souls to exist here.”

Applejack was terrified and too messed up to speak anymore. The undead ethereal pony ghosts surrounding them barked and growled, some spoke words, others were hardly coherent. The ghostly bat pony apparitions perched onto the branches of the trees, even those still burning.

“Your new friends can’t wait to play with you,” Sweetie Belle commented, looking around. “They are all sad...because they cannot roam this world, due to Celestia’s magic. They are only here because of me. Oh well,” the filly shrugged.

“Anyways, I think it’s time to send you away. Tell Twinkle Leaf I said hello-”

There was a loud thump, and Sweetie Belle’s head exploded. The rock that just smashed through her skull at a speed of over a hundred trots per second (750 feet), splitting her head into three major chunks, each spewing brain, bones, and blood. More smaller rocks exploded out of nowhere, piercing, skewering, and shredding the little unicorn’s body, ripping off a leg, and several chunks of flesh. Sweetie Belle was dead before she hit the ground, nothing more than a pile of unrecognizable meat in a pile of blood and bone. Instantly the horde of pony ghosts vanished into thin air. All was quiet for a moment.

Then Applejack looked up in fear and saw the face of a new enemy, her distant cousin, Maud Pie.

Author's Notes:

PS Sweetie isn't actually dead. she still has to face off against twilight