Really Bad Fanfics: "Apple Corruption"

by Wolfboy183

First published 12th of May, 2013

Sweetie Belle is adopted by Applejack, and finds out the hard way how strict, stern, and brutally old fashioned and superstitious the Apple Family really is.

Everything decays, and order cannot persist without chaos. As per the laws of entropy, EVERYTHING decays, be it inanimate objects, life forms, or magic. The Elements of Harmony are no exception. Designed and created by HH Princess Celestia to bring out the best in ponies, these Elements, if not tended to or maintained by Her, will deteriorate, and corrupt the ponies whose souls they have been connected to, and bring about illness and disorder in many dire forms, and unleash chaos upon the ponies in question and their communities.

The M6, especially Applejack, are no exception to the rules, and are unwittingly corrupted, especially Applejack. The effects and terror begin, and so takes place a crisis first witnessed by Sweetie Belle, and soon all of Ponyville.

*contains some dark, violent content*

Tough new life

It had been two years since Sweetie Belle’s life changed forever. Before being sent to Sweet Apple Acres, the filly had been living with Rarity at their home, the Carousel Boutique, which doubled as Rarity’s workshop and business. Then, on that fateful day, while Sweetie Belle was at school, the Boutique burned down, and Rarity was taken to the hospital, badly burned and in a coma. Soon afterwards, she was sent to a better hospital in Canterlot.

A few weeks later, when Sweetie Belle asked about Rarity for the umpteenth time, Applejack sternly replied, “Rarity’s dead, sugarcube. She died two weeks back.”

That left Sweetie Belle heartbroken.

The day of the fire, Applejack picked her up at school and took her and Applebloom back to the apple farm, and in the year since, Sweetie Belle learned often the hard way just how different life was with the Apple family than what outsiders perceived them to be. On the outside, everypony saw the Apples as a kind, honest, and hardworking bunch. Guests to their events and weekly markets in town portrayed them as a very joyful bunch. Foals galloped around playing games with one another while the grown up ponies chatted cheerfully to one another.

However, as the Cutie Mark Crusaders discovered, the Apple ponies were very territorial, strict, and abnormally religious and obsessed with apples and apple products. One time, Sweetie Belle, Applebloom, and Scootaloo were caught trespassing in one of the apple orchards by a guy named Bushel Packer. He put them to work for the rest of the day for trespassing. As far as the CMC’s or any other foals wandering around Apple turf uninvited were concerned, the Apple family considered them no different than their own foals, and put them to discipline or labor, pending on where they were or what they were doing. Then at the end of the day, the foals were sent back to their parents.

Complaints from parents rose of foals being punished harshly by the Apples, but the Ponyville town council dismissed almost all of them, citing the county family charter, and the Apples’ territorial rights to their land and all who trespassed on it. None of the town council or even the town guard’s judge deemed the discipline hoofed down to trespassers exceeded moral guidelines despite the outrage.

Foals took to making a game of it: race a selected course through Sweet Apple Acres, or pinch some apples without getting caught. Some foals got bold and brazen about it, but the CMC’s heeded Applebloom’s advice, and steered clear of the most reckless games other naughty foals took part in. It was often debated among young and naive foals as to which place was more dangerous: Everfree or Sweet Apple Acres. Over the years, even before the CMC’s were born, stories retold became urban legends as to how the Apple family captured trespassers. The CMC’s themselves heard some horrific stories themselves, all which Applebloom had dismissed easily.

But living with the Apple family was far different than being a mere visitor, customer or even a trespasser. They weren’t as cheerful as Sweetie Belle thought they were. Most of the times, they were apple obsessed workaholics, overly religious, and old fashioned. They disciplined their foals by beating them harshly. Strict orthodox religious codes were observed and enforced at Sweet Apple Acres. Of all things strictly forbidden was the use of magic, hence, unicorns aren't the Apples’ most favored visitors.

Sweetie Belle’s transition was somewhere between quick and gradual. From the day Applejack brought her home, she was put on tough chores, and whenever she gave any sign of displeasure or dread, Applejack always found more ways to work her to the bone. Applejack was very authoritarian, and came down hard on her and Applebloom whenever they got careless and talked back. One good note was that Sweetie Belle’s school grades went up, since Applejack, Big Mac, and the other ponies threatened to give her a painful ‘hoof beatin’ if she came home with a bad report card.

The labor regimen was gruelling and even after a few months, Sweetie Belle dreaded the hard work, even more so. The day began well before sunrise with the cleaning of manure, feeding the animals, and doing an endless checklist of things that better get done before the two fillies went to school. If they didn’t finish the tasks in time, they got walloped, before and after school.

As Big Mac once explained to her and Applebloom, all the strict adherence to everything was the only key to a good harvest of apples and everything else they produced on the farm. If they slacked off even the slightest, it was feared the whole operation would be derailed and the whole family would be in big trouble, as in their good fortunes in terms of weather would dry up, the apples would wilt and rot prematurely, animals would sicken and die, and their products wouldn’t sell very well. This ill-logic became an ages old obsession, long before their ancestors even settled in Ponyville.

But there were always days when Sweetie Belle and Applebloom failed to behave perfectly, or work hard enough, and they got spanked, smacked, and even fully beat for their failures or misbehavior. Even worse was the punishment they received when they disobeyed any of the grown up ponies. Sweetie Belle witnessed an equally harsh beating Applebloom received a month after she came to live with them.

After a stressful day of bucking the trees to the point they were too sore to walk, Applebloom said out loud in frustration, “Ah’m sick of these apples, and this whole dang farm!”

Applejack happened to be right around the corner of the barn when she heard that statement. Fully enraged, she pounced on Applebloom and started thrashing her with her hooves. Applebloom was beat to a pulp and in bed for a week. That time Applejack took time out of each day to shout at her and ‘remind her of the values of the family,’

Other times, Applejack was slightly more reserved about giving a beating, and when either of the two acted up, she’d drag them one by one to a private spot and whipped them them to her heart’s content.

The regime of discipline set Sweetie Belle straight and caused her to live each day in fear; from the minute Applejack woke her and Applebloom up at 35° (4:40) in the morning for early morning chores, to the minute she rested her head on her pillow between 70°(9:20) and 75° (10:00) late at night, completely exhausted almost to the point of tears. Some nights Sweetie Belle was so tuckered out she fell asleep within minutes of Applejack closing their bedroom door, other nights, she was so tired she could hardly fall asleep, and spend the night tossing, turning, thinking and worrying.

Another hard knock of Apple family life was their religion. Extremely conservative and orthodox than one pony could imagine. All Apple family members worshipped Celestia fearfully, and often kept to olden traditions, which essentially commanded that life be work and worship. The religion itself didn’t ban rest and relaxation, but the Apples were very superstitious, fearing if they rested on their laurels and slacked off, Celestia would bring an infinite number of curses and plagues on them and their land.

Every Sunday, the Apples often attended church, either at the one in Ponyville, or they just held their own service on their farm. Each family unit within the huge Apple clan had an elderly member sanctioned by the deranged priests from Nimbuscait to preach to them. But in the case with Applejack’s family, nopony could preach, so they went to another apple farm to attend the Sunday service there.

The church thing was sombre, dull, and boring. While the liberal church in Ponyville erupted in song, the ultra orthodox atmosphere of services the Apple family attended were boring and repressive.

The whole religion was centered around a fear of Celestia, the god queen of Equestria and pretty much their entire known world. Orthodox celestialism was dead in major cities and towns where ponies took on more liberal and favorable views, beliefs, and loyalty. But out in the smaller towns, old habits from centuries past still held on.

The Apple family was huge, and originated well before the Summer Sun Celebration. The entire family tree consisted of thousands of family members, branching out over several places and times in ponyfolk lore. They essentially became their own nation in a virtual sense. some ponies believed them to be a cult, much like the human mini civilisation, the ‘Amish.’ whom lived and worked off the land, and shunned the rest of society. Apple scholars wrote numerous papers explaining to the rest of Equestria their history and ways.

The Apples were like the Amish. They were very orthodox, they only used basic tools and machines to till the land, they shunned magic and electricity (few family units used electricity), and kept themselves distanced from the rest of society. Either Apple clans established small settlements outside of a town, or they established their own town, such as Appleloosa. That and their labor intensive and painfully disciplined, and irrationally superstitious way of life persevered through over a thousand years’ worth of generations. The olden times’ values never wore off.

A sad aspect of the Apple moral fiber related greatly to unicorns. Historical records revealed Apple family members leading their earth pony brethren in persecuting unicorns, carrying out witch hunts, executions, and de-hornings. History, often hidden away, was scarred with the suffering of unicorns at the hooves of fearful and delusionally righteous earth ponies. Persecutions got so bad that unicorns were either driven out of many areas or driven to extinction (via wars, executions, and dehornings.)

After the Summer Sun Celebration, unicorn numbers slowly rose again in earth pony dominated cities and towns. For centuries, many of them remained a persecuted minority. In “rough” towns inhabited by old fashioned, rough-and-tumble ponies and deranged priesthoods, dehorning became the most common method of a ‘non-lethal’ genocide. The human civilisation’s equivalent was circumcision. Proponents of dehorning unicorns argued that removing the horn eliminated any threat of magic, and allowed the use of the unicorn as labor, as opposed to outright killing.

Opponents of dehorning, many of them unicorns, fiercely argued against it, citing very high death rates, and the painful, horrible death suffered by unicorns once their horns were removed.

A unicorn’s horn is essentially a vital organ, much like the heart or lungs. It is the control piece of the unicorn’s magic system, and regulates conversion of chemical energy (food, oxygen), sunlight, and kinetic (exercise) into magic; safe storage of magic saturated substances (or mana); distribution of magic throughout the body; and ultimately, the unicorn’s use of its’ own magic. another interesting feature is the nerve connection between the horn and the brain, enabling the unicorns to cast complex spells, as well as simple tasks such as levitating and moving objects.

When the horn is snapped off, the entire magic system is destabilized by electrical signals throughout the nervous system (as in the case of a headless chicken running and flapping its’ wings), which cause explosive activity of the magic in the body. Within minutes or hours, the unicorn becomes sick as it is poisoned by the toxic mana and radiation, triggering a series of complex ailments, which kill the unicorn within days of the dehorning.

The removed horn itself becomes a bomb and eventually detonates, releasing energy as harmful radiation.

To combat unicorn deaths, dehorners often carried out the procedure when the unicorn was a filly, long before the development of the magic system. However, even then, dehorned unicorns suffered a lifetime of migraines, and other related illnesses.

The once-prevalent practice of dehorning was fuelled mostly by superstition, still strong in remote pocket regions throughout Equestria.

In the late 9th century, the settlement that became present-day Ponyville had a brief history of dehornings, mostly carried out by earth ponies on foals whom ventured onto their property. It was common for unicorn foals to be caught by mobs of angry earth ponies, violently dehorned, and sent staggering home to their parents. The uproar caused by unicorn residents and other earth ponies and pegasi opposed to such mutilation and the social attitudes that fostered the practice resulted in the establishment of a law that banned dehorning and imposed the death penalty on those arrested for carrying out the practice. During that time, a doctor set up a clinic and offered a ‘safer’ way for the practice to be done to unicorn foals, often paid for by ultra-conservative earth ponies who snatched the foals off the streets and brought them to the clinics. After the procedure, the filly was sent home.
To show that they meant business, the town council ordered the arrest and execution of the doctor and his staff. They were burned at the stake.

When Ponyville was formally established decades later in Year 903, and the county formally established in 914, it was written in both town and county charters that dehorning be strictly outlawed. The laws were endorsed by Canterlot. The ultra conservative earth ponies, disgruntled with the outcome, packed up and relocated to the more conservative Nimbuscait region, where dehornings, along with other brutal archaic practices are still in use.

However, despite the law, enforcement is another matter. The Apple family was so well respected (mainly in part for their assistance in founding Ponyville), town guards never ventured out to Sweet Apple Acres in 140 years since it was built. The Apples were left to enforce their own laws as they saw fit. And incidents in which unicorns were dehorned did happen.

of all terrible things Sweetie Belle experienced living with the Apple family, the worst was when Applejack tried to have her dehorned. It came up during late autumn when Applejack was speaking to a visiting relative named Applegem, the meaner family equivalent of Rarity.. From the moment Sweetie Belle met her, she did not like Applegem one bit. she was of the creepy ‘regal’ type from Nimbuscait. She scorned Sweetie Belle the minute they met and said, “Applejack dear, what in Equestria is this unicorn doing on your farm?”

An hour later, Sweetie Belle and Applebloom were in the house when Sweetie’s name came up in the conversation.

“...we adopted her. Her mother was killed in a fire early this year. She knows full well that magic is strictly forbidden on this here farm,” Applejack explained.

“That simply won’t do, my dear. A unicorn’s a unicorn. If you intend to keep her, I highly recommend she be dehorned at once.”

“B-but there’s no place in this here whole county or even the next counties over where somepony’ll do that fer’ us,” AJ replied.

“Well then.” Applegem sipped her tea. “I think a trip to your relatives in Nimbuscait is in order. Afterall, we miss the lot of you and only I was able to travel down here to visit you.”

“That’s a great idea. Up there, we could take her in and have her dehorned,” Applejack replied.

Sweetie Belle listened from the kitchen where she and Applebloom were washing dishes, and she was filled with fear. She was always afraid of Applegem.

A few days after Applegem left, Applejack brought the idea of going to Nimbuscait.
“I haven’t seen our folks out there in so many moons,” Granny Smith lamented, reminiscing of old but good times.
“Eeyup,” Big Mac grunted.
“Then how ‘bout we leave first thing Lunday morning?” Applejack suggested, looking at Grannysmith.
“That’s dandy with me-”

“I don’t want my horn chopped off!” Sweetie Belle suddenly shouted.
“What? You shut yer’ dang muzzle, you little brat!” Applejack snapped, pounding the table with a hoof. “It’ll be good fer’ you, Apple Belle. You won’t be casting any o’ that infernal magic, and you won’t be cursing us and Sweet Apple acres. It’ll make you an honest hard workin’ pony like the rest of us! An’ don’t you dare gimme any guff about it, or Ah’ll-”

“Applejack, simmer yer saddle,” Granny Smith barked. “And you, Apple Belle, eat yer supper.”

“But Granny Smith, she’s gonna curse us all soon,” Applejack protested.

“Applejack, that is a load of hooey and you know it. Since when have we been ‘cursed’ by them unicorns?”

“Well...maybe not curse, but if they contaminate us with their magic, Princess Celestia jus’ might burn up Sweet Apple Acres and kill us all.”

Granny Smith cast a contorted angry look at the fillies. “You two, beat it!”

Both Applebloom and Sweetie Belle quickly and quietly retreated from the dining room. When they were gone, Granny Smith gave Applejack a serious look. “Is that what this whole Nimbuscait trip is about? Dehorning Sweetie Belle? Ah can’t believe you let Applegem get to you so easily. You ought to be smarter than that. Ah should’ve stayed at home when she was visiting.”

“Granny Smith, it ain’t hooey, it’s tradition. Unicorns and their magic have always been a threat to the Apples-”

“Applejack, that’s enough outta you. That’s only because they were gettin’ back at those who hurt ‘em! This whole war on the unicorns was started by the earth ponies long ago, an’ I won’t have any of it seep into Sweet Apple Acres, ya hear?”

“But the apples? What if-” Applejack tried to protest.

“Applejack Sweet Apple,” Granny Smith snapped, “Gimme one time a unicorn was on this here farm who actually caused a problem! What about that time Big Mac injured himself and you had to ask yer’ unicorn friends for help? Was any o’ them apples Twilight levitated outta them trees poisoned or make any ponies sick?”

“Well, uh, no, Granny Smith-”

“And what about all them times you had to run off and do things with your unicorn friends? Did they ever hurt you?” Granny smith challenged.

“Well, no...but King Sombra-”

“He was taken down by unicorns!” Granny Smith snapped. She didn’t have to refer to Twilight Sparkle or Princess Cadence, or even that battle at the Crystal Empire.

“Think about it AJ,” Smith continued, “If them unicorns and us earth ponies really were unfit to live together, y’think Princess Celestia would’ve put us all together?”

“Well, no,” Applejack conceded, her ears lowering.

“Exactly. Ah’ve seen plenty of dehornings in mah lifetime ever since I was a filly, AJ, and it sure as hell ain’t pretty. Them unicorns that got dehorned were sick and suffering beyond yer comprehension, and they were even more useless than earth ponies after gettin’ dehorned because they were so ill.

“We came to this here land because we wanted nothing to do with them deranged superstitious lunatics or their twisted religion, always thinkin’ Celestia would breathe down death and destruction fer Nightmare Moon knows what. We settled in Ponyville to get away from them freaks. Them ponies who founded Sweet Apple Acres vowed they and the rest of us to live and work in this county would not take up the twisted sick ways of them religious nutters. And ever since Ponyville was founded, the unicorns who came to live in our town hardly ever gave us a problem. They were no more trouble than the pegasi, or you an’ me.”

Applejack just listened, torn between the fear of hell re-instilled in her by Applegem, and the value and truthfulness of what Granny Smith was telling her.

“But...but...what about Trixie?” AJ protested.

“What about her? She was no more envious and jealous of any other pony. Had you gotten the alicorn amulet, you would have been behaving jus’ like her. And Twilight, your unicorn friend, used her magic to deal with that ursa minor and she put them two punk foals who brought it here in their place.

Granny Smith continued to lecture and dress down Applejack, then she said,
“We’ll go pay our relatives a visit, AJ, but mark mah words, I will be keeping a sharp eye on you and Sweetie Belle.”

"Rarity's dead, Apple Belle."

When it came to Apple family culture, the idea of individualism was looked down upon, unless anypony’s uniqueness centered around apples. Nearly everypony in the whole family had the word ‘apple’ in his or her name, or their names were composed of words relating to apples, such as “Annie Smith” aka “Granny Smith”

Even longtime acquaintances, and frequent visitors were issued a nicname bearing words representing apples. Ponies who ended up living with Apple family clans or foals fostered and adopted by them were re-named Apples.

As the case with Sweetie Belle, two weeks after being taken in by Applejack, Applejack and the rest of the family began calling her Apple Belle. Sweetie Belle resented this, and repeatly talked back, and said things like, “My name isn’t Apple Belle, it’s Sweetie Belle, get it right!”

And instead of respecting her wish, most of the Apple ponies reacted in anger, and shouted at her or beat her. After she got a hard beating by Applejack for snapping at Granny Smith, Applejack told her, “From now on, yer name is Apple Belle. You get it right, little missy!”

And to prove her point, Applejack dragged her by the ear down to the Ponyville administration office to have her name officially changed. Applejack countered every protest from Sweetie Belle with threats of forced labor and beatings. And she never let up on the threat of having her dehorned.

When her turn came up, Sweetie Belle was taken into an office, while the pony officer asked Applejack to wait in the lounge.

“Your name is Sweetie Belle, is it not?”

“Y-yes, sir,” she stuttered nervously.

“Now then, the proposal here on this application form, is to change your legal name to...’Apple Belle Sweetapple. You are the only one who has the consent to change your name, hence is why we asked your guardian to wait in the lounge, so as not to influence your decision. Now then, do you agree with this nor not?”

Sweetie Belle would not have known if she had a rebellious fit or was actually trying to protect her own identity, and prevent it from being washed over and repainted.

“No sir. I don’t like it. I want my name to still be Sweetie Belle," the filly replied. She thought of her name as a gift from Rarity's (and her own) family.

“Very well, I’ll just mark that as a ‘no,’” the officer said, drawing a huge ‘X’ mark across the paper.

After she got home, Applejack gave her a hard thrashing for that, and she couldn’t sit on her bottom for a week. Applejack was incensed over this little rebellion and vowed to drive any other flare out of her through the forced labor and such.

“...An’ Ah don’t care what them folks in down say, yer’ name is still Apple Belle as far as Ah’m concerned, so don’t ya dare talk back with this ‘Sweetie’ crap!”

Another means of repressing her own identity was the cutie mark talk around winter time, around Hearth's Warming. A bunch of relatives from the surrounding farms stayed at Sweet Apple Acres, and many of them swooned and fawned over Sweetie Belle. She wanted to get away from them but Applejack forced her to spend that two weeks in the guest house with them. While many of the relatives praised her for her good behavior, and said she'd be a great asset to Sweet Apple Acres, those from Nimbuscait, talked about how she needed to be brought up the hardcore way. One creepy religious old coot talked about how she had to be baptized at the cathedral at Nimbuscait. And Applegem never shut up about how she should be dehorned. Many of them took time to teach her how to do every little thing their own way, such as writing, sewing, cooking, reading and speaking. It was part of their loosely collected effort to make her into an Apple pony.

Then for an hour they talked about what kind of cutie mark they'd like to see her have. "Oh, Ah think her cutie mark will be a big shiny red apple."
"Nay, it should be an apple pie"
"What about a cup o' applejuice?
"Psh, Ah think she ought to have a symbol of a heart shaped gala apple."
"Hmf," Applegem scoffed coldly, "If you ask me, it should be an apple shaped gem with a sun on it."

Sweetie Belle was no less creeped out and uncomfortable than Applebloom. Then when Applejack showed up with a bucket of apple chunks for stewing, she remarked, "Any cutie mark them two get is fine with me, so long as it's an apple. Because if it ain't Ah'll hoof beat them two fillies till the sun don't shine in Equestria no more."

Sweetie Belle had recurring nightmares once every few nights. Most often consisted of her discovering she had an apple shaped cutie mark on her flank and the Apple ponies swooning and cheering, as if acting or celebrating in some sick way of how they succeeded in dominating and destroying her. One terrifying dream she had after coming home from Nimbuscait depicted her in the courtyard of the cathedral, those creepy crimson robed priests standing around her, some earth pony chopping her horn off with a large pair of bush clippers, and the apple cutie mark springing up the second her horn came off. And Applegem and Applejack watching, with smiles on their faces. In the dream she cried out for help or for Rarity until the horn was cut off, and blood-saturated ooze dripped down her face. She often woke up in sweat and tears after that nightmare.

Another hurtful thing Applejack did in the name of authority and dominance was when she told Sweetie Belle the bad news.

It was over month after the Carousel Boutique burned down, and Applejack ran out of patience with Sweetie Belle constantly pestering her about Rarity.

“Applejack, when’s Rarity gonna come back?”
“How come we can’t go see her in the hospital?”
“I miss her.”

And one day, when Sweetie Belle and Applebloom were finished work, covered in dirt and manure and exhausted to the point of passing out, Sweetie spouted out, “I don’t want to live here anymore, I want to go back home and live with Rarity again.”

“Apple Belle,” Applejack barked at her, “You want to know the truth? Fine, here it is: Rarity is dead.”

That statement pierced through Sweetie Belle like a bullet. Her big sister, her only family, gone?

“D-dead?” the filly stuttered, trying to hold back tears.

“You got that right,” Applejack confirmed, “She died on the train to Canterlot. She’s dead, and that’s that. An’ besides, Ah’ve heard plenty how she never wanted you, and how you were nothing but a burden on her, so she never deserved to take care o’ you. So get over it, and stop asking me about her. There ain’t no Rarity, there ain’t no home, and there ain’t gonna be, ever. We’re yer’ family, and you belong to us now. Sweet Apple Acres is yer home, and that’s that. And quit yer bloody sniveling, it’s pissin me off. From now on, Ah don’t ever want to hear about Rarity again, you hear? Ah don’t want you askin’ about her or talkin’ about her. She’s dead, and there’s more important things in yer’ life that need tendin’ to, like school work and chores. So toughen up, an’ get over it, Apple Belle.”

Applebloom, who sat in the tub with Sweetie Belle and listened to all that was just as surprised with Applejack’s cold insensitivity. When a close friend or family member died, Applejack took more time to talk about the subject more softly and comfort her. Though used to the strictness of it all, she didn’t like how Applejack treated Sweetie Belle.

Sweetie Belle tried to hold back the tears for the rest of the day, and Applejack punished her good and hard everytime she saw a tear. Each tear Sweetie Belle shed, she got whipped with a stick.

That night and a few nights after, when Sweetie Belle cried in her bed, Applebloom climbed into her bed, and nestled up to her to comfort her, something Applejack refused to do when Sweetie Belle came to her for comfort.

And so Sweetie Belle ended up having to repress her grief about losing Rarity and pretend like it never affected her. One time or another, she felt guilty for being mean to Rarity and wanting to replace her with Applejack as her big sis. She prayed to Celestia over and over again. She thought that dispute resolved itself when Rarity showed up to race with her at the Sisterhooves Social. She and Rarity had their conflicts but in the end they were family. Sweetie Belle couldn’t believe that Celestia, the god queen of all things, actually took Rarity away from her over some mislead thoughts.

The Trip to Nimbuscait

In the middle of Autumn season, around the 40th day (roughly the end of October), the Apple family at Sweet Apple Acres went on their trip to Nimbuscait, a good 300 kilotrots north of Ponyville. Several ponies packed up and eagerly marched to the railway station and boarded the train. While the adult mares and stallions delighted in visiting their relatives far away, the fillies, Applebloom and Sweetie Belle were fearful and apprehensive of what they were to expect. From the stories Applegem told them, they would have stayed in Ponyville while Applejack, Big Mack, Granny Smith and a bunch of others went off.

Applebloom asked if she and Sweetie Belle could stay with Scootaloo and her parents, but Applejack sternly said no.

So in the thick of pouring rain and dense fog, they boarded the train and switched to their next train at the town of Risette. They stayed overnight at a place called the Trainstay Inn, a barn furnished to accommodate passengers waiting trains. The next morning, the Apples boarded the westbound train for Nimbuscait. Early in the afternoon, the train crossed over the 500-trot wide Arod River, and virtually into another world. Most ponies not from Nimbuscait felt like they travelled back in time whenever they crossed the border from Arod County to its east, or Abille County to the south (Ponyville County was south of Abille Co.)

First thing one would see was the huge stone wall and fortified towers built into the shore along the Arod river. At the location where the rail tracks crossed the river, huge religious monuments and signs written with stern warnings welcomed incoming travellers. At points where roads crossed into Nimbuscait, border stations were set up, along with gates. Ponies trotting in and out of Numbuscait, most of them local traders and merchants, were closely scrutinized by the zealous border guards, bent on preserving the historic culture in their homeland. The trains went straight on through, and stopped at the station outside of Nimbuscait City.

Ponies here wore clothes, and kept a puritan like fashion. It was a requirement to wear clothes in Nimbuscait, and if a pony didn’t he or she was severely punished if not scrutinized, shamed, condemned, preached, or ostracized. The Trainstay Inn at Risette had its own little shop full of new and used clothing. Apparently, regulation required that all ponies entering or passing through Nimbuscait had to have at least one set of clothes in possession. Then, at Bristle Thatch, the last stop before Nimbuscait, was a “mandatory shop” for those without adequate clothing. The train crew kicked off anypony who failed or refused to purchase an outfit. Doing so saved their own flanks from the wrath of the deranged priests who ruled the county.

The first thing Sweetie Belle felt as the train passed through the gate was a chill. She gazed out the window as the train steamed through the dark farmlands. Most fields were all but mud, already harvested and planted for next spring. Distant lamps lit up the fields, and could barely make out shapes of ponies patrolling their fields. The stormy night shrouded the huge lake just behind the thin patch of forest behind the fields. It was early in the morning, about 60° (8:00am), and it was still nearly dark out.

5° (50 minutes) later, the train lurched to a stop, its wheels belching a metallic screech along the tracks as it pulled into the station.
”Nimbuscait, folks.” called the conductor on the PA speaker.

“C’mon Applebloom, Apple Belle. Up ‘n’ at ‘em.” Applejack barked, rousing Applebloom and Sweetie Belle from their sleep. Granny Smith went ahead and left the train. A few minutes later, they were out on the platform in the chilly morning wind. Sweetie Belle shivered uncomfortably in her dress and coat. She tried to pull the bonnet tighter over her head to keep the icy wind out, but that did no good. Fully afraid, she instinctively kept close to Applejack.
The soldiers, big bulky stallions donned in armor and religious tabards, inspected everypony who got off. Several more boarded the train to check the passengers onboard and search their luggage.
“Applejack Sweet Apple...” the guard said as he wrote AJ’s name on a waxboard.
“Yessir,”
“And who are these two?”
“These’r mah two sisters, Applebloom and Applebelle.”

The guard nodded but snarled when he saw Sweetie Belle’s horn. He then cast Applejack a stern glance.

“Ah know, sir. But they don’t do dehornings in Ponyville.”

Sweetie Belle immediately stepped behind Applejack in a futile effort to hide from the prying eyes of the guard.

“...that’s why Ah brought her.”

The guard grunted as he thought, then replied, “Very well. Make the proper arrangements then. If that unicorn casts a single spark of magic, it will be put to death, am I clear?”

“Y-yes, sir,” Applejack stuttered.

The guard nodded his dismissal. Applejack looked back, and saw Sweetie Belle walking back through the crowd of ponies to the train. It was a half-assed attempt to slither away, but the crowd parted to give her space- fearful of her being a unicorn. Nimbuscait was not unicorn-friendly territory.

“Stay here!” she barked at Applebloom, then bolted after Sweetie Belle. She caught the filly just in the nick of time as she was about to sneak aboard the train. Applejack bit Sweetie Belle on the ear and violently yanked her away from the train. Sweetie cried in pain as Applejack dragged her by the ear back towards the guard and Applebloom.

“Ow, you’re hurting me, lemme go!”
“You shut yer yap, Apple Belle!” Applejack snarled in her ear. “You sneak off like that again, anypony will take you an’ burn you at the stake!”

“You sure you got a handle on that unicorn?” the guard asked sternly.
“Yes-yessir,” Applejack stuttered nervously.

“Then take it and begone!” the guard ordered.

The trio walked out of the station and joined Granny Smith who was chatting away with the family members who came to the station to meet them. Applegem was among them.

“Ah’d like you to meet my grandfilly Applejack,” Granny Smith said, nodding to AJ. “And the two darling fillies here are Applebloom and Apple Belle.”

“My, Applebloom, you’ve grown up so much! Last time I saw you, you were just a wee little one,” the creaky old grey mare commented.
“And these ponyfolk here are Applesteam, Apple Canelle, Apple Poppins, and Applegem,” Granny smith introduced the four to Applejack and the fillies.
“Howdy, nice to meet y’all.” Applejack said with a nervous smile.
“We missed you, Applejack,” ‘Gem said in her creepy cordial accent.
Apple Poppins, the old grey mare cast a stern look at Sweetie Belle, and the others did the same.

“Annie Smith,” Applesteam stated sternly, “Why have you brought a unicorn into our town? And why in Equestria does AJ say she’s her sister?”

“We adopted her. Her mother, er- Ah mean her sister who she was living with was killed in a fire. Ah thought it would be good to introduce her to y’all, and get her to know the Apple family. She’s too young to be casting magic, and therefore won’t be a problem, Ah assure ya.”

Applesteam wasn’t convinced and still cast her death glare down at Sweetie Belle, who cowered behind Applebloom.
“Annie Smith, you know unicorns aren’t welcome here in Nimbuscait. Applejack?” Applegem prompted.
“Ah, yes, we brought here to have her dehorned. Nopony will do it back home.”

Granny Smith would have blasted Applejack for that, but not infront of their relatives.

“I think we should get going,” Apple Poppins urged uneasily, “Looks as thought it might rain again.”

As the group began to walk along the dark cobbled streets, Applesteam glared at Sweetie Belle, and hissed, “I’m watching you, don’t you dare get any ideas.”

Dehorning

The Apple family in Nimbuscait owned a large property too, just like Sweet Apple Acres, and produced tons of apples each year, as well as milk, eggs, wool, and a wide variety of garden vegetables. They also produced leather and jerky by slaughtering cows on their farm. Leather was made into clothes by the family leatherworker and the few others in down, and the meat was shipped off to other regions of Equestria where ponies actually ate meat. Some of the Nimbuscait Apple meat products even made it all the way to Pegasi customers in the clouds. There were over a hundred ponies working and living on the Apple farm in Nimbuscait. They were a very hardy and old fashioned bunch.

When Granny Smith, Applejack, Big Mac and the two fillies arrived, they were given a huge tour of the farm by Applegem, Apple Poppins, and a giant of a stallian, Applewood or ‘Woody’ as everypony called him. He was the Big Mac of their family though much bigger than Big Mac.

“What’s this site here for?” Applejack asked, pointing to an empty muddy plot of land.

“Oh, that’s going to be a pool some day. We wanted to build a pool, however, we’re always busy. We could use some extra hooves to help with the digging.” Apple Poppins suggested.

“Why, our two fillies’ll help with that while we’re here, Miss.” Applejack said, instantly crushing any hopes Applebloom and Sweetie Bell had for a vacation.
“Well, then, hard work is always good for the health. Woody, show them two where the shovels are, and they can get right to it.”
“E ’yarp.”

“B-But Applejack,” Applebloom tried to protest-
“Shut yer muzzle! Y’all need to show some appreciation for their hospitality! They need extra hooves on this here pool project, and Ah ain’t gonna have you to runnin around their here farm causin’ a ruckus! Now get along, do as yer cousin Big Woody says and get to work!” Applejack snapped harshly.

The girls both looked pleadingly at Granny Smith. She sighed, “Well, Ah was hopin’ of another way to keep you two busy, but it looks like everypony’s a-workin’ Whyn’cha two jus’ help out fer a wee bit. These Apples appreciate some hard workin’ young’n’s. and it’ll show them we Sweet Apple ponies ain’t gone soft. AJ and Big Mac might be workin’ a bit here on the farm as well.”

“Okay,” Applebloom said, and she nodded for Sweetie Belle to follow her.

“And Apple Belle!” Applejack snapped, “Ah don’t want to hear nothin’ about you complainin’ or gettin’ into trouble, understand?”

“Yes,”

+ + +
By mid day, the sky lit up briefly, and there was a lull in the rain.

The two foals shovelled slowly, handling the shovels via special hoof shoes that latched onto the shovels. Already their backs and hooves hurt. The mud was especially heavy. Whenever a pony walked by they tried to work fast, or look like they were working hard. When they started, Applewood told them he wanted to see a full trot of dirt dug out by noon. The pit was rectangular, about 10 trots by 20 trots., was supposed to be at least three trots deep.

They didn’t accomplish that in time, and they were forced to skip lunch. By afternoon, both fillies were cold and wet, hungry and tired. The freezing rain slowed them down, and they had a hard time staying on their hooves in the muck.

“This blows,” Applebloom groaned miserably, “Ah don’t even like these Nimbuscait ponies. Ah just want to go home.”
Sweetie Belle grunted in agreement, as she struggled with her shovel. Being a unicorn, she had typically less muscle mass than Applebloom. All the weeks of gruelling hard labor Applejack put her through didn’t do much to build up new muscle. She knew she was covered in rain and mud from head to hooves, and knew Rarity, Celestia rest her soul, would have had a shitfit just by looking at her.

“Ah’m awfully disappointed in you two. Ah expected to see a full trot of dirt out of there, maybe even two by now. What do you have to say for yourselves?” Woody bellowed over the wind and rain.

“We’re sorry,” Applebloom said with a cough. Behind her Sweetie Belle let off two loud sneezes, which left a drip of snot hanging from her nose.

“You damn well better be. ‘Cuz if you two were my fillies, I’d bash yer’ bums black and blue fer’ a week. You got a lot of repentin’ to do, young ladies. You know Celestia’s watchin’ you, and she ain’t gonna be pleased. By slackin’ off and loafin down in the much, I’m sure you angered her pretty good. You better repent, pray for your slothness, and hope she don’t bring the moon down on us! Ah thought Applejack taught you better. Give me one good reason why Ah shouldn’t jus’ leave you two down there fer the night?”

Applebloom and Sweetie Belle said nothing. They just bowed their heads and stared at the mud in front of their hooves.

“Damn straight you two don’t have a good reason. Cuz if you tried to give me a good reason, I’d have left you two down there fer the night then beat you some myself if I don’t see two trots of dirt out of there by sun up.”

Applewood dragged over the ladder and lowered it into the pit so they could climb out. Then when they did, he struck each of them hard in the flank with a hoof.
“Ow!” Applebloom cried, then she got hit again even harder. Same with Sweetie Belle.
+ + +

“Hold still!” Applejack said as she pressed the sponge against Applebloom’s ears. The two fillies were in a tub full of cold, soapy water.
“Let me see yer hooves,” Granny Smith instructed Sweetie Belle. She lifted both front hooves out of the water.
“Dang nab’it, the dirt’s logged in there deep.”

“So,” Applejack said sternly, “Big Woody told me that you two didn’t do jack for work today. Why?”

“We tried, it was just hard,” Appleblood answered.
“Don’t y’dare tell me y’all tried!” Applejack snarled at her, “There is no ‘try,’ just ‘do’! Big Woody wanted two trots of dirt out of that pit from the two of you. Two measly trots. Big Mac, Ah, or even Granny Smith could’ve done that in two degrees! You two’re just makin us look bad!”

“Ah’m awfully sorry,” Applebloom said, holding back sobs. She sneezed again, so did Sweetie Belle.

“Ah think these two’ve been in the cold dirt fer’ too long. They’s gettin sick,” Granny Smith lamented.

“It’s because they didn’t work hard, Granny Smith! They got sick because they didn’t work hard enough to keep themselves warm. Ah bet Celestia made them good an’ sick as punishment for their loafin’ off,” AJ argued back.

“That’s jus’ plain sour applesauce, AJ.”

The fillies were only let out after an hour after they were deemed clean enough to enter the house. Dinner was a sombre event; over a meal of thick grainy stew. It was also considered worship time where the family thanked Celestia for their successes today.
Applejack had to yank Applebloom by the ear to get her to pause and say grace before eating. She and Sweetie Belle were extremely famished. But they were forced to eat properly as opposed to gobble down their meals like back home. They didn’t pay attention to any of the conversation among the grown up ponies. They just wanted to eat then sleep. But that wasn’t the case.

The two of them were put on dish duty with two other foals who were forbidden from speaking. Then they had to scrub the pots, pans, and the kitchen floor. Apple Poppins inspected the place, and gave each of them a toothy yank on the ear for missing a spot. Two hours later and the whole kitchen was done.

At bed time, the foals were required to read passages out of books to the adult ponies. The book was strange to Applebloom and Sweetie Belle- it’s writing was hardly readable to them, and the words made no sense. They were grilled for their poor reading skills, and the pony women of the family barked and snarked about the two being sent here to attend the more hardcore rigid school.

Finally, late at night, the two foals were shown their bunks in one of the spare bedrooms of the house. Sweetie Belle expected to pass out the instant her head hit the pillow but she didn’t. She was so tired, she couldn’t even sleep.

Applebloom passed out right away and started snoring. Her snoring didn’t do much to drown out the adult ponies’ conversation from the parlor room down the hall. The door was ajar, so the audio from their conversation trickled in. Her ears perked when she heard Applejack’s and Granny Smith’s voices. Then as she was about to doze off, she heard her name, and her bloodshot eyes snapped wide open.

She slowly pushed the blanket off and got up, stepping carefully as not to make a sound (Applesteam threatened each of them a good hard hoof beating if they so much as made a sound during the night).
She peeked through the narrow opening and saw Applejack, Applegem, Apple Poppins, and a stallion named Great Bear Apple (his ears were shortened and look like a bear’s).

Sweetie Belle’s heart raced as she listened in on their conversation.

“Ah said, we brought Apple Belle up here to be dehorned. Nopony anywhere in Ponyville will do it, or even in the county. Ah mean y’all no offense in bringing her here, but it’s gotta be done.”

Sweetie Belle felt the fear returning. That was why Applejack brought her to Nimbuscait.

“Well, you could have told us in advance, Applejack. I do not like the idea of that unicorn sleeping in our house! Suppose she could put a hex on us!” Apple Canelle crooned.
“Yes, we could have had her taken right to the chapel the minute you arrived here. It would have been done then and there, and problem solved,” Poppins chimed in.
“Ah’m real sorry, can y’all please forgive me? Ah adopted her when her mother died. Ah want to make sure Apple Belle has the best life a hard working Apple pony can get. Ah don’t want her gettin’ struck down and sent to hell by Celestia.”

“Well, tomorrow’s Solar Sun Day,” Great Bear Apple grunted in his gruff voice, “How’s about first thing, we take down to the chapel and have a word with the priests. Father Grimes would very much oblige to dehorn her. It will be done at the start of service tomorrow morning.”

“And forget what Granny Smith said,” Applegem soothed, placing a hoof on Applejack’s shoulder.

“Yes, take it from me,” Apple Poppins chimed, “Annie Smith has been gone from us for so long that she’s gone soft. Trust me, Applejack, you’re doing the right thing, and in the future, Apple Belle will most surely thank you and our Solar Mother (Celestia) for dehorning her.”

“Very well, what time do we get up tomorrow?” AJ asked.

“Well, the service starts at around 40° tomorrow morning, we’ll have to get there a hour early so about 30° degrees. We’ll have ample time to speak with the priests, and then they can ring the church bell early.”

“It’s gonna be a public thing?” Applejack asked, nervously.

“Why yes, dear, most dehornings are public. During busy times, there’s almost one a week, and they’re done on holy days, and the whole town can witness the unicorn being dehorned. Consider it a baptization. Families celebrate dehornings and we revel in the fact that evil has been cut off, and the unicorn spared, along with the rest of us.”

“Very well, Applegem,” Applejack agreed, “Fine, I’ll get them two up at 25° and-”
“No dear, you simply need to wake Apple Belle. Let Applebloom sleep until its time for service.”

Sweetie Belle began hyperventilating. She felt trapped, with no way out. She did not want to be dehorned. She wanted to cast magic, like her sister Rarity. She didn’t want to be dehorned. She didn’t want to be repressed and made into an Apple pony the rest of her life. Tears welled up in her eyes.

She tried waking Applebloom by nudging her gently. “Applebloom,” she whispered desperately. She thought she’d feel safe if Applebloom was awake. Maybe...maybe the two of them could Cutie Mark Crusader their way out of Nimbuscait and back to Ponyville. Sneak over to the train station and sneak on the next train out of here.

“Applebloom,” she sobbed. But Applebloom was passed out like a log. Sweetie Belle stood by the side of her bed silently crying to herself in the dark room.
“I don’t want to be dehorned. Celestia, Luna, I don’t want to be dehorned. Please help me. Rarity help me...”

“And while the procedure is being carried out,” Apple Poppins was saying, “we all sing a particular hymn that is said to cleanse all through song.”

“That’s a great thing,” Applejack said.

Sweetie Belle wanted to scream, but she kept quiet. For all she knew, they’d probably cut out her vocal cords too.

“Applebloom, please wake up!” she cried, nudging her again. But Applebloom kept snoring.

Suddenly the door opened and the lights went on, blinding her, and scaring the crap out of her.

“What the hay, Apple Belle! What in tarnation you doing outta yer bed, missy?”

“I-I I had a bad dream!” Sweetie Belle protested.

“Well, I doubt that,” Apple Poppins snarled as she pushed Applejack aside and stormed into the room, about to grab her by the-

Sweetie Belle bolted past her and made for the door at stunning speed. Flight mode kicked in. And she damn near knocked over Applejack as she tried to catch her.
“Apple Belle, you stop right now!” she shouted.

“No!” Sweetie Belle cried out as Applejack tackled her to the hardwood floor.
“I don’t wanna be dehorned!” she screamed at the top of her lungs, “No!”

Sweetie Belle struggled to get free and kicked Applejack in the face just out of sheer panic.
“OW! Why you little-”
Sweetie Belle got free and bolted into the parlor room, frantically looking for a way out of the house. She wanted to get away. From them.

“Apple Belle!” Applegem shouted as she galloped into the kitchen. Applegem heard the commotion from the hallway. She took a wooden spoon, reached back and swung hard at Sweetie Belle, striking her full force in the face. The filly tripped up and crashed into the pantry.

Applejack, enraged, pounced on her, and started thrashing at her with her hooves. Sweetie screamed in panic and pain, then Applejack slammed her head into the floor and jammed her hooves over the filly’s mouth.
“Shut up! Just shut up you wretched little brat!”

“What’s all the noise!” roared the big old Apple Thumper, another big pony as he entered the kitchen.
“Thumper, this filly brat is acting up! I think she’s posessed,” Applegem said.
“No, she ain’t she’s just acting up because she doesn’t know when to shut up, and do what she is told!” Applejack snarled, still pressing on Sweetie Belle with her full weight.

“Ah,” Thumper grunted. “Hoof that brat to me. I’ll give’ er a good thrashing she won’t soon forget!”

“Applejack get off her,” Poppins barked.

“She’s mine, I’ll discipline her,” Applejack protested.
“Any foal that walks on this here farm is mine and I’ll punish it as I see fit, so watch yer tongue, young Sweet Apple,” Thumper roared.

“V-very well.” Applejack got off of Sweetie Belle, and Thumper stepped over her, grabbed her by the neck with his teeth and dragged her downstairs.

“Don’t beat her too hard,” Apple Poppins shouted over Sweetie Belle’s cries and screams, “She needs to be presentable for the dehorning tomorrow!”

Instead she got tied to a post and lashed with a rope, and forced to memorize religious verses and such.
Then after an hour of brutal whipping, Thumper left her hanging, tied by her front hooves, for the rest of the night.

Applebloom slept through it all, or she would have been real upset over seeing Sweetie Belle’s treatment.
+ + +

Morning came, at at precisely 30°, Apple Thumper himself dragged Sweetie Belle by the neck via a leash, out of the house and through the dark streets of Nimbuscait to the huge cathedral that towered over the town square. Applejack, Applegem, and Apple Poppins followed suit. They knocked on a side door of the huge cathedral and were let in by a monk pony.

The cathedral was a grand and magnificent stone brick structure. For more than four hundred years it weathered the elements, and was the place of worship for the twisted religion that dominated the way of life in Nimbuscait.

“Father Grimes,” the monk pony nervously spoke to the crimson robed aged pony priest, who sat hunched over his desk. Grimes looked up. He was fat, his face droopy and leathery. He was so old, and disfigured by age he hardly even looked like a pony.

“Yes, what is it?” he asked in his scratchy voice.

“A troupe of ponies arrived to seek your urgent counsel. They’re requesting a dehorning at today’s service.”

“Hmm...” Grimes grunted, and he stood up.

Sweetie Belle looked at the old preacher with total fear on her face. He looked more like a bloated demon creature than a pony.
“Apples. I should have known. Who do you bring to me this time?” Grimes demanded.

“Father Grimes, my niece, Applejack here adopted this unicorn brat, and we wish to have her dehorned.”

“Hmm,” Grimes grunted again as he leaned in close to inspect Sweetie Belle. She cringed and tried not to breathe. His breath was rancid.

“Another cursed one. Very well,” he said, putting a hoof on Sweetie Belle’s chin. She could hardly move and almost had to be held up by Applejack. She was stiff from the walloping she got from Apple Thumper. Thumper was a strict and mean as they came.

“Look at me, you wretched vermin!” Grimes snarled at her. She had to force herself to look at his face, which terrified her.

“Hmmm, yes. Very well, Apple clan. We have one other uicorn vermin to dehorn. She’ll be next. Thumper, you know the drill. Have this foal prepped, and caged! Pip!” he called to the monk pony.
“Yes, Father?”
“Have Apple...jack here learn the proper cantations for the ceremony. She shall become this foal’s primary aid to salvation. Applejack, she will be saved after that infernal horn is removed, but don’t you dare let her deviate from righteousness.”
“Y-yessir.”
+ + +

At 38° in the morning, the entire town gathered in the town square. The huge brass bells rang, echoing to the entire county. The church choir were singing their hymns as the townsponies arrived to witness the dehorning. The Apples were all present.

Sweetie Belle found herself trapped in a cage- a specialized device which closed around her body, locking her in place. She had nowhere to go. She was terrified and tears streamed down her eyes. Freezing rain pelted her. Her mane had been cut short around the horn. The creepy crimson robed church ponies stood around her, and the other foal locked in a similar restraint. He didn’t struggle like she did, he seemed resigned to his fate. He didn’t look good at all.

At the stroke of 40°, the choirs fell silent. Father Grimes, the creepy, freaky looking priest, walked around, flanked by two priests. Around his neck he sported a large golden necklace that resembled Princess Celestia’s cutie mark, their religious symbol.

Applejack stood in the audience. She was written off as untrustworthy to read the dehorning ‘blessings’ to Sweetie Belle, and the job was assigned to Apple Thumper, who was cold hearted and trustworthy enough to read them out to her with conviction.
“Psst, Poppins, what’s that they’re bringin’ out next to her?” Applejack hissed.

“Why, that’s the oil. Dehorning is a very risky process. If it brings out the magic, then the foal is doused in oil and set alight. It’s the only way to save her soul.”
Applejack gulped. She didn’t expect this to be a gamble on Sweetie Belle’s life.

“Noble stallions and mares!” Father Grimes shouted out to the crowd, “I bid you all welcome, and a happy Solar Sunday. Today before we begin today’s catechisms and sermon, I bear you to witness the cleansing of two young foals cursed by the evils to become unicorn wretches. Twinkle Leaf, and Apple Belle Sweet Apple.” Then he turned to his priests, and said, “You may begin.

The choir started singing as the priests, their faces hidden by their hoods, approached the foal named Twinkle Leaf. One pony pulled out a book and started reading a verse of an old language. The ‘executioner’ a black leather robed pony stepped up on stage, ceremoniously slipped his forward hooves into hoof shoes that had a pair of giant shears attached to them. He then turned to Twinkle Leaf, and placed the shears over his horn. Suddenly the foal began shaking and panicking, still unable to move in his cage, which was clamped tightly around him, just like Sweetie Belle.

Sweetie Belle couldn't watch and she heard the sickening crunch and wrenching snap, and the pained, agonized shriek of the foal. The horn hit the floor of the platform. A priest scooped it up with a shovel and placed into a metal container, sealed a lid on it, then tossed it into a metal barrel. He then placed a lid on it. There was a loud metallic pop, and the barrel shook.

The foal cried hard, then there was a spark of magic from the bloody gash where the horn used to be.

“The magic flares! It must be burned!” Grimes shouted, and the real horror show began. Sweetie Belle tried to turn to see the crowd, but she was positioned to face the other foal instead. The townsponies and church choirs simple began singing, then it happened. The cauldron of oil was heaved up by a hulking stallion, and dumped onto the foal. He screamed in unnatural agony as the oil began melting his coat and skin off. Before any of that could be seen, they put a torch to him and he lit up into a squirming fireball.

His screams would haunt Sweetie Belle for the rest of her life.

“And now, the other one!” Grimes proclaimed loudly.

“No...no!....NO!!!” Sweetie Belle screamed as she started shaking and trying to thrash about in her cage. She continued screaming.
“Shut yer muzzle and behave, Apple Belle!” Applejack shouted from the crowd.
Despite her screaming, the black robed pony approached as Thumper began reading his verse to her. Two robed priests approached and clamped their hooves on her face to keep her head still.

Sweetie Belle felt the bloody shears touching the base of her horn. This was it. Nothing she could do. She’d likely be oiled and burned alive like the other foal, whose screams ceased. She squeezed her eyes shut and waited for the end of her life as she knew it.

Just as the shears were about to close in on her horn, there was a sudden violent impact, and a groan from the black robed ‘executioner’ stallion. He hit the floorboards of the platform. At the same time, everypony else gasped in total surprise. Sweetie Belle looked, but couldn’t see who knocked him on his flank. There a few more hits as the other priests were thrown off their hooves.

Suddenly as loud metallic clank, and the cage that kept her clamped popped open, releasing her. Her savior grabbed her by the neck and dragged her off stage.

“What? Who? Stop her!”
“Annie Smith! What is the meaning of this?”

After she was dragged onto the street, Sweetie Belle looked up, and to her greatest relief, she saw Granny Smith standing over her, as if to protect her from the blood thirsty priests.
Granny Smith held Sweetie Belle tight, and stared hard at the priests, then she turned her head to scowl at the crowd.

“This dehornin’ is hereby cancelled! This filly is mah family, and ain’t nopony gonna hurt her!”
Safely nestled between her front legs, Sweetie Belle briefly rested her head against Granny smith’s chest and cried. She was still shit scared of what everypony would do.

“Annie Smith!” Grimes shouted at her, “You commit unforgivable blasphemy!”

“Unforgivable, you say, by who? Princess Celestia?” Granny Smith shot back, “Or by you monstrous freaks? Yer’ all sadistic! Craving the suffering and death of ponies! You’re all a despicable lot!”

More shocked gasps from the crowd. Nopony’s talked back to the priests before.

“Y’all speak of Celestia’s wrath? Hell, she ought’ta bring it down y’all for being so callous, twisted and downright cruel! Why do you think mah family left here and settled far away? To get away from you zealous freaks! We wanted to live an honest, decent livelihood not hijacked and controlled by you monsters who call yourselves priests. How dare you mock Princess Celestia this way, and tell us you represent her!”

Then she turned to the crowd, “And how dare you all for lettin’ this happen! Shame on you. Shame on all of you! Ah hope Nightmare Moon haunts your dreams for the rest of yer lives fer’ what you been doin' to all these unicorns! If Ah ever seen evil, it’s all right here in this town and this county! Frankly, y’all make sick!

“SILENCE!” Grimes shouted. As townsponies began to approach her, Big Mac galloped out and stood next to her, ready to take one anypony that dared to attack her or Sweetie Belle.

“You hush up you fiend!” Granny Smith shot back. “If earth ponies and unicorns weren't meant to live together, why in Equestria do y’all think Celestia put us on this land together? Take a look at this filly. She’s downright terrified. What harm has she ever done to you? All them wars, and mass murder and witch hunts is nothing more than the rotten fruits of your twisted runaway imaginations. Ah am sick and deeply ashamed of you ponies. Ah never want to set hoof in this here hell hole of a town again.

“Get them! Burn them all!” Grimes shouted. As the townsponies were about to converge on the three ofthem like an angry mob, the local Apple ponies stampeded out into the open and surrounded Granny Smith, Big Mac, and Sweetie Belle, and faced outward at the crowd.

“So be it, Annie Smith,” Apple Thumper said sternly, “We don’t want yer kind here anyway. You best go before we let this crowd loose on you.”

“Quit yer sniveling,” Granny Smith barked at Sweetie Belle, “We are leaving!”

Because of the influence of the Apple ponies in Nimbuscait, the crowd respected them and parted, allowing access to the train station a few blocks away.

The train, headed eastbound back to Risette, was stopped, as the train conductor and crews were forced to attend the service. In a show of solidarity to the small group of Ponyville Apples, they also walked with them back to the train.

It was a tense scene at the station. Despite they’d be cutting Granny Smith’s family off forever, the Nimbuscait Apple ponies carried out one last courtesy of protection, and formed a barrier to keep the angry townsponies from storming the train, grabbing Granny Smith, Big Mac and Sweetie Belle, and dragging them back to the pyre to burn them. There were hardly words between the two families. There was nothing to be said despite what the Nimbuscait Apples believed to be high treason on Granny Smith's part.

“Applejack,” Applegem said, “You belong with them. I’ll never understand why your grandmother stopped the dehorning, but she is the senior of your family, and you must respect her wishes,”

“Ah...Ah know...” Applejack replied, too stunned to really say anything or react. She felt sudden deep shame for double crossing Granny Smith big time, and she knew she’d get an earful of it from her on the way back home.
“Ah’ll miss ya’ll...” she said. “Come one Applebloom, get on aboard.”

Within minutes, the train crew fired up the engines and pulled out as fast as they could.

Sweetie Belle was still shaken, and even more so by the sudden save by Granny Smith. She was extremely grateful. Celestia did answer her prayers just in time. Safe and sound next to Granny Smith, who stared Applejack down, Sweetie Belle lied down on the bench next to her and cried herself to sleep.

Author's Notes:

Yes I made a bunch of OC's to fit this chapter; I didn't want to use all the official ponies.

Crushed

The wooden trestle spanning the wide Arod River shook beneath the weight of the train as it thundered across at full speed. The locomotives roared and belched out a pale blue cloud of ozone (which rapidly dissipated as the ozone molecules broke apart back into oxygen gas particles).

Outside the cabin, an unsettled mare approached a member of the train crew. “Excuse me, sir, but why are we going so fast?”

“My apologies, dear mare, but there was an incident at Nimbuscait, and had to depart ahead of schedule for security reasons. Once we are over the river, we’ll return to our normal speed, and layover at our next stop.”

Onboard, Sweetie Belle and Applebloom stared out the window feeling great relief as the huge stone walls bordering Nimbuscait disappeared behind them.

Sweetie Belle still sobbed softly, her chest heaving in short sharp breaths as tears streamed down from her eyes.

“Stop it!” Granny Smith snapped, “There ain’t no need to cry, Apple Belle. Ain’t nopony’s gonna hurt you. It’s over. Yer safe.”

Sweetie Belle tried not to cry, but she was still terrified by what happened back there. “Th-thank you, Granny Smith,” she finally said.

“You’re welcome,” Granny Smith said, patting her gently on the head.

Across the cabin, Applejack sat, with her hat in her hooves, staring out the window. She didn’t dare speak. Big Mac wasn’t inclined to say much either. They all knew the whole purpose of this trip was so they could dehorn Sweetie Belle. And it was Applejack’s idea.

“Applebloom, Sweetie Belle,” Why’cha two run along n’ gander around the train fer’ a bit?” Granny Smith suggested.

“Yes, Granny Smith,” the two said as they stepped down from their seats and exited the cabin.

As Sweetie Belle slid the door shut, the small cabin became electrified with intensity. Big Mac sensed the voltage in the air and it made him uncomfortable. He did not take well to family drama. All the big red stallion wanted some peace and quiet. Why was that so much to ask?

“Applejack Sweet Apple, look at me,” Granny Smith barked. Applejack obeyed and looked up.

“I have one question fer’ you: Why did you do it?”

Applejack didn’t answer right away.

Granny Smith grew impatient fast. “Why did you bring us all the way to Nimbuscait, just to have her dehorned? An’ why in bloody tarnation did you disobey me, and even go behind mah flank? Answer me!”

Applejack felt solid in her convictions, despite being corrupted with superstition by Applegem and the Nimbuscait Apples, but she felt herself wavering infront of Granny Smith. She felt briefly that she was entirely wrong. As an automated mental defense, she pulled up her reasoning from everything Applegem told her. She wasn’t one to lose face, not even in front of a seething mad Granny Smith.

“What if all that stuff them Apples said was true? About Celestia’s wrath an’ unicorns plaguing us-”

“That is bullshit, and you know it, AJ!” Granny Smith shouted, her shrill high pitch voice ringing out. “Is that why you did it? Because you gone and went all paranoid? Just listened to them twisted ponies without even thinking? Sweetie Belle was damn near killed today, Applejack, and so were we! If it wasn’t fer Apple family tradition to protect each other no matter what, we’d all been burned alive!”

“That’s cus’ you went and attacked the priests!” Applejack shouted back, the anger flaring up in her, “Nopony dares attack a priest, and certainly not in Nimbuscait, Granny Smith! It’s family tradition that saved us from your reckless action! You could’ve been hurt.”

“Ah don’t care if they’re ‘priests’ or the town guard or even the damned Canterlot royal guards! I’d do it again to protect any o’ mah family, even you, AJ! After all Ah taught you...has it really been fer nothing?”

“Dang nab it, Granny Smith,” Applejack fumed, “If you just sat there and let them priests do their job, none o’this would’ve happened! We wouldn’ta been disowned by our fellow Apples! How you feel about that? You went and screwed us over all fer some unicorn filly!”

There was a brief pause, then Granny Smith countered. “Ah’m glad we ain’t family with those ponies. They were really our enemies, and Ah showed ‘em up fer it. Ah won’t have my family familiate with the likes o’them. An’ Ah woulda done the damn same if they tried to de-hoof you lulling in yer work, stab out Big Mac’s eye for lookin’ at the mares, or cut out Applebloom’s tongue fer talkin’ too much.”

“What?” Applejack asked in disbelief. “Cut out A’bloom’s tongue-”

“Oh yeah, they was talkin’ about that when the lot o’ ‘em came down to visit fer Hearth’s Warming last year. You know how Applebloom is. They loathed her, remember? Would you idle on yer’ flank if they dragged her out and mutilated her in the name of purity and Celestia and all that bullcrap?”

Applejack’s ears sank and dipped downward. “Uh, no, Granny Smith-”

“And what about me? What if they wanted to flame-broil mah old flank jus’ fer bein’ old? Ah been in Nimbuscait enough times to know they execute their old folks, saying it’s an assured sendoff to heaven or some bullwacky like that.”

“Ah swear, no!”

Granny Smith’s eyes squinted as she stared Applejack down, then she said, “Ah don’t trust you.”

Applejack didn't quite show it, but that statement hurt. She simply looked down at the floor again.

Granny Smith continued her verbal onslaught. “How would any o’ us know you ain’t been brainwashed by all their religious talk to the point you’d rather let us be hobbled and scorched in the name of their religion? As sure as hell wouldn't. An’ Ah was convinced so when you didn't jump up on stage to save Sweetie Belle. Ah ran from the house buck naked, Big Mac too, when we heard the dehornin’ was underway. An’ you know how them Nimbuscait ponies don’t like it when we don’t wear clothes like in Ponyville.

“You brought us here so our relatives could shelter you and keep you soaked in their hooey, and keep us from protecting Sweetie Belle. This whole trip was so you could hurt a pony. Ah never thought Ah’d say this, but shame on you.”

That stopped Applejack dead in her argument. It was like a knife through her heart. She always aimed to make everypony happy, and hearing that from Granny Smith hurt quite a bit, but she was tough and didn't show any tears.

“This is why we never go to Nimbuscait, AJ, and this is why we hardly ever have them ponies over at Sweet Apple acres unless a harvest is compromised. They got to your head. You let them get to yer’ head, AJ. You've got alot of thinking to do, young lady. Alot. Think about what kind of pony you really are, and what kind of pony you jus’ might become. Ah know Ah’m gonna die soon, and you will be in charge of Sweet Apple Acres. You will be responsible for the raising of our apples, our vegetables, our livestock, our barns, and even Applebloom’s and Sweetie Belle’s upbringing to full grown marehood. Ah sure as rotten hay don’t want to look down from the stars and see the curse of Nimbuscait corrupt and destroy our family and farm.”

Applejack said nothing. Granny Smith got up from her seat. “Now, if y’all’ll excuse me, Ah got to use the loo.”
And Granny Smith exited the cabin. Big Mac took one look at her and left too, leaving Applejack on her own.

She sat there, slouched against the back of the seat, staring forward, completely restless. She was horribly torn between what she suddenly came to believe, and the harsh stinging, accusing words by Granny Smith. It was a harsh personal attack, and that three word phrase actually triggered her brain to release storm of hurtful memories that surged up in her. Things Applejack bottled up for years and never told anypony. Things she tried to forget since she came to Sweet Apple Acres to start a new life long ago.

She never wanted to tell anypony. She wanted to believe she was fine, and everything was dandy, but the pain came back in full force and was almost unbearable. Then she felt an instant surge of bitterness, anger and contempt towards Granny Smith for what she said to her. She practically accused Applejack of bringing down the family, and killing them, something she sure as hell would never ever do. Despite what she did back in Nimbuscait earlier (which she still felt right to do), she hated Granny Smith of saying she’d let harm come to her family.

“It had to be done!” she shouted out loud to herself, “That unicorn will hex us all and bring us all down. Ah did it to protect y’all!”

But nopony heard her. She wanted to say that, right before Granny Smith ripped her apart with her words. But then a jarring thought hit her: What if Granny Smith was right? What if the Nimbuscait Apples, who she seemingly sided with, condemned one of her own family, and decided to have one of them butchered or burned at the cathedral? She had allowed herself to be overcome with fear and superstition-

Applejack vehemently denied that line of thought, and struck herself in the head with a hoof for thinking such trash thought. She’d never let that happen to anypony she loved. Unless it was a unicorn.... She tried to keep ontop of her wave of denial to push back the pain that threatened to crush her heart.

Applebloom and Sweetie Belle walked the entire length of the ten passenger car train. Behind the passenger cars was another locomotive that hauled a long line of freight cars. Off limits to passengers. The two locomotives that pulled the train were powered by magic, which was stored in massive magic batteries. While magic propelled the engines, some of it was converted to electricity to provide lighting and communications.

The two fillies tried to put their anxieties aside as they explored the train. Each of the passenger cars was different from the other. One car was built fairly new, another nearly a hundred years old. The ‘dining’ car was fairly cheap. All there was for food was a large despenser machine full of trail mix, which ponies poured into containers. There was a concession bar, but the food, other than fruits and vegetables, was expensive. The two fillies, having removed their clothes worn in Nimbuscait, gandered at the groups of ponies who came from even further away than Nimbuscait. The Equestrian Railroad spanned the entire country (the world) and went on for thousands of kilotrots. Most ponies hardly left their own local areas, and those who had the luxury of long distance travel viewed it as an adventure.
They joined a motley group of foals who brought along boardgames and books for the trip. The two fillies did all they could to put the ‘family vacation’ out of their minds.

Anypony in neighboring Arod County who lived close to the river that bordered with Nimbuscait could say that the weather was almost always better on their side of the river. Local talk has it that darker clouds and heavier rains and fogs always hung over Nimbuscait, as if to reflect the somber atmosphere behind the huge stone wall. Today it rained there, but as the train traveled further away, the weather became nicer.

By mid afternoon, the train stopped for its layover at the town of Bristle Thatch, then resumed on schedule to Risette and arrived by evening. Ponies travelling on the other line that lead south to Corlett, Wooton, and Ponyville had to board another train, which didn't come till noon the next day. Then it would be a day and a half back home. ++

The train pulled into the station at Ponyville late in the afternoon. Scootaloo, missing her fellow Cutie Mark Crusaders, waited anxiously on the platform. Then she spotted them. “Applebloom! Sweetie Belle! Over here!”
Oblivious to their mood, she galloped up to them and hugged Applebloom tight, then Sweetie Belle.
“You guys, I was wondering when you’d get back, I was so bored! I wanted to go too but my parents wouldn't let me.”

“It’s a good thing you stayed here,” Applebloom said, “Nimbuscait sucks. Don’t ever go there.”
“Really?” Scootaloo asked, “Why?” She looked at Sweetie Belle, who just looked down at the ground. She never wanted to hear about that place ever again.
Applebloom took a quick glance at Applejack who was over talking to some other Apple ponies who came to the station to meet them. She quickly waved a hoof, indicating for Scootaloo to come close.

“Them ponies up there are complete freaks. They hate unicorns. They tried to chop Sweetie Belle’s horn o-”

“Applebloom! What y’all talkin about so hushlike for?” Applejack called.

Applebloom nervously backed away from the other two. “Uhh, Ah was just tellin' them about Big Apple Thumper’s zap apple pie-”

“Well shut yer mouth, that’s Apple Family business! An’ don’t y’dare talk about anything else, ya hear? Now come along you two, we got plenty of chores to be done!”

When something was said to be Apple Family business, that meant it wasn't to be discussed with outsiders.

Scootaloo followed them through town, asking Applebloom and Sweetie Belle a bunch of questions, and telling them about Pinkie Pie’s latest mishap at Sugarcube Corner. Apparently she screwed up on some crazy recipe and a birthday cake exploded all over the place. Scootaloo and Dinky Doo spent the day with Pinkie Pie licking up the mess. The cake was delicious. The special ingredient: pop rock candies.

“Aww gee, we haven’t been to Sugarcube Corner in so long,” Applebloom lamented.

“Scootaloo,” Applejack called, “Unless y’want to be spending the evenin’ doin chores with these two, y’better skedaddle and get on home.”

Scootaloo didn't have to be told twice. She said goodbye and was gone.

A notable thing in the history of Apple family superstition that wasn’t limited to the Nimbuscait Apples, was the concept of an equilibrium that suggested what comes up, must also come down. That translated to the Apple family as if too many good things happened, bad things would follow. That principle was what kept the Apple clans all over Equestria from enjoying life too much other than via hard work. They strongly and instinctively believed there was a trade off when it came to life and death. For every foal born into the Apple family, or a life saved, another was expected to die in some accident or sickness.

Either case, Granny Smith’s number came up. Her tragic end occurred on a day of heavy rain. Big Mac and Braeburn were trying to haul a cart full of applekins, the last of their applekin harvest. Applekins were what they got when they crossbred apples with pumpkins. The pumpkins looked like pumpkins on the outside, but under the skin, it was all apple. The Sweet Apples scratched their heads when they discovered the first applekin years ago- they cut open the pumpkin, and discovered it wasn’t a pumpkin.

Applekins were heavier than pumpkins, and Braeburn and Big Mac had a hell of a time carting them from the fields along the muddy paths to the barn. Took both stallions to haul one cart through the mud.

Granny Smith showed up and offered them some freshly baked apple cinnamon chocolate cookies and some milk.

“Why, thank you kindly, Ms Smith,” Braeburn said, tipping his hat as he ate the cookies.
“Eyyup,” Big Mac panted, and nodded.
“Aw, it ain’t nothin’ you two. So this is the last of the applekins?”
“Eyup.”
“Well you only got a hundred trots to go and the harvest will be finished. Thanks fer all yer’ help Braeburn!”
“It’s a pleasure, Ms. Smith,” Braeburn chuckled, “C’mon Mac, let’s giddyup this thing to the barn,”
“Eeyyup.”

As the two stallions proceeded to pull the wagon, the wooden wheel on it’s starboard (right) side suddenly collapsed into splinters. The whole thing suddenly lurched over, and slid, and the wagon, applekins, all fell on Granny Smith, instantly crushing her.

“GRANNY SMITH!” Big Mac and Braeburn both shouted. They immediately unfastened themselves from the cart, and began bucking the applekins and pushed the wagon off of her.

Applejack came galloping full speed from the house up the hill. “What happened?” she shouted.

“She’s hurt! Real bad!”

Granny Smith tried to speak, but coughed, and blood came up.

“N-no! It can’t be! Granny Smith!” Applejack saw right away that the old mare’s ribcage had collapsed, and she was struggling to breathe.

“We’ll get you to the hospital, hang on. Apple Cinnamon! Run into town and get help!”

“It...look...like...Ah’m...done...here,” Granny Smith croaked through her labored breathing. She looked up at the three of them and her eyes filled with tears. “Ah...Ah...Ah’ll be...watchin y’all.”

Applejack took Granny Smith’s hoof in hers. “Granny Smith, don’t die, hang in there! We’ll getcha to the hospital and fix you right up brand new, you’ll see!”

Granny Smith took one last look at Applejack, and with her final breath, she wheezed: “Remember *cough* what Ah said, A...J...don’t let this farm.*cough*...family...die...”

But Princess Celestia, the giver and taker of all life, apparently didn’t let Granny Smith finish, because, she lost consciousness and went limp. She was dead.

Applejack screamed at the top of her lungs, and held Granny Smith’s body close and cried, Big Mac and Braeburn standing over her, completely dumbstruck by Granny Smith’s sudden passing. They knew she was nearing her end but didn’t expect her to go out like this.

Despite the whole Nimbuscait thing only weeks ago, Applejack still loved and revered Granny Smith. Her death became somewhat too much for the orange pony to take.

On the following Solar Sun Day, the funeral was held at the cemetery on the western edge of Sweet Apple Acres. Many ponies came out to pay their respects. To some, she was the icon of Sweet Apple Acres, others, she was an icon of living history- one of the last connections to the founding of Ponyville. She was known and revered by many. Sure she was odd at times, but almost nopony thought lowly of her. Even Filthy Rich, one of Sweet Apple’s biggest zap apple customers, came out to pay his respect, and he dragged the unappreciative spoiled brat, Diamond Tiara, with him. The other five members of the Mane Six, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, and Twilight Sparkle attended the funeral and tried to console Applejack.

The pallbearer ponies lowered the casket into the grave and shoveled in the dirt. An elaborate tombstone was etched out and planted to mark the grave.

Applejack, one of the most proud, resilient, cheerful, stern, and mentally strong ponies in town, cried harder than the other Sweet Apple members. AJ, the one who scolded Applebloom for crying; who believed crying was for the weak, simply let it all out, or so was thought.

As winter set in, Applejack spiraled into a depression, and her grieving went on longer than normal; a concern for her friends and family. Twilight Sparkle tried to examine her, but she refused to talk about much, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy tried to cheer her up but with little success.

One day in early Winter, as freezing rain and snow lashed the landscape, Applejack sat in her bedroom staring out the window. The raindrops spattered loudly on the glass, and the wheels in her mind began turning erratically. At first she blamed herself for Granny Smith’s death, and beat herself up for not seeing it coming, not being out there to pull Granny Smith out of harm’s way, or stop the cart from falling on her.

The mystery of the accident was quickly figured out: the wheel collapsed under the weight of the applekins. All night she prayed to Celestia, begging for forgiveness, and asking why this had to happen but she never got a reply.

Then, as her mind destabilized, she spotted Big Mac, Applebloom and Sweetie Belle hauling another cart full of feed for the animals. She looked at the wheels on that cart, then at Sweetie Belle, then a bunch of nerves suddenly snapped together in her brain with an electrical surge, and her thoughts suddenly became clear:

Sweetie Belle killed Granny Smith. That little unicorn witch put a spell on that cart. Made the wheel give out. All the things the Nimbuscait Apples told her ran through her head over and over again, about unicorns, curses, death and destruction. She remembered the reasons Applegem told her they had about dehorning and killing unicorns. Then she remembered the what-goes-up-must-come-down principle: Granny Smith saved Sweetie Belle, and for that Granny Smith was killed. Suddenly, she felt a surge as all her hatred focused on Sweetie Belle.

Applejack wanted to kill her. Not just for killing Granny Smith, but to stop her from bringing more curses, mayhem, death, disease, and destruction on the farm. Applejack remembered what Granny Smith always told her about family and farm: never let the two fall and die out.

Applejack wanted to take a pitchfork, and jam it right through that little unicorn’s heart and lungs. She wanted to tie her up, douse her in oil and set her on fire, just like the priests rightfully did to the other foal back in Nimbuscait. She wanted to pack that unicorn two trots under the dirt in Everfree, so that the dangerous, vile creatures there may devour the body and magic.

However, her intent to kill Sweetie Belle was cut short by Granny Smith’s harsh words on the train, and her warning of who Applejack just might become. Applejack always respected Granny Smith, and always followed through with what she said, until she was exposed to the superstition from the Apples up north. She also remembered what she was told at a young age about death:

When ponies died, their spirits ascended to the sky and watched the living through the nighttime stars. Their souls went back to Princess Celestia, but their spirits remained in a new ethereal form and watched the living through Celestia and Luna. She knew that just because Granny Smith died, she’d still be watching Applejack, and one day, when Applejack kicked the bucket, she’d join Granny Smith in the next life, or in pony heaven or wherever, and she’d get it for sure whatever she did in these years between their deaths.

Fear of disappointing Granny Smith, her one great parent and mentor in her life, was what shut down Applejack’s intent to kill Sweetie Belle, and placed her back at the center of her struggle between her loyalty to Granny Smith, and belief and obedience in the strict superstitious ways of the ponies in Nimbuscait, and the fear of hell they instilled in her.

Also, to make matters much worse, Applejack’s past memories surged through her and mixed with all this. She went insane. Insane with anger and frustration. At herself, at Granny Smith, and at Sweetie Belle. Applejack bucked and kicked the furniture in her bedroom until everything was damn near destroyed, and the walls were ruined with hoof sized dents. She screamed bloody murder and went insane as the demons of her past haunted her. Eventually, she hit the floor and curled up in a heap and cried.

If anypony opened the door and saw her like this, she just might have tried to kill them out of mere impulse. She couldn’t stand to see herself like this, no way in hell she’d let anypony else see her in this condition.

In the week following that fateful day, Applejack remained secluded in her room while Big Mac and the fillies carried out the daily chores. School ended for winter break, so Applebloom and Sweetie Belle had more time to help Big Mac with the chores. Winter chores were far less than summer chores. All that had to be done on a daily basis was to feed the animals and clean up their slop.

Applejack finally put herself back together, and re-appeared as she stepped down the stairs into the kitchen.

“Been a while AJ. Y’all right?” Big Mac asked.
“Y-yeah, Ah’m fine. Never been better actually. Ah been prayin’ to Celestia is all. Ah hate-”
She set her eyes on Sweetie Belle, and they flared with anger, then she caught herself.
“-mahself fer what happened to Granny Smith. Ah should’ve been there to protect her.” From you, blasted unicorn wretch.

“These things happen,” Big Mac said matter of fact-ly, “Real sad, but she’s with Celestia now. Perhaps pray to Luna, and Luna just might let you visit Granny Smith in yer’ dreams when y’ sleep.”

“Really?” Applebloom asked, wide eyed.
“Eyyup. Eat yer’ soup, A’bloom. You too Apple Belle.”

“Heh.” Applejack grunted. She was still slightly out of it. “Well, she’ll be sorely missed, but never forgotten. Ah’m ready to get back to it. Thanks fer’ coverin’ for me Big Mac.”
“Eyyup.”

From this point on, Applejack’s personality fractured. When she was in control of herself, she was the normal Applejack, who got over her grandmother’s death and was the proud owner and hard working chief commanding farmer of Sweet Apple Acres, and her family.
However, the other side of her always threatened to seep in, and flood her mind with thoughts about her subconscious grudge against Sweetie Belle, and her unrelenting anger over Granny Smith’s death.
Such hatred played out whenever Applejack was angry at Sweetie Belle, and when she disciplined her for this or that.

Without even her knowing it, as the days, weeks, and months passed, Applejack grew colder, meaner, sterner, and stricter. She turned into a crazed workaholic, always obsessing about the farm and all the work needed to be done to keep the place in top condition. She soon came to become furious when she saw ponies loafing off and playing around, especially Applebloom and Sweetie Belle, even when their work was done.

She took it out on them by assigning more chores and projects, and making the two fillies work on their school work for hours in the evening, even though their homework was already done. Applejack got another Apple pony to make up busy work for them and keep them on their hooves from dawn till dusk.

At first they complained, griped, groaned, whined, then Applejack took out the belt, or a stick, or a rope and lashed that out of them. They learned the hard way that the meaner, angrier, workaholic Applejack was here to stay, and they better hoof down and obey. The days when Applejack was a nicer, kinder earth pony were slowly waning into the past. And Sweetie Belle got the worst of it.

After Hearth’s Warming, Applejack put those two on a tough regimen of schoolwork and chores. Her expectation was that their school grades went up. She flew into a rage if there was so much as one bad mark on their weekly report cards from their teacher Cheerilee. She expected no less than 99% marks on all their assignments. And she whooped them good when they came home with bad results.

Of course, the chores ran from early morning before school, all day after school and into the evening. That was followed by hours of homework and homeschooling by Apple Dumpling. They were not allowed to get tired, or distracted. Social time was also cut short, even to the point where Scootaloo was not allowed over unless she joined Applebloom and Sweetie Belle in their chores and homework.

They hardly ever got time to go back to their Cutie Mark Crusader treehouse, which eventually got taken over by other foals. Each of the CMC’s sadly speculated that the days of the Cutie Mark Crusade were over.

Sugarcube Corner was declared off limits. Applejack’s reasoning: Sweets, candies, cakes, puddings, and all that was bad for their health, and they were only allowed to eat food produced and cooked on the farm. One time during spring when Applebloom and Sweetie Belle snuck off and joined Scootaloo at the Corner, Applejack caught them, and lashed them hard for it, and sentenced them to no supper for three days.

Another thing was that Applejack hardly let the two out of her sight when they went into town, and that was basically only to sell apples and buy supplies and materials. Foals usually ran around town free, there was a general agreement that everypony look out for everypony else’s foals. If there was a problem, anyone could help out and get that foal back to his or her parents. Ponies in town did take note and comment to one another about Applejack keeping her fillies on a tight leash in town. They had to be in her sights or they got in trouble.

But the best part was Applejack’s explosive reaction when Sweetie Belle brought up magic. It was suppertime during a day in mid spring. Sweetie Belle spent the last two weeks gathering the courage to ask. She knew full well Applejack despised unicorn magic, but she went ahead and brought up the subject at her peril.

They were sitting at the table, eating a vegetable-hay pot pie, when Sweetie Belle swallowed her food and began to ask.

“Um...Auntie Applejack?” Sweetie Belle hesitantly asked.
“What is it, sugarcube? Well, go on, spit it out!”
“I....I...well...you...know....you know Tootsie Flute? She’s in our class. She...she signed up for-”
“C’mon Apple Belle, quit acting like a broken sheep whistle and talk already! Yer’ stuttering is startin’ to piss me off,” Applejack strongly prompted her.
“She started having magic sparks.”
“What!?”

Applebloom couldn't take the suspense, and with the innocent of intent on being helpful, she spoke up. “Tootsie Flute started making magic in class on Mariday. Cheerilee said she should sign up for magic training. Parents have to sign a permission form. Sweetie- er I mean Apple Belle wants to go too.”

Applejack flipped the buck out. If she saw this coming, she would have tried to keep herself under control, and given a more calm lecture about how much she hated and forbade magic. She jumped up and slammed her hooves on the table, tipping over the juice jug and their glasses. Juice spilled everywhere.

“What the bloody rotten hay are you talking about goin to yer’ infernal magic trainin’ for, you little brat! So you can hurt ponies and burn their houses down? So you can poison their food and sour their milk? Is that it? Is it not enough for you that Granny Smith died to save yer life-damned flank?” she shouted at the top of her lungs.

Sweetie Belle’s eyes welled up with tears.

“Don’t you dare start up the water works, little missy, or Ah’ll take you out back by the ear and hoof beat ‘em tears out of ya!”

Both fillies were too stunned and scared to even move. They sat with their flanks rooted to their chairs. Applejack continued ranting. “You get this right and remember it real damn good, Apple Belle. Magic is a cursed power from the evil. The enemy of Celestia and life itself. Ah don’t care who or exactly where it comes from, but it is absolutely forbidden here on mah farm and in mah family! Ah won’t you growin’ up to be another accursed witch! Ah don’t care if the other unicorn brats in yer class are popping out their little infernal unholy sparks. Cheerilee ought’a put caps on them so they don’t burn down the whole dang school! No, yer’ NOT going to that hocus pocus magic club, an Ah’m gonna make damn sure Cheerilee knows that. Don’t you dare ever, ever ask me about magic or mention it to me again, Apple Belle! Or Ah swear to Princess Celestia, Ah will drag you by the ear all the way to Nimbuscait and chop that horn off mahself! Do Ah make myself clear?”

That shut Sweetie Belle up, and she simply nodded. She was paralyzed with fear. No Granny Smith to save her this time. The all-too-clear memories of the other unicorn that got flamebroiled alive next to her came back.

“Yer’ gonna grow up to be a hard workin’ earth pony, and that’s that. Now shut up and finish yer supper.”

Minutes later, Big Mac entered the kitchen through the back door, carrying a bucket of milk. He saw the two fillies sitting scared stiff in their chairs, and spilled juice all over the table and floor.
“Dang it, Applejack, what y’ blow a gasket over this time?”

“Big Mac,” Applejack replied, pointing her spoon at Sweetie Belle, “Apple Belle here needs to learn real good that magic is absolutely forbidden, and she will NOT be using magic at all on the farm, in school, or anywhere else in her life as long as Ah’m in charge, and that is final.”

And so these things were just a small hoof-full of examples that indicated Applejack was slowly becoming a psychopathic deranged workaholic religious control freak.

Rarity's Alive

As Applejack became more totalitarian of a family dictator, Sweetie Bell engaged in another survival strategy: she tried to conform. She wanted to please the Apple family. She felt a faint glimmer of hope in trying to do as Applejack expected of her. She also thought that when she became an adult mare, she could make her own decisions, leave Sweet Apple Acres and live like a normal unicorn and learn some magic.

Despite being rescued by Granny Smith back in Nimbuscait, Sweetie Belle slowly gave up hope that she could escape from the Apple family, and figured she had to accept this new life Princess Celestia gave her. Celestia took away Rarity, and her own life as she knew it, and planted her in Applejack’s family. Sweetie prayed most nights, asking, even begging why Celestia did this to her.

Granny Smith’s death was just as hard on Sweetie Belle as it was for Applejack. Granny Smith was the one mare in the family the unicorn filly trusted, the one who saved her life. Now she was gone, and Applejack reigned supreme over her entire life...and she never let up on her threats of having her dehorned. Applejack slipped those words in her scoldings and her casual talk when she ranted about unicorns and magic. One time Sweetie Belle asked her what about all the other unicorns in Ponyville, the ones who bought their apples.

“Apple Belle, them unicorns are good customers, and Ah don’t mind them bein’ in Ponyville and all, but Ah sure ain’t havin’ none of them and none of their hocus pocus magic on mah farm! Ah won’t risk Celestia ventin’ her wrath on us!”

“But AJ, you met her. Isn't she nice?” Applebloom protested.

“Heh,” Applejack spat, “That’s what Celestia WANTS y’all to think. But anypony is a dumbass fool to assume that Celestia’s jus’ nice and all friendlike. She’s just puttin’ on a show to reward her subjects for our loyalty and servitude, but any smart pony knows that they can be wiped out in the blink of an eye. Any wise pony knows he or she better live in fear. That’s what Princess Celestia really wants, and Ah ain’t riskin anything or anypony dear to me by trottin around like she can’t hurt us, because she can! That’s why she took Granny Smith from us.”

And of course, Applejack glared at Sweetie Belle, with a brief flicker of subconscious hatred in her eye.

That made sense to Sweetie Belle. She felt horrible. Rarity was too decadent, too posh-like and self centered of a unicorn, obsessing about clothes and ignoring real problems in the world. And so Celestia acted, and to prevent Sweetie Belle from following in Rarity’s hoofsteps, Celestia killed Rarity, and placed Sweetie in the ultra-pious Apple family.

So she tried to hoof down and do as she was told. She hated life, but reminded herself of what Applejack said, and did what she could to make the best of it. On days Applejack wasn’t full of loathing and hatred for the filly, she saw an improvement in her attitude and behavior.

However, of all the things Sweetie Belle had to deal with on a daily basis, from the moment she woke up to the moment she was back in bed, one thing was inevitable: the magic. It would not be ignored. It would not be suppressed. It would grow in her whether she wanted it to or not.

When young unicorn foals come of age, their magic systems begin to develop and become active. The process is almost like a magical form of puberty. The body begins to produce magic, which is stored in the horn. As her system’s magic capacity began to grow, she would ‘max out’ and unwittingly release small sparks of magic from her horn.

In other families, parents celebrated their foals’ ‘first spark,’ and dutifully began bringing home spell books. At the Ponyville school, foals’ whose magic was just beginning to blossom were placed in a standard magic training program during the day. Most unicorn parents hardly objected, unless they wanted to train their little ones themselves.

The onset of magic development wasn’t always perfect; foals experienced aches in their bodies as they were exposed to their own magic for the first time, most often in their horns. Some stayed home from school. While lucky unicorn foals experienced little pain or odd sensations, others experienced what doctors called ‘magic migraines,’ which kept the poor foals in bed.

Another great symptom was magic radiation sickness the foals experienced as their bodies were exposed to more radiation. The sickness lasted at least two weeks as their bodies adapted to the radiation of magic.

Learning to control their magic was a long process, and almost every unicorn can say he or she was uncontrollably shooting sparks everywhere at some time or another. One of the many functions Twilight Sparkle had in Ponyville was workshop classes for foals and their parents to help cope with this important stage in their lives.

But for a little white filly who was destined for a magicless life on the apple farm, the onset of magic meant the start of a new living hell.

Sweetie Belle experienced more headaches and was still forced to work and complete her school work. She began to feel itching, burning and aching sensations all over her body, and sometimes it really bothered her, and yet she had to pretend like nothing was wrong when Applejack was around.

One fun day, Sweetie Belle staggered all the way to school. She lasted the morning in class, then at recess, she puked. Cheerilee, having taught for years, knew her plight and took Sweetie Belle to the infirmary.

Sweetie Belle begged Cheerilee not to send a note to Applejack.

“Sweetie Belle,” Cheerilee said soothingly, “It’s just magic sickness. Each unicorn goes through it. I do think you need to go home and rest. I’m sure Applejack will understand.”

Applejack understood allright, and she showed it by lashing her with a rope until her flank was bright red, then dragged her out to the chapel in the farm and made her sit and pray.

Sweetie Belle tried to stifle the magic at home, and she got motivation from the Apple ponies to do so: a beat to the horn. That hurt like hell, and it caused her to involuntarily collapse in a heap, unable to move for at least a minute.

But the magic would not be ignored. It was a part of her and would drive her to hell and back to make itself known to poor Sweetie Belle.

In mid Spring, Applegem paid a surprise visit to Sweet Apple Acres. Applejack was thrilled to see her and told her to invite some of the Nimbuscait ponies to live here (many more ponies were needed as she was expanding Sweet Apple Acres).

“I’m sorry, Applejack, dear,” Applegem lamented over tea in the parlor of the house that afternoon. “But nopony in the family will even see you, write to you or talk to you. They’re all very angry with what happened.”

“Ah, know, Gemmy,” Applejack sighed, “Ah was really hoping we could patch things up now that Granny Smith is gone.”

“So was I, but they won’t have any of it. Apple Thumper was all a-rage for a week, saying if you showed up in Nimbuscait again, he’d personally tie you to the pyre and burn you.”

“Heh,” Applejack chuckled nervously, then she grew bitter. “All ‘cuz o’ that damn unicorn brat. She hexed Granny Smith. Ah know so. Ah should’ve ripped that horn out of her fer that.”

“It’s sad, really,” Applegem lamented. “Oh, by the way, dear, I was disturbed when I received your letter about Apple Belle generating magic. I bought a couple of things during my stay in Abille.”

Applegem opened one of her side bags, and pulled out a leather cone-shaped article with straps and buckles one it and everything.

“What is that?” AJ enquired.

“It’s a horn cap, dear. Place it over Apple Belle’s horn, and it will stifle the magic. It’s got thin iron plates underneath the leather. The iron will keep magic from flaring up in her and should help to prevent further growth, provided she wears this cap alot.”

“Why, that’s awful kind of you, Gemmie,” AJ thanked her.

“Not at all, I’m sure. I’ve also brought some medicine from the alchemist in Nimbuscait. We would have had some made for you, but you had arrived on the weekend, and the alchemist there wasn’t available.”

Applegem pulled out a jar full of a thick milky liquid.

“What is that? Some kind of weird milk?”

“Something like that,” Applegem replied. “I’m not sure exactly what it’s made from, the alchemists like to keep their concoctions a secret for business’ sake. What that will do is it will seep into the magic glands and the horn and slowly kill them, making Apple Belle no longer able to make magic. She must have a spoonful twice a day at breakfast, and at bedtime. The alchemist warned that for a first few days as it begins to take effect, the filly will feel sick, but its normal, and after a week or two, she shouldn’t feel a thing. It is imperative, he said, that Apple Belle finish this bottle from the start, and not miss a dose.”

“Very well, she’ll start this at supper.” Applejack replied.

“Yes, a double dose, one at supper and one at bedtime should be sufficient.” +

After a hard day of working the fields, Big Mac, Applebloom, and Sweetie Belle washed up over by the pumps and washhouse, and entered the house.

“Ah’m famished!” Applebloom blurted out.

“Well, that’s mighty good to hear,” Applejack said from the kitchen, ‘Cuz Ah got carrot soup and salad on here fer ya.”

Supper was a typical event: the fillies ate silently as the adult ponies talked. When she saw Applegem, Sweetie’s heart sank and she felt afraid, but she greeted her respectfully, pretending not be frightened of the mare who suggested the whole dehorning thing.

Applegem talked about her trip to the Apple family up in the town of Abille, some creepy place just south of Nimbuscait.

“...And of course, Applejack, I told them about all the help needed down here at Sweet Apple Acres, and quite a few ponies agreed to move down here. Apparently it’s getting too crowded in Abille,”

“Well, that’s a dandy relief,”

“Of course. They should be here in a couple of weeks,”

After the dishes were finished, the two fillies left the kitchen to join Apple Dumpling in the parlor for their evening schooling.

“Apple Belle, come back in the kitchen! It’s time for yer medicine,”

Sweetie Belle hesitated, then slowly came back. Applejack and Applegem stood there, staring her down.

“W...what medicine?”

Applejack showed her the jar of ‘milk,’ then grabbed a tiny shot glass from the cupboard..

“It’s good fer you. It’ll keep that infernal magic from brewin’ up in ya.”

Sweetie Belle would have simply said, ‘Yes, Auntie Applejack,’ however, her magic driven instinct caused her to hesitate, and she said, “I...I...I don’t want to take that medicine. I can keep my magic from sparking, honest.”

“Don’t you dare talk back to me like that!” Applejack snapped furiously, “Ah said yer gonna take this medicine, and yer’ damn well gonna take it! Now open up, or Ah’ll cram it down yer throat!”

Applegem didn’t even give Sweetie Belle a chance to respond, instead she bit her by the ear and yanked her toward Applejack. “You sit there, and do as she says!”

“Ow!”
“Shush up!” Applejack snapped, “Now open up.”

Still she hesitated, then Applegem did the downright cruel thing, she struck her on the horn. Sweetie Belle was instantly paralyzed by the sheer electrical agony as it surged through her. She let out a high pitched squeak and fell to the floor. Applegem then pried open Sweetie’s mouth and Applejack poured the foul smelling medicine in.

It was the most disgusting, metallic, dusty kind of thing Sweetie ever tasted, and her face scrunched up, but she got no time to react as Applejack clamped her mouth shut with her hooves. “Swallow it if ya know what’s good fer ya! Ah said swallow it, or Gemmie will strike you on the horn again!”

Sweetie Belle, fuelled by fear, forced herself to swallow the nasty concoction. Her stomach threatened to eject it, but she managed to hold it in. She laid on the floor sobbing.

Applegem then took the horn cap and placed it over the filly’s horn and tightened the straps. It’s weight pushing any which way on her horn was very uncomfortable.
“This horn cap stays on, you hear?”
Sweetie nodded.

“Enough of the water works, Apple Belle. Now get up and go join Apple Dumpling!” AJ commanded. The filly, crushed into submission again, obeyed.

As predicted, the medicine made her good and sick. The next morning, Sweetie Belle woke up in a sweat, with her body aching all over. She felt weak and hardly able to move at all. When she tried to eat, she simply puked. She felt extremely dizzy and was almost unable to talk. And her horn throbbed with so much pain she could hardly move her head at all.

“Y’best stay in bed,’ Applejack told her, “Must be a real bad bug you caught there.”

A few days later, Sweetie Belle felt well enough to go to school, but that morning’s dose put her out of it again, and she spent the morning in class slumped over her desk shaking. Cheerilee, assuming it was typical magic sickness, took her to the infirmary.

The horn cap didn’t help either. It was itchy, it made her horn hurt and gave her killer headaches, and she felt completely humiliated whenever she was forced to wear it on the farm. On the other hoof, Applejack refused to let Sweetie wear the horn cap when she went to school or anywhere in town. On the farm, however, Sweetie took it off often when Applejack wasn’t looking just for a mere moment of relief from the itching and pain it caused her.

After the first week of that medicine, Sweetie Belle generally felt weaker than usual and even walking or doing the easy chores turned into a difficult feat. She was punished by the Apple ponies for being lazy, but she couldn’t help it.

Then, some good news: one Saturday morning, while the fillies were out helping the other ponies with the farm work, Applejack found the bottle in the garbage can, smashed, and its contents spilled all over the trash. She was livid.

“Apple Belle!” she screamed from the porch of the house. Sweetie Belle came back. “Y...yes, Auntie Applejack?”
“You mind telling me why your medicine is in this here garbage can?”
“It wasn’t me, I swear!” Sweetie protested. “I never knew where you kept it.”
“Don’t you dare lie to me or Ah’ll give you a good paddlin’!
“I didn’t touch it!”
Just as Applejack was about to reach back with a hoof and bop her, she saw the truth in the filly’s eyes. Being one for honesty, or even the Element of honesty and truth, she knew Sweetie didn’t do it.

“Fine, get outta here and finish up yer work! An’ go tell everypony that Apple Cobbler and Apple Leaves almost got them hay pancakes ready.”

After breakfast, they loaded up the apple cart, and hauled it into the market square in Ponyville. They spent the morning and early afternoon selling apples. In town, Applejack acted joyful and cordial to everypony. She was favorite among them, even the unicorns she secretly despised. The Apples sold out quickly, and Big Mac was getting the cart ready to tow it back to the farm.

Having finished selling their apples and apple goods early, Applejack took her two fillies to the general store. There she ran into Cheerilee. While the two talked, Applebloom and Sweetie Belle looked around at the books.

“Hey, you two! Keep to the farm section where Ah can see you!” she called.

While Applebloom looked at the wide variety of farming publications and books, Sweetie Belle once again followed her magic instinct. If she could describe how she felt about her own magic, she would say that it was hurt, and angry, and still wouldn’t relent.

Sweetie even speculated that she might have smashed the bottle of ‘medicine’ while walking in her sleep. She then bitterly thought, why couldn’t she sleepwalk out of Sweet Apple Acres and far away? Wake up somewhere safe and seek out some unicorns who could help her. She thought if she went across the county line into Corlett, a good sixty kilotrots east, somepony would be willing to listen and help her, and not just send her back to Applejack. That would be at least two or three days to get there on her little hooves, but if she could sneak out of the house during the night when nopony could notice, she’d make the long walk.

Sweetie mused in thought when she got the urge to walk over to the magic book section. The spell books were small, with only a few pages. They were basic spells, nothing fancy; just for levitating and moving objects, making colors with magic, putting on little light shows, and such.

“Those books are about 25 bits each,” the store keeper called to her, startling her.
“Uh, thank you, sir,” Sweetie said in a hushed voice. She breathed a sigh of relief when she realized Applejack didn’t see her here.

She’d have opened the spell books one by one and read through them, but they were sealed. A smaller selection of ‘used’ spell books and scrolls filled a nearby box. She thought to take a look. Sweetie sifted through the spell books with her hoof.
“Those won’t do you any good, little filly,” the storekeeper said, “they’ve been used up. Those are to be recycled by the alchemist and enchanters. You can read them, but you won’t get anything out of them.”
“Oh, ok,” Sweetie nodded sadly. She didn’t really know that was how spell books worked.

Meanwhile, Applejack and Cheerilee got into a heated debate. Sweetie Belle peered around the bookshelf and tried to listen in on them.

Sweetie felt safe looking at the books. She read through the magic self help books, and tried to look for something on horn caps or anti-magic ‘medicine.’ Above the table was an old poster of a famous pegasus, Snowdrop. The words below her read in capital letters, ‘BELIEVE & ACHIEVE.’

Sweetie recalled Cheerilee’s lecture on Snowdrop, who lived thousands of years ago, and invented snowflakes. Apparently Snowdrop was blind, and she made snowflakes.

Sweetie thought about that, and considered that one had to see to design snowflakes. Somehow Snowdrop got the job done. On that note, Sweetie asked herself, how the hell could a magicless unicorn accomplish something magic related? She stared at the poster. It had yellowed, and torn along its edges. This general store was old; it had been built around the time Ponyville was founded.

Sweetie tuned her ears to Applejack’s and Cheerilee’s conversation.

“...this whole thing with Big Mac, it ain’t right, Cheerilee,” Applejack was saying.

“What do you mean it isn’t right?” Cheerilee challenged.
“Well, jus’ look at you two. It’s like two puzzle pieces that don’t fit. Yer’ a fine upstanding school teacher, and everypony respects you. Yer smart, intelligent, pretty, an’ all that, and well, Ah think yer’ out of Big Mac’s league. You can find yerself a much better stallion who’s more compatible with you.”

Sweetie shook her head in disgust. Applejack was trying to split Big Mac and Cheerilee up. That relationship was one of the accomplishments of the Cutie Mark Crusaders. She, Applebloom, and Scootaloo got those two to fall in love two years ago, and now they were getting serious.
After chores and supper, Big Mac left the farm to spend the evenings with her.

“So?” Cheerilee argued, “So what if we’re different.”

“Between you and me,” Applejack said quieter, “Ah think ur love with him is a foul trick by them unicorns. They must be laughin’ their flanks off at you two.”
“Really, Applejack?” Cheerilee questioned, unimpressed, “I don’t think so. And why don’t you like us being together? Is it an Apple family thing?”

“No,” AJ replied, “Yer smart, Big Mac, well, he’s dumb. He’s just dumb. Ah mean he’s good at the farm n’ all, but his brain’s emptier than a spider’s web in Winter. He’s just a big dumb lug, and he don’t talk much.”

Cheerilee scoffed, “Big Mac doesn’t seem to talk much, but when he does, he shows me a world of insights and knowledge he has. He’s alot smarter and more inquisitive than you think or he even lets on. He’s your brother-”

“Ah know that.”
“-and you should be supportive of him, not trying to ruin things. If I didn’t know any better, I’d guess you want to control him and make sure he’s helping on your farm.”

Applejack sighed. Cheerilee got her there. “Miss Cheer, Ah do need all the hooves Ah can get at Sweet Apple Acres, and Ah can’t have ponies gettin’ distracted and runnin off-”

“Applejack, I want you to know that I am not keeping your brother from his work, and that is not my intent. As far as I know, Big Macintosh is happy at Sweet Apple Acres, and when he decides he wants to pursue something else, it will be his decision and not mine. Now, I’d like you to stop interfering with us, please. I’m done talking about it.”

“Very well,” Applejack ceded, “by the way, how are Applebloom and Apple Belle doin’ at school?”

“Why do you insist on calling her Apple Belle?” Cheerilee was asking.
“That’s her name. We changed it,” AJ answered, “She just refuses to accept it is all.”

“But still...anyways, the name isn’t my only concern,” Cheerilee went on, “The last few days, Sweetie Belle has been home sick alot, and I’m just wondering if she’s ok-”

“She is perfectly fine. We had some relatives come down from Abille, and she caught a bad bug from them. Now, how are they on their school work?”

Cheerilee sighed, “No less than perfect. I almost wish the rest of my class worked as hard as those two do. What’s your secret?”

“Ah got mah cousin Apple Dumpling schooling them in the evenings.”
“I see. Now, about Sweetie Belle- The last few moons, she has sauntered into class looking very down in the dumps. She has spoken to me about some things-”

“Like what?” Applejack demanded. “Because that filly has no right to complain about anything.”

“Well,” Cheerilee said, trying to gather her thoughts, “Sweetie Belle told me that she gets in trouble for her magic at home, even an involuntary spark, and she told me that magic is not allowed at home. She also said that you refused to let her attend the magic class-”
“Miss Cheerilee, Ah need to ask you not to worry about that. Those matters are Apple family business, and she’s got no right complaining’ to other ponies about it! What else she say?”

“I overheard Sweetie Belle talking to her friends about ponies trying to dehorn her?”

“Hah,” Applejack scoffed, “Now Ah know that is a pure lie. She’s jus’ makin’ that up to get attention. Ah’d never do that to her. And the whole thing about magic not bein’ allowed on the farm is another lie she made up. Y’see the thing is, we do a lot of work around the farm, takin’ care of the animals, gathering the apples, plant’n new stuff all the time. Sweetie just hates the work is all. Applebloom does it no problem, but Sweetie- you know how Rarity raised her. She think’s everypony in Equestria will cater to her, well Ah’m trying to straighten her up and iron that right out of her.”

Cheerilee wasn't solidly convinced, but didn't see a point in pursuing the argument. “Very well. I simply brought it up because lately, she’s been very miserable.”

“That’s jus’ her bein’ a rotten spoiled brat, Ah assure you.”
“You’re nice,” Cheerilee scoffed. Their conversation continued a bit more and Sweetie Belle found the magazine rack.

The magazine rack had weekly and monthly publications from the town, county, and even from Canterlot. Sweetie looked at the magazines about magic. They had new spells conjured up by unicorns for day-to-day life. Then, she looked at the second magazine, and she gasped. Her eyes went wide open and jaw dropped. It was a hell of a shock, because on the cover of the Canterlot Fashion Magic Weekly was Rarity.

‘Ah told you fer the last time,’ Applejack’s words rang out in the back of her mind, ‘Rarity is DEAD!’

Sweetie Belle nervously looked around, and checked to make sure Applejack wasn’t walking around. To her relief, Applejack was talking to somepony else. Cheerilee had bought a box of chalk for her chalkboard and left.

Her heart racing, Sweetie Belle picked up the magazine and flipped through it. Maybe it’s just a memorial tribute thing for her, the thought. Afterall, why would Applejack lie about her being dead?

Sweetie found the article and started reading through it, looking up and checking for Applejack. If Applejack caught her in the magic book section, she’d get whipped for sure.

After reading, Sweetie tried to sum it up in her brain: Rarity was alive. She had recovered from the fire, went out and started a new fashion boutique in Canterlot, and from what Sweetie read, Rarity was having much better success than in Ponyville. She was actually tailoring for some of the elite ponies, including Fancy Pants and his club; even Princess Cadence. She was making colossal amounts of bits. Not once in the interview script was there any mention of Sweetie Belle. She waved a hoof at Applebloom who silently came to her.

“Take a look at this,” Sweetie said, pointing a hoof at a page, “Rarity’s alive.”
“Really?” Applebloom asked in disbelief, and she looked it over-

“Applebloom! Apple Belle! Where are you two?” Applejack snapped. Both fillies rushed over to the farm book section, but AJ was on to them.
“What the hay you two doin’ over there?”
Applebloom quickly covered for Sweetie Belle: “We was lookin at some fancy tractor books over there, h-honest.”
“Y’better not be lyin’ to me, A’bloom!”

Applebloom shook her head.

“Fine. Let’s go, it’s gettin’ late. We gotta get back and milk them cows.”

That night, in bed, Sweetie felt completely restless, and couldn’t sleep. All her thoughts were on Rarity, and the life she had in Rarity’s home before the fire. Rarity was virtually the only family she had; the parents seldom in Ponyville to see her.

Rarity was the uptight, proper, classy kind of unicorn; sometimes even more so than some of the Apple family ponies, but in a different, nicer kind of way. She always liked having her home and workplace (the Carousel Boutique) being clean and tidy, as Rarity had an obsession for cleanliness. The only mess she permitted was in her studio where all the materials and supplies were in such a mess she knew where everything was, and somehow the ‘arrangement’ of things inspired new dress designs.

Rarity was an uptight, finicky one, and at times full of herself, or overboard with her flair for drama. Sweetie Belle on the other hoof was the obnoxious one, full of energy, and with a short attention span. She was more than a hoof-ful for Rarity at times, especially when she was at home bored. Often Sweetie Belle got into trouble, by washing Rarity’s expensive one-of-a-kind wool sweater, causing it to shrink; using Rarity’s expensive gems to make a picture; and filling the whole place with smoke when she tried to cook surprise breakfasts. Somehow, Sweetie Belle never got things right, and she felt little more than a nuisance in Rarity’s eyes.

Sweetie Belle had to admit that Rarity wasn’t always very accommodating of her; it seemed she cared more about her work and desire to climb to fame and fortune in the fashion industry, than about Sweetie.

The two bickered and fought alot, almost to the point Sweetie Belle and Rarity shouted at eachother and hurling insults that cut deep. But at the end of the day, Sweetie remembered, Rarity still loved her, housed her, and fed her. And most of the time Rarity apologized for the things she said. To compensate for the lack of attention, Rarity often gave Sweetie bits and told her to go out and keep busy ‘till sundown.

Then a couple of years ago they had their dispute over the Sisterhooves Social, an annual event put on by the Apple family. Rarity scoffed and ridiculed the idea of her and Sweetie participating. Sweetie got mad and went to Applejack for help. That seemed like eons ago, Sweetie thought to herself. The Applejack of the past was so entirely different, she may as well have been a different pony. Back then, Applejack was kind, patient, and she and Applebloom shared a wonderful sister bond that now ceased to exist.

Sweetie Belle recalled wanting to adopt Applejack as her big sister, and even live with the Apple family, as she felt she meant nothing to Rarity. Applejack mediated the situation and taught Rarity a lesson or two on sisterly love, and even got Rarity to participate in the races at the Sisterhooves social. Rarity seemed a lot more open and patient with Sweetie since then.

Sweetie Belle had somewhat a desire to learn about fashion, and in the months leading up to the fire, Rarity allowed her to watch as she designed and put together new clothes. When she told Rarity she wanted to be a fashion designer like her, Rarity replied, “That’s fine with me, dear, but make sure it’s what you want to do. I’ve a thing for clothes as you’ve noticed, and not all ponies share it. I just don’t want you to trudge through somepony else’s hoofsteps and following their dreams instead of your own.”

Around that time, Rarity bought her a crystal guide book that contained detailed information on all the minerals used to make gems. From then on, Sweetie Belle grew increasingly interested in minerals and rocks, and often visited and bought things at the rock shop. Rarity suggested she take up geology and jewellry when she entered college.

Then there was the magic. Rarity was full of it, casting magic nearly every waking moment to do her work. She hardly even used her hooves, and Sweetie couldn’t remember any time Rarity wore a hoof shoe that allowed a pony to use hand tools. Sweetie, however, was a late bloomer when it came to magic. In the spring, summer, and fall of the year before the Carousel Boutique burned to the ground, most of the unicorn foals at school were having their first sparks. Sweetie still went out and bought spell books, or took home free ones from school, and tried to read through them, but the thing with spell books was they weren’t written normally. The words were replaced by strange texts of weird symbols and arrangements of dots. Rarity explained that she wasn’t supposed to read a spell book like any ordinary book, it was supposed to be automatically read by the part of her mind connected to her magic system. But, she was still too young to effectively absorb a spell from the books.

“It will come, Sweetie, dear, don’t fret, your magic is simply taking it’s sweet time,” Rarity assured her.

Pretty soon after, Sweetie did have her first spark, and she was over excited. She foolishly assumed she could do anything like her sister, and she ran into the kitchen and cast her new magic on a basket full of apples, trying to move or levitate it. The result was an explosive disaster.

“Sweetie Belle! What on earth are you doing?” Rarity shrieked when she burst into the kitchen, and found her in the middle of what remained of that basket of apples she had bought just the other day.

“I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to! I got my first spark and wanted to- I was just trying to-”

“Why Sweetie Belle,” Rarity said, “Of course you didn’t mean to incinerate my basket, burn my table cloth, and splatter apples all over my kitchen.”

Sweetie Belle thought she was gonna get it big time now. She crouched down, covered her eyes, and started whimpering. “I’m sorry, sis.”
“I’ll clean this up,” Rarity sighed. The kitchen reeked of smoke, burnt apples, and ozone, the foul smelling odour left after raw magic crackled through the air.

The filly saw no point in offering to help. In minutes, Rarity accomplished what would have taken an earth pony up to an hour. Sweetie Belle was amazed with the grace and precision to which Rarity floated the trash can, the broom, the dustpan, the mop, and the water bucket. Pretty quick, the kitchen was spotless and clean.

But to her biggest surprise, Rarity wasn’t angry or upset with her. Surprisingly, she seemed to understand.

“Sweetie Belle,” Rarity said a few weeks later, “I’ve been observing you and your attempts at magic for quite some time now, and-”

“I know, you’re disappointed in me,” Sweetie muttered, looking down at the floor.

“I wouldn’t say disappointed,” Rarity replied, “Concerned would be more accurate. I went through the same troubles when I first began to have magic. Believe me, I stirred up quite some trouble at your age. But this magic business is no light matter. As your big sister, I’m worried about you and your magic, and well, your future. What with your school grades and all...”

“But Rarity, I’m trying to good at school.”

“Frankly, I don’t quite believe that, looking at your report cards. Your class has thirty students, and when your teacher finally checks on you, you and your friends are always goofing off.”

“I’m sorry. I’ll do better, honest.”

“I’ve got a better idea,” Rarity said with a smile. “How would you like to go to the magic academy?”

“Really?” Sweetie Belle’s eyes lit up.

“Yes, the Royal Equestrian Magic Academy in Canterlot. It’s the best school of magic in the entire country. It’s where all the great unicorns come from, my dear. Twilight Sparkle went there, so did Princess Cadence, Shining Armor, umm, Trixie, myself. Believe me, it’s the best place for any unicorn to learn about magic and become masterfully skilled at using it!”

Sweetie Belle’s excitement dampened at the obvious expense of such a place. “But Sis, isn’t it like a million bits to go there?”

“Nonsense, dear. It is pricey, I’ll give it that, but I do know some unicorns in Canterlot who might be able pull some strings and get you in for free.”
“Really??”

“Of course, dear. My friends Jet Set and Upper Crust and I have already talked. They’re both well established in the magic academy, and they can have the school waive your fee.

Sweetie’s eyes glittered with excitement over going to the best school in all of Equestria, but then she felt torn between that and the heartache of leaving her friends, Ponyville, and the life she knew.

“But...what about my friends?” Sweetie never considered leaving Applebloom and Scootaloo. Thing is, the three of them made a pact to stay together and continue the Cutie Mark Crusade until they got their cutie marks. She admitted this to Rarity.

“Sweetie Belle, that’s quite absurd,” Rarity spoke, “The only thing you three are doing by keeping to your silly crusade is you’re going to hold yourselves back from getting your unique cutie marks.”

“What do you mean?” Sweetie asked defensively.

“Well,” Rarity explained, “First of all, you three are getting older, and soon you’ll come of age when you’ll outgrow the whole Cutie Mark Crusaders thing. I’m surprise it’s lasted this long, and you three have done quite a bit. But none of you have your cutie marks. Am I right?”

“Yes...”

“And on top of that,” she continued, “your magic is just beginning to grow, and so far, without the proper schooling, training and spells, you won’t get any further than most of the unicorns in town who can hardly levitate a thing. Scootaloo i going to have to learn to fly someday, I’m sure she’ll be sent to a flight school up in Cloudsdale, and Applebloom, well...I think she’ll be learning how to run the farm at Sweet Apple Acres.”

“Oh...”

“What I mean is, you three are going to be split up by the circumstances of your lives, and you will each have to carve out your own path. By sticking together, you’ll be doing each other and yourselves a dis-service.”

Sweetie Belle didn’t like what she heard, but she somewhat understood. “...but...we don’t want to be blank flanks forever...that’s why-”

“Sweetie,” Rarity said a little more sternly, “It’s time to grow up. You have an opportunity to attend the best magic school in all of Equestria. Do you really want to pass that up for the sake of your friends? What will they sacrifice in return. I think the longer you keep up your Cutie Mark Crusader business, the longer you will remain blank flanks. Cutie marks were not meant to be acquired in group ventures.”

Sweetie looked down at her flank. She had trouble wrapping her mind around what Rarity just said. Rarity was right about getting in free at one of the most expensive and best known schools in the country. All these years, she felt useless and nothing more than a worthless nuisance to Rarity. And now Rarity was offering her a chance to go to a school where she could learn all kinds of things and get lots of new skills. It was the chance of a lifetime.

“I’ll go to the magic academy, sis. Thanks,” Sweetie said, resigned to her sister’s expectations. “But...can I still be friends with-”

“Of course, dear! You’ll always be able to write to your friends and they can write to you. You’ll always be friends, even when you become adult mares. I think those two will realize they need to take their own paths when you take yours. It will be good for the three of you, trust me.”

“Okay,” Sweetie nodded, “I want to ask...are you doing it to get me away? I know I’m not much more than a useless-”

“Shhh,” Rarity replied soothingly, and she hugged the filly. “I’m very sorry for all the things I’ve said to you, Sweetie, and I’m terribly sorry I wasn’t there for you as much as I should have been. You know how I get carried away with my work. I’ve so much to do to keep my business running and the bits coming in so I can support us. I want to get you into the magic academy to...make up for my...poor job as a big sister. That way, I can focus more on my work, and you can learn all the magic you want, and find out what you want to do in life and succeed. I regret I wasn’t more attentive to you, but that’s just the way it is.”

Sweetie Belle, knowing how Rarity was, understood. Going to the academy for free was a huge gift she thought made up more than for all the times Rarity called her a useless nuisance, and wished she was gone.

“W...will you still want to see me?”

“Of course! I’ll make sure to come visit when I’m in Canterlot, and I’ll have you here during the holidays and school breaks. No matter what happens, you and I will always be family. I’ll buy you a spellbook for telepathy when we get to Canterlot, and I’ll get myself one too, so that we can both learn the spell and we can communicate to each other as often as we want.”

As per Rarity’s intent, she made arrangements with her friends in Canterlot, to stay there for a few days and have Sweetie Belle enrolled at the magic academy. Sweetie Belle asked that her last day at the Ponyville school not be announced- she felt afraid of betraying Applebloom and Scootaloo, and didn’t want them to know and get upset with her.
“I think it’s better you tell them. Not easy of course, but you should, nonetheless,” Rarity told her.

And then there was the sick, cruel twist of fate that completely changed everything. Turned out Sweetie Belle’s last day at school was the day the Carousel Boutique burned down, and Rarity hospitalized. That evening, they were to take the next train to Canterlot.

Everyone at school noticed the fire when they ran outside for lunch hour and saw the column of smoke rising into the sky from the edge of town. Sweetie Belle was a little oblivious, and assumed it was another building on fire.

Then when the foals came back inside for class, Cheerilee told her she had to stay behind afterschool.

“But why, Miss Cheerilee? I didn’t even do anything.”

“That’s not the point...” Cheerilee tried to explain. “Look, just stay after class, and I will explain the reason then.”

A Visit at Twilight's

On the day the Carousel Boutique burned down, at precisely 30° in the afternoon ( around 4pm human time), the school bell rang, and the foals in each classroom grabbed their saddlebags and ran outside. Sweetie Belle had no inclination to stay behind, but Cheerilee kept her eye on her and made her stay seated at her desk.

Everypony could see the black column of smoke rising from where the Carousel Boutique used to be. When the fire first began, the flames were visible from the school.
She was being held in detention and it wasn’t even her fault.

“It’s about time that shop burnt to the ground,” Diamond Tiara had said earlier that afternoon. Sweetie recalled the conversation. “Why would you say that? I know you hate me because I’m a blank flank, but why do you hate my sister and our home so much?” Sweetie protested.

“Ugh, it’s more than you can even understand,” Silver Spoons sneered.
“Definitely,” Diamond continued, “Your mom, er- I mean ‘sister,’ is just a pathetic wannabe and a loser. The dresses she makes are horrible, and so is everything else she ever made. My daddy says she’s an embarrassment to all ponies who design fashion. Look on the bright side, Orphan Belle, whoever burnt down your mother’s shop did everypony a favor, including you.”

“What? What the hay, Diamond Tiara! And she's not my mother. She's my sister, and she's in the hospital! She could have died!”

Diamond and Silver Spoons both scoffed and chuckled. “Think of it this way,” Diamond Tiara said, placing a hoof around Sweetie Belle’s shoulders, “She’ll probably die, well everypony hopes she will, and you will be free of her forever. Don’t think we don’t know what she says about you. She doesn’t even care about you. Rarity always thought you were a burden. Perhaps that is why her, ahem, ‘line of work’ has gone down the ditch. Ever since you were born, she had to focus on keeping you alive, so thanks to you, she is a failure.”

Sweetie Belle started tearing up. She tried to hold it back. She knew deep down, Diamond Tiara, a manipulative, coercive, conniving spoiled princess, was right.

“Look on the bright side,” Diamond continued, “If you’re lucky, you might get adopted by the Apple family. You’ll probably be useful shoveling manure and bucking the apples out of their trees. That’s probably all you’ll be good for.” And with that and a laugh, she and Silver Spoons walked out of the school building.

Sweetie Belle sat at her desk, with her head down, crying silently. Cherilee sat behind her teacher’s desk reading paperwork. A mail pony arrived and knocked on the door.
“Yes?” Cheerilee asked, looking up.
The pony, dressed up in the postal service uniform, opened the door and entered, pulling an envelope from his side bag and gave it to her.
“Thank you, kindly.”

“Not at all.” And he was gone. Cheerilee opened the envelope, pulled out the letter, unfolded it, and read it. Then she put it down and went back to her paperwork.

“Excuse me, Miss Cheerilee?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“Yes? What is it?”
“Um, why am I in detention again? I didn’t do anything.”

Cheerilee stopped writing and put the pen down. She slid the tool-shoe off her hoof, and placed it on the desk, briefly glad to feel the cool breeze on the fur on her hoof. Then she looked up at her. “Sweetie Belle,” she spoke, “I’m sure you know this by now, but the Carousel Boutique is on fire. As per emergency arrangements at the school, and in town, we cannot let you leave until a family member or somepony they trust can come and get you.”

“Well, when’s Rarity gonna get here?”

“Rarity,” Cheerilee replied, “is in the hospital, and from what this note here says, she’s not doing good at all.”

Sweetie’s eyes widened as the shock seeped through her. Diamond Tiara’s harsh words about Rarity cut through her like knives. She didn’t want to believe it. Suddenly, no home, no Rarity.

“So what now? I get punished?” A weak argument.
“No,” Cheerilee answered, “I keep you here until somepony Rarity obviously trusts to care for you shows up. Basically, you’re going to a new home and a new family.”

“Wait, can I choose who I can-”
“No,” Cheerilee cut her off, “it’s already been decided.” Cheerilee checked the second page of the note. “In the event of an emergency, Rarity arranged for Applejack to take you in, and of course you’ll be living on her farm.”

“You might get adopted by the Apple family. You’ll probably be useful shoveling manure and bucking the apples out of their trees. That’s probably all you’ll be good for!”

Sweetie did not want to live at the Apple farm. They had endless chores day and night, and when fillies worked too slow, Applejack shouted at them. That’s all she, Scootaloo, and Dinky Doo did when the four of them went to spend nights, weekends, and holidays with the Apple family. Sometimes, they had likened Sweet Apple Acres to a labor camp.

“Miss Cheerilee, I don’t want to live with the Apples! They’re mean and they make us do chores all day everyday-”

“Sweetie Belle, it’s out of my hooves. And you will have to adapt to a different family environment and get along. I’m sorry, but that’s life,” Cheerilee replied sternly, then with a smile, she said, “But I’m sure Rarity will pull through and she’ll get out of the hospital. When she’s recovered, you will go back to her. This arrangement is only temporary. Now, if you please, I've got work to do, and I think you have homework too.”

Sweetie Belle thought about sneaking out. She thought about living with Scootaloo and her family. The Loo’s were really nice and welcoming, for her anyway. They were an earth pony couple who adopted Scootaloo and gave her her name when she was just a baby. They also adopted a unicorn foal and had twins of their own. She decided she would go live with the Loo’s. The clock ticked loudly, and Cheerilee hummed to herself.

Two other foals sat at their desks, saying nothing. Sweetie Belle looked at the clock. 34°. It had been 40 minutes since the rest of the class got out.
Sweetie slowly got up, careful not to make a noise. She tip-hoofed her way to the cubby area, then near the door, which was open. Problem was, it was next to Cheerilee's desk.
But her hopes of escaping quickly evaporated, as Applejack showed up.
“Howdy, Miss Cheerilee,” she greeted her in her loud southern voice.

“Good afternoon. You’re here to pick up Sweetie Belle?”
“You betcha,”

Sweetie Belle hid behind one of the display boards. She desperately hoped not to get noticed-“Sweetie Belle! Come on out!” Applejack barked. Sweetie’s heart sank, and she slowly stepped out from behind the display board.

“What’cha doin’ hidin’ behind that there wheeler wall thing?” Applejack demanded. Sweetie Belle just looked down at the floor, “I...I was just looking for a snack I brought...”
Applejack walked up to her, and gave her the look. “What have I told you about lyin’ to yer’ Auntie Applejack?”

“I’m...sorry....”
“An’ don’t go telling me you don’t like stayin’ on the farm. The fresh air and all them chores is good fer’ you. Speaking of which, we best get on home, Grab yer’ bag and come along now.”

Once they were outside the school, Sweetie asked, “Is Rarity okay?”

“Ah ain’t sure,” Applejack replied, “She got fried up pretty bad. Them pegasi had to blast a hole in the burnin’ place with a waterspout and a tornado to get her out. Ah don’t know if she’s gonna make it. From the look of her, she jus’ might die, Celestia take her.”

“Oh...” Sweetie Belle murmured as she walked with Applejack back to the farm. She would have reacted, or got upset, but Applejack got real pissed when ponies got emotional. Still Sweetie was anything but calm. Her throat swelled and her lungs started squeezing the air out in short sharp bursts. She felt tears pooling around the corners of her eyes. Her remembering that time when Applejack whacked Applebloom with a broom for crying didn’t help stifle the emotions.

“Applejack?”

“That’s Auntie Applejack to you, Sweetie Belle. What do you want- hey, you better not be crying. Cryin’s for weak ponies.”

“I...I wanna go see Rarity!”

“NO!” Applejack shouted at her, scaring her. The filly froze.
“You will see Rarity when Ah decide you see her, understand?”

Sweetie belle nodded.
“It’s already been settled. Ah own you now, now come along!”

The following Spring, after the trip to Nimbuscait, and since when Applejack turned into a mean, cold hearted crazed disciplinarian, Rarity’s ‘death’ seemed like only yesterday. Sweetie Belle recalled the magazine she read the other day at the general store in town. Rarity was alive and well; she never died, but for the filly, somehow she died, and until the other day, was dead to her, and now suddenly resurrected. Applejack repeatedly told her with growing impatience that Rarity died; she was burnt to death in the fire last Summer.

Sweetie Belle didn’t dare bring up the subject to Applejack, as she would know Sweetie broke the ‘no-magic’ rules by looking at a magic magazine. Of all the things Applejack scolded, shouted, and whacked her and Applebloom for, she reserved full on hoof beatings if Sweetie Belle defied her expectations concerning magic.

But, she felt angry, and had to keep calm to keep magic from surging and sparking out of her horn, even with the horn cap on. She hated it before, but now it protected her, despite killing her little day by day. Without even knowing it, she did know her own magic was ‘angry’ it was being suppressed. Yet she had to remain silent about it and pretend she was happy to be at Sweet Apple Acres. Since the Winter Wrapup festival, Applejack talked several Apple ponies from across the county into relocating to Sweet Apple Acres. Some came from Abille, others came from Appleloosa, Wooton, Corlett, and even the rugged Roundbottom County. She did this by mailing out stacks of letters to as many Apple farms as she could find, and as it turned out, the Apple farm out in Roundbottom County had too many ponies and they were constantly quarreling with one another, so Applejack’s invitation to come to Sweet Apple Acres was a welcome opportunity, and in early spring, they arrived. Not too many of them were pleased about a unicorn filly living among them, and Applejack had to assure them Sweetie Belle was not going to engage in magic whatsoever. And for her safety, Sweetie Belle had to play the part.

But she couldn’t stay silent forever, so one day, during lunch hour at school, Sweetie Belle snuck off school grounds and sought the help of Ponyville’s brightest unicorn, Twilight Sparkle.

That morning at breakfast, Applejack was once again pissed off. She had these moments often when she thought too much about things. This time, however, she received a letter from Applegem saying the medicine she brought would cost Applejack 190 bits to replace. That was bloody expensive. Upstairs, Applebloom and Sweetie Belle were tidying up for school.

“And when y’two get back,” Apple Dumpling, their homeschool tutor instructed them, “Ah want to see your report cards. Do not forget them.”

“Sure thing!” Applebloom said enthusiastically.
“Yes, ma’am,” Sweetie Belle replied quietly as she put on her saddlebags.

“Allrighty, have a nice day at school, and do good on your test today.” Apple Dumpling left them and returned to her room.

Applebloom grunted. “Why does Cheerilee have to make us do tests every Pluday?”
Sweetie Belle said nothing, and felt a growing resentment even for Applebloom.

Then they began to hear Applejack shouting from the kitchen downstairs. “One hunnard n’ ninety bits? Y’gotta be shittin’ me! Where the sam hell am Ah gonna get that many bits? That’s just dang expensive!”

“Applejack, simmer yer’ saddle already.” It was Big Mac.

“That medicine was supposed to last fer a whole moon! Ah bet it was that unicorn brat who smashed it.” Applejack cast a withering glare at Sweetie Belle as she and Applebloom entered the kitchen. The other Apple ponies in the house seemed unsettled as well, not only by Applejack’s ranting but by the sight of Sweetie, even with that horn cap on. The filly desperately wanted to get out of the house, out of Sweet Apple Acres, and throw the cap into the gate house, a small shed by the gate to the main road.

“You smashed it, didn’t you?” Applejack snarled as she boiled with rage.

“I didn’t, honest!”
“Don’t’cha go talkin’ to me about honesty, ya little wretch! You unicorns is anything but honest! You hexed yer’self so you could go lookin’ all innocent like, didn’t you?”

“N...no...”
“Don’t lie to me, you little-”

Big Mac stepped right infront of Applejack. “Here’s a newsflash fer’ ya, AJ: I smashed it.”

“Wha...Big Mac, how could you? What the hell for? That stuff was gonna stop Apple Belle’s magic once an’ fer all. Yer’ lyin, Big Mac! Lyin’ for that little witch! She’s put a hex on you, so snap out of it.”

Big Mac leaned in close and stared Applejack down. “Do Ah look hexed? Maybe yer’ hexin’ yerself with all of yer nonsense, and it’s startin’ to piss me off, AJ.”

“Damn it, Big Mac,” Applejack shouted back, “That little witchling’s been hexin’ us since the day Ah brought her home. She’s been hexin everypony around here, and she hexed that cart!”

Big Mac grunted. “No, AJ, that wheel ain’t hexed. It was full of termites. They ate that wheel out from the inside, and it crushed. Ain’t no unicorn magic involved-”

“Then she put them termites in that wheel!” Applejack countered.
“Them termites been around a lot longer than she has, AJ, so quit blamin’ her for what happened to Granny Smith.”

Applejack was at a brief loss for words. Big Mac turned to the two fillies. “You two, get on out of here! You’re gonna be late for school.”

They both quietly nodded and exited through the kitchen door. But Applebloom and Sweetie Belle both hid under the window sill and listened on.

“Fine, maybe she didn’t kill Granny Smith,” Applejack conceded, remembering their longtime termite infestation in the old buildings and equipment. “Ah love Apple Belle dearly, an’ Ah want the magic snuffed right out of her so she can live right, jus’ like us. Applegem brought us that medicine so it could purify her.”

Big Mac grunted. “A purified unicorn is a dead unicorn, AJ. Them unicorns need their magic like the rest of us need air and water. Even if they don’t cast magic, they still need it to live. It’s a part of ‘em and ain’t nothing can take away a unicorn’s magic without killing it. That medicine’s been killing Sweetie Belle-”

“Her name is Apple Belle, Big Mac, get it right.”
“Whatever, it’s been killing her slowly. She gettin’ sick real often, she gettin’ weak and could hardly walk. She’d be dead by the time you stuff the last cup of that medicine down her throat. How’d you like havin’ the death of a unicorn on yer hooves, AJ-”

“If that stuff is so toxic, then why them alchemists in Nimbuscait make it in the first place?” Applejack countered.
“Them alchemists live in Nimbuscait, that’s why. As far as they’re concerned, the only good unicorn’s a dead unicorn. They dehorn ‘em, force feed ‘em that medicine, and when them unicorns are too weak to work, they burn ‘em. Unicorn health is no concern of them evil Nimbuscait ponies-”

“Don’t call them evil!” Applejack shouted. “Them Nimbuscait ponies got it right all along! They’re followin’ the true path to righteousness-” Applejack fell silent when she saw the big stallion’s cold stare.

“Like Ah said,” Big Mac resumed, “their medicine would’ve killed Sweetie Belle. It would’ve killed every cell that’s part of her magic system, then she’d drop dead from some sickness or disease we ponies are normally immune to. She’d be dead, you wouldn’t have your precious little Apple Belle no more.”

“But...that’s Celestia’s doing. She can make anypony live or die with a mere thought. Ah been prayin’ that she get Apple Belle through this so she can live on as an honest hard workin’ earth pony.”

Big Mac shook his head in disgust. There was no getting through to Applejack. “Ah can’t believe you jus’ said that, AJ. What about all them other unicorns who died like this? Anyways it’s real simple: without the magic, the unicorn will die. Or am Ah just a ‘big dumb lug’ like you told Cheerilee?”

“Dang it, Big Mac!” Applejack snapped, “Y’know full well she’s way outta yer league! She’s all smart like, an’ pretty and quite refined! She needs a pony more of her caliber! An’ Ah need you here on the farm! Big Mac, if yer’ so desperate to find yerself a mare, Ah could talk to any Apple clan in the county and we’d match you with a fine Apple mare. Y’two could get married, have a bunch of Apple foals, and you could still help us buck them apples.”

“Ah want Cheerilee,” Big Mac snarled impatiently, “An’ I won’t tolerate you meddlin’ in my romantic business, understand?”

“Oh you big doofus! Don’tcha see? Everypony in Ponyville thinks you two aren’t right for each other. There’s no natural way you an’ her could fall in love! The whole thing’s a hex! It’s cuz of them dang unicorns! Ah’ll bet Apple Belle did it to curse you! Them unicorns an' their infernal magic. The folks in Nimbuscait had the right idea to deal with them-

“Even when they killed Mama?” Big Mac snarled, “When they put her on the pyre and set her on fire, with Applebloom still inside-”

Applejack exploded in a furious rage and charged at Big Mac. Her fury brought on by the electrical surge in her brain as those painful memories she vowed to bury forever flooded her mind. She’d never forget the pain, and the guilt.

“DON’TCHA EVER TALK ABOUT MAMA, YOU-”

Applejack slammed into Big Mac with her hooves up at full speed, bent on knocking the big stallion on his flank, but the big lug had remarkably fast reflexes. He reared himself on his hind legs, caught Applejack and shoved her real hard. Applejack flew backwards and slammed into the pantry, then slid and hit the floor on her back. Right then Big Mac was on her, pressing down on her chest with both his front hooves, pressing his weight against her, so she couldn’t struggle.

“Do Ah gotta remind you what happened the last time you tried to fight me, AJ?” Big Mac snarled.

“N-no...” Applejack wheezed. The hit knocked the wind, and the delusional rage right out of her.
“Ah am mighty tired of you praisin’ them Nimbuscait ponyfolk. An’ you know damn well why.”

“But...them unicorns are evil. Apple Belle...”
“But nothing. Not all unicorns are bad and same with earth ponies. You know that real good, now quit yer bitchin.”

“Get off of me,” Applejack grunted, fighting back tears. Big Mac did so, and she stormed out of the kitchen to the porch outside. Applebloom and Sweetie Belle, having just heard all that, were already gone.

At the school, hunch hour came, and Sweetie Belle snuck out of the school. She galloped quickly through Ponyville when her throbbing headache and aching hooves didn't hurt too much.

She would have had her horn cap on, and told anypony who asked that Applejack forced her to wear it, and that Applejack was an abusive, controlling xenophobic freak, but her head throbbed and ached. It was almost too bright to keep her eyes fully open. These headaches and aches all over her body were almost a daily occurrence now. And she felt weaker every few days. Who knew even walking would be so much a chore. But she strode into Ponyville, all the way to the Goldenoaks Library, home of the smartest unicorn in town, and disciple of Princess Celestia, Twilight Sparkle. On the way, she stopped at the general store, and bought the magazine with the bits she stole from a chest in Applejack’s room.

She knocked on Twilight's door with a hoof, but got no response. Last time she was here, at least the baby dragon, Spike, opened up. Sweetie Belle felt a surge of impatience, and banged a little harder.

The top half of the door slowly opened, and a drowsy Twilight appeared, her eyes bloodshot and half closed, mane a real mess.

“Yes? what is it?” she yawned.

“I...sorry to bother you,” Sweetie said nervously, “But I need to talk to somepony and I...kinda wanted to talk to you.”

Twilight yawned. How many times a day did ponies come pestering her with their problems?

“Eh, Sweetie Belle, I’m sorry, but I can’t really take the time to talk right now.”

“Why not?” Sweetie demanded, then feeling surprised over her own response. Must’ve been the magic. “I really need to talk to you, please.”

“I have at least fifteen projects going on, and half of them are due in two days if not sooner,” Twilight replied, “and I have to finish my weekly report for Celestia; it’s due tonight. I’m sorry, Sweetie Belle, but you’ll have to find somepony else to talk to about your problems.”

Sweetie would have felt despair...then it turned into frustration. The anger began boiling up in her out of nowhere, as all the memories of all the shit she went through the last year flashed through her mind. This was her one chance in many moons, to talk to somepony that might be able to help her. Twilight, who was one of Applejack’s closest friend, despite that she was a unicorn. Maybe Twilight could get Applejack to stop being so mean and let her do magic. And Twilight was blowing her off.

“Now,” Twilight was saying, “I need to get back to work. Please run along now,” Twilight said with a weary smile as she began to close the upper part of the door.

“Please!” Sweetie rose her voice, “I need to talk to you!”

“Find somepony else, I’m busy. And don’t shout, it’s disrespectful-” Twilight snapped back.

“Applejack doesn't want me to do magic ever! she want’s me to be another earth pony and spend the rest of my life at Sweet Apple Acres! She tried to have them chop my horn off, and she hates me because Granny Smith is dead! I didn’t kill Granny Smith! Honest!” the filly blurted out all in one big breath. All she got in reply from Twilight was a scoff.

Fed up, Sweetie reached into her side bag, grabbed the horn cap, then heaved herself onto her hind legs, and threw it hard. The horn cap flew through the air, bounced off the door, and nailed Twilight right in the face.

“Ow! What the hell?!” Twilight shouted from inside, “And what is this thing?”

“That’s a horn cap,” Sweetie hollered from outside, “That thing stops magic in the horn, and gives me a killer headache. Applejack makes me wear it all the time at home. It really hurts to wear it. I have to wear it all the time. You try and wear it for a whole day!”

Sweetie was breathing hard from yelling, and shaking from her own fury. She was never angry enough throw something at somepony. Must’ve been the magic talking right through her. It would not be ignored, not by her, not even by Twilight Sparkle, the unicorn she so desperately counted on.

“And Rarity’s alive and Applejack told me she was dead! I wanted to ask you about that-”

Twilight yanked open her door, and wrapped Sweetie Belle with her magic, and pulled her inside.

“Hey!”

Twilight plopped Sweetie Belle on a chair in the middle of the main room, which was a complete mess of books, papers, notes, scrolls, and broken quills.
“Don’t touch anything!” Twilight snarled impatiently. She trotted off into another room.

Sweetie Belle suddenly felt scared- she had angered another pony. She expected to be punished, then her eyes widened as she realized Twilight might tell Applejack that she threw the horn cap at her. She knew Applejack would pound the snot out of her and lock her in a basement closet for a week.

Twilight came back, a two emerald crystals levitating in front of her. She placed one of them on a nearby table.
“Open up,” Twilight ordered.
“Wha-what is it? I’m sorry, I was just-”
“I said, open up,” Twilight snapped impatiently. Sweetie gulped and obeyed, though full of fear. She felt no surge from her own magic. That was because she was well within Twilight’s strong magic field.
Using her magic, Twilight placed the crystal in the filly’s mouth.
“Now close your mouth and hold it there. Don’t swallow it,” Twilight said, purely annoyed at her.

Sweetie held the rock in her mouth, and felt mild tingling sensations throughout her mouth and head.

“It’s a memory crystal,” Twilight explained, “It will record all your memory so I can look at it when I am not busy with a million projects.”

Sweetie nodded, then she noticed the scratch on Twilight’s left cheek, right below her eye, from the horn cap. She sat silently as Twilight paced around the library, swearing and muttering under her breath. Sweetie cringed at what she thought would happen when Applejack found out about this.

After twenty minutes, Twilight removed the crystal from her mouth, only to place another one.
“Wha is or?” Sweetie tried to speak.
“Uhh, a magic diagnostic check, now sit there and be quiet.”

Sweetie felt some relief- at least Twilight was ‘listening,’ to her well, collecting her memory anyway.

Another ten minutes later, Twilight took the crystal out, and placed them both in a box, then opened the door. “Now, I think you need to leave,” Twilight said.

“Umm...thanks Twi...and I’m sorry I hit you with the horn cap...”

“Just take it and go!”

First Day in Magic Class

Big Mac made good on his promise to get Sweetie Belle signed up to the school’s magic program, and he even hoof stamped the permission forms himself when he arrived to take them home afterschool.

“Magic class is taught by Sea Spray and Sugarberry, and goes for an extra hour afterschool on Maridays and Vendays. There is no specific grading of the foals’ magic development because each unicorn’s pace of learning and growth is so different. Magic class basically is to enhance their learning in magic. We’ll also provide her with a few basic spell books,” Cheerilee explained, “and she is free to study any of the spell books in the school library.”

“Thank you kindly,” Big Mac said with a smile and a look of affection towards the love of his life. They were in the classroom and it was the end of the school day. Applebloom and Sweetie Belle were waiting for him.

“Not at all, however, magic class is about to start in the classroom down the hall. Sweetie Belle, I think you should get going.”

“Yes, Ms. Cheerilee. Thank you, Big Mac.”

“Eyup. Just you do real good in yer magic studies like you do in the rest of yer schoolin’, y’ hear me?”

“Y-yes, sir,”

Big Mac moved aside and Sweetie Belle dashed off to magic class.

+ + +

Sweetie Belle felt nervous and afraid the minute she appeared at the door of the classroom. Sea Spray, the unicorn teaching magic class, kindly ushered her in.

The other unicorn foals in the class looked at her with apprehension or indifference. They all knew that she was forbidden from doing magic before.

“Allright, my little sparkies,” Sea Spray sang as she closed the door with her magic, “It’s magic time!”

The foals and fillies quickly sat down, and pulled their notebooks out of their bags, and put on their ‘pen-shoes,’ hoof shoes equipped with pens or pencils.

Sweetie Belle found a seat in the back.

“Allright, class, please take out your spell books, and turn to the page with the blue strip in it please,” Sea Spray chimed.

Sweetie Belle sat, with her extra notebook on her desk. She dared not take magic notes in her other school book because Applejack and Apple Dumpling checked her school books at home. She could at least hide this one at school or ask Sea Spray to hold onto it. She remembered the spell book hidden at the shed and contemplating swiping it during early morning chores and bringing it to school.

“Sweetie Belle? Where’s your spellbook?” Sea Spray called softly.

“Umm, I...I don’t have one...”

“But dear, didn’t your friend Applebloom give it to you?”

Crap. Sweetie Belle thought. She didn’t know the spellbook Big Mac gave her came from Sea Spray. She didn’t know how to respond so out of nervousness, she said ‘no,’

“Very well,” Sea Spray sighed, “It’s your first day. However, I must teach everypony this next lesson. Sun Glimmer, can you please take from the shelf the book called ‘a history of magic,’ and pass it to Sweetie Belle?”

The filly did so and using her hooves, placed it on her desk.

“Th-thanks,” Sweetie Belle said.

“Thank you, Glimmer. Sweetie Belle, feel free to read any part of that book you wish, I will get to you after I’ve finished the lesson.”

“Okay...” and Sweetie Belle opened the book. She felt disappointed about not being able to take part in the lesson. As Sea Spray began talking, Sweetie Belle heard hushed whispers from the other foals.

“She isn’t gonna be able to do magic.”
“I bet she didn’t even get her first spark yet.”
“Sea Spray’s gonna kick her out, she never even sparked once.”
“I heard they tried to chop off her horn.”
“Applejack is mean...”
“They’ll never let her do magic, what is she even doing here?”

Sweetie Belle said nothing and kept her head down. She felt scared. She was surrounded by unicorns but why did she have to be so alienated by them?

Sea Spray read out loud the spell on the page, slowly pronouncing strange tones and words that Sweetie Belle never heard before.

“Now, everypony,” Sea Spray announced, “Today we will look at the basic levitation spell. Levitation is the holding of objects without your hooves or your teeth, but with your magic instead. Today you’ll learn how to hold a small object, such as a pencil or an eraser a few inches off your desks. Before we begin, allow me to demonstrate the full ability of levitation that one day you will all become skilled at.”

Sea Spray walked around the classroom, checking up on each of the foals. “Don’t get upset if nothing happens. Just relax, gaze over the symbols and words like you would if not trying to read them. Imagine yourselves already casting this spell and lifting your pencils with your magic. Just sit back and even close your eyes and picture yourselves levitating any object you want. Or better yet,” Sea Spray chirped, “imagine levitating yourselves in the air, floating, rocking back and forth. Nearly all of unicorns’ abilities come from our imagination, it is partly what drives the magic.”

Sweetie Belle put the book down and leaned back in her chair. She suddenly sat bolt upright, then reminded herself she was not at home, where Applejack would have bashed her upside the head with the soup ladle for slouching in her chair. She felt sleepy, the history book bored her. Sweetie Belle imagined the whole self levitation thing. She somehow pictured levitating herself in her’s and Applebloom’s bedroom at home. Then her eyes snapped wide open and she got the idea.

Oh my gosh, I could FINALLY sneak out of there, go all the way to Canterlot and find Rarity-

“Sweetie Belle, are you--” Sea Spray cut into her thoughts.

“Oh,” Sweetie gasped, grabbing the book in front of her. “Sorry, I- I was just doing the imagination thing.”

Sea Spray chuckled softly. “Don’t be sorry. Imagination is a good exercise when it comes to magic. It stimulates your magic system through your mind.”

Sweetie nodded.

“I got it!” some filly shouted from the front. She got a series of gasps and ‘oooh’ ‘s in return. The filly, Tootsie Flute, had just begun levitating her pencil. Her horn glowed and emitted a swirling aura of a glowing violet, which then extended from her horn down to the pencil on her desk, swallowed the pencil and as she moved her eyes, which were fixated on the pencil, it rose from the desk and hovered in the air in front of her.

“Well done, Tootsie,” Sea Spray chimed. Throughout the class, several others began casting the same spell. Then they began complaining about being tired or having headaches.

“Now now,” Sea Spray assured them, “Don’t do too much, or you will just give yourselves headaches. Now those of you who figured it out, Do this for a few minutes every day, just don’t make yourselves sick. My, look at the time, it’s getting late. Alright, those of you who have learned the spell, I am very proud of you, now run along home and show your parents.”

The foals began packing their books into their sidebags and galloped out of the classroom and down the hallway.

The few remaining foals were Sun Glimmer, Sweetie Belle, and Dinky Doo. They were the only three who didn’t know the spell, or figure it out yet.

Dinky just stared out the window at some birds in a tree, her eyes pointed in different directions. Sun Glimmer kept skimming through the pages of the book.
“Allright you three, now that everypony has gone home, let’s take a little more time. You too Sweetie Belle.”

“Umm...” Sweetie said nervously, “Miss Sea Spray, I think I need to be home. I missed a lot of chores already,”
“I wouldn’t worry about that, I’m sure the Apples understand.”
Sweetie Belle shivered at the thought.

“Dinky, please look at the page, dear.”
“Oh..okay”
Sun Glimmer looked like she was getting frustrated.
“Sunny, relax, there is no time limit,”
“I know but I hate falling behind.”

“How about this,” Sea Spray suggested, taking the two spell books with her magic and placing them on an unoccupied desk behind her. “Forget the books for now, magic doesn’t all come from books, it comes from each one of you. These spellbooks are written records of unicorns’ imagination, and a means to show to our subconsciousness the action involving the magic. Even just reading the pages over and over again is still some work in your little brains, even if nothing comes from it now.

“I would like the three of you to lean back and relax. Close your eyes if you want. We’re going to imagine casting this spell. Picture yourselves in your favorite place. It could be at home, the park, the woods, Sugarcube Corner, in the clouds, or at the lake. Now look around you and find something you want to pick up, but not with your hooves.
“Now feel yourself casting the spell, make your horns glow, glow with your favorite color, now reach out with the magic and grasp the item of your choice, now lift!”

Sweetie Belle pictured herself in the Cutie Mark Crusaders’ clubhouse, in the center of the typical mess of arts and craft supplies. She pictured herself lifting a crayon.

“Now hold it, and make it rotate in front of you...” Sea Spray said softly.

Sweetie Belle did so, but her imagination wandered, and projections of Applebloom and Scootaloo joined her in the imaginary clubhouse. Then she began to see Rarity- and somepony’s snoring interrupted the whole thing.

“Dinky Doo!” Sea Spray hissed, “Wake up,”

Dinky Doo managed to pass out and began snoring, with a little bubble growing and shrinking from her nose.

“Dinky,” Sea Spray said, gently shaking her with a hoof.

Suddenly Dinky’s eyes snapped open, and she just stared at Sea Spray for a few seconds, then it happened. Her horn lit up like a lightbulb, and the bright yellow aura burst in a flash, forcing Sea Spray and the others to turn away. When Sweetie Belle opened her eyes next, she saw Dinky Doo, bathed in her own magic, hovering upside down three feet above her desk.

“Whoa...”
“Dear sweet Celestia...” Sea Spray gazed.
“What the buck-”
“Sun Glimmer, language!”

Dinky Doo spun slowly, like she was in zero gravity, and she started laughing hysterically over her own feat.
“Whee!”

The others were speechless, then Dinky Doo did the next thing: She looked at other desks, and using her eye sight as some sort of anchor, she hovered around the room, and began doing it quickly.
“Yay! I can fly! Sweetie Belle, look, I can FLY!!!” she laughed, as she levitated herself around erratically.

“Alright, alright, Dinky, slow down!” Sea Spray called.

Dinky ‘landed’ on her hooves on the ceiling, and narrowly avoided falling to the floor when she changed her magic levitation focus from a desk on the floor to the ceiling. Now she was running around upside down on the ceiling. She looked ‘up’ and saw her teacher and class mates. She sat ‘down’ and shouted, “Hi everypony! Cutie Mark Crusaders, ho!”

Then her magic suddenly died, and she fell. Dinky squeaked in terror, but Sea Spray caught the filly in her powerful magic, and gently set her down.
Dinky, feeling like she just screwed up, looked down and a tear came out from her right eye.

Sun Glimmer hugged her. “Don’t be sad, Dinky, you did wonderful, but...this is why I tell you don’t over do it, you’ll hurt yourselves.”

Sweetie Belle and Sun Glimmer nodded.

“Well, I think that wraps up our class for today. Get on home, eat a big supper, and I’ll see you next time,” Sea Spray chirped as she packed her saddle bags, and left the room.

“Good job, Dinky,” Sweetie Belle commented as the three of them walked down the hallway to the door.
“T-thanks!”
“You have to tell us your secret, please!” Sun Glimmer begged her.
“Secret?...I don’t have a secret...” then Dinky quoted her mother, “I...I just don’t know what went wrong. I tried to lift the pencil...”
“Wrong? There’s nothing wrong with your magic, Dinky!” Sun Glimmer jealously argued, “You lifted yourself and you walked on the ceiling! Where did you learn that anti-gravity spell? I need to know!”

“Glimmer, stop it, you’re scaring her,” Sweetie Belle cut in. Sun Glimmer, being an impatient filly yearning to be a big time achiever like her siblings, looked at Dinky Doo and realized Sweetie Belle was right.
Sun Glimmer sighed, “And I don’t suppose you will be doing the same thing next time, Sweetie Belle?”

“Huh?”
“Dinky never even cast a single bit of magic since she started coming to magic class. I thought she never even had her first spark. Now she can defy gravity of all things!”

“Just let it go, Glimmer. If you’re so jealous, then just go through all the spell books you can find, and learn some gnarly impressive spell, and show it off to everypony.”

“I mean you,” Glimmer pointed a hoof to Sweetie Belle, “Did you even have your first spark yet?”
Sweetie reminisced briefly, and realized that was over half a year ago. Felt like much longer.
“Yes, I did.”

“Oh.”
“What about you?”

“I had mine.”

The conversation died as they exited the school building and went their separate ways. Outside, Glimmer trotted off, and Derpy Hooves swooped down to get Dinky Doo.
“Momma! Momma!” Dinky hollered, “I can fly!”

“Fly?” Derpy asked, perplexed.

“Yeah, look!”

Without so much as a thought, Dinky looked at Sweetie Belle, and used her as her focus point, and lifted herself into the air.
“oooh!” Derpy mused, totally impressed. For a long time Dinky had always been upset over not being able to fly like her mother.

Sweetie Belle got a more painful experience out of all this: Her body surged with painful electric tingling as Dinky’s magic coursed through her damaged system and her horn began to hurt alot. She was basically being used as a magical spring board.

“Ow...Dinky stop, you’re hurting me!” Sweetie Belle cried.

“Wha-” Dinky fell, and Derpy caught her in her wings. They both looked shocked when they saw Sweetie Belle holding her head between her hooves, eyes scrunched shut and her breathing heavily.

“Are...are...are you okay?” Derpy asked, slowly approaching her, about to reach out with a wing to comfort her.

“Leave me alone!” Sweetie Belle shouted back and she took off, galloping as fast as she could, to get away from them.

“Wait!” Derpy called after her, but she didn’t stop.

Sweetie Belle struggled to keep galloping through the streets, barely succeeding in dodging ponies left, right and center. Her whole head throbbed and felt like she just got chopped in half with an axe. When she finally reached the edge of town, Sweetie hid behind a bush and cried.

Her whole body felt like it was on fire, and the pain coming from her horn was almost unbearable. It almost felt worse than all those times the Apple ponies hit her there. But she also felt really hurt by Dinky and Derpy. She felt like she practically used as a tool by Dinky, and she felt a seething resentment for them both. Is that all Sweetie Belle was going to be worth now? Among the unicorns? To be used as a mere tool so they could advance their magic?

She bitterly pictured her life- Rendered unable to perform magic by Applejack, and used and spat on by the rest of the unicorns. She felt anger, and hatred for everypony. It was times like these when Sweetie Belle just wanted to watch the whole world burn.
Would she say something to Dinky? What would she say? Did Dinky do it on purpose? as a show of dominance? Or just without thought at all? Perhaps Dinky didn’t mean any harm, but the act alone pinched too many nerves in Sweetie Belle’s brain and heart. She felt like she had been condemned and pictured what she perceived future magic classes to be like. She thought they’d all use her as some sort of tool or experiment in their magic spells.

She looked out into town and saw the buildings of Ponyville bathed in the reddish sunlight as the sun began to disappear behind the hills to the west.

It was the end of the day, and she was already late. She missed so many chores, and she was sure Applejack would be waiting for her at the gate, ready to pound her some for being so late. How the hell would Sweetie Belle explain this to Applejack. AJ already knew about the magic program; even sports practices didn’t run this late after school.

She looked up and saw Derpy flying above, with Dinky on her back. Sweetie Belle presumed they were looking for her, so she wedged herself under the bush. She didn’t want their choking pity.

Sweetie decided not to take the main road back to Sweet Apple Acres.

“Yer late!” Big Mac barked when he saw her pass the barn.

“S...sorry Uncle Big Mac,” Sweetie Belle said quietly, “..alot...alot happened. I snuck in because I didn’t want to see Applejack.”

“Damn straight you didn't want to run into her. AJ’s mighty pissed off right now. One o’ them apple orchards caught some sort of bug and the apples are dropping. They ain't even grown yet. Them leaves is all spotty.”

“Sorry I missed my chores.”

Big Mac just grunted, “Just you go an’ wash up fer supper. Them Roundbottom cousins o' yours did yer’ chores fer ya.”

Sweetie Belle obeyed and carefully made her way to the house. Her head and horn didn’t hurt so much now that the sun had set.

The house had been more packed now that some of the Roundbottom Apple ponies were living at Sweet Apple Acres.
Tonight’s supper was apple-cinnamon wheat stew, with cheese sandwiches.

“Apple Belle!” Applebloom greeted her as she placed her sidebag on the bed.
“Hi,” Sweetie Belle muttered.
“Where ya been all day?”

She didn’t want to say. “I...I had to help Cheerilee with some stuff.”
“what for?” Applebloom asked.
Sweetie Belle grunted in frustration. Applebloom’s nosiness was really starting to irritate the hell out of her now. In the recent months, Applebloom had also changed and she liked her less and less.
“I had homework, and...and...Cheerilee needed help sorting her...desk and the teachers’ lounge.”

“Oh...” Applebloom said, then “What about magic class? You finally in that? Cuz Ah know it was today.”

Sweetie Belle froze and felt like she was just put in check. But then why should she fear Applebloom, the one who risked her neck to get her that spell book? She felt bad for scorning Applebloom, even if she was annoying.

“...yeah, I went. I didn’t know that book was from Miss Sea Spray. Thanks alot.”

“Why didn’t you say so?” Applebloom asked.

Sweetie sighed. She was exhausted and didn’t feel like explaining what Dinky Doo did to her.

“I don’t want Applejack to kill me.”
“Ah, right. Well, did you have fun?”
Sweetie tried to fake it but Applebloom got the hint.

“Come on you two,” Apple Tarty barked, “It’s supper time.”

The Roundbottom Apple mares and stallions all cast hostile glances at Sweetie Belle as she tried to eat. She kept her eyes down but couldn’t shake off the heat of their death glares.
“Well, looks as though you’ve done it this time,” Apple Leaves shunned her.

“I didn’t do anything,” Sweetie Belle said quietly.
“Like hell you ain’t. We lost about 28 trees today. All diseased. Apples no good no more.”

“It wasn’t me I swear.”

After supper, Applebloom and Sweetie Belle were washing the dishes when Applejack and Big Mac entered the kitchen, arguing fiercely with one another. Typically she blamed Sweetie Belle for the diseased trees.
“Dang nab it, AJ, just when are you gonna get it through yer’ thick skull? Sweetie Belle ain’t got nothin’ to do with every single thing that goes wrong around here!” Big Mac grunted.
“Little things my ass!” AJ shouted back. “We’re talking 28 trees and a good few thousand bits worth of apples gone!”
“Trees can be infected too,” Big Mac grunted, “It’s a natural calamity, and you know that real good.”

“It was that unicorn. What’s she done this time? Don’t you get it? Celestia’s punishin’ us!”
Big Mac put a hoof to his face. He was running out of patience. At times he pondered he’d might actually have to face off against his own sister over this.

“She ain’t doing nothing wrong AJ. Maybe you best consider Celestia is punishin’ us fer all of your antics!”

The two of them bickered till Applejack stormed out of the kitchen.