"Rarity, Ah'm gonna ask ya one last time... Where is mah hat?!"
Applejack glared angrily at her white unicorn friend with her head lowered, ears tilted back, teeth bared, and nostrils flaring. She had woken up from a pleasantly good night's sleep to find that her cowboy hat had been missing from her side table, and what lay in its place was a strand of silky purple hair that could only belong to an elegantly shiny mane... such as Rarity's.
Rarity dismissed Applejack's furious tone and gesture and waved a hoof gingerly in the air, giggling playfully. "Why in Equestria would I take your hat, dear Applejack?"
"That's what Ah'd like t' know!" the orange Earth Pony snarled, obviously in no mood for joking around. "Ya know how much Ah treasure mah hat, Rarity, so hoof it over right now!"
Finally taking notice to her friend's aggressiveness, Rarity sighed and rolled her eyes. "Okay, fine, I took it."
"Ah know that! What Ah wanna know is why!"
"Okay, stop shouting, you may wake up Opalescence!" Rarity hushed. "You wait here and I'll go fetch it for you."
Applejack huffed and slumped into a sitting position in the middle of the main room of the Carousel Boutique as the prissy mare trotted up the stairs. Her eyes were still narrowed despite her anger bubbling down to just irritation now that she was going to get her hat back. But if she were to have sewn even one jewel on her precious hat...
"I'm baaaaack~" Rarity sang as she trotted back down, startling Applejack out of her thoughts. She shot right back up into a stand and noticed that her friend's horn had a magical blue aura surrounding it, indicating she was levitating something - her hat, Applejack guessed.
"Well, it's about time," the farm pony grunted before holding her hoof out. "Now c'mon, give it here."
"Oh, why, yes, of course. But first I just wanted to tell you I made a few small changes to your dusty old accessory.
Applejack felt as though her heart skipped a beat. This was exactly what she was worried about. She struggled not to snarl or spit, yet her low tone proved she was absolutely livid. "What... did ya do... to mah hat..."
"Oh, nothing much," Rarity giggled excitedly, obviously not noticing her friend's rage. She levitated the cowboy hat out of hiding from behind her... and it was completely pink!
Applejack's eyes widened as the unicorn went on. "I figured you could go for a brand-new look; everypony should every once in a while, even you hardworking ponies who don't pay much attention to appearance. I decided to give your brown hat a quick spray of pink to brighten things up. Not to mention it goes perfectly well with-"
"What did ya do to mah hat?!" Applejack cried out, tears beginning to form at the corners of her eyes. This hat was a gift her parents had given her one day when she had just earned her cutie mark. And it was the last time she ever saw them again. Granny Smith had told her and her older brother Big Macintosh that her parents had gone off on some business that would take them quite some time to return, but over the years Applejack put two and two together and figured that Granny Smith lied to spare their young fragile hearts. The truth of the matter was they had gone into the Everfree Forest to look for any wild Zap Apple trees and something must've found them in there, for they never came back out...
Applejack treasured the one and only thing she had that keep the memory of her mother, Cinnamon Apple, and her father, Grapple, alive within her.
And now it was completely ruined...
"Rarity..." Applejack whispered, and then she whispered something else that the white pony couldn't catch.
"I'm sorry?" Rarity asked, leaning in a bit.
"Run..." the orange pony muttered a bit louder.
"Run?" Rarity echoed in confusion.
"Run... Run! Run!" At this point, the outraged Applejack was screaming the word, shooting a completely livid glare at her friend: if looks could kill, she would have suffered the worse death known to ponykind.
Finally realizing that this was a command so she could avoid any regretful actions made by the orange farmer, Rarity yelped and bolted past her and out the front door. She turned to look behind her, and her heart lurched as she saw Applejack gallop after her, her emerald green eyes in furious slits. This just motivated the scared unicorn to run even faster.
The two streaked through Ponyville, catching the attention of many bystanders. A few had to leap out of the way to avoid being trampled over by the prey as she tried to outrun the predator.
"Move! Get out of my way! Get, get!" Rarity cried out as she practically flew on her hooves. "Applejack's trying to kill meeeee!"
"Ah'm not gonna stoop so low, but once Ah'm through with ya, yer gonna wish Ah had!" Applejack howled, reaching out her neck as she tried to bite her teeth down on the flowing purple tail just mere inches away from her face.
After what felt like forever running, Rarity skidded to a halt as she came up to a cliff. It was a dead end. She turned around, trying to find some other way to flee, but she found herself face to face with an absolutely livid Applejack, who had stopped running and was panting heavily to regain her breath. As she panted, she stomped one hoof in front of the other as she slowly advanced on the trapped pony.
"A-Applejack, I'm so terribly sorry! I was only trying to help!" Rarity begged as she tried backing up, though her hind hooves kept skidding over the edge of the cliff, forcing her to stay in place.
"Oh, ya helped, alright," Applejack snarled. "Helped destroy the one an' only thing Ah had to remember mah dead parents by!"
"Oh, dear Celestia! I didn't know how important that hat was to you! Oh, Applejack, I'm so sorry! Please forgive me!"
"Oh, no. Yer sorrys ain't gonna work this time, Rarity. Ya had this comin' the moment ya lay hoof on mah hat."
Applejack ended up taking one more step forward, slamming her hoof down harder than she meant, startled the unicorn. She yelped and leaped back, and as she did the earth under her hind hooves gave way. The next thing she knew, she was dangling over the edge of the cliff hanging on for dear life, scrabbling desperately to pull herself back up with her forehooves.
Applejack's eyes widened and her mood immediately changed from fury to panic. She shot forward, trying to reach out for her friend's hoof as she tried to save her.
But she was too late. Rarity wasn't exactly a strong pony, and unfortunately she couldn't keep her grip for long. She slipped over the edge of the cliff, shrieking at the top of her lungs as she fell.
"Rarity!" Applejack wailed. She pounced to the edge of the cliff and peered down into the raging river below, but there was no white and purple head bobbing in the water.
Rarity was gone.
"Ah... Ah don't believe this... What have Ah done?..." Applejack whimpered as tears began to fall down her freckled cheeks. "Ah... Ah killed Rarity..."
