Crab Apples

Written by: Duchess Donut

* Blood and gore, read at your own risk.

Rarity stretched, her beautiful amethyst mane sparkling in the sunlight. What delightful weather, she

thought as she soaked in the rays, I could not have chosen a more perfect day to go for a stroll!

"Hey, Rarity!" a voice chimed. Twilight Sparkle galloped toward her glamorous friend. "What are you still

doing here? I thought at the slightest hint of rain, you'd be fixing your mane already!" She nudged Rarity

jokingly.

"What are you talking about? There isn't a cloud in the sky!" Rarity huffed, patting her delicate curls gently.

Twilight snorted with laughter, then gestured to the looming clouds in the distance. Rarity gasped, watching

as the sun slipped behind the clouds and the wind began to blow.

"Oh, my! This simply won't do! Why, think about my perfect hair! My makeup! I'm terribly sorry my dear

Twilight, but I must part ways with you now!"

Before the purple pony could protest, Rarity had taken off at full speed. The rain began to come down in a

hazy mist, then transformed into a violent cacophony of howling wind and battering hail. Rainbow Dash must

be sleeping on the job again, Rarity said to herself distastefully. Abruptly, her front hooves slid into a pool of

mud, and the normally snow-white pony found herself dripping with brown filth.

"Aughh...disgusting!" Rarity cried, trying to brush the ooze off of her, but to no avail.

"What in tarnation is goin' on out here?" a familiar whinny snorted. Applejack emerged from her barn,

smiling at the miserable Rarity. Something about Applejack's smile unsettled Rarity, or maybe it was the

clumps of mud settling in the corners of her eyes.

"Ya'll need some help, sugarcube?" the abnormally friendly earth pony trotted over to Rarity, pulling her out

of the mud. "If ya' want, I'll fix you up a bath mighty quick."

"That will be quite lovely. Thank you very much, darling."

Applejack grinned hugely, unsettling Rarity once more. Something was definitely wrong, but all she cared

about was getting clean and looking beautiful once again.

"Just follow me, Rarity," Applejack said, retreating back to her barn. Rarity trotted after her, still mumbling

about her misfortune.

Applejack stopped at the entrance and pulled a chain, opening the door to the cellar. She clambered down

the creaky wooden stairs, Rarity close behind. Inside the cellar, Rarity tried her best not to fall, but the

basement was cloaked in a sheet of pure black. No silhouettes could be made out and nothing stirred. All

was still, all was silent.

"Excuse me, Applejack," Rarity spoke, her voice sounding deafeningly loud in the dead quiet of the cellar,

"can you please light a candle or something? Why, I can't see a single thing!"

"Good," Applejack's voice came from behind. Rarity jumped, then fell into a world of pain.

Things started coming together. Colors, shapes, and finally, dimensions. They blended together like a

water-color painting, creating a picture of absolute terror. The lights were on, but Rarity decided she'd rather

have them off. Pony heads hung from the ceiling, carved to look like apples and stuffed with leaking organs

for a three-dimensional effect. Still beating pony hearts were floating in thick, scarlet blood with a sign that

said "BOB FOR APPLES" scrawled on it with the same liquid. Rarity recognized the mangled body of

Pinkie Pie strapped to the back wall, apples shoved in her eye sockets and mouth, crusted with dried pus

and blood.

The terrified pony tried to run away, but found herself tied to the dusty, reeking floor.

"Ya' like my decoratin'? Did it all myself, don't ya' know!" Applejack stood above Rarity, smiling hugely and

laughing. Rarity's chest started heaving, her eyes darted nervously around the room.

"Aw, how rude of me! I should probably explain why I brought ya' all the way here." Applejack cleared her

throat and snorted with laughter again, as if this was all a big joke. Rarity hoped this was all a joke, nothing

but a nightmare.

"Ya' see, I've always been stuck here in Sweet Apple Acres. All in the family business. But now that my

family is gone, ya' see," Applejack grabbed Rarity's head and forcefully jerked it to the side. The terrified

victim gasped and struggled to maintain conscientiousness. Applejack's entire family's heads were stored

in jars, staring blankly, yet still looking terrified. "Now I don't have to be stuck as a hillbilly farmer gal. Now I

can be the most beautiful pony in Ponyville!"

Applejack flashed Rarity the most menacing look, her eyes boring into Rarity's. "How shall I do that, little

missy? Ah, yes, I think I know. Ya' don't mind sharin', do ya'?"

"Applejack, wh-what do you mean?" Rarity felt tears collect at the corners of her mud-crusted eyes.

Applejack hauled a wicker basket next to Rarity and began digging through it, concentration consuming her

expression. She pulled out a long butcher knife, stroking it gently with her hoof.

"N-now Applejack, let's not be rash..." Rarity began to sob, thrashing and trying to rip free of her bonds.

"Now ya' stop that, sugarcube! We all gotta die someday! I'll try to keep ya' as long as I can though, sweet

pea. Now, stop stallin', I've gotta lot of work to do."

Applejack jabbed her hoof under Rarity's chin and snapped her neck up, breaking the pony's bones.

"Ya' see honey, I'm a bit tired of bein' a plain-jane earth pony. I think I'll be a unicorn. Yeah, that sounds

swell!"

With a harsh blow, Applejack slashed the knife through Rarity's unicorn horn, uprooting it from her forehead,

pulling away the hide from her skull, followed by a cascade of blood. Rarity shrieked in pain, paralyzed and

dizzy. The farmer place the horn to her head, testing it out.

"Needs a lil' cleanin', but it's one fine horn. Thanks, sugarcube! I think I'll just go with it now, take what I want.

Ya' just hold on tight there, alright?" Rarity whimpered, her eyes rolling back into her head. Applejack

investigated the exposed brain and rotting flesh, looking for the roots of Rarity's mane.

"Sorry 'bout this, things might get a bit hairy!" Applejack chuckled at her own pun as she hacked at the thick,

purple locks, taking hunks of Rarity's hide and nerve ends with it.

"Oopsy daisy! Hope your nerves aren't bad, but this is quite a mane problem!" Doubling over in a fit of

giggles, Applejack ripped Rarity's hair right off her head, still attached to a sheet of scarlet-soaked flesh.

The wounded pony put up one more fight, weeping and squirming, biting and stomping. Applejack stomped

on Rarity's stomach, causing a waterfall of bloody vomit. The world began to spin, and Rarity blacked out.

"Sweet pea, time to get up! Tackle a brand new day! Rise 'n shine!" Rarity came to, her vision clouded and

distorted.

"Now honey, for that little break, we've gotta work extra-hard now!" Applejack pulled a new tool out of her

basket. A giant apple peeler with shards of glass met Rarity's flank, the cool metal sending chills through her

veins.

"I was gonna let ya' sleep, but it's always good to get an early start, right?" Applejack cackled, then dug the

peeler into the flesh surrounding Rarity's cutie mark. Sawing messily, the orange pony carved until she tore

the hide away from the bloodied body and exposed bone, throwing it with the pile of mane and horn.

She moved down and cut around the base of the purple tail. Rarity squealed and thrust her back hooves

back, only to collapse with exhaustion and agony.

"Now that's a good girl. Ya' behave, and this will be done before ya' know it!"

Dragging her utensil deep into the muscle, Applejack sawed off the curly tail and shook it in front of Rarity, sending bloody chunks of muscle and tissue flying in every direction.

"Eenie, meenie, miny, mo, catch a Rarity by her tail, if she hollers..." Applejack laughed hysterically, tossing

the amethyst curls aside.

"Now," Applejack reached in her basket once more, lifting out a serrated knife, "for the grand prize! The

Sweet Apple Acres family recipe!"

Rarity screamed hysterically, panting and pleading. She exerted the last morsel of her energy.

"Applejack...please..."

"Awww...does the lil' princess wanna be let go? Real sorry sweets, but I gotta get this ingredient."

Applejack smirked as she drove the blade into Rarity's chest. The mutilated pony threw up blood over her

operator and herself.

"Now, that ain't too polite missy. You need to be disciplined!" Applejack lifted her left hoof and bashed it into

Rarity's throat, crushing her trachea.

"That should shut ya' up mighty fine," Applejack chuckled and resumed her operation. Rarity lost control of

all her senses, and she found herself bathing in saliva, blood and urine. Applejack wrinkled her nose as she

ripped the flesh away from Rarity's chest, revealing the knot of crushed organs underneath.

"I don't have the darndest idea what this is," Applejack lifted a long coil of intestines out of her patient with a gooey, sickening sound, "but

gosh darn it! It'll look great on ya' when we're done here!" Tossing it aside, she continued her endeavor.

"Well, I'll be! Here's your stomach, darlin'! Why, it looks mighty empty. You hungry? Just wait a tick or two,

and I'll get ya' a snack."

Applejack continued to dig, hacking away at the mangled mess, until she finally found her prize.

"Here's your heart, sweet thing. My my, what a big heart. Such a shame, but ya' understand, don't ya'?"

Rarity only blinked in response, her life rapidly slipping away from her. Applejack whistled as she grabbed

the throbbing organ and yanked it out of Rarity's body, squirting blood and mucus everywhere. Rarity

convulsed and urinated once more, then fell lifeless. Applejack shoved the oozing heart into Rarity's mouth.

"Ya' aren't the most beautiful pony in Ponyville now, are ya'? Naw, I'd say you look like a pig on a platter, with

that "apple" in your mouth. Ha!"

Applejack admired herself in the mirror. After cleaning and bleaching her new mane, it looked quite lovely

on her. In fact, she looked beautiful. Not only did her new unicorn horn add a nice touch as well, but it also

gave her magic powers. She wiggled her rump and patted her curly tail that cascaded to the floor, framing

her new diamond cutie mark. This was the most successful operation she'd ever performed. It's a shame

that the hide wasn't salvageable, though. Yeah, this ol' orange hide was a tad boring. Purple would look

nice, wouldn't it?

Now, where was Twilight Sparkle...