Strong hooves thundered against the ground rapidly. The other ponies in Ponyville looked up in shock, worried that perhaps another stampede of cows or rabbits were heading towards the town again, but they saw it was only Applejack. They tried to friendly greet her as she stormed passed, but she paid no mind. She kept her head lowered to avoid all contact, as well as to hopefully hide the tears flowing freely down her face.
"Applejack!" The Earth Pony barely heard her name being called from above. "Applejack, where are you going?"
"Leave me alone, Rainbow Dash!" Applejack snapped, trying to run faster despite her lungs screaming for rest. "Ah don' wanna talk right now!"
Rainbow Dash scratched her head with a hoof as she flew above before diving down to follow her upset friend. "What's gotten into you?"
"Ah said Ah don' wanna talk!" the farmer repeated as she huffed both in exhaustion and frustration.
"But Apple-"
"Ah said leave me alone!" Applejack suddenly screamed, skidding to a halt and thrusting her face into the multi-colored Pegasus', jamming noses painfully together. All the other ponies in town turned with gasps to the two friends, startled by the tone of the usually very friendly and understanding Earth Pony.
Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash rubbed her nose with a hoof as she winced at the pain. She was completely taken aback by Applejack's sudden fury, as seen by her shrunken pupils and pulled back ears. Before she could retaliate, however, her friend spun back around and galloped off.
"Well, sorry..." the Pegasus Pony grunted to herself.
Applejack galloped over to Sweet Apple Acres and burst through the barn doors. She slammed the doors shut and collapsed to the hay-covered floor before bursting into uncontrollable sobs. Usually, she'd either shed a single tear or cry on the inside whenever she was saddened, so this was far out of character for the farm pony.
"Ah'm so sorry, Rarity!" Applejack wouldn't stop wailing in between sniffles and bawls. "Ah'm so, so sorry! Ah didn't mean to! Ah'm a... Ah'm a murderer!"
Many minutes passed as the Earth Pony wailed on and on, until finally she began to calm down and just weep. She sat up and wiped the tears from her red puffy eyes as she sniffled before letting out a sigh. It was still too hard to believe, but she had to come to terms with herself.
She killed Rarity. The most beautiful pony in Ponyville; the Element of Generosity; and one of her best friends.
"Well..." Applejack sighed as she got up to her hooves and walked towards her room. "As mah Grampy Crabapple used to say, an eye fer an eye..." She walked into her room and opened her bedside drawer.
Then she reached inside and retrieved her lasso...
"Help! Help! Somepony help!" a pony screamed at the top of her lungs before they were filled with water that chilled her to the bone. Her legs kicked and thrashed as she fought against the current carrying her downstream towards the Everfree Forest. The sun was beginning to set, and thrashing around in a stream fighting just to swallow a mouthful of air or not, it was still dangerous to be in the forest after dark.
The pony slammed into many rocks on the bottom of the river as a wave sucked her down under. She tried pushing her hind legs against the floor to propel herself above water as her lungs screamed for the deliciously dry yet refreshing taste of oxygen. Every time she tried, however, another current shot her further downstream if her hooves weren't nearly penetrated by the sharp stones first.
Beginning to feel light-headed, the pony began to lose strength needed to fight against the raging river. Her fur and hair were heavy with water, dragging her further down, and she felt as though her limbs were to fall off, they hurt so badly, both from overworking her muscles and the scrapes and scratches given to her from the stones.
Just as she was losing all hope, she suddenly collided into something blocking the river, driving what little air she had left out of her upon contact. It felt smooth and scaly, and the pony could barely see a beautiful purple sheen against the giant scales.
The last thing she saw before darkness engulfed her was a large clawed hand reaching down into the river towards her.
"Are you okay? Oh, please tell me that you're okay! My dear old friend, answer me, answer me!"
The pony's eyes began to flutter a bit as she began to regain consciousness. Her chest felt heavy and her muscles burned, yet her chest didn't move. She could barely notice a large finger reaching over to her and pushing down on her chest lightly, giving her CPR.
After a few seconds, she began to cough and sputter. Her muscles cried out in excrutiating pain as she managed to roll over onto one side to vomit up nearly a quart of water. She panted heavily when she finally finished and rolled back onto her back, her eyes heavy with fatigue.
However, a figure over her caused her to force her eyelids open, and what she saw brought back many memories.
"It's... It's you..." she croaked at last.
"You're okay! Oh, thank Goodness!" the creature cried in delight. "For a second I thought you weren't going to make it! And... you remember me."
"How could I not?" the pony asked slowly, managing to smile. "After all this time you're still wearing my tail as a makeshift moustache."
"Oh, but of course! It's most fabulous, not to mention very attractive!" The creature ran a few fingers through one half of his moustache, which was purple and curly, unlike his other half which was orange and straight.
"You saved me... didn't you?" the pony asked softly. "Oh, bless your heart, dear sea serpent..."
"Are you able to walk?" the sea serpent asked, his voice full of concern. "You seem terribly hurt and exhausted. Well, of course you are, you were nearly drowning in the river. What happened to you?"
"It's a long story..." the pony replied. "But to summarize I fell off a cliff and into the river. I am so grateful to have come across you otherwise I wouldn't have made it. Thank you."
"It would have been wrong not to have helped you, especially after your act of generosity that one night," the serpent smiled kindly. "Would you like to stay the night with me until you feel fit enough to travel back home? The forest is dangerous, yes, but not so if you have a fierce yet fabulous sea serpent such as myself protecting you."
"Thank you ever so much, dear, but I must get back home right away." The pony huffed as she struggled to her hooves, her legs trembling in great fatigue that could give out on her at any moment. "I simply cannot thank you enough for saving my life, dear friend."
"But of course. And before for you go, I must ask something I forgot to ask on the day we met. What is your name?"
The white unicorn turned to the serpent as she was ready to leave and smiled. "My name? Why, certainly. My name is Rarity."