It had been a beautiful day. The sun was setting in the sky, painting the previously vast blueness a luxurious crimson, violet, and gold. The birds silently fluttered into their nests. The Cutie Mark Crusaders we're just returning from school, and as the three fillies sang and played about, there was an awkward and eerie feeling in the air.
Applejack, whom was feeling rather exhausted from chores, rested beside a white picket fence. The soft grass brushed and tickled against her fur, which was moist with fresh sweat. Luckily, the sunset brought a nice breeze along, rustling the plants and cooling off the fatigued mare.
And yet, even on a seemingly perfect day, something would go horribly wrong.
The orange cowpony glanced over at her brother, whom leaned against the barn doors. His orange mane whisked in the light gusts blowing in. The stallion, despite the heat, remained wearing his heavy, smooth leather yoke.
She allowed her eyes to slowly drift shut as she heard the barn door swing close. Macintosh had left to finish cleaning up the barn and organize some tools. Applejack always thought her brother overworked himself, but when she brought it to his attention he would disagree and wave her off like a tiny flea.
Applejack's thoughts slowly grew softer and quieter. The black void of sleep swallowed her whole. The pony felt her body grow limp and numb. A cool, refreshing breeze pulled her into a comfortable slumber that swayed her busy mind and body.
AJ was a heavy sleeper, at least, Granny said so. Once, a hurricane while bellowing mighty roars of power across the farm and everypony crowded into the cellar. Who slept the entire time? - a little filly named Applejack, of course!
"That darn filly can snooze through anythin', that youngin'!" Granny Smith would say.
A crackling sound reverberated across the sky after a powerful strike of lightning, startling the farm pony. Wind swirled and light chunks of an icy substance began to descend from above. Startlingly cold rain fell rapidly from the clouded sky.
"What in tarnation?"
The confused mare groggily stood up and tilted her head up, watching the clouds. She had only slept for about forty minutes. Bewildered, she turned and galloped to the barn, fresh mud clinging to her hooves. As she approached the barn door in a rush, the muscular red stallion was dashing out, nearly running her over.
The floorboards creaked under his powerful, heavy build. Applejack gave Big Macintosh "the look" and he returned his surprisingly frantic gaze. AJ turned on her heels and dashed in the opposite direction with the stallion at her side.
Their Granny had told them stories about the outcome of weather like this and how she survived it as a filly, but Applejack had never seen it herself. This weather could only mean one thing - a twister. Granny Smith had told them hail, rain, and powerful winds were signs. This tempest fit the bill.
Big Macintosh must have been thinking the same thing.
"Think it's a vortex?" She asked, worry overwhelming her.
"Eeyup!"
Terror seized her sanity and forced her to speed up until her legs were numb. Her hooves ached, her head pounded, her heart was shrouded with worry and anxiety. Her flanks burned and her neck was dripping with water. Was the majority of it sweat or rain?
The main thought that gripped her soul and tore her heart in two was easy to guess; Applebloom. She suddenly realized how hard she was working to keep oxygen flowing into her lungs as she heard her loud, painful wheezing. AJ had also failed to realize the sounds radiating from the storm.
Thunder clashed almost a second after the lightning and the wind screeched and moaned loudly. Her hooves squished and splashed on the ground heavily as mud weighed her down. The hair tie she wore regularly had fallen out of both her mane and tail. Her coat was soaked and the rain fell rapidly, sounding similar to the sizzle of a frying pan.
She slowly began to focus on her surroundings. Big Macintosh galloped a foot length further ahead than the tangerine rodeo pony. Applejack registered as many things as possible in her mind at once. They were drawing near the orchard entrance, the sky was grey and extremely clouded, the apple trees' roots were barely holding them to the ground.
They leaped over the fence, Applejack sliding on the wet grass. She shivered uncontrollably, was she hearing a train? A loud, whirling noise filled the chilled air.
"No, no, no, no!"
Her eyes burned and her lungs were on fire. The mare swung her head to the side with vigorous force.
"The fillies!" Applejack screamed, her voice hoarse. Two figures emerged from behind a tree, mud and rain water kicking up behind them. The two adult ponies could hear the foals raspy and terrified pants. It took a moment to comprehend who they were. Mud and dirt covered their soaking wet bodies. She quickly recognized the pegasus as Scootaloo as her wings became visible. Sweetie Belle came slowly galloping behind her.
"Where's Applebloom?" Applejack cried out. The small, exhausted foals looked at her with worried eyes. After a few moments the blood pounding in her ears was muffled by the wind and the whirring noise in the distance. The orange mare saw the clouds begin to funnel and rotate, starting slowly and steadily.
Applejack galloped forward, the grass constantly threatening to make her slip and possibly bust her jaw.
"Where were the fillies before I fell asleep?" A few mental moments of silence passed, until she had a recollection. "Granny Smith offered to watch em' out in the orchard! Is she protecting my sister? Is she alright?"
The loud thunder and wind grew harder and louder. The funneled clouds began to stretch and reach for the earth like a foal's hoof to their mother's warm, soft cheek. This "foal" only wanted to bring destruction and havoc, however. As the wind picked up speed even more, the ground began to quiver and shake.
Every thud her hoof made seemed to disappear into the sound the tornado was bringing. Her heart was racing and anxiety overpowered her thoughts of hope. Her hoof steps seemed heavier and time simply dragged on and on. Trees had fallen all over and she had to either jump or dodge them.
Underneath one specific tree she spotted a figure. A small, pallid body that was so frail, so small, so perfectly built and there it was, not taking a single breath. Applejack felt her heart skip several beats and the world came crashing into a nightmarish reality. Her hooves were numb and her mind was empty and thoughtless, blocking out everything to focus on that unmoving body.
Her eyes were burning as she arrived at the tree. Was she crying? Indeed she was, staring at the sweet filly trapped beneath the towering tree and wet ground. She wailed for a few seconds as she placed a hoof over her yellow sibling's chest, searching for a heartbeat, pulse, anything. She felt nothing except her own heartache. The pony collapsed onto the slick, drenched grass as she screamed Applebloom's name repeatedly in despair.
She cried in the rain, the funneling clouds nearly reaching the ground by now . Applejack heard a grunt and groan from behind the fallen tree and her world stopped for a brief second, placing the voice. She heard a few bones pop and saw a head appear on the opposite side of the trunk.
"Granny Smith?" She asked. Applejack considered that she might just be hallucinating, but this was not the case. The knobby, ancient mare attempted to stand on her wobbly legs. Applejack pointed at her sister, trapped beneath the tree. Granny Smith shook her head in anguish. A train-like sound blared from the clouds that were only moments away from reaching the orchard grass.
AJ rushed to Granny's side and helped her gallop to the other side of the orchard. She prayed that Big Macintosh had lead Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle to the cellar. Applejack's mind was racing with worry, depression, and confusion.
"Why had this happened? Why Applebloom of all ponies?"
The limping elder pony was keeping up surprisingly well and they reached the cellar before the twister finally reached the ground. The rain pounded on the wooden doors as they shut behind the two exhausted ponies. Big Mac held a lantern in the back left corner of the cellar, illuminating the concrete walls. Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo were cuddled in the back right corner sleeping peacefully despite the loud rain and looming danger. The long gallop from far into the orchard to the orchard entrance must have worn them out. Looking back at Big Mac, she could see his expression was a worried eagerness to know what happened and where his baby sister was. Applejack shook her head at him sadly, heart aching and tears flowing from her eyes in a cascade of emotions. Her little sister was gone, not on a vacation gone, but gone forever.
Ponies of Equestria rarely thought of the afterlife because it brought about conflict in perspectives. Applejack didn't like to think about it mainly because it frightened her. Would her soul evaporate into a black, empty abyss where no voices are heard and life is nonexistent? Or rather, would there be a realm even more beautiful and seemingly perfect than the one she was in right now? The pony civilization dreamed of reaching sheer perfection, but everything with a soul or even a heart will screw up and some just blatantly do wrong. Was heaven even a possibility? Can ponies truly live in a world in perfect harmony and compassion? Where there no misunderstandings or conflict even between true enemies or best friends? Applejack did not think so. Even if every pony that dreamed of murder and brutal slaughter dropped dead right now. a perfect world did not exist. If they were gone, however, the world would be at least a little bit healthier and pure.
Her thoughts were scrambled and constantly chasing their tails. Nothing made sense to the mare anymore, after all, Applebloom was just a filly. She did not deserve this fate! She should have earned her cutie-mark and finished school. Spend time with her friends, find a special some-pony, find a career, have a family. and grow old surrounded by her loving family. It wasn't supposed to end like this.
As her mind traveled back to reality, she found herself sobbing silently on the floor. Her eyes and lungs were burning and every muscle in her body ached. Applejack began to cough hysterically, panting and wheezing miserably on the chilling floor. As she wailed she salivated all over herself. Big Mac moved to her assistance, but the tangerine mare had already lost consciousness and felt her body and mind lose all sense of reality.
***
The vortex had not gone very far. It didn't even touch the house or the barn, however, the apple field was a different story. Trees had toppled over one another, blocking what once were pathways. It had been two days since the tornado incident. The pegasi had brought Applebloom's body to the hospital after moving the tree off of her broken body. Her body was very mangled and the casket would only show her face at the funeral. The shock and sadness was numbed after crying for an entire day, but the scar of losing her dear little sister would eternally stay in her heart. Big Macintosh worked through the depression, literally. He cleared the orchard paths and hauled wagon loads of prematurely picked (More like thrown) apples. Applejack helped him by picking up the smaller branches and leaves. Granny Smith simply wasn't herself. The elderly mare remained indoors , sitting in her rocking chair while mumbling comprehensible words to herself. It was the morning of the funeral and depression overwhelmed the rodeo pony. Applejack needed to find photos of Applebloom, so she searched the house for their old family albums. She searched through drawer after drawer, until she found a large binder with a black leather cover. "The Apples" was engraved by hoof at the top and a large apple was engraved in the center. She tentatively opened the album and read the small passages that went along with some of the pictures. It showed the whole Apple Family, no wonder it was so colossal. Ten minutes passed and she finally found some cute photographs of young Granny, Big Macintosh, and even Applejack herself. Then, she found Babs Seed and Applebloom. AJ sighed and selected several pictures from the album and set them aside in a neat little stack. Just as she was about to place the thick leather album back into the cozy drawer, she spotted another thick book. Carefully, she removed the book sliding it out from underneath several smaller books. It didn't have a title on the cover, but a velvet bookmark was placed near the center of the book. The book was perhaps three inches thick, only have the size of the previous one. She listened to the cover ache as she turned it. She stared in shock at the first page. "Granny Smith's Private Journal" The orange pony's curiosity took over her rational thought and began to read her grandmare's journal entries. An hour flew by and soon she arrived at the velvet bookmark. The page was dated for two days ago, the day of the accident. Excitement forced her to read quickly, barely comprehending the words in front of her. The mare was practically skimming until she came upon a specific paragraph, imagining her voice as she went along; " We were a'gallopin as fast as we could. Trees were fallin' all over and I told her to go faster, but she was so frail and weak and oh so scared! We kept runnin' and the filly slipped on the wet grass. I didn't stop. I kept on goin' a'hollarin for her to get up, but she just couldn't. I turned around and saw the tree that hovered above her beginning to bend and twist around in the wind. There was a big snapping sound and I watched it fall. I should have run to her, but, I wasn't ready to die. I knew rushing to her would result in mah death and I just refused to accept that fate. I'm sorry Applebloom, I am so very sorry." She couldn't finish reading. Applejack denied her eyes' request to release even more tears and sorrow. She would not cry. Applejack buried her agony inside of her, pushing it to the bottom of her heart. Instead she let her anger grow. Her mind swirled with ways to punish her or get her to admit the truth, but these were quickly interrupted by the sound of heavy hooves hitting the floor. "It's time ain't it?" She managed to utter the question without her voice giving out. "Eeyup."
Applejack stood still with her head pounding furiously. The voice in her head pleaded with her to just cry and let her sorrow out, but Applejack had plans for her despair and anger. The orange mare tried her hardest to pay attention to the ceremony, which was almost complete by now. Her mind, however, spun with ideas of revenge for her sister. None of them seemed good enough. What could she possibly do to show her Granny the pain she was, is experiencing because of her selfishness? How could she show her what Applebloom must have felt when she refused to put Applebloom's life before her own? She considered burning the diary she had been writing for ever so long, but that was not enough. It had to be something so very important to her that it came before others. Applejack suddenly understood how to punish her Granny. Since she had not saved her sibling and thought that her ancient soul was more important than her sister's, Applejack would steal her life. It would be slow and painful, just like Applebloom's unfortunate death. The rodeo pony shook her head to focus on the funeral again. It was a sunny day despite the overwhelming sadness everypony felt. All the apples gathered with saturnine faces and black dresses, hats, and (for stallions) black suits. Gorgeous flowers covered the black casket which was now closed. The funeral ponies lowered the casket into the grave and AJ forced her eyes shut, she couldn't bare watching.
Finally, the funeral was over and the Apple Family departed. As she cast a glance over her shoulder at her sibling's grave, she spotted three familiar fillies. A white unicorn hugged a pegasus with a purple mane and orange body, both of them sobbing silently. She watched the tears stream down their faces. They sat at the edge of the grave where the grass remained, however one pony stood in the center of the soil. The foal did not cry, but her face was filled with grief and pain, even from Applejack's position she could see this.
"I will avenge your sorrow Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, Babs Seed. I swear."
The melancholy sight shook her to her core. Granny Smith had caused all of this - every tear shed, every heart broken, every face crippled with gloom. Was she feeling any remorse or repentance at all? Was she shameful of her own unwillingness to defend her grandfoal? Yes it was true that she was stricken with heartache from losing the filly from her life, but was she truly sorry? Yes she had written that she was in her diary, but perhaps that is precisely what she wanted everypony to think! She is a liar after all! She told Big Macintosh and Applejack it was a horrible accident! The tangerine pony was completely sure that she was treacherous and simply should not be trusted. Liars cannot be trusted. But trust is as important as honesty. If you cannot be honest and truthful, then you needed to be eliminated.
Applejack snapped back into reality fairly quickly. Her thoughts seemed like they had taken so much time, but she came to the realization that she was in front of her home. Her legs had known what was going on and did the work for her. Once again, her legs took charge and lead the rodeo pony to her room. Suddenly becoming even more aware, she plopped herself on her bed and fell asleep slowly, allowing a single tear to slide of her cheek and dampen the pillow.
The next morning progressed slowly and the day after was the same way. Soon, a week passed by and she felt her anger reaching it's highest point. She had a nasty attitude towards everypony, even her friends that came to visit her. Rainbow Dash and Rarity would say nothing during the visits, considering their sisters had survived, it was a wise decision. Usually, they watched the others try and comfort the farm pony, but they never succeeded in dimming her hatred. They were not aware of the earth pony's hatred and sinister ideas of revenge and she planned on keeping it that way.
Applejack sat near the orchard entrance, remembering her dearest little sister. She no longer felt agony, just a scorching hot loathing of her Granny. It burned so intense and passionately that she found herself desiring revenge more than ever. She thought over all of her elaborate plans and eliminated all possibilities of fulfilling them. Instead, she would take more of a simple approach. The mare swallowed hard and trotted into her home, searching for the heap of manure that betrayed her family.
She found Granny writing in her diary. How had Applejack only recently notice the book's existence? She wasn't entirely sure. The orange pony approached her slowly, planning what to say briefly.
"Granny, there's broken wheel on the wagon. I think you should take a look at it before I do anythin'" Her Granny nodded, placed the book in the drawer, and trotted behind her remaining granddaughter. She lead the way to the barn, taking a quick mental note that Big Macintosh was in the orchard. She opened the door for the elderly mare out of habit and slowly closed it. She flicked up the lock and her heart began to pound.
"So, where's that there wheel you were speakin' of?" the green pony asked as she turned towards Applejack's direction, slightly confused. A lantern hung from the roof, illuminating the barn as much as it could. Applejack felt a rumble in her throat, she was chuckling. She felt amazing, knowing that she would soon avenge her sister and help remove a liar from the world. Bad ponies needed to be removed or more innocent ponies like Applebloom will suffer.
"There ain't one Granny." she replied simply, a dark outline looming in the shadows.
Granny Smith was taken aback, "You don't mean to tell me you was lyin', do ya'?"
"Oh good heavens no, I'm just bein'.....sarcastic, yeah that's it, sarcastic...."
Granny Smith began to back away as she heard the rumble in Applejack's throat grow louder and more maniacal.
"Granny, you did a bad thing. You are a liar and liars cannot be trusted."
"N-no Applejack, sweetheart I -"
"You betrayed us! How dare you call me sweetheart! You must be eliminated! You are a monster and shall be treated as such!"
The green mare found herself pushed against a wall, the insane farm pony slowly approaching her. A wicked smile placed itself on the orange mare's lips, her teeth barely visible in the dim light. It almost resembled a crescent moon with it's perfect curves. Applejack glanced around, searching for a weapon. She noticed a newly cleaned and polished pitchfork in the back right corner. Granny Smith saw her granddaughter's eyes dart to the corner and she immediately moved in that direction in hopes of defense against the revenge-seeking Applejack.
This was to no avail, of course. Every second began to slow down and before she knew it she heard a loud squishing noise. The old mare screamed in pain as she was forced against the wall, a pitchfork plunged into her abdomen area. She shrieked in pain as she sobbed. The pain was simply unbearable. Her stomach felt as though millions of needles were piercing her entrails. As the flesh began to tear she could see the mahogany colored blood slowly seeping out of her body and a couple of small pieces of flesh flop onto the floor.
The pitchfork was lodged halfway into the pony's body, not yet reaching bone. However, the pain was still excruciating and she let out long, shrill screams of terror. Applejack saw an opportunity to make her suffer even more and she jumped on it immediately, exhilarated. She yanked the pitchfork to the right while pushing on the farming utensil even harder. The green mare continued to wail as she plunged forward, helpless and unable to move anything except her mouth and neck as she squirmed while having her guts wrangled up by the metal.
The mare continued her painful heaving and wailing. Her chest rose and fell rapidly and the barn smelled intensely like iron. The mentally unstable pony pushed with the strength of a rodeo pony and lodged the weapon into her spine, earning an even louder and more jarring screech. With a smug grin she began to laugh even harder as her grandmare's painful groans and terrified howls resounded in the almost empty barn.
Once again she saw yet another opportunity to make the pony endure even more intense pain. She pulled back hard with the pitchfork, pulling intestines and a few other unidentifiable organs out with it. Blood gushed out of the enormous gash and her green coat now had blood surrounding the wound. The repulsive side made the elder regurgitate, blood mixing with the grotesque chunky liquid. The senior began to quiver and she appeared to be drifting off.
Applejack contemplated for a moment. This pony, if you dared call her that despite being mangled and mentally, morally, and physically, killed Applebloom. There was no death penalty for bad ponies like her in Equestria, so Applejack would take it into her hooves to rid bad ponies from the world. Granny Smith was a rotten apple in a batch of pure ones and she squashed a pure apple underneath her and could not go unpunished. She was a manipulative liar and she was sadistic. Bad ponies needed to be sentenced to death.
The orange pony stood, watching her body begin to grow lifeless. The mare considered different ways to torture her, deciding on where on her body would create the most suffering and agonizing feeling. She quickly made up her mind as the wrinkled and rotting mare now slouching in a ostensibly uncomfortable position. Of course, the painful shock waves coming from her large incision must hide the discomfort.
Aiming carefully, Applejack decided to torment her skull. She slammed the pitchfork hard into her skull, her brains flying out in clumps. Blood and screams enveloped Applejack's world. With a menacing laugh she observed her work. Granny Smith had collapsed on the ground from the force AJ exerted on the pitchfork which impaled her skull. The metal fork stood straight up as it was cozily seated inside of Granny's brain. Blood leaked from her body and her mouth hung wide open, a small trickle of blood.
This was her glorious masterpiece. A liar has been removed eternally from the world. She began laughing at the corpse, insisting her Granny deserved this. The pony's eyes went big, making her pupils shrink and menacing laugh intensify. Her hood extended itself to the mouth of Granny Smith, practically shoving it down her throat. Her hoof was covered in blood and she turned to look at her rump, blood dripping off of the soaked hoof.
"I have reinvented myself. I shall destroy any liar that crosses my path. I will treat them with the same brutality they release into the world and I will not fail this cause. This is for you Applebloom! I love you! You are my emblem of truth, the embodiment and spirit of it and I will avenge you until my life comes to a halt."
Applejack then wrote a simple, yet meaningful word over her cutie-mark. Now, she believed honesty would be her talent along with being an Apple. Funny how they both are five letter words and define Applejack's very soul.
***
It didn't take Big Macintosh long to realize something was up. The stallion had seen a change both Applejack and Granny Smith, but he didn't think it would come to this. No, this was not what he had in mind for his family's grieving. He stood at the barn door, looking into a scene that reminded him of something you would hear in a horror story, but most certainly not real life. And yet, here he was. He was staring at his own sister and Granny, blood soaking both of them.
At first, he wasn't sure what he was supposed to do. What could he? His sister was obviously insane, but he simply couldn't lose another sister. He took a moment to focus on Granny Smith as well, whom was visibly unconscious and soaked in blood. The blood was beginning to turn a russet color, which meant it had been sitting for a while.
Was she dead?
Big Macintosh shivered at the sight that was before him and he was barely keeping his lunch down. He finally grew enough courage to speak, which he rarely ever did other than his regular catch phrase. However, before he could say anything, Applejack spoke.
"She lied, Mac. She told everypony that Applebloom's death was an accident, but her diary said she...she gave up on her. She wouldn't exchange her life for the life of her own grandfoal. How sick is that? She wouldn't risk her life for somepony who has barely lived meanwhile she has limited years left! It's just so unfair...." she hesitated and swallowed hard at the lump in her throat before continuing, "Liars like her need to die Macintosh. She was the rotton apple in the barrel, so she needs to be tossed away."
Applejack had always been an honest pony, in fact, she cherished honesty above all other qualities. The irony of it all was, she is lying to herself. Big Macintosh could always read ponies like a book, it was a secret skill of his and he didn't talk much because there wasn't any need when you can read right into a pony. This beautiful mare before him that he loved so very much, was being a liar. She is acting out of selfishness. She wanted revenge and she killed her own Granny.
Unbeknownst to Applejack, Big Macintosh was aware of what Granny Smith had done prior to this moment. He had read the diary entry after seeing how worked up Granny was while writing in her diary. Assuming it was just a paragraph of hings she remembered doing with Applebloom or the like, he was greeted by an astonishingly heartbreaking confession. Of course, he being the calm pony he was, he did not allow himself to become enraged by this. Yes, he was indeed shocked and thoroughly confused, but it had taken it's course already and there was nothing he could do about it. You cannot alter the past, sadly.
Returning to reality was bitter, seeing Applejack distraught as she was. Big Macintosh could only make out the emotions on his sibling's face, as the light from the lantern hardly helped and the moon was the natural light source he had. The orange pony walked forward, seemingly reading his mind. She looked dreadful, her ponytails had fallen out, her coat was caked with blood and dust, her eyes were bloodshot, and her rump had blood spelling out "truth"
He had the notion to call the police and inform them that his sibling had gone insane, but he just couldn't bring himself to. He had responsibilities not only as a big brother, but also on the farm. Farming was all he knew how to do and the farm had belonged to their family for a very long time. He wouldn't be able to maintain the farm without her. Not only this, but he had already lost one sister, he could bare with the idea of losing the other.
Following up on losing his youngest sister, the remaining one had lost her sanity, and lastly Granny Smith had past away. What were they going to do? Lying to everypony about it would only set Applejack off and would potentially get himself killed as well. Being a pre-planner, was not a good trait to have in this situation. Big Macintosh decided taking things one at a time would be the best for both Applejack and himself.
He closed and locked the barn door from the outside, he surely didn't need anypony to see that mess. He walked with his sister to the door only a few yards away from the barn door. He brought her to the dining room so she could calm herself down. He trotted to the bathroom and began to run a bath. After the water way four inches away from reaching the top of the bathtub he trotted back to his sister and sent her to wash herself.
It didn't take long for her to clean up and return to Big Macintosh, whom was still in shock and processed things slowly. When AJ did return she had calmed herself down and seemed like herself again - seemed.
She looked at him earnestly, "You understand why I did what I did, right?" she asked. Big Macintosh considered the question. he understood why, but he didn't agree with her actions at all. He reflected on the way he viewed the Applebloom accident all together. He hated saying it that way, she was a pony for Celestia's sake! The way he viewed it was he could do nothing to change the past and he wouldn't dwell on it the way others might, so he would hold Applejack to the same circumstance.
"Eeyup." he replied.
"Thank you, big brother. I need that support right now." her eyes glistened from fresh tears, "Do you have a plan for the, uhm, erm, remains?"
With a sigh he responded, "Eeyup."
"Thank sweet Celestia!"
The rest of the night Big Macintosh continued explaining his plans to the tangerine pony. She seemed fine with everything until he asked a single question.
"Does it bother you that we might have to lie, just a little?"
Applejack's expression changed almost instantly. It became completely expressionless, emotionless, empty.
"We ain't lyin' brother. We're just bein' sarcastic. That's all."
The red stallion considered questioning why she thought that sarcasm was the equivalent of what she was doing, what they were doing. Deciding that her answer was close enough to a 'yes' as he would get he sent his sibling off to bed and the large stallion went to the barn to execute his plan.
Applejack lie awake in her bed, unable to sleep. She kept thinking over the plan to cover up her, what was the word, punishment? Yes, she had given a punishment to her Granny and she was proud of it. It disappointing to her to think that nopony else would be pleased with her work the way she was. AJ's mind returned to the plan once again.
Big Macintosh was going to bury the body out in the orchard and clean the pitchfork until there was no evidence left. He will scrub the barn and finally the job would be done - for now. If any liars were to cross paths with her they would suffer. They were going to suffer even worse than her Granny had. She looked up at the ceiling and smiled to herself.
"Goodnight, Applebloom. Wish your Sarcastic Applejack luck in stopping the liars!"
The End