"Applejack!"
"Applejack!"
"Applejack!"
"Applejack!"
"It is great to hear so many people are concerned about me," Gilda quipped weakly from the other side of the nurse's office.
Both Applejack and Gilda laid in beds on opposite sides of the room and were clad in hospital gowns.
Applejack laid in the bed closest to the door. Her right cheek covered in a thick bandage, and she laid down, a traumatized expression on her face. Gilda sat in the bed furthest from the door, gauze wrapped around her eyes, her mouth twisted into a forlorn frown.
Applejack's friends and the Apple Family laid next to Applejack, holding her tight and crying over what had been done to her. Applejack didn't respond to their hugs, looking like an empty shell. Sunset also hugged Applejack, tearfully apologizing for creating the monster that carved up her face.
"Gilda!" two voices echoed. Lightning Dust and Rolling Thunder burst in, running up to hug the blindfolded girl.
"Guys," Gilda said, her morose expression relaxing into a calm smile, as her two best friends embraced her.
"What happened to you?" Lightning Dust asked her blindfolded friend.
"I hurt my ankle," Gilda said in an ironic tone, "as you can tell by my-WHAT DO YOU THINK HAPPENED?!"
"Nurse," Rolling Thunder asked the nurse, her wild Sydneigh accent becoming more relaxed, "is Gilda gonna be OK?"
"Is she gonna be blind for life?" Fluttershy asked with some horror.
"Don't worry, she isn't going to be blind," Nurse Redheart reassured the purple-skinned brawler, "her eyes are too sensitive today, but by tomorrow, she can take off the blindfold."
"Well that's a relief," another female voice said. Everyone looked to the door, and saw a tall, athletic woman in blue military uniform and sunglasses marching in. Her skin was yellow, her hair resembled an orange flame, and she wore a smirk that was both disarming and confident. "For me," the woman continued. "I'd hate to have to do your chores, Gilds." Everyone, especially Rainbow Dash, looked in awe at who entered in the room.
"You're Spitfire!" Rainbow Dash said in an excitable fangirl voice.
"Yes," Spitfire said with a neutral expression. "And the sky is also blue."
"You rescued those hostages from the Changeling Army ten years ago," Rainbow continued excitedly. "Even got the Star of Valor from the Chief Minister [1] himself. It was awesome-"
"Rainbow Dash," Rarity scolded, "I know you're excited to meet a celebrity, but let's not forget the situation at hand." She gestured toward the still shaken and forlorn Applejack. Rainbow Dash's good mood died, remembering what happened to her friend.
"I'm so proud of you, Little Sis," Spitfire said empathetically, climbing into bed with Gilda to give her a hug too. "Doing what you could to protect someone." Rainbow almost asked how Spitfire knew Gilda, but barely remembered that Gilda lived on a military base.
"I guess," Gilda said, her normally manic voice becoming unusually soft as she leaned into the hug.
"GILDA!" A panicked voice said. Everyone turned around and saw Micro Chips coming into the room, breathing heavily and holding some brown bag. "When I heard about what happened, I ran to Barnyard Bargains and got your favorite foods," the tech geek said. "Jelly donuts, beef jerky, chicken ramen, peppermint cookies, and Diamond Princess cereal bars." Gilda frowned in dismay, not wanting her love of Diamond Princess to be known.
"Hey Micro," Gilda said with a forced smile and gritted teeth, "you didn't have to be do this. You really...didn't."
"I didn't know Little Sis had a boyfriend," Spitfire said in a teasing voice.
"We're not dating," the two said in unison.
"Denial," Spitfire said in a fluttery tone, "the sign of true love." The two began blushing in embarrassment. His blushing vanished as Micro Chips noticed Sunset was in the room and gave her a cold look. Sunset flinched, remembering that Micro Chips was still angry over her mistreatment of him.
"I'm sorry to interrupt this adorable family moment," Rarity said in a humorless voice, "but can we please focus on what happened."
"That's what where I'm here fah," a weirdly accented voice said. An officer in the Canterlot Police Department strode in, clad in a blue uniform and a hat.. The man had shamrock green skin, red sideburns, a thick red mustache, and an overweight build. His appearance and his accent indicated he was of Capallan [2] heritage. "I'm Officah Garda! "What in the name of Terrah Prime[3] is happening here?" the man asked in frustration, confused at such a large crowd, "Is this some kind of party?"
"Nope," Spitfire said. "Just a lot of concerned citizens." Officer Garda rolled his eyes.
"I need Ms. Griffon and Ms. Smith to tell me what occurred," the man said, pulling out a notepad.
"Is the situation really that bad to warrant police?" Rarity asked with trepidation.
"Young lady, this is no ordinary punk," Officer Garda said with some fear. "He left bloody footprints on the ground when he ran away-"
"Did they lead anywhere?" Spitfire asked hopefully.
"He apparently realized what he was doing and took them off," Officer Garda said. Everyone's jaw dropped in surprise and horror. "This kid is both slick and knows how to cover his tracks." He looked at the farmer and the military brat with a serious and desperate gaze. "Anything you have to offer is absolutely necessary to capture this thug." With a sigh, the two began revealing what happened.
Applejack explained how her cowboy hat had been stolen from her, and the thief, with lightning speed, lured her into the storage closet. Before she could see who it was, a cloth covered in chloroform was thrown over her mouth, knocking her out. Every ten seconds, she would tremble fearfully as she recalled the horrible incident.
Gilda explained how she was looking for toilet paper when she walked in on the freak's torture session, and how the freak managed to knock her to the ground and blind her. Everyone else provided what details they could about the thug, including the threatening notes Sunset received.
"There were a few things that were...odd about this guy," Gilda said with a frown.
"This bogan is a knife-wielding psycho," Rolling Thunder said with bitter sarcasm. "Odd is an understatement."
"Think about it," Gilda said with an uncomfortable expression. "He goes to all this effort to slice up Apple Girl's cheek. He looks like he can barely stand, and he pulls a wrestling move on me." Her mouth set into a thin line. "And even though I was helpless, he didn't bother to slit open my throat, despite the fact that I was a witness. I have a feeling he could've gutted me any time, but was...holding back, for some reason." Fluttershy began tapping her chin in deep thought.
"Could be a pragmatic psycho," Officer Garda mused as he wrote on his clipboard.
"He carved...a word into Applejack's cheek," Nurse Redheart said uncomfortably.
"What was it?" Officer Garda asked the nurse. With hesitation, Nurse Redheart held up a picture of Applejack's face for all to see.
Several letters had been carved into Applejack's cheek.
B I T C
Everyone looked shocked and horrified. A whimper erupted from Applejack.
"Put it away," she yelled, tears flowing down her cheek. Her soft country voice was horribly numbed by the painkillers that had been injected into her face. Granny and Big Mac hugged her again, while Apple Bloom patted her head, the way Applejack would do for her whenever she felt scared, while Nurse Redheart immediately hid the picture.
"And, he left...a note in Applejack's skirt," Nurse Redheart said ominously.
"Read it to me," Officer Garda said. With even more hesitation, Nurse Redheart read the note.
"Hello, Sunny," the note began, "It appears you've gotten yourself some meat shields. Little bodyguards to protect you from the wrath you so deserve. I'm not surprised. You've always hurt people from where they couldn't reach you." Sunset's head bowed in shame. Pinkie Pie tried to put a comforting hand on Sunset's shoulder, but she pushed it away. "To anyone dumb enough to protect the coward. I will give you only one warning: if you choose to associate with vermin, you will become vermin in my eyes. In my eyes, all vermin deserve to be exterminated." Nurse Redheart turned the card around with reluctance.
It was a picture of Applejack and her friends, edited to have x's drawn over their eyes, and nooses doodled around their necks.
Everyone looked at Nurse Redheart with horror. Sunset began shaking with terror.
..... whoever this person is? They're fucking DEAD now.
Alright, everyone go through the portal. Everyone. We'll call up Princess Twilight, have her put at least 2 or 3 Guards on everyone, and there we go.
10312026
This was when the portal was still thought to be closed for good.
So...no reinforcements from the Land of Friendship, sadly.
10312037
Alright, new plan.
Everybody stab yourself with this arrow.
10312054
Wait. What about that guy who kills you after telling his life story?
I'm imagining a Canterlot police organized assembly in the near future; "One of you has seen fit to attempt to murder an individual twice now, and have issued a threat of death against anyone who would stand up for them. It is our duty as officers of the law to protect people, miss Shimmer included, so congratulations, you have officially said you are willing to murder your city's police, ...you don't want to know how long in prison, not jail, prison you will be."
10312097
Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.
c l i c k
10312139
WAIT SH-
Boom
You skipped over AJ waking up, makes it weird when she's suddenly awake now.
From the notes, I like the use of Irish Gaelic.
Anyway, yep, called it awhile back. The person is reluctant to kill. That does leave the drowning as the only serious attempt, but that was the direct mark, not the uninvolved. Does lead me to wonder about that incident as it doesn't quite fit the pattern, which seems to be more about terror than death. Of course, there's the Discworld saying: at the wrong end of a crossbow, you're better off with a bad man at the other end. They'll want to gloat. If a good man thinks you need to die, they'll just do it. Still, that doesn't seem quite right. I'll keep my guesses to myself for the time being, though. Realize that makes it hard to verify later but I'm wary of publishing guesses as some authors change the story if people guess correctly.
Why do I feel like it's Big Mac?
10312054
...Is that a Jojo reference?
10312026
Oh please. With their track record they'd let the idiot attack them because they won't know he's bad, even if they know what he looks like
10312202
Not exactly....
AJ may be alive, but she is so traumatized, she might as well be asleep.
That was what I was trying to get across.
I really hope this ends soon. Not because I dislike the story or anything, but because this bastard is making me so angry that I'm wanting him to die a very slow and painful death.
10312226
Well I know what the phrase means regardless, I'm just wondering where that wording comes from as I haven't heard it before.
With the other part, well I was trying to keep it light there, but yeah. Dirty humor is a cheap laugh, but in a stressful situation that's often what's needed.
10312216
Oh... well that was not clear to me. Not sure if others have had the same problem. The impression I got was that she was still unconscious, as she was unresponsive. I don't know how chloroform works, so I assumed it was still in effect.
However this person is a psycho but you have to wonder, what did Sunset do to this person that he/she want to kill her and her friends.
10312204
If it was, he’d be the kind of guy that would carve “bitch” into his Little Sister’s face. Scarring is likely
10312237
I second that sir
10312237
Oh same, I want that basterd thrown in the darkest pit of hell!
It's time we raid this fucker out of his hiding hole, who's with me?!
10312204
I sure hope not. Hating Sunset is one thing but I doubt he's bad enough to want to murder her and attack his own sister for helping her. Especially since the Apples highly value family
10312205
Dude, you were talking to the bad guy that blows up people.
10312204
Igiari! On What grounds and evidence? Big Mac wouldn't even think of involving his family. Plus Big Mac wouldn't need peeper spray to subdue Gilda
10314412
...Ah. I am bad enough with real people's names so that slipped right past me.
10314413
Described as big and bulky and uses words like "Varmint" I hope it isn't, but hey you never know
10314743
Igiari! He uses the word 'vermin' . "Varmint" isn't used by just the apple family
10315771
Hey I'm not trying to start anything here, it was just a gut feeling. Quite frankly Ihope I'm wrong
10316534
i know, but i just like finding contradictions ace attorney style.
I have an idea of who it is. I am certain of it. But I will hold my answer until the end of this arc.
Gilda, this is getting unfair, there's an (attempted) murder mystery revenge plot going on here, BUT YOU KEEP STEALING THE SHOW EACH CHAPTER!
Guys, join me. WE'RE GONNA KILL THIS BITCH!!
bro Im getting so infested in your story, im at online class rn but the only thing I can focus on is your story. I have a fork and I swear I WILL KILL WHOEVER DID THIS
THIS HAS GONE FAR ENOUGH!