Pinkamenace II Society

Chapter 1

“You bucking louse! Thinkin’ you could skip out on all the bits you be owing? Buck you. Y’all are gonna learn some respec’ right now! You hear dat? RIGHT NOW! Yer about to see da boss and she’s bout fed up wit’ jus’ threats.” The room was not very bright, but Bon Bon could clearly see the brute speaking to her: a large earth pony of green coat and purple mane with a crowbar cutie mark. It was the same pony who had kicked her door open and demanded the bits for her “sweet tooth”. His name was JackSlap and he lived up to it.

JackSlap was one of Applejack’s goons, second to only Big Mac. He was dull witted but vicious, brutal, and good with the 9-millimeter hoofgun slung across his back leg just below his cutie mark. He was the one who did the dirty work off the farm. He would do whatever Applejack wanted and usually with a sick sort of enjoyment. He had, after all, earned his cutie mark while teaching those who owed hefty sums of bits to pay their debts.

He had clipped her with stinging shots from his forehooves when she tried to explain that she hadn’t yet come up with the bits she owed. He struck her repeatedly and, with help from his collector friends, dragged her through the broken streets of the ghetto that was Ponyville by her tail. She was sure this was a show intended to keep the fear of owing a drug lord in the minds of all the other “Sweets” addicts. She whined when one of the earth ponies stopped to kick her flank or legs. They largely left her face alone. She knew what Applejack did with those who didn’t pay up on time.

Rumors spoke of a whole room of faces hanging from the walls in a secret room in Sweet Apple Acres. Applejack kept them where she made her drug deals and frequently reminded those who bought her mass-produced substances that she was the boss and that crossing her would lead only to another bodiless face on her trophy wall. No one fucked with Applejack and lived.

The room was cold and dark. Heavy cement walls and only a single electric bulb hanging from a swinging string of wires adorned the room. There were no windows and the only opening was a steel door in front of which JackSlap stood. A sturdy wooden beam stretched the length of the room just below the low ceiling and held a pair of chains just the right length to hold a pony in place by his forelegs. Along the floor were splotches of what had to have been blood. This was a room nopony wanted to enter. It was a learning room. A room of pain. A room built to teach that when you promised payments you made them.

Bon Bon’s cream-colored coat was a dirty brown now and she cringed from JackSlap. Since they had arrived, he had only threatened and ranted but hadn’t actually harmed her. Her heart rode in her throat and she tried to stay against the cement wall of the small room. She could see the rust colors on the gray cement floor and walls and knew that others had been hurt here. Some had probably died in this room. It was her turn.

Applejack was going to sic her men on her with tools and then slice off her face. She had been given two warnings already, but just could not seem to come up with the money without stealing or selling her body. She was a good pony still and tried to keep her problems to herself. She didn’t want to take things from others or resort to walking the streets for bits and she definitely didn’t want to end up working for a pimp. She would just work harder and raise the money, but then Lyra had left…

Despite the horror of this place and the terrors that JackSlap was promising, she found herself remembering the night her life fell apart. She had been doing Sweets for a while and it was getting to be an every night thing. Lyra was crying again and…

A loud rapping at the steel door prompted a twisted grin from JackSlap. “Uh oh…bucking boss is here. Dis is it, bitch. I’ll come see ya in da trophy room….course you won’t be seein’ anyting den.” His laugh was sick and he pulled the metal door open.

The opened entrance brought bright daylight into the dim room and Big Mac stepped into the space. The cramped room seemed even more so under the bulk of the stallion. The head of security for his younger sister, he was the biggest stallion in Ponyville and sported a red coat and orange hair. His cutie mark was a split apple. In a way, that was what he did now. The business had turned him harsh and cold. Calculating, but cunning. He had taken to his new occupation when the Sweet Apple Acres business model had changed those ten years back. Once he had been kind and friendly…and dumb. Now he prided himself on keeping the family business running smoothly through his hard physical labor and the innate wisdom he discovered when deals went sour or competitors attempted to put them out of business. Now when someone reared their head to spit into the Apple family’s face, he cut them off. He glared at Bon Bon, his eyes soulless and hard, freezing her in place. He stomped his hooves and moved closer to the blue and pink maned Bon Bon.

“You’re…you’re not really going to hurt me over 20 bits are you, Big Mac?” The frightened mare whimpered. Her body drew up in the corner trying to stay as far away from the large red stallion as she could manage. Her eyes dilated in fear. She could swear she was already feeling those powerful hooves stomping her ribcage into paste. Her chest throbbed from her heart clenching and her breathing was like sandpaper being rubbed inside her chest and throat. What scared her most was that it would likely hurt much worse than that when he began.

“Eeyup.” The physical Adonis kept his words short and to the point most of the time. He didn’t like to talk things out, never did. Now he only really used full sentences when advising his sister or telling his men what to do. His steps were slow and timed for maximum response. Each heavy thud was another second he was closing in. He wanted the moment to be thick in their minds and their fear to reach its apex before he landed the first true blow. It was an aching few seconds for Bon Bon before he grasped her slender throat and lifted her off the floor completely with one hoof while standing on his back legs. He smirked and pinned her to the wall with his weight as he slowly drew his other hoof back. He would break her jaw first before crushing her midsection under his hooves. He meant to kill.

Bon Bon croaked through the hoof crushing her throat into the wall. “But…we…e used to…be…friends!”

The swing came forward and Bon Bon clenched her eyes shut tight, hoping to be knocked unconscious before being stomped to death. A tear dripped from her eye. “Sorry, Lyra…”

“Stop, Big Mac!” A form had taken the brightness from the open door and Macintosh halted his punch before it could impact the mare. “We did used to be friends.”

Applejack strode into the room, her hair long with a short ponytail at the end and all spilling out from under her telltale hat. Applejack was a strong mare. No other earth ponies could match her. If it weren’t for the youngest sister in the family, being strong would have been a family trait. She had business in mind and this plan had been one they used fairly often. This, of course, was the last warning that Bon Bon would get. Applejack wore a stern look and stepped right up and under Big Mac’s arm holding Bon Bon to the wall. She pulled back and up to her back legs and placed a hoof on either side of the squirming and suffocating bit ower. AJ’s eyes burned and she made certain that Bon Bon was looking deeply into them.

Jackslap grinned. “Hey boss, wanna do dis one yoself?” Even now after a dozen such occasions, JackSlap was sure that his boss meant to end the victim herself. It was probably a good thing because, with his limited intelligence, he would not have been a convincing actor.

The orange mare simply shook her head slowly, making sure to keep her gaze locked on Bon Bon. “Our friend deserves one more chance. Hard times, right Bon Bon? Can’t make the money because yer dear old ma is sick er somethin’, right?”

Bon Bon’s lungs were burning for oxygen and she didn’t know what was happening. Applejack was so frightening. She knew her life was weighing on this country mare and was eager to agree with whatever she wanted to hear. She tried to speak but couldn’t get the words past the massive hoof blocking her windpipe.

When the pinned mare’s color began to fade to blue, Applejack spoke. “Mac, lighten up on ‘er. I want ta hear what she has to say.”

The oppressive hoof pulled back enough for Bon Bon to breathe deeply a couple times and she coughed out the air at first, as if it were poisonous to her lungs. Moments later, the coolness of the air soothed her burning lungs and she weakly spoke. “Yes…hard times. I’m so…sorry.”

AJ nodded and slapped the mare across the side of her face. She was still held so all she could do was squeak and shudder. “Coz we are friends, Bon Bon. You have a week. Get the bits or next time…you know what will happen.” Applejack truly had had enough of Bon Bon’s foolishness. She would pay her in a week or the next time she would die. She had means. AJ knew Bon Bon still had the lyre that her former mare friend had forgotten when she left for a new town. The little bitch would stop sobbing over her bucking mare friend gone away and sell the trinket or she would go to the streets and work on her back for the money. Bon Bon had attached herself to that stupid instrument and was too good to go to the streets, but after being faced with her demise AJ knew she would choose life over ex-lovers or innocence.

The hoof from her throat released and she fell onto the cement floor hard, a rough scrape, but better than being stomped to death. “I…I promise, Applejack. I promise! Next week!” She clawed her way to the door and ran for home as fast as her sore body could muster.

JackSlap sighed with annoyance. “Buck…woulda been a good show, boss.”

The cowmare drug lord looked up at her older brother and chuckled with satisfaction. “It’ll work. She’ll do what she has to now. Now she knows she ain’t safe. If she don’t have those bits again, she’ll have more to worry about than her little broken heart.”

“Eeyup.”

“We have a problem, Mac. I want you to walk with me.” She cast her gaze to the green pony at the door. “Take a hike, JackSlap. This is family business and no leg breaker needs to know about it until yer needed.”

The green stallion slumped off in the direction of Ponyville to find someone to torment for a while. People to scare. Money to collect. It was how he passed the time. Work and play were the same for him, not just business.

The Apples watched the green stallion as he descended the hill towards Ponyville in silence. Once he was out of earshot, Applejack turned to her older brother. “Profits are down. Someone else is supplyin’ Ponyville with Sweets. I thought we were done with this when we put down the Cloud Kicker gang.”

Big Mac recalled the Cloud Kicker gang. The group was so named for their founder and had come from Cloudsdale to set upon the mean streets of Ponyville with a drug they called “Raindrop.” Raindrop was a strong hallucinogen that over a short time could bring amazing visions and psychedelic illusions, but also would leave those taking it drooling for the rest of their lives in an asylum if they took too much.

Almost instantly, Sweet Apple Acres had begun losing profits. Moreover, the Apple Family had begun to lose regular customers, permanently, to the mind-altering drug. Vegetables couldn’t use Sweets. This was something that could not be tolerated and so, for a year, the Family and the gang had battled in the streets. Many ponies had died, and many examples had been made. Granny Smith had even been kidnapped and her body was never recovered. The fighting had ended when Big Mac, JackSlap, and the bulk of the remaining Family caught the Cloud Kicker’s second-in-command alone and removed enough of her skin to prompt her to reveal their hideout’s location. With this knowledge, they had descended upon the rival gang with hoofguns, bats, and other tools of the trade. Very few of the Pegasi gang had escaped and now Cloud Kicker’s face held a spot of honor on Applejack’s wall.

The large red stallion smirked as he remembered crushing Cloud Kicker’s legs beneath his weight and the way Applejack had straddled the Pegasus and slowly cut around the screaming mare’s jaws and forehead. She had been alive and howling when the flap of flesh that once adorned her skull had been pulled free with a mighty tug. Since then, no one had interfered with the Apple Family’s livelihood.

“Eeyup.”

Applejack walked slowly down the path that led from the disciplinary building to the barn where all their labs were hidden, not in the barn itself, but underneath, in a cellar redesigned for crafting Sweets from the crops grown right on Sweet Apple Acres. She turned and motioned towards the grove of apple trees that stood just far enough away that none of the bustling workers would be able to hear them.

The two ponies entered the last orchard remaining on the farm. Much of their land had become scarred and unable to bear fruit after a pair of salesponies arrived in town one cider season and issued a challenge to the Apple Family. If their machine could out produce the Apples themselves, then they would take over Sweet Apple Acres. If the twins, Flim and Flam, lost they would never again return to Ponyville.

It had been a hard fight and the twins had been forced to crank their device up to a speed it had not been built to handle. The machine’s inner workings had burst and noxious chemicals had begun leaking into the cider it made. Suddenly, the machine had ruptured and a blue liquid had been propelled nearly half a mile into the sky from the massive pressure that had built up in the machine. The Apple Family had prevailed and the salesponies had left town with their broken machine. As the spectators cheered and the celebration began in earnest, nopony had seemed to notice the blue mist that settled upon the hillsides of Sweet Apple Acres.

At first, the Apple Family was happy and business nearly doubled. However, a week later many of the trees in the orchards had begun to die. Soon it became a crisis and nothing could be done despite the Apples’ best attempts to heal the dying farm. Within a month, most of the trees were dead and the ones that remained only wilted towards the ground and produced husks.

To avoid losing the farm, they had been forced to find a replacement crop that could yield incredible financial harvests. Rather than lose everything, Applejack had negotiated a deal to obtain one hundred Coca plants. They had built Greenhouses and within a few months had their first crop. Paying the unicorn who taught the family to turn the plants into Sweets had been hefty but, by their second harvest, they had paid their debts and begun to expand.

The apple grove within which they stood was the first that their family had planted when they moved to Ponyville and the only one to survive. Tough and strong like the Family themselves, these trees bore fruit that was always the sweetest and largest. When times were different, these apples had made them the powerful fruit family they had become. The apple trees here were as much family to Applejack as Applebloom or Big Mac. This was where she came to think, surrounded by those she could trust. This was her place of peace. She let out a long sigh and turned to look upon her brother.

A worried expression marred the usually attractive features of her face as she addressed her brother. “We need to take care a this before it gets out of hoof. We ain’t had any problems fer quite a while and I don’t intend to have any in the near future. We will deal with whoever is responsible and make sure everypony knows the price fer tryin’ to take away from the Apples’ business.”

The stallion only nodded and with a gruff no-nonsense voice grunted, “Eeyup.” He looked stern and ready to do what was necessary to protect the Family. The last time had been too much. All the uncertainty and fear had changed him. The Family was the most important thing to him and nothing would put them in such jeopardy again. No matter the cost, Big Mac would protect his family.

Applejack nodded and sat beneath a large tree. Its trunk was scrawled with each and every name of the Apple Family, all circling the Apple motto: “Familia Est Omnia.” It was scrawled in ancient Equestrian and, while the words were odd, everypony in the family understood what it meant. Family Is Everything.

Applejack’s name sat a few feet above her head. It had been etched by her father into the living bark when she was a filly. Over the years, it had been pushed upward as the tree grew, the names of the first generation high above the youngest.

.

Just above her name in a similar etching was Big Macintosh and below them was the last of the Apples, Applebloom. The names around the top of the motto were those of her great grandparents, the ones who had built the farm, the ones who had laid the groundwork for their descendants. Each generation had contributed and added, expanding the farm until it had been left in Applejack’s hooves and, instead of seeing it end there, she had taken it a new direction. “Send out the troops. Find out who this new supplier is and let’s be done with it.”

“Eeyup.”

***

In the tree limbs above Applejack and Big Macintosh sat a fat squirrel enjoying an apple. It had stopped chewing and now intently listened to the discussion that the ponies were having. The furry creature barely even noticed the meat of the apple sparking its miniscule taste buds as it watched and flicked its ears at the ponies, interested.

***

Twilight Sparkle had been summoned by Princess Celestia for a special assignment. The lavender mare was daydreaming about the possibilities in her spire off from the main body of the castle that overlooked Canterlot’s market district. Among the multitudes of books of varying subject matter, she found quite a small amount of room to work. She needed only minimal space because it was only her and Spike, her baby dragon assistant, and she rarely saw anyone else. Twilight was a shut in. She never had parties and only went to the ones she was required to attend and so all the extra space of the impressive spire was dedicated to an equally impressive collection of books that reached to the conical surface. No pony could really call her a friend. She was polite and nice but she rarely said more than a few words to anypony. Other ponies joked behind her back saying her name should have been Book Worm because, as powerful as she was in the ways of mysticism, it was balanced almost perfectly with the amount of studying she did.

She was single-mindedly trying to impress Princess Celestia and retain her place as favored pupil. Having friends was a side note to her because every new book she read on magic, nature, or even the inner constructs of a clock tower increased her knowledge, and knowledge was a strut that supported everything she was. Her inner power had gotten her far but without the intelligence to use a variety of magic spells, it could leave her flat, and one never knew when magically realigning a major spring inside a timepiece might save all of Equestria.

She had been anxiously awaiting the princess’ orders and was certain it would be an important task. She was the princess’ top student, after all, and wore the honor with a pride that even the Wonderbolts could not match. Whatever the task Princess Celestia had chosen for her, it was, in all probability, urgent for the whole of Equestria. Surely, with all her intelligence and raw magical ability she would be researching new spells that could defend the kingdom from dragon attacks, or discovering a way to reduce parasprite reproduction, or even a cure for Colt Cancer! The possibilities were endless and Twilight’s head was floating in the clouds so high that Spike had to wave both hands and jump into her field of vision before she was brought back to reality.

“Hey! Twilight! You didn’t even hear a word I said did you?” The purple dragon’s green spines were standing a little. He was mildly agitated by the lack of attention he was given when Twilight was pruning her ego.

Twilight’s pupils shrank back to normal size as she was brought back to the carpeted room of her spire. She sighed and dipped her head a little in self-reproach. “Sorry, Spike, but you know I’ve been so excited about getting my assignment. Princess Celestia doesn’t take her tests lightly and I’ve waited for nearly a week for her to call me. Ember Glow and Star Gazer both received their jobs only a couple days after she made her announcement and they are studying the long-term effects of time distortion. Do you know what that means?” She didn’t wait for an answer before continuing, “They time travel! I don’t even know the last time those spells were used!”

Spike sighed, “They actually send pieces of fruit into the future or the past. For all we know they may be studying new food preservation means. You know, have it later in perfect freshness instead of giving it a chance to rot. I doubt the princess would allow them to really travel in time.”

“It’s still related, Spike. They are actually using time magic! Maybe I will get to oversee them or have something even better!” Twilight shivered in anticipation at the thought of seeing a future Equestria or visiting past icons of pony history such as StarSwirl the Bearded or actually seeing Luna being banished to the moon. “So what was it you wanted, Spike?”

The dragon shrugged, “Well, I wanted to know what you want to do after you meet with the princess. I could really go for some Topaz. I don’t know why, but they have been a craving for me lately and we haven’t even gone out and bought groceries since Celestia announced that every student was going to receive a special assignment.” He thought for a moment, “Speaking of that, what time are you supposed to go to your audience with her?”

It was almost noon and the realization that Princess Celestia wanted her in her throne room at 12:10 brought forth a gasp so loud that the birds perching on the windowed terrace outside flew away in a panic. While day dreaming Twilight had completely lost track of the time. “Hurry, Spike, we’re going to be late! Let’s go see the princess! I have to know my task!”

The lavender pony hardly waited for Spike to jump onto her back before galloping at full speed from the spire where she spent the majority of her time studying or researching, inciting a yelp from the dragon as he clutched his claws into the dark purple and pink mane for fear of being thrown from the hasty mare. She bounded out the door and across the walkway of the buttress that held the spire onto the castle proper. Twilight ran so fast that, when they arrived outside the throne room, she had to stop and catch her breath. One did not stand before the princess in shambles. She looked at the clock adorning a nearby wall, 12:08. She had made it.

Twilight was ready for anything. Nothing could or would catch her by surprise or at least not for long. She would be the one called on to correct all possible catastrophes that occurred. Princess Celestia would revere her as her favored student forever and everypony would love her for her brilliance and capability. Whatever task that the princess had painstakingly appointed for her she would rise to and prove, once again, that she was the best and brightest. As she walked into the throne room with a large smile on her face to meet the princess, she truly was ready for anything.

***

Twilight’s jaw had been hanging open almost the entire time Princess Celestia had been speaking. It remained there for some time before Spike, loyal as ever, pushed it back into place. She sat on a tapestry, mouth agape and eyes glazed in what could only be a trance, before Princess Celestia, who was continuing to talk without being heard. The shock was taking a long time to process. Friendship? Is that what Princess Celestia was talking about? The magic of friendship? How could having friends who distracted one from her studies possibly forward the progress of magic? What kind of lowly responsibility was this she was being given? Surely, it was a mistake. Princess Celestia was confused or playing a joke or or…SOMETHING! There could be no possible way this was correct.

She suddenly realized that the princess had stopped speaking and was looking curiously upon her as if she were to be replying. The stunned unicorn mounted a meek argument. “Friendship magic? I…are you sure this is important your Highness? I mean, with all the progress that could be made in other fields, surely the magic of friendship is belittled and better set aside for somepony else. Wouldn’t Sprinkle Top be a better choice or anypony other than me?”

Sprinkle Top was a very friendly pony and probably knew more ponies than anyone in Canterlot. She was also not very bright and her magic skills had not developed nearly as far as most other students. Thus, she was the class clown and enjoyed it thoroughly. She was likely going to drop out of classes altogether and take up planning parties before too long.

The pastel haired white alicorn smiled. Her royal nature was kindly and generous; she rarely entered a situation that could raise her ire despite the abrasive way Twilight was responding to the project that Celestia had handpicked for her. “My dear student, while you are capable of almost any task I could choose for you, it has come to my attention that all of your free time is spent in your room.”

Celestia grimaced with worry at the lavender unicorn. “You never go out with others or attend any festival or gathering for more time than would be polite. Your sole flaw is the inability to make time for yourself and others around you. This lesson will show you that there is more to life than just studying and the pursuit of knowledge.”

The princess allowed a moment for her words to take root before continuing. She wished to address the problem that Twilight had and make it plain before expanding upon it to show the unicorn the value of her decision. “Friendship is a powerful tool. There are times when not even you will be able to solve the problems set before you and, when those times are upon us, it is good to have the ones you care about close to talk to and work with in order find a suitable solution. The magic of friendship is of dire import to each and every one of us. I want you to learn its ways and better yourself.”

The alicorn smiled brightly as her pastel hair waved around her head, haloing her beauty in a display of swirling colors. She believed every word she had spoken.

Twilight was dumbfounded. She did not know how Celestia could be serious, but if that was what the princess deemed important then she would set upon it with ravenous passion and finish it as quickly as possible so she could be given a task that was truly up to her abilities. She bowed low on her front hooves and, despite her trepidations, replied, “Yes, Princess, I will complete your request and learn all there is to know about friendship and the magic therein. Thank you, your Highness.”

Satisfied, Princess Celestia opened her wings and stood tall to show proper respect for the moment. “Twilight Sparkle, you have accepted this endeavor and I will be awaiting weekly reports upon your findings. We find that sending you to a new location would better suit the progress of your purpose and so we bid you a safe trip to…Hoofington!”