All To Prove A Point
by Sunset-Chan
Applejack sighed as another pony strolled by and gave her a strange look. Usually, they wouldn't bother with her, or maybe shoot a greeting in her general direction. Today seemed different however, and that left a bitter taste in the earth pony's mouth.
She rolled her eyes before she got back to business, inhaling and then ramming her hindlegs against the apple tree. The mighty wood trembled by the force of her kick and a second later the apples started falling, just as usual, but the pony had stopped, like they'd never seen her buck apples before.
Her gaze passed over the pony. Lyra Heartstrings, a local musician of little wealth and influence, living her everyday life away by playing at the local tavern and whatever gig she could find near the town. Applejack wasn't much involved with her, but they'd talked on occasion, be it about apples or the weather, or the weather for apples.
Once more she sighed before she turned to Lyra. “Somethin' wrong?” she asked, not even bothering to hide her misgivings about being watched in silence.
Lyra's eyes widened and she did a step back, as if torn from a daydream, her hooves whirled dust around. “N-no,” she stammered, “Nothing. Nothing at all.”
And immediately she turned around and walked away, only looking back thrice, with Applejack staring daggers right back at her.
Dammit, the mare thought, Ye just gotta have ta prove me wrong.
She took a look at the baskets, filled not even to the half. It was exactly what she needed right now, a bad harvest. It was like nothing else could go wrong, really. Applejack pushed both baskets to the next tree, kicked it again.
And from there she continued with her routine, kicking tree after tree after tree. The amount of apples her efforts yielded, however, was miniscule at best. Not to mention that she soon felt another gaze cast upon her.
It wasn't that she hated being watched while doing her work, no. It was just that the way everypony responded to her talking to them ended with them blushing and hurrying away. Everypony acted like a criminal who'd done something wrong, and mind you, it felt like they did.
With another heavy breath she turned around, spotting Cheerilee, the teacher of her little sister. Her head was tilted as if she questioned what Applejack did.
“What are you doing?” She asked aloud, and Applejack felt her mouth opening but no answer coming.
It was quite obvious what she was doing, wasn't it?
“Ah'm buckin' apples,” she said with a forced smile, not in the mood to take this sort of insipidness.
“No, I mean, just, why're you wearing a diaper?”
Now Applejack tilted her head as if Cheerilee had justed asked the most stupid question.
“Does it matter?” she asked after a few moments.
“Well,” Cheerilee started, trying to find some words.
There were none, however, and she just stood there. Moments more passed, and though the teacher did not give any sort of reasoning for her question, she also didn't budge. Instead she remained exactly where she was, looking confusedly at Applejack.
“Something else the matter?”
“Uhm ...”
Applejack sighed once more, then put her hoof against her forehead. She felt warm, the sun was too high and too hot, slowly burning her crispy. The garment put so snuggly around her waist didn't help either.
“I don't wanna sound rude, but ah've got a lot of work here an' I want ta get it done. So if ya could stop the guffawing and just let me return to my business, I'd be very grateful Cheerilee.”
The other mare took another second before she looked up at Applejack's eyes. “Oh, uhm, sorry. It's just, well,” she said something under her breath before continuing. “Sorry, it's just a bit unsettling to see you like this.”
“Like what?”
“Wearing diapers isn't a casual thing.”
“Ah noticed,” Applejack growled. “Either that or everypony's been looking for an excuse to stare at mah behind. Which, as a matter of fact, is quite unsettling.”
“No, I don't. I most certainly,” Cheerilee was grasping for words and even looked at the fence for inspiration. “It's just, ugh. You know what, forget it.”
“Hard to do.”
“Well, uhm, if you don't want to talk about it, that's fine. I was just worried,” Cheerilee confessed.
Applejack walked towards her, the waddle putting off Cheerilee even more than just the sight itself. She took a whiff of Applejack as the orange mare closed in, but the smell of sweat mixed in with apples was just the usual.
“Maybe ah'm wearin' them for medical reasons,” Applejack said casually, leaning against the fence.
“Wouldn't you conceal them with magic, normally?”
“Why would I?”
“Because, well, ponies are looking.”
“You think hidin' yer weaknesses is healthy?”
“No, just, you know,” Cheerilee was struggling for words once more. “You don't see other ponies trodding around like that.”
“Well, ah've spent most my day in this thing here. Ah can understand the want of hidin it, considerin' how y'all keep starin' at it. Ah mean, does it bother you?”
“It's just that I've never seen you wearing one. Did something happen?”
“Maybe it did.”
“Well, we've known each other for most of our lives now. If there's anything wrong, you can trust me with it. And–“
“Cheerilee, the only thing Ah want to know is why I'm suddenly interestin', just cause I wear some padding.”
The mares stared at each other for a moment and Applejack noted how Cheerilee clearly did not understand what she was talking about.
“Look, ah've got mah reasons for standing her and for wearing a diaper. Ah've also got my reasons why I'm not embarrassed. Ah came out here this morning thinkin', hopin', that nothing would be different. Yet everypony suddenly stops and stares at me, and none of them come out and talk to me. Flitter went past me twice, each time gigglin' louder, until I threw an apple at her. It's not a hard question, why is it funny? Why is it so interestin'?”
Cheerilee twisted her mouth, looked to the ground and to her hooves, she kicked lightly against the fence. “Because most of them see you in a garment for little foals.”
“But ah'm a grown mare, an' we all walk around like the day we were born. Is there really a joke in here somewhere?”
Truth be told, Cheerilee didn't quite know what to answer. Applejack just stared at her, expecting for her to give some manner of explanation. She'd said what she could think off, her eyes sometimes going over Applejack and her strange garment. It was weird because she hadn't seen it often, because she knew of foals wearing them, of ponies concealing them. It was weird because she hadn't expected it to be thrown right in her face. Yet, as it was, she couldn't say any of those things.
If anything was wrong with Applejack, it would be rude to say something.
“I'm sorry. I didn't mean to say anything,” she said and excused herself, leaving the mare alone yet again.
And Applejack stood there, shaking her head and turning around. Apple Bloom had told her that it was funny that some colt in her class still wore diapers at night. She wanted to prove to her that it wasn't funny, and that adults weren't bothered by this sort of thing, even when it was other adults who were affected. The reactions she'd gotten had left her feeling saddened, but she guessed that's how the reality was. Ponies were always going to find things they didn't understand or couldn't explain scary, they'd try to laugh it off and run away from it. That was probably the extent of it.
Well, at least she had a somewhat comfortable diaper on and despite everything else, she could at least take a proper nap after all the hard work.
This had been a horrible, horrible day anyway.
