She hadn't meant to do it, but she had. The anger and hate that had filled her so completely moments before fled from her now like water from a broken bucket. Now that it was over, all she could do was look down at the unmoving form of her little sister, and the pool of blood which had formed around her small delicate head on the place where her skull had struck.
She hadn't meant for this to happen. All it had meant to be was a harmless shove in the midst of an argument with her little sister. Such things were normal weren't they? Sisters fought all the time. It was practically a cliche. People expected this.
...no. People didn't expect this at all. Fights among sisters didn't end like this.
Applejack looked around the back porch. The air was bitter with the oncoming chill of autumn, and the apple trees that populated much of the space on their property were already turning shades of red and gold. She shivered, but not from the chill in the air.
When she was sure there was no one around, she stepped down from the porch and got down to her knees. She looked at Applebloom. Her eyes were still opened wide even in death, frozen in the state of surprise that had come from being shoved so hard- No, she hadn't shoved her that hard. Had she? Applejack played the memory over and over in her mind trying to convince herself that it really hadn't been her fault.
Finally, she forced herself to stop. Again she looked down at her little sister. With a soft movement of her hand she brushed Applebloom's eyes closed and then, giving the area one more wide sweep with her eyes, she picked her sister up in her arms.
She was so little. The blood from her head dripped and soaked into the cloth of her button down shirt and trailed down her arm. Her eyes stung with tears of regret, but none flowed.
Her mind felt like a mass of empty space, and the realization of what she had to do seemed to collect in the bottom her her skull like the final gulp of sweet apple cider.
She walked quickly into the trees and didn't look back.
*** *** ***
It was another lovely day in the magical land of Equestria. The trees, just like in the human world, were turning bright, cheerful colors. Reds, oranges and yellows filled the landscape. Just as soon as the leaf stems were fragile enough, the date of the Running of the Leaves would be set and the ponies would race through the woods. With the thunderous force of many hooves, the leaves would be broken loose.
Applejack reared back and gave the side of a nearby tree a swift kick with her hind hooves. Apples fell through the branches by the dozens and collected into the baskets she had sat at the base of the tree.
Heaving a happy sigh, she wiped the sweat from her brow with her hoof and then with the smallest grunt she took the fullest of the three basket onto her back and walked it over to a waiting wagon.She fitted herself into the harness and started pulling the wagon back to the barn. She would be back for the rest of the baskets soon enough and would get back to work filling them. But they could wait in the meantime.
Free from her work for the time being, Applejack let her mind wander. Princess Twilight Sparkle had been gone for the last three days helping Sunset Shimmer with a problem that had cropped up in the human world. It had been keeping the princess very busy and she had only been back long enough to contact Princess Celestia and inform the six of them, Spike included, that she would be staying in the human world a bit longer while they tried to figure the problem out.
Rarity asked what in Equestria could be so wrong that it took her this long. Pinkie Pie butted in, just as cheerful as always. "Ooh! Ooh! Let me guess. UM! Is it the Sirens? No! Sunset Shimmer! No, she invited you. UM. You're DATING Flash Sentry!? Twilight, how could you?"
Twilight's cheeks flamed a bright red over her purple fur. "NO, Pinkie, that's not it." Rainbow Dash cut in, "Then what exactly IS the problem? Come on, you can talk to us, maybe we can figure something out to help. You know, two heads are better then one and all that crud."
Twilight gave Rainbow a sad smile, looking to each of her friends in turn. Her gaze lingered over Applejack a bit longer than the rest and Applejack noted this with a small frown.
Rarity got up from her Crystal throne and walked around the map to stand in front of Twilight. "We've always dealt with problems together when we could. Darling, I would hope you could trust us-" Twilight cut her off. "It's not that I can't trust you. It's just.... It's just..." Twilight's voice trailed off into silence and she gave Applejack another sad look before she managed to get her voice back.
"I know you girls want to help, but really, Sunset Shimmer and I have this under control. I promise that I'll explain what happened after we find..." Her voice trailed off again. Rarity leaned in and gave Twilight a small hug, "Think nothing of it, Darling. I know there must be a good reason if you can't tell us just yet."
Applejack let the memory fade as she made her way to the side of the barn. She got to work bringing the baskets of apples into the barn.
She was still thinking of the memory of all them around the cutie map talking to Twilight.
Applejack knew that it would only be a matter of time before Twilight was back after having given up. She couldn't tell you why she knew, not that anypony would think to ask her, not like she would offer up the information.
Her thoughts turned instead to another memory of five days ago. Her wide eyed expression. The shock of seeing another Applejack had been just enough. The pony had no time to react before she had struck her down.
She thought it would be hard to kill. It looked like her a little bit, sure. But it was still just a varmit. A varmit that had been in her way. She was surprised to find that aside from a few differences, the farm was set up very similar to the one she'd grown up on in the human world. She took the body to the same unused orchard she'd used before, still unused even in this world. The only different things were the bats which filled the area. They fluttered from tree to tree as she moved underneath the branches. It seemed to fit the scenario almost perfectly.
Digging a hole with hooves had been hard, but it was over soon enough and she made her way back to the house. She showed almost no reaction as Applebloom stormed into the house, a bright smile and loud happy voice. She wore no clothes, she was a pony after all. But Applejack could still see her sister in the filly. The same colour body, same hair, same old bow. It was as if in a weird twisted way that nothing had happened.
They sat down to dinner, and it was great.
She was back among the trees, the only sounds were that of the birds and the heavy thud of hooves on tree bark.
She was an honest soul, she would never have been able to lie about her mistakes. But now she never would. Her sister was out playing with her friends, Granny was baking a pie, Big Mac was out plowing a field somewhere on the other side of the farm. Life was good.
Nopony would ever ask about the shallow grave in the unused orchard. They would never know enough to ask about it.
Nopony would ever ask her if she had hurt her sister. Applebloom was perfectly safe and alive. There were no questions to ask.
She would never have to lie.
Author's Note
This story popped into my head one day as I was sitting in my kitchen and relaxing with a nice cup of tea. I was day dreaming about Applejack bucking apples and the idea kinda just formed naturally.
