Secrets in Equestria

The next day Sunset woke up to the sound of a loud knocking at the door. She really didn’t need it today. Her head was killing her and she barely slept as it was. She trudged down the stairs irate and tired. How could anypony wake others up when Celestia hadn’t even raised the sun yet? Whoever it was at the door was about to get a face full of hoof. She opened the door ready to hit the pony in front of her but found a big red stallion at her door. “Who are you?”

“Big Macintosh and you hurt my sister Applejack. Now you’re going to come down to the farm and help out. It’s apple bucking season and with my sister out of sorts, she can’t help out.” Big Mac grabbed Sunset’s hoof gently and began to pull. He quickly noticed Sunset’s hoof wasn’t in his. He turned around and saw the door slam shut. He had expected this and came prepared. “Fine, I tried to be nice.” Big Mac ran over and kicked the door down with ease. He pulled on Sunset’s tail and dragged her backward. He pulled out a ring and placed it on her horn. It happened so fast, Sunset hadn’t had time to respond. “I will take off the ring when you help me finish the farm work.”

“Look, I’m sorry about your sister but she bucked me across the room and besides shouldn’t she be better by now? Where did you get a disabling ring and” Sunset didn’t have the chance to continue.

“That is none of your business and believe me, she could have seriously hurt you like you did her but she didn’t because she has control of herself. Now let’s go.” Big Mac turned and began walking away. The entire walk to Sweet Apple Acres was filled with groans and yawns from Sunset. “If we finish quickly, I can take the ring off sooner and get you off our farm sooner.” Once they reached the farm, Big Mac walked over to a tree and explained how to buck the trees for full effect. “Do this right and we will be ok, do this sloppy and you’ll keep the ring on longer and you’ll probably hurt yourself.” He walked away to another part of the orchard.

Sunset grumbled and aimed her kick. Unfortunately, her kick was sloppy and instead of kicking the tree, she kicked air. After a few tries, she got a strange feeling and turned around. Behind her was Applejack limping toward her. “This is your fault!”

“I don’t think so; you’re the one that shot me in the side with your magic. I held back my kick, you went full force. Now I’m only out here right now to make sure you do this right. Thanks to you, I have had a headache since you hit me. Now keep your legs together like this and listen this time.” Applejack demonstrated how close while leaning on her good leg for support.

Sunset didn’t want to learn anything from Applejack or her family but the quicker this got done, the sooner she would get to leave. She decided to take the lesser of the two evils and let Applejack teach her instead of fighting not to learn. She did as she was instructed and put her legs closer together and kicked the tree. This time the apples at least moved. She groaned and Applejack chuckled before telling Sunset to put more force behind it. She did as she was told and this time a single apple fell.

The morning went on like that for a while. Sunset got better and better at bucking the apples out of the trees but she didn’t care. She couldn’t wait to be done with it, her mane was soaked with sweat and her legs hurt. She felt ready to collapse from exhaustion and then Applejack told her to take a break and go in for food. “Hallelujah. It’s about time.” Sunset ran to the farm house but was kept out by Big Mac. “Hey, what’s-”

“Sorry Sunset, we’re gonna eat outside today.” Applejack limped past Sunset and pointed toward a lunch table. “Go have a seat; Big Mac will bring out the food.” Applejack limped toward the table with some unexpected help from Sunset. “Well I’ll be danged, you’re helpin me.”

“Yeah, don’t know why.” Sunset said and stopped helping out and let Applejack carry herself. She walked faster to the table and sat down. When Applejack arrived, Sunset expected to see an irritated glare or maybe be given a speech on friendship or something. What she got was a chuckle. “What’s so funny?”

“What’s’ so funny is you. The moment I mentioned you helpin me out, you dropped me and let me hang.” Applejack put her forelegs on the table and folded them. “You want to know what I think?” Sunset shook her head. “Well I’m gonna tell you anyway. I think you really do care; you just don’t want to admit it. I think you try to live up to the way your parents want you to act and don’t realize it.”

“Look, I don’t like you or anypony else here but that doesn’t mean I’m heartless. I’m sorry I hurt you so bad but I will never try to live up to anything my parents want me to be. How do you know what my parents are like anyway?” Sunset asked suspiciously.

“Pinkie Pie told us all how they treated you Sunset. You’re a mare perfectly capable of taking care of yourself and yet your parents treat you like a foal. Spankings at this age aint right.”

“That little big mouthed freak and how did she know about that anyway? Was she spying on me?” Sunset stood up as Big Mac set the food on the table.

“Calm down Sunset, she wasn’t spyin on you. If you really want to know what was goin on that night, you talk to her about it. It’s not my place to say anythin.”

“Aren’t you supposed to be the element of honesty or something?” Applejack nodded. “So shouldn’t you tell the truth about what happened?”

“There is a difference between keeping secrets and bein honest. This secret isn’t mine to tell, it’s Pinkie Pie’s. The only reason the others and I know is because she trusted us with it. If her secret got out to just any and everypony; well, Pinkie would lose a lot more than a secret. You will just have to ask her about it.” Applejack grabbed some of the pie Big Mac brought over and took a bite. “Pinkie has to trust you Sunset and after what she saw, it may not be too hard for her to.”

Sunset groaned and relaxed. “Fine, I’ll talk to the lunatic.” Sunset grabbed some pie off the table and took a bite. “This really is good. Thanks Applejack.” Sunset finished and then went back to work. “This doesn’t make us friends; at most we’re acquaintances as I’ve said before about all of you.” Sunset bucked the next tree.

“Fine by me Sunset.” Applejack sat back and relaxed as Sunset went to work. There was something hidden underneath Sunset’s demeanor. Applejack couldn’t wait for it to come out but until then, all any pony could do was wait.