Shattered Souls

Bonus 5: Sibling's Talk

Tree, Buck, Repeat. Tree, Buck, Repeat. Tree, Buck, Repeat. This was the only thing that made sense. This was the only thing that didn’t hurt to think about. She was supposed to be Honesty, wasn’t she? Yet when it mattered most, she couldn’t catch the whopper her friend was telling the world.

“AJ, yer gonna hurt yerself if ya keep goin’ much longer,” Came the voice of her ever reasonable elder brother as he walked up to where she was currently kicking apples out of trees.

“Leave me alone Big Mac. Apple Bucking is the only thing I’m good at so I’m damn well gonna do it!” Applejack growled as she approached yet another tree.

“Ya ain’t helping anyone by hurtin’ yerself,” Big Mac said firmly.

“I ain’t helping anyone anyway! She was lying to our faces fer months and I didn’t have a clue! Some ‘Element of Honesty’ I turned out to be,” AJ spat bitterly as her body mechanically continued on.

“You and I both know tha Element didn’t turn ya into a lie detector,” Big Mac firmly planted his hoof in the ground. Applejack couldn’t refute that particular bit of logic and chose to remain silent as she continued bucking.

“How did she tell a lie that big and get away with it? Lies grow an’ grow until they’re as plain as the snout on yer face, least that’s what Granny always says. I’ve never know it to be wrong, so how’d she do it?” Applejack muttered mostly to herself.

“Maybe ‘cause it wasn’t a lie,” Big Mac suggested. Applejack stopped and gave Big Mac a look.

“Now that’s the silliest thing I ever dun heard. Of course she was lyin’! Duskfall told us she was doing fine!” Applejack protested.

“And from her point o’ view, she was ‘fine’,” Big Mac replied, ever patient.

“Oh no you don’t, we ain’t arguing semantics here!” Applejack said angrily.

“Aren’t we? I may not have talked to her much mahself, but I do listen AJ. She never said she was happy, never said she was healthy, all she ever said was ‘fine’. Y’all are the ones who went and made assumptions about what that meant. Shoot, y’all even knew she had every intention of puttin’ herself out to pasture and you still assumed ‘fine’ meant she was in a good place,” Big Mac said, a tinge of frustration entering his voice as his ears went flat.

“DON’T YOU THINK I KNOW THAT?!” Applejack finally exploded, “She told us she meant to…to…to kill herself…and we didn’t listen. None of us listened! How could we be so stupid?!”

Big Mac pulled Applejack into a hug and the flood gates broke. All the rage, all the self-hatred, all misplaced feelings of resentment; it all came undone as Applejack cried on her older brother’s shoulder.

“Ah should’ve known better…after Ma and Pa…I should’ve known ignorin’ the pain doesn’t make it not hurt. I thought we could all ignore it and left Duskfall to stew in her own issues. What kind of friend does that, Big Mac?” Applejack asked.

“Ah think yer being a mite unfair to yourself and the others,” Big Mac opined, “Losing Tom and Twilight, the mess with Starlight Glimmer, Princess Luna’s Nightmare…y’all had a lot on yer plate. Some folks might say it’s yer fault for not bein’ better friends. Some might say it’s Duskfall’s fault fer not openin’ up. Some might even say it’s the fault of the Princesses for always turning to y’all fer help. I say they’re all full o’ hogwash. No one’s perfect and we’re all prone to our own failings. Doesn’t mean it’s anyone’s fault.”

“I…maybe yer right, Big Mac,” Applejack sighed, “Got so inside mah own head I couldn’t tell up from down.”

“Happy to help,” Big Mac said, “Now, I reckon you need a bit of rest,” At Big Mac’s words, suddenly AJ’s body made its protests to her hard labor known.

“I reckon yer right,” Applejack nodded and together the two siblings returned home.

Author's Note

As promised a birthday gift for Yeeter69!

Also, Standing United Chapter 1 is about 65%~ complete. Given how the last 3 months have gone, I predict I'll have it finished and submitted either just before the end of the month or just after April starts.

All that's left for these introspective chapters are Pinkie and Rarity...