A familiar voice screamed in the darkness as the lights danced back and forth. A shadow of a man stood lingering before a small girl, his axe bloodied and rot. Crimson red covered the wooden floors as large walls towered over the helpless girl. She was cornered, the man approaching with a wicked laugh. It was familiar, all to familiar.

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Bright morning rays hit the farmer's face as the smell of fresh breakfast teased her nose. Almost on autopilot the blonde rose from her bed and began to get dressed for the upcoming day. Frankly, she would skip the day if she could.
Pulling her backpack onto her back from its normal bedside resting place, Applejack began her descent down the stairs. Echos of familiar voices sang to her a good morning as the bright lights gave a warm tone to the already safe feeling house.

Plopping the backpack next to her seat Applejack began to eat her breakfast. It wasn't much due to the short time but some warmed up pancakes with apple slices to the side was more than enough for the farmer. Grabbing a spare apple after her breakfast had been devoured, AJ rummaged through her backpack. Her sister was already long gone, having taken the bus to be with her friends.

“You can’t be serious!” the female farmer huffed as her hands searched the darkness of her backpack. “Why is it not here!” Locks of braided wheat locked together by green ribbons moved over the girl's arms as she sat forward watching the clock before her. She didn't have much time before her walk to school but her lunchbox was nowhere to be seen. Usually it would sit patiently at the front of her backpack, but today it decided to be a nuisance. “Guess ah gotta get lunch at school.”

“Applejack! Ya’ll gotta get goin! School ain't gonna wait for ya!” a wrinkly grandma called from her rocking chair. Each rock caused the old chair to squeak, perhaps AJ would need to fix that later.

“Ah know! Ah know… Ahm goin now Granny!” Applejack called back, flinging her braided hair onto her back along with the backpack. She called a quick “love you” before rushing out the door into the chilly autumn air.
Bits of hair stuck up as the wind bit into the girl's skin. Painted leaves of red, yellow and orange danced in the windy breeze before landing peacefully upon the floor. The trees bore bare wood as branches reached to the sky. Autumn was beautiful, always so beautiful. At least the walk to school would be peaceful.

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Honestly, Applejack had to stop jinxing herself. At first the walk was swell but after a bit AJ had the unfortunate luck to come across a Rainbow haired tomboy. The conversation didn't last long, mostly a few words of hostility. At first the farmer kept herself before attempting to apologize again. The athlete retaliated with distrust which caused the farmer to get defensive. This went back and forth until both of them decided to just not talk. That also proved to be a mistake.
After a few seconds of silence AJ mumbled a few choice words, but none of them were directed towards Rainbow. Mostly just the situation she then found herself in. Rainbow, however, took it as an insult causing the fight to start all over again. Admittingly AJ lost her temper, she would admit. Her pride and stubbornness grew a defensive wall as they fought, causing regrettable words to leave her tongue. In short, it was a catastrophe.

Now the farmer sat at her desk, drowning out the math teacher, rethinking every word and action from the fight. It was stupid, this situration was stupid, she was stupid. How did she get herself into this mess? Who messed with the messages. She suspected Sunset but at this point she wasn’t sure. Maybe she was just shifting the blame. Maybe she was to blame… it wouldn’t be a surprise. Everyone she cared for got hurt, yet her stupid heart needed someone around to feel ok. She was so selfish, wasn’t she?...

Before her mind could wander to a darker road the bell rang off around the school. The noise quickly threw AJ out of her glazed focused state as she quickly grabbed her bags and left the room, ignoring the stink eye the teacher had given her.
She wasn't the best kid, but she definitely wasn't the worst! Sure sometimes she turned stuff in late, slept in class, or other but none of it was intentional. OK that was a lie, some was. Why was she thinking about this anyway!

Shaking her head and starting the path to her locker, the farmer slipped by many students hoping to be as invisible as possible. Racing through the halls to get the food from her locker AJ eventually found herself in the correct hall. However, students crowded her locker and laughed. Something was happening, once one of the students spotted the confused farmer they pulled out their phone and started to record.
Pushing past the masses AJ eventually approached her locker. Marker was painted upon the locker saying many words, some slurs, some insults. Names like “redneck” or “country hick” crowded the small blue space of her locker. Many kids fled when they saw her, however some remained. Phones all pointed towards the farmer she panicked, a swell of pain and confusion echoing her mind making it numb.

Turning to the others she found only laughing faces. Her eyes flew back and forth watching the kids before her. She stepped back before quickly pulling open the locker. She grabbed some rags she used for the gym and dropped some water onto them. She tried to wipe the words away only to have the kids laugh more. This was horrible.

Eventually giving up and just grabbing her lunch, AJ darted the other direction. She had to get out of that. She didn't cry, the farmer knew that they couldn't give the others the reaction they wanted. It would just make things worse.

Rushing into the cafeteria, the farmer ignored a few disgusted faces her way. This school was like a damn hive mind! So easily turned against each other. It was like a drama movie, a teen drama of bullies in a school. Stretched to unrealistic measures only to actually be fairly accurate. If anything Applejack just needed today to end.

Sitting in the far corner of the cafeteria the farmer quickly buried her head in her arms. She sat alone, so that was good at least. Yet every now and then she could feel someone stare at her. It wasn't the teasing the hurt, it was the sympathy. An apathetic display of sympathy that only proved to cause more issues. She knew that was to come, she knew it was happening just then. Eyes lingering on her as small signs of people giving little sympathy. She was that kid now who people would look at and be like “at least i'm not them”.

“Hey..” a familiar voice broke through the saddened haze, “can i sit here?” AJ quickly turned her head up seeing a familiar half shaved head. Kind eyes watched her followed by a meek smile, something someone wouldn’t expect with the way she held herself. AJ gave a small nod as Cryptic sat across from her.

“So…. mind telling me what happened?” Cryptic asked, placing her elbows on the table and holding her head up. “You don’t have to, I guess, but I really wanna help.”

“Just some kids, don’t worry non sugar.” the blonde quickly mumbled. Cryptic didn't seem happy with the response, but like she said she didn’t push. Instead the rock-star looking girl quickly changed the subject, causing the farmer's mind to shortly leave the topic. As lunch went on both of the girls slowly regained a happy feeling, talking and laughing over little things. It was nice to talk with someone.

The rest of the day went… OK. Some more stares, more visits to the locker. She even ran into Rarity at some point, that ended horribly. The fashionesta picked fun of the blondes clothes as others laughed behind her. It was weird to see this side of the fashionesta, but eventually Applejack got over it. Everything was gonna be OK by the end of the tunnel, right? Just had to keep moving… like Cryptic said.

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Getting home was the same as the morning, minus the Rainbow part. Digging through her bag for homework, nice warm food. She could have had it worse, so she had no right to complain. Right? Though Cryptic practically begged AJ to talk about how she felt, however she just couldn’t. It wasn't worth it, it was selfish.

Dragging herself to bed the farmer quickly fell to sleep. Hoping beyond hope this entire mess was a nightmare.

Author's Note

If you have any suggestions or feedback please tell me! I wish to become a good author so I will really appreciate any help!