MLP: FiM
The Weight of Responsibility
By: Calm Wind
Chapter 4:
How long had he been there working? It felt like months at this point. He’d be done soon right?
Thunderlane rolled out of bed after his door had slammed open. His eyes adjusted just in time to see Big Mac’s shadow continue down the hallway. After looking at the calendar on the wall, he realized it had only been a week. Time sure flew when he was being forced to work.
He was still not used to the crack of dawn morning schedule these crazy farmers lived on, but at least he was getting used to Big Mac’s mannerisms. At first Thunderlane thought Mac was just being cold and not speaking to him at all, using force instead of words for everything. After a few days it was clear he just wasn’t the speaking type in general. He rarely heard a full sentence from the big farm stallion unless it was directed at a family member, in which case he spoke freely. With him, Dash, and Soarin it was a simple Eeyup or Nnope or maybe a few syllables at the MOST. The morning door swinging open was just Mac’s way of waking him up. Thunderlane preferred that over his bed being hoisted up and dumped.
Thunderlane shook his body out and stretched, joints cracking and popping in multiple spots. His body felt horrible. He hoped today would be a chore day, because he could use a day without heavy lifting.
“C’mon.” Big Mac’s voice came from the door. Thunderlane looked up to see Mac beckoning him. “Lots t’do. Cart pullin’ today.” He left before Thunderlane could groan in response.
So much for that. Back to square one. Instead of getting off easy today it was time for the heaviest job. Maybe they’d go easy on him after what happened last time. Whatever, it didn’t matter to him at the moment because if he didn’t hurry down he wouldn’t get any breakfast.
The first thing Thunderlane noticed as he ate breakfast was Applejack being present. She was out of her room and looked like nothing had happened at all. He wasn’t sure whether or not this meant she was all better. He doubted it. She was clearly in a troubled state the night before. He only hoped that he would get some sort of explanation soon because he hated being left in the dark about things that affected him.
He kept his mouth shut, eating his breakfast quickly knowing lunch was far off. He followed the Apples outside and back to the barn, extremely unenthusiastic about having to pull a heavy cart again. He looked up into the sky briefly as Rainbow Dash glided down to join them.
He really missed flying. His legs had never felt sorer in his life. He couldn’t believe Rainbow Dash went through with this willingly. For some reason though, he felt that she made him want to do it and prove he could too. Boy that sounded familiar. His own competitive bark had little bite. It was going to be the death of him if he kept it up.
He looked down as the sound of carts being pulled from the barn caught his attention, but his eyes widened as he looked DOWN again at what was put before him.
“WHAT?!” He yelled out incredulously. Rainbow Dash failed to hold back a couple of snickers and held her breath. Thunderlane was looking at a cart roughly a third the size of the one he pulled on his first day. Applejack, who had pushed it out to him, leaned against the opposite side of it,
“Is there a problem?” She asked in all seriousness.
“What the hell is this?!” He thrusted a hoof towards it. Applejack glanced down ant the mini cart, then back at him.
“This is your cart.” She put plainly without her expression wavering in the slightest. Dash leaned over to Thunderlane’s ear,
“Baby’s first cart.” She whispered while having giggle fits.
“RGH! Shut up!” He yelled back.
“Actually this IS Applebloom’s cart.” Applejack continued as if it meant nothing at all. Thunderlane turned his head to her and stared with disbelief.
“Is this some kind of joke?!” He was raging. He had taken multiple blows to the manhood during his experience here and this one was the last straw. Applejack just lifted and eyebrow and shifted her weight from one side to the other.
“So you’d rather pull a full size one and pass out after half a trip again?”
“But…!” Thunderlane froze with a hoof extended and his mouth hanging open. He had no comeback for that one. He just grunted in dismay, “Fine.” He stomped over and hooked himself into the little cart, grumbling to himself.
Applejack smiled as she moved past Big Mac and Rainbow Dash to her train of three carts. She felt like she was beginning to understand Thunderlane a little. Despite his lazy appearance, he was honest with himself and clearly very competitive. Tell him he couldn’t do something, he’d do it. Do something for him, he wouldn’t be outdone and most likely return the favor. If she could tap into that side of him, maybe he’d become more useful.
She let a few chuckles slip as she hooked herself up to her carts. She admittedly had a hard time keeping a straight face when he began fuming. Big Mac was the one who suggested Applebloom’s cart, and while she knew it was all meant well she was eager to see Thunderlane’s reaction. He did not disappoint.
Mac had taken no notice to Thunderlane’s complaining. Just like Applejack knew him, it was all for efficiency. Mac felt he’d help more pulling little bits at a time instead of straining himself over one large cart. He didn’t care how Thunderlane felt about it. He just wanted the work to get done.
Somepony who was proving to be a MUCH more useful addition to the farm was Soarin. With him helping Braeburn in the orchard, Applejack could help with the transporting. She didn’t want to admit it straight forward, but Soarin could speed around the trees and collect apples at nearly five times the rate she could thanks to the gift of wings and being a Wonderbolt. If Dash wasn’t focusing on strength training, she’d ask her to help gather too. It was only for a few weeks, but they needed all the help they could get.
She pulled her carts along, following behind Big Mac and Rainbow Dash. She knew Dash liked to “race” Mac, which pretty much was her way of motivating herself to keep up with Mac’s casual pace. She kept up behind them, pulling her three carts with ease, having done so before. Three was her reasonable limit. The most she had ever pulled at once was five fully loaded carts. She did it when they were rushing to get a harvest to the barn with a short notice thunderstorm on the way. She had managed the single trip, but definitely couldn’t have gone more than that.
She didn’t want Rainbow Dash of all ponies to outdo her. If she fell behind a pegasi she’d feel ashamed. Or at least that’s how she would put it into words. She really just didn’t want to lose to Dash in their silent ongoing competition with each other.
Forget matching Big Mac. None of them knew just how strong he really was. Normally he’d keep it simple with three or four carts. He doubled the number to increase efficiency in the wake of their extra work, but it didn’t even faze him. Plus if the StrongStallion competition a while back was any indication, he could pull a few locomotives if the job called for it. Plus there was whole crisis in the mountains when their train car derailed. Applejack was out for most of that experience. She had heard from Fluttershy that Mac threw together a makeshift cart and carried all six of them through a brutally rugged mountain range. Apparently it was hours before his strength gave out. Long story short, Mac was a titan among ponies. A quiet, soft spoken titan that was gentler than a breezie, but as strong as a dragon. Unless you made him mad. Then it was just strong as a dragon.
If she felt this positively about her older brother why did she constantly feel like hoarding all the responsibilities? He was strong yes, but he was also smarter than most would think. He had everything he needed to handle four times the responsibilities he already had. This had to be all part of the inner struggles Applejack was dealing with. She was so lost in her personal goals it was making her forget about what was right in front of her. She was overthinking it again. She shook her head and kept up her pace.
Thunderlane’s grunting caught her attention. She glanced to her right to see him pull up alongside her with his small cart. She eyed him curiously as he passed by her slowly and looked like he was trying to find a space to pass by Mac and Dash.
Now if it were him instead of Mac with them during that awful accident in the blizzard, they most certainly would all be dead. It was a harsh thing to think, but was he seriously struggling with Applebloom’s small cart? No he couldn’t be that weak. As she watched him go it wasn’t that he was having trouble, he was trying too hard. He kept changing his pace while trying to find ways to pass. The trick to pulling carts was momentum: get the cart moving steadily with you and it will keep moving with little effort. Thunderlane was almost stopping and going every few seconds. He was making it harder for himself.
But this didn’t come off as being inept to Applejack. He looked determined. He was determined to show them he wasn’t as frail as they were treating him. If it got him to work more than he complained, she didn’t mind. It was about time they got some efficiency out of him.
The more she thought negatively about Thunderlane however, the more she felt… bad? That was new. Sure she felt bad about initially treating him like a prisoner and punching him in the face, but it was different this time. She found herself worried that he would hurt himself if he kept his poor cart pulling form up. She felt compelled to help him. Before she could think twice, she already was,
“Thunderlane!” She called forward. He didn’t stop or look back. He just kept shifting back and forth behind Dash and Big Mac. “Thunder~lane!” She enunciated, but he again didn’t stop. She sighed and slightly quickened her pace. She approached him from behind, and as soon as she got within reach, hooked a hoof into the small cart.
Thunderlane grunted as his cart suddenly lurched and stopped, whiplashing him forward to the point where his harness slid so far down his neck he could barely breathe. He gasped and coughed, quickly shoving his hooves against the harness to wrench it free from his neck and consequently unhook himself from the cart as well. He caught his breath and turned sharply to Applejack.
“What the hell?! Are you trying to kill me?!” He fumed, as red in the face as he could get beneath black fur. Applejack looked at him seriously.
“If ya didn’t ignore me that wouldn’ta happened.” She removed her hoof from the cart and pulled up alongside him. “I stopped ya cause you were doin’ it all wrong.” She began. Thunderlane did NOT take kindly to it.
“I think you’ve done enough already. I can handle one dinky little cart thank you very much.”
“Just shut up, and listen to me.” Applejack pressed her hoof against his chest. “If you keep pullin’ it like that, it doesn’t matter how big the cart is, yer gonna be outta breath before one full trip,” she explained, “ya gotta get a pace going and keep it. The cart will move with you. Okay?”
“Fine.” Thunderlane didn’t look at her. He was too angry. He let her give her advice and he was going to take it, but that didn’t change the fact that he was still angry about the cart itself.
“I just don’t want ya to get hurt again alright? C’mon now.” She finished in a tone he had yet to hear from her. Caring?
Thunderlane watched her for a moment as she continued on, curious about what exactly had just happened. It would have to wait. He didn’t want to fall behind again.
Even with the small cart, Thunderlane found himself panting and wheezing after four round trips. How the rest of them could keep going for so long with such heavy loads on top of it was beyond him. It wasn’t helping his ego, or what was left of it at this point. All he had left was proving that he could at least handle the small cart.
As they made their fifth stop into the orchard, Thunderlane fell to his knees as the carts were loaded by Braeburn and Soarin. He glanced up and saw Soarin zipping to and fro, loading up the apple carts ridiculously fast. He missed flying. He really missed flying. If this was his reward for recklessness he would never do anything brash ever again.
From nearby Rainbow Dash was parked next to Applejack. She glanced back at her fellow pegasi on his knees and rolled her eyes.
“You’ve gotta be kidding me. I knew he was lazy, but this is ridiculous. He can’t even handle the mini cart?” Her words caught Applejack’s attention. She followed Dash’s eyes to Thunderlane, who looked absolutely spent. Her eyes narrowed for a moment, but reverted as she glanced back forward down the path, then to her cart as Soarin dropped the last basket of apples into it.
“Let’s take a short break.” She said while unhooking herself.
“Good one, Applejack.” Dash rolled her eyes and chuckled. Then she turned her head and saw Applejack unhooked. “Wait, WHAT?!” Dash jumped at the sight, her apple carts jostling with her sudden movement. Applejack had just suggested that they stop working for a moment? Who was this mare and what had they done with Applejack?
Big Mac had clearly heard her as well from a few paces ahead of them. His head had snapped around and his eyes were darting about in confusion. Dash calmed herself and questioned,
“Didn’t you say you wanted to get at least eight trips in before lunch? It’s almost noon already!” Dash pointed to the position of the sun. Applejack nodded.
“Ah know, but I doubt he’ll make it back to the barn one more time if we don’t give’im a minute.” She pointed towards Thunderlane. Dash groaned and shrugged, unhooking herself from the cart and proceeding to do wing ups.
Big Mac smiled to himself as Applejack went to converse with Braeburn. It may have been extremely out of character of Applejack to take a break from working, but at least she was thinking of their “helper” now and not treating him solely like a liability. THAT was the Applejack he knew: the one that cared about the wellbeing of others like she would for her own family.
Thunderlane wasn’t sure what had happened, but he could see clearly that their work had come to a halt for a moment, a moment he would definitely not question. He sat up to take a load off of his hooves and looked skyward.
“HEY! Thunderlane was your name right?” Thunderlane’s eyes widened as a famous face blocked out the sun and stared directly at him from above.
“AHH!!” He fell backwards, getting jabbed in the side by his own harness, grunting and falling forward flat on his face. Soarin blinked as Thunderlane scrambled to his feet.
“Gee, I’m not THAT scary am I?” Soarin looked slightly distraught. Thunderlane gritted his teeth and steeled himself. He had to get a hold of himself. Dash said that Soarin hated it when treated like such a high end pony. The last thing he wanted to do was make THE Soarin dislike him because he couldn’t keep calm around him. He took a deep breath and in a slightly squeaky voice, finally spoke to Soarin.
“S-Sorry! I’m, just getting used to, you know, YOU.” His words made him feel even dumber. Soarin rolled his eyes, but he didn’t look angry, which relieved Thunderlane.
“Look buddy, I ain’t gonna cook you and eat you,” he landed next to Thunderlane, “I wouldn’t put it past Spitfire, but you really don’t have to be afraid of me. I’m not the drill instructor type.” He explained which seemed to make Thunderlane calm down, but only a little. “So I’ve heard different stories I was curious to hear your perspective. What exactly happened to get you wings-tied and doing farm work?”
Thunderlane wasn’t sure how to feel. Part of him was giddy because a Wonderbolt wanted to know something about him, not every Pegasus gets an opportunity like this. Part of him was irritated because he had to think about how he got in this whole mess again. Part of him was embarrassed, because he had to explain a blunder to a wonder…… bolt.
However he found himself at an interesting internal crossroads. He was prepared to give his typical speech about how it was clearly an accident and he was being mistreated, but something in his head acted against it. Was he beginning to view the situation differently? He was well aware that his actions leading to the storage unit’s demise were reckless and stupid. Was he starting to believe that he had made a glorious mistake and had to pay for it? What was happening to him?
“Well,” his brain made the decision for him as his internal contemplation ran overtime, “I was trying to prove to a friend I could make a sonic boom. I ended up failing miserably and ran into their new building full speed, apparently knocking out support structures and breaking machinery in the process. So here I am.” He had no idea what he just said, after all the complaining and protesting he had spouted, THAT was his answer? Was all this work changing him? Applejack said he would see and feel what he had put them through. Was it happening without him even noticing?
Soarin blinked and rubbed his chin.
“Ouch, that’s rough. Pretty much no different than I’ve heard.” He thought out loud. Thunderlane felt slightly jabbed. “Now I’m more curious. How did you go about trying to execute a sonic boom?”
THAT, was definitely unexpected. Nonetheless, Thunderlane answered quickly.
“Uh, I was at about the second cloud layer in the sky and I dove to pick up speed. I lost control about halfway between the clouds and the ground.” He explained, wondering what Soarin’s intentions were.
“Hmm.” Soarin glanced up into the sky. “What was your angle?” He kept up the questions.
“I’d say diagonal.”
“45 degrees?”
“Um, I guess.”
“There’s problem number one.” Soarin nodded. Thunderlane realized that Soarin was trying to correct his tactics. His eyes lit up and he readied himself to answer any further questions. He was well aware this could be a once in a life time opportunity. “How about your body position?” Soarin continued.
“Uh, I was flat, with my front legs at my sides and…”
“Problem number two.” Soarin interrupted, but kept looking at Thunderlane, cuing him to continue.
“I tried to shift when things got tight.”
“Problem number three.” Soaring crossed his hooves and nodded. “You pretty much guaranteed a crash.” He said before standing up and pacing around Thunderlane. “Here are a couple pointers if you ever try again.”
Now Thunderlane was beyond excited. Professional advice of the highest kind. Maybe he could show off to his friends yet. At least this time in a safer place.
“First, if you are gonna dive at an angle, you better have the wing strength to match your bravery because the resistance when you reach the air pocket is going to be at LEAST twice as much. Second, having your front legs at your side is asking to get your face ripped off. You want to make yourself into an arrow,” he reached out a hoof towards Thunderlane, “an arrow is large at the base and small at the end point. You do this by extending one hoof or two depending on your preference. Since you didn’t, you had no chance of breaking through the air cone. An arrow with a large round tip, a.k.a. your head, will have a hard time penetrating anything compared to a small pointed tip, a.k.a. your extended hooves.”
Thunderlane sat and listened wide eyed. So much more went into flying like an ace than he had ever initially imagined. He nearly forgot how tired he was because of how mind blowing this conversation was to him.
“Third, you didn’t have much of a choice, but should you ever try it again, BE CERTAIN before you attempt it,” he made this point harshly, making Thunderlane flinch, “letting up near the breaking point of the air cone can lead to serious injury. I know technically you wouldn’t be much better off if you slammed into something, but this is assuming you have plenty of room to maneuver after breaking the cone. Trying to break off near the cone’s breaking point can cause full whiplash, and if that somehow doesn’t knock you out, I guarantee you that you’ll be unable to control yourself, and the awkward impact following most certainly will knock you out or worse. In my opinion you’re pretty lucky you didn’t sustain a major injury when you ran into the storage building.”
Thunderlane gulped, realizing from the explanation that he was probably lucky to be alive. He hadn’t put much thought into the danger of the move. How did Soarin and Rainbow Dash do it on a regular basis? Were they just that good at flying? He really was out of their league by miles. He snapped out of his thoughts as Soarin draped a hoof over his shoulder with a smirk.
“Fourth, I suggest being higher at the start and not doing it over areas with stuff you can break.” He said with a chuckle before Dash waved at him, “The mare is calling, gotta fly.” He winked and was gone as suddenly as he came, leaving Thunderlane with even MORE to think about as Applejack called for them to start up again.
The break helped, but Thunderlane only made one more round trip before he was down for the count again. Applejack told him to just unhook and wait for them to come back for lunch.
Thunderlane wasn’t sure what to think now. Applejack seemed to be treating him better, but it didn’t change the fact that he still felt a little overworked. On top of that he was still miffed about the baby cart. Here he was sitting in a pool of his own sweat like he had just run a marathon. If this was the state he was currently in he’d rather it was at the hooves of a full size cart and two hard trips instead of having this small weenie cart gradually get the better of him. It may have been a joke to them, but it was not funny in the slightest to him. Plus they were giving more fuel for Rainbow Dash to berate him.
He forced himself to his hooves as they all returned from the fields. He was tired of being treated like a burden, so he refused to look like one.
It was no mystery to the rest that he was miffed as they made their way to the house for lunch. Applejack let it be, not wanting to stir any anger within herself after the progress she had made in both being more mindful of him and keeping her emotions in check. They had work to do, important work. She couldn’t keep letting her inner feelings cause setbacks.
Thunderlane was sure he’d feel better after lunch, but he couldn’t have been more wrong. He was given the simple task of helping Big Mac, Soarin, and Braeburn organize the apple stores in the barn. They had to separate a large portion to be made into cider, a portion to be taken into town, and a portion to be kept on site for baking needs. Easy right? Not after spending all morning pulling apple carts.
“Take these over to Soarin.” Braeburn lifted a basket onto Thunderlane’s back. He barely kept his hooves as the weight of the basket pressed down on his weary body. Braeburn did the same for Big Mac, but unlike Thunderlane, Mac simply turned and went on his way as if he wasn’t carrying a thing.
Of course Big Mac was just fine after pulling carts all morning, he was twice Thunderlane’s size and probably had three times the muscle. This morning was like a walk in the park for him.
Thunderlane staggered and wobbled as he followed Big Mac through the barn. How many times could he feel lucky about being punched in the face? This is what he avoided with the whole event of Applejack slugging him the week before. If this is how every week was going to start going forward he contemplated fearing for his life. The basket on his back tipped really far to one side and he found himself stumbling.
“Whoaaaaoooaaa!!!” He yelped as he began to teeter. Mac glanced back and made a move to help, but Thunderlane was already mid fall. Soarin zipped down and caught the basket before any apples could spill out, leaving Mac to help Thunderlane up from the ground.
“You okay?” Soarin asked as he set the basket down.
“I’m fine!” He shrugged off Mac’s arm and went to get another basket. Mac glanced at Soarin, who only shrugged in response.
Thunderlane retrieved another basket, and made it the exact same distance before his balance gave out again.
“Shit!” He yelled as he tried to steady the basket. He slammed into a wall, bouncing off, dropping the basket, and spilling the apples everywhere. He shook his head to get the dust out of his eyes, and found himself looking up at Soarin, Mac, and Braeburn.
“You talk a tough game, but do you have the energy to back it up?” Soarin commented as Mac picked up the basked and began putting the apples back in.
“I think ya oughtta just rest and let us handle it.” Braeburn suggested, earning a nod from Big Mac. Thunderlane felt like he was going to burst. Then he lost control.
“What do you want from me?!” He belted out of nowhere. Mac stood his ground, but Braeburn stepped back and Soarin lifted off slightly into the air. “I can’t get anything straight from your family! Do you want me to work or not?!”
“That’s not—,” Braeburn tried to calm him down, but he barely got the chance to speak.
“Applejack tells me to get off my ass and move it one day, and then tells me to be careful the next!” He pointed at Braeburn, “you keep telling me to take it easy!” then he pointed at Mac, “You keep making me work harder and don’t give me a damn word on if I’m doing things right or not!” He pointed at Soarin. “And you! I…” He stopped realizing he was just plain ranting. He was so angry he nearly yelled at a Wonderbolt. “DAMMIT!” He pounded his front hooves to the dirt and stomped out of the barn.
The three other stallions just stood and stare at the door as Thunderlane made his exit.
“Well! That’s was unexpected.” Soarin rubbed the back of his head as he hovered down beside Mac, “I’m assuming there’s more to this than I’ve seen.”
“Eeyup.” Mac nodded as he hoisted the basket onto his back.
“At least he’s got some passion built up in there.” Soarin added as Braeburn contemplated what should be done.
“We should talk t’him.” He concluded out loud and made moves towards the door.
“Nnope, leave’im,” said Mac, freezing Braeburn in place, “let’im be.” He said again before going back to business.
Braeburn felt bad about just letting Thunderlane storm off, especially after how he offered up himself as somepony to confide in man to man if need be, but if Mac felt it would be better to give Thunderlane space he wasn’t going to argue. Despite not showing many, Mac was quite good at reading the emotions of others.
It was more than Braeburn thought though. Mac was actually happy that they received that kind of response, even if it was a bit loud and sudden. Thunderlane had just exhibited a willingness to work. He complained about not knowing what to think, but he didn’t complain about working. It was a start. A sloppy one, but a start nonetheless.
Thunderlane spent the rest of the day a brooding mess. He was just waiting, JUST WAITING for somepony to confront him. When they did he was going to give ‘em hell. But that was just the thing, none of them did. After organizing apples, Dash and Applejack joined them as they worked a little bit on the storage unit project. It was dinner time soon after they began, Rainbow Dash and Soarin took off for the night, leaving Thunderlane alone with the Apple family.
All throughout Dinner, Thunderlane kept up the demeanor, but again no one seemed to care or take notice. As far as they were concerned he was just angry and they weren’t going to get instigate. Applejack glanced at him a few times and rolled her eyes, but beyond that he got no attention.
And even THAT bothered him. He was like a bomb with a non-existent fuse. One slight jolt would set him off, but even with no jolt he would blow up eventually. Weren’t any of them curious? Was he just some random work pony to them? Now he was making up reasons to be angry. Built up with his belief he had too much work alongside how he felt they didn’t trust him with the work. He was angry for so many different reasons that some of them were conflicting. It was like there was a war going on in his head and nopony could tell friend from foe.
When he finished with dinner, Thunderlane pushed off from the table and stormed upstairs. He paced about in his room in contemplation. Anger fueled contemplation. He had had enough. He didn’t know what caused it exactly, but in that confusion, that’s exactly all he could think about: confusion. He couldn’t make heads or tails of anything. He was overworked, and belittled. Forget Applejack’s little acts of random kindness today, he owed her a good shouting for everything else and he was finally going to give it to her.
He trudged out of his room and towards the stairs,
“WHAT?!” Applejack’s voice made him stop dead at the top. “Granny, ya can’t be serious!”
“Applejack, I’m afraid that’s how things stand right now.” He heard Granny Smith’s creaky voice as well.
“Ya gotta check it again! That can’t be right!” Applejack sounded desperate. Thunderlane’s anger subsided for the moment and he decided to listen in.
“I checked it over too.” Thunderlane perked up as he realized he was hearing full speech from Big Mac. “I did up the numbers this mornin’ an’ checked over Granny’s math just now.” He said. Thunderlane leaned down and peeked in to see the whole family in a circle.
“But, that means…” Braeburn stuttered, “That means…” Granny nodded.
“We won’t have enough to pay our expenses throughout the winter.” She said in a sad, serious tone. Thunderlane’s eyes widened. Applejack stomped her hooves.
“But we can’t just give up! I can make more deliveries! I can take our cider to other cities! I can—” She frantically spoke, but Granny cut her off.
“It still won’t be enough dear, because of our losses with the broken storage unit, we will barely have enough to get by and definitely not enough to buy what we need to grow more apples come spring. It’ll turn inta a spiral till we ain’t got nothin’ left. We might have to sell the farm.” A silence forced its way into the room. Thunderlane felt a lump in his throat.
“We—, we’re gonna lose our home?!” Applebloom had tears welling up in her eyes. Just hearing the choked up words of the little filly made Thunderlane feel sick. Applejack quickly put a hoof around Applebloom and pulled her close.
“WE AIN’T LOSIN’ NUTHIN’” She yelled while glaring at Granny Smith, “We’ve pulled outta things like this before! We’ll just do it again! Right Big Mac!?”
“I hate t’say it—,” Big Mac spoke up, “this here’s much worse than any hole we’ve ever worked our way outta.” Applejack’s eyes darted between Mac and Granny. She let go of Applebloom and got in Mac’s face.
“Ya shoulda NEVER built that stupid expensive doodad! Look where it got us!” She yelled with tears of her own starting to form. Mac was taken aback and butted heads with her, knocking her hat off.
“How was I supposed to know it was gonna get knocked down!? Ya can’t blame me for that!” He retorted.
“Hey! Hey!” Braeburn got between them as Applebloom just sat and began to sniffle and sob as her big brother and sister hopelessly fought before her. Granny shook her head.
“Ya can’t blame yer brother for somethin’ he ain’t got control over. This is a matter of bad luck, nuthin’ else.” Applejack pulled away from her brother, retrieved her hat and quickly tipped it over her eyes to hide the traces of tears. “Unless we get a miracle there’s no way around it. We’ll have to pack up and start over.”
It was him. It was his fault. It was all. His. Fault. Thunderlane stepped back from the stairs, his insides nearly churning at what he had just heard. He had become well aware of the Apple family, their traditions, and their pride during his time with them. It all meant the world to them. Sweet Apple Acres was known far and wide, the pride and joy of their family. It was their life. Did he just…?
The only thing he could hear from downstairs was Applebloom crying. He couldn’t stand hearing that. He turned and made his way to his room. He didn’t close the door all the way, but he turned left upon entering and sat down with his back against the wall beside the door. He put his hooves on his head, trying to comprehend his sudden realization:
A whole family was about to lose their home, their tradition, and their entire way of life. Why? Because of him.
Him.
Him.
Him.
Him.
Him.
Him.
Him.
Him.
Him.
Him.
Him.
Him.
They wouldn’t be in danger of losing everything if it wasn’t for HIM.
He had spent the whole time whining, complaining, and fighting back. Not only had he not considered the consequences of recklessly breaking what belonged to someone else, he also hadn’t considered the consequences for THEM. Had this been going on since he was brought in? On top of that, all he had done was give them a hard time? He had never, EVER felt more awful and inconsiderate his entire life.
He jumped as he heard the sound of hooves and crying. He stayed completely still, he didn’t know if he could even look at any of them after what he had just put together.
“C’mon Applebloom,” He picked out Applejack’s voice. It sounded like it was trying to stay strong, but bits of weakness were squeaking through. Applebloom’s room was near Thunderlane’s, he put together that Applejack was taking her to bed. He didn’t dare move or give them any indication he was there. He wanted to disappear. After how much trouble he caused for them he almost succumbed to the feeling that things would be better off if he just wasn’t there at all. At least they wouldn’t be dealing with him and putting up with him.
Applejack carried Applebloom over to the bed and laid her gently in it. Applebloom refused to release her hold around Applejack’s neck. Applejack hugged her sister back tightly.
“Applejack…?” She said between sniffles, “We… we ain’t really gonna lose our home are we?” The question made Applejack cringe. Applebloom was too young to understand the situation they were in, but possibly losing the home she cherished her whole life was already more than enough for her to feel crushed.
Applejack still didn’t want to believe it could happen.
Could happen? COULD. That’s right, it COULD happen. As in there’s a possibility it won’t right? It wasn’t like they were going to be leaving Sweet Apple Acres behind tomorrow. They had until the winter to set things right. She knew Mac and Braeburn were still going to work as hard as they could, maybe even harder now. Soarin would help while he was here. She could talk to Dash, maybe some of her friends to help too. And then she could… yes, she could do extra work. She didn’t care what Granny Smith said, she would find ways to get extra sales and extra work. It was her duty as a member of the Apple Family. She could do it. She WOULD do it. For herself, for the next generation crying in her arms, and most importantly, for her family. She would never let the farm fall.
“Applebloom,” Applejack gently pulled away from her little sister, “don’t you worry your little head. I promise you, as the element of honesty, that we will not lose our home. I will work as hard as I can and I will prove them all wrong. I never break a promise.” Applebloom smiled through her tears and hugged her sister tightly again.
“I know. I believe in ya sis.” She squeezed Applejack as tightly as she could.
“Now sleep tight, and don’t have a single worry.” Applejack backed towards the door and closed it slowly. She let out a heavy sigh outside the room and barely picked up her hooves as she made her way down the hall.
Thunderlane had heard the whole thing. Something inside him changed right then and there. He had never come face to face with something like this before and he would never forget the first time he felt this way. He did owe them. He owed them more than he could imagine. He had to fix this. He had to make this right. No more whining, no more complaining, and no more sulking. He refused to let a family suffer for his mistakes.
He was going to work. He was going to work hard. He didn’t care if it hurt. He had to do it. He had to make amends. He had to do it for them.
---To be continued---