Later on in the day, Pinkie Pie told Rainbow Dash, Rarity and Fluttershy about what happened with the other Cutie Mark Crusaders, which seemed to lower their downed moods even more than before. Fluttershy decided she wasn’t feeling too well for all of this, so they escorted her on home, where she was left in the comfort of her animal friends.
But what Twilight had said to them got them curious about Applejack, who must’ve been taking the news the hardest considering the circumstances. They suggested that Pinkie and Rainbow check up on Applejack, while Rarity would go to see how Twilight was doing. After agreeing with each other, they went their separate ways.
As they made their way to Sweet Apple Acres, Pinkie and Rainbow tried to hide their feelings from the townsponies of Ponyville as best as they could, giving off forced smiles if they felt the need to. They figured the citizens shouldn’t know yet, at least until everypony in the know agreed on the best time to do so.
As soon as they entered the front gates of the farm, the only pony they saw outside was Big Macintosh, who was bucking down some apples from the trees. It seemed like most of his work was finished, and he only had a few trees left to take care of. Seeing how he wasn’t that far from the gate, they decided to approach him.
“Hey, Big Mac,” said Rainbow Dash, trying to get his attention as he bucked down another batch of apples into the baskets on his back. He turned his head toward them, and the expression on his face showed a small hint of sorrow, as opposed to the laid back demeanor he always seemed to carry around.
“Do you know where Applejack is?” Pinkie asked.
Big Mac answered her question, not with any words, but by facing the house..
“Not feeling good, is she?” Pinkie responded.
All he could say was “Nope…” The hesitation in his voice was quite apparent.
Both mares were cautious to approach the building now, as they weren’t sure if Applejack was even going to accept talking to anypony in her current mood. But they figured it was worth a try, and Big Mac seemed like he didn’t mind, mostly because they were some of Applejack’s best friends. He thought that, if anything, they could help to calm her down even a little.
And so they entered the house, but Applejack was nowhere to be seen. Granny Smith was there, though she was peacefully resting on her rocking chair. They didn’t know if she knew what happened as well, mostly as they couldn’t see any sort of melancholic expression on her sleeping face.
They just looked at each other and shrugged, figuring as long as she didn’t look bad, they shouldn’t bother her. Their main focus was on Applejack at the moment. The only place they hoped to find her was in her room. They made their way up the stairs toward her room. Pinkie pressed her ear to the door, hearing nothing but a faint breathing coming from within.
“She’s in there,” Pinkie said, facing Rainbow Dash. The cyan mare noded and proceeded to knock lightly on the door.
“Hey Applejack, you in there?” she asked, hoping to get an answer. They waited and waited, but heard nothing in return. She knocked again, with no answer to greet them still.
“She probably needs a bit more alone time,” Rainbow suggested, at least until they heard hoofsteps coming from the other side of the door.
It opened up to reveal Applejack, but she wasn’t wearing her trademark hat. It was lying down on the bed beside her. And as expected, she looked the most miserable they had ever seen her. The worst thing they saw were her slightly bloodshot eyes, quite possibly from all the crying they assumed she was doing.
“What are y’all doin’ here?” she asked.
“We heard what happened from Twilight,” Pinkie started, “and wanted to see if we could turn that frown upside-down.”
“Sorry Pinkie,” Applejack responded as she turned away, walking back into her room, “but ain’t no way you’re gonna flip my mood over. This is way too serious a matter to be makin’ things easy on me.”
Pinkie and Rainbow Dash entered the room, seeing no resistance to them being there. “What Pinkie meant to say was, maybe we could keep you company at the very least. You know, make you feel a bit better?”
She wasn’t sure if that helped any, but Applejack didn’t seem to be cross over it. “Ah just don’t know guys… just not in th’ mood for company,” she said as she slumped down to the floor on her flanks, lowering her head in despondency.
“Well, I don’t know about you, Applejack,” Rainbow Dash said as she walked over to her friend and sat down beside her, wrapping her foreleg around the orange mare’s neck. “But I’m always going to be there for my friend, no matter what.”
“Me too,” Pinkie agreed, sitting on the opposite side of Rainbow Dash, wrapping both of her legs around Applejack’s body.
Applejack sat in between her friends’ hugs, sighing and doing nothing to push them away. She wanted to be alone for most of the day when she woke up that morning, and even when she saw two of her best friends come in, she still wanted some solitude.
But she couldn’t deny that it felt… nice to have somepony come in to cheer her up. Somepony that wasn’t doing it the way Twilight “helped” her, at least that’s how she saw it.. Rainbow and Pinkie just wanted to see her get better, and that was something she could respect.
She found herself hugging them back, happier than she was in some time. Even if that wasn’t much.
“Ah love you guys,” she followed, accompanied by a miniscule smile. “Y’all didn’t have to come here and cheer me up, but ya did anyway. Ah’ll be fine, really. Just need a bit a’ time to accept things is all.”
The other mares let go of Applejack and looked up at her “I doubt it’s just going to take a little accepting the facts to get you through this. We’ll be here with you every step of the way to, uh, make sure you don’t go crazy or anything,” Rainbow Dash joked, though she meant part of what she said.
“”Ooh, I know one thing that’ll work! Why don’t we make an apple pie together? You know, just to get your mind out of the gutter?” Pinkie Pie suggested with an upbringing smile.
“Ah suppose we can do that,” Applejack answered while rising up from the floor. “But Ah can’t promise y’all that Ah’ll feel any better. What happened to Apple Bloom is way too huge for me to ever ignore or get outta my mind.”
“Yeah, we understand. We’d probably be like this too, if we lost somepony so close to us,” Rainbow Dash explained, while she and Pinkie rose up as well. “But me, Pinkie, Rarity, Fluttershy and Twilight will help you all the way, and Big Mac and Granny Smith too.”
However, hearing Twilight’s name made Applejack’s eye twitch with a bit of frustration, and she walked toward the door with her eyes narrowed. “Ah’d rather not talk about Twilight…”
“Why?” Pinkie questioned as they followed her. “Did something happen between you two?”
“You could say that…” was all she said afterward.
Spike was in the library, organizing a few books on the bookshelves. He had seen Twilight even more down than before, and he thought that a job done well would at least bring up her mood a bit.
He was just about done when a knock came from the door. Quickly setting a book down, he walked over to the door and turned its handle, opening up to see Rarity standing in front of the doorway.
“O-Oh, hi Rarity,” he said as she graced him with her presence. Though, with how things were going recently, he figured it wasn’t just another visit.
“Is Twilight here, darling? I don’t know if you saw her yet, but she is having… problems,” she explained to the small dragon, while he opened the door all the way to let her in.
“Oh yeah, I know what you mean…” he replied, shrugging his shoulders. “I don’t know what’s up with her, and I tried to ask her what was wrong, but she wouldn’t tell me.”
“Oh, she didn’t tell you? She said she was going to… poor dear,” she said, with a hoof held to her chest in dismay. “You’d think that if you saw her like that, making you wonder what the problem was, she’d tell you instead of keeping you concerned.”
“I know, right?” Spike exclaimed with his hands thrown up in the air for emphasis. “Do you at least know what’s wrong?”
“I do, but… it’s rather hard to explain. I’ll tell you what I know.”
Rarity explained everything, about Twilight and Apple Bloom going into the Everfree Forest to deliver herbs to Zecora. That part of the story got him curious, especially considering Apple Bloom went with her. It went on until the part just before Twilight’s discovery of the filly’s body, where she started hesitating.
“This is where it gets even worse, doesn’t it?” Spike asked worriedly, as if he was hearing some sort of scary story, which it was in a way.
Rarity slowly nodded. “According to Twilight, Apple Bloom was… attacked by some ferocious creatures, and she’s… she’s no more.”
That got a loud gasp out of the baby dragon, and he suddenly felt uneasy, especially knowing why Twilight was disheveled now.
“You...you mean...she’s…oh no…” he trailed off, unable to speak anymore. The wave of emotions hitting him was too much to bare. He wasn’t crying, but he wasn’t far from reaching that point either.
Seeing her poor Spikey Wikey acting like that, Rarity came over and brought him in for a hug. He was too overwhelmed by the news to react like he wanted, but there was nothing wrong with that.
“It’s fine if you want to cry,” Rarity comforted him. “There’s no shame in doing that for something like this.”
“That’s horrible,” Spike responded. “That’s just...horrible…no wonder Twilight’s been acting like that…”
“There’s more to it, unfortunately. You see…”
She explained what Twilight did that night, and how she blamed herself for Apple Bloom’s death in the end. As she continued on with the story, Spike’s expression was even more saddened. It was too much, and he started to cry from it all.
“No...she can’t do this to herself...it wasn’t her fault,” he cried, trying to wrap his head around such a thing. “It can’t be…”
“I know how you feel, but that’s how she sees it. And I’m here precisely to make her feel better
about it. Could you take me to see her?”
“I can do that. I don’t want to see her like this anymore.”
He grabbed one of her front hooves and took her to the bedroom. Rarity wasn’t sure what to expect from Twilight, but she was preparing for the worst.
And that was what she got. Twilight was curled up on her bed, closing her eyes and tearing up. Her mane was a little frazzled, a result of being in bed for so long. She wasn’t even aware that Rarity and Spike were there in the room with her. That was how deep into guilt she was.
The baby dragon hesitantly climbed into bed with her. He wanted to tap her on the shoulder so she’d know they were there, but he was scared about her reaction. He took a deep breath and did it anyway.
Twilight slowly opened her eyelids and turned around to see him. Her eyes were bloodshot from all the crying, as she lost control over her emotions when she got home. Rarity almost gasped from the sight, but she had to ignore it to be a good friend.
Seeing that Rarity was here, the purple mare sat up on her hind legs. She brought over a tissue and wiped the tears away, enough to look presentable before she could speak.
“Hi, Rarity,” she said in a downed mood. “What are you doing here?”
“I’m here because I’m not going to let you be like this anymore,” Rarity responded, in a tone that was half comforting and half confrontational. “You have every right to be sad about this. Apple Bloom was a good friend of ours, and we’ll never find somepony like her. But I’m not letting you take the blame for her death.”
Twilight’s ears drooped again, and she nearly shoved her face back into the pillow. “But it is my fault…”
“No, it’s not. I don’t care what happened that night. We all know you did the best you could in that situation. You always do--”
“But I didn’t,” Twilight interrupted. “I could have been there to save her. I wasn’t, and I should have. If I was right there with her, none of this wouldn’t happen, and--”
“I will hear nothing of it. Please, darling, I know you wish you could have changed the outcome. We all would have if we were in that position. But please don’t do this to yourself. We know you better than that.”
“Same here,” Spike spoke up. “I… I don’t want to see you like this. So what if you didn’t do what you wanted to do with her? From what I’ve heard, those creatures were creepy and scary. I would have run away if I was there. You were brave for even trying to save Apple Bloom.”
“Try? Try? That’s not good enough, Spike. I could have saved her...and I didn’t...and now Apple Bloom is gone, and Applejack will never forgive me for losing her little sister…”
“Are you kidding? I know Applejack took the biggest loss out of all of us, but she has to forgive you...right?” Spike asked.
Twilight shook her head, and spend the next few minutes explaining what happened between them at Sweet Apple Acres. Rarity gasped at the news, while Spike came down to tears again.
“Oh my Celestia,” Rarity replied. “That doesn’t sound like the Applejack I know. I understand that she would take this the hardest out of all of us, but to go that far?”
“Exactly. And I’ve been thinking lately about it,” said Twilight. “And I think I deserve it--”
Before she could continue, Spike broke down and hugged her as tightly as she could. Rarity did the same, embracing her to make her feel loved. Twilight did nothing while they were hugging her, still consumed by the guilt eating away at her heart and soul.
“Please… don’t do this to yourself,” Spike cried again. “Please…”
“I’ll have to deal with Applejack about this in the future,” Rarity said, pulling away from the hug. “That’s no reason to hate yourself for what you did.”
Twilight said nothing again, and she laid back down on the bed. Rarity was heartbroken that her words did nothing to help her friend, but she felt like this was the best she could do by herself. Spike stayed by Twilight’s side in bed, making sure he would be there as soon as she needed something. He had to do that for her now.
Rarity sniffed and regained her composure enough to keep a straight face, and she rubbed a hoof on Twilight’s shoulder to comfort her one last time. After that, she left the bedroom to head out the door. She would think of something else to do that would help Twilight in the end. Something had to work on her. Anything.
However, right before she pushed the door open, she heard seven words come out from the bedroom. It was enough to make the whole thing worth it, and her heart was uplifted from hearing them.
“Thank you, Rarity. You’re a great friend.”
When Applejack was finished with her story, the contrast in Rainbow Dash and Pinkie’s faces were enormous. Dash only gave a blank stare to Applejack, and Pinkie’s face was soaking wet from the tears.
“And that about covers it,” Applejack concluded. “Ah know that might seem rough and tumble, but it was the right thing to--”
“You kicked Twilight in the chest when she was trying to help you? Seriously?” Dash interrupted.
“Now, you just wait a moment before you’re pointin’ hooves at me. Apple Bloom was a huge loss for our family. It will always be a big loss. And Ah can’t just forget somethin’ like that, not when Twilight could have stepped in and put her hoof down when she didn’t.”
“You… you mean… you’re no longer friends?” Pinkie asked cautiously.
Applejack had to think about the answer to that question, which was noticeable by her sudden pause. “Ah don’t know about all that. Ah do know that Ah don’t want to see her right now. She could have saved her, she didn’t, end of story.”
“But that’s no excuse to act like that toward her!” Dash shouted. “I know you have every right to be mad at her right now. I get it. Maybe Twilight should have been there for her. But you can’t do things like that just because you’re angry.”
“She wouldn’t give me the space Ah needed,” Applejack retorted. “Ah had every right to shut her down.”
“But you can’t kick her. She was trying to help--”
“You call that help? She knew what was up. She should have--”
“I don’t care! You don’t treat friends like--”
“Why won’tcha understand? Ah should have--”
“STOP!” Pinkie finally snapped, unable to take any more of the arguing. She shoved a hoof into both of their mouths to shut them up, and she was literally shaking from all the mixed emotions she was feeling. Applejack and Rainbow Dash were surprised by Pinkie’s actions, and they stopped in their tracks and looked at her.
“Please, I can’t take it when you two fight like that. It’s fun whenever you’re being competitive, like your 192nd Iron Pony competition to figure out who’s the toughest pony, but this isn’t fun at all! You’re being mean to each other, and that’s not what friends do! They’re supposed to talk it out and be open to both sides.”
That was enough to calm them both down. They sat down on their haunches and were ashamed over what they did. They both shared a defeated sigh and faced each other.
“Ah’m sorry, Dash. You know by now how touchy this is for me. Ah know Ah might sound a little blunt at the moment, but you can’t just forget somethin’ like that.”
“I’m sorry, too,” Dash apologized. “But you know what the deal is? We know you lost something deep and personal to you. I would be the same way if Scootaloo died on me like that. She’s the closest thing to a sister I have. We just don’t want to lose something else along the way.”
“And what would that be?”
“Your friendship with Twilight,” Pinkie spoke up. “If you keep acting this way, you two are never going to be friends again. And that would be horrible.”
“Are you saying that our friendship would be a greater loss than my own sister?”
“No,” Dash cut in, knowing Pinkie would break down if she had to answer. “That’s not it. But it would make things worse. We don’t want to lose anything else because of this.”
“Guess Ah see what you mean. But Ah’m not going to forgive Twilight that easy.”
“Can you at least try?” Pinkie added, her voice full of hope and optimism.
Applejack stopped for a moment and thought about it. “Ah… Ah’ll think about it. But there’s no guarantee that it will be a yes.”
“Better than saying no, at least,” Dash said. “Just understand, we feel sorry that you lost Apple Bloom. Don’t ever forget that, and we’ll be there to help you out. But don’t let it be an excuse to do something you’ll regret.”
With that said, Dash and Pinkie hugged Applejack one last time before leaving the room. Pinkie shut the door behind them, leaving Applejack alone with her thoughts.
Applejack sat down on her bed, thinking over what her friends said to her. She wasn’t mad at her, and at least they weren’t being sticks in the mud like Twilight was.
But at the same time, she had some thinking to do. A lot of thinking.
Rarity, Pinkie and Rainbow are being blatantly ignorant again. They say they understand? They understand nothing, if they just picture something happening to their 'sisters'. You can only experience all these negative emotions when it happens for real, and Applejack was handling this with restraint, but was being pushed by Twilight to the edge of her patience, not to mention that Twilight, the one irresponsible adult with Apple Bloom at the time of her death, was basically telling her to "just get over it".
I don't want to imagine how Rarity would handle it if she was in AJ's shoes. While AJ had shown cold fury, Rarity would have probably exploded in Twilight's face, demoting, blaming, degrading, insulting her in the worst way possible while screaming like a banshee.
Now she can easily be all buddy with Twilight, giving hugs and telling her not to blame herself, but how would she have reacted if it hadn't been Apple Bloom, but Sweetie Bell instead, and Twilight had still been the responsible Adult for her safety?
Does Rarity really delusively think she could have held her own temper in check if Twilight had told her to "just get over it" while ignoring to give Rarity some requested space to be alone for some time?
...
I highly doubt she would have lasted 10 seconds flat of Twilight's pestering, under all that pressure.
And don't get me started on Rainbow Dash and Scooterloo.
If it had been Scooterloo, RD would have been devastated that her own friend she felt so loyal to, didn't return that loyalty and saved Scooterloo.
And had she been nagged by Twilight's stubborn insistence to forget about it, she probably would have gone 'Sonic Rainboom' in her face. She could have felt back stabbed, and being the element of loyalty that would have been twice as hard on RD.
RD wouldn't have forgiven Twilight either, I'm pretty certain of that.
So both, RD and Rarity can zip their moth shut for once, this is nothing to be forgiven so easily. Talking as a 3rd party about this is easy, but never compares to the hard reality AJ does indeed must face.
why does this story not have more readers
give me more! i love it!
4944555
I'll take this as a compliment. Thanks!
4944421
I'm going to respond, given that I co-wrote a big portion of this chapter(the second half, starting with Spike's reaction to the news)
In my mind, Applejack had every right to be angry at Twilight. Yes, Twilight was being EXTREMELY pushy about the whole thing. Maybe to a fault. However, what AJ did was something she might regret years down the road, as it could destroy their friendship permanently. That was the idea I tried to get across, that while Twilight did not handle the situation properly, what Applejack did was something that could DEEPLY affect her other friends in the process and have repercussions she might not like.
Also in my head, what Dash and Pinkie were trying to say "don't use this as an excuse to be a jerk to your friends" or "don't use this as an excuse to do something you'll regret". Maybe AJ WOULDN'T regret it, but they don't know that. They were acting more like they really wanted to conserve Twilight and AJ's friendship(notice how Pinkie was really cautious that their friendship was over) and that having their friendship end would make this even worse for them. Like, they just lost two valuable things in one throw.
Like I wrote in the chapter, for Dash and Pinkie, seeing a friendship end would not be as bad as losing a friend for good. But it would be like rubbing salt in the wound and make the whole thing sting even more, and they're in the mindset that Applejack would grow to regret pushing Twilight away in the end.
4948847 Yeah I can see where you are going, but:
How is blaming Twilight, who was indeed the ONE and ONLY responsible adult in that situation with Apple Bloom, plus deeply trusted friend of Applejack, an 'excuse' for the death of her little sister?
Twilight was the one who granted Apple Bloom, a little filly, to accompany her, meaning she shouldered all that responsibility to look after the filly on herself. (She could also just have said instead "NO, you stay out of the Everfree).
So instead of clearing the junk away from their path, not to mention she could have just teleported out of the Everfree Forest, she should have kept her eyes and attention on the little filly, and make sure that nothing happens to her.
It was freaking dark already, in a freaking dangerous forest, so in that situation her top priority was not:
>>Clear the path to get home and have hot chocolate.
But instead
>>Don't loose sight of your friends kid sister, that you so irresponsibly allowed to accompany you.
She ignored this priority blatantly, which led to Bloom's death, which caused Applejack immense pain, all because of her.
That breaks a good chunk of respect for your dearly trusted friend.
But this wasn't enough, Twilight also had to pester Applejack about it, despite her not wanting to talk, pleading Twilight to let her be, BEFORE she'll do something hurtful to her.
Twilight didn't listen, and learned her physical Lesson the hard way.
It was only fair retribution.
She has nothing to regret, and RD is dead wrong to accuse her of blaming Twilight for no reason.
Because there was a friggin' reason, the death of her sister, caused by Twilight's irresponsibility.
Hence, Twilight was rightfully blamed, and tapping all this down to la-la level alias "I forgive you, because why not?", isn't just going to cut it in this particular case.
If Twilight was disabled in that forest blockade situation, fine that would be arguable, but that wasn't the case.
Situation Check:
So what to do now? Put this under a rug? Say it was absolutely nobody's fault? Despite Twilight having been right there the entire time? Having been the one to willingly allow her inside the forest anyway?
...
"Oh Twilight! You were there with my sister, because you allowed her to go with you, but lost sight of the filly, because you had to concentrate on something with less priority, then she died being ripped apart by some dangerous critters, after you noticed her missing about an hour later, right? Oh well, horse apples happen! Don't take it to personally, Twi! We are still friends, despite you ignoring/forgetting to keep my sister safe... every minute you were in there... AT ALL COST!"
...
Yeah right... You get the picture? I doubt anyone want's to forgive a friend, that just let their own kid sister die because of prior obvious irresponsibility in their actions.
Sorry but the more I think about it, the more Applejack's kick in Twilight's guts was justified, as well as her not wanting to forgive her (the kick was still very restrained anyway).
If you don't want to send her to jail, which AJ actually could demand from a logical point of view, making her redeem her mistake by letting her suffer and live with the guilt is the honorable way to deal with this, and a pretty fair penalty as well.
This is not a matter of simple thievery,
This is not only a matter of broken trust,
But a matter of a life being lost due to the ignorance of a supposed responsible adult, who was considered a friend to the apple family.
Applejack could consider to forgive her after:
1 year
3 years
7 years
14 years or more
But not merely after a few days.
I even go as far as to blame RD, Rarity, and Pinkie of selfishly putting their own feelings and opinions over Applejack's, without respecting hers, because that is indeed what they try to accomplish.
They are essentially telling her: "Girl, what you are doing is so wrong, rather do this and do that, because there are good reasons that concern us, better reasons than yours, and more".
They did not respect what she thinks and feels, they just wanted to get their own opinions through, make her consider their feeling over her own, despite the her own dire situation, despite them not being the ones who were wronged, and lied to.
If they want to cheer her up, fine.
If they want to keep her company, fine.
If they want to comfort her, fine.
But they have no right to tell her what to do, they have no right to judge her based on her actions.
Because both of them, were in no circumstance whatsoever able to actually relate to her.
Again, what if it was Scooterloo instead who died?
What if it was Sweetie Belle?
Neither Rarity or RD would have fared any better than AJ, and their feelings would have been justified just as well as her own.
For being the elements of harmony, so adamant on friendship, those mares sure are painstakingly inconsiderate.
If Twilight isn't going to get stabbed to death by AJ, a "life for a life" policy, she would have to accept the fact that she has to live with guilt bestowed upon her by her own irresponsibility, until AJ sees fit to forgive her eventually, or not.
That is the only true justice in that situation.
4949754
1. It's Scootaloo, not Scooterloo.
2. I'm not taking sides, but could you explain what point you're trying to get across, in a possibly shorter explanation? I mean, I did read everything, but for simplicity's sake, it would probably be easier if you shortened it a bit.
4951189 Certainly! Sorry for the wall of text, I was a bit lively when I wrote it.
The point I want to get across is that, RD, Rarity and Pinkie, outright but not harshly, blame AJ of falsely accusing Twilight, while also trying to make her feel guilty about it, to save 'friendship'. They felt it was more important, that AJ respects the feelings of her friends, including Twilight, who feel obviously sad about loosing part of this friendship, rather then them respecting AJ's need to stay away from Twilight, because she can't simply forgive her and needs time to sort things out by herself.
This just isn't an easy situation.
There wasn't an Apple tree stolen or a book or whatever.
All this was done by her friends, while ignoring the fact that Twilight indeed was the responsible to blame for the situation, Apple Bloom's death. She didn't take care of the little filly, as one would expect of her.
Additionally Twilight lied to AJ about the safety of AB, despite knowing she died, leaving AJ not only in the dark, but with false relieve, only to jam it in her face the next day that AB died for real.
Then additionally, without backing off, she pestered her about the topic, which strained her mentality to a point where she just had to kick her (again, I believe RD would have done worse, if the roles were reversed).
The situation paints Twilight in a very bad light, which is justified, considering her part in this mess.
Everything else indicates that AJ is in the right, and should be allowed to penalize Twilight as she sees fit.
Seeing as her penalty is simply not to talk to her, to stay away from her, something that Twilight already denied her resulting in AJ's kick, it's not even a comparably harsh treatment.
It's much to easy for them to talk about forgiveness, and in the end that is all they wanted to extort out of AJ, the real reason for their visit in the end, was to make her feel now guilty about doing this to Twilight, something that may crack their friendship, despite the serious charges of Twilight's misbehavior.
She took her sister to the forest.
She let her sister run away.
She let her sister die.
She lied to AJ about AB's well being.
She pestered her about the topic until she snapped.
Not wanting to have anything to do with Twilight at the moment, or at least for the next few month/years, is nothing RD and the others should deny her by demanding "Just go up and forgive her".
The torment Twilight has to go through because of the heavy guilt she feels, is nothing short of justice. She just has to live with this guilt, that's the harsh reality.
AJ just forgiving her in no time at all for, and I'm being honest here, no particular rightful reason, would be illogical.
Summary:
1. RD and CO. are wrong, and have no say in the matter. Plus they are sneaky for trying to make AJ feel guilty.
2. Twilight rightfully deserves the 'silent treatment', if not worse. But thankfully the cowpony is still restraint and considerate here, bless AJ.
3. AJ is right in all points, and I'm talking lawfully right, as I tried to point out.
What Twilight did was practically an act of negligence, in the eyes of the law, which cost a child's life in the end, therefore she has to shoulder the guilt if she likes it or not, same goes for the others.
... again a bit long this comment. But I just can't help myself if it is about such questions as guilt and blame, or retribution.
This is all from my standpoint of view, what I would tell AJ and the others if I was there. Others may have different opinions.
But you can bet, not many courts in human society would let Twilight get away with this so easily.
Hell, the Apples could probably demand from the court, Twilight working her purple plot on the Apple Farm for a few years, just to pay part of her dept to the family for letting their kin die. :/
In the end the final question remains:
"How can you forgive someone who you trusted, when they ignored their duty to protect your little sibling from death, then proceeded to lie about her well being for a day."
... RD and the others picture that much to damn easy.
4952520
Well, you just gave me yet another wall of text.
Just the summary and everything below that would've sufficed.
Anyway, I can probably see what you mean about Rainbow Dash and Pinkie when it came to Applejack, but why Rarity? She went to Twilight, not Applejack.
4953396
Regarding Rarity.
Rarity outright dismisses her responsibility, worse than that she even says "she doesn't want to hear it, she doesn't care what happened that night". She's completely disregarding any fault on Twilight's site, making her out to be the "good responsible mare" that she honestly wasn't in that situation.
I've listed Twilight's charges enough in the last comment, and Rarity makes them out to be null and void, without having any logical definite proof to foster her opinion.
Logically, it was Twilights fault.
Lawfully, it was Twilights duty to protect Apple Bloom, keep an eye on her.
So telling Twilight it wasn't her fault, just to make her feel better, is untruthful.
Again she puts her own opinion over Twilight's, and over AJ's for that matter, without being neither witness or victim of the situation.
As I mentioned, now she may say she doesn't care what happened, now she may say it wasn't anyone's fault, but what pray tell would she do to Twilight if it wasn't AB that died, but Sweetie Belle instead?
You bet, then she'd care much more to hear what exactly happened.
No doubt that after all the sob and tears, she'd explode in Twilight's face with her intimidating temper unleashed, probably throwing much more hurtful vulgar words Twilight's way, than just a simple kick.
I don't believe she'd like to be buddies with her after that anymore, and vice versa.
PS: I still like this story very much, but it just urges me to complain about their ignorance. On the other hand, I can actually picture the same behaviour of Rarity, Pinkie and RD in the series.
They'd do the same there in an episode, but still they'd be wrong in their assumptions.
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Hmm... ok then. In that case, what would you have done in RD and Pinkie's situation, and Rarity's too?
4954101 Try to comfort them, without discussing, mentioning or leveling the guilt question.
It's still ok to give them both the company of their other friends, simply to console them, but it isn't rightful to bud in their very personal conflict, especially when you have no arguments that can back up against the harsh reality both are facing right now.
As I said, they have no right to judge both mares, and their circumstances, since they are not directly involved in it, and have no anchor to relate. Both must resolve this matter themselves, on their own.
AB was AJ's sister
Twilight was her 'guardian', and failed to protect her, while slacking in her duty.
AJ lost her kid sister and Twilight lied to her about it.
When AJ knows the truth, Twilight didn't give her the space she needed, so she gave her a rough warning buck.
Several serious mistakes where made, mainly by Twilight.
This matter will either be resolved in time, or not at all, but it's not their friends's duty, nor their right to confront them about it, or make them feel guilty for how they treat each other, while judging the situation as a 3rd party who isn't even involved in conflict directly anyway.
None of them is target of the conflict, they just feel bad for it to happen.
But it's AJ's loss, and Twilight's fault, after all.
Their friends are not above the situation, and shouldn't assess the details at all. It's not their place to clear the guilt question, nor is it fair if they push them together again, to force resolve matters under their watch.
Because for such a simple method to resolve this issue in it's entirety, it's much to personal of a matter, and a gravely serious one too, since a child's life was lost.
Saying that they want to save their friendship, because they don't want to see it as additional collateral damage, would require both to make up with each other, while both mares would need to blatantly ignoring the hard facts, that Twilight still is guilty as charged, and AJ was wronged after all.
They'd practically need to put this whole thing under a rug, which is essentially ridiculing AB's death and dissipating Twilight's justified guilt into smoke.
What to do:
Comfort them, console them, but don't berate them to resolve the problem, just because you think your own opinion and feelings matter more than theirs, being the 3rd wheel in this case anyway.
I rest my case.
4954424
Well, we'll see what happens with everypony later. I have some plans, but I'll save them for later. Next chapter goes back to Sunny Town.
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BACK TO SUNNY TOWN!
*Plays batman transition*
I'd really like to read this story, but, will it ever be completed?
6364691
My friend has been nagging me to post the new chapter a long while ago. And I don't blame him. Believe me, I wanted to. But with so much life in the way, and stuff I'm doing on Tumblr, it gets to be too much. I do try to remember about Blanked, really I do. But funnily enough, I was just going to check on what I had of the newest chapter so far right before I came to FIMFiction today.
When I started, I promised myself that the story will be finished, no matter what.