The Way of the Maneaanite

by Wheller

Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Applejack had long since passed out from the drink, Big McIntosh couldn’t have been any happier about the situation, Applejack was his sister, he loved her, but she could be so thick sometimes it drove the draught pony mad.

Braeburn wasn’t much help either, he’d been pretty much the only Appleoosan to maintain his head, which, according to Applejack from the last time she’d been here, nearly a year and three fourths ago, had been pretty much the same instance.

‘Ah don’ like this cuz, not one bit, Ah can’ belive mah friends an’ neighbours would act like this!’ Braeburn said with a frown.

‘Eeyup’, Big McIntosh said simply.

‘This is a mess!’ Braeburn called out, he had begun pacing back and forth around his home, which they had relocated to after the fighting in town had died down.

‘Eeyup’, Big McIntosh said simply.

‘Ya got any ideas?’ Braeburn asked hopefully.

‘Eenope’, Big McIntosh said simply.

Braeburn frowned and went back to his pacing. Big McIntosh rolled his eyes in annoyance,

‘Please stop that’, Big McIntosh asked.

‘Sorry’, Braeburn said with a frown as he went and sat down on the sofa opposite the one Big McIntosh was sitting on; Applejack lay asleep on the sofa next to him.

‘An’ Applejack’s just gonna make it worse, I thought she woulda been a mite more tolerant than that’, Braeburn said, looking worriedly at his sleeping cousin.

‘Applejack needs ta be brought ta her senses’, Big McIntosh said. He sat quietly for a while, and then, slowly, a grin began to form on his face. ‘An’ Ah think Ah gots an idea!’

...

Braeburn gently pushed open the door to the Appleoosa sheriff’s office, Sheriff Silver Star in sitting at his desk, looking over papers, and keeping an eye on the gaol cells holding the New Maneaanite Prisoners.

There were three of them, one in the far corner holding the one called Graham Cracker, he was being kept by himself, and the two other cells were holding the ten others, five in each.

‘Sheriff Silver Star!’ Braeburn called out. ‘The New Maneaanites are commin’ back!’

Sheriff Silver Star looked up, as did all eleven New Maneaanites that were locked up in the gaol cells.

‘They’re commin’ from the northwest! If we hurry we can head ‘em off at tha pass!’ Braeburn called out frantically.

Sheriff Silver Star rose from his seat. ‘We best be going then, good to see whose side you’re on Braeburn’.

Sheriff Silver Star and Braeburn galloped away from the Sheriff’s office to gather up the deputies, leaving the door wide open and easy enough for Big McIntosh to slip in and close the door behind him. The New Maneaanites all looked up to discover the draught pony with his sister, fast asleep on his back. Big McIntosh picked up the brig ring of keys that Sheriff Silver Star had left on his desk and unlocked Graham Cracker’s cell door; he dumped Applejack inside and closed it back up tight.

Graham Cracker didn’t even flinch.

‘Ah can’t let ya go, they’d know mah cousin Braeburn was involved’, Big McIntosh said.

‘I understand’, Graham Cracker said. ‘I do not understand, however, why you are putting her in with me’.

‘Ah’m kinda hopin’ ya can talk some sense inta her’, Big McIntosh said with a shrug. ‘Maybe she’ll see ya ain’t bad folk?’

Graham Cracker looked at Big McIntosh oddly, but said nothing as the draught pony walked out of the sheriff’s office.

...

Applejack woke up, groaning loudly, her head hurt something awful, she needed a drink.

‘Welcome back to the land of the conscious, Graham Cracker said.

Applejack shot up and pressed her back against the gaol cell door, discovering that she was locked in with him.

‘Going somewhere?’ Graham Cracker asked, looking straight at her.

‘P... please don’t hurt me!’ Applejack cried out.

‘What makes you think I am going to hurt you?’ Graham Cracker asked.

‘Wait... ya mean yer not?’ Applejack asked. ‘But... but yer a nephite!’

‘And what do you think you know about nephites?’ Graham Cracker said.

‘Well... Ah... Ah never met one befer, but mah granny said they’re all a bunch of low life door to door salespony types tryin’ ta push their beliefs on good folks like us, and they get violent when ya disagree with them’, Applejack said.

‘Ah... yes’, Graham Cracker said. ‘I’ve heard that one too’.

Graham Cracker prodded at one of the pockets in his CO19 vest and began to push something out of it.

‘Wha’s that! What are ya doin!?’ Applejack exclaimed in a panic.

‘I have time to kill’, Graham Cracker said, the object fell out of the pocket and Applejack studied it for a moment, it was a book.

‘Wha’s that?’ Applejack asked.

‘This is the Book of Nephi’, Graham Cracker said. ‘I always keep it on me, especially for situations like these; I tend to get in them quite a bit’.

He lowered his head towards the book and pushed it open and began to read.

Applejack watched him for a minute and he didn’t look up for the entire of it.

‘I have another one on me if you would like something to read’, Graham Cracker said without looking up. ‘I have a feeling it’s going to be a while until the sheriff returns to let you out of this cell.’

‘Oh... uh’, Applejack said. ‘I... uh... don’t read s’ good’.

To tell the truth, Applejack didn’t know how to read at all, and she felt horribly embarrassed. Applejack hadn’t finished school, she barely had any education at all; unlike Big McIntosh she had nothing for an education except for what Granny Smith had taught her about apple farming. Her granny had taught her to count, and how many pence were in an Equestrian Pound, which was two hundred and forty, that was the extent of Applejack’s education. She’d attended maybe a year of public schooling in Ponyville while she was younger, but Granny Smith had needed to take her out of it, they couldn’t afford to send both Big McIntosh and Applejack to school, of course, when it was time for Apple Bloom to go to school, that was a different story, but she was much younger than Applejack and Big McIntosh with nearly a twelve year gap between Applejack and Apple Bloom, the world was different now, you needed an education, and they were going to make sure that Apple Bloom would get it.

Applejack was highly insecure about her literacy, or really, the lack there of, particularly after becoming friends with Twilight Sparkle.

Twilight had recommended several books to Applejack, thinking that she would like them, some of the books had been about farming, and some of them had been fiction novels that Twilight thought that Applejack would have enjoyed. Applejack had always kindly taken out the books that Twilight had suggested for her to read, and then waited two or three weeks and then brought them back, not even bothering to open them.

‘Shame’, Graham Cracker said without looking up.

Applejack continued to think about the issue for a while. Here she was, the bearer of the Element of Honesty, locked in a gaol cell with a nephite who had practically forced her to think about her literacy, or once again, her lack thereof.

Applejack realised at this point that in her shame, she had hidden the fact that she couldn’t read from her friends and for it, and it made her a hypocrite. She had gotten angry with Vinyl Scratch in particular for hiding the true reason for wanting to go to the Hoofson Bay, she had gotten angry at her friends for rallying behind somepony that she had seen as a liar, and had skipped town for Appleoosa because of it.

Applejack was a ridiculous, big headed hypocrite and it had taken the imprisoned nephite to show her.

‘Ah’m sorry Ah judged ya’ll’, Applejack said. ‘Ya’ll aren’t bad folk, aren’t ya?’

‘That remains to be seen’, Graham Cracker said, looking up. ‘Ditzy Doo harbours much anger in her soul, she is a good mare, but I feel that the Appleoosans have pushed her over the edge’.

‘Ah know that pony. It’s hard ta believe she’d hurt anypony’, Applejack said.

‘Ditzy Doo has been pushed around by many in her life, there is only so much abuse that one can take before the anger consumes them’, Graham Cracker said. ‘It isn’t right, but I understand the reasons why she is angry’.

Applejack frowned, she admitted to herself that maybe she wasn’t as nice to Derpy Hooves as she should have been throughout her time in Ponyville. There had been several occasions where Applejack had taken to laughing at the Pegasus mare’s misfortunes alongside the other town ponies. She’d always thought it was in good fun, never realising just how hurtful it could have been for her.

Applejack had to admit, being locked in a gaol cell with Graham Cracker had been overall a positive experience. She had had a lot of time to think about life. Big McIntosh was right, she had been being stupid, and even though she had just realised that he had tossed her in a cell, it was okay. She had forgiven him.

Of course, now Applejack had to wonder what was going to happen when the sheriff got back and found her in here?

Comments

[Fallen Knight]

Feel kinda sorry for applejack ,if she told her friends they would have helped her learn surely. But people/ponies are to afraid sometimes to admit such stuff

[DreadedCandiru2]

Crap....so, it's gonna be AJ trying to get Ditzy to calm down. As M Night Shyamalan would say, "WHAT A TWIST!!!!"

[DreadedCandiru2]

Crap....so, it's gonna be AJ trying to get Ditzy to calm down. As M Night Shyamalan would say, "WHAT A TWIST!!!!"

35375
Yes, it is; that's why we occasionally hear of a senior citizen who's been found to have slipped through the cracks. One of the first story arcs of a comic strip about an old guy named 'Ed Crankshaft' had him end up in an adult literacy course when his daughter realized that he couldn't read a bloody word. He wasn't stupid, he was just illiterate.

[Wheller]

35395

Sweet Apple Arces is hurting for money, because Granny Smith doesn't know a thing about money or managing the business. She's running the farm into the ground because of it.

[Kamineigh]

So we've got the mandatory WHAT A TWEEST! Now for the cutaway.

MEANWHILE AT THE HALL OF JUSTICE! I-I MEAN, NEW MANEAAN

[Wheller]

35395

M. Night Shyamalan is a terrible director. Never mention him again.