"Manipulation Isn't Somethin' That Runs in the Family, Applejack."
The balls of fire continued to strike down from the sky as they were accompanied by bursts of concentrated flames. All of the guards who had surrendered their minds to hysteria went on to fully enjoy its bliss, no longer bearing a rational mind that would be responsible to braving through the orange infused smoke to fend off a dragon for their lives.
Two choices present themselves to those who have given up their wills. Choice one is to wait for someone far stronger to save them from the depths of their fears, while choice two is to submit fully to the whims of their fears, enduring whatever their fate may be even if it is something as horrible as death. When one isn't honest with the extent of their courage, they may find themselves in horrible situations like these ones that test the entirely of a ponies bravery.
But Applejack wasn't in the mood to prove herself to some non-existent observer. She had just left the safety of the last competent squad of guards to try and find a way to roll the odds of the situation back into Cantorlot's favor. Upon seeing a duo of guards flocking down a case of stairs of freedom, only to be swept away by another swoop of the massive dragon, the orange mare couldn't help but picture herself back at home instead.
Applejack stood on the porch of her farmhouse gazing out to the boundless farmland accentuated by the surrounding apple trees. The sun in the sky cast down its golden rays of light that brought warmth to the land and made the oncoming breeze all that more delightful. The day looked almost perfect in the orange pony's mind, only made better by the sway of the rocking chair next to her.
Even though the day itself was nice and warm, and the land she stood on so vast and great, Applejack's eyes couldn't help but linger on the dry soils in long need of a refreshment, and the overgrown crops howling to be plucked by her already dirtied hooves. Her eyes then trailed over to a group of stallions sitting in-between her present issues, who all opted instead to enjoy the breeze with a cup of cider and a game of cards.
Applejack didn't' notice when her smile transition into a frown, but the voice next to her did. "You look like someone just took away your favorite blankie. Why the sour face, 'Jackie?"
The aforementioned mare glanced to her left just in time to see her grandmother fully open her eyes from her nap eyes fully open, smiling upon seeing the still bright orange eyes once hidden behind the green eyelids. "Sorry if I woke you up, Granny Smith. Work's more stressful as of late, though it's nothing for you to fret over."
"Is that so?" Granny began to crack her neck, a task that took some time for the old earth pony. She really did try to move quickly, but her frail bones didn't exactly help her speed.
Applejack resumed looking out to the farmland awash in the sun's golden rays. "Mmhm. Nothin' about the work has changed, though it defiantly feels like I'm putting in more effort than some of the other workers on the farm."
The orange earth pony may not have seen it, but her grandmother cracked a grin at the success of using her secret technique used to coax out the worries from her grandkids. The Apples were a proud family, from the hard work they invested in their farms as well as in themselves, but sometimes this interfered with getting the help or wisdom they needed.
"Hmm." The final crack popped from within Granny Smith's neck, as she fully laid back into her chair. "Big Mac was tellin' me he had to let a few fellows go for 'this and that', though everypony else was reaching their quota here on the farm."
"I'm startin' to think me and Big Mac need to up those ponies quota." Applejack didn't notice the venom of her frustrations seep into her tone. "I mean, we have the Apple Family investing all that they've got into the farm, then we have these new fellows who don't even do have the work that Big Mac and I do."
Applejack realized at the end of her sentence that she dropped the problem pestering her for the last little while, momentarily flinching and hoping her grandmother was still too out of it to pick up on her subtle frustrations. A small bout of laughter caressed her orange ears and beckon her green eyes to find their source, stopping when found a smiling pair of green lips.
"You're a strong mare, Applejack." The laughter, sporadically accompanied by a hack, began to cease. "Don't let anyone tell you otherwise, especially yourself."
When the old mare's laughter began to cease, so too, did her smile. "But there's a long road of learning that ya still have to travel through, and I'm worried you may end up going down the wrong paths because you're not being honest with yourself. You tend to well stuff up deep inside ya, and that may make it harder to know what direction you should be going in."
Applejack was struck dazed by her grandmother's words, only shaking out of it a moment once she finished, and slowly approaching her while lowering her body. "I'm afraid I don't quite get what you mean, Granny Smith. You're the one always telling me to never focus on petty things, for they distract you from seeing the bigger things in life."
"And I'm proud to say you're a shining example of that lesson, Applejack." Granny attempted to rise from her chair to come closer to her granddaughter, but the pain in her back shocked her into falling back into the wood of the rocking chair. "Though those things that you've dubbed as petty are actual nuisances that trouble your soul. You're at the point now where your will burns like a green flame, Applejack, so if you feel like something is interfering with the fire of your passion, then it's okay to focus on it."
"I don't know, Granny Smith." Applejack took off her hat and sat down on the porch, always keeping the wisdom of her grandmother above her. "My issue it that I don't feel like the other boys are workin' nearly as hard as Big Mac and me, though now that I think about it, I guess we have no right to ask them to work more than what they're paid for."
"Let me guess." Granny Smith allowed a knowing smile to grow across her muzzle. "Even though you know better, it still bugs ya to no end."
Applejack sighed in agreeance. "Exactly that, Granny. I know that no amount of me complain will cure the other worker's lack of resolve, and I also know all the time spent whining about it could have been used to work harder to make up for them."
She fell down until the fur of her belly met the warm wood below, as the world was seen from the comfort behind her forehooves. "Despite knowin' all of this, I can't shake that dread clinging to my head. Do ya know if there is such a cure for the thing, Granny, or should I just be workin' even harder out on the farm?"
Granny Smith's eyes trailed over the length of her grandaughter's sulking form, eyeing the added muscles in her thigh due to the endless days spent bucking trees, as well as her overall size from exiting puberty. A semi-transparent image was brought to the forefront of the old mare's mind of the same orange pony when she was just a wee filly, sulking in the same position, with an oversize stetson covering her face.
The old mare couldn't help but smile, and fend off the stinging sensation in her eyes.
"You're doing just splendidly, Jackie dear." A green hoof went to wipe away the wetness welling in her eyes before the younger pony could notice. "But I'm about to impart a lesson on you that I need only for your ears to listen closely to."
The orange ears perked up as their owner continued to lie on the wooden floor.
"That's good enough for me." Granny finished wiping away her tears before clearing her throat. "I'm proud to say you've grown into a mare where petty things no longer affect you as your eyes are set on the things that matter. But what you don't realize is that small things can be big in their own way, and you tend to ignore them and hope for them to go away."
"Just like you taught me."
Granny bit lightly on her tongue as she stifled out a small groan. "Perhaps I should've worded myself better, which I hope to do now. Applejack, there may come times where you may feel a thought or a feeling is petty, so you may place it beneath you in the attempt to get rid of it."
"Which almost always work."
Granny Smith allowed a chuckle instead of a groan. "And it almost certainly does. But what I'm about to say is for the 'almost' times when your attempts fail. If you truly feel that a feeling or a thought is beneath you, and your soul nor your will seems to have an issue with it, then go ahead and bury that sucker underneath the dirt.
"But, when your soul keeps getting encumbered by that buried thing, no matter how deep you've buried it, then you've got yourself an issue."
"I'm startin' to think this is gonna have somethin' to do with my issue with the other workers," Applejack muttered from underneath her hat, which instead of irritating her grandmother, made her laugh.
"You're darn tootin' what I got to say has to do with that!" Granny slapped her knee and glee, squeaking slightly in pain, before resuming her lesson. "Now take this issue here, where you know what the problem is, rationalize yourself an answer, and went on with your life. For some reason, your soul was still disturbed by the problem, which why it's bothering your mind so much.
"Try as you might to ingore it, this issue isn't going to go away."
The stetson rose slightly into the air with the assistance of the head below it, though it did not look in the older mare's direction. "Then I'll just try sleepin' more! I usually forget about all these types of things whenever I sleep for a good portion of time."
"Hmm." Granny stroked her chin with a hoof as she cocked her head left. "I supposed that could work too, but it isn't a guaranteed method. Besides, if a similar situation were to arise then you'd just find yourself back in square one!"
The hat slithered down as the head it belonged to announced its defeat. "Keep goin' on with your lesson, Granny Smith."
The aforementioned mare gave a nod that no one saw before continuing. "Whenever your soul still has an issue with something even when it's long been buried, then it's time to dig it out from its depths and analyze it at face value. Be honest about with you feel about it, or else you risk being dishonest with your soul."
"So I'm honest about being bugged out by somethin' that don't matter." Applejack somehow pressed even more into the floor in an attempt to disappear from the overbearing world. Granny Smith never saw her granddaughter act so much as a spoiled kid before, bringing bliss into her system that that part of her still existed in the current mare.
Just because Applejack was willing to expose that part of herself, Granny Smith was more than willing to put up with the hidden spoiled child. "It does because your soul doesn't feel like you've given an honest answer to your issues. Now tell me, Applejack, does a part of you want to go down to does boys playin' on the field and give them a piece of your mind on work ethics?"
"I know better than that, Granny." Applejack tried to hide further into herself, but her body was still too big to fit itself in the safety of her own hat. "Going down there and complaining won't solve the situation, and just make everyone else angry that I don't think they're doin' a good enough job."
Granny Smith began rocking in her chair as she knew she was too weak to come closer to her daughter, opting to instead relax in her chair and impart the only thing she still could at the moment: wisdom. "That's not what I asked you, Applejack. Think not of the consequences of the situation but of the feelings you bear towards it."
Granny heard her granddaughter stifle a groan upon finishing, waiting a few moments until she received her quiet response.
"I do, Granny. I just want to go down there right now and tell them to watch Big Mac in the distance, seeing him give his full hundred percent and compare it to the ten that they give."
"Now that you've been honest with what you really want, do you feel a bit more relaxed on the subject?"
It took a few moments, but the younger mare finally responded. "Kinda. But it doesn't help that there's nothin' I can really do about it."
Granny stopped her rocking in the fear it could drown out her already frail voice by even a little. "Care now young one or else you'll trouble your soul once more. You're growin' up to be an honest mare, but you're still not being honest about everything you can be doin' about the situation."
A pair of green eyes finally appeared out by the shadow cast by the hat, looking up at the other pony with a small glint adorning them. "And just what can I be doin', Granny Smith?"
"You tell me."
The same pair of green eyes looked back into the farm land, gazing into the distance as the mind behind them formulated an answer. "I...I guess I could go down there and tell them how I'm really stressed out about work this season. Maybe...maybe there's a reason why they're so lax when it comes to working, or there's something all together that I don't know."
"That's exactly it, little lady." Granny Smith opted to not strike her own knee due to the surge of pain it brought last time, though she tried to reach out a hoof to pat the other mare's back, only to sigh when it was too far away from her frail reach. "You don't know anything about the situation, either of their feelings or even of your own. It helps to be up-front about these things to both yourself and others, so you're all on the same page."
Applejack's mind slowly worked to absorbing the older mare's words into formulating an answer of her own to the situation. "I guess it ain't polite to just assume other's feelings, though I don't exactly like the thought of puttin' myself out there, Granny Smith. What if things don't work out the way I want em' to?"
Granny Smith offered a smile that was finally able to reach her granddaughter, before falling fully into her chair and letting her eyes drift to a close. "You'll never fully be sure the ending to those type of situations my young dear, but it is better to have the bravery to put yourself out there than it is to wonder 'what if'."
Applejack slowly rose from the floor at sensing the oncoming nap, not at all satisfied with the wishy-washing answer she received. "But surely you got some sort of tactic that helps sway over other ponies?"
"Manipulation isn't somethin' that runs in the family, Applejack." Granny's eyes shot back open to accentuate her point before they slowly began to close again. "But I'll leave you with one piece of advice to use whenever ya find yourself in a stressful situation like this one. No matter where you are, always imagine yourself back on the farm, on a day as nice as this one."
Even though the day before her was perfect, Applejack still closed her eyes to fully image the wiser mare's words. "Okay, Granny."
"Now, you share this farm with other fellows whom you wished worked as hard as you did. Flaunting bits in their face may make them work just a little harder, but they'll never match your resolve. Do you know why, Applejack?"
"Not a clue, Granny." Applejack kept her eyes close even as she looked in the older mare's direction. "If I did know, then I wouldn't be in this situation."
"The reason why those other workers aren't working as hard as you are is because they don't nearly have the same amount of passion as you do for the farm. You've spent your whole life on this farm, so you've seen all the good it does for the town, as well as housing you. Now other's may live on the farm, but they will never see it in the same light as you."
Applejack shook her head as the gears of her head started to turn, still keeping her eyes closed. "So how do I make the others see the farm in the same light then?"
"All you gotta do, Sugarcube, is inspire the same passion in the rest of them. You gotta be honest with your conviction and in what you believe in, and spread that message across the farm."
Applejack rose until she was only sitting, her ears inching closer to the stream of words.
"Show the others what the sweat of their work earns not only them but all the apples they supply for colts and fillys needing that extra, heathly engery for class. Tell them about all the ponies who rely on this farm for their food and cider, and how some of the workers even live on the farm alongside us. The farm doesn't depend on us; we depend on the farm for all the food and bits it bears.
"Make all the other workers see that lazing about on the farm only hurts them, as well as everyone else in the long run. Show them all the gathered food at the end of the day to see just how much they've contributed to the group effort, and to take joy when Ponyville economic blooms because of our food trade with other towns. If you're able to make other ponies feel valued for what they do and inspire the passion dormant in all of us, then you can turn even a battlefield back into a peaceful piece of land."
Applejack's rump slowly rose from the wooden floor as the kinks in her back popped. She cracked her neck quickly, unlike her grandmother, as the stiffness in her bones left her system. "Inspire the passion within others and makes them see we're all working toward a common goal. We're all working on a farm, and if the farm does well, then we all do well."
Granny's Smith eyes finally came to a close as she entered the dreamscape, which was no longer accompanied by the worries of her granddaughter. For the first time in a while, she dreamt of the future and had a pleasant dream.
The warm gust of wind caressed the orange fur on Applejack's coat, as her eyes slowly began to open. She saw not the farm of her mind but the battlefield before her eyes. The sky was still enshrouded with smoke with an orange glow; balls of fire still rain down from the sky, and ponies were still being abducted by a massive swooping dragon.
But the breeze here was still just as warm as on the farm, which Applejack imagine herself and all the other guards on. She cleared her throat, spread out her hooves, and prepared a cry to be heard by all.
Though one last thought entered the farm pony's mind, before being washed away by the image of her green grandmother.
"I know what I gotta do."