//------------------------------// // An Apples lie // Story: In the wake of Anon-A-Miss // by General Alduin //------------------------------// Sunset reached out her hand to silence her alarm clock, wondering why she decided to wake up at 8:00 on a Saturday. She was going to go back to bed before she saw a sticky note on her alarm clock. Sunset groaned, cursing her past self for making so much work for her, then grabbed the sticky note and tiredly read it.  ‘Get up lazy ass! You promised to help out at SAA at 9:00!’The note read.  “Oh… yeah.” Sunset laid against her pillows for a second, wanting a few more precious seconds in bed, then jumped out. She took a shower (knowing it didn’t matter anyway as she was probably gonna get covered in sweat and grime), got dressed (not even bothering with her leather jacket), ate breakfast, and got in her car. She wrote a quick good morning to Twilight and told her she was going to be running some errands today so she wouldn’t be able to write to her as much, having not told her about working with Applejack. She felt guilty lying to the princess like this, but she didn’t want to have a long conversation with Twilight when all she was doing was doing some chores for Applejack. “Applejack…” Sunsets brows knitted together. Out of all her friends, Sunset probably had the most complicated relationship with her. On the one hand, Applejack was the most mature of their group during Anon-A-Miss and it’s fallout. On the other, she lied to Sunset's face about her being family and was related to the mastermind behind Anon-A-Miss. Though, the latter was hardly Applejack's fault. She supposed she was least angry with Applejack, not that really meant much. She was snapped from her thoughts when her phone alarm went off: 8:30. Sunset sighed and started her car, not bothering to see if Twilight had written her back, and drove off. As she drove, she couldn’t help but remember yesterday’s events. She looked embarrassed as she remembered how she broke down in front of the entire cafe, how Sunset didn’t notice everyone staring at her beforehand she wasn’t sure. Hopefully Lyra and Bon-Bon knew better than to bother Sunset from now on. She didn’t have to worry about fake apologies and inviting her out to places. Maybe they’d tell everyone else to back off and she wouldn’t have someone come up to her each and every day, it was starting to get annoying. She was surprised to find that she had finally reached Sweet Apple Acres, not realizing just how lost in thought she really was. She looked at her car's clock and saw it was 8:59. “Hm, made some good time.” Off to the side, a certain someone with a red bow was keeping a lookout. Apple Bloom couldn’t help but smile when she saw Sunset's car pull up. “Phase three complete.” She ran away before Sunset could see her and found Applejack. “Sis!” Applejack turned away from the pigs feeder and looked at Apple Bloom. “Yeah Bloom?” “Sunset’s here, she’s pulling up into the driveway.” Apple Bloom declared as she came to a stop. “Now, how in tarnation would yah know that if yah were doing yer chores?” Applejack asked in an unamused tone. “A-Ah wasn’t, but Ah had a good reason to! We can’t just leave Sunset to wander around aimlessly until we realize she’s here.” She marched up to Applejack and grabbed her arm. “Yah should go and greet her!” “W-what?” Applejack pulled back, anxiety creeping in. “Why can’t yah do it? She went up to yah remember?” Apple Bloom panicked, trying to think of a clever way to convince Applejack. “Ah’m Anon-A-Miss, remember? She doesn’t wanna see me. ‘Sides, she did say she wanted to eventually talk with yah, how can yah do that if yah can’t even greet her?” Applejack took a moment to think before sighing in defeat. “Guess yah have a point there.” She let Apple Bloom pull her along, needing her sister to practically force her to walk in case she got cold feet. When they neared the house, Apple Bloom let go and urged her sister to walk the rest of the way. Applejack took a moment to collect herself and began walking towards Sunset's car. When Applejack was far enough away, Apple Bloom smiled and hid behind a wall, keeping an eye on the two of them. “And commence phase four.”  Sunset herself returned her car off and got out, locking it behind her. She turned and saw Applejack, her frown deepening when she saw the cow girl. Applejack stopped a few feet away, trying to will herself to greet Sunset. “Mornin’ Sugarc-” Applejack stopped when Sunset gave her a small glare. “Sunset, Ah’m glad yah decided to help out today.” “Good morning to you as well, Applejack.” Sunset said a little too politely for Applejack's taste. “I did promise to help out, it’d be dishonest if I didn’t show up. I wouldn’t want that, after all I know what it’s like to have dishonest friends.” “Right…” Applejack winced at that not so subtle jab at her character. She maintained her composure and reminded herself why Sunset was here. “So, for right now Ah want yah to feed the cows and horses. Yah remember where we keep the feed dontcha?” Sunset nodded. “Not unless you moved it.” “Good.” Applejack gave her a small smile. “After yer done, come find me and Ah’ll give yah yer next set of chores.” Sunset nodded, rolling her eyes at Applejack's smile and walked off. The cow girl's smile faded at Sunset’s hostility. She had expected some overt resentment from the redhead, but not this much, considering Sunset was the one who suggested this. Applejack decided to ignore it and walked back to finish feeding the pigs. They’d get to talking later. “How in the hell are we going to get Sunset unbanned from the Fling?” Lyra asked as she applied her makeup while Bon-Bon tiredly brushed her teeth next to her, still wearing her robe.  “I dunschno.” Bon-Bon said with her toothbrush in her mouth. "Waitsch tul Minday? "We don't have a lot of time Bonny." Lyra looked at the girl next to her. "That's two days of not doing anything, and if she's still banned regardless, then it's two days wasted." Bon-Bon stopped brushing her teeth and rinsed her mouth. "Well then what do you suggest Lyra? We go to Principal Celestia's home and ask her nicely to unban Sunset?" Lyra perked up at Bon-Bons suggestion. "That's a great idea! Thanks Bonny!" Bon-Bon looked confused. "That was sarcasm. You're actually going to bother the Principal on the weekend?" “I’m sure she’ll understand when we tell her our plan. This is probably what she had in mind before we left yesterday.” Lyra declared as she carefully put on her hair band. “Still Lyra, doesn’t it seem weird to bother Celestia on the weekend?” Bon-Bon asked as Lyra made her way out of the bathroom. “Plus, we don’t even know where she lives.” “You don’t know where she lives.” Lyra looked at Bon-Bon smugly from the doorway. “I do.” Bon-Bon looked confused and tried to decipher if Lyra was joking or lying to her face. “How would you-” “I’m gonna leave you to take a shower.” Lyra waved her off as she closed the door. “Toodles!” “What? No! We’re not done talking about this Lyra!” Bon-Bon huffed in annoyed frustration as Lyra closed the door and walked off. “You’re gonna tell me how you know the Principal's address! You hear me!” Apple Bloom stared at Sunset and Applejack nervously. It had almost been three hours and things weren’t progressing as fast as she had hoped. The two older girls only interacted with each other when Sunset asked for another chore, they weren’t working together like she had hoped and Applejack wasn’t taking the initiative. There was only one thing for her to do: get Sunset to take the initiative instead. She took a deep breath and walked towards Sunset, who was currently tending to the cows.  “Sunset?” She asked when she was close enough, the older girl turning towards her with a guarded expression. “Ah noticed AJ needed some help clearing the field, but yah and Ah both know she’s too stubborn to ask for help.” “So, you want me to ask her instead, cause you know she’d be unable to say no to me, right?” Sunset guessed as she turned her body towards Apple Bloom. “Um, well, Ah guess.” She thought for a second. Sunset was here because she didn’t want the farm to lose any business, if she maybe played up the importance of Applejacks job… “We were going to plant some new crops over there, and the faster it’s cleared the faster we can get to planting them... It’d be a great help to the farm.” Sunset was quiet for a few moments. “Fine.” Was all she said as she stood up and marched towards Applejack. Apple Bloom waited till Sunset was out of earshot. “Commence phase five.” “Hey.” Applejack turned to see Sunset was a few feet behind her. “Need any help?” Applejack was about to say no, but realized this was probably Sunsets way of easing into a conversation. “Uh, sure.” She handed her an empty bag and some gloves. “Right now we just need to clear big sticks and debris from the field so they can run a lawnmower over it later.” Sunset nodded, pulling on her gloves. “Alright.” The two girls worked in an uncomfortable silence together, just picking up whatever sticks came their way and barely even looking at each other. After half an hour Applejack was sick of it and decided to get the ball rolling. “So, what’ve you been up to lately? Ah’ve noticed your gaming channel has been a bit quiet.” “Just haven’t been in the mood to play much. I honestly don’t want to play at all but I don’t want to worry my fans.” Sunset shrugged. “Didn’t know you watched.” “Of course, Ah try to keep up with all my… friends.” Applejack winced lightly, but it didn’t seem Sunset took any offense, not that she seemed particularly invested in the conversation really. “Ah’m not a big fan of those gaming doohickeys, but yah got some moves girl. ‘Specially liked it when yah kept rolling around in a panic when that one boss ambushed yah in, uh, what was it? Born of somethi-” “Born of Blood.” Sunset quickly interjects. “It was Born of Blood.” “That’s the one.” Applejack chuckled. “Yah screamed yer head off when he jumped through the wall.” Sunset seemed mildly offended. “Hey, it was a very scary werewolf. It’s freaking skin was flayed off and he was like twenty feet tall.” “It was a game! It can’t hurt yah.” The two than had a pseudo argument as they collected sticks, slowly morphing into trading childish insults, which turned into Sunset trying to convince Applejack to play games which the cow girl stubbornly resisted. Before either of them knew it, an hour had passed and it was lunch time. The two headed back towards the house, both of them with small smiles on their faces. For a second, it almost seemed like they were just two friends hanging out, that Anon-A-Miss was nothing more than a bad dream. “Thanks again for helping out Sunset, Ah really appreciate it.” Applejack said, looking to Sunset. “It’s no big deal really, it’s a shame the other girls were too busy to help though.”  Applejack gave Sunset a strange look. The other girls weren’t too busy, she just hadn’t asked them.  She shrugged and decided it wasn’t important. “Yah know, when Apple Bloom said yah wanted to talk during our work, Ah had expected it to be a lot more serious.” “Apple Bloom said I wanted to talk while I was helping out?” Sunset tilted her head, her smile fading. “I didn’t think I gave off that impression.” “Impression? She said you outright told her.” Applejack's smile also faded.  “Told her what?” Sunset said in a steely tone, coming to a stop. Applejack also stopped in front of the red head. “She said yah went up to her and offered to help on the farm a bit, said yah hoped we’d get to talking.” “I didn’t… say that.” Sunsets face hardened. “She told me the girls were busy and you needed an extra pair of hands.” “What?” Applejack's face joined with Sunsets, hardening as they slowly realized what Apple Bloom did. “None of the girls are busy, and if we really wanted extra help we’d just call Big Mac back from his deliveries. We almost never need anyone else helping out.” The two girls stared at each other for a long moment, both coming to the same conclusion about a certain red headed pre teen.  “APPLE BLOOM!” They both yelled.