//------------------------------//
// Introspective Acceptance 
// Story: Earning Freedom 
// by Daxisle 
//------------------------------//




Introspective Acceptance



"Oh C'mon Big Macintosh," Applejack Scolded, her brother remained silent. "Yea, Ah know he n' ya might'a gotten off on the wrong hoof, but t'ain' no reason tah act like a foal." She waited to see if her words would have any effect, still no response, "will ya please talk tah me!?"

The two sat alone in one of the carts meant for shipping large objects. The male of the two had hoped to find solitude within the darker and more isolated car, but sensing her brothers agitation and disbelief, Applejack pursued him all the way through twelve of the main passenger cars. Sad fact was, Mac was in no mood to talk, matter of fact, he was in the mood to put his hoof upside his sister's head.

She waited, her eyes scrutinizing his face for any hint of a crack in his stoic wall. 

"Treason." though it was soft, the single word carried a tone both deep and grounded in severity, as did the fact his facial features never faltered.

"Ah know, big brother." AJ's face contorted in guilt and she looked away for only a moment before her resolve returned. Obviously she knew this moment would come and had done her share in preparing. "But this is what Ah want."

"He threatened me wit' treason." Mac repeated, his mouth contorting into a sneer. "N' y'all want tah date him!?"

Applejack recoiled from the harsh words, her ears drooping slightly. With a deep breath she proceeded; "look, Macintosh, it was all a mistake-"

"Mistake?!" The stallion bolted forward with rage, sending his sister shuffling back. "A mistake is Applebloom fergettin' her book bag. A mistake is me not waterin' a tree. A mistake is what yer makin' right now!" He towered over her, his eyes baring down onto her own. Applejack stood her ground and did her best to keep a strong front. "Threatenin' somepony with the worst crime in th' country is not a mistake."

Applejack pressed her lips as she fought the urge to say a few things she'd regret. Macintosh had never laid an unkind hoof on her, but with as angry as the stallion was now, and all the time he'd spent away from home, she found it unwise to escalate the altercation further. 

Fact of the matter was, she really did care about what Soarin had said about the charges, and she let him know the next time they met, but the stallion did seem genuinely apologetic about what he'd done and admitted that he was in the wrong. 

It took him a while, but the pony broke his glare and sat back down.

"How did this even happen?" Macintosh growled, he still hadn't processed his emotions on the matter nor the feeling of betrayal. What was he supposed to think? 

"Well." Applejack blushed, bringing a hoof to her chin.

'Oh, here we go.'

"It started out with him writen me ah letter apologizing fer what he did tah all of us. The fightin' the threats, him uh... breakin' yer ribs ." She explained, shifting uncomfortably and trying not to look her brother in the eye. It seemed laying out everything; it finally dawn on the young mare exactly what her kin was trying to tell her. but that was short lived.

"After a few letters back n' forth, he asked to apologize in person n' he came to the farm one night-"

"He was at the farm?!" Mac interrupted, both bewildered and cynical. 

Applejack took a breath. "Yes, Macintosh; he was at the farm while y'all were out workin' the fields."

Now it was his turn to take a breath. While he was out working the fields, helping to provide for the family and earning his keep; his sister was on a date with a pony who'd broken his ribs. 

'Are you seriously surprised? With the way the entire family treated you before hand, this seems like another Tuesday if you think about it. When have they ever really cared about how you felt until you started yelling?'

The apple farmer motioned for her to continue. "Now, at first I was just as upset as you." AJ quickly pointed out, "but after a few glasses of cider, n' just talking to him, Ah came to figure that he was just followin' orders to protect Equestria from a threat it had faced before."

Mac's jaw dropped. "Are ya kiddin' me? Ya heard him yerself, this was about revenge fer what happened last time."

"No it wasn't Mac." AJ said solumly. "He did say that he was a bit upset about that still, bu' Soarin's main goal was the same as every Wonderbolt in his unit. To keep Equestria safe." Mac tried to push the point home that that excuse was complete bull, but his sister wouldn't have it. No matter how he tried to express the obvious deduction Twilight made, the pony held firm in her belief that Wonderbolt had only been acting in the best interest of the Equestrian citizens.

Knowing her stubbornness couldn't be moved once her mind was made up, Mac reserved himself to a disbelieving shake of the head as he pondered over the entire situation. It was crap, just a load of bull.  'Just following orders', unthinking and interfering. Soarin's superior was willing to see what was right in front of her face. Rainbow Dash had the situation under control, they all had a plan. But him, that foolish stallion let his pride overtake the situation with out regard for the consequence. 

How could his sister, the Element of Honesty, be so willing to believe this obvious half truth? What exactly was said in those letters and during the night he came over?

Since the stallion was so willing to go off of the "what if" scenarios, what if the Wonderbolt's attack had aroused Spike's rage and sent him back into Ponyville? What if he continued to destroy buildings? What if he, Celestia forbid, actually killed somepony? All because he wanted to get back at the giant drake who'd put a slight dent in his ego. Not to mention the rest of them were just following orders and also could have made a potentially bad situation worse, but that was an issue he wasn't very keen on thinking about.

How could his sister; a pony he, while being a bit inconsiderate of his feelings, always revered as a good judge of character, be interested in such a reckless and self centered pony? It just didn't make sense.

As the silence continued to creep by, Applejack finally sighed in defeat. "Look, Mac." She said, calmly. "Ah know how ya feel, seeing a somepony you care about associatin' with another pony ya don't. But this is what Ah want, okay?"

Mac wanted to speak out, debate the point that Sin hadn't tried to have her arrested and thrown away for Luna knows how long over  doing what was right. But he'd given up on trying to change her mind and simply shook his head. "Alright."

"Good!" His sister chirped with a smile and began walking out of the cabin. "Oh and one more thing." He shifted his eyes to look at her. "He n' his family will be over fer dinner on Friday." She forced out quickly before closing the door behind her.

Left wide eyed and dumbstruck, the stallion could only look at the door in utter disbelief. Dinner? As in Mac would actually have to see him and interact with him? Applejack having a relationship on her own time was one thing, he couldn't control her right to interact with who she pleased, but having him at the same house to eat? That was going to be a problem.





Spike sat back with his claws behind his head and a peaceful smirk on his muzzle. Ahhh, sweet, sweet karma. Mac was messing around with his old crush and his sister gets it from a stallion he loathes. 

Oh how he missed being able to be guilt free about such immature destructive hopes.

That was a lie. He wasn't guilt free about it. He took delight in a friend's suffering, that wasn't cool; not in any way shape or form. So why was he so happy about it?

'Beats me, all well, you've got growing up to do anyway. Just take it one step at a time.'

His peaceful stewing was interrupted by Applejack finally returning to the cart. It wouldn't have been so bad if it wasn't for the fact that prior to her return, despite there being five friendly mares present, the entire ride had been next to dead silent.

"So, how'd it go?" Rarity asked, her desire for juicy gossip ever present.

"About as well as expected." The Element of Honesty shrugged. As much she tried to play it off, the disappointment in her voice was undeniable

"Well, it is understandable that he wouldn't be as open to you having a Coltfriend who assaulted him." The fashonista commented, looking to the other girls for agreement, save Rainbow Dash; who's nose was deep in a pamphlet on the Wonderbolt's bios.

"Yea, I'm also a bit confused. I mean, aren't you the least bit angry over what he did?" Twilight asked.

Applejack gave a thoughtful look. "Yea, Ah'm still a bit steamed, but the fact was, he was jest followin' orders and keepin' Equestria safe."

Spike listened intently. He knew what they were talking about, but he never got to hear the more detailed parts of it.

"That is true." Twilight conceded. She was the prize student of the ruler of Equestria, so it wasn't a stretch to believe she also would be willing to side with the Wonderbolt.

"Yea, but how did it go from that to you having feelings for him?" Pinkie asked, cutting though the obvious insensitivity that most everypony present wanted to ask, but was too respectful of privacy to do.

Blushing and pulling her hat over her eyes, the mare cleared her throat while attempting to sputter out an explanation. "Well... er uh... wha' happen'd was..." She took a breath in order to regain her composure. "When he came n' we talked one on one, he just... Ah don't know, had this aura about him."

"Aura?" Rarity chirped. 

"Yea, it was like," she mulled over the proper words, "like he just glowed. Ah mean, he's a very good lookin' pony, but the way he smiled, how charmin' he was, the way he carried himself; Ah couldn't help but laugh at any joke he said. Even if it wasn't funny, he just made me feel warm inside, ya know?"

And like that, what was once a seriously toned conversation bent on determining why a mare had betrayed her brother and began a relationship with a pony who'd both hurt and threatened him, turned into a gossip scene that resembled a bunch of teenagers who's friend was just asked out by the hottest guy in school.

The change in atmosphere was almost instantaneous as Rarity and Pinkie jumped from their beds with a slew of questions.

"Sounds like somepony's in love!"

"What happened after the conversation?"

"Did you two go out on any super fun date?"

"Did he do anything romantic?"

"Does he like parties? Well, I mean everypony likes parties, who doesn't? But still!"

Applejack wanted to reply, but the questions just kept coming. Ranging from innocent to extremely personal. Luckily, the rabid assault of words was broken by a very harsh and raspy laugh.

. "Hey AJ," Rainbow Dash managed through bouts of giggles, "you're coltfriend was a Carni!"

Everypony looked up at her expectantly. "What you talkin' 'bout Dash?"

Rainbow held the pamphlet down for all eyes to see. 


Soarin


Date of birth: June 3rd
Type: Pegasus
Sex: Male

Short bio: Born in the Northern Providence of Equestria in the town of Hooftrot, Soarin was a member of the Family owned: Greatest Show Unearthed Carnival fliers act, and quickly rose to lead it. During his time preforming, he was scouted by one of the Wonderbolts head hunters and was offered a contract in which he accepted four years ago. During his time within the academy he had arisen to become one of the fastest fliers on record and be selected as one of the elite Wonderbolt Air Force Special Operatives.

"A carnival flier, huh?" AJ raised her brows. It wasn't really anything harmful to her perception of him, but definitely something interesting, considering his father and sister would be over for dinner with him.

"Well, what do ya know? Guess greatness really can come from anywhere." Twilight shrugged.

"Yea, guess so." Rainbow smirked a little too maliciously than she had any right to. "I mean, for a Carni, that is."

"N' what, exactly is that supposed to mean?"

Rainbow shrugged, "oh nothing." Her tone and demeanor pointed to the contrary in every way. Passive aggression was hard to prove, but easy to spot.

Spike smirked from his place, if he didn't know any better, he'd have thought Rainbow was jealous. Or maybe she's just teasing her friend and gauging the reaction. Hard to say really.

'Seriously, if it isn't one bout of drama with these mares it's another.'

The rest of the train ride was spent with with the girls chatting among themselves, the flier and farmer sparing in words every so often, but seemingly returning it to a joke if things ever got too heated. 

As fun as the whole day was, Spike still had those little pangs of guilt over his satisfactions. His mind began to wonder again as he sat and waited to get home.

Macintosh was there for him in a way nopony else could be. When he was upset and confused beyond all reason from having his age ripped from him, having his mentor knock him to the ground twice and running wild like a spoiled brat, Mac was the one who listened to him and challenged him as equals. He wasn't completely sure how to put it, but even if Twilight had said the same things in the same way, it just wouldn't have been the same.

Twilight, and the rest of them, were girls. No matter how he thought about it, it was always the fact that Mac was a stallion that kept popping into his mind. A male role model? Somepony who could understand him as a male? Talk to him with confidence and a mature logical stoicism and seriousness. Maybe that was the reason he really wanted out of this town. To just indulge in his more masculine urges and not have to tone it down for the girls. 

All the same, Mac was there and Mac helped him alot. And here the drake was taking pleasure in the stallion's pain. 

Sin was right, he did have a lot of growing up to do.