//------------------------------//
// Let's Be Honest 
// Story: Buck Off 
// by TheOneBehindYou 
//------------------------------//

AJ knew fairly well, she wasn't exactly going to appreciate a whole celebration due to her falling in love with a creature that almost destroyed her own home town. If things were crazy before, they were just plain insane now.

Everywhere she walked in Ponyville, ponies waved and spoke with eagerness about her, ugh, 'Coming Out' party. Constantly asking: 

"Who is he? Or is it a she?"
"How long have you held it in?"
"Allons-y!" 

She wasn't sure about that last one, she assumed it was 'French' for, 'Hitched!' and she didn't have the heart to say otherwise to the Stallion. Least she decide to look like a fool of herself.

A groan was escaping her lips now as her head just felt like falling off from how low it was dropping. She just, didn't want to be here.

Yet low and behold, sure enough, Sugar Cube Corner was filled to the brim with music, candy and ponies galore.

All here to see AJ confess her love for her, ever so sweet, charming and completely sadistic boyfriend; Discord.

"Yee...Haw..." She lowly murmured, pulling her hat down her eyes to avoid any further humiliation. 

"Step right up! To the grand opening of my very first 'Coming Out' party! For my rootenest, tootenest friend-" 

No! Not the hat!

Ugh, too late. She grabbed it.

"-Applejack!" 

Suddenly before her, thousands of ponies were cheering and hollering with excitement at the door, happy to see the big part of the show. The humiliated cow-mare. 

"...Help." She could feel so many eyes on her. All there, waiting for her to respond. As if she needed to, like she had no choice. The smiles all becoming cruel and laughter-filled. She swore, she could even see Discord's own dark figure behind them, pointing and laughing straight at her.

The nausea building, her hooves buckling, her heart racing. 

"I-I-I-" She couldn't speak, she tried with all her might but nothing was coming out.

From the side, she could feel a weight on her as well as a voice, racking in her ear. "Say something! Everyone's staring!"

'You're really helping Pinkie Pie.' The snarky remark helped ease her senses but not by much and yet before AJ could even utter an apology, suddenly she was gone from the world of watching, eager eyes and now out in a grassy, open field.

Before her were clouds, yet she knew full well her hooves were in grass. A simple look down, indicated that while yes, she was standing on ground, she was also near a cliff. A rocky slope to be precise, leading straight down to a path of deadly jagged rocks and a crashing ocean. 

"A-Am I dreaming?" She took a step back to make sure she wouldn't fall down the watery death trap.

"Nah, you're just on drugs." A calm, coy voice spoke, making AJ actually smile a bit.

"Oh thank goodness, I was worried I was sleeping on the job." 

A laugh responded to her as her emerald gaze turned to see the 'royal' Draconequus himself, sitting right beside her.

Now normally she'd punch his face in, maybe even say a word or two about how many mares he'd seen. Yet she knew if she even uttered one thing or the other, he'd tease her, make her blush. For now, she was just happy to see that he was doing better.

"I could say the same for you." Discord's eyes narrowed as he spoke, making AJ's heart skip a beat.

"W-What? Oh!" As soon as she said that, Discord tapped his head, smirking. To remind her that yes, he could indeed read her mind. Best to have a blank canvas for now.

"That would be wise."

"Shut up." She sneered, kicking his arm playfully. "Now, take me back you turkey-faced horseshoe."

"I give you points on creativity but the insult misses by a landslide~" 

Making a small face, the orange mare found her eyes looking off to the glowing orb off in the distance. The sun, it seemed, was setting here in this foreign place. At least, she believed it was foreign. It could have also been just some place near Ponyville, it was hard to tell.

"Please, take a load off, no one will know~" Discord's tail flicked as he said that, his throat now reverberating a chuckle. Which AJ may or may not had blushed at.

"But, Pinkie P-"

"I said, no one will know~ Or did you not hear me?" He knocked his talon knuckles on her brain, making her flinch with a rather pissed expression. Yet Discord only laughed once more. "So, miss me?" He purred now, tickling her chin teasingly with the talons now.

"Oh? And you didn't?" AJ's smile was now the smarmy one, though Discord's face stayed calm.

"Always~" His tone was more then a bit dramatic, it pleaded 'cheesieness'. If that was even a word.

Applejack scoffed at that and just rolled her eyes, yet she kept her smile. 

So seeing as it was pointless to argue, she sat down, rather reluctantly. Yet as soon as her eyes looked back at the scarlet, crimson hue in the sky, she found herself easing a lot better.

"I figured you needed an escape." 

AJ almost jumped at that, her eyes only now searching his distant ones as he too, was now looking at the sunset rather calmly. Did she really hear him right?

"I can always repeat it." Discord's smile grew wider.

"Ugh, must you kill every moment you make?" It was true, when didn't he ruin an honest-to-goodness peaceful moment? Never.

"Honestly? I'm being rather serious, my darling little Applejack." He chuckled.

"I really doubt that." She dead-panned.

As she said that, a silence befell the two as they both now were watching the sun's gentle descent into the Earth's edge. Something AJ was about to end from the sheer irony that Discord was being quiet during this grand and alluring moment. The feeling of the waves, hitting the rocks below, giving a sensation of pure tranquility. It was heavenly, to say the least.

"I'm sorry." The spirit spoke quietly. AJ's ears now perking as she opened one of her eyes lazily to his side, not even noticing that she was beginning to fall asleep to the sounds before her. She wasn't sure how she was so easily able to sleep beside the Draconequus in the first place.

"What?" AJ confronted.

"What." Discord countered.

"..." AJ made a face now and raised a brow at the creature before she soon chuckled, pulling back her hat. "I know you said something."

"You're on drugs remember." He stated briefly, before grunting at a playful kick in his shoulder.

"Come on! I know you said what I think you said!" The cow-mare was practically glowing with laughter and Discord seemed to almost glow with a smile of his own.

"I didn't say what you think I said. What do you think I said, that you thought I said?" He laughed in return, making Applejack jump up and point a hoof, eyes determined and smirking widely.

"You know full well what you said! And I wanna hear it one more time!" She grinned to him, yet he just flipped his paw at her.

"Then you already heard enough times."

"No fair!" 

Her laughter continued as she climbed on the mix-matched creature, nuzzling her hoof down on his head yet before she could continue, she noticed his head became harder then usual. Looking down, she just saw a stool she was on.

"What the-?" Yet before she could ask what was happening, Discord appeared inches near her face, causing her to have a flush attack. "I-I-" He then softly touched her nose with his talon. 

"Boop."

And with that, she fell back down, screaming. Holding onto the stool for dear life, making the spirit burst into a heap of laughter, rolling on the floor. 

Pissed, AJ kicked the stool off with her powerful hind hooves and was ready to rush into Discord but as soon as she was close enough, he had grabbed her, causing her to scream.

"Put me do- AHH!" Suddenly a burst of laughter escaped forcibly out her throat as Discord laid a powerful tickle attack all over her body. 

"You'll never escape me~ I gotcha now~" His talons, claws and even tail tickling her all together in the mix.

She tried to escape as best she could and well, she did a grand job laughing to death and kicking his jaw and gut a few times with her bottom hooves. Discord tried to grab them but he kept 'unf'ing too much to find a steady grip.

It ended in the two, giggling in an exhaustive heap, looking at each other as if they were best friends for ages.

It only occurred to Applejack what she was doing was too late and soon found herself, looking either... Ashamed, embarrassed or just plain shy. She didn't know anymore what her heart was doing. She gave up a long time ago to figure that out.

"Apology accepted." She mumbled now, the Draconequus' ears now perking.

"Excuse me? Did I just hear Miss Stubborn actually say, 'apology accepted'?" He teased. Yet as soon as he said that with a smile, AJ found herself able to say something she was afraid of bringing up. Yet she knew she had to one day.

"...When you made me afraid of telling the truth, do you know how much it hurt me?" She whispered now, finding it hard to meet his mis-matched eyes.

Discord just stayed quiet and laid there, listening.

"It wasn't just because you made me feel like I wasn't a good enough friend or that you caused so many ponies to doubt me for almost a year when I came back to..." She found herself shaking now. How could she bring herself to say what she wanted? She was terrified.

By Discord's constant silence, she could tell he must have been scared too.

Good.

"You made me realize I was still lying about my own parents." 

...

Discord tried to speak but AJ had cut him off as she looked to him, tears drenching her face as they poured down in a hapless pool. "Every time I lied, I saw the truth about my parents. How they truly were gone from this world. That I could never see them again."

Discord's ears dropped now as his own red pupil's both actually widened. Completely distraught by Applejack's confession. Yet she wasn't finished. Not yet.

"When I told the truth, I thought I was helping folks. I thought that if I was honest, ponies would see their mistakes better, so that I could lie just a little bit longer to myself." Her teeth clenched as she began feeling her hyperventilation come back up again. 

"They'll come back. They're not gone... They'll just be away for a little while."

The abomination, truly feeling like one at that instant, tried to crawl over to hold AJ but soon she snapped and looked back up, growling.

"But they won't come back! Will they Discord!? They'll never-" 

Discord knew her truth, even if she herself was closed up to it. 

'When all the truth does, is make your heart ache... Sometimes a lie, is easier to take.'

She felt comatose, like her head was heavier then her own body. She wanted to lie down, she needed to-

"What have I done..." A small whisper approached her ears. AJ's distant eyes now opening to the world around her and feeling a rather warm sensation. 

Her face was buried in the chest of the Draconequus, his grip something fierce as he too, actually shook a bit holding her. 

"Applejack, I never meant for my dark magic to go that far. To me, it was just-" He went silent, realizing what his next words would be. Even AJ knew.

As Discord looked down at Applejack's slightly lifeless eyes from the massive tears that left her, he soon smiled warmly to her and cupped her cheek. This, caused the cow-mare to gasp before looking up at him, hopeful.

The sunset looked rather... Sweet behind him.

"They will come back." He spoke softly, making AJ's heart flutter.

"W-What. But y-you s-said-" AJ started stuttering again.

"In here." His talon pointed at her heart as he spoke next. "Your heart knows whats best Applejack. As cheesy as it sounds-" He chuckled now "-you always make the right choices."

"Just not the easiest ones." His smile went from ear to ear as he said that, AJ's eyes widening as she felt more tears leave her.

"Fear of the unknown is a dangerous thing. So take it from me." As he bent down to face her, his lips finally met with hers. Giving her not a seductive or sensual kiss but one of trust, faith and even hope.

As he kissed her, eyes closed. AJ could only blush and watch in shock and awe as his voice spoke in her mind.

'Find solace in the truth, for what's inside is all there is and will be. While lies will grow into not only fear but chaos.'

As he kissed her, suddenly AJ's vision had blurred and she had found herself disappearing from the soft earth soil below her and onto a hard, wooden floor. She didn't want to go, she wanted to stay. To speak to him longer.

Yet as soon as her vision saw treats and ponies galore, only one last sentence could be heard in her mind from Discord.

'Don't end up like me.'