//------------------------------//
// Act III-II 
// Story: A New Sun Rises 
// by CommissarAJ 
//------------------------------//

When faced with fear or adversity, everybody has their own strategy for coping. Some people, like Applejack, tend to dig their heels into the ground, brace for impact, and then find a way to kick their problems square in the butt. Others, like Rainbow Dash, hide their anxieties with bravado, and then find the easiest way to avoid or minimize the issue. Pinkie Pie liked to just laugh at any problems that came her way, a strategy that I am convinced only worked for her because of some karmic imbalance in the universe.

As for me, when Applejack explained to me that she had convinced Flash Sentry to come out to the farm for the afternoon, I was forced to make the difficult decision regarding how to respond to this news and the growing sense of dread inside me. There was a surge of panic flooding my mind, followed by a cocktail of regret, shame, guilt, and every other negative emotion that I had been feeling over the past few weeks. It felt like having all the weight of your guilt loaded into a catapult and then launched into you.

Faced with such overwhelming adversity, I wish I could say that handled it with grace and dignity.

“To Tartarus with this! I’m outta here!”

Never ask yourself ‘what would Sunset Shimmer do?’ because ‘running for the hills like your head was on fire’ is on the list of possible outcomes. In retrospect, there were many better ways to handle the situation, including not announcing your intention beforehand, thus giving your friend time to grab a lasso that had been hidden at the bottom of the wagon. I made it about twenty feet before the rope snagged me mid-stride, resulting in a hard landing and a sore backside.

Sadly, I accepted this new defeat with the same level of dignity.

“Untie me right now, Applejack! You can’t do this to me!”

In a paltry showing of defiance, I tried to get back onto my feet, but it only took a simple tug on the rope to put me back on my butt. As I stewed in my frustration, I found some solace in the fact that Applejack would be the only witness to this indignity.

“Are you quite done throwing a tantrum, missy?” Applejack asked as she began her approach, collecting the excess rope while still keeping a firm grip in case of another outburst. I was sorely tempted to make another attempt, perhaps by making a sudden lunge or roll to break free, but I expected I would not be able to make it very far with twenty-plus feet of loose rope trailing behind me.

“Don’t mistake my silence for compliance,” I grumbled with bitter resolve. “You think I’ll play along just because you’ve got me tied up?”

“No, but it’ll get the two of you into the same room, and that’s better than where we are right now,” Applejack explained. She then grabbed me by the arm and hoisted me back onto my feet. “Now you got choices here, Sunset, you can promise to behave and give this a chance. If you do, I will untie you, and we can walk to the house together.”

“And if I decline your ‘generous’ offer?” I sneered back.

“I hog-tie you, and throw you onto the wagon.” Her brow furrowed in a stern glare, the kind that tells you in no uncertain terms that she was fully prepared to carry out her threats.

After a few more seconds of brooding, I was able to cram my pride down my gullet and accept my new fate. “And I thought Rarity was the charitable one,” I mumbled, followed by a sigh. “Okay, Applejack, you win. I promise I’ll behave... for now. I make no promises for what might happen when you stick Flash and me into the same room.”

“Oh, what’s the worst that could happen?” Applejack replied in an attempt to downplay my warnings.

“Double homicide, maybe.” My friend stared at me for a few seconds, if only to discern how serious I was being. Eventually, she concluded it was an acceptable risk to take, and freed me from my lasso prison.

I still wasn’t happy about the whole arrangement, and once Applejack reminded me that she had no qualms with tying me up again if I didn’t come along peacefully, we made our way to the farmhouse. As we drew closer, and the realizations of my impending doom set in, that turmoil of conflicting emotions began to bubble once more. I was definitely scared, especially since I had no idea how to start a conversation with him: our last words to each other involved me explaining how one part of his anatomy was lodged inside another part of it. 

Out of everybody at Canterlot High, Flash Sentry had the biggest axe to grind with me, and also the most ammunition at his disposal. Fake relationship or not, spending that much time with another person meant he was bound to notice some of the chinks in my armour. I hated that feeling of vulnerability, and knowingly going into a situation that would bring about that sense of exposure was frustrating. It was peculiar that beneath the fear and anxiety, there was a small layer of anger churning inside me. Flash did, after all, dump me; well-deserving it may have been, it was still a painful ordeal that left a wound in my pride.

“I still think this is a bad idea,” I commented upon stepping inside Applejack’s abode. It was about as rustic as I expected it to be, and proved to be a stark contrast to the modern chic I was used to in Celestia’s home. Hardwood floors and apple-motif engraved trimmings made the place cry out ‘apple farmers’ with the same bluntness of Applejack’s country mannerisms. “I mean, what do you think this will accomplish? He has every reason to hate me, and none to change his mind.”

“It’s about doing the right thing,” Applejack gave me a stern reminder. “You and Flash need to have a frank and honest discussion with each other. Now I ain’t expecting you two to be friends after this; I ain’t even expecting him to be very happy with you, but Flash deserves the truth from you.”

“I don’t know if I want to deal with any more hate right now,” I said with a groan. I made a gamble and hoped that some honesty with Applejack might garner me enough sympathy points to get out of this mess. “What I did to Flash represents all the horrible things about my old life—the lies, the manipulations, the abuse. Everything. I took advantage of a genuinely nice guy, and I trampled all over him. I might’ve even emotionally scarred him.” What started as an attempt for sympathy soon felt very real for me. The more I thought about the past few years with Flash, the more I wanted to kick my own butt as punishment. I folded my arms, sighed, and just let my head hang for a few moments longer. “This is just going to open old wounds, Applejack.”

Ever the supportive friend, Applejack threw an arm around my shoulder and pulled me in close. “I know this is gonna be hard for ya, sugarcube, but sometimes it’s gotta rain before the flowers can bloom.”

I couldn’t help but chuckle and rolled my eyes. “You have a knack for making things sound so simple with but a mere tidbit of country idiom. I’m not sure whether to envy you or rue you for it.”

“Maybe if you do a bit of both, you’ll learn from it instead,” Applejack answered after a brief laugh. Just in case I was getting cold feet again, my friend began leading me along. Before my anxieties had time to resurface, I was led upstairs and through an open doorway, leaving nothing but six feet of empty space between me and Flash.

I felt my mouth go as dry as the desert, and despite my best efforts, my legs decided they were going to take their scheduled union break. Were it not for another encouraging push from Applejack, I never would’ve gotten into the room at all.

“Howdy Flash,” Applejack spoke up, granting me the small mercy of starting the conversation herself. To his credit, Flash did manage to avoid frowning or scowling when he made eye contact with me. I, on the other hand, let out a fearful grin before I could settle my nerves. While I fought down the overwhelming urge to jump out the nearest window, I was gradually pushed further into the room. “Now listen, I know you two have some bad history between ya—”

“Some?” Flash quipped.

“Okay, a lot of bad history,” Applejack corrected. “But Sunset’s been making real strives to be a better person, and she’s got some things she wants to get off her chest.”

That was my cue, which didn’t help as it made the tightness in my chest get a hundred times worse, which was either because of anxiety or I was about to drop dead from a heart attack. Since my arm wasn’t getting any tingling sensations, I just had to swallow my fears and press forward.

Unfortunately, that proved to be even more difficult than I had imagined. I knew the best place to start would be with ‘I’m sorry,’ but the words were refusing to surface. I stared in nervous, awkward silence that only grew worse when my eyes locked with Flash’s scrutinizing glare. He looked... impatient and annoyed, as if my very presence was wasting his valuable time. There were probably a hundred places he’d rather be than watching his ex-girlfriend choking on her words.

Applejack was quick to notice my distress, and tried to throw some encouragement in. “Come on, Sunset, just tell him the same sorta things you’ve told me and the others. Just be honest with your feelings.”

“That’ll be a first,” Flash grumbled while folding his arms across his chest. He wasn’t usually the snippy type, but given our history, skepticism and bitterness was to be expected.

“That’s not helping,” Applejack snapped. Flash didn’t seem to care; he scoffed and just rolled his eyes, much to my friend’s annoyance. “Listen, Flash, this ain’t easy for her, so the least you could do is try to show a little patience and courtesy.”

“Patience? Courtesy? When was the last time Sunset ever showed anything like that,” Flash argued back. “You’re protecting her like she’s the victim here despite the fact that I’m the one that was treated like dirt.”

He did have a point, although Applejack didn’t see it that way. He had every right to be suspicious of me; it wasn’t as if I had ever really been honest with him in the past. I wanted to say something, but it didn’t seem like protesting was a viable option when I was silently agreeing with what he said.

“And she’s trying to apologize for that, but your attitude is just making her more nervous and scared,” Applejack continued arguing in my defense.

“Scared?” Once again, Flash just scoffed at the idea. “This is Sunset Shimmer we’re talking about. I’ve seen her yell down a senior quarterback during her sophomore year. The guy had a hundred pounds over her, and she had him cowering like a kicked puppy.” What Flash wasn’t aware of, though, was that my lack of body mass was compensated for by an equal weight of blackmail. It was easy to get a jock to bow to your whim when you had the contents of his private photo albums stolen from his cellphone. “Listen, I know you consider Sunset to be your… friend, for whatever reason, but I’m telling you: she’s not scared. She’s just acting that way to get sympathy from you so that you’ll fight her battles for her.”

Now that tweaked my nose something fierce. I was willing to endure taking some abuse about the misdeeds I’ve committed in the past, but that didn’t mean I had to stand idle against accusations about my present behavior. Applejack was my friend, and I wasn’t going to let Flash try to turn her against me because of his wounded feelings.

“Hey! I am not hiding behind Applejack if that’s what you’re suggesting,” I said as I took a step forward. All that anxiety I was feeling moments ago just seemed to melt away under a new sense of purpose. “I’ll own up to the things I did to you in the past, but don’t you dare accuse me of trying to manipulate my friends!”

“Fine, whatever,” he answered with a shrug. “But just because your new friends believe you’ve changed, doesn’t mean I do. I think I know you better than that.”

“Oh puh-lease!” I snapped instinctively. “Don’t pretend you even know me in the slightest. If you paid half as much attention as you think you did, you would’ve dumped me before we even hit my birthday, which you forgot every year!” I may have gotten too defensive, which, combined with my previous frustrations and feelings of vulnerability, caused me to resort to more primal instincts. And my first instinct when put on the defensive was to come out swinging.

My growing ire did not go unnoticed by my friend, who tried to rein me in. “Um, Sunset, I don’t think this is helping matters.”

“Nonsense, I’m giving Flash exactly what he wants,” I snapped, regretting it immediately but too caught up in the moment to do anything about it. “He doesn’t want apologies, he wants a chance to chew me out—get some payback for all the grief I put him through.”

“You’re darn right I want to give you a taste of what you put me through,” Flash shouted back, jabbing a finger at my chest. “Two years, Sunset, two years I spent doing everything I could to try and bring some joy and happiness into your life. But nothing ever seemed to be good enough. It didn’t matter what I did, you’d find something to criticize about it. Even when I did exactly what you told me to do, there’d still be something wrong. Sometimes, I swear you just went looking for things to get upset about.”

For once, the angry ex-boyfriend was not paranoid; sometimes I really did just find things to get angry about because I knew I could get more out of him as an apology.

And just like laughing when you weren’t happy could actually make a person feel better, yelling when you weren’t all that angry could make your temper reach a boiling point. “You certainly made it easy for me. Maybe if you stood up for yourself back then like you are now, I wouldn’t have been able to walk all over you.” As I wasn’t a big fan of being prodded in the chest by a scorned ex-boyfriend, I manoeuvred over to the nearby window, so that I at least had a viable escape route if things got really ugly.

“Would you two just knock it off? I didn’t bring you here just to argue!” 

Despite Applejack’s best efforts, her words fell on deaf ears. Flash and I were too swept up in the heat of the argument, and our friend’s pleas for restraint became little more than white noise as we continued hurling verbal barrages back and forth. It was the kind of battle of words one would expect from two people after a bad break-up, except that it had been delayed for a few months. Both sides tore open every old wound they could find in order to gather ammunition to sling at the other. It didn’t matter how much it hurt to dredge up old memories, the only thing either of us cared about was claiming some kind of victory in the end.

“For somebody who apparently hated our relationship so much, you sure were angry when I dumped your sorry butt!” Flash barked in yet another verbal volley.

I just laughed when he smirked, thinking he had gotten the upper hand on me. “Don’t delude yourself. The only thing I was angry about was that your sudden growth of a backbone screwed up my plans to do the same thing to you... except it was going be in the cafeteria in front of the whole school.” Admitting to having had one more depraved plan in store for your ex-boyfriend may not have been something to brag about, but in my twisted, angry logic, it felt like an irrefutable rebuttal.

Luckily for me, before I could shove my foot any further into my mouth, Applejack’s patience reached its breaking point. She interjected herself between us and shoved us to opposite ends of the room.  

“That’s enough!” she shouted with the kind of fury she reserved for ornery bulls. Suddenly I was beginning to be thankful that I was still near the bedroom window and could make a quick escape.

Then I realized I could just as easily be thrown through said window, and I soon wanted to be on the other side of the room, preferably near a load-bearing wall.

For the first time in about five minutes, there was silence in the Apple family homestead. “I brought the two of you here so you could have an honest conversation with each other,” she began as her glare paced back and forth between Flash and I, “not so you could go at it like two coyotes in a coop!”

“What does that even mean?” I replied.

“It means shut your pie-hole, Sunset!” If I needed any further confirmation as to how angry Applejack was, I just got it. On the opposite of her, Flash was just about to say something when Applejack swung about. “And I swear to god, if you say one more negative thing, you will wake up dangling from Bloomburg!”

“Who’s Bloomburg?” I asked.

“He’s a tree! A big one, too!” Applejack answered, aiming an accusatory finger back in my direction. “And I’ll put you up there, too, if you keep yelling. That’s a promise!”

Flash and I just turned our backs to each other, folding our arms with an exaggerated harumph to convey our disdain. The air may have been tense, but at least it was quiet for a change. I decided to hold my tongue, lest I tempt Applejack’s wrath any further; Flash probably reached a similar conclusion.

“If you two keep getting fussy over who did what to who, you’re going to be bickering until the cows come home,” Applejack began, gearing herself for one heck of a lecture. “Now nobody here is expecting some magical reconciliation, but I think we can all agree that we all would like to be able to leave this room in better standing than when we entered.”

“I’m only here because you promised me that Sunset would tell me how to get in touch with Twilight,” Flash retorted.

“You promised him what?” I don’t know what possessed me at that moment, but I just exploded at Applejack upon hearing what dealings had been made.

I think Applejack was taken by surprise by my sudden outburst directed at her. The once aggressive farmer was suddenly scrambling to shore up her own defense. “I made no such promise,” she explained, “but I did tell him that if anybody knew how to get in contact with Twilight, it’d be you. It only makes sense since the two of you are from the same place.”

“I don’t care if it makes sense; that’s not your information to give away!” I shouted back, my voice growing louder with each passing moment. “Any chance of me ever going home again hangs by a thread, and the only way I can safeguard it is by keeping as few people aware of it as humanly possible.” I might have exaggerated my case a bit, but rage has a way of blowing things out of proportion. “You can’t just go telling people what I may or may not know, especially some love-struck romantic who doesn’t even realize how stupid he’s being!”

“Hey! Who are you calling stupid?” Predictably, Flash made a lunge for me, forcing Applejack to work even harder to keep us separated. It was a good thing too, because if I had gotten within arm’s reach of Flash, I would’ve slapped him so hard, it'd knock all of his hair gel out.

“Do you see anyone else in this room under the delusion that a couple days and one night of dancing means you have any kind of chance?”

“What do you mean by that?” Flash’s challenge to me came as expected. Were I in a clearer state of mind, I might have noticed that Applejack was giving me silent, pleading eyes, as if begging me to stop before I did what she knew I was about to unleash. I didn’t care, though; I was drunk on rage and I had an opportunity to exert that power and control that had been absent from my life for the past weeks. Crushing Flash Sentry was the only thing that mattered, even if it meant hurting friends who were just trying to help me.

“Twilight is gone, you simpleton! It is literally impossible for her to return for at least the next two years. You think she’s gonna remember about you by then? You think anything you and your pathetic life can offer could ever match the lap of luxury that she is living in now?” Both Applejack and Flash recoiled from the verbal barrage, stunned betrayal painted across both their faces. “Right now, Twilight is back home, probably living in a giant palace, surrounded by legions who will give her whatever she wants at a moment’s notice! There is nothing here that she doesn’t already have better where she is.”

Now that my ‘opponents’ were too flabberghasted to put up any resistance, I circled around them and made my way for the exit. I didn’t care that Sweet Apple Acres was miles away from Celestia’s place, I had no intention of staying another minute longer.

When I reached the door, I paused and looked back just to throw out one more dagger. “You’re not that special, Flash, so just give up and move on with your life... I know I have.”

I slammed the door on the way out because by that point, I needed to vent some of my anger on something before I choose someone. Just moments after I left, though, Applejack burst into the hall.

“Sunset, wait!” she called out.

I didn’t listen, of course; instead I just twisted around, and called back, “I’m done with waiting! I’m doing what I should’ve done the second I saw his car!”

“But Sunset—!”

“Not interested!” Unfortunately, were I not in a hurry to leave or such a stubborn fool, I would’ve realized that what Applejack was trying to tell me was that I was about to run into her brother, who was at the apex of the stairs. There was a crash, some screaming, and a whole lot of profanities as the two of us went tumbling down the stairs, ending with a spectacular crash.


*******************

“Ow ow ow ow ow!” I was still groaning in pain when Applejack helped ease me onto the living room couch. That, however, just made the pain turn its dial to eleven, followed soon thereafter by the volume of my complaints. “Gah! I think your stupid stairs bruised my butt!”

“You’ll live,” Applejack deadpanned with all the sympathy of a granite boulder. She gave me a slight shove, which knocked me over onto my side. Though seemingly insensitive at first, once I was laying down on my side, the pain in my posterior began to subside.

Sadly, my glorious duet down the stairs had my knees and butt taking the brunt of the impacts. It might’ve not been so bad were it not for the fact the Apple family had hardwood floors everywhere, and I was fairly certain that somewhere in the fall I kissed Big Mac’s knee. Despite all my complaining, it was no surprise that there was little sympathy being tossed in my direction. Instead, Applejack and Flash Sentry were more concerned with Big Mac, who was still sitting at the bottom of the stairs. I couldn’t understand why they were so worried about him; country boys like him were built like brick walls.

Given my battered state, I could do little else but watch from the sidelines as Flash Sentry helped the Apple family patriarch onto his feet. Or rather foot because the moment Big Mac tried to put any weight on his right foot, he yelped in pain and quickly grabbed the nearby banister for support. He must’ve twisted his ankle somewhere during the fall. 

“Big Mac, are you okay?” Applejack asked.

“Nope…” the always verbose brother answered.

“Come on, I’ll drive you to a walk-in clinic and we’ll get that checked out,” Flash said as he moved in to offer a supportive shoulder. Big Mac was prompt in accepting the aid, and the pair began a slow hobble out to Flash’s car.

“Um, maybe I should take him to the clinic,” Applejack suggested as she trailed behind the pair. “I mean, he’s my brother, after all. You don’t have to trouble yourself with all this.”

“It’s the least I can do,” Flash replied with a reassuring grin. “I’ve gotta head back into town anyways, so it’s not much of a detour for me.” He then paused and cast a glance over to me. I tried to look away in order to hide my concern, but I doubt I was fast enough. “Plus, Applejack, I think you’ve got other things to attend to.”

In truth, I think Flash volunteered for that duty because the alternative was being left behind to deal with me. Were I in his shoes, I would’ve agreed to carry Big Mac on my shoulders all the way to the clinic through a minefield if it meant avoiding another minute with me. In fact, I would have gladly taken the twisted ankle if it meant getting away from Applejack, who currently stood next to the couch, looming over me. Given the way she was looking at me, I couldn’t tell if she was angry or simply ready to give up.

Neither option was pleasant, not that I wasn’t already feeling awful. On top of all the pain, the absence of adrenaline and burning rage left little more than smoldering ashes of regret in their wake.

“Well, I certainly messed today up, didn’t I?” I grumbled as I rolled onto my side. It was easier staring at the back of the couch than having to deal with Applejack’s glare.

“Like a two-dollar wrangler in an Appleoosa rodeo,” she replied.

“Again with the countryisms. I don’t even know what that means.” I had to assume she was agreeing with me, though, since only the deaf and blind would’ve missed my colossal failure. I felt a sudden shift on the couch cushions, and looked up to see that Applejack had sat down next to my head.

“I reckon we’re all a bit at fault, though,” Applejack said. She leaned back and sank into her seat, sighing as her frame slouched further and further down. “Listen, I’m sorry I dropped Flash on you like that. I figured it might get a bit rough, but I guess I didn’t realize how much... anger you still had left. So what happened? You were ducking under tables to avoid him not too long ago.”

“I treated Flash the worst out of everyone here,” I said with a remorseful sigh. “I don’t blame his anger; I’d feel the same way. In fact, I do feel the same way. I hate who I used to be: I hate how I used to lie and cheat almost every day, or how I would intentionally provoke arguments in public just because I knew Flash would relent.” I drew my legs up to my chest, wrapping my arms around my knees as if the fetal position could help alleviate the guilt. “The Element of Magic didn’t need to make me into a monster, I already was one.”

“That doesn’t explain why you started yelling.”

“Because my life sucks, okay?” I snapped, followed by a quiet groan as I soon regretted my words. Now Applejack would just be even more curious. I realized that I was going to have to explain myself; at least then I could control the flow of information. “I hate the person I used to be. I was cruel, petty, and manipulative. Everyone was just a means to an end, especially Flash.”

“But you’re not that person anymore: we all know that. You just have to—”

“Except I hate what I’ve become almost just as much.” My words left Applejack in a stunned silence. “I live with the principal like some charity case, the only people who talk to me did so because of a promise to a friend who did in three days what took me three years, and I hide like a terrified pup from my ex-boyfriend.” Normally just thinking about those things would get me angry, but by this stage I was just too emotionally exhausted to get worked up. “I’m anxious all the time at school, I constantly feel alone, I don’t know what I’m doing with my life anymore, and I don’t feel like I can actually do anything to change any of that. I’m pathetic, and it just infuriates me... which just makes me even more pathetic.”

“Oh sugarcube,” Applejack said, sympathy lacing her voice. I felt her hand settle upon my shoulder, giving it a reassuring squeeze and a gentle rub along my upper arm. “Change isn’t easy to cope with, and I know how frustrating it can get when you feel like you’re being bucked by fate like it’s a wild bronco.”

“Could we avoid the countryisms, please?”

“What I’m saying is that I know what it’s like to be scared and angry, and feeling powerless,” Applejack explained in more plain terms. My friend fell silent for a second, lifting her gaze away from me and over to something that I couldn’t quite see in my current position. “It was exactly how I felt after I lost my folks.”

Despite how much pain my butt was still in, I promptly shot up into an upright position when I realized what my friend was broaching. As far as I knew, Applejack almost never talked about her parents, not even to the other girls. When I followed her gaze, I saw that she was staring an old family portrait that hung over the fireplace. It must have been from many years ago, as Apple Bloom was still in diapers in the picture, and cradled in the arms of her mother.

“I... I’m not sure that’s a fair comparison. My issue obviously pales in comparison,” I eventually stammered out. I wish I had something more poignant to say, but how do you respond to such an admission without sounding nosey or insensitive?

“It’s still loss, Sunset. The circumstances may have been different, but the impact was the same. One day things are great... and the next, your world’s been turned upside-down. Everything that you were comfortable with seems to be gone forever, and you have no idea where the future will take you,” Applejack explained. She shifted her posture, slouching less but hunching over to rest her arms upon her knees, as if a great weight now rested on her shoulders. “You lose a sense of yourself, of a connection to who you were and what you’ll become. You desperately want to be able to do something, but you can’t seem to decide whether you want to cry or scream out loud.”

I could tell the conversation was straining on her emotions. The faint fluctuations of a voice just teetering on the edge of cracking could be heard. 

“How did you... you know, get past it?”

“One day at a time,” she answered. “It was scary, for a while, trying to move forward, thinking you’re all alone. I had my share of bad days: more than once I spent almost the entire day in bed, and would’ve had my granny not dragged me out each and every time. It took me some weeks to realize that I wasn’t as alone as I thought I was, and neither are you, Sunset.” She then reached out and set her hand upon my shoulder again, flashing me that reassuring country smile of hers. In an instant, all that heartache I heard in her voice was gone, as though it never existed in the first place. I swear, Applejack was as unshakable as bedrock. It was hard to ever imagine a girl like her feeling as broken up as I was feeling. “You just have to keep tackling it one day at a time, and you keep reminding yourself that as long as you don’t give up hope, things can get better.”

“You make it sound so simple.”

“It could’ve been for me had I not been so pig-headed,” Applejack said as she chuckled. “You and I have something in common, we’re the prideful type. Sometimes that can be good: you can draw a lot of confidence from it. The downside, though, is we tend not to ask for help when we’re feeling down or in trouble. We don’t like being a burden to other people.”

My pride was one of the biggest reasons for my downfall, so it was hard for me to picture that pride being a positive thing in my new life. She did have a point, though; I had been feeling miserable lately, and I kept it bottled inside. An explosion was bound to happen, and it was just bad luck that Flash Sentry was the person who wound up setting me off.

“Pride was what led me to being an arrogant little witch,” I said with some skepticism. “I don’t know if I can afford to let that demon inside me again.”

“Pride is just a feeling; what you do with that feeling is what counts,” Applejack explained. “I’m betting you weren’t always an arrogant little witch. In fact, I know you weren’t because I remember how you were when you first came to Canterlot High.”

“But... you and I never spoke until at least the sophomore year.” And by that point, I had already begun my downside descent into aspiring despot.

“True, but I do remember seeing how you handled yourself around people,” my friend continued on. “You came into our school part way through the year, and you fell into place like you had been here the whole time. You were fearless... you were confident, but you weren’t pushy or mean. Truth be told, I was really envious of that Sunset Shimmer.”

My face contorted in confusion, one eyebrow in particular almost jumping off of my head in its haste. “You were envious of me back then?”

“Have you taken a hard look at me?” Applejack exclaimed as though there was something that should’ve been obvious to me. “I’m a country gal going to a big city school. I stood out like a pig in a girdle as a freshman, and it ain’t like people didn’t make fun of the way I talk either. It was tricky for me to fit in at first. You made it seem so easy.”

It felt like it had been ages since the last time somebody gave me a genuine compliment without fear of reprisal. I had to actually turn away to hide the rosey glow, lest I give Applejack the wrong impression. “I suppose when you spend a few years dealing with gryphons and donkeys, you learn how to handle a tough crowd,” I replied in my attempt to downplay the praise.

“There was good in you once before, and I reckon we can find it again,” Applejack reassured me.

“Assuming I don’t explode at anyone else in the process,” I said with restrained optimism. 

“Things might get tough, but when life starts throwing you around like a wild bull, you just gotta grab hold of the saddle and hang on tight. And if it throws you off, you get right back on that saddle!”

“I was wondering when you were going to toss another nugget of country wisdom in,” I teased while rolling my eyes. After a brief stint of laughter, one would have been hard-pressed to believe that we had been yelling at each other not ten minutes prior. “I’m sorry I messed up your little scheme,” I said in a long overdue apology, “and I’m sorry I yelled at you for things I should’ve realized you weren’t guilty of. Oh, and I’m sorry I knocked your brother down the stairs. Did I miss anything?”

“You could apologize for getting fussy because of my countryisms.”

“No, I still maintain that you need to talk more plainly in the future. I know it’s English, and yet I do not understand the words coming from your mouth some days.” Hopefully, the heavy-handed sarcasm would tip Applejack off that I was just teasing her again, otherwise I’d have yet another thing to apologize for. “Anyways, I should probably call Celestia and let her know she can come pick me up,” I announced as I made my first attempt to stand back up. Despite a few grunts and groans as bruises flared in protest, I managed to get back to my feet without cursing out loud.

“Say, are you busy tomorrow, Sunset?” Applejack inquired, to which I said no. Sadly, today was not very productive with respects to any newspaper articles I might have wanted to write, but I suspect that Applejack never intended for anything of the sort. “There’s a little county fair going on in the city fair grounds tomorrow, and I’m going to be there selling pies and ciders and such. I was wondering if you wanted to tag along and help.”

“More free labour?” I asked with a raised, skeptical brow. 

“Well, normally Big Mac would help, but—”

“Ah, say no more,” I said as I held up my hands. I didn’t need to listen any further to know when I was being guilted into agreeing. Needless to say, after today’s disaster, I did feel like I owed Applejack some reparations. “I’d love to help. Better than spending tomorrow sitting on my rump, not that I’ll be able to do any sitting comfortably for the next couple of days. Plus, a county fair sounds like it might be fun.”

“That’s the spirit!” Applejack said as she hopped to her feet. “Trust me, we’ll have more fun than a couple pigs in a sty!” With that, she gave me a hard, reassuring slap… which she might have aimed a bit too low.

“ARRRRGGGGGGGGGHHHHHH!”

“Opps. Sorry.”