"Can't believe I let this happen to me." Big Macintosh groaned, as Granny Smith bandaged his wounds. Not long ago he had been unfortunate enough to be pined by a falling tree. And when it was finally lifted off of him, his back and torso had been badly injured. Now, he was laying on the couch inside Sweet Apple Acres, feeling very sorry for himself.
"Oh come now Big Macintosh, no need to beat yourself up." Granny Smith reassured him "It was an honest mistake. Could've happened to anypony."
"I wish that were true Granny." Big Macintosh sighed "But the only reason this happened is because I let my pride get the best of me. I was trying to prove a point and I got careless."
"Nonsense. That tree was going to give way eventually. You just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time." Granny Smith explained.
"Even if that was the case, there's still the fact that I can't possibly get any applebucking done in this condition." Big Macintosh said crossly "I know you're too old to do it, and Apple Bloom isn't old enough."
"I know that too Big Macintosh." Granny Smith said with a sigh "But I can't possibly send you out to work like this. I may not be a doctor, but I can safely say you're not fit for any kind of intense physical activity. You'll just have to rest and hope that Applejack get the applebucking process done on her own."
"Oh great." Big Macintosh thought "And knowing her, she's gonna work herself to the bone before she accepts help. Oh well, I guess she was bound to learn this lesson sooner or later. Just wish it was at a more opportune time."
About two weeks had passed since Big Macintosh's injury, and he now felt well enough to go out and about. He wanted to get back to applebucking, but Granny Smith wouldn't let him. She told him it would be at least another week before he'd be well enough to resume his daily chores around Sweet Apple Acres.
During that timespan, Big Macintosh had pulled Applejack aside and tried to warn her that she wouldn't be able to harvest the entire apple orchard on her. But Applejack wouldn't listen, and vowed to complete the harvest even if it killed her.
Now, his sister had gone and saved Ponyville from a stampede of cows. And she was to be the guest of honor at a hero party, in addition to various favors she had agreed to help her friends with. Including, helping Rainbow Dash impress The Wonderbolts, helping Pinkie Pie run Sugarcube Corner while The Cakes were away, and helping Fluttershy with the upcoming bunny census. It didn't take a genius to figure out, that Applejack had clearly taken on more work than she could possibly handle.
But stubborness was a trait that ran strong in the Apple Family, and Applejack had a stubborn streak about a mile wide. Once she set her mind to something, there was no way to talk her out of it. He could only hope she would come to her senses before she damaged her credibility.
"Watcha doing Big Macintosh?" Shining Armor asked. He had stopped by Sweet Apple Acres earlier to see if Applejack was around. Apparently she had not shown up for her own hero party, having dosed off while working. Shining Armor, suspecting something was wrong, had tried to ask if she needed help. But Applejack had refused, and after Shining Armor explained why he had stopped by, she took off. Before leaving, Shining Armor had noticed Big Macintosh watching from a distance, and he was quite curious as to what his friend was doing.
"Nothing much, just keeping an eye on my sister." Big Macintosh explained.
"So then, you knew she was asleep this whole time?" Shining Armor asked "Why didn't you do something? You can't let her go on like that."
"Believe me Shining Armor, if I could stop her I would've done so by now." Big Macintosh said firmly "I outright told Applejack she was bitting off more than she could chew. But all she said was 'I'm gonna get every last apple harvested all by myself.' and that was that."
"But how can you possibly let her go off to help other ponies when she's probably going to do more harm than good? Doesn't it occur to you that somepony might get hurt?!" Shining Armor asked, failing to see any sort of logic behind Big Macintosh's statements.
"I'm well aware of that possibility, and I don't like the fact that such a thing could happen." Big Macintosh acknowledged "But I'm afraid Applejack is as stubborn as they come. She's gonna have to learn her lesson about not taking more work than you can handle, and she's probably going to have to learn it the hard way. Just like me."
"What do you mean?" Shining Armor asked.
"Well, surely by now you've noticed my injury." Big Macintosh said.
"Oh yes. I just didn't want to say or imply anything that might hurt your feelings." Shining Armor replied "But, if you don't mind me asking. What happened to you to cause that injury? Must've been something really painful."
Big Macintosh sighed "It's kind of a long story." he said.
"Well, I've got time." Shining Armor replied "There really wasn't much for me to do today anyway. Let's hear it."
"Alright." Big Macintosh sighed "First thing's first though, there's something you need to know. This time of year happens to be what we like to call 'Applebuck Season'."
"'Applebuck Season'?" Shining Armor asked.
"Eeyup. It's another way of saying harvesting season." Big Macintosh explained "Now, I'm sure you're wondering why Applejack's doing this all on her own when you saw all those relatives during The Summer Sun Celebration. Well, all of them were just gathered together for our annual Apple Family Reunion. They use to be a very rare thing, but lately we've been trying to have one every other year or so. Anyways, after the reunion, all our relatives go back to their own farms and orchards. Or in cousin Braeburn's case, back to their own towns."
"Ah, so that's why I haven't seen Braeburn around since the whole 'Extra Ticket Fiasco'. I was wondering why he'd left so soon." Shining Armor said.
"It's just like cousin Braeburn to up and leave without saying goodbye. He really hates those." Big Macintosh stated "Anyway, it use to be that Granny Smith would take care of the harvestin all on her own. At least for the first couple of years after Ma and Pa passed away."
"I'm sorry to hear that." Shining Armor said somberly.
"It's alright really. we've moved on. But I appreciate your sympathy all the same." Big Macintosh replied "Over time I started to take on some of the responsibilites once I was old enough. And the same happened for Applejack. And now we kind of share the workload, though I'm a bit stronger than my sister, so I tend to take on the more 'heavy duty' chores."
"And what does all of this have to do with your injury?" Shining Armor asked.
"Not much really, but you have to understand that this applebucking process takes a long time. And it's very demanding." Big Macintosh explained "Now, as for my injury, it all started about two weeks ago. You know, after that storm that came because the machine at the weather factory malfunctioned?"
"I remember that well." Shining Armor acknowledged. He could well remember the howling winds knocking on the windows and door of the library, the intense downpour that soaked the ground as if there was no tomorrow, and the constant lightning and accompanying thunder that was so loud, it frightened even the bravest of hearts.
"That storm blew through and afterwards everything was a mess. Applejack and I, as usual, had to do most of the cleaning up around Sweet Apple Acres. But Apple Bloom and Granny Smith pitched in as well." Big Macintosh went on "And as I'm pretty sure you know my sister tends to be rather 'competetive'. Always looking for a way to challenge herself, and prove just how strong she is. She'll never admit it, but she's just as much as of a sports mare as Rainbow Dash, I guess that's kind of why the two of them hit it off so well."
"I understand." Shining Armor nodded, remembering the fact that most of his sisters friends at least knew each other or had heard about each other prior to meeting Twilight. And with the exception of Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, who were childhood friends, Applejack and Rainbow Dash had been paling around for as long as anyone could remember.
"Well, after I went and made a fool of myself with that last bet, Applejack started teasing me. Just a little bit mind you, about the fact that I wasn't as 'manly' as I claimed to be." Big Macintosh continued "I kept telling her it wasn't true, and tried to shut her out. But she kept teasing me over and over again. I know she wasn't trying to hurt my feelings, but I was just wasn't thinking straight at the time. If I had been I never would've agreed to do what I did next."
"You did something really stupid didn't you?" Shining Armor asked.
"Eeyup." Big Macintosh replied "And as much as it pains me to talk about it again, I'm hopeful you at least won't bash me too much for being so thickheaded."
"Oh come on Big Mac, we've all our embarassing moments we'd rather not talk about. It can't be THAT bad." Shining Armor said innocently.
"Maybe it really wasn't, but then again maybe it was. You'll have to be the judge of that." Big Macintosh said, a hint of both embarassment and shame in his voice "So I decided to prove a point to my sister, and I did it in the most stupid way possible. By personally testing the sturdiness of the tress, with my back legs. And when I kicked one of the trees, the trunk ended up falling on top of me, and I was completely pined."
"Ouch! That must've hurt!" Shining Armor commented.
"Indeed it did. And once Applejack was able to get it lifted off of me my back and torso had were hurting like crazy. Granny Smith took me inside and got me all bandaged up. And that was that." Big Macintosh explained "She told me it could've happened to anypony, but I wasn't fooled. In my heart, I knew the only reason for my injury was because I let my pride get the best of me, and didn't ask for help when I needed it most. And now, from the looks of things, I'd say my sister is going to learn the same lesson."
"Are you really sure she won't just stop if you ask her to?" Shining Armor asked.
"Eenope." Big Macintosh replied "Like I said before, she's really stubborn. And if this is the only way for her to learn that stubborness usually just gets you into trouble, then so be it."
"Well, I can only hope she'll come to her senses soon." Shining Armor said hopefully "Now, I'd better be going. I wouldn't want anyone to worry about me. See you later Big Mac, hope you feel better soon."
"Thanks for your concern." Big Macintosh called out, as Shining Armor set off "I really appreciate it."
"Anytime." Shining Armor replied.
A few more days passed, and Big Macintosh was soon back to full strength. But he could see all too well that Applejack still wasn't willing to either give up, or accept help. And in the meantime, Shining Armor kept him up to date on everything that had happened.
First Applejack had accidentally launched Rainbow Dash in the wrong direction, causing her to crash into the balcony of The Golden Oaks Library (luckly, she wasn't hurt).
Then Applejack had not been able to hear Pinkie Pie properly, and misinterpreted various ingriedients for the rain muffin recipe. This caused a good majority of the town to get sick with food poisoning, and Pinkie Pie was even heard to call the baked goods "Baked Bads".
And lastly, Applejack and Winona ended up frightening the entire population of baby bunnies, causing them to rampage through town. No one was hurt, but a lot of gardens were ruined. Everyone, including The Mayor, was most upset.
Twilight Sparkle had finally decided that enough was enough. And now Big Macintosh could see that she was trying to reason with her friend. However, he got the feeling that Applejack still wouldn't listen. "It's time for me to set things straight." he thought to himself, and headed out to the fields.
"I don't care what you, or anypony else says, YOU NEED HELP!" Twilight screamed at the top of her lungs.
At that moment, Applejack kicked the back of the tree one last time. The last few apples fell into her basket. Applejack looked at Twilight with a smug look on her face. "Ha. No I don't." she boasted "I harvested the entire orchard all by myself. How do you like them apples?"
"Um, how do YOU like THEM apples?" Big Macintosh asked, trying not to laugh. He pointed over his shoulder, to an entire segment of the ocrhard, still unharvested.
Applejack was speechless. How could she have possibly missed all those trees when she was looking out at the orchard a few days ago? The shock proved to be too much for her exhausted body to handle, and she collapsed onto the ground. Upon waking up, she said the words Big Macintosh, and everyone else had been hoping to hear from her since this whole ordeal began.
"Well, I guess I have to hoof it to you Big Macintosh." Shining Armor said, as Applejack and her friends took a break from completing the harvest "In the end everything worked out like you said it would."
"Indeed it did." Big Macintosh replied "And about time too."
"You can say that again." Shining Armor nodded "At least now, both you AND your sister understand the dangers of pride and stubborness. And that, there is nothing wrong with asking for help when you're in over your head."
"Eeyup." Big Macintosh said happily "And hopefully everyone will 'forget' what Applejack did over the past few days. I'd really hate to see the whole town turn on her."
"I really don't think it will come to that." Shining Armor stated "But I guess, time will tell."