• Published 10th Jul 2012
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My Little Heartbreak: Meanwhile, Back at the Farm - Jet_Black1980



Stuck in the library for a month HB goes a little stircrazy, a trip to the farm seems in order!

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Cornered

Chapter 41

Cornered

Applejack stood at the gate of her farm. She wasn’t happy. Pinkie Pie had left several hours ago, but the conversation the two of them was still sticking around with her. The whole talk started out innocent enough. She had stopped by because she was making plans for Nightmare Night, and was wondering if she could renovate the barn this early. Then the conversation took a turn through a few hills and valleys of the land of Pinkie Pie.

Had ah not brought up that package she brought with her, she would have been talkin’ forever!” Applejack thought to herself. “That was about as painful as the time back in Dodge Junction!” The thought passing through her mind reminded her of what Heartbreak had said only a few days ago. She bit her lip, seething in frustration. Pinkie finally, in her round about way, told her why she was there in the first place. “Took her long enough ta get to what she was wantin’ ta talk about. Ah swear she could have written a whole book with that there talk we had and most of it would’a been filler!” Her hoof tapped angrily before grinding it on the ground. “But then she got ta the part that mattered the most.” Applejack looked up and saw both Crab Apple and Heartbreak approaching the gate. “Alright, H.B., let’s see if ya’ve learned anything about honesty yet.

“That was so awesome!” Crab Apple said as he bounced around. “I mean, yeah, it wasn’t as long as normal conventions, but the fact that we got to go at all!”

Applejack leaned against the gate. “Cool down there, Crab Apple, So, ah take it that y'all had a good time?”

“Did we ever! It was so awesome! I met ponies, and did stuff, and at the end there was singing!” He replied. Heartbreak smiled a little bit and rolled her eyes, before jumping back a little as Crab Apple leaned up and hugged her shoulder. “And I owe it all to this pony right here!”

Heartbreak’s startled face blushed as her eyes darted back and forth. “Uhm, thanks, Dib,” She replied pushing the colt’s arm off her shoulder. “But, really, it wasn’t anything special.”

“Nothing special!? I rarely get to go anywhere that cool!” Crab Apple replied.

Applejack chuckled and took a deep breath. “That’s great ta hear there, Crab. Apple.” She said, putting emphasis on his name. “Tell me, ya two didn’t make any quick stops before going ta this party of yers did ya?”

Crab Apple blinked. “Well no. I mean we did grab dinner afterwards and that’s why we’re back so late.” Heartbreak nodded as she looked at Applejack. Something worried in her expression crept over her face as she bit her lip a bit.

Dern it, keep that poker face going, A.J.” “And did ya enjoy yer time out an’ about?” Applejack asked.

“Uhm, yes. It was very nice. Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to...uhm...do this,” Heartbreak replied backing away. “Thing.”

Applejack nodded. “An’ by this, ‘thing,’ ya mean going ta that there party, keeping an eye on Crab Apple here, an’ then comin’ back?”

Heartbreak began to look at the ground and her hoof kicked a bit of dirt. “You could pretty much say that’s what happened.” She replied.

Applejack frowned and a low growl crept into her voice. “So, at no point did ya take yer eyes off ma cousin and just leave him at this party all alone then?”

“I can say that at no point did I leave your cousin unattended,” Heartbreak replied.

Applejack’s face twisted into a scowl. “Crab Apple, how’s about ya get all that stuff ya got put away.” She said walking up to Heartbreak. “Ah’ve gotta have a few words with Heartbreak, here.”

Crab Apple’s happy expression turned to one of concern. “Is there something wrong, Applejack?”

“Nothin’ that needs ta involve you, ah just have ta have a few words with Heartbreak. Alone.” She replied pointedly. Crab Apple blinked and started walk towards the house. The moment that he was out of sight, Applejack’s gaze turned back to the tan mare before her. “Ah don’t know what kind of game yer trying ta pull here missy-”

“Ap-” Heartbreak began.

Applejack quickly put a hoof up to the mare’s mouth. “Yer not going ta talk unless ah am done talking or ah give ya permission to do so. Is that understood?” Heartbreak’s eyes darted back as fear and uncertainty flooded them. She only slightly nodded. “Good. Now, ah’m gonna give you one more chance here. Did ya at any time leave ma cousin alone at this party?” She asked removing her hoof from Heartbreak’s mouth.

Heartbreak paused apprehensively and then looked down at the ground. “Early in the party I was getting rather...skittish and kind of freaked out by some of the ponies, I needed some air. So I told Dib-”

“His name is Crab Apple, and you best remember that!” Applejack interrupted loudly. She stopped her hoof down on the ground and got up in Heartbreak’s face to drive the point close. “Understand?”

Heartbreak nodded, droplets of sweat peeling down her face. As she spoke her voice started to turn really meek. “S-s-so I told...Crab Apple that I wanted him to go with me outside, b-b-but he said that he wanted to continue to talk with Lyra. After some t-t-talking Lyra said that he could watch him while I got-”

“What?! Hold up a second! Lyra? As in Lyra Heartstrings!?” Applejack shouted pacing back and forth. “Lyra. As in the Lyra that went all crazy on ya in Twilight’s library some time ago an’ who ya said that was, an’ ah quote, ‘a creepy mare,’ Lyra?!”

Heartbreak started to rub her ankles and looked away from Applejack. “Well, she seemed r-r-really nice at the time and I t-t-thought that I would give her a c-c-chance...”

Applejack turned and gave her a questioning look. “Really!? With as much as ya know about us all, ah would have thought that ya’d give at least a bit more thought ta action! Ya know that she was snoopin’ around ma farm tryin’ ta watch ya, right?”

Heartbreak went silent for a few moments before replying “No, I did not know that.”

Applejack stared at her. “Well then, now ya do. So out with the rest of it! Yer normally so chatty with stories, what happened next?!” Heartbreak bit her lip and looked like she was about to tear up.

“I-I-I went outside and got some fresh air,” She replied, her voice trailing to an ashamed whisper.

“And?” Applejack’s question was only met with silence. “Well, seeing that yer so tight lipped, maybe ah should let ya know what Pinkie Pie told me!” Heartbreak drew back as Applejack got a bit closer. “She came gallopin’ here chattin’ ma ear off about how she saw you walkin’ out of the local tea shop!”

“I-I-I’m not used to that many p-p-ponies, A-a-applejack.” She recoiled back even more. “I needed something to c-c-calm my nerves...”

“So ya went an got some fancy shmashy tea! Didn’t we just have a talk about bein’ addicted ta that stuff!?” Applejack said sternly.

“I-i-it’s not an addition, Applejack! I just needed-” Heartbreak began.

“That sounds like an excuse that somepony would go making if they were addicted ta somethin’ there, Heartbreak!” Applejack glared at her directly in the eyes. She wasn’t going to let go of this.

“It’s not an excuse! I went to the shop, had some tea and then came back!” She protested.

“An’ how long were ya gone fer exactly?” Applejack asked. Heartbreak looked at her reluctantly and then back at the ground. A small whisper came from her mouth. “What was that, Heartbreak?”

Heartbreak’s expression dowered and her left eye twitched as she turned away. “Thirty minutes...” she finally said quietly. Disbelief curled over Applejack’s face. “I didn’t mean to be gone-”

“Stop. Talkin’. Now.” Applejack said, trying to hide her anger and disappointment. “Ya had one job here, Heartbreak. One job. An’ ah warned ya of the consequences.” She nodded her head as she mulled over everything that she had heard from this, ‘pony.’ She raised her hoof and pointed it directly at the barn. “Ta night? Yer sleeping in the barn.”

“But I-” Heartbreak’s words were cut short as she saw the look chiseled into Applejack’s face. The only thing to come out of her mouth after the cold stony glare was a quiet whimper.

==============================================================

Applejack took a deep breath as she watched Heartbreak walk away. “Ah’m sure glad that’s done and over with,” She said, turning around and sighing. Just then she heard the bushes rustle next to her and four hooves clatter to the ground.

“Well. I can see why you didn’t get the element of kindness,” Crab Apple said, his glasses glinting in the rising moonlight.

“Crab Apple!” Applejack jumped back in fright. “Ah thought ah told ya ta go back ta the house! How long have ya been there?” She asked worriedly.

“Long enough,” he retorted glaring at her over his glasses. “Long enough to hear the entirety of conversation that just happened!”

“Well, ah’m sorry ya had ta hear that then, but ah told her what would happen if she didn’t keep an eye on ya,” Applejack replied as she started to walk back.

“With as loud as you were, I’m surprised that half of Ponyville didn’t hear you! What the fet!?” Crab Apple shouted as he raced up beside her.

Applejack stopped walking and looked at her cousin. “What did ya just say?”

“I said that you were being exceptionally harsh over what most ponies would call an act of responsibility!” He replied pointedly.

“Not that! That word ya just said.” Applejack replied frowning.

“Which word?” He asked.

“The F-word. The one that Heartbreak uses when she’s upset about somethin’,” Applejack said, nearly staring down her cousin. “Ah don’t want ya usin’ that word. An ah think ya mean, ‘irresponsibility.’”

“Well, I think it’s really appropriate, seeing that I am really upset about this! Seriously, I have heard stories of tax collectors that come to your farm with more empathy and understanding than you just demonstrated!” Crab Apple growled, glaring back. “And what do you mean, ‘irresponsibility!?’”

“Ah mean that she left ya with a questionable pony! Lyra! An ah did what had ta be done. Ah told her what would happen if she-” Applejack started.

“There is nothing wrong with Lyra, thank-you-very-much!” As he shouted an angry flush went over his cheeks. “And you could have been a lot nicer and reacted a lot better about it just now! H.B. told me a lot about what has been happening here, Applejack! And I have to say, and for all the family that I go summer with, you have been the most crummy!” Crab Apple interrupted. “And the way you just treated her shows it!”

“Look, ya don’t know what Heartbreak is actually like or what her situation is,” Applejack said, looking down and away from her cousin. With the way he was talking, she could feel herself fighting to out right yell at him.

“I know that what you just did most likely didn’t make it any better!” He said stomping his hooves down on the ground. “And she goes by ‘H.B.’!”

“Look Crab Apple-” Applejack started.

Crab Apple glared as his cousin and pushed his glasses up. “The name is Dib.”

Applejack blinked in confusion and looked worried. “Not only are ya taking her side here, but yer going by that nickname she tagged ya with?”

“It’s a far better name than Crab Apple!” Dib replied.

“Hey, Crabulous is a proud Apple Family name!” Applejack shouted.

“And I hate it! I get teased and picked on for it!” He pointed a hoof at Applejack. “But that is beside the point! A point that H.B. taught me!”

“Which was?!” Applejack said in disbelief.

Dib calmed himself. “Which is if you keep telling ponies something that isn’t true for long enough, they’ll start believing it themselves.” Applejack blinked at her cousin’s statement as he pushed up his glasses. “I have been called, ‘Crab Apple’ for so long that I couldn’t think of myself as anything but that. Then along comes H.B. and just out of the blue gives me a different name. And suddenly things change. I see things in a light that I might not have seen them before. And while she did leave me at the convention, she didn’t leave me unattended. What’s more,” Dib glared at her, “She came back. She didn’t abandon me.”

Applejack tried to calm herself down. Her fifteen year old cousin was acting more like an adult than she was. “That’s not the point! The point is that she disobeyed me and now has ta pay the consequences! Ah wasn’t makin’ idle threats here!”

Dib’s brow furrowed. “Then you’re going to have to punish me too!”

“An’ why in tarnation would ah have ta do that?” Applejack asked, looking at her cousin as if he had just stepped in a pile of manure.

“Because I was the one who said that it was alright that she could go and leave me alone for a few minutes! I told her that I would be fine with Lyra. You should have seen how hesitant she was in leaving me alone with Lyra!” Dib stood tall at his next statement. “If she’s going to sleep in the barn tonight, then so should I!”

Applejack blanched at the thought of her cousin even near that pony. “Like Hay you are!” She took a deep breath. She needed to calm him down so that she could calm down. “You aren’t the adult here. Ah am and so is she. We’re meant ta be the responsible ones here, not you. You’re just-” She paused.

Dib’s gaze focused intensely on Applejack. “Just what, Applejack? Still a minor? Age of consent but not a full adult? Oh I see how it is,” Dib replied, his eyes rolling in large arcs. “The great, noble and honest Applejack’s word is law! All hail she who was chosen from the humble Apple Clan to wield one of the Elements of Harmony!”

“Hey now! It ain’t like that!” Applejack said as her cousin’s words started to sting. “Ah didn’t choose ma element! It chose me! It doesn’t make me any better than all ya all! Where is all this comin’ from anyway!?”

Dib’s face twitched and he looked at the ground. “While most of the rest of the family says not to treat you any differently, Applejack, they don’t act it.” He ground his hoof into the dirt. “They celebrate your accomplishments and cheer you on, priding themselves on what you’ve done. You’ve grown big and tall in their eyes. And while they say that you’re an Apple just like everypony else in the family?” He looked up at her, his glasses flashed in the moonlight. “You cast a pretty big shadow. The rest of us? Especially some of us cousins have to live in that shadow. We have to work extra hard to grow because you set the bar for the rest of us that high.”

Applejack blinked, her mouth slightly agape. “Ah..” She began.

“Let me finish! My parents might not say it to my face, but I have gotten pretty good at sneaking around. You know why they have been sending me here every year for the past five years, Applejack? It’s because they want me to be more like you.” He shook his head. “And for a year or two, that’s what I thought I wanted too. But then I realized that you, like the rest of the family, didn’t want me around. I’m the weird one, the odd one, the apple who’s out of place! And then along comes a pony named, ‘Heartbreak’ who doesn’t treat me like a nuisance or like I’m just taking up space! Who actually listens to me and is willing to take me places that she might not be comfortable with at first, but is willing to give them a try! She doesn’t go, ‘Oh Hay Crab Apple! Yer Here! Let’s go buck apples!’

Applejack’s demeanor softened slightly. “Ah had no idea ya all felt that way.”

“Well some of us do! We know you can’t help be who you are, but sometimes some of us feel like we’re expected to live up to your standards.” He frowned. “But if this is what it’s like to be you? Like H.B. would say. ‘Fet that.’”

Applejack’s face twisted up. For a moment, her cousin was sounding like an actual rational, responsible adult who was sounding reasonable. Up until he said those last two words. “What’d ah say about using that word!” She shook her head. “For a moment ya almost got me thinkin’ that Heartbreak was a good influence on ya!”

Rage flared in Dib’s eyes. “Ugh! You are impossible, Applejack!” He turned away towards the house. “H.B. might have her problems, her issues and the like, but as far as influences go?” He looked back at her. “She’s a far better influence than you are right now!”

Applejack’s face was marred with pain at her cousin’s cutting words. “Well...ya know what...” She started as Dib trotted towards the house. “Hey! Get back here! Ah’m not done talking ta ya!” The only response she got was the slamming of the house door. Applejack felt a tear roll down her burning cheeks. “Fine! Be that way! Yer gonna sleep in Applebloom’s bed tanight!” She shouted impotently.

==============================================================

Dib looked at his saddle bags. Applejack had taken her sweet time getting back to the house and was now huddled away in her room. She hadn’t said anything to him after returning. He had waited half an hour to make sure that she was asleep. The whole time he had been staring at his saddle bags.

He had garnered many treasures from the day’s con. Drawings, woodcuts, contact information and the like. There was one treasure in that bag that was greater than all of those things combined. One treasure that, with what had just happened between A.J. and him, was causing him conflicting feelings. He took it out of his saddlebag and looked it over carefully.
An HLC communication crystal. Amazing what new tech has come about ever since the Crystal Empire reappeared. With this device, I can talk to anypony who has the receiving crystal.” Dib blinked. “I already know all that, why am I talking to myself about it?” He sighed. “I must be nervous, and why wouldn’t I be? Lyra’s on the other side of this thing and most likely,” he swallowed hard. “She heard that whole thing. I must have sounded like a little colt-

The crystal glowed and pulsed as a hushed voice came through it. “Dib? Are you there?” Dib pulled it close to him and quickly crept to the closet. Slipping in he quietly closed the door. “Dib?” It asked in Lyra’s voice.

“Yeah, I’m here. I’m guessing you heard everything that happened out there, didn’t you?” He asked.

“It was muffled, but yes. I heard all of it,” came the reply. Dib looked at the crystal feeling ashamed of himself. He shouldn’t have lost his temper like that. He wouldn’t normally have lost his temper like that. “And I think you did the right thing.”

“You do?” He whispered.

“Yes. Your cousin totally blew this out of proportion. Maybe even a little too much if you ask me,” Lyra replied. “Almost makes me think that she might actually know about H.B.”

Dib blinked. “You mean she knows that H.B. could be a werequine?”

There was a pause in the pulsing and then a reply. “Yes. It makes sense, right? It was like she was trying to overcompensate, to keep you from getting too close to the truth of the matter.”

“Which is something I’m worried about, Lyra.” Dib sniffed hard. “If we learn the truth about H.B., how is that going to help her?”

“It will help her in that she’ll know that she’s not alone, that she can have support from ponies like us if ever the real conspiracy is blown out of the water. And most importantly,” There was another pause. “She’ll be able to stand up to ponies like Applejack. She’ll be able to show them that she’s not afraid. Don’t worry Dib, everything will work out. But we need to show her that we know her secret, and that we are trustworthy enough to keep that secret.”

Dib nodded. If he could get her to see that he was trying to help her, she could come out about what she really was, expose the lies around them and never be afraid again.

“Do you still have everything I gave you?” Lyra asked.

“Yes. Some of it is a bit questionable, but if you say that it will work, then I’m willing to try for H.B.’s sake.” He replied looking out at his window and at the barn.

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