Earning Freedom

by Daxisle

Family Counceling

Family Counseling

Mac laid his back against a tree with his hooves behind his head, a half dozen apple cores surrounding him. The sun was well into its decent to night, chlling the already cool air. It had been a relaxing day for him, Granny had given him special order to take the day off on account of Applejack, Annabelle and himself working thmselves so hard to get caught up on the orchard.

He was going to complain, having some down time from work that didn't come attatched with some kind of drama was a welcome respite. He'd done nothing all day except nap, eat and relax.

'This is the life, huh?'

Eyup.

It really was, he needed more days like this one.

He pushed himself upright, slammed his hoof against the tree trunk and caught an apple mid fall before leaning back again and taking a bite. Yea, he needed more days like this one.

"Hey Macintosh?" He heard from his left, Applebloom walked into his vision, her typically cheerful disposition unusually solumn. "Can Ah talk to ya fer a moment?" Mac nodded in approval and listened intently.

"If y'all have a friend who's in trouble but wont accept help, what're ya s'possed to do?" Well, he was the pony to talk to about that, since he'd been dealing with just such a situation.

"That'll depend what kinda trouble they're in."

His sister scuffed at the grass beneath her hoof, her sadness quickly giving way to discomfort. "Hypofe- Hypote- Hypocritically speaking," she managed in concentration. "Ah have a friend who's not livin' in the best o' conditions. This friends parents, uhmm, are never around for her. It's like she lives alone but wont tell nopony 'bout it. What should Ah do about that?"

Neglectful parents? That was certainly an odd "hypothetical" situation to come out with. He asked if one of her class mates was in trouble or something, but she dismissed the idea a little too forcefully, stating that it was all "hypocritical". She looked at him with baited breath, telling Mac that this wasn't just a case of "what if?" But he also knew that his sister was smart and would take his advice to help fix whatever problem she had come across.

"Well, have ya tried tellin' yer friend tah talk to their parents? Get 'em tah spend more time together?" Applebloom hesitated for a moment, considering her words carefully before answering yes, though according to her, the parents simply dismissed the filly's plea. Mac asked if she was eating or looked sickly in any way. "Nah, she can do fer herself, but it's jest, not right ta be all alone. Ya know?"

That he did. Though he was now questioning if this really was just a hypothetical situation. Ponyville was a great town full of decent and kind folk for the most part. He couldn't imagine a school filly having such neglectful parents as all that. So he told Applebloom to do what he should have done, simply be a good friend and support the foal when they needed it. When it came to those too proud to ask for help, it was really all their was to do while respecting their space.

His sister side and nodded her acknowledgement before beginning to trot back to the farm house. Mac decided to follow her in, having been outside long enough.

The two approached to find Granny Smith rocking in her chair, pushing back and forth slowly with the wood creaking slightly. She smiled at her grandchildren and called them up. "Hey granny! What's fer supper?" His sister chirped, he depression from a few minutes ago completly forgotton.

"Well, Ah'm not sure. Yer sister's friends, Pinkie Pie n Rarity showed up n' was talkin' ta Applejack. They asked fer some privacy n' Ah can't cook out here, little filly." She paused in thought. "Well, not till we get us a grill, anyhow."

Privacy? Why would she... Unless. Mac's eyes widened, he'd hoped beyond hope that she wasn't telling AJ about what they'd almost done. He pushed the door open and quickly made way to the living room, there in he found Pinkie Pie, looking sadly at him, as well as a crying Rarity. His sister, while not in tears did look equally troubled.

"Mac? Could you give us a minute here?" AJ demanded gently. She didn't look at him in spite or anything, so she must not have known, much to his relief. Though Pinkie didn't mind his presence, asking if it would be alright for him to stay, since he was there and saw what she saw.

Taking a look back to make sure he wasn't followed, Mac took a seat on the floor and patiently listened. Even after the two weeks had passed both mares still had nightmares about the incident. They were weakened thanks to Luna's interference in the beginning, but for residents of the quiet little town, such brutality had never been witnessed before.

While Mac had seen things that both rivaled and even surpassed what he saw that day, he learned how to cope with it through a mix of expression and repression. Pinkie was an innocent spirit. A pony of smiles and happiness, it was no surprise she'd be scarred so badly by the event. Neither of them knew how to cope, their various battles and misadventures were dangerous and intimidating, but nothing like this. Rarity, for all of her sophistication and maturity fared no better, he typically immaculate appearance was marred by smeared make up and split ended curled.

Pinkie had resorted to crawling into bed with her foster parents, the Cakes, like a foal to try to get some sleep, but that didn't help. Poor Rarity had sent Sweetie Bell to stay with her parents, finding herself to be much to irritable to care for the filly properly.

This was disturbing news to Applejack, Mac was glad she wasn't there to witness the event. Still, his sister was an empathetic mare who knew how to care for her friends. They continued talking about the depressing subject, fresh tears falling from both mares. Mac wished they hadn't seen it, he'd wished it never happened.

"I just, I don't understand why he did it." Rarity sniffled. "He could have just walked away without so much as a slap on the wrist, but he stayed."

"I know why he stayed." Pinkie admitte with a sigh. "He stayed because he wanted to be responsible. I get that, but... but why did they have to take his eye!"

An eye for an eye. Mac thought to himself, but kept his thought to himself.

'Maybe you should speak up. They really don't get it.'

They don't understand because they don't want to. They saw what Spike had done just as well as he did, but they weren't used to such brutality. Equestria, especially Ponyville, held ideas like forgiveness and tolerance in high regard. Vengeance and revenge were typically dismissed as "two wrongs don't make a right". But where other cultures were concerned, such belief wasn't shared. Revenge was a right to the wronged, it was penance for the crime committed. While the agreement was never made in writing, there was a standard all beings held eachother to. Sin called it the "Non-Aggression Principal" but that just didn't feel right to say to Macintosh, it was more of a respect of personal space, property and territory, even if no harm was intended. Anyways, such things demanded justice, and justice took different forms t different ponies.

"How 'bout you, Mac?" He looked up to see his sister looking at him in worry. "How are you feelin' 'bout all this?"

"Ah'll be fine." He replied with a smile. He saw Spike healing and felt much better, he knew the drake would be fine, but seeing him made him feel alot better. "Have ya seen Spike yet?"

All three of them remained quiet. Pinkie had been busy trying to get Sugar Cube Corner, AJ had been stuck on the farm, and Rarity had been swamped with orders. The red stallion quirked a brow, those were excuses if he ever heard them and said as much. "Y'all are avoidin' him, aren't ya?"

Pinkie immediately burst into tears, and she was the only one willing to admit as much. His sister remained quiet, simply pondering his words and Rarity looked ready to explode with a mixture of indignation and tears.

"Alrigh' Ah think that's enough." AJ announced before the situation could escalate farther. "Yer righ' about me, brother. Ah have been avoidin' Spike cause Ah'm ashamed Ah wasn't there with ya guys. Ah'll be visitin' him tomorrow, "she turned to her friends, "and Ah'm sure he'd love ta see y'all there too."

Both ponies agreed with silent nods, it was good to have Applejack back, somepony needed to keep her friends honest and in line.

"Good, nao enough o' this heavy stuff, Ah think it's time we did somethin' fun. Feels like Ah ain't seen you girls in forever." The farmer announced, giving both of her friends a hug, one they graciously returned. Finding the tender moment to be one between friends, Macintosh walked back outside as AJ explained her disappearance for the last few weeks.

"Everythin' alright in there?" Granny asked, looking past her grandson and into the door. He nodded and told her that everything was going to be fine. Applejack needed to talk to her friends and they needed her right now, for all the grief and foolishness she'd involved herself in lately, she really was one of the better mares in the world. "Good, cause she's got one more bitta company."

Mac followed her pointing green hoof and his eyes went wide with rage at the stallion who sat behind where Mac stood. There, sitting on his porch, wearing a bow tie and a carrying a bouquet of flowers stood Soarin.

---

Trotting through town on her own at dusk, Applebloom hurried through town to find Sweetie Bell. She knew she made a promise to never expose a friend when they didn't want to be, but she couldn't just let what she'd herd go without telling somepony. She'd confronted Scootaloo a week ago about camping in the White Tailwoods, and when Applebloom confronted her friend on the matter, Scootaloo dodged her at first, but eventually the farm filly learned about a massive fight that happened between her friend and her friend's parents.

It drove the pegasus filly to tears to have to explain the verbal altercation. There was yelling, lots of yelling. Scoots just wanted to spend some time with them, to be apart of a family, but they were always too busy working. Finally, the orange foal ran away, she promised she'd return home, trying to quell Applebloom's fears, but she'd been checking in on the tent regularly and there were no signs of her friend going home anytime soon.

She'd almost made it all the way to Carousel Boutique before a foal intercepted her, blocking her path to the one friend she could honestly talk to about the matter. "Hey Applebloom, what's the rush?" Scootaloo asked with a forced smile.

Taking a few steps back, Applebloom fidgeted in her reply. "Oh, uh, hey Scootaloo, jes' goin' ta talk to Sweetie for a bit."

"At this time of night?" The orange filly quirked a brow. "What's so important?"

The farm filly should have known better than to even try to lie. She was terrible at it and in her haste to come up with something convincing, Scootaloo stepped forward with a none to convince scowl. "You wouldn't happen to be going to tell Sweetie Bell about me, would you?"

Knowing her intentions were never going to be hidden, Applebloom sighed and nodded, much to her friend's chagrin. Though the appearance of absolute misery on how badly the issue was tearing the farm filly apart must have garnered sympathy. Scootaloo didn't berate or yell at her, matter of fact her position was the opposite. "Please, Applebloom. You promised me you wouldn't say anything to anypony."

"But it's not right!" The distraught filly countered as tears began to well. "Nopony should have ta go through what yer goin' through alone. Ah know yer proud n' all, but Ah think yer takin' on a bit much. Livin' alone in the woods tah be away from yer family just ain't safe."

The orange filly groaned nervously. "I know that, but it's just... I can't be around it, okay? Just give me a few more days, and I'll figure something out with my parents. Okay?"

The applefilly stared at her friend skeptically, she wanted to believe her but reservations were well in the works. Though, there was another solution to the problem, one that she'd been meaning to bring up since she'd found out a week ago. "Well, there was somethin' else Ah was meanin' tah talk ta ya about." Taking a breath and questioning just how stupid she was for even suggesting it, she asked why her friend hadn't asked Rainbow Dash if she could stay with her. A question that seemed to terrify Scootaloo, who blanched at the suggested.

"Are you crazy? Do you have any idea how disappointed she would be in me?!" The filly blushed upon realizing how loud she was being and continued her point in a much quieter whisper. "Rainbow Dash is the most awesome pony in Ponyville. How lame would I sound, coming up to her and saying: 'hey Rainbow Dash? Can I stay with you for a bit while my parents are fighting?' Do you realize how pathetic that sounds?!"

Applebloom could see the logic, but argued that the assertion was ridiculous. Rainbow was an adult and the time she'd spent around her, while exposing the mare's arrogance to be more than just for show, did show that the speedster was capable of emotional understanding and caring. She wouldn't find it shameful that a foal that admired her would come to her in her time of need. The loyal pegasus might actually find such an act extremely flattering.

Scootaloo, on the other hand disagreed whole heartedly and stood by her own point. She wanted to gain Rainbow's respect, not her pity. How was she supposed to earn her idol's esteem if she couldn't even handle herself in her own family affairs? To this, Applebloom had no response, she knew it was a silly idea that would be best served to bring to light, but Scootaloo was her friend, she didn't want to put her in a situation where her trust would be in question.

"Look, give me a few weeks. I just need some time to figure some things out, alright?"

Applebloom perked up at the promise, but only a little bit. Scootaloo was only a filly, barely ten years of age, and taking residence within a wood far away from the comforts of home and society was an environment that was no place for a foal; especially for such a length of time. However, as much as she may not like it, she agreed to defer to her fiend's judgement on the condition that she'd do it soon.

Thanking her repeatedly, Scootaloo beamed and offered to walk the filly back to the farm. With dejection and a deep sense of unease, Applebloom walked in silence, sincerely hoping her decision to keep quiet wasn't a decision she'd come to regret.

Author's Note:

Comments are always appreciated.