Bucket of Apples (Speedwriting Anthology)

by applejackofalltrades

No Use Lying (Panic!)

Author's Note:

This was written on January 7th for a QnS panic. The prompt was Lies and we had 30 minutes to write :)

“There ain’t no way I’m sayin’ that!”

Applejack huffed and turned away from Trixie. She couldn’t believe that the unicorn would even ask her to do something so horrible.

“Oh, come on! All Trixie is asking you to do is tell Twilight what a great student she was today,” Trixie argued with a pleading edge to her voice. “It isn’t that hard.”

The charred… everything around the pair would argue otherwise. Applejack furrowed her eyebrows and picked up a blackened object from the floor. As she showed it to Trixie, it crumbled into dusty ash. “This used to be an apple! How did ya mess up so bad that it turned into that?”

Trixie smiled sheepishly. “Trixie cremated it?”

A fire surged inside Applejack. Just like the fire that decimated all the trees in a substantial area around her. Her eyes practically popped out of her head. “What?! All I asked of ya was to buck the darn trees! I was teachin’ ya about hard work, and next thing I know, all my trees are fit for the gutter.”

The blue unicorn glanced around. Her ears pinned back in what Applejack could only hope was shame. “So you aren’t going to tell Twilight what a great student Trixie was?”

“Ya ruined the crops! I ain’t a liar, Trixie. I can’t tell Twilight that,” Applejack pointed out sharply, trying desperately to think of a solution.

“Well… Trixie got a bit… excited.”

“So ya burned the darn orchard down?”

With a scoff, Trixie rolled her eyes. “It wasn’t the whole orchard, Applejack. Just a few trees. Seriously, who’s the liar now?”

If Applejack could slap some sense into Trixie, she would, but she knew what Twilight would have to say about that. It wasn’t worth it.

Or was it?

Applejack gritted her teeth and realized that getting mad at Trixie wasn’t going to help. She sure as sugar wasn’t going to tell Twilight something that wasn’t entirely true, though. “Fine. I’ll tell Twilight somethin’, but I ain’t gonna lie.”

Trixie gulped. “Alright.”

---

Applejack shuffled her hooves in front of Twilight, who sat in the headmare’s chair with a pleasant smile on her face. Applejack glanced at Trixie, who was unreadable, then back at Twilight. “So you see, Twi, today was my day with Trixie.”

“Yes, the others have been telling me what a great student she’s been.” Twilight smiled at Trixie, who beamed. “I’ve been so excited to hear what you have to say!”

“Well, Trixie was… excited,” Applejack started. “She, uh, she was far more eager than I woulda expected. And maybe she made a mess of things…” Applejack looked at Trixie, who did nothing but blink, “but she… well, she did somethin’ I woulda never expected. That’s for darn sure.”

“Oh really?” Twilight took out a pen and paper, priming it. “Like what?”

Applejack glanced up. Trixie wasn’t trying to do any harm, so she didn’t really want to make her seem like a trouble-maker. “She tried to harvest all the apples with some magic.” It was all Applejack could do not to scoff. “It didn’t really work out, but she tried.”

“Yes, and Trixie would like to say she is sorry,” Trixie cut in next to her. “Again.”

Twilight scribbled furiously. She didn’t look up from the page. “Well, apologizing is good. That’s a step forward. So what exactly did she do Applejack?”

Trixie turned to look at Applejack with pleading eyes. She furrowed her eyebrows in a silent plea. Applejack cleared her throat and thought. “Uh, well… she…”

“Yes?” Twilight pressed, glancing up with curious eyes.

Applejack cursed internally. “She burned my trees down.”

“Not all of them!” Trixie quickly put in.

“Right, not all of ‘em. But… well, she did burn at least a dozen down,” Applejack admitted with a frown.

Twilight gasped and put the pen down. “Oh no!”

Trixie pursed her lips. “Trixie didn’t mean to. She was just… trying to help.”

Applejack groaned and rubbed her snout with a hoof. “I know. And… well, I guess some of those trees were sick. So maybe… it was for the best. But still, now we’re down about ten good trees.”

Twilight sighed and magically popped in front of the pair. “I’m sorry, Applejack. Maybe I should have been more clear with Trixie about what she is and isn’t allowed to do during these placements.”

“How was Trixie supposed to know she couldn’t use magic on the stupid farm!” Trixie interjected.

Applejack grinned a little at Twilight. “She reminds me of you durin’ your first Wrap Up here.”

That made Twilight blush. “Maybe… That gives me an idea.”

“Oh no,” Trixie muttered.

“Don’t worry. It’s not hard. I just want you to help Applejack clean up and plant more trees.” Twilight put a hoof on Applejack. “And you can teach Trixie about real hard work. No magic. Sound fair?”

Applejack shrugged. “I guess.”

Trixie sighed. “Trixie supposes that is fair.”

“Good!” Twilight cheered. “Who knows, maybe you will each learn something from each other.”

The pair glanced at each other. Applejack gave a curt chuckle. “C’mon, Trixie. Farm work waits for nopony.”

As Applejack set off, Trixie scrambled behind her. “Well, what if Trixie asks Starlight for a time spell?”

“NO!”