Chapter 1: A Rotten Apple's Guilt
Applejack felt herself hit the ground hard. She was unable to hold back her tears and looked up at her attacker. Twilight Sparkle glared down at her, no friendliness in her eyes. Applejack gave her a pleading look.
“Please Twilight! I’m sorry!” Applejack begged.
“Sorry? You think sorry is enough for what you and the others did?” Twilight roared. “You abandoned me! For somepony you had just met!”
Applejack had no retort. She and her friends as well as Princess Celestia and Spike had all walked out on Twilight after the unicorn accused Princess Cadance of being evil. Twilight hadn’t had proof though and her brother Shining Armor angrily told her off and banned her from the wedding altogether. Instead of comforting her friend, Applejack told everyone to leave. She’d been angry after all the hard work she’d done for the wedding of Twilight’s brother, only for Twilight to make such a scene being possessive of Shining Armor, or so they'd thought.
“Twilight, I got no excuse,” she said. “I was mad at ya for making those accusations that made Princess Cadance cry, and after all the work we did for her and your brother’s wedding! I thought you were in the wrong!”
“While I wasn’t!” Twilight reminded her. “Cadance was a fake! You should have listened to me!”
“Yeah, I should have,” Applejack said.
Twilight then took Applejack in her magic again and threw her against the wall nearby as well. The Earth Pony grunted, she was already quite battered.
“You and the others can forget about being my friends!” Twilight said coldly. "In fact, if I were you, I wouldn't come near me again."
She then turned and walked out of the wedding hall. Applejack weakly reached out, tears escaping her eyes.
“Twilight… I…”
…
“AJ wake up!” somepony said.
Applejack felt herself being shaken and opened her eyes. She was in her room in Canterlot Castle with Rainbow Dash, her roommate, looking down at her with concerned eyes that were visible from the moonlight outside.
“You okay?” Rainbow asked in concern. “You were talking in your sleep."
“I had a bad dream,” Applejack confessed. “Twilight was throwing me around with her magic and saying I was no longer her friend.”
Rainbow gave her a look of sympathy then said, “That’s the third bad dream you’ve had in four nights.”
She couldn’t bring herself to say ‘Twilight forgave us just let it go.’ She too was feeling guilty over how she had walked out on their friend after her brother banned her from the wedding for her outburst against ‘Cadance’.
Applejack recalled her first dream two nights ago.
Everypony walked into the wedding hall only to find Twilight Sparkle’s lifeless body.
“Twilight!” Pinkie screamed with tears forming. “No! What happened?”
Cadance suddenly entered the room, laughing evilly. She then turned into her true form.
“With the Element of Magic dead, I can freely conquer Equestria!” the Changeling Queen said. “Lower your shield Shining Armor!”
The groom, under her mind control, did so, his eyes glowing green as they watched in horror.
In another dream, Applejack saw her sister being held captive by the changelings.
“Applejack, help!” Applebloom screamed.
Applejack gasped and began running to her sister. "I'm a coming Applebloom!"
But the insect like creatures drained her love and the young filly fell to the ground weakly. She vanished with the changelings and was replaced with Big Macintosh and Granny Smith as well as Applejack’s parents. They all looked at her in scorn.
“You turned your back on a friend that needed comfort!” Bright Mac said angrily as he pointed a hoof at her. “That’s the most dishonest thing anypony can do!”
“I’m ashamed of you, Applejack!” Buttercup said as she looked at her daughter.
“Darn tooting! You’re a bane on this family!” Granny Smith said.
“Yep!” Big Mac agreed.
The words hurt Applejack perhaps more than anything the changelings could have done and she teared up again.
"I'm sorry everypony!" She sobbed.
"Nothing you do can make up for this!" Bright Mac shouted. "You are the worst apple alive today!"
Applejack sighed at the memories of those nightmares. Rainbow Dash put a hoof on her.
“Why are you the one having nightmares, AJ?” the Pegasus asked.
“Probably cause I’m feeling the most guilty,” Applejack said. “I mean I’m the one that told y'all to go and check on the princess rather then comfort our friend when she needed it.”
Rainbow Dash looked down. “You may have told us to do it, but we choose it ourselves. We all thought she was just being possessive of her brother and mean to the bride! Of course, that probably doesn’t excuse our behavior.”
“It sure don’t,” Applejack said. “We were putting ourselves before our friendship with Twilight. I mean you had the chance to do a Sonic Rainboom and show off your flying to the Wonderbolts as well as all of Canterlot and I had the chance to make up for the loss at the Grand Galloping Gala when I wanted to sell a bunch of apple products.”
Rainbow nodded sadly. “Yeah we were being pretty bad. We gave that imposter the benefit of the doubt but we didn’t do the same for Twilight. We’re lucky she’s so forgiving. I mean, we really crossed the line here.”
“We sure did,” Applejack said with a sad nod. “And we still have a bit more of Canterlot to clean up from the attack. I feel like such a rotten apple. My pa called me that in my last dream. This whole mess was my-”
Rainbow Dash put a hoof over her mouth. She shook her head.
“OUR fault,” she corrected her.
Applejack nodded slowly and looked outside. It had been five days since the attack happened and they quickly got the wedding back on track. Princess Cadance had assigned them to community service when she learned the truth of what happened. Applejack’s family had returned to Ponyville without her. Twilight hadn’t been required to stay in Canterlot since only her friends had community service as this whole mess was their fault for not listening to her. But Twilight had stayed to help repair her home regardless. The only difference was she was being paid by Princess Celestia for her efforts.
At least most of the damage was repaired, just a few more buildings needed patching up.
Applejack remembered when they’d had dinner with Celestia the night after the wedding.
Flashback:
They’d just finished their first day of community service and been invited to the castle to dine with the Princess. The ruler of Equestria sat at the head of the table with Spike at the other end and Twilight on the princesses right. Celestia looked at her student with remorse. All the others showed their sadness in their own ways. Rarity had not brushed her mane as she usual did and it looked rather ordinary and flat. Pinkie's mane had deflated, while the others were merely silent.
Finally the silence was broken when Celestia spoke.
“Once again, Twilight I’m very sorry for not listening to you,” the alicorn said bowing her head.
“You don’t need to keep saying that, Princess,” Twilight said with a small smile though her eyes still showed her sadness.
“But I feel I must. Those words I said to you were so cold,” Celestia said guiltily. “And you had already gotten quite a verbal beating from your brother.”
She sighed, and levitated a chest up onto the table before Twilight.
“What’s this?” the unicorn asked.
“Your reward,” Celestia said offering a small smile. “For saving my kingdom. A thousand bits.”
That was four times as much as all of them had gotten for defeating Discord!
“Oh Princess Celestia you don’t need to...”
“Please accept it,” the princess said with pleading eyes. “It will make me feel better. And you did save a member of the royal family as well.”
She then sniffled, tears escaping her eyes. Then she let out full on sobs.
“Princess Celestia!” Twilight gasped in concern and got up from her chair and wrapping her hooves around her mentor.
“Oh Twilight, I just can’t be strong right now!” Celestia cried as she used her wing to hug her student back. “I could have lost you! The queen could have killed you when she had you alone! I could have lost Cadance as well if she'd been left in the caverns! I love both of you so much! You are like a daughter to me, yet I chose to comfort my adoptive niece instead! Then I just told you you had a lot to think about and then a real wedding to put together instead of apologizing first thing!”
The others watched with equal sadness.
"That wasn’t your fault,” Twilight said. “You were under the effects of Cadance’s love spell when it spread over Canterlot!”
“Actually it was bad script writing!” Pinkie said breaking the fourth wall angrily for a moment. “Those above wouldn’t let us get a good apology in! Damn you writers!"
The others didn't hear her speak out into the world beyond the humble screen. Pinkie's mood soon returned to somber.
Celestia managed a smile though her tears still flowed. “I’m just glad you’re alright now Twilight! I’ve lived a thousand years but this is one of the greatest mistakes I feel I’ve ever made right after banishing my sister and not being there for her.”
She also thought of another pony that she'd failed who had yet to return. Sunset Shimmer. Celestia only hoped that would turn out for the best as well.
Twilight said nothing, unable to think of any words that might comfort her mentor.
"Twilight, darling, I feel I simply must do something to make up for how badly I treated you!" Rarity said earnestly as she approached her friend.
"Me too," Applejack said.
"Me three," Rainbow Dash said.
"Um, me four?" Fluttershy said.
"Me five!" Pinkie said with none of her usual cheeriness.
Spike didn't say anything but nodded.
Twilight sighed as she pulled away from her mentor. She wanted to tell them it wasn't necessary but seeing their sad faces knew she needed to let them try.
"Alright, just don't go overboard," she said. “One gift will be enough, I think.”
She hesitated for a moment and then hugged Applejack. The cowponys mouth fell open.
"I don't blame you for what you did, Applejack," Twilight said. "Like I said yesterday I would have walked out on all of you too if you'd accused Cadance of being evil without proof."
"You knew her though, you would have been comforting a longtime friend. We were just looking out for our own interests," Applejack said as she slowly returned the hug with a sigh. “We can’t change the past, but we can better the future. I swear as an Apple I won’t rest until this mistake is rectified! Honest Honor!”
Applejack sighed once again. Today was her last day of community service where the repairs around Canterlot would be completed. When she got back to Ponyville she’d make things right with Twilight. Get some of her best apples and make Apple Pie, maybe even cider as well. It might not be the best this time of year but it would probably still be good. She could even make sure Twilight gets the very first flask of cider. Whatever it took to get over this awful feeling of guilt. The hug from Twilight had helped but didn’t absolve her of it.
She knew her friends were all feeling the same way as well, and Celestia, Shining Armor and Spike too.
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There are a few mistakes in here maybe have an editor look of it again.
The characters have no emotions, and you do not clarify if there is a dream sequence or not.
It is not clear when the dream sequence begins and when it ends.
You should look for an editor and have them look over the story with you and tell you what you were doing wrong.
apologize with TEARS!! how could you do that to my favorite apple lovers!!
11744638
How does it not have any emotion? Celestia breaks down, seemed pretty emotional to me when wrote it. Though looking back maybe add more on the others.
11744638
Eh, I need to check more throughly I guess.
11744702
Like I said, maybe you should have an editor look over it.
11744708
Eh I can do it myself. As long as I really go over it.
11744711
Also, like I said, there is no clue indicator between a dream sequence and the present day.
You might wanna work on that.
Ohh I mean I guess that's true but I'm sure it was just a misunderstanding
Okay I know it's a dream and everybody gets upset but I know for a fact that Twilight we'll never do something like that even if she's angry well I mean she did tackle Cadence but still
"Nothing you can do can make up for this!" Bright Mac shouted.
Look I know giving a second chance can be very hard to receive and everything especially what happened but it doesn't have to be forever they will always find a way to forgive you just need to take time
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11744847
Yeah. You do need to take time to get over the guilt. But seeing as Twilight attacked Cadance that shows she can be wrathful if pushed too far. Applejack is really feeling bad about it.
Nice breaking the fourth wall but in a sad way but I guess this is what happens when they want to have to spice out the show people love drama
Okay wow that is interesting starting over story so we're going back to season 2 and 3 so it looks like Applejack and the others are doing community service after the event of the wedding even though technically it wasn't their fault but I guess guilt really is the strongest feeling of them all and they really want to prove that how much they were so sorry for not believing Twilight even though Twilight felt even guilty about how the others felt horrible as well basically there's no right situation everybody is just an emotional wreck I just hope that they all try to figure this thing out I guess we'll find out next time
11744872
It may not have been their fault the changelings attacked but they could have averted the disaster if they'd listened to Twilight.
11744941
It may be but sometimes without any proof which unfortunately that's always going to be the strong point of it words would not be enough and it sucks but unfortunately that's how it's supposed to be and I remember watching something like that before
The situation is probably worst than what anyone really thinks, nightmare moon only wanted eternal night but never really wanted to kill everpony, as for discord he only wanted chaos, not murder, but for Chrysalis? Ya Equestria was doomed and it would have been if Chrysalis wasn't defeated and that was thanks to Twilight, I never really watched the show, I just began watching the show a couple weeks ago so I'm not at the wedding bit yet, but by the sounds of it it's only Shining Armor and Princess Cadance who is getting all the attention for saving the wedding and Equestria, although if it wasn't for Twilight since the start, Equestria might as well be wiped off the map.
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Not directly, but without sunlight everypony would eventually die of starvation without their crops most likely.Yeah they do get all the attention mostly.