mylittlejamjar | APPLE FACTS 13 1/2: MOST APPLES ARE STILL PICKED BY HAND [Visual/Private]

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APPLE FACTS 13 1/2: MOST APPLES ARE STILL PICKED BY HAND [Visual/Private]

[Private to the Mane 6 and All their Variations]

Hi. Uh. I usually don't answer a lot of these when you girls private them to us because a lot of the time I'm not sure it includes me but I've got some serious shit I need to ask you all about.

You probably know me but if you don't I'm Jappleack, the Danny Devito twin to Applejack's Arnold Schwarzenegger, and pretending you all get that joke and moving on, you probably know me from my smash hit "Jumping into the Pale Pony", a tune so great I've done it three times now. In a little bit, I think I'm going to be doing it a fourth.

So here's the deal. If you can, you really think you can? I want any of you to come with me.

See, I think talking can work with her. Last time myself and a few others tried it and it...didn't go great, but she reacted. And if there's anything we can do, not just to stop this but to help her, it's going to be by confronting her with words. Of showing we care.

So I wan't to take a group of us, at least one of each of us, in to her to talk with her. I'm not going to push for this; if you don't think you could do it, don't. I don't want to put anypony in more danger than they think they can deal with. But I think it'd have a pretty damn good chance of working.

That's all I got.

[Private/Team Dandy]

Yo mofos I'm checking in to make sure all of you are still alive and kicking here. It's been a while since we dove into our host here. I'm thinking it might be a good idea to try again soon, and I've got a proposition about our next trip when y'all are ready.

I don't want to do it before Hearts and Hooves Day, she seems kind of...active during holidays. I'm thinking maybe near the end of February or beginning of March, whichever you nerds want to do. Either way, I kind of get the feeling we should move soon. I dunno.

I feel like something big might happen soon.

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...I dunno if having more than one Apple along would confuse her, since you've been kinda the ringleader so far as I can tell. But if you need me, I'm there.

Asking me? Yeah, I think we'll need you, if you're willing to come.

I'd like you to, I gotta admit.

Then I'm there. It ain't even a question.

...I've been waiting for you to ask.

I've wanted to it's just. Shit. I didn't want to put you in that much danger. And I mean it's still going to be dangerous as hell it's just...

I don't feel like I might end up leading you into something we can't get out of, anymore.

Well, whatever happens---we'll pull through. Together this time.

Got that right. Ain't a goddamn thing gonna stop us.

I know I had to keep y'all safe while you were in there before, but there's still a lot I don't know about how we do this. Are we having another meeting before we go?

With how many ponies it looks like might be going? Yeah.

I think we're gonna need to. Just good practice, too.

...yeah, considering how many groups of us we've got? It's like we're bringing a little army.

That's not gonna spook her, is it?

...I don't know.

But we have to keep moving forward. That's why I think it's important for us to be there, to try and comfort her. Talk with her, at least.

Applejack?

Can I talk to you? Off the scrolls?

Can do.

And...that too. You know where to find me.

[And where to find her is her home at the farm, specifically leaning on her favorite tree just in front of the house.]

Cool. I'll be down in a minute.

[And it isn't long before Japple leaves her own room at the farmhouse, meeting AJ by her tree. She doesn't waste time explaining things either.]

Fluttershy is up in my room. The one who turns into a bat sometimes. And she is depressed and crushed as shit.

We need to figure out what we're going to do.

[Her face falls. She wants to rush up there and try to help right away...but she can't. She has to steel herself and come up with an approach. Oh, she's not good at this kind of thing.]

Do we know anything about what's troubling her?

I dunno. Not all of it. She thinks she's worthless, or not unique and...I don't know what brought it about. Hell. I didn't want to ask her that, not like this and now. But she was so sad and...she just didn't want to leave. I don't think it would've been right to have her leave I...

[She stands up on her hind legs, taking her more 'human' like posture as she shrugs and then lets her shoulders fall heavily.]

I dunno. I think the best thing may be to talk and watch her right now. Let the main ponies she cares about know she's her right now. ...Let Discord know it too, I guess.

[As much as she hates the idea of Discord on the farm for any extended period of time.]

I just don't want to. You know. I don't want to funk things up for her.

I don't want to funk things up with what's coming. But I probably am.

Yeah. We give her time, let her know we're here, maybe talk to her one on one when she's ready to see us---that goes for Discord too. Much as I hate to admit it, he really cares for her, and I think given the right angle he could help.

But I dunno...this worthlessness and identity crisis stuff? I think it might also be part of a bigger problem with us.

[Japple thinks on that for a moment before nodding.]

With how many of each of us there are...yeah. It's kind of bound to come up.

I don't know exactly how to even work through it. I only recently kind of got an idea of who I really am, before I came here. Maybe, hell.

Maybe being here will help all of us work it out.

[She thinks on that for a moment, frowning. Not angry or mad, a sad one.]

...You know you aren't worthless, right?

[Because she knows how, despite all she's supposedly done, how easy it is for Jappleack to occasionally think it. To see inferiority in herself.

God. She hope she isn't so blind that she's left AJ to just deal with feelings like that on her own.]

I think we ought to do something as a group to get our feelings out there before we go diving anywhere. Calice senses any rifts with us, I think we'll be in trouble.

[She idly scratches her hoof on the ground.]

...yeah, I did. I thought I'd been failing as a friend, and failing to be the pony I used to be. That's why the windigos grabbed me so easily. But y'all were there for me...or you tried to be. I still owe a fair few apologies, but I'll get 'em out.

Probably. I dunno. I...I haven't really kept up with the girls as much as I should have.

[She looks back over at AJ, walking a bit closer.]

Hell. It didn't get you any easier than it got me. And you've worked so damn hard whenever ponies would have needed it.

[They need to get their feelings out there. ...Maybe she should start.]

...I wish I could be more like you. Ever since I met you, and any version I've met, you always showed me kindness and you always do it without hesitation or thought. I don't think I've ever met anyone as hardworking, or as generous or hospitable or honest as you. And I just keep thinking, you know...

I wish I could measure up to you. Sure, I've got my own shit I could do but I just...

I never feel whole. Or like I'm really an Applejack, unless I'm working to be more like you.

[Applejack pauses to listen, her eyes widening. She's heard this in brief before, but it never ceases to amaze her just how much her Apple sister sees in her.

She slowly smiles.]

You already are. You've got just as much of a claim to being Applejack as me. Maybe more...'cause when it comes down to it, when ponies are in trouble? These days, it's you who plays the hero more than me. And when I see you trying...it reminds of the best of who I was, and who I want to be again.

[She flicks her mane back.]

You've got a whole bushel of friends ready to help. I mean...sometimes roses have thorns, y'know? But they're still the prettiest. Uh...not sure exactly where I'm going with that, but. Point is you're important, and we love you. I do, anyway.

[She tentatively extends a hoof.]

[Japple just looks at the hoof. And then?

Screw that. She just takes AJ into a big old Apple family hug.]

I love you too.

It'd be so much damn harder here without you.

You showed me part of me that I never thought I'd find. Now I've just gotta live up to it.

[She might sound a little choked up as she hugs back, fierce and strong. When she finally steps back, she's smiling shakily.]

...our friendships really are important, and we won't let anypony lose themselves. Don't worry---we'll help Fluttershy, and all the rest too. At least...now that I"m sure I know what to do about it.

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APPLE FACTS 13 1/2: MOST APPLES ARE STILL PICKED BY HAND [Visual/Private]

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