I close the window and turn back to my end table. Then I pick up the dusty book and brush it off. I use my purple claws to gently open the book.

The Element of Honesty

Sweet Celestia, I remember her well. I loved her inviting accent and when she ran how the wind would rip through her mane, all the while her Stetson hat stayed firmly on her head. It was true that Applejack was the embodiment of honesty. I take in a deep breath and turn the page.

"To be honest I hated them for it…" that is the first sentence on the page. I blink a few times. What am I reading? I look closer at the words on the page. It is written in her signature mouth writing. I can tell because despite being a typical farm girl, Applejack had very stylized writing. I'm pretty sure it was from when she went to Manehattan as a filly. Come to think of it, I never really knew much about my old friends' filly hood. Sure, I know their cutie mark stories but their actual background I know very little about. I keep reading, my green eyes scanning the page and I continue to read.

"It pains me to say it but I did. I never understood how somepony's parents could just up and downright lie to their youngens. When I first heard the news I was devastated.

I remember it like it was yesterday…"

---

The little orange filly springs out of bed at the crack of dawn as she does every morning. She skips past her older brother's room in the farmhouse the Apple family owns on the outskirts of Ponyville. She opens his door, sticking her head into his room.

"Big Mac! Time to get up!" She smiles brightly through her gapped teeth. The older colt was already up and making his bed. The orange filly admires his cutie mark he got a few weeks ago before looking at her own blank flank in envy.

"Eeyup" The colt smiles at his younger sister and they both trot down the hall. They pass their youngest sister's door and try to be as quiet as possible outside the new foal's room. Once they were past it they both started giggling and race down the stairs for breakfast.

"Mornin' kiddos!" the older green pony smiles at the filly and colt that sit at the table.

"Granny Smith! Do you know what today is?" The orange filly asks the older pony as she slides the apple pancakes onto their awaiting plates.

"Oh I don't know is it Hearths Warming eve?" Granny Smith teases.

"Granny! It's summer!" The young filly giggles knowing her grandmother was kidding around.

"Well then what is it dearie?" Granny Smith sits at the table with her tea.

"Today's the day Ma and Pa are gonna show us how to use the new tractor!" The filly smiles brightly.

"Oh Applejack don't get ahead of yourself." Granny Smith sips her tea.

"But they've been dyin' to show us Granny!" Applejack pleads with a mouthful of pancake in her mouth. She spits a bit out in her protest and this causes Big Macintosh to laugh a little bit.

The laughter and commotion causes the little foal upstairs to wake up and start crying. "Just be patient you two" Granny Smith says and grabs a bottle for the foal and proceeds to slowly walk up the stairs.

Applejack waits until Granny Smith is all the way up the stairs and out of sight before she pushes her plate away.

"Ya ready big brother?" Applejack asks as she stands up from the table, eagerly bouncing from hoof to hoof.

"Eeyup!" Big Macintosh takes his plate in his mouth and places it in the sink. He turns back to his younger sister with a knowing look.

"Ah fine!" With a hoof stomp she takes her plate to the sink too. "Happy now?" she asked.

"Eeyup" He smiles and winks at her. She nuzzles her brother and they head outside to the vast apple farm that lies out before them. Applejack breathes in the morning air. She never understood why a pony would sleep in on such beautiful days like this one.

"Can you believe it Big Mac? Our family, the first family in all of Ponyville to have their own electric farm equipment!" Applejack, beaming with pride walks around the house to the large barn.

"Ma! Pa!" Applejack bounces as they round the barn.

"Ovah here!" a large red stallion calls out from sitting atop a large tractor that dwarfed the yellow mare standing beside it.

"Lookie 'ere!" the mare smiles as her two children trotted over.

"A mighty fine tractor for a mighty fine deal!" smiles the stallion sitting proudly on the machine. He straightens his horse collar. "Now think of how easily we can harvest Sweet Apple Acers with this baby!" He hits the tractor with his hoof. He starts it up and it purrs with the ferocity of a manticore. This scares Applejack a little bit as she hides behind her brother.

"No worries" The sweet mare nudges her daughter out from behind her son. "It won't hurt ya" She smiles and tips her Stetson hat and that quickly calms Applejack.

"When can we ride it Ma?" She asks, her eyes lighting up in delight. The mare laughs gently.

"Not 'til you're older sweetie." The light in Applejack's face fades and her mother sees this.

"But you can still help!" She tries to cheer up her young filly. "Why don't you help your brother buck trees? Even with this contraption we still need all the hoof power we can get!" She winks at her daughter. Applejack beams with pride.

"I promise I'll be the best apple bucker this side of Equesteria!" Applejack smiles with vigor. Her mother laughs a bit.

"You sure will, now I'm gonna help your father with this confound thing" She sighs with a smile and canters over to the north field. Applejack turns to her brother and trots to the east field and joins him in bucking apples. She is smaller than he so she doesn't get quite as many and he has to help her.

---

"I still can't believe what happened next" I pause in my reading for a second; the imagery is a lot to take. For a moment there I thought I was in Applejack's place. I eagerly flip the page but I'm careful not to tear the old parchment. "I thought it was a tree falling at first. But the sound, it was much worse. It sounded like the plows banging next to each other in a windstorm. The next thing I knew Granny Smith was out the door of the house and galloping as fast as a racehorse towards the north field."

---

Applejack looks at her brother with a look of horror plastered upon her face. She gallops as fast as her little legs can take her. She is second to the scene after Granny Smith.

"Applejack! Get out!" Granny Smith yells with fervor. The terrible scene plays out in front of the filly's green eyes.

There underneath the tractor is her mother, and some fifty yards away is her father. Both are as still as an apple that had fallen from the tree before its prime. Big Macintosh runs up behind Applejack and pushes her behind him

"Ah said get out!" Granny Smith snaps, trying to mask her own tears. The two young ponies turn to run back to the house when Applejack looks back at her mother, she is halfway crushed by the behemoth.

"Ma don't leave me…" Applejack mutters.

"…Ah won't…" came the faint reply of the semi-conscious mare. Big Macintosh tugged at his sister and lead them back in the house to call for help.

---

"I couldn't believe it. The next thing I remember was at their funeral. No filly should have to attend their parent's funeral. I remember wearing Ma's hat, and Big Mac had Pa's collar.

I was mad for a time. Ma and Pa lied to me. They said they would always be there for us and they lied. It weren't long after that was when I tried to make my way to Manehattan to get away from the grief. I took with me their picture but not Ma's hat. I was there for a while but found that didn't work the way I expected and I ended up returnin' to the farm and wearin' Ma's hat again. Granny Smith made a rule that there was to be no more farm equipment allowed on Sweet Apple Acers from that point until the end of time. I was all right with that.

Now I don't take Ma's hat off no more besides for cleanin' and such. And I've never seen Big Mac without Pa's collar."

I read the last few sentences over again. How have I not see this before? It all made so much sense now! I feel completely stupid for not seeing this before. I can't help but lean back with the book open on my lap. Am I really that blind or was Applejack just that good at hiding things? The events of what I just read keep replaying through my mind like one of Pinkie Pie's records. I feel like this is too personal for me to be reading. Yet strangely I feel obligated to finish.

I take a gulp and turn the page to keep reading.