For as long as anyone could remember, Sweet Apple Acres had always been a peaceful and calm place to go to. Not only were it's vast and beautiful orchards a sight to behold, but the whole place simply had a tranquil feel to it, as if you were in another world, far and free from the hustle and bustle of town and city life. That such a place could even exist amidst all the activity and goings on of a place like Canterlot utterly staggered belief, and yet, there it was, under the care of the Apple family, much as it had been for generations now. And speaking of whom, one of that family's most noted members, Applejack, was currently busy with her chores, going from tree to tree, carefully collecting apples to place down in the baskets below. Despite being hard work, the smile on her face made it clear that, however tough it might have been, there was nothing she'd rather be doing right now.

As the day rolled on, she turned, looking upon the others who had joined her on this bright and beautiful day. There was her brother, Mac, who, like her, was bust climbing up the trees to get at the apples. There was Apple Bloom, who went from basket to basket, picking them up and carting them away to the barn as soon as they were full. And then, there was her Grandmother, Granny Smith, who observed the apples before Apple Bloom could haul them away, most likely checking to see which would make the best cider or pies or other such apple-based goods. All-in-all, it was a pleasant family outing with the four of them. However, it soon became clear that there was more than four people here, as Applejack's ears alerted her to the sound of approaching footsteps through the nearby grass. Turning, she put on a smile as she finally caught sight of who it was.

"Well howdy there, Sour! Lovely day, ain't it?"

The girl, Sour Sweet, a former rival of Applejack and her friends, walked past tree after tree as she made her way over. She didn't say anything for the time being, simply giving a nod in response to Applejack's greeting. Instead, she stopped as soon as she reached the girl's tree, looking over to what each member of the Apple family was doing. After a few more moments, Applejack had finished plucking her own apples, and so finally came down her ladder, wherein her sister was waiting for her. Smiling at the youth, Applejack tussled her red hair a little before letting her get on with carrying the final basket away. After seeing her go, Applejack took off her famous Stetson and wiped the sweat from her brow before finally looking Sour again, putting on a friendly smile.

"It's nice ya came ta visit, Sour. Wouldn't have thought this'd be yer kinda place."

Sour put on a big smile of her own, clasping her hands together and generally looking as sweet as the second part of her name would suggest.

"Well, after going to Fluttershy and starting to enjoy spending time with animals, I figured it might be nice to come and see what the rest of you did."

But, before Applejack could respond to that, she noted how the girl's smile almost instantly vanished, replaced instead by a rather aggressive expression.

"You know...not like I had anything else to do on a Saturday or anything."

Although taken aback by that gruff behaviour, Applejack nevertheless kept on smiling, albeit with a nervous chuckle before she carried on.

"Well...yer welcome ta have a look around the farm if ya like. Shoot! Why don't ah give ya the grand tour or somethin?"

Again, Sour broke out into a happy-looking smile.

"Oh! That would be wonderful!"

And again, the smile faded as quickly as it came.

"Unless you were expecting me to just stand here all day!"

Applejack raised an eyebrow at these sudden changes, clearing her throat a little before gesturing with her hand to the orchard. Sour gave a single nod before starting to follow the farm girl around. And so began Applejack's tour of their family farm, and through it, she showed her visitor pretty much everything there was to see. She showed the vast orchards, circling the entire perimeter of the place, she showed the massive red barn adjacent to the Apples' home, filled with all of the tools and other farm equipment they needed for their work, and, at the very end of it all, she showed the home itself, looking just as welcoming and, for lack of a better word, "homely" as it had been for years. Given the size of the orchards, the tour had taken the better part of an hour, and by the end of it, Applejack had looked quite pleased with herself.

"And that's the farm! Pretty nice, ain't it?"

As before, Sour looked to her with stereotypical sweetness.

"Oh! It's simply the most beautiful place I can remember seeing in a long time!"

And, as Applejack had come to expect at this point, the girl's temperament soon turned less pleasant afterwards.

"Assuming you can get used to the smell of a farm...which might actually be worse than the animal shelter, now that I think about it."

However, rather than sounding in any way offended by those words, Applejack simply let out a hearty laugh.

"Heck! That's the smell of the country, girl! City types may hate it, but ta me...it's home."

Sour looked to her and, for a moment, some hesitation flickered in her eyes.

"You really love all this, don't you?"

Applejack placed her hands on her hips, looking slightly prideful.

"Eyup! Born and raised fer apples an farmin! Ah wouldn't have another life even if it were offered ta me on a silver plate!"

Sour considered that for a moment, remaining utterly silent as she did so. In this silence, Applejack looked to her, and could see, even without a word, that something was bothering her. But, let it never be said that Applejack never offered help when it was needed, and so she cleared her throat, gaining Sour's attention.

"Is...is somethin on yer mind, sugarcube?"

Sour raised an eyebrow at that.

"Sugarcube?"

Applejack chuckled at that.

"Oh, it's...it's just a thing ah call people sometimes. But even so...ya look like ya need ta talk."

Sour folded her arms and looked away, and it looked as if she was trying to put on a forced smile like before, but was having difficulty in doing so.

"It's...it's nothing. I'm fine, really."

But to this, Applejack frowned, walking closer and placing a hand on her shoulder.

"Now, Sour. Ah'm pretty good at spottin a lie, and ah tell ya now, it ain't gonna do ya any good just bottlin it up like that. Somethin is botherin ya, and if we're gonna be friends...ah'd like ya ta feel like ya can tell me."

Sour looked to her, with a look on her face that made it seem like simply opening up to someone was the strangest thing anyone had ever asked of her.

“It’s just…you have all this stuff you love doing, right? I mean…you really love it?”

Applejack put on a look of confusion at that.

“Well…sure, yeah.”

Sour let out a sigh.

“And nobody ever tells you to like it? You’ve never had something you didn’t really care about but people said you had to?”

Again, Applejack appeared puzzled by that.

“Yeah…where are ya goin with this, Sour?”

Sour opened her mouth to speak, only to close it when her hesitancy reared its ugly head. After a long while of silence from the girl, she finally spoke up again, though avoided her host’s gaze as she did so.

“People are always saying I need to be happy about stuff. You’ve gotta put on a smile, Sour. You’ve gotta be happy about what your’e doing, Sour. Nobody likes a sour grape, Sour.”

Although she tried to resist, Applejack couldn’t help but snort a little at that last one, prompting Sour to look at her with narrowed eyes. With a wave of embarrassment flowing over her, Applejack put on an apologetic look as she shrugged her shoulders.

“Er…sorry.”

Shaking her head, Sour looked away again before carrying on.

“You’ve probably caught on by now, but…those moments when I’m happy? They’re not…they’re not…”

But Applejack, seeing the look on her face, already knew the answer.

“They’re not honest, are they?”

Sour turned to her, and for one moment, there was understanding between the two girls. After a while though, Sour looked away again with a slight frown.

“People always expect us to be happy, even when we’re not. So…I guess I just kinda made myself happy…no matter how much it…bothered me.”

Applejack regarded her carefully, watching with interest as, for the first time, she let out a genuine hearty laugh.

“Listen to me. Going on about my problems! You’re probably not all that interested, are you?”

But Applejack shook her head at that.

“Far from it, Sour. Ah can’t claim ta know what folks have said to ya over the years, but when yer here, with me, then ya can be as unhappy as ya please.”

Sour turned to her with a raised eyebrow, showing her incredulity. Seeing her like that, Applejack put on a smile, placing a hand on her heart.

“Ah mean what ah say, friend. If ya feel like ya don’t wanna smile or be happy, then ya go right ahead and do just that. We do honesty here at Sweet Apple Acres, an the way ya act around others, all sweet an stuff…well…it ain't honest.”

Sour regarded Applejack carefully, still somewhat hesitant about all of this.

“You…you mean that? You wouldn’t be bothered if I was just…just a grump the whole time?”

Applejack chuckled a bit and shook her head.

“If that’s who ya are, then that’s who ya are. An there ain’t no need ta apologise fer that.”

Silence fell between them yet again, during which, Sour looked deep in thought over everything the farm girl had just said to her. As for Applejack herself, she looked on at Sour in kind, waiting patiently for her to say what it was she wanted to do with the offer that had been made right now. After a long while, Sour let out a sigh, putting on a smile, albeit far smaller than the kind she usually put on for the sake of others.

“Thanks, Applejack. I…I appreciate that.”

Looking to her, and to her smile especially, Applejack raised an eyebrow of her own.

“Ya sure ya wanna be smiling right now, Sour?”

To that, the other girl simply nodded.

“For the first time today…yeah…I kinda do.”