Sleep was precious to Sunset Shimmer. Dreams were incredibly precious. Every one of them felt like another life, another adventure to her.

To have that interrupted annoyed her greatly.

First, the blinds were flicked open, the rays of the morning sun washing over her. She winced and drew her thick blanket tighter over her naked body, shoving her face as deep into her pillow as she could.

Second, the blanket was very rudely yanked off of her form, exposing her to the early morning bite of a chilly, Fall day. She groaned and shivered, but still had her pillow, and as such, she hugged in close and kept her eyes closed. Maybe if she stayed still, she’d be left alone.

Third, a chipper, southern drawl washed over her, making her ears flick back as a particularly happy morning pony stood over her. “Rise n’ shine, Lazy Bones!” she announced. “Up and at em! We got mornin’ chores to do!”

Sunset let out an irate groan. It was Saturday, they were supposed to sleep in on Saturdays. But no, no such luck today, it seemed.

As part of the arrangement she’d made with Applejack, she’d promised to help out around the farm while she was staying there, so she could at least feel like she was contributing something to them, rather than just being a mooch while her home life was being sorted out. While AJ, and her entire family come to think of it, had said it was unnecessary, and that she was a guest, she had insisted on being treated no differently than anyone else in the Apple Clan.

She had expected, maybe, helping out after school. Picking up rotten apples and cleaning up the orchard, or maybe mowing the grass out front, perhaps even driving a tractor around for one reason or another.

Getting up with the sun on the weekends to tend the fields had not been something she’d anticipated.

She should have known better.

“Five more minutes,” she grumbled, yelping as her behind was given a quick, firm pat, enough to make a light clapping sound as Applejack gripped her rear.

“You got five more seconds before I give you fifty,” she teased. “That’ll definitely wake you up!”

“A-all right, fine,” she groaned, lifting her head up. “I’m up, I’m up.”

“Atta girl!” she grinned. “Yer gettin’ used to it. Used to take a few paddle whacks to actually get you up at this hour!” she snickered. “Now come on, the shower’s free, and it’s biscuits and apple jam for breakfast!”

Sunset took in a deep whiff, catching the scent of freshly baking bread and freshly crushed apples on the floor below. She smiled, the smell getting her to relax and let out a hearty sigh. “That does smell really good,” she mumbled. “Okay…” she flexed her tired muscles, forcing them to obey her as she slid her legs over the side of the bed and sat up, stretching out her body and letting out a massive yawn, shaking her head to get her mane out of her eyes. “I still don’t get why we have to be up so early,” she grumbled.

“Ya get yer chores out of the way early and that leaves the rest of the day just fer you,” she said happily, patting her shoulder. “Now come on, Sleepy-mane, we got the easy job today.”

Sunset blinked. “The easy job?” she asked.

“Yep!” she said happily. “We’re cleaning out the coop today.”

Sunset wrinkled her nose lightly. “Goody.” The first time she’d cleaned out the chicken coop, she’d had to fend off one of the nastier roosters that had knocked her basket of eggs over and then scared her into falling into a rather unpleasant pile of dirty hay that the chickens had apparently been using as an outhouse at the time. Applejack and her brother Big Mac, had found the display more than a little hilarious, and it had taken them a little while to recover from laughing before they could actually offer her any help in escaping the wrath of the demon rooster.

“Aww, don’t worry none. We had Finster moved out to his own coop fer a few days. Don’t need him fertilizin’ the eggs right now, so he won’t be around when we’re cleanin’.”

“I guess that helps, she said. She let out another vicious yawn, pushed herself up, stretched, grabbed a set of clean, old clothes, and shuffled after Applejack, who led the way out of their shared room to the second floor shower. The farm house had been built with several workers living there in mind, and as such there was a lot of unused space in the Apple family abode. One of the big abnormalities was the shower room, which had several small, circular curtains in a neat row in a single room, so that six or so ponies could shower at once and get ready for their day. Sunset set her clothes to the side, hopped into one, and started it up, dodging to the side at the last minute as she realized that the water was probably going to be freezing cold. Then it went boiling hot. After another minute of adjusting the output, she finally found a temperature that she could stand and let it wash over her mane and fur, straightening out her absolutely terrifying bed head.

“Ahhh, that’s better,” she moaned, letting a small drizzle of shampoo flow through her mane.

Once she’d finished her shower, and had given herself a good wash, she and Applejack put on their clothes, Applejack in a flannel shirt and a pair of tight, worn jeans, and Sunset in a sleeveless red top and a pair of black jeans, so worn that there were holes at the knees ripped straight through.

As they started down the stairs, a pale peach pony with a messy orange mane appeared at the bottom. She wore a short skirted dress with a long apron over the front, a stetson on her head, similar to Applejack’s. “Well, bout time,” she said, her light and musical voice both playful and stern at the same time as she addressed the two of them. “Was worried you two decided yer chores could wait.”

“Sorry ma,” Applejack said, poking a thumb towards Sunset, who was still trying to rub some sleep from her eyes. “Took a bit of time to raise the sun today,” she snickered.

Sunset blushed and gave Applejack a tired glare before looking over at the mare at the bottom of the stairs. “Yeah, sorry about that, Ms. Pear Butter,” she said gently. “Guess I’m still getting used to this early rising business.”

“Ain’t no trouble,” she said with a small smile. “We just gotta toughen up that city girl body of yers. Won’t be long before you’re up before AJ, promise.”

The mare gave a light giggle and gave a soft jump as she felt something vibrate in her pocket. She glanced at Applejack. “I’ll be down in a sec. Someone’s texting me.”

Applejack’s ear flicked and she raised a brow. “Alrighty, but you hurry up. Ain’t gonna be warm fer much longer if you dally.” She smiled and headed down the rest of the stairs, turning into the dining room.

Sunset watched her go for a moment before she reached into her pocket, ignoring the knot forming in her stomach, and pulled out the phone, glancing at the text she’d just gotten. Of course it’d be from her father.

“Need 2 talk 2 U. Txt back ASAP.”

She narrowed her eyes, turned off her phone’s screen, placed it back in her pocket, and walked down into the dining room.

One thing she’d learned since she’d started staying with Applejack was that every single meal was an event, a precious meeting between everyone in the family. As such, the dining room table was actually more of a large picnic table, and every meal was treated like a banquet. She sniffed the air and had to force herself to stop from drooling. Biscuits and marmalade with apple jam on the side sat next to a fresh, massive coffee cake, with cups of breakfast tea and a small platter of fresh fruit sitting next to them.

Her stomach let out a powerful growl as she moved to an empty seat between Applejack and her younger sister, Apple Bloom. She was a tween with red hair tied up in a bow, and bright yellow fur. Sitting at the end to Apple Bloom’s left was their elder brother, an impressively sized stallion going by the name of Big Mac. He was a bulky fellow with red fur and a short, orange mane. Across from them were Applejack’s parents, her mother Pear Butter, and her father Bright Mac, who were busy flirting with one another as they filled their plates. Apple Bloom made a few gagging noises when the two of them touched their lips together briefly, only to quickly find her plate more interesting when the two of them turned simultaneous glares on their daughter.

And finally, at the end of the table, was the current reigning matriarch of the family, old Granny Smith, Applejack’s grandmother and Bright Mac’s mother. Her mane had gone white with age, and wrinkles were visible through her green fur. She nodded her head lazily up and down, still half asleep herself. Sunset found it rather interesting to see her in this state. She seemed to have a lot more life in her whenever she was serving kids as the academy’s lunch lady.

The ritual of morning chatter began, starting off simply enough, discussing the weather, and how school was going. Big Mac mentioned that the vampire fruit bats were starting to get antsy over in the west orchard. Sunset was glad she didn’t have to go near there. The bats freaked her out beyond all reason. Apple Bloom gave some light complaints about having to be the one to turn over the compost piles, but was given some good motivation with the fact that her friend Scootaloo had invited her over for lunch. Her parents gave her permission to go, IF she got the compost taken care of first.

That was enough to get the young mare's hope up and to wolf down the remainder of her breakfast, dashing out of the house to go and get her work done. “I better go after her and keep an eye on her,” Bright Mac mused. “Last time she tried to rush it, we were cleanin’ bits of fruit off the barn window for a good week.” He smirked and got up, giving himself a light stretch and playfully batting his wife with his tail before following Apple Bloom out into the day.

Pear Butter grinned and watched him go for a moment before turning her attention back on the others still sitting at the table. “So, Sunset,” she ventured, smiling at the unicorn, “How’re things going with you?”

Surprised to be addressed directly, Sunset offered a light shrug. “Fine,” she said after a moment.

Pear Butter nodded. “Y’heard anything from yer ma and pa? How things’re going on their end?”

Sunset grit her teeth for a moment, but eventually just shook her head. “Nothing yet.”

She nodded. “I see. Just thought I’d check.” She nibbled her food a bit before glancing up at the others. “AJ? Big Mac? Mind if I have a moment with Sunset?”

“Eeyup,” the big stallion responded with a nod, picking up the last bit of food from his plate and hurrying to the door.

“Er, sure. Everything all right, ma?” Applejack asked, slowly placing her stetson on her head before standing up, glancing at her friend.

“Yes, everything’s fine, I just wanna chat with Sunset fer a sec before she goes out to work.”

“Well, all right.” Applejack gave her mother a nod and then stood up, offering them both a quick smile and patting Sunset’s shoulder. “Meetcha out by the coop, alright?”

Sunset nodded, stifling another yawn. “I’ll be there. Don’t take all the good crap from me, huh?”

Applejack just laughed. “I’ll save a big pile of hay just fer you,” she teased before turning and walking out, Sunset playfully batting at her as she went to the front door.

Now left alone with Pear, she frowned and turned towards the older mare, leaning forward and folding her hands politely in her lap, glancing down at her plate. She’d eaten about half of the breakfast she’d set on it, which was already pretty paltry compared to the mounds of food available, and the large amount that the others at the table were eating. She glanced over at Granny Smith, still leaning back in her chair, her eyes closed, snoring lightly. “Is it okay to talk with her here?”

“Oh don’t you worry none, hon,” Pear Butter promised. “She’s always so worn out by the time the weekend rolls around, she spends most of the day either half asleep or all asleep.”

“What’s the difference?”

“Whether or not she makes it to her bed,” Pear chortled lightly.

Sunset offered her own half-hearted chuckle before leaning forward. “Ms. Pear Butter-”

“Oh please, call me Pear fer goodness’ sake,” she said with a smile.

“Pear, then,” Sunset said, “Am I… in trouble?”

“Course not!” She smiled again. “Just wanted to talk to ya in private fer a moment and make sure you’re doin’ all right.” Her smile faded. “I know you’re going through a rough patch right now, hon. Just wanna let you know if you need to talk, or find an outlet-”

“Yeah, I appreciate it,” Sunset said, suddenly standing up. “But I’m fine, Pear. I promise, I’m fine.” She turned again and walked out of the door before she could respond. As soon as she was outside in the sun, however, she winced and mentally kicked herself. ‘Stupid,’ she berated herself. ‘Could you have been any ruder to someone who was trying to help you?’

She continued to poke and prod herself for her poor reaction to Pear Butter’s words as she made her way down the path past the barn, towards the chicken coop and the pigsty. Her phone buzzed again and she scowled, pulling it out. It was another text, this time from her mother.

‘Hey, how r u? Need 2 talk soon. Court Date’s coming up’

Her scowl deepened and she responded back with ‘Not now, later’ before shoving her phone back in her pocket. A part of her wanted to just shut the thing off entirely, but in the back of her mind, she kept reminding herself that there could be an emergency or a legit reason for someone to get in touch with her, so she didn’t bother.

Applejack was already pulling a new hay bale into the coop when she arrived. She wrinkled her nose, knowing that she’d have to start pulling the old stuff out before too long. She unlatched the front of the coop, making sure none of the birds were nearby to make an escape before sliding inside and closing the door behind her. AJ smiled at her as she walked in and set the bale of hay down next to the coop. “Hey there, Sugar Cube,” she greeted. “How’d the talk with my ma go?”

“Fine,” she said with a shrug. “She just wanted to make sure I was okay.”

Applejack nodded. “And… are ya okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine!” she snapped, quickly backpedaling when she realized that it came out harsher than she meant it to. “Sorry… I’m just getting a little tired of everyone always asking me that.”

Applejack raised her brow again. “You SURE you’re alright?” she asked again. “Just wanna make sure, hon.”

“Yeah… I’m alright, I promise.” She smiled. “C’mon, let’s get this thing cleaned up.”

Nodding again, Applejack grunted and hefted up the latched roof of the coop, revealing the inside. She grabbed a basket off to the side and started to pull out any of the eggs that were still in the nests. While she did this, Sunset reached in and started to pull out some of the hay, glancing at Applejack as they started to work. “What about you?” she asked.

“What about me?” the farm mare asked, quirking a brow.

“You said you weren’t really feeling right for a while now.” She frowned and glanced away. “I sort of saw… you were browsing a search site for-”

“Sunset, I appreciate yer concern, but yeah, I’m still figuring that out,” she said. “I’m not quite ready to talk about that yet. But I’m… close to figuring it out, it feels like.”

“You sure?” she asked with a small smile. “I mean, after everything you’ve done for me-”

“Yeah,” she said with a nod. “And I promise, soon as I’m totally sure about what it is I’m feelin’ you’ll be the first to know.”

“Really? Not your family?”

Applejack paused. “You’ll be the second to know,” she snickered, tossing a small handful of hay at her.

Sunset laughed and retaliated in kind, but bundled up all of the used hay, trying hard to make sure that she wasn’t grabbing anything too gross, and deposited the nasty mass in a nearby wheelbarrow. The two worked in silence for a while, gathering the hay, and then breaking down the bale Applejack had brought, spreading the crisp, new straw around the place, the chickens immediately making for it in the hopes of claiming the best, most comfortable for themselves.

Sunset took a deep breath and wiped her brow, smiling. “There we go.”

“Well, look at you, all chipper after a job well done,” Applejack taunted. “See, that weren’t so bad, was it?”

“Heh, I guess not,” she said. “I guess a bit of hard work does feel good now and then.” She stretched out a little bit before glancing at AJ. “So, what now?”

“Well, first I gotta take the eggs back to the house and we gotta drop off the used hay at the compost pile, but after that, I suppose we’ll check with Ma and Pa, and if they don’t get anything more fer us, the day is ours.”

“Sounds great-” she blinked and groaned, taking out her phone again. “Son of a…”

“Everything okay?” she asked. “That thing’s been buzzing pretty often today, hasn’t it?”

She sighed. “My parents,” she grumbled.

“Oh…” Applejack frowned a little bit. “What did they want?”

“To talk,” she answered.

“So why don’t you?”

“Because I have nothing to say to them,” she grunted, looking at the new texts.

‘Sunset, stop ignoring me. Need your help.’

‘Sunset, U need 2 decide who U R going to go with for the court hearing.’

‘I know things sound bad right now, but it will be fine after all of this is settled.’

‘It’s not like I’m planning to move out of town or anything, if you choose to stay with me.’

“Well if you need to talk about anything, you know I’m right here for ya,” Applejack said.

Sunset continued to glare at her phone as she switched between the two separate text conversations, trying to keep up with her mother and father’s constant hounding, constantly promising things to her if she spoke on their behalf. She could feel her teeth starting to throb as she grit them as hard as she could. The cascade of texts continued.

‘Sunset, R U talking 2 Ur dad?’

‘Don’t tell ur mother about this, but I need your help.’

‘I hope not, U know he’s a liar. U know I’m in the right.’

“Sunset? You okay?”

‘If you’d just pick a side, we could put this behind us!’

‘Hon, why don’t U call? We could talk.’

“Seriously, Sun, you look like someone’s pissin’ in yer soup here! Maybe you outta put that phone down?”

‘Sunset-’

‘Sunset-’

“Hey, Sunset-”

“FUCK OFF!” she finally howled, rearing back and throwing her phone as hard as she could, towards the orchard. It gave a loud crack, and both she and Applejack could tell that a few bits of it had snapped off. The screen was most likely cracked to hell too. But Sunset wasn’t done yet. She let out a deep, frustrated scream, twisting and raising her foot up, slamming her foot into the wheelbarrow next to her, overturning it onto its side. “Fuck you! Fuck you all, just leave me alone and figure it out yourselves! I don’t want ANYTHING to do with this! FUCK!”

“S-sunset, calm down!” Applejack said, walking forward, arms raised. “It ain’t that bad, is it?’

“Not that bad? What the hell do you think?!” she asked, panting hard, glaring at Applejack. “I have two parents going through probably the worst divorce imaginable, always at each other’s throats, always trying to pull me one way or another, telling me ‘hey, Sunset! If you side with me, we’ll do something cool,’ or some shit like that! Wanting me to speak for them, against my other parent! Like, who does that!? And you aren’t helping! No one is, constantly asking ‘hey, you okay? Everything going fine?’ What the hell do I say to that? You think anyone wants to hear about that stuff?! NO!”

“Sunset!” Applejack frowned. “I wanna hear it! Of course I want to hear, that’s why I asked! I wanna help you out! I might not be able to offer any sort of advice-”

“Then don’t bother, AJ!” she said. “Your parents are still together, still happy. My parents are tearing themselves apart, and yeah, I get that I’m not exactly a kid anymore, but this still freaking sucks! And it’s TEARING ME APART! So don’t you come here offering me any false comfort, because I don’t want to hear it.”

“False…” She blinked and then scowled at Sunset. “Now you listen here, I ain’t been anything but honest with you and I brought you here hoping that you’d open up a bit when you had a chance to take a break from all that stressful stuff at home!” she stated. “You ain’t gotta be nasty about this, Sunset, believe me, I get that yer in a bad place right now, I do, but flippin’ out like this ain’t gonna help-”

“Oh don’t try giving me a lecture on how to handle situations like this when you don’t even have the courage to come out to anyone!” she shouted.

Applejack’s mouth clamped shut and her eyes widened for a moment.

Sunset gasped and covered her mouth. “A-AJ, wait, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that, oh god, I didn’t…”

Applejack raised a hand up. “I gotta go and cool down a bit, hon,” she said softly. “I suggest y’all do the same.” She turned and started to walk away.

Sunset’s eyes widened, watching her walk away, reaching out to her, but her voice caught in her throat and she choked as Applejack disappeared over the side of the barn. “Wait…” she said weakly. “I-I’m sorry…” She whimpered and slowly sank down to the ground, glancing at the edges of the coop for a moment.

“Well, you look like you’ve seen better days,” a voice said nearby.

Sunset jumped and glanced to the side. “Who-”

“Howdy,” Pear Butter said gently, frowning at the side of the coop.

“When did you…” she trailed off.

“Came runnin’ when I heard the yelling. Heard the last bit too.” She motioned to the front of the coop. “C’mere.”

Sunset jumped up and nodded, quickly making her way to the front of the coop enclosure, sliding out of the front. “Ma’am, please, I-I can explain, I was really mad, and under stress, and maybe a little tired still, and-”

Pear Butter shook her head. “Go pick up the bits of yer phone,” she said. “Then come with me. We’re gonna have a lil’ talk.”

Gulping, Sunset nodded, turning and walking away, towards the tree, her stomach tying up in knots. Her heart pounded against her chest and she felt like she might start retching at any second. In one fell swoop of just letting everything out that she’d been feeling the last couple of days, and now it was going to cost her a friend and a place to stay. She didn’t want to go home, she didn’t think she could actually take seeing her parents again right now.

She stopped at the side of the apple tree, the remains of her phone strewn about. As she’d thought, several small chunks of the phone’s casing had shattered upon impact, and the screen had a massive crack near its center, spider-webbing all the way out to the very edges of it. She sighed. She’d have to save up and replace that sooner rather than later.

Pocketing the now useless pile of glass and plastic that had once been her phone, she turned back and shuffled back over to Pear, whose face was was set in stone. Not angry or sad, just very calm and neutral, but with the unmistakable aura of a displeased mother behind those eyes. “Ms. Pear Butter-”

“I toldja before, hon, just call me Pear,” she said, turning around. “Now come along. We can walk as we talk.”

Gulping, Sunset could only manage a quiet ‘yes ma’am’ before following after her, chewing on her lip. “I-I… really, I’m sorry about that. That outburst was… it was…”

“Somethin’ you been holdin’ in for a damn sight longer than you should have,” she stated. “And when it finally burst out, you ended up hurtin’ someone.” She sighed. “Be straight with me, Sunset, how bad are things with yer folks right now?”

She groaned, feeling the knot in her stomach tighten. “Real bad. As in, they’re both lawyering up as we speak and both of them are trying hard to push me to speaking on their behalf.”

“Mhmm, figured that’s what it was,” she mumbled. “I can’t say I’m too familiar with stuff like that. Ain’t ever had to deal with a trial like that, and I don’t know anyone in my immediate family who has neither. That being said, why didn’t you say something sooner?”

“Because… because…” it was a question she’d never really thought about up until now, and even as the answer came to her, she felt a little ashamed of herself. “Because I didn’t want to inconvenience anyone. I figured this was something I could just deal with on my own and if I kept my mouth shut, things would eventually blow over and this whole thing would just finish sooner or later.”

“Ain’t never understood that mindset,” Pear said gently, stopping in front of a large woodshed. “Alrighty, take off yer pants and yer undies.”

Sunset’s tail frizzed. “E-eh?”

“You heard me, girl. Bottoms off.”

Sunset Flushed. “M-Ms. Pear Butter-”

“Sunset Shimmer, I understand yer upset, but the way you just behaved has earned you a good, firm hide-tanning. Now if I gotta ask you again, you are gonna get extra, clear?”

Sunset gulped. “C-crystal, ma’am.” She slowly undid the front of her pants, shuffling them and her knickers down. She definitely didn’t want to get on her best friend’s mom’s bad side. Self conscious of the fact that she was naked from the waist down, Sunset squirmed lightly, attempting to shift her legs to hide her front, holding up her pants and underwear, not sure what to do with them.

Pear Butter just smiled, taking them from her and carefully folding the articles of clothing before opening the door to the wood shed. “Alright, in ya go, girl.”

Sunset nodded again and shuffled inside, still covering her front in embarrassment. Her face only heated up more when she got inside and discovered that this particular woodshed definitely wasn’t used for just storing wood. While there was a large pile of neatly chopped pieces of firewood stacked against the far wall, the rest of the floor was kept clear, with a straight back, armless chair sitting against one wall, and a table and sawhorse against the other. Applejack’s mother set her pants and underwear on the table and then grabbed the chair from the wall, placing it in the center of the open floor. “You know why yer here, Sunny?” she asked softly.

Sunset’s ears flicked down and she looked at the ground, chewing her lip and squirming, feeling both embarrassed and ashamed. “Because I lost my temper. I-I said something truly horrible to Applejack after she was just trying to help me.”

“And why’d that happen?”

“Because… because I tried to keep it all bottled up inside. I tried to ignore everything that was going wrong, and just act like it would go away eventually if I just let it be.” She shuddered a bit. “B-but it kept building up and my parents kept getting more and more desperate to get me on their side, and AJ was just trying to help, but everyone had been offering me all these empty platitudes and… and…” she felt like she was going to burst. Her head throbbed and her chest heaved as half buried emotions forced their way to the surface. Hastily, she tried hard to reconstruct the dam that had been holding it all in place.

Pear Butter walked forward and wrapped her arms around her tightly, holding her to her chest. Sunset blinked, feeling something wet fall against her head. She looked up to see Pear Butter, tears in her eyes, smiling at her. “You ain’t gotta hold that in anymore, ya silly brat,” she told the mare, who similarly felt tears coming to her eyes. “You came here as AJ’s friend, but so long as yer here, yer family. No arguments. You can talk to me, Bright Mac, my son, his brother, their sister, even Granny Smith. We’re all here for you, Sunny.”

Sunset sniffled. “Pear Butter, I…” she blinked a few times. “Wait… son… brother…” she blinked again. “So you know that AJ is…”

She wiped her eyes and nodded, giving a small smile and a sigh. “Yeah, I know AJ’s trans.”

Again, Sunset found herself lacking any sort of response. She just said it so casually, as though it weren’t a big deal. Well, not that it was, not to her, but… “How long have you known?” she asked softly. “AJ told me that she was still trying to figure out the right way to come out, and I was the only one she… er, he, sorry, guess I can finally start saying that… had told right now.”

“Yep,” she said with a nod. “But AJ’s not really as subtle as he thinks he is. Big heart, smart as a tack, but ain’t used to bein’ subtle, that’s fer sure.” She chuckled. “He’s dropped a few hints here and there, big ones. Bright Mac figured he was gonna come out as gay first, but after a while, I was pretty sure it was more like he wanted to be a stallion, rather than a mare.”

“I… I see… then why haven’t you, you know… brought it up to him?”

“Wouldn’t be right,” she said, finally sitting down in the chair, wiping her eyes one more time. “I don’t mind talking about it with you, since you already know. Again, he ain’t nearly as subtle as he thinks, and it weren’t hard to figure out that he’d told someone and who he told. But I ain’t about to just bring it up before he’s ready to talk about it.”

“Wow… you’re quite perceptive!” she said with a small smile.

“Thank ya kindly.” She smiled and pat her lap. “Now, get that behind of yers over my lap, little lady. You have a tanning coming!”

Sunset blinked and glanced down at herself, realizing that she was still bottomless. She gasped and covered herself quickly, making Pear giggle. “C’mon, you ain’t gotta be like that,” she chided. “You ain’t the first I’ve seen, though you do got a pretty cute tuft down there.”

Groaning, Sunset shuffled forward. “We were having a moment!” she whined.

“Yep. And now the moment’s passed and we gotta get back to the matter at hand.” She grabbed Sunset’s arm and gently guided her over her knee. “Yer part of the family now, that’s true, but that just means I gotta be firm when it comes to giving you what ya deserve.”

Sunset squirmed and writhed a little bit. “Well… can’t be any worse than what I get at school…” she mumbled.

Pear Butter smiled and wrapped an arm around her waist, holding her in place before setting a palm against her rear. Sunset gave a squeak at the feeling. Her hands were large and strong, and she could feel the powerful calluses and the dried fur that only came from years of hard work on the earth. She also noticed for the first time that laying atop her lap wasn’t so much like being leaned over a plush cushion as it was a stiff, old style sofa, the sort that were meant to hold up much better to being moved around a lot rather than for comfort alone.

Then, that warm palm left her rear and was raised up into the sky. Sunset tensed, preparing herself for the slap. And she waited. And waited. And then she waited some more. Then, when it didn’t come, she started to relax and slowly tilted her head up towards Pear.

WHAP!

The hand came down faster than Sunset was prepared for and she yelped, giving a light buck and reaching behind herself to defend her bottom out of instinct. “OWW!” she whined. The farm woman’s hand was far, far harder than any hairbrush or paddle she’d felt before. And she’d felt some paddles!

WHAP! WHAP!

“No blocking, you naughty thing,” Pear Butter scolded, swatting her cheeks around her hands before grabbing both of Sunset’s wrists and pinning them to her back, keeping them out of the way. Now unhindered, her hand clapped down against the center of each cheek, fast and hard. “I’ll overlook it this time, but if you try that again when I’m punishing ya, that’ll earn you a few extra with the brush, you understand?”

“Aww! OW! Y-yes ma’am! Sorry ma’am! ACK!”

“Good… Now you already told me why you’re here. And I want you to know I ain’t doin’ this to be cruel. One look at ya already told me that you knew what you did was wrong. But this is to help you overcome any guilt you feel.”

WHAP! SLAP! WHAP! SLAP!

“Hnn! Y-yes ma’am! I’m sorry ma’am!” She panted and gasped and whimpered harder.

“I sure hope so. And after we’re done here, yer gonna apologize to AJ about what you said, ain’t you?”

“Yeeees!” she sobbed, already feeling her resolve crumbling under Pear Butter’s expert, powerful hand. She knew it was going to be painful, but even at school, she’d never felt more like a naughty little brat than she did right now, over Pear’s knees. It was a rather humbling experience for her, that was for sure.”

“And after that, at some point, y’all should get in touch with yer folks and lay down yer feelings.”

“Wh-what? But… but…”

SMACK!

“EEEP!”

“The only butt here is this big, jiggly thing I’m swattin’,” she scolded, making the unicorn blush harder. “You don’t wanna keep goin’ like this hon. You talk to yer folks, you make it clear that you ain’t gonna take sides and you ask em to back off and deal with this themselves. You may be their daughter, but you ain’t their ref.” She started to spank lower, giving the mare’s sit spots a few firm smacks, making her buck and kick her legs gently.

“Ow! Ouch! Y-yes ma’am! I will, I swear!” She hissed and gasped, writhing harder over her knee.

“Good to hear. Now hunker down, honey, we got a ways to go.”

“Noo! Please, I learned my lesson, and it really hurts!” she whined.

“I know. It’s supposed to. It’s a punishment after all.”

WHAP! WHAP! SMACK! SMACK! SPANK SLAP! WHACK!

Her hand became a blur as she started to lay down quick, hard, random strikes, all over her rear, which really got the poor girl to start kicking. “OWWW! WAAAH!” she reared back and writhed, sobbing now. “Waaah! Pleeeheeese! I swear, I’ll be good!”

“I know you will,” Pear said easily. “Cause now you know what will be waitin’ fer you if you act up.”

“Waaah! I’ll be a good girl, mom! I swear!”

“I know ya will. Mom’s proud of ya fer takin’ yer lickin’” she said with a small smile.

WHAP! WHAP! Whap! Smack! Spank! Slap… Spat… Swat…”

The spanks gradually started to slow, but were still firm enough that Sunset gave a little buck with every spank that she took. “Oooh! Owww… awww… nnngh…”

Pear smiled gently and slowly slid her hand along her bottom, rubbing it up and down. “There we go. I think that’s enough.” She slid a hand under Sunset and helped her to rise up, sitting her so that she was straddling her legs, and pulled her into a firm, loving hug. The mare sniffled and sobbed against her shoulder, letting out little apologies between her whimpers. Pear just let her get it all out of her system, cooing softly to her, rubbing her back and bottom in careful, soft, loving movements. “There there,” she whispered. “We’re all done, hon. Shhh, it’s okay.”

“Awww…” Sunset slowly started to calm down, taking a few deep breaths, letting out a light sob and hiccup now and then. “I’m so sorry… th-thank you, Pear.”

“Fer what?” she asked with a small smile, seeming to already know the answer.

“For… caring…” she breathed, sniffling and wiping her face gently. “F-for calling me family… a-and for caring enough to… go this far to… help me.” She sniffed and smiled. “I really do feel a lot better after that.”

“Then the spanking did its job.” She grinned and pat her back lightly. “You feelin’ better?”

“I am,” she said with a breath. “I… I have to go find Applejack and apologize to her,” she said, gently standing up and shuffling to the door.

“Easy there, tiger. Points fer enthusiasm, but you really gonna walk out there with yer butt on display?”

Sunset blinked and flushed deeply. “I seem to be forgetting about that a lot,” she mumbled gently, walking over to grab her pants and underwear.”

The door to the shed opened and Applejack entered, humming, and bringing in an axe. He blinked. “Oh… er, sorry, I didn’t realize this place was occupied.” He cleared his throat, blushing deeply and glancing towards his mother.

“That’s fine, we were just finishin’ up. Actually, you got good timing, AJ. I think Sunset here has something to say to you.”

Sunset flushed deeply and sniffled. “Applejack. I… I am so, so sorry for how I talked to you before! I didn’t mean to make you feel so bad. What I said, I said out of anger when I was past my boiling point, but that’s not an excuse and I… all I can do is apologize…”

Applejack just smiled and reached over, taking her shoulder and smiling at her. “Hey, it’s all right. Like I said before, yer in a tough spot is all.” She grinned. “Truth be told, Breakin’ down one of the old, dead trees at the edge of the orchard was real good fer me. I feel a lot better now.”

“Good to hear,” Sunset said with a soft smile.

“You wanna put on yer pants and come give me a hand?” AJ asked with a smile. “It’s in pieces now, but I could use an extra set of hands stacking wood in the wagon.”

“Sure!” Sunset said happily, tail waggling behind her in delight, lightly dusting at her red-tinted cheeks.

Pear watched the display with a light blush on her own face before walking over and giving her bottom a motivating pat, making the young woman yelp. “I’ll head back inside then,” she said happily. “You two finish this up and then consider the rest of yer day free.”

“Thanks, Ma,” Applejack said happily, waving to her mother as she headed out. “Come on, Sunbuns,” he teased lightly, waving her over to the doorway.

Sunset smiled and shuffled out, hugging her pants close, but as the two were exiting and she was actually thinking of putting her damn pants on, they saw Bright Mac approaching, tugging Apple Bloom by her ear. The young woman was frantically flailing her arms about, shouting some sort of excuse or another. She was talking too fast for Sunset to discern what was being said.

“Howdy,” Bright Mac greeted in his usual cheery way, though he had a frown on his face. “Y’all done with the woodshed fer now?”

“Well, we were gonna bring in a few loads from a fresh dead one, but if y’all need it, I ain’t stoppin ya, pa,” Applejack said with a smile.

“Glad ta hear it.”

“Wait! Wait! AJ, c’mon, ah, I was framed! How was I s’posed to know a weed whacker wouldn’t be good fer mixin’ compost?!”

“Probably shoulda figured it out when I told ya it wouldn’t work,” Bright said. Sunset thought she could see an amused smirk cross his face for a moment before he grew serious again. “I warned ya, but you earned it, little lady. In ya go.” He gave her a smack across her overalls and she hopped inside, Bright following and closing the door.

Applejack sighed. “Maybe one day Apple Bloom’ll figure out that there’s a reason we tell her to do things a certain way.”

Sunset winced as the sound of heavy smacks filtered out through the door of the shed. “It sounds like he’s being pretty hard on her.”

“Nah, pa’s a pretty gentle guy. He wouldn’t go too hard on any of us.”

Another loud smack. Sunset winced again. She shifted and turned, walking around the side of the shed. “Hang on,” she said.

“What are you up to?” her companion asked with a raised brow, following the unicorn around.

Sunset got up on tiptoe, just barely able to peek in through a side window. It was too high to reasonably be used to look through, was probably mostly for just letting sunlight in. Her eyes widened.

Apple Bloom was bent over the back of the chair, overalls down around her ankles, panties pulled just below her bottom, gripping the back of the chair tightly, her face set in a grim determination as her father pulled back and gave her fanny several smacks with a large, wooden paddle.

Applejack crossed her arms. “Didn’t take you much fer a voyeur, Sunset.”

She blushed and glared at her. “I-I’m not a pervert… I’m just…” she groaned a bit. “Your little sister’s taking her licks better than me!”

“Course she is,” he said with a smirk. “Her butt’s tougher.”

Sunset snorted and gave something resembling a pout when Applejack playfully grabbed her ear and tugged her along. “Ow! OW! H-hey! AJ, leggo! I-I still need to put on pants.”

“Ya can do that when we get to the wood pile,” he said with a shrug. “You’ve had plenty of chances to put those things on since my Ma stopped whuppin’ yer tush, you can wait another couple of minutes. Now quit yer whinin’ or I’m gonna kick your butt all the way to the wood pile.

“You wouldn’t!” Sunset challenged.

Applejack would.

And then Applejack did.