Chapter 28: Misunderstanding

Applejack is on the ground, crying after what she had heard from Dusk. He tries to comfort her when...

“DUSK, WHAT THE BUCK HAVE YOU DONE TO MY SISTER!” Yells a certain enraged red stallion, who is also much more bigger and stronger than Dusk.

The dark blue stallion looks at Applejack, who looks up with tears in her eyes, and then back at Big Mac. Even though he is about 25 metres away from the two, he could see that he is ready to kill.

Dusk gets very nervous, “Uh, you see, I did not intend for Applejack to get upset, it’s just that- PLEASE DON’T KILL ME!”

Big Mac starts charging at Dusk, who is paralyzed with fear. He has faced a manticore before, he has been attacked by four stallions with knives, but none of them compare to the fear that he is feeling right now.

As the large stallion gets closer, Dusk quickly thinks. ‘I hope that this will be quick and painless.’ He shuts his eyes, when he is about 10 metres away.

Applejack can see what is about to happen, and yells “STOP BIG MAC!”

He attempts to stop as soon as he hears her desperate plead, but he is going to fast, and he is too close. He hits Dusk at a slower pace, but he is still knocked onto the ground, hard.

Dusk feels sore, all over his body. The he is very sore on the front of his body, as this is where Big Mac had collided with him, and the side of his body has many scratches, from when he slid on the ground after the impact. One thing that worries him though, is that he landed on the same area where he was stabbed. He is hoping that it won’t start bleeding again. Applejack rushes over to where Dusk landed, feeling terrible about what happened.

“Oh mah Celestia, ah’m so sorry Dusk.” She starts to get more upset. “Ah didn’t know that was gonna happen. Ah’m sorry, ah’m sorry, ah-”

“Don’t worry about it Applejack... I’m fine, just a little winded and scratched. I’ve... had worse.” Assures Dusk.

Big Mac, who had calmed down a bit, walks up to Applejack. “Why did you want me to stop? Dusk was the one who made you cry, so why do you so easily forgive him?”

“Because it was mah own fault tah begin with. Ah forced him tah tell me why he got into ah fight with the 4 stallions, so he told me everything that happened, and ah broke down.”

They both hear Dusk weakly contribute. “Yep, that is *cough cough* basically what happened.”

Big Mac walks up to the still downed Dusk. “I’m mighty sorry about what happened Dusk. I guess, that my judgement was clouded from what I assumed had happened.”  He holds out his hoof towards Dusk. “Do you forgive me?”

Dusk looks at Big Mac’s hoof, and grabs it. “Of course, I’ve done the same thing for Shy.” He gets pulled up onto his hooves by Big Mac. He staggers a little bit, before regaining control of his legs. “I think that I’ll sit out of work, for a few hours, as I’m sure I’ll be useless in my state anyway.”

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“Dusk, ah need ya tah come inside for a bit, ah need tah fix ya up.” Says Applejack. Her mood had improved considerably after the incident with Big Mac and Dusk.

“Alright lead the way.” They both went inside, leaving Big Mac outside, to continue bucking the trees.

Applejack had led Dusk to the first aid kit near their kitchen. She pulls out something which confuses Dusk, a bottle of clear liquid, and a cloth. She wets the cloth with the mysterious liquid.

“So Dusk, ah need ya tah sit over there for me.”

Dusk does what she asks of him, while Applejack starts to rub the wet cloth on his wounds. Dusk feels a massive stinging sensation. “AGH! I wasn’t expecting that! What the hay is this stuff?”

“Dusk, it’s cleaning alcohol.” She looks unimpressed.

“What is it for?”

“To clean the scratches, so they don’t get infected.”

*mental facehoof*

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After about ten minutes of utter pain, every single wound had been cleaned, and there were small bandages all over his right side. He is sitting outside, waiting until he is fit enough to buck apple trees again.

He is still hurt, from Big Mac’s impact, and even more so from the clear liquid of immense pain. He could go back to work at anytime, but he knows that he is too weal to be able to do anything. Dusk looks at his body, and sees his injured wing, a bandage wrapped around the middle of his body, and about 10 smaller ones, on his back and side.

‘I’m like Equestria’s very own living punching bag.’

“Hey Applejack, come here.” Calls Dusk.

She approaches the injured pegasus after bucking another tree. “Yeah, what is it.”

Dusk gets closer to Applejack, and whispers, “Do not tell anypony else what I said before, you got it.”

“Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.” promises Applejack, who is doing the motions of the Pinkie Pie Promise.

“Thanks. I think I’ll be able to get back to work after lunch.”

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After eating a lunch consisting of two ‘Pink Mare’ apples, Dusk has started to buck the trees again. He couldn’t kick at the same strength or speed though, because if he kicked too hard, his would feel a very sharp pain where he was stabbed. He still felt sore from Big Mac charge earlier on, and the front of his body is very tender.

Dusk’s technique helped him knock more apples off the tree, but progress is very slow. He could see Big Mac, Applejack and Caramel knocking the apples down with ease, while he is stuggling to finish his fifth tree for the day.

By the end of the day, Dusk had only finished eight trees. Both Big Mac and Applejack were inside with Dusk.

“So ya only bucked eight trees today, so normally, that would be 20 bits, but ah think ya deserve compensation for what happened earlier today, so ya get 170 bits for today.” Applejack finishes, and gives Dusk his pay for the day.

Dusk sees Big Mac pawing the ground. “I’m sorry about that Dusk.”

He just shrugs, “Don’t worry about it Macintosh. You did what you had to do.”

He begins to walk out of the farmhouse, waving his hoof at the two, as he walks along the main path to Fluttershy’s.

After walking for about two minutes, he sees a small group of mares and stallions near Ponyville. He didn’t recognise any of them, but he could hear them laughing, even from a distance. Dusk walks closer to the small crowd, to see what is so funny. After some fidgeting, he saw what everypony in the crowd is laughing at...

‘...those bastards.’ Next Chapter: Chapter 29: Dusk's Controlled Rage Estimated time remaining: 5 Hours, 44 Minutes