Apple Jack walked down the fog filled hallway. As the fog shifted it sent her into a memory that she had lived with since she was a young filly. The moment she lost both of her parents. She was eight when she lost her mother, it was shortly after Apple Bloom was born. From what she learned later from Granny Smith, her mother had a uterine rupture and went into shock. But back then all she knew was that she had lost her mother.

It was night time and she was sleeping on Big Mac as they all waited on the delivery of their newest sibling. Granny Smith watched over them as their parents were in the delivery room. It was one in the morning when a unicorn doctor came out to talk to Granny Smith. Apple Bloom was awoken by a loud thump as Granny Smith’s flank fell hard on the floor, looking as if the doctor bucked her in the chest. Little Apple Jack slid off her brothers back and trotted over to her grandmother,

“Granny Smith what’s wrong?”

“It’s yer mother young’n. She’s sleepin’ now.”

“Oh. That’s not bad. When will she wake up?”

“Sorry Apple Jack, but she ain’t wakin’ up. But she’s in a better place though, don’t ya doubt that.”

“But Ah don’t understand Granny Smith, she’s right in there. Why won’t she wake up? What happened?” Apple Jack asked as tears of worry started to trail down her face.

Granny Smith walked over to her and wrapped her in a big hug whispering that everything was going to be ok. As she was wrapped in that protective hug she heard a sound that she hadn’t noticed until that moment. The sounds of a mourn filled wailing coming from where the doctor had just come from. It was that sound that made it all click in her mind and sent her into an uncontrollable fit of weeping. Her brother having woken up by now and having talked to the doctor joined them. She had seen critters dying on the farm before. She'd even understood that it was a part of life. But it was something that happened to others. Something that never crossed her mind that would happen to her family. Especially not her mother who was so full of love and life.

It was a few days later that Apple Bloom was discharged and the Apple family laid to rest Russet Apple-Orange. Their father Apple Cider, was a different stallion from that day onwards. He talked and smiled less. Turning to the bottle when he woke up and before he slept. The rest of his time working the fields as if by working from sun up to sun down he could ignore his pain. It was a week later that her father was taken from her as well. A mixture of overworking himself along with his newly acquired alcoholic lifestyle had weakened himself to the point that he simply died in the fields while pulling his plow behind him.

It wasn’t until after school that Apple Jack and Big Mac found him, away from the house in the middle of the field looking as if he had fallen asleep. When they went to wake him up they found that his body had long since cooled. It was the most horrifying thing that Apple Jack could imagine. It was also the time when she had decided that it was time to leave Sweet Apple Acres.

Each part of that land held special meaning for her, and she didn’t want a Cutie Mark to remind her of all that she had lost. It was painful enough that they left her, but adding into account that they left her so close together was to painful for her to bare. So with great determination she decided to go to her Aunt and Uncle Orange in Manehatten to make a name for herself.

As the fog shifted around her she was in Manehatten looking out the window. Why would Ah think of that moment? And why am Ah be rememberin’ this here moment? Apple Jack contemplated as she looked out the window forlornly as tears fell down her face. Ah don’t like openin’ old wounds like that. But Ah sure do miss them. All Ah can do is live each day trying to make them proud of the mare Ah’ve become.

As she looked up at the sky she saw two bright lights shining. The lights grew closer and closer racing towards her. As they did she recognized them as the two stars that represented her parents. The two stars in the sky that let her know that they were watching her from above. The two stars eventually made it into the room that Apple Jack was in forcing her to fall backwards from the force in which they entered.

“Look hun it’s are lil’ Apple Jack.” Russet Apple-Orange said, her voice carrying a warmth in it that Apple Jack missed horribly. Although it struck her as strange that Twilight said that this was supposed to be a bad place, yet here was her long dead mother. How can this place be bad with such a great gift as this?

“Sure is. Too bad that she thinks that we’re proud of her.” Apple Cider replied looking at his daughter with a look of pity and disappointment.

“What do ya mean 'thinks’ Ah know Ah’ve done y’all proud.” Apple Jack said defensively.

“Do ya mean when ya abandoned the family farm to run away here to Manehatten? Or when ya ran away from yer friends when ya didn’t finish first in the Rodeo a few years back? Or when ya turned yer back on one of yer so called best pony friend forever, Twilight Sparkle, not once but three times? Or do ya mean all those time ya put yer own pride before others? Should Ah go on?” Her mother scolded her.

“What? But Ah didn’t ...” Apple Jack started to reply before her father cut her off.

“What we mean ta say is that we’re mighty disappointed in ya. We’ve watched ya grow up only ta see ya become nothin’ more than a waste ta the life we gave ya. Yer so focused on doin’ things yer way that ya don’t even see what’s right in front of ya. So proud, so stubborn, so wasteful. It makes us cry watching you.”

This tag team berating was starting to wear down Apple Jack. The biggest thing that she always worried about was coming true. Worst of all it was all true. She was a disappointment, she had on numerous occasions took her friends, as well as those around her for granted. She had wasted time and energy fueling her own stubborn pride rather than rely on those she cared for. Worst of all she had ran away from her family, friends, and problems on numerous occasions. Turning her back on them to leave them alone when she was needed the most.

“But I always made it up to them in the end. I’m a good pony!” She replied disparately.

“Is that so hun? Then why did ya never formally apologize ta Twilight when ya found out that Princess Cadence was an imposter? What about when Twilight was havin’ a mental break down and needed yer help? Y’all verbally took responsibility of y’alls actions, but none of ya took actions ta rectify it afterwards. What of this latest accident? She works ta literally increase the income of Sweet Apple Acres, but yer so caught up in yer own misery that ya place all the blame on her shoulders. Rather than thanking her and talking with her.

And what of Rainbow Dash? All those times ya accused her of bein’ lazy, or good for nothin’. Yet ya never apologized, never made it up to her. Never once did ya look at things from her perspective. Can ya even imagine how hard it must be ta be a weather pony? Or the difficulty it must take ta train to get where she is? Ya simply cast judgment and we didn’t raise our daughter to be like that.

Then lets see here we have Pinkie Pie. Ya call her random, ya say that ya should never try ta understand Pinkie Pie. Yet when was she ever wrong? Just like Rainbow Dash ya never took time ta learn too understand her. Especially when it turns out that she was never wrong when she gave advice or said somethin’. Even if she didn’t do it in a straight forward manner. Yet it was easier for ya to judge her and use that as a reason ta not try ta understand her.

Then let’s see here,” Russet Apple-Orange said stroking her chin with her hoof while Apple Jack lay before her. Head hidden in her hooves as she let her mother’s words slap her over and over again.

“Oh we have Rarity! Oh do we ever. She’s a hard working, dedicated, and responsible mare. Yet because she does things that you don’t understand ya find it right ta secretly call her work frivolous. Ta once again cast judgment on others. What’s worse is that ya never truly apologize and ya call yerself the Element of Honesty. Ya can’t even be honest with yerself.”

“Listen love we’ve spent more time here than she deserves. It seems that we no longer have a daughter.” Apple Cider replied.

Apple Jack looked up at them as they turned back into light. “Wait! I’m sorry! Please don’t go! Please don’t leave me again!” She screamed tears falling like waterfalls as they left without another word.

Apple Jack’s coat turned a grey as she watched her parents leave her. What have Ah done? Ah always prided myself on my honesty. So were did Ah go wrong? Ah really am judgmental. Not bigoted like some ponies, but Ah truly have looked down on my friends. Ah didn’t mean ta, but Ah can see how Ah’ve wronged them. When Ah see them again Ah’ll truly apologize. Ah need ta make it up ta them. Even if it’s the last thing Ah do.

The fog wrapped around Apple Jack as it whisked her to a whole new destination. She was then slammed with memories of all the judgment she cast not on just her friends, but everyone. The thing that made it hit her all the more was how subtle it was. How quickly she looked down on Rarity for her artistry. Especially know that she knew how hard that work was. She saw how even now she saw her practical creations as being superior to Rarity’s more flashy ones. She saw superiority that was written all over her own body when she was working with Rarity and she saw the pained look on Rarity’s face when Apple Jack wasn’t looking.

She saw all the fights that Rainbow Dash and her got into. She noticed looking as an outside just how deeply her words cut. All the insinuations that Rainbow Dash wouldn’t know a good days hard work if it bit her in the butt. All the back handed compliments and down right insults directed to get a reaction out of Rainbow Dash. Looking at it from this perspective made it worse.

She then spent time around every pony else. Each judgment, each cutting remark like a slap across her face as it further ingrained in her mind that her parents were ashamed with her. As her body turned a darker shade of grey she made a decision. This isn’t the kinda mare Ah wish ta be. Ah made a bunch of poor choices, and lied to others and mahself. But no longer, Ah’m gunna be better. I promise that ta mahself, mah parents, and ta mah friends. If they still want ta be my friends when this is all over. Ah got a lot of apologizing ta do if Ah’m gunna be able to look at mahself in the mirror..

With that honest oath to herself. With the full weight of the Element of Honesty behind it the fog started to dissipate. Until eventually all that was left was an room with a distraught Pinkie Pie standing beside her.