Spring slowly gave way to summer, and Ponyville basked (or baked) in hot daytime temperatures. The local pegasi even sent a telegram requesting the Pegasi in the clouds to turn down the heat. At Ponyville School, there were only eight days of classes left, and the foals were getting antsy to be let out for Summer. Ponies in town were preparing for the Year’s End and Summer Sun Celebration festivities. The First day of Summer brought in the new year. Unlike an archaic calendar, which ushered in a new year in the dead of winter, the modern day calendar switched years when Spring became Summer on the summer solstice.

After walking into class with a horn cap on, Sweetie Belle pretty much doomed herself. Ever since Applejack beat her within an inch of her life, damn near ripped her horn off; and put her in bed for weeks, another doctor, in addition to Doc and Heal Apple Saint, visited said that her horn had been seriously damaged and was badly fractured. He suggested the horn cap to support it and keep it from falling off. The doc rejected the horn cap Applegem brought, and strongly urged Applejack buy one from the hospital for 200 bits. When the doc asked who beat Sweetie Belle, Applejack said it was her imaginary cousin, Big Stomp Appleyard, whose precious apple whiskey Sweetie Belle spilled. The doc bought it, then Applejack chased him off the farm when he suggested bringing out a unicorn colleague to assess Sweetie Belle.

“Ah don’t need them unicorns messin’ around with mah fillies!” Applejack shouted as her Appleyard cousins chased him to the gate. She was also livid over the price of the suggested horn cap.

“200 bits is nothin’ AJ, if you have some decency in you, just buy the damn cap and be happy she has to wear one now,” Big Mac lectured her.

“It’s more expensive than that medicine Gemmie bought fer her! Ah’d rather use my precious bits on that! Ah should’ve ripped that horn off- why did you interfere? Ah was about to solve her magic problems once and for all!”

And so Sweetie was forced to wear the leather horn cap with iron plates in it just to keep the horn from falling off as some medicine the doc gave her worked to heal the damaged bone structure. And he also gave Sweetie Belle some strong pain killers, which Applejack threatened to take away as punishment for this or that.

Then, on Mariday, she walked into school with the cap on and they all laughed at her.

“Aww, if it isn’t little Apple Belle!” Diamond Tiara taunted her. Sweetie would have knocked her right in the face with a nose-smashing headbutt if not deterred by violent punishment for fighting at school. Applebloom once shoved Silver Spoons into a thorny bush, and Applejack stomped the living pulp out of her for it.

Then she was forced to go to magic class. She tried to leave when normal classes ended, but Cheerilee stopped her at the door and escorted her to Sea Spray’s classroom.

“Look, Sweetie Belle,” Cheerilee said to her, “I talked to Sea Spray and told her everything. She can help you, more so than anypony else can.”

Basically, Sweetie Belle was dumped on Sea Spray like another problem foal. That’s how she felt anyway. Cheerilee opened the door and gently shoved Sweetie Belle into the classroom. When the unicorn foals saw her with the horn cap on (doctor’s orders),

Tootsie Flute opened up with “Hey look, it’s the failicorn! What’s the cap for? to keep the apples from falling on your horn?” and they all started laughing. “Poor Apple Belle, did you disappoint Applejack again? Or was her butt so muscular she broke your horn?”

There was a brief pause but when the sick minded foals got the joke they broke up into hysterical laughter. Then some of them gleefully explained it to the naive ones, who started giggling and laughing, more at the nasty joke than even Sweetie Belle. Dinky Doo nearly pissed in her seat from laughing so hard.

There were rampant derogatory jokes about the Apple family that circulated throughout the school. Even more of them came up when Apple Bloom told a few about Applejack beating Sweetie Belle for having a spell book.

Then Firelock hollered, “Hey everypony, check this out!” And she beamed her fresh magic at Sweetie Belle, lifted her into the air, turned her upside down and having just learned to hold objects at multiple points, Firelock pinned Sweetie Belle’s hooves together and made her look like a tied up calf, while her peers laughed. She squealed in terror.

That was when their teacher opened the door and entered the classroom. She completely lost it and dropped the stack of books she had.
“Firelock, what the hell are you doing?!” Sea Spray shouted.
Startled, Firelock simply dropped Sweetie Belle and she landed on her head, making a loud thump on the hardwood floor. The class was instantly silent.

”Miss Sea Spray, it wasn’t me, I swear-”
”GET THE BUCK OUT NOW!” Sea Spray shouted as she beamed her own magic on Firelock, lifted her out of her seat, across the room to the door and planted her on the floor in the hallway.
“You sit right there, little missy!”

She had to resist the urge to throw her out right through a window. After Firelock was out, Sea Spray slammed the door in her face. Nopony made a sound. The ticking of the clock above the blackboard was almost deafening.

Sweetie Belle somehow managed to scramble to her seat. Her head felt like it just got smashed in with a sledge hammer.

All the teachers at the school had the same parental rights as the foals’ own parents, and they had free range for discipline if needed. Everypony knew not to mess with their teachers.
It took a few minutes for Sea Spray to stop hyperventilating with fury and regain her composure.

“Shame on you, all of you! In this last school year, not half of you could even cast magic! And here you are, picking on a defenseless filly who has more struggles than any of you combined! All this time I taught you to be friendly, patient, and encouraging to those around you who are behind. Have any of you little brats even learned a thing about that?”

Silence.

She had a fun lesson planned today but after witnessing what just happened, she made the class read through a tough book and answer a bunch of questions.

Sweetie Belle desperately wanted to go home after the school work was done. She felt even more panicked from hearing Sea Spray screaming. Her ears hurt. She contemplated sneaking out, but Sea Spray, mad as hell, paced around the classroom, watching each and every foal like a hawk ready to strike. Her hooves clomped seemingly loudly on the floor as she paced around. Right now Sweetie Belle, almost on the verge of a panic attack, was more afraid of what Sea Spray would snap and do if she caught her out of her seat. And she was deathly afraid of Applejack who’d know now she was late getting home.

As Sea Spray stepped closer to her, Sweetie Belle’s heartbeat quickened, and she started shaking. The arteries and veins in her horn pulsed, giving her a rush of pain every second.

“Sweetie Belle,” Sea Spray said in a calm, low voice, “Are you alright?”
The filly nodded.
“Are you hurt?”
Sweetie Belle wanted to act tough, and say she was fine, but she gave in and barely whispered “...yeah...everything hurts...”

“Let me see your horn,” Sea Spray said gently but firmly as she reached out with her magic and began unfastening the straps of Sweetie Belle’s horn cap.
“P-please don’t...” Sweetie Belle cried, reaching up with her hooves in a futile attempt to block it. “Applejack said she’d kill me-”

“Shhh,” Sea Spray whispered, “Sweetie, you’re in my class, and right now I am in command, so you do as I tell you, understand? Now put your hooves down. I promise I won’t hurt you.”

Sweetie Belle hesitated for a second, then obeyed. She looked around and realized all the other foals were watching her. Sea Spray turned around and gave them a withering glare. They quickly turned back to their books, but looked up again when she turned back to Sweetie Belle.

Sea Spray proceeded, and with her magic, the straps came undone, and she slowly and gently levitated the horn cap, and lifted lifted it clear off her horn. She gasped in horror at what she saw, and so did the foals who kept looking.

Sweetie Belle’s once white horn was badly fractured at the front of its base, and the damaged area was covered in a thick mixture bloody ooze and white mucous like membrane produced by the horn to contain magic. Not only that, but the whole horn was dented and fractured, with caked blood and ooze at every point of damage. Even more horrifying to Sea Spray was she realized instantly when Sweetie Belle moved her head, the horn was not absolutely secured. Then she saw the dents,- cracked depressions that only a pony’s teeth could make.
And to top it all off, there was string of green spreading in the damaged areas, puss collected around them. The filly’s horn was infected.

“Oh my gizzards...” Sea Spray breathed, realizing the gravity of Sweetie Belle’s predicament. “Sweetie Belle, who did this to you?!”

Sweetie Belle felt tears streaming from her eyes, and she didn’t want to talk. It was Apple family business.

“Sweetie, please tell me this instant who did this to you!” Sea Spray ordered again, trying not to freak out. Never in her teaching career had Sea Spray come across a foal so badly hurt. She heard horror stories from teachers in Abille, or Roundbottom, but they didn’t compare to this. She had put two and two together and quickly speculated the damage, nothing less than fatal at this point, was the work of a violent, deranged earth pony. That’s what her instinct told her anyway.

Sea Spray was always calm, collected, and in control of herself; and was almost always full of smiles and cheer. But now she was caught completely off guard and had no idea what to do. She was terrified, and saddened. She tried not to let any tears of her own out. She had to show to her students that she was still the one in control of the scene.

“It...it...it was Big Stomp Appleyard...” The fictional pony Applejack fabricated to cover her own flank when explaining the beating to the doctors. Sweetie didn’t dare mention Applejack.

“The rest of you,” Sea Spray ordered her class, “Class dismissed. You may go home. Now.”

Without a word, they all packed their side bags and silently exited the classroom. Firelock didn’t wait around in the hallway and was long gone. Sun Glimmer and Dinky Doo both felt real bad for Sweetie (and scared of this Big Stomp Appleyward pony who could be lurking around Ponyville, waiting to prey upon more young unicorns).

“Come on, dear,” Sea Spray coaxed as she gently lifted Sweetie Belle onto her back. She took her straight to the infirmary. There, the unicorn nurse on duty opened up a big stash of emergency supplies, and placed a new cap on Sweetie’s horn.

“You’d best get her to the hospital, right away,” the nurse urged, and Sea Spray agreed, so with Sweetie Belle on her back, she quickly trotted off from the school to the hospital. Outside the school she ran past Big Mac and Cheerilee.

“She alright? Where y’ takin’ her?” Big Mac asked, clearly worried, seeing Sweetie Belle plopped on the unicorn’s back almost unable to move.
“Some pony damaged her horn, and it’s infected,” Sea Spray replied, glaring at Big Mac with apprehension. But she didn’t stop, and Big Mac and Cheerilee started trotting along with her to the hospital.

+ +

“Geez, what the hell happened to her?” Nurse Redheart gasped when they brought her in.

“Some earth pony tried to rip her horn off,” Sea Spray replied as two other ponies gently lifted Sweetie Belle onto a stretcher. All she did was groan. Sea Spray didn’t hesitate to stare at Big Mac like it was his fault. They argued about who did what as Nurse Redheart took Sweetie into an exam room. They removed the now-blood stained medical horn cap.

Trained for this, the hospital staff went to work to secure Sweetie’s horn. They applied an antibiotic cream to kill the infection (which hurt like hell) and did their best to remove most of the caked blood around her horn. One of the staff, a member of the Ponyille Town Guard stationed at the hospital, took many pictures, and trotted off to the guard house.

Next they applied a bio-degradable ‘cement’ like substance around the base of her horn to help secure it when it hardened. Then they fastened a new white horn cap around it. Nurse Redheart wrote up prescriptions for new medicine for Sweetie Belle, and also warned Big Mac that the town guard was going to look into it.

“With all due respect, Mr. Sweet Apple, we cannot let this case pass without referring the town guard to it. This...Big Stomp Appleyard pony really busted the filly up, it’s no less than a criminal offense. if you want my advice, I recommend you talk with the town guard immediately.”

“Eyyup,” Big Mac agreed, having contemplated telling them all the things Applejack did to her and Applebloom in the last year. He and Cheerilee already had an argument as she urged him to tell the town guard.

“We’ll keep Sweetie Belle here overnight,” Nurse Redheart said, “and monitor her. Unless the infection clears up, she may have to be sent to the hospital in Canterlot.”

“Eyyup.”

And so Big Mac walked to the town guardhouse, along with Cheerilee and Sea Spray.

The town guardhouse was located near the town square. It was a bland looking two storey building. On the lower floor, the town guard had their staff rooms, offices, and cells for detainees. The second floor comprised of offices for the higher ups, board meeting rooms, a safe house for ponies in distress, a FoalFind office, and two courtrooms where most of Ponyville’s legal matters were worked through.

Big Mac was usually calm and collected during his normal routines, but he felt quite nervous as he approached the building. Two pillories and two cages greeted the trio as they walked through the courtyard and approached the main door. He knew that Applejack talked of filling the town guard with Apples like back in the old days. He hoped to hell that she wouldn’t succeeded in that endeavor.

Within minutes, all three of them were waiting to talk to some officers assigned to the case. Much to the eventual dismay, two of them were Apple ponies who served in the town guard back home in Pomme Valley, deep in Roundbottom; and in Applewood Vale, up in Abille County near the Nimbuscait border.

These two stallions, among a gang of Apples who relocated to Sweet Apple Acres from their crowded hometowns at Applejack’s invitation, already knew about the matter at hoof. Big Mac was the first to feel the tension as Apple Turner Applewood (caramel coat, black mane, piercing blue eyes), and Jeresey Mac (very dark silvery gray coat, red mane, and green eyes) entered the room. The three were joined by a mare named Anna Apple Pomme (cream colored coat, with aqua blue-green hair, and golden eyes).

“Big Macintosh,” Jersey Mac grunted, “So it’s true, you do actually leave Sweet Apple Acres, who would’ve thunk, eh?”

“This whole here town’s our home, Jersey,” Big Mac grunted cordially. Cheerilee, sitting next to him sensed his unease, and from what he told her about the Apples, she couldn’t help but feel unsettled.
“So,” Anna Apple began, “I read your statements about Apple Belle Sweet Apple-”

“Her true name is Sweetie Belle,” Big Mac grunted, “Ah don’t see why-”
“It’ doesn’t matter, that’s what her name is, spell it right next time, Macintosh. You, Sea Spray, is it?” Anna Apple demanded.

“Yes?”

“I reviewed your statement that you wrote, and you should be well aware that false accusations are a serious offense. Applejack filed a general complaint summarizing false accusations against her over Apple Belle’s treatment at home. Just where did that idea come from?”

Sea Spray hesitated, totally caught off guard and unsettled. The only ponies who told her it was Applejack were Cheerilee, and Applebloom. Being surprisingly wise about this, she didn’t implicate poor Applebloom. “It...it was a widely circulated rumor around the school...there’s always been talk of Applejack...”

“Well, it ends now,” Apple Turner snapped, “We’ve been sent to Ponyville to put an end to this habit that ungrateful ponies have of dragging the Sweet Apples’ name through the mud. Jersey Mac, Anna, and I have several years’ combined experience working for our local town guards. And you...Cheerilee, also a school teacher, I ought to arrest you for spreading lies and falsely accusing the Sweet Apples as well. Not only is this a normal town guard matter, it is a family matter, and you can see the offense in your statement. Just who the hay pointed the hoof at Applejack, and why?”

“Ah did,” Big Mac grunted sternly.

“Big Mac, what the rotten hay for?!”

“‘Cause Ah do not appreciate members of mah family harmin’ and abusing anypony, and this time, it’s...(Big Mac caught the death glare from Anna)...Apple Belle as y’all like to call her. Sure it’s Apple family business, but it’s unacceptable what AJ’s been puttin that filly through. An’ she damn near killed her last time three weeks back. Ah refuse to tolerate any abuse ‘n’ murder, and Ah don’t care if it is Apple family business-”

“My Celestia, the big red lug actually talks,” Anna Apple spat. Cheerilee, being skilled at examining ponies’ facial expressions from years in the classroom, couldn’t quite tell if Anna Apple was surprised, or disgusted, or angered that Big Mac wasn’t just a quiet ‘Eyyup’ pony Applejack made him out to be.

Big Mac grunted at Anna, and the three Apple officers stared at Cheerilee and Sea Spray. Then Apple Turner spoke:

“We’ve been sent here to join the Ponyville town guard for obvious reasons you see. As per the Ponyville town and county charters of Year 914, Sweet Apple Acres itself is a separate jurisdiction, and therefore not the responsibility of this town guard, however, over the years, ponies like yourselves have been overstepping your bounds, and snooping where you don’t belong. Like all Apple family settlements and towns in this here county, as in most other counties, Sweet Apple Acres is under its own jurisdiction, and therefore subject to locals’ law, order, and peace enforcement. Apple ponies’ rights have been infringed upon nonstop every minute they cross Axler Road and come into town. We are not residents of Ponyville, and therefore we refuse to let all Apple ponies be treated like foals here in town.

What Big Stomp Applewood did to Apple Belle did not happen within Ponyville’s boundaries, and is therefore not a matter of the Ponyville town guard. It is a matter to be resolved by the Sweet Apples, and we already did resolve it. Big Stomp was banned from Sweet Apple Acres by his own family, and escorted out of this local area last week. All matters relating to Apple Belle within Ponyville are still a Sweet Apple Acres matter, and therefore should not concern you.”

“Actually,” Anna Apple added, “given this report from Sea Spray here, Apple Belle was abused by the other...unicorns, in a classroom filled with unicorns, and taught by a unicorn teacher. Sea Spray, give me one good reason why we shouldn’t arrest you for gross criminal negligence causing bodily and magical harm, and third party abuse when you let those unicorns torment her?”

“What? That’s nonsense,” Sea Spray nervously argued back, now aware of these Apples’ anti-unicorn sentiment. They were now using Sweetie Belle as a means to arrest her. It was an abusive misuse of policies.
“I stopped them from hurting her, I took Sweetie Belle-”

“Apple Belle, get it right!”
“...to the hospital! If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you’ve got a grudge against unicorns altogether.”

The three Apple officers just glared at her. “You better choose your words wisely, Miss Spray, unless you want to spend the night in the slammer.”

That shut Sea Spray up.

“Now then,” Anna Apple continued in her cold serious tone, “I want you to dispense with this perception we hate unicorns, that is complete lies, much like your packages of lies and accusations against Applejack. We have no ill will towards unicorns in Ponyville, we are here to keep the peace, and protect the Apple family integrity. Our ancestors didn’t toil in dirt, sweat, tears and blood for decades to help found and build this town just so you could drag us through the mud.

“And if you three have any intention on challenging Applejack’s legal custody of Apple Belle, I advise you to forget it. I’m looking at all three of you. Normally, we don’t tolerate a single word of hostile nonsense from anypony who’s got a wrongful beef with the Apples. I’d normally have you three arrested and canned for a week, then throw the book at you for your crimes.

“But,” Anna Apple said with a smile, “Since we just arrived here and have only been with the town guard for a week, I’m willing to forgive your insurrections on some terms: Cease and desist at once, and stop spreading false accusations, lies, and other rumors about us.

“Do not interfere with Apple Belle any which way, and on that note Sea Spray, she is no longer going to attend your magic class. Applejack is well aware of that and wants her withdrawn immediately. Big Mac’s hoof stamp is officially invalid. Cheerilee, you’re a fine teacher from what we’ve heard, don’t throw your career away with this petty nonsense. You’ve got generations of foals to teach, and they depend on you, so watch yourself.”

There was an intense pause of silence.
“This isn’t fair. We want to see a lawyer,” Cheerilee demanded.
Anna Apple leapt onto the table infront of Cheerilee and stared her down furiously, “If it pleases you my dear, I am a lawyer. You may come to my office anytime and look at my certificates and credentials. I know the laws around here, and you are clearly in violation. Stop with your foolishness already!”

Cheerilee, too spooked and exhausted to go on, merely nodded. Any further protest could get her and Sea Spray thrown in a jail cell.

“Okay, alright...”

“Good, now get out. You too, Miss Spray, and I expect we will have no further problems with each other?”

The two nodded.

“Good. Oh, and once Apple Belle is discharged from the hospital, she will be back in Apple family custody. Arrangements have been made to bring her home.

Big Mac went to join them on their way out-

“Where you goin, Macintosh?” Big Jeresey blocked him at the door, “We ain’t done talkin’ to you yet.”

Cheerilee and Big Mac exchanged worried glances as she walked out, and along with Sea Spray, was escorted by two officers to the door.

“Macintosh, Macintosh, Macintosh,” Apple Turner grunted as he paced around Big Mac. “I’m awfully disappointed in you. Applejack told us you were the best worker on her farm, and here we find you’re no less than a traitor.”

Big Jersey stood by the door. He was just as big as Big Mac, and it would be a one-sided losing battle is Big Mac tried to force his way out. He was also scared of what his family might have in store for him, especially when Applejack returned from Manehattan. She had left the previous week.

“I can’t say I favor you as a cousin no more, Mac, my boy,” Turner grunted angrily, “You really have been a disappointment minus the hard work you do on the farm. I also heard Applebloom and Apple Belle adore you, among all the other foals who have come to live at the farm. And then we got Applejack’s letter, telling us of what you did in Nimbuscait. You single-hoofedly broke the bond between the Sweet Apples and the Nimbuscait Frost Apples! What the hell for?”

“They was gonna dehorn and kill Sweetie Belle. Ah won’t-”

“Shut up, you dumb lug,” Turner barked, “That brat is a unicorn, the Frost Apples were going to set her straight once and for all so she could be a well contributing member of the family. So what if she died? Celestia take her soul, where’s the problem?”

“Y’ ever been to Nimbuscait, Turner?” Big Mac grunted, “all o’ them earth ponies enjoy the sadistic torment-”

“Oh please, Macintosh, you actually hold them to it? Them Nimbuscait ponies have been set in their ways by hundreds of years of war, terror, and what-not. They’re the ones keeping the unicorn scourge at bay. They’re the ones every unicorn in any county touching Nimbuscait won’t dare raise ire with an earth pony. If those two school mares were living any further up north, they’d have brought the entire Nimbuscait guard on themselves and everypony around them. They’re the ultimate peace keepers in this part of Equestria, and don’t you forget it, my boy.”

Big Mac’s mind flooded with memories of when the Nimbuscait militia attacked his and Applejack’s hometown of Apple Post, and when they burned their mother on the pyre, and the fight Granny Smith had to wage to save Applebloom, and get the three of them out of Apple Post before the Nimbuscait ponies took it over.

“If peace means death and destruction, then Ah agree,” Big Mac grunted back. Most of the time when he angered fellow Apples, it wasn’t for his arguing back, it was his surprising intellect. He passed for a dumb hauler, with the IQ half that of a newborn foal, but he knew his stuff, and could make a decent argument to reflect his opinions or beliefs.

“What’s that now?” Turner fumed, “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say yer’ getting too smart for your own good. Look at you, you’re the best muscle stallion out of all the Sweet Apples. Let me warn you real clear and real good, my boy,” Turner said with convincing severity, “All over Equestria, the Apples are known for breeding the biggest, strongest stallions who do the hard work of ten ponies with sheer ease. Any Apple family has also found that any stallion or mare the size of you steps one hoof out of line, and it makes better use nourishing the ground and everything that grows on it!”

Big Mac didn’t expect that kind of a threat. His sense of false security or invincibility, partly from his ability to fight off Applejack and make her come around during their disputes, was suddenly shattered. He felt sweat coming out under his mane and on his cheeks. He was scared of being disowned and exiled, and he loved being an Apple pony, but it never occurred to him that everypony might turn on him and actually try to kill him. Like any Apple pony, he was very afraid of death, and of failing Princess Celestia’s judgement during the point of passing and being sent to eternal fiery hell. Centuries of fear-mongering religious doctrine quickly played their part in his mind.

“Ah thought so, Macintosh. Not so rebellious now, are ya? Don’t feel too bad about Apple Belle dying and returning to the ground. Ah reckon it was meant to be, perhaps she might reincarnate as a happy healthy, robust Apple mare. The Frost Apples in Nimbuscait only meant to expedite the process, Mac. We, on the other hoof, would let nature and Celestia’s will play out. What you and that unicorn brat call pain and suffering, we call a divine right of passage! Them Nimbuscaits dehorn and burn unicorns to make damn sure they don’t go straight to hell. It’s a painful but the best sendoff anypony can get.

“You’ve been keepin’ back the inevitable, Big Mac. I’m surprised Celestia hasn’t struck you down yet for subverting Her will, and Applejack’s authority as owner of the farm. You’ve been catering to the Enemy by enrolling her in that magic club, and allowing her to consort with other unicorns. I’m real ‘shamed of you. What about you, Anna? Jersey?”

“Eyup, indeedy do.”

“Don’t forget his Cheerilee problem. He ought to know Applejack’s position on that,” Anna Apple commented.

“Ah, right, the unnatural romance. About that Macintosh, your thing with that mare is finished. Real shame you didn’t respect Applejack’s position about you and her. Another reason on her long list she called us in for. Applejack refuses to lose you to some school mare who is not even a part of the Apple family.”

Anna Apple handed Turner the letter they received from Applejack. Big Mac noted the Manehatten stamp on it.

“Ah don’t see why she gotta dictate who Ah fall in love with, she’s not even mah big sister. she’s my li’l sister-”

Turner grunted angrily, “It don’t matter if she’s yer little sister, you big doofus! Applejack inherited all of Sweet Apple Acres from Granny Smith when she died. Therefore as the absolute holder of the farm and everything and everypony on it, she is the authority you are to answer to and obey! You’re top notch, Macintosh, and she refuses to see you leave the farm and all the apples you’d harvest wasted, rotting in them trees!”

“Get some other big ‘dumb hauler’ to take mah spot if yer’ so afraid of losing me, because yer’ all losin me pretty fast!”

“Ah, ah, ah, Macintosh,” Big Jersey cut in, “If y’think about leavin’ the farm, you’ll find yer’self in the ground faster than you can get near the gate, or away from us! Seriously don’t waste yer life, it ain’t worth it. Just do as Applejack wishes, give up on Cheeril-what’s-her-face, and put your hooves, heart, and trust into Celestia...and Applejack. She’ll match you up with a loving mare in no time.”

“And,” Anna Apple scoffed, “we all know your love is a farce. I’m surprised you big lugs can even fall in love. I was afraid we’d have to bring in some Apple whipper so the two of you could go at it and she can pump out as much needed foals as possible.”

“Ah take offense to that!” Big Mac barked, “Damn y’all and yer stereotypin’ an’ all!”

“It’s the truth,” Anna scoffed, “Seriously, no dainty pony, or even Cheerilee could stand being around our big haulers. I’m surprised you didn’t break her in half from plowing her too hard!” she laughed out loud.
Big Jersey laughed at her long-running inside joke, even Turner chuckled, then turned back to Big Mac.

“Forget about them, Macintosh, as of now, you and Cheerilee are finished. We applied for a restraining order to keep you and her apart for good. And guess, what? She even signed it.”

“How?” Big Mac gasped.

“That’s none of yer’ concern. Ah don’t even know.”

The grandfather clock in the corner chimed. All four ponies looked at it. 160° . It was dark out.

“Well then, I think it’s getting late,” Turner grunted, “Let’s get home.” He stared hard at Big Mac.

“The others are waiting,” Anna Apple added.

Big Macintosh was escorted back home by a group of six Apple ponies, all new members of the Ponyville town guard, hired just days ago by the town guard’s new vice chief.

Author's Notes:

150° = 10 PM

I thought I'd look at the other ways in which Applejack's been trying to assert control over others.