“Consarn it, Apple Bloom!” Applejack’s mouth hung open as she stared at the lopsided crystal bottle on her windowsill. Broken. Again. Her face burning, she—she couldn’t think straight!

“Where’d you get to, you little—!” she shouted. Applejack galloped to the top of the stairs and tried to keep her heart from thudding in her ears. If she could hear even the slightest sound from downstairs that might give away her sister’s hiding place…

Her ears pricked. A soft sob, but not from the den. From the bedroom.

Stepping softly, Applejack eased into her sister’s room and bent low to peer under the bed. “There you are!” she said, her glare stabbing into the shadows.

“I-I’m sorry, Applejack,” Apple Bloom said into her hooves.

“Third time in as many weeks! How many times I gotta tell you?” Applejack shook her head. Hard. She’d sent Apple Bloom to her room, taken away privileges… Nothing worked. She shoved the bottle under the bed. “What do you have to say for yourself?”

“I… I wanted to use it to-to call my dolls to tea time.” Apple Bloom peered over a foreleg with one eye.

“You know it’s fragile!” The light pink perfume bottle, cut into the shape of a bell, complete with little tinkling clapper, leaned over a bit further. The wet glue finally gave out as the handle dropped to the floor. “I don’t know what else to do.”

Applejack stamped a hoof and gritted her teeth. “I… You…” Her mind went numb. And she heard herself utter the words she never thought she could say. “Apple Bloom, you g-go outside, b-behind the barn, and cut—” she coughed on the words before spitting them out “—cut me a switch.”

Apple Bloom jerked her head up so quickly that she banged it on the bottom of her bed. “N-no! You can’t!” She trembled and backed toward the far wall. “I-I haven’t heard of anypony doin’ that sin-since Granny Smith’s old stories, when she was a young ’un!”

“You got me at the end o’ my rope,” Applejack growled. Apple Bloom had brought this on herself. She knew better. She knew better. “Now git!” she shouted, pointing out the window.

“No!” Apple Bloom screamed. “You’re not my mother!” She bolted past Applejack, down the stairs, and out the front door. From the window, Applejack watched her stop behind the woodpile. Probably thought she was hidden, but that red hairbow stuck up, just sitting there. Applejack cracked a half-smile. But the bow… Shaking. Trembling.

It wouldn’t even hurt that much, and then it’d be done. Why couldn’t she just get it over with? And then maybe learn not to mess with Mom’s old perfume bottle. She should know better! Breaking something like that! Well, it didn’t exactly work anymore. Not since Applejack had—

Not since Applejack had knocked it over as a filly.

She knew what it had meant to her mother. And that had hurt the most. Mom had never even raised her voice about it.

A tremor surged through Applejack’s body. What was she doing? What was she doing? She pressed her face to the window… Where? A-at the edge of the woods. Applejack sniffled hard, her tears hitting the windowsill. Apple Bloom, cutting a switch…

A minute later, Apple Bloom crept through the door, her cheeks damp and her eyes red. She set the switch on the floor.

Applejack turned around, and her sister flinched at the sight of tears in her eyes. “Pick it back up,” she said, facing the window again. “I did wrong by you. I-I don’t… It’s my fault. I’m the one who needs to be punished. Pick it up.”

She didn’t grit her teeth. Didn’t tense up. She deserved this.

“I… I can’t.”

“Yes you can. Pick it up.” Applejack wiped her eyes dry, but they didn’t stay that way for long.

And soft crying behind her. Apple Bloom tried to keep as quiet as possible. “I-I can’t! I don’t wanna—”

“This ain’t s’posed to be fun!” Applejack barked. At least she thought she had barked it, but her voice had broken.

“No!” Apple Bloom whimpered. She didn’t muffle her sobs anymore. “No, I love you!”

Applejack bit her lip. She wheeled around, gathered an astonished Apple Bloom in her hooves, hugged her sister to her chest, and held on tight. She sniffled hard and kissed Apple Bloom’s forehead. “Do you understand?”

After a brief pause, Apple Bloom nodded and hugged her back. “For—”

“Forgive me?” Applejack said.