The world slowly came into focus as Granny Smith opened her eyes, scanning around to remind herself where she was. After all this time, waking up anywhere but her old bedroom felt a little unusual, but at least the bed she was in was comfortable. She remembered a faint beeping sound when she went to sleep, but it wasn't there anymore. Instead, the first sound she heard was the squealing voice of her youngest granddaughter.
"She's awake! Granny's waking up!" Applebloom bounced and tugged in excitement as Granny Smith adjusted herself into a sitting position in her bed.
"Good mornin,' Granny. You doing alright? Is your chest hurting?" Applejack's tone was quieter and calmer than it usually was, and Granny Smith was pleased to see a smile on her face. "Anything you need, Granny?"
"No, I'm alright, thank you." Granny Smith returned the smile, and Applejack's grew a little wider. Granny Smith fidgeted a bit to make herself more comfortable, but there was only so much she could do about the tubes in her nose and forelegs.
The air in the room felt almost sickeningly sterile, with no real movement other than a few dust particles drifting in the rays of sunlight. Off-white room was touched with a warm orange glow from the sunlight, it's rays seemingly focused on the family gathered around the hospital bed.
"Alright, Granny. Should we go or would you like some company?"
"Would you mind, terribly? I'd go with you but they have me hooked up to all these confound machines." Granny Smith smiled again as Applejack chuckled.
"Sure thing, Granny. What do you wanna talk about?"
"Oh, nothing in particular, I suppose. I just thought I could use the company." The silence that followed didn't last long, however, before Granny Smith changed her mind. "So, how have you and all your friends been? I haven't seen much of you since I was put in this here bed."
"Twilight and the girls are doing fine, Granny."
"And the farm? Nothing's gone wrong since I left, has it?"
"No, Granny. The farm's doing fine too."
Another silence followed for a few moments before Applebloom interjected excitedly, "Oh, Granny, you should see some of the stuff me and the girls are gonna do to get our cutie marks!" The yellow filly scrambled over to a pile of papers behind her and began rifling through the crayon drawings laying out her plans for the week. "Tomorrow we're gonna try and get our cutie marks in tapestry!" She pointed at a crude drawing of a quilt being worked by three little fillies as she spoke. "And then we were gonna try juggling! And ballet dancing!" The filly flipped through each of her sketches as she described them with equal excitement.
"Well, that's nice, sweetheart. Why don't you run along now and play with your little friends?" Applebloom got down from the bed, beaming as she walked toward the door. She stopped and turned back, however, just before leaving.
"You'll be here when I get back, won't you Granny?" she asked with pleading eyes.
"Of course, dear. I ain't going anywhere, not with all these do-dads plugged into me." Granny's smile faded a bit as the filly disappeared from view. "Such a sweet little filly, and so bright too. She may be late getting her cutie mark, but I reckon it'll be something real special. Just you wait and see."
Her smile came back as she turned to face Applejack. "You too young lady. You've grown up so smart and strong, and I reckon I've never seen a pony so honest. Your mother would be so proud... and you have her good looks too." She turned her eyes upward in thought as she spoke, "when your ma was born, I thought there'd never see a face so beautiful. But I suppose I wasn't counting on you being born, now, was I?"
Applejack blushed at the compliment as Granny turned to face the other side. "And you, Big Macinto- sit up straight, boy! Didn't your pappy ever teach you any manners?"
"Eeyu- uh, yes mam!" Big Macintosh bolted into position nervously. Applejack couldn't help but laugh, and in a few moments the three of them were guffawing happily together.
"There you go, much better. Let us see that handsome face of yours." Granny reached out a hoof to stroke her grandson's mane before speaking again. "Such a robust young stallion... you could have any mare you wanted with a face like that." Granny Smith let the thought settle for a moment before raising a questioning hoof. "Say, how come you don't have a marefriend yet? What happened to that little ramble with you and Miss Cherilee?"
"Uh, I... well, I..." Big Macintosh rubbed the back of his mane as he struggled to find the right words. "It didn't exactly... work out."
"That's a shame, she's such a nice young mare, and so good with the children." She turned back to Applejack, "and you, young lady! Why don't you have some special stallion in your life? Why, when I was your age I was getting intimate with nearly every stallion on the settlement!"
"Granny!"
"'Course, things were different then, we had to populate the frontier, start a town. But still, such a fine-looking mare as yourself, I'd think you'd be seeing some stallion or another! Probably need it, too, with all the stress you put up with."
"GRANNY!" Applejack's face was burning a deeper red than her brother's.
"Calm down, calm down. I was just sayin' is all." Granny smith crossed her hooves grumpily. "Your own body is nothing to be ashamed of, Applejack."
She let her thoughts trail off a bit before speaking again, "your mother was the same way, always up in such a huff about what other ponies thought about her. Good thing she stopped all that nonsense when your pappy came around, you wouldn't be here today, wouldja?" Granny's smile widened as she continued to reminisce. "Who'da thought a big city folk like him would be the one to put a ring around that hoof of hers. And an orange farm owner to boot! I tell ya' when he first courted your ma, I was so riled up! I told her, I said, 'Appleseed, don't let him use none of his big city tricks on you. They're nothing but hustlers and liars, these city folk, who haven't done an honest day's work in their life!'... but when that boy came back every day, even after you ma told him no over an' over, I should've seen that there was something different. And I'm so glad he did. I tell ya what, you may get your work ethic from my side of the family, but you wouldn't be half as kind and proper if you had a different daddy."
Applejack and Big Macintosh had heard all this a thousand times, but they really never got tired of hearing about their parents. It was like Granny held a key to a missing part of their lives, and they always loved stories about their folks from her. "Boy, I sure do miss those two. Ah well, I guess I'll be seeing them both soon anyways."
"Granny! How could say such a thing!" Applejack took a step back in astonishment. "These hospital ponies will have you fixed up in no time, and then we'll have you back on the farm, just as always!"
"Come now, Applejack, don't be foolish. You and I both know I'm getting too old. It ain't long before I go 'kaput' now, I tell you."
"But Granny, Auntie Applesauce is older than you and she's doing fine!" Applejack protested.
"Applejack, Auntie Applesauce has got all kinds of big city medicines to keep her living, but she doesn't have time for her family these days. She could live ten times as long as me, and she still wouldn't have done half the living I've had with you three. Besides, even if these hospital ponies fix me up, how many times will I be back here before they can't fix me up no more?" Applejack frowned as she started to hang her head, but Granny Smith placed a reassuring hoof beneath her chin. "Come now, don't get upset. Everypony needs to go sometime sooner or later, I'm just glad I had such a good one while I was here."
Applejack said nothing as tears began to well up in her eyes. "Now, don't be getting all misty-eyed on me," Granny's tone became sterner and more direct. "You're gonna have to watch over the family from now on, ya hear? I know you got a lot to take care of already, but family comes first. You too, Big Macintosh!" She abruptly turned to face him, "you watch over your sister! Both of 'em. They're gonna need you more than ever!"
"Yes Granny, I will," Big Macintosh's voice was far more somber and serious than usual, eschewing his usual hint of sarcasm. "I promise you that."
The room was silent for a while after that. Nopony really knew what to say, what could be said after that. Finally, it was Applejack to break the silence. "Big Macintosh, you mind going out and checkin' on Applebloom?" Her brother simply nodded before slowly trotting out the room.
When Granny Smith turned to face Applejack, she had a strangely bewildered look on her face. "Appleseed? Is that you? Come closer, sweetie, I must've gotten something in my eye." Applejack immediately felt a lump in her throat, cutting off any words from escaping her lips. "You alright, dear? How come you're not saying anything?"
Finally Applejack was able to clear her throat enough to force out a coherent sentence. "I'm fine, ma. I'm here."
"Oh, well that's good. You're always gettin so quiet on me all the time, I can't help but wonder if something's the matter." Granny Smith fell into fits of coughing after every couple of words, but if she noticed, she didn't make any fuss of it. "So, how've you been dear? It feels like we haven't had time to just chat for ages."
"I'm... I'm fine ma. I've been doing well"
"Well that's good. How are Little Macintosh and Applejack?"
"They're good, ma. They're both really happy."
"Awww, well that's nice. They're both such good kids. That Little Macintosh is such a tough little feller, and Applejack's growin up to be the prettiest little gal' I've ever seen. You better be careful, or she'll end up being right prettier than you are," Granny said, giving a smug wink between coughing fits.
Applejack forced a smile as she felt the tears start to well up in her eyes. "Yeah, well, I guess she takes after her Granny," she chuckled.
"Heh, well hopefully she doesn't take too much after her Granny and actually stays that way," Granny giggled. "And what about the one on the way? What were ya calling her?"
"Applebloom, ma. Her name's gonna be Applebloom."
"Aplebloom... you do come up with the prettiest names, Appleseed. I'm sure Applebloom'll be just as special as your other two."
"Yeah... I think she will." Tears now rippling down her cheeks, Applejack took a moment to breath in slowly, trying to clear the tightening clot in her throat.
"Well, you tell yer husband I said hi... such a nice feller... I think I'm just gonna rest my eyes a bit here. Maybe I'll read little Applejack a story when I wake up."
"Yeah... I think she'd like that. She always loved your stories, ma. She... she loved them so much..."
"Awww, well, what a sweet little filly. Well, goodnight, darlin'. I'll see you in the... morning."
"Yeah, ma," Applejack barely managed to choke out as the tears came pouring down, "I'll see you."
For the next few moments Applejack felt something she wasn't expecting. Part of her knew this was coming, she was ready to cope with Granny's death. She's with her daughter now, she told herself, or that she lived a good life. But what she wasn't prepared for was the loneliness. When her parents died, Granny was there to watch over her and her siblings. Take care of them. Nurture them. Granny wasn't physically able to really protect them, but her guidance made Applejack feel safe. But now there was no one. She was the head of the family. Big Macintosh was the oldest, but Applejack knew she would need to take care of them now.
But all she wanted to do, in that moment, was curl up, cradled in her mother's hooves. She just wanted to feel safe again.
The light thumping of scurrying hooves approached the room as Applebloom raced her way in, tears welling in her eyes. "Why didn't anypony tell me this was happening!" She ran to Granny Smith's side and hoisted herself to the side of the bed. "Granny! Granny wake up! You said you weren't goin anywhere!" She turned back towards Applejack, a pair of rivers draining down her face. "She... she promised."
Applejack instinctively outstretched her hooves, catching her sister in her embrace. "I'm sorry Applebloom, I'm so sorry. We're on our own now."
"We ain't on our own, Applejack," the younger sister leaned back to look Applejack in the face. "We've still got each other. Even when we lose somepony, we'll always be family."
"... You're right Applebloom. You're right. We've still got each other, 'till the end of our days."
