It was the first time in a hundred years that the Summer Sun Festival had taken place at Canterlot. The entire castle town was alive with activity; ponies were taking to the streets in droves, helping the official teams put up decorations. Streamers were hanging from every tower and the palace itself had been colored in rainbow paint. The rainbow castle was the first thing visitors coming off the zeppelin saw and many of them stood on the platform gaping at it in childish glee. It wasn’t every day that this many ponies were allowed to come to Canterlot – a literal trip of a lifetime.
One of those ponies was a young filly that pushed her way through the crowds. “Look at all the balloons, Ma!” she shouted, zipping around the platform and getting under everypony’s hooves.
Another, older pony stumbled out of the zeppelin after her daughter and managed to coral the filly before she knocked anyone over. “That’s nice Apple Pod, but you’re being a bother. Come on over here with your grandma.”
The little pony struggled to get away from her mother. “No way! Granny didn’t even want to come!” Finally, after more squirming, the adult earth pony picked Apple Pod up by the scruff of her neck and carried her over to the side of the platform, out of the crowd.
She set the filly down and bent down low. “Now you see here, Missy. Don’t let your Granny hear you being that disrespectful! We couldn’t leave her alone at the farm and if she really didn’t want to go we wouldn’t be standing here right now. You should be thankful to Granny for coming with us.”
“I’m just fine stayin’ by myself, Apple Dash! You’re the one being disrespectful and in-sin-u-a-tun that I can’t take care of myself for a day!”
It was always funny how Granny Jack could get the usually tough as nails Apple Dash simpering like a scolded rabbit. The blond pony flinched as her mother finally caught up. Sheepishly, she turned around to face the Apple matriarch.
Applejack, her mane snow-white and hanging down to her hooves in a nice tight braid, clopped over to her family. She had that look in her eyes that just promised you were going to get argued at no matter what you did, so Apple Pod wisely ducked under her mother’s legs and only peeked out at her grandmother.
“Now, Ma, I didn’t mean it like that—”
“They hay you didn’t! I know when somepony is sayin’ I can’t do somethin’!” She raised her hoof to stamp it, but thought better and just scratched at the stone. Applejack turned walked past the mother/daughter pair and stubbornly looked out at the clouds hanging in the sky behind the zeppelin. “I wanted ta come. Nopony is going to tell me what to do.”
Apple Dash sighed. “Is this about what the doctor said? You’re almost seventy! He might be right about your hip!”
“Balderdash.”
There was just no helping it when the old pony got like that. Arguing about taking it easy or not going out into the fields alone fell on deaf ears and Apple Dash was sick of all the yelling. Applejack would do whatever she wanted, whenever she wanted, and that was that. Even convincing her to get away from the farm for a few hours to come to the Summer Solstice Festival had been a miracle and Apple Dash had played dirty by saying Apple Pod wanted to go more than anything.
Jack’s daughter moved up next to her and nudged the elder. “It won’t be that bad, will it? The farm can live for a day without anyone looking over it. All your friends are gonna be here, you know: Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rarity. Princess Twilight said that there will even be a special dinner for all of you!”
A snort. Applejack just shifted around so she could look at the clouds better.
“Maybe Aunt Dash won’t be there?” That got Applejack’s attention, but not the kind Apple Dash wanted. The old pony’s face twisted into a deep frown and she opened her mouth to say something, but closed it after nothing came out. She just glared at her daughter for a long beat and stomped past her, thankfully heading toward the castle.
Apple Dash and Apple Pod shared a look and fell in step with their prickly leader. Pod ran off from time to time to get closer looks at the decorations or strange unicorn machines, but her mother would bring her back before Applejack could stop long enough to get more annoyed.
The castle itself was open with an enormous welcome banner hanging over the lowered drawbridge; even the normally-stoic guards were smiling at the visitors and some were acting as tour guides. One of the groups was close enough that the pony’s opening bit could be overheard. He was explaining about the day Princesses Celestia and Luna had officially named their successors and taken the mantels of Queens.
“You were here for the coronation, weren’t you? Oh, I bet it was everything all the other ponies say it was!” Apple Dash blathered on and on, either ignoring or not noticing Applejack’s plummeting mood. “I wonder if Princess D—”
“Applejack!”
The cry echoed off the walls of the palace and many ponies turned to look at the top of the main stairs as a brightly-colored pink pony cleared several steps in a single bound, catching the railing and sliding down the rest of the way on her hooves. She hadn’t changed at all since the last time Applejack saw her and was still the young, happy filly from Ponyville.
Managing not to cringe when Pinkie Pie threw her arms around her neck, Applejack cracked a small smile. Princess Twilight’s Advisor of Festivals and Holidays had never quite grasped how old her friend was getting.
“Heya, Pink,” Applejack said, slowly extracting herself from the hug. “The palace looks great. Twilight isn’t working you too hard, is she?”
Pinkie Pie had already moved on to the youngest member of the Apple herd and was gleefully swinging Apple Pod around like one of her helicopters with the colt giggling the entire time. Pinkie had always gotten along better with Apple Dash and Pod when they were kids. When they grew up, they lost some of the magic.
Of course, growing up wasn’t something Pinkie Pie would ever have to worry about now – she had chosen to be restored to the ripe young age of eighteen when Twilight had offered her a position as one of her immortal advisers.
“No way! Twilight actually makes me take breaks! We’re always arguing about that; she says I’m going to catch on fire or something silly.” Pinkie let Apple Pod down so she could grab Apple Dash in a hug which the other pony enthusiastically returned.
Pinkie Pie had been one of the first of Applejack’s friends to accept her daughter and they were still close. Even though she had fallen out with the majority of her friends, Applejack could never stay mad with Pinkie. None of this was really her fault anyway – she just took advantage of Twilight’s offer like any sane pony would.
“She might have a point!” Apple Dash scolded. “If the princess thinks you’ll burn yourself out doing all of this,” she gestured at the lavish decorations in the castle foyer, “then you should take it easy.”
“I was, but then we heard that Applejack was actually going to come this time; I couldn’t not have the biggest party in Celestia’s history after that!”
Apple Pod hopped up and down. “You mean this whole thing is for Granny Jack?! That’s so cool!” She looked back at the old mare.
Yeah, cool. Applejack’s eyes narrowed as Pinkie led them further into the castle, away from any chance of escaping. She was playing dirty by getting Apple Pod so excited about it.
They eventually made it to the grand ballroom. It wasn’t quite finished yet and there were decoration materials still lying around. However, a unicorn and a pegasus were putting up banners with the new royal seal of the crown princesses.
“Fluttershy, Darling, a bit to the left would make it much less gaudy, don’t you think?” Dutifully, the pegasus flapped her wings a little harder and pulled the banner tighter on her side. “A little more…a little more…a little – oh my, is that Applejack?” Rarity’s magic abruptly stopped holding up the banner and Fluttershy crashed into a pile of loose fabric.
Rarity trotted up to the group. She, like Pinkie, hadn’t changed on the outside and still had her beautiful flowing mane and alabaster coat of pure white. Unlike Pinkie, Rarity had taken to wearing her jewel of harmony all the time and it looked perfectly normal sitting against her chest, glimmering in the low light.
She stopped short with a small gasp. “Darling, whatever did you do to your skin? It looks like…like…”
“Like I’m seventy? Imagine that.” Fifty years and that filly hadn’t changed a bit! If Applejack rolled her eyes harder they’d go walleyed like old Dinky’s.
At least Rarity had the grace to look embarrassed and uncomfortable. “Silly me, I keep forgetting that.” She turned to Applejack’s family and asked, “How are things at your delightful little farm, Apple Dash?”
While Rarity and Apple Dash caught up, Applejack shuffled over to one of the dining tables and pulled herself up into a chair to rest. Pinkie and Apple Pod had snuck off somewhere, probably to cause trouble, but it wasn’t Applejack’s place to track down her old friend anymore. Apple Dash would realize her kid had left in a few minutes, or an impending disaster would alert everyone anyway.
Heck, all things considered she was the outsider now.
“Applejack?” The timid call made the elder crane her head over the side of the table to look at Fluttershy. At her small nod, Fluttershy slowly climbed into the chair across from Applejack’s.
“How are ya doing, Fluttershy? Rarity isn’t pushing you around, is she?”
Fluttershy glanced away and demurely shook her head. “Oh no, I volunteered to help when…when I heard you were going to visit. It’s been a long time and I just—”
A hoof lightly thumped against the table, making Fluttershy squeak. “It hasn’t been that long. I don’t see why everypony has to make a big deal about it.”
“…it’s been thirty-eight years, Applejack.”
Thirty-eight years since that night. Since the coronation.
Since the announcement.
“Yeah, well, we don’t have one of those tell-e-phones out on the farm and I can’t make the trips up here like Apple Dash can. I’m old, Fluttershy.”
“You don’t have to be.”
This was an argument Applejack just wasn’t going to have again. With great effort, she managed to turn her chair away from Fluttershy, trusting that the shy pony was too polite to press the issue.
“Yee-haw! Ride ‘um, cowponies!”
Everypony shuddered at the shriek and the crashing that came from a few halls down. That was most-certainly the voice of Apple Pod and Apple Dash finally realized her daughter was missing.
“Stop horsing around in the trophy room!” “Come on, Auntie Dash! Faster!” “Princess, please! Stop this!”
The door burst open a second later and a multicolored streak darted around the room, over everypony’s head, and stirred the air. A moment after that a sparkly cloud wafted through the door and started chasing the streak, finally catching it as it made a lap around the chandelier.
A haggard unicorn charged through the open door, huffing something horrible. She held the door open with her back leg for the next figure to walk in: Princess Twilight.
The young pony’s face was one of long suffering. “Dash, how many times have I begged you not to fly inside the castle?” She was more regal than Applejack remembered her from the coronation: a longer mane that had started to ‘flow’ a little bit like Celestia’s whipped about behind the princess and her tiara was slightly askew on her head, no doubt from the undignified run after the other princess.
Rainbow Dash, Princess of Equestria – It almost still made Applejack laugh how she had looked getting her title from Celestia. The only thing that had really changed about the pony was the white horn set on her forehead and the tiara she was forced to wear. She looked like this was the most fun she’d had in a while, Applejack noted with a small amount of satisfaction.
“Aww, but we’re having fun!” Apple Pod shouted from Rainbow Dash’s back. “We weren’t causin’ no trouble until Trixie tattled on us!”
The Sun Princess floated down to the dining room floor despite her rider’s complaints. “Come on, kiddo, we don’t want to make Twilight upset right before the banquet.” She clasped a hoof behind her head and shook out her rainbow mane.
“We were getting kinda hardcore there for a bit, weren’t we?” Dash asked as Twilight walked over to them. She lowered her head and let Twilight nuzzle her.
Applejack coughed, no, hacked, loudly and made a faint gagging sound. It had Apple Dash running over to her and seeing what was the matter.
“I heard you were going to come, but I never believed you would.” Rainbow Dash, ignoring a warning look from Twilight, plodded up to the table and kicked out a chair for herself. Her angry look morphed into a smirk when Applejack glowered at her. “Careful, you might give yourself wrinkles on top of the ones you already have.”
Twilight pushed Rainbow Dash over and sat between her and Applejack. “Always so diplomatic, aren’t you?” she hissed. This time Dash just smiled and rolled her eyes, giving up and allowed the other princess to take control of the conversation. “I’m glad you could make it, Applejack.”
The worst thing was, she actually sounded sincere. Applejack looked down at the tablecloth as her old friends found places at that dusty little table, all talking to her and asking how things were going on the farm. Apple Dash fielded most of the questions since she was the official owner these days and Applejack found herself just studying the faces of the ponies around her.
They really didn’t look any different.
After the coronation, most of them had moved into the castle with Twilight and Rainbow Dash as their advisers, forever allowed to keep their youth like the royal family. Celestia and Luna had chosen Rainbow Dash and Twilight Sparkle, respectively, to take up their positions as the de facto rulers of Equestria, adjusting the cosmos each day for the good of the kingdom. All of them, that is, except for Applejack; she had elected to remain on her little farm in Ponyville, steadfastly refusing to undergo the spell that would keep her youthful.
Many hadn’t accepted her decision. Rarity had moved her boutique next to Sweet Apple Acres for months, trying to convince her friend to go to Canterlot with her. The rest would drop by as often as they could, subtly pushing the issue. It wasn’t until Applejack had begun to show that everyone had stopped, realizing that while she could live forever her children couldn’t. Daily visits became weekly visits to see how the expectant mother was, which drifted in to monthly letters and then holiday greeting cards.
A gentle poke brought the mare back to the present and she looked up at the worried faces of her friends.
“Ma, do you need some time to rest?”
“I don’t need no rest! I’m perfectly fine, so stop askin’ me to take it easy!” Applejack snapped, shooting a nasty look at Apple Dash.
Rainbow Dash’s tail snapped like a whip when she threw her hooves up onto the table to lean across Twilight. “Don’t talk to her like that! She’s just worried about you!” The other princess tried to put herself between the two former friends, but Dash nudged her out of the way. “No, somepony needs to say it!”
Applejack felt herself starting to heat up and she chose to simply glare at the rainbow-colored royal rather. “She ain’t your daughter, so don’t tell me how to talk to her. I didn’t even want to come to this thing!”
“Girls, c-can we not do this today? Please?” Fluttershy, poor Fluttershy, was trying to play mediator, but she had dove into the deep end of the pool. Rarity and Pinkie were smart enough simply slide back from the table and watch. They would be there to soothe the bruised feelings afterward.
The two ponies tried to stare each other down and Twilight was still trying her best to pull Dash away from a confrontation. She was close to the princess, whispering softly and fervently in her ear. One of her hooves was resting on Dash’s thigh and it was stroking the fur there.
Applejack’s chair clattered against the stone floor as she pushed away from the table. When Apple Dash moved to help, she rounded on the mare. “I. Don’t. Need. No. Help! Why don’t you just stay with auntie Dash and—”
And suddenly the castle was gone. The tables, the half-finished banners, the cold stone walls – all of it replaced by the warm afternoon sun and flowering trees of every size and shape. She ran her nose through the flowers swaying in the light breeze as if to convince herself this was real.
“Am I dead?” she wondered.
“Oh no. We’re a little ways outside of Canterlot.” Twilight Sparkle plodded up beside her friend and hoofed at the ground, kicking up some flower petals that rode on the wind. “When you die, you get whatever you want and nothing bad ever happens forever and ever.” She glanced over at the earth pony. “I’m sure you really don’t want to be here right now, so you can’t be dead.”
“…how would you know what I want?”
“Because we’re friends, Applejack. Don’t you remember all the time we spent together? It wasn’t that long ago.”
Twilight, in an act unbecoming of a princess, sat down in a heap next to Applejack. Reluctantly, the mare followed suit after a moment. She gently let her hip sag to the ground first before following it with the rest of her body. The bones creaked a few times, causing Twilight to wince with each one, but they were soon more or less both comfortable on the ground.
There was a long silence before either pony spoke up. Twilight had called her a friend, but that was so long ago. Ponies changed as often as the seasons; how could a friendship last decades without any effort from both sides?
“We are still friends, aren’t we?” Twilight murmured.
How could you be friends with your monarch? She didn’t need friends anymore – she had advisers and retainers. In a few years Applejack knew she would just be a bad memory and she hadn’t done anything to change that in the last forty years, so why start now?
Twilight let out a sigh at Applejack’s silence. “How did things get like this, Applejack? Was it something we all did? Something that Rainbow Dash did?” More silence. The princess turned back to the flowers and lowered her head down into them, resting on the ground. “You know, when she found out you named your daughter after her she was so happy that I was jealous. It was like she found the child we can’t have.”
There was a harsh cough from Applejack that had Twilight bolting back upright. “Applejack, are you alright? That cough sounds pretty bad and—”
“I want to go home, Twilight.” The words sounded weak and worn to the princess; alien coming from the workhorse. “Can you…can you just teleport me back to the farm?”
“But what about Apple Dash and Apple Pod? They’ll worry about you!”
“No they won’t! They’re a heck of a lot more comfortable around that castle than I am and I don’t want to be a wet blanket.” Apple Dash was probably already croup-deep in an argument about who the best Wonderbolt was with Rainbow Dash. She would just drag everyone down again.
“Please, Twilight. I can make it one day by myself. Do you really want an old nag like me around?” She could tell the argument was starting to work so Applejack started laying it on thick: “I’ve had the sniffles the last few days, so I shouldn’t be runnin’ around anyway. The doctor told me plenty of bed rest, but Apple Dash wouldn’t go without me. I promise I’ll go right to sleep when I get home.”
A pained, almost pleading expression flashed across Twilight’s face. “Why? Why can’t you get along with the others anymore, Applejack? Why won’t you let me just cast the stupid spell? Aren’t you tired of being so old? Don’t you ever want to go to a rodeo again, or buck apples? You don’t even have to stay at the castle if you don’t want to!”
“Twilight, I’ve been through this about a dozen times already! I don’t want no spell!”
The princess leapt to her feet and stomped around so her friend had to look at her. “Yes, you have, but you’ve never said why! Is it some warped sense of pride?! You don’t want my help? I could get Celestia to do it! Or Luna! Anyone you want, I’ll teach them how to do it! Just…please, Applejack…we all just want to know you’ll be out there, somewhere, in ten, twenty years.”
She almost cracked. Looking up into those oh-so-earnest eyes, Applejack was reminded the first time Twilight had come to Ponyville. How she had worked so hard to improve everypony’s life, how she had brought loose acquaintances into a real friendship. However, Twilight had been the same the first time she asked Applejack to join her friends in immortality and something had stopped her from saying yes then. It was the same thing stopping her now.
Applejack turned away. “I want to go home. Just home.”
The princess backed away as if the old mare had struck her. She sensed the finality and glumly nodded. There wasn’t another argument she could use at this point.
One flash of light later and the duo were standing in the shade of the massive apple trees of Sweet Apple Acres. Everything had a “wilder” look since Applejack grew too old to look after the farm on a daily basis, but the apples were still red and delicious.
Twilight helped Applejack to her feet and watched the mare plod off towards her barn. She swayed a few times, uncertain about whether to follow or not. Applejack didn’t look back as she opened the door, so the princess did nothing but awkwardly stare after her friend.
“I’m sorry things turned out like this, Applejack,” Twilight called out.
Applejack pulled the door closed with her tail. “No yer not,” she muttered. Too emotionally drained to bother with getting her medicine for the night, and for once not being nagged to take it by Apple Dash, the mare slowly made her way up the stairs to her bedroom.
She passed Big Macintosh’s room on the way and poked her head inside. It was just like she had left it, though dustier than ever. His collar was still sitting on the made bed. A picture of him, Apple Bloom, and Applejack sat on the bedside table. It had been taken years ago, back before even the coronation.
Better times.
The door to the master bedroom creaked open and the silence was only disturbed by a faint wheeze from its owner as she slipped under the covers of her four poster bed. Her body was really starting to ache – all the traveling and commotion had caught up with her. Apple Dash was probably going to drag her to that stubborn doctor when she got back. She hated the doctor; all he ever said was doom and gloom. Hadn’t she earned some good luck by now? He was full of hay.
Her eyes started to droop and she rolled over onto her side so she could breathe easier. She never should have went to that stupid castle again – those ponies just…didn…’t…get…i…t…
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Applejack’s eyes fluttered open; someone was calling her name. She lifted her head off the table and looked around. Pinkie Pie was sitting in the chair next to her. The only reason she could make the pony out in the low light was because her mane was so distinctive.
“Silly, you fell asleep! If I hadn’t been here you’d have missed the announcement!”
“What announce—”
Several shushes came Applejack’s way all at once as the crowd of ponies eagerly looked up at the platform at the head of the dining room. Guards flanked it on either side and the figures of Princesses Celestia and Luna were standing in the middle. Somepony was still making adjustments to the microphone, but it was clear the event was about to start. Groggy as she was, Applejack made sure to listen real good.
The technician said something to Celestia and went offstage. The ruler cleared her throat and smiled at the way her voice now carried throughout the large room.
“I thank you all for coming tonight,” she began. “It has been over three thousand years since my sister and I took the mantle of rulership from our predecessors and tonight marks the official end of our stewardship over the lands of Equestria. It has been a long and fulfilling road for us both, though not without its tribulations…”
Luna blushed and looked away from the crowd. She had worked hard to make up for her stint as Nightmare Moon, but it was still a sore spot.
“…but we have both agreed that now is the time to usher in a new age with new rulers; ponies that can start anew and nurture new generations, leading Equestria into a golden age. It has taken many years, but we have found two ponies that represent the best of us all. Therefore, I present to you, princesses Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash.”
Everypony knew that this had been coming, but it still seemed so surreal that the immortal monarchs that were Celestia and Luna would step down after so long. Luna had chosen Twilight for her mastery of the academic and magical arts, while Celestia had done her best to foster Rainbow Dash’s dedication, pride, and loyalty into a pillar of statesmanship.
Watching the rainbow-colored pony step forward in her flowing, gold-embroidered dress, Applejack knew that Celestia had succeeded. Before Celestia’s crown even touched her head Rainbow Dash looked like confident royalty. What had once been an untested pony eager to prove herself had grown into a pegasus that had confidence in spades who worked tirelessly to improve Equestria.
Twilight Sparkle accepted Luna’s crown with tears pulling at the edge of her eyes. “Thank you, Princess,” Twilight whispered.
With their crowns set atop their heads, the new monarchs presented themselves to the select subjects who were in attendance, everyone bowing before them. Their close friends, though, all wore proud smiles rather than looks of loyalty.
The stuffy spell was broken by Rainbow Dash. She coughed and took the microphone from Celestia. “Okay, that’s just the formal stuff! Now it’s time to party! Woo-hoo!”
Deliriously happy chaos descended on the castle as the celebrating began. Some ponies left with Celestia, Twilight, and Luna to hear about the trip the two former rulers had planned, but most stayed in the main room to revel in the music and dancing. Applejack didn’t dance much herself, but Pinkie carried on enough for both of them.
Applejack smiled when a pair of legs flopped over her back and she let her eyes slide closed. “So, how was my speech?”
“I think Pr-er-Queen Celestia finally realized you’re gonna be you no matter how much fancy-shmancy jewelry she sticks on yer head.” Rainbow Dash laughed and pulled Applejack in closer so she could nuzzle her neck.
“So you’re not mad?” the new princess asked. Dash let out a loud sigh and let her head droop until it was resting between Applejack’s shoulder blades.
Applejack craned an eye open. “What would I have to be mad about, Sugarcube?”
“You know – I couldn’t tell everypony that we’re engaged.”
“Dash, I’m technically just some poor farmer from the middle of nowhere. If you had said you were gonna marry me right after being crowned, it would have distracted everypony! I mean, the only way you could have done it is if you were marrying Twilight or something. I bet they’d love to pair up two royals like that. Celestia was right and you know it.”
The pegasus didn’t relax. “But, I told you I’d make the announcement tonight. Come on, you’ve got to be mad at me! I mean, I—”
Finally, tired of her fiancée’s mouth flapping too much, Applejack spun around and captured her lips. In the flashing strobe lights accompanying the music, it was hard for anypony to make out what they were doing.
“Idiot,” Applejack whispered after pulling back, “I don’t need you right now when we have forever.”
Fin~
