I do not own My Little Pony:Friendship Is Magic, nor the characters portrayed therein. This work of fiction was not written for profit.
My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic and all the characters portrayed therein are the property of Hasbro.
Apple Family Traditions
The sun was shining, blessing Sweet Apple Acres with its warmth and light.The farm was bustling with activity: all around, workers were bucking apples, plowing fields and baking all kinds of apple treats.
Having finished her share of the daily chores, Applejack gave herself a brief moment of rest. After sitting down on the grass, the farmer took in her surroundings:the farm, her farm, her pride and joy for longer than she could remember. She gave a cursory glance to everypony working around her. Everyone, she mentally corrected herself, noticing some griffons hovering around apple trees.
"Now when the hay did their kind come here the first time? Ah don't reckon they've been here long..." she muttered to herself. "Good workers,though. Saving us a fortune in bruised apples. But Ah just can't put my hoof on it..."
"Seven years ago, if Ah remember it right."
"Gah!" Applejack bolted upright in surprise and turned around, seeing an old mare stare at her with a grin on her wrinkled face.
"Forgetting things again,are ya? And y'all say Ah'm getting senile..." the mare snickered, earning a chuckle from Applejack.
"Ah stand corrected, then..." she remarked. "My sincerest apologies."
"Nah,it's okay. So what's got you talking so posh, anyway?"
"Ah was visiting the Carousel Boutique the other day. Must've picked it up there. Ah swear, Rarity'd make a darn good royal guard! Those etiquette classes she's throwing are something fierce, all right... the foals looked ready to bolt, if ya ask me. Spike looked happy to be there,though. Heh. Can't imagine why..."
"Well,if you've got enough time for reminiscing" said the older mare, "then Ah reckon you're ready. Get a move on, they're
waiting."
"...eeeyup." said Applejack.
After a brief pause, the two ponies burst out laughing as they started to leave.
The journey went smoothly, despite the slow pace required by the older mare. Making it to the edge of the Everfree Forest, there was a pause in their casual conversation as Applejack noticed the old, weathered sign hanging from a tree branch:
Welcome to the Everfree Forest Nature Reserve! Have a great time!
-Fluttershy
P.S. If you want to, that is...
P.P.S. Sorry, I forgot to mention the cemeteries... they probably won't be fun... sorry...
Although already familiar to the two mares, the sign still made them chuckle as they continued deeper into the forest. Their laughter was brought short, however, as they approached an old clearing.
The cemetery was, by no standards, a big one. There were only a handful of gravestones strewn around it in a pattern that would, to a stranger, have seemed random. Applejack and her companion, however, knew exactly where to go, their legs almost subconsciously guiding them to a pair of gravestones. The text in them had already faded to an almost illegible mess, but the marks they adorned, a half-apple and an apple pie, persisted still.
"Howdy Big Mac, Granny Smith." said the older mare warmly.
"Good to see y'all again."
The mares made themselves comfortable on the grass in front of the headstones, flattened by the many times they'd done it before, and began to recount their day.
"...and she didn't even see me comin'! Gave her an awful scare, Ah did!" said the older mare, her face glowing.
"Ah'm never gonna hear the end of that, am Ah?" sighed Applejack,grinning.
The older mare giggled. "Eeeenope!"
When the two mares made their way out of the Everfree Forest, the sun was already setting. In the dwindling light, they began their way back.
As they reached Sweet Apple Acres, the older mare suddenly stopped and turned to Applejack, clearly struggling to say something. Applejack stopped as well, and waited patiently.
"AJ?" she managed, her eyes misting up.
"Yeah?"
"Ah... when Ah'm de-
...when Ah'm gone, a-are ya still gonna... will ya still... ya know..." Her voice was breaking now, and it didn't seem that she could say another word.
She didn't have to.
Applejack hugged the older mare tightly, nuzzling her mane as the mare cried on her shoulder.
She wasn't the only one crying.
"Applebloom. For as long as Ah live, Ah will never forget you. Never,ya hear?"
"N-no matter what?" sniffled Applebloom.
"No matter what."
For a while they remained in the embrace. Neither mare said anything. Nothing needed to be said.
"Well," Applebloom said, finally breaking the silence, "y'all better not forget me, or Ah swear, Ah'm gonna come back to life just to whoop yer sorry rump, young lady!"
"Now wait just a minute! Since when do you get to call me 'young lady' anyway?"
"Since twenty years ago, when Ah outgrew ya."
"Well, yer gonna be my little sister for as long as Ah- oof!"
"Ha! Looks like Ah can still buck ya to the curb!"
The bickering continued late into the night, neither mare relenting, neither mare letting their smile drop. The workers that were still awake watched intently, grinning to themselves.
And when the time came to retire for the night, Applejack tucked her little sister in.
Because some things never change.
All in all, the clearing hadn't changed much. The headstones were still there, still standing despite being almost completely eroded. However, there were some key differences to when Applejack had last visited it.
Where there had been only two headstones before, there was now an entire cluster, each of them adorned with some manner of apple-related marking.
After a few minutes of searching, Applejack made it to her destination: a relatively new headstone, set a few feet apart from the rest.
"Howdy Applebloom." said Applejack and sat down on the flattened grass.
It was just another day on the farm.
THE END