“Where are we going mommy?” The little tan filly asked as she struggled to follow her mother’s path through the tall stalks of grass. The moon hung overhead, bathing the world in its soft silvery glow.
“Somewhere very special,” Applejack whispered softly. “It’s just on the top of the hill.”
The hill was located in one of the old abandoned apple fields of Sweet Apple Acres. It was the highest rise on the entire farm and from its crest one could see over the entire property on a clear day. The grade of its sloping sides was too steep for those who worked the farm to bother planting anything on its side. It was reverently isolated from the rest of the farm, untouched by the toils of work.
Applejack stepped onto the top of the hill and knelt down next to two worn rectangular stones that stood at the very center. The words that had once been inscribed in their surface had long since been worn away, leaving only a rough surface on their face, but the words were unimportant. Applejack smiled as Honeycrisp slowly pushed through the grass and examined the stone blocks.
“Why are these rocks here?” she asked as she felt the rough surface with her hoof.
“These rocks are gravestones for your grandparents, mah parents.” Applejack said with a sorrowful smile.
“Why did they die?” Honeycrisp asked as she looked at Applejack.
“Ah don’t rightly know,” Applejack said. “Ah never got to see them.”
“How come? I get to see you.”
Applejack bit her lip as she tried to hold back her tears. “Well sugarcube, Big Macintosh and Ah was raised by Granny Smith here on the farm. Ah can barely remember the day they…” Her voice trailed off.
“The day they what?” Honeycrisp asked as she walked over to her mother. “What did they do?”
Applejack paused for a long moment. “You’re a big filly now and I think it’s time for you to know the story about your grandparents.” Applejack swallowed hard. It was always difficult talking about the day her parents had disappeared, but Honeycrisp needed to know.
“Are you going to tell me a story?” Honeycrisp asked as she walked over to applejack and curled up against her side.
“Ah am, but it isn’t a happy story.” She paused to steel herself before venturing into that recess of her mind that held the repressed memory of that day.
“It was a calm cool night just like this one,” she started. “Mah parents were both preparing to leave for Appleloosa to bring one of our trees to help diversify their orchards.”
“Granny Smith!” Applejack’s father yelled from the kitchen. “You have everything you need to take care of the foals while we’re gone?”
“Yes, yes, I have all of the supplies and that awfully long list of stuff to do. Now you get on out to the train station. They don’t take take kindly to late arrivals,” she said as she shooed him and his wife out the door. “I have everything under control, now off with you.”
“Alright Granny, we will send you a letter once we get to Appleloosa.”
“Daddy?” A small voice asked from behind Granny Smith who was blocking the door.
“Oh fiddlesticks, you were supposed to be in bed!” Granny said as she turned around. The moment she let a gap appear between her and the door Applejack made a mad dash for her father.
“Daddy!” She shouted as she jumped onto his neck and playfully bit at his mane. “Ah got you now, now you will never leave!”
Her parents both erupted in laughter at their daughter’s antics. “Applejack, dear, we need to go, we are going to miss our train.”
“Come on AJ,” Granny yelled from the porch. “You need your shut eye.”
“Okay,” she said as she jumped from her father’s back and trotted back to the porch. She stood with Granny Smith and waved as her parents entered their cart and sped off into the night.
“Why didn’t you stop them momma?”
“Ah didn’t think they were in danger,” Applejack said with a sniffle. “Ah just didn’t know.” Slowly a single tear traced down the side of her face as she thought of all the things she could have done to stop them. I could have broken my legs, both of them, right then and there. Then they wouldn’t have- No! don’t do this to yourself. You didn’t know they were going to disappear on that train.
But Ah could have done something.
“Mommy? Why aren’t you finishing the story?”
“Oh right, the story. Well after my parents left we went about the day as normal. Big Macintosh and Ah did our chores around the house. But as we were going to bed, things took a turn for the worst.”
Three thunderous knocks echoed through the house. Granny politely opened the door to a somber stallion. “Is this the Apple Family Farm?”
“Why yes it is, what seems to be the problem.” Granny said as she walked over to the kitchen table and sat down with the stallion.
“I regret to inform you, but the train your relatives were on derailed last night. It fell into Ghastly Gorge, there were no survivors. The cause of the accident is unknown, and an official search is being conducted to find who or what may have caused the accident.”
As the conversation unfolded at the table, Applejack quietly eavesdropped from the top of the stairs, concealed by the darkness of the house. As soon as she had heard the words ‘there were no survivors,’ her body collapsed to the floor. With no control of herself she laid in the puddle of her tears, snot, and saliva that had formed beneath her. She cried a bitter cry. Her parents, the ponies who had always been there for her were suddenly not. It was so sudden, so fast, so abrupt. Already tired, but unable to move, she let her head down into the puddle and fell asleep.
“Did they ever find out about the train?”
“The forensics ponies said that it was a hijacking and the stallion who took over the train pushed it too fast to go over the bridge. It hit the turn just before the gorge and flipped onto its side, but the heavy engine slid across the ground and fell into the gorge, pulling the rest of the train with them.” Applejack was barely able to keep her voice steady enough to speak.
“Ah… Ah don’t think I ever told them how much Ah loved them.”
