Liar.
Sweet Apple Acres: the largest orchard in Ponyville, and likely one of the largest in Equestria. Rolling hills of green ran as far as the eye could see, leading off into a horizon line that contrasted beautifully with the blue sky. The hills were covered with thousands upon thousands of bright red dots, the result of a generous rainy season which had led to an even more generous harvest. A number of cumulus clouds drifted across the sky, pushed on their way by the occasional weather pony. It brought some relief whenever one of them drifted past the late summer sun, covering the orchard in a pleasant shade.
It was a beautiful day. But, for some reason, Twilight felt like it should have been raining.
Liar. Liar. Liar.
“Twilight? Helloooo, Earth to Twilight. Hey!”
A sudden bump against her hip brought Twilight back into reality. With a jump, she took her gaze down from the sky and turned it towards Applejack.
The orange earth pony wore a smirk as she returned Twilight's look, one of her eyebrows quirked up in a look of curiosity. “Now Ah know you've gotten a might good with those things,” she said, motioning her head over towards Twilight's wings. “But that don't mean you can spend all day with yer head in the clouds!”
The purple alicorn gave her friend a meek, embarrassed smile, a slight tinge of pink suddenly coming over her cheeks. “Eheh, sorry...” Twilight looked down at her wings, giving them a little flex before letting them drop with a sigh. Her head dropped with them, a sudden downcast expression covering her face as she resumed her trot through the grassy field. There were still a dozen more bushels of apples she had to help Applejack with before the day was out, and Celestia knew the apple trees weren't being stingy this Applebuck Season.
Applejack quickly followed in-suit, however her satirical smirk had instantly been replaced with an expression of worry. With furrowed eyebrows she shifted her head down, getting it level with Twilight's. “Hey there, sugarcube, everythin' alright? You've got a cloud darker than a nimbus in June hangin' over yer head, and Rainbow Dash ain't even around.” She gave her friend a comforting smile, giving her ear a light nuzzle to signal the alicorn to look up at her instead of at the ground.
Twilight gave AJ a bit of a giggle, a smile touching her lips as she looked up at her friend. The smile didn't reach her eyes, though, and her head still hung low. “Yeah, sorry. I've just been thinking a lot.”
“Abou' the wings?”
Twilight gave her wings another little flex, before closing her eyes and nodding. “Mmhmm...” Well, it wasn't the wings themselves, but rather, everything that came with them, and everything that they implied.
Of course, Applejack knew that, and she gave her friend an understanding nod. “Yeah... it ain't easy bein' a princess, is it, sugarcube?”
“Being a princess has nothing to do with it...!” Twilight suddenly stopped, her whole body trembling as she bit her lip. “I mean, look. Nothing's changed. I'm still here, helping you with your Applebuck Season like I do every year. I'm still going on wacky and exciting adventures with you and everyone. I'm still learning about all of the magics and joys of friendship...”
Applejack blinked as she looked back at her friend, the quirk of curiosity and confusion returning to her brow. “So... what, that's makin' you unhappy? Yer getting bored with it all? You want something to change?”
“No!” Twilight shook her head vigorously, her eyes now shut tight. “The opposite! I'm... I'm worried. I'm worried that everything will change. I know that none of it's going to last... You, and Rainbow, and Rarity, and Fluttershy, and Pinkie, and even Spike... You're all going to grow old, and I'll still just be here, the same, forever... And... And then, eventually...” By then, Twilight's whole body was shaking, and she had to rest her flank down on the grass less she risk her whole body toppling over. Just the thought of what would happen next was bringing her to tears, and she was sure that the tight grip her teeth were keeping on her lip was the only thing that was keeping them from flowing out.
AJ blinked again, her mouth now hanging open incredulously. However, her mood was quickly turned on its head as she snorted, followed by a long line of laughter. “Shoot, filly, is that all you've got on yer mind?” The earth pony quickly trotted over to her confused-looking friend, wrapping a hoof around Twilight's shoulder and bringing her right up next to her chest.
Twilight's rage at her friend's laughter was quickly beget by confusion. How could she shrug off such a serious topic so easily...? One day, she and everypony else were going to leave her. They were going to leave Twilight all alone... Didn't she understand that...? Twilight wanted to quickly shake off AJ's hold in a fit of anger, but the earth pony's grip was strong, and firm, and... warm. It was so warm and comforting there, against Applejack's chest... It held a feeling of compassion and familiarity that Twilight simply couldn't pull herself away from.
“Now listen here, sugarcube,” AJ said, looking down at Twilight with that warm, familiar smile. “You might wanna jot this down as a letter for the princess, 'cuz I'm about to teach you a very important lesson on friendship. Me, and Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie, and Rarity, and Fluttershy, and all your friends here in Ponyville... we ain't goin' anywhere anytime soon.”
“But...!”
Applejack's hoof quickly silenced Twilight's objections as it gently pressed against her lips. “Ah ain't finished yet. Now, even when that day does come, and it looks like it's just you, the Sun, and the Moon... yer friends will always be with you, right here.” The hoof originally pressed against lips slowly drifted down and tapped at Twilight's chest. “Our memories and our friendship will always keep yer heart warm, even through the cold of time and space itself. Because friendship is a magic that lasts forever.” AJ finished her lecture with a wide, warm smile.
Before Twilight had even realized, there were tears running down her face. She quickly wiped them away, and before she knew it a smile of her own had blossomed on her face. She gave Applejack a nod. Her friend was right. Friendship was magic. Friendship was forever.
But then Twilight blinked.
...Liar...!
Twilight blinked, and another Applebuck Season came and passed. Twilight blinked, and ponies came and went. Twilight blinked, and Applejack's warm, familiar smile became ten years older. She blinked, and she blinked, and she blinked, and before she knew it, Applejack's smile was gone.
Liar.
Liar Liar Liar.
LiarLiarLiarLiarLiarLiarLiarLiarLiarLiarLiarLiarLiarLiarLiarLiarLiarLiarLiarLiarLiarLiarLiarLiarLiarLiarLiarLiarLiarLiarLiarLiar
“LIAR!”
Twilight cried out, slamming her hoof into the ground and sending a shock through the crowd of earth ponies behind her.
Sweet Apple Acres hadn't changed. The green grass, the rolling hills, even the red-dotted trees; they were all the same as they had been over a hundred years ago. But the ponies weren't. The crowd of ponies behind Twilight consisted of the modern Apple family. It was a group of unfamiliar faces with unfamiliar names. Apple Turnover, Mrs. Gala, Apple Lily... they all had names that sounded familiar, names that could only fit in with one family... but none of them were names that Twilight knew. None of them belonged to ponies that Twilight cared about. There was only one pony here that she knew... only one pony here that she truly cared about... and she was laying in the coffin before her, her arms folded across the hat that rested upon her chest.
Twilight tore her gaze away, looking up at the cloudless sky. She wished it were raining. It should have been raining. At the very least, it would have hidden her tears. But it had been Applejack's final wish, the one thing she had requested on her deathbed at Broadhoof Memorial Hospital; to be buried under the sun in Sweet Apple Acres. “The rain's all well and good,” she had said, “but more than anything, an apple needs the sun to grow, to live. So, it might as well have it to die, too, right?”
The alicorn jumped as the soft feeling of a hoof suddenly rested upon her shoulder. She blinked as she looked to her side, seeing Granny Smith standing next to her, her tired gaze resting upon the casket.
“Now, now, Twilight... My sister was a good many things, but above all, she was honest. You should know that better than anypony.”
Twilight blinked, and suddenly Granny Smith's coat took a different color. No, not Granny Smith. This old mare's coat was a bright yellow, and the familiar apple pie that had rested on her flank had been replaced with a blooming apple blossom. “Apple Bloom...”
The old mare turned her gaze away from her sister's body and looked at Twilight with a warm smile. A familiar smile; a smile far too much like Applejack's. It was a horrible sight for Twilight. The little filly shouldn't have been there. She should have been out with Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, searching for her cutie mark. But, of course, Apple Bloom already had her cutie mark. And... of course, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo had already died years before.
Apple Bloom... twenty years Twilight's younger in age, and yet at least eighty years her elder in appearance. Sure, Twilight had grown, adopting the more regal, lengthy form that was typical of alicorns such as herself, Luna, and Celestia, but she hadn't aged a day since she had gotten those blasted wings. Not like Apple Bloom, who was now covered in wrinkles much like Granny Smith had been the first day Twilight had come to Ponyville. Not like Applejack, who now lay dead in a casket before her.
Perhaps Apple Bloom knew some empathy for Twilight's pain, having to watch her friends die before her. An earth pony's extended lifespan was at least similar to an alicorn's curse of immortality. But at the very least Apple Bloom wouldn't have to live with it much longer... while Twilight had to live with it until the end of time.
“It's not fair, Apple Bloom... She was so strong, stronger than anypony. She shouldn't be here... she should be out there, kicking apple trees and wrangling cattle! I should be the one in that coffin! Me!” Twilight shut her eyes tight, her tears flowing down her face and dripping down onto the ground.
Apple Bloom looked down, her eyes taking on a shade of melancholy as she slowly nodded. “You're right... she was strong. Strong enough to have lived longer than just about anyone in recorded history. But... nopony can be that strong forever, Twilight. Well, nopony except...” She cut herself off, quickly looking away.
“Nopony except me, and the other princesses.” Twilight finished for her. “But you're wrong. I'm not strong, Apple Bloom. If I was, I wouldn't be here right now, and neither would she.” She sighed, shaking her head. “I'm supposed to be a God, Apple Bloom... I'm supposed to be the most powerful magical being in the history of Equestria. Something as simple as life and death... it should be simple for me! I've transcended the boundaries of time and space! I've gained youth eternal! Doing the same for them... it should have been simple! If only for a few... more... years...!”
By then, Twilight's eyes of sadness had taken a dark turn towards a passionate rage. Fortunately, she was suddenly cut off by an abrupt pap on her head.“Now you can just stop that hogwash right there. Applejack would have never expected that of you, and even if she had, you know damn well that she wouldn't have wanted it.” The look of Apple Bloom's face had taken a turn just as drastic as Twilight's. It was now stern, up-front, and unforgiving.
This, too, was just like Applejack.
However, it quickly reverted back with Apple Bloom giving her life-time alicorn friend a little chuckle. She suddenly slung her hoof over Twilight's shoulder and held her comfortingly. It was quite the feat. After all, the height difference between the two ponies was substantial, and Apple Bloom's aged body was frail enough as it was. “We need you to be stronger than anypony, Twilight. Not just for the sake of your friends, not just for the sake of Applejack, but for the sake of Equestria.”
“What friends?” Twilight thought. “All my friends are dead, remember?” Of course, she figured it something best left unsaid, allowing the old mare to continue with her lecture.
“That's what Applejack would've wanted... and that's what everypony else would've wanted, too. They would've wanted you to keep their friendship in your heart, and to remember that it'll last forever.” She looked back up at Twilight with a smile, and tightened the embrace she held on Twilight's shoulder. Twilight blinked, and for just a moment, she saw Applejack wearing the same smile she had had that day.
Friendship is magic. Friendship if forever.
After a moment of silence, Apple Bloom finally brought her hoof back down from Twilight's shoulder. She looked up at the horizon and the sun that was setting behind it. “Well, Ah think it's just about that time.” A few minutes later, Applejack's coffin was closed and being lowered into the six foot grave that had been dug in the middle of Sweet Apple Acres, right next to Big Macintosh and Granny Smith. Most of the Apple family slowly dispersed as the grave was filled. Some stayed, watched, mourned, but all left eventually. Apple Bloom was the last to keep Twilight company as she stared down at the grave, but even she left as darkness fell and the moon rose high into the sky. But even then, left all alone, Twilight stayed. Deep into the night, until the moon was hanging high over her in the middle of the sky, she stared at the grave.
Here lies Applejack.
Her bravery was outweighed only by her honesty.
Rest in peace.
When there were no more tears left to shed, Twilight finally looked up from the grave and to the sky. With a sigh, she closed her eyes, and with a flash of her horn, she disappeared. When her eyes reopened, she found herself back in her room in Canterlot. The only light that came into the room was from the moon as it shone through balcony door that served as her room's only window. With another sigh, she walked out onto the balcony, finding a podium with a single book at its center. The glow of magic wrapped over it, opening it and turning it to a page number long-since memorized. And with mournful eyes, Twilight began reading its contents... lines long-since memorized.
“Dear diary,
Today, Rainbow Dash told me something terrifying...”
Author's Note
My first real attempt at a pony fic. I desperately hope that the concept isn't too over-used, and if it is, I just hope the writing is good enough to make up for it. Tell me what you guys think in the comments! I'm not one to look away from constructive criticism.
Also, if any of you REALLY like it, and REALLY want to maybe make some cover art that I could call me very own... Well, I wouldn't be against it. Haha, a guy can dream, right?
Oh, also! Make sure you go and read Asylum by Daemon of Decay! I threw a slightly-subtle reference for it in here, so I ought to endorse it at least a little bit. ^^;
