We all have dreams, but then we have nightmares. The nightmare of loss...

Applejack let out a small shudder as the cold wind blew over her coat, her eyes slowly getting used to the darkness that was surrounding her. After a few blinks to adjust her eyes, she quickly realized where she was, “Oh buck no.”

“We seem,” Octavia said, walking up behind Applejack as she looked at each gravestone around her. “To be in the middle of a graveyard.”

Another shudder came along her spine as she felt the unnaturalness of the graveyard come over her, “Ah can see that. But why in tarnation would Twilight be having a nightmare of a graveyard.”

“Indeed,” Octavia remarked, looking at the gravestone that surrounded her. “I do hope that Mirage’s nightmares would be more creative than just a threat to kill each one of her friends.”

“Y-yeah. Me too,” Applejack said, shaking. She never did like graveyards, whether it was from her own lost of parents or the feeling of death that permuted such a place, she had no idea. All the orange mare knew at that moment was that she wanted out and fast. The dead leaves crunched beneath the two mares as they walked through the lifeless grounds, while the cold wind continued to blow through the area. The wind carrying with it a mournful sound that resembled the moans of all who were dead in that landscape, the ones who missed the living and the ability to be with the ones they loved. Reaching up with her hoof, AJ pressed her hat against her head to stop it from blowing away thanks to the wind; then something caught her eyes. Looking at one of the graves, she let out a gasp and backed up, “Oh no, don’t tell me she-”

Octavia watched as Applejack stopped in mid sentence and ran off. Reaching out with a hoof, she tried calling to her to stop the quickly disappearing mare. Eyebrow arched, the musician looked down at the grave that AJ had gotten done reading, “Now what on earth could’ve had Applejack...oh my.” Octavia let out a gasp as she read.

Apple Bloom

age 85 years

“T-that witch,” Octavia muttered under her breath as she followed Applejack through the graveyard. Names continued to pass them by, all of them ponies they knew, all of them lost because of the passage of time. The crisp crunching of leaves, the howling wind surrounded them as they continued to run through the graveyard. Octavia’s light purple eyes continued to look over each headstone, dreading the moment she might find her own.

As they continued their run, the howling and wailing wind slowly morphed into the soft whimpers of a mare in sorrow. Nearing the source of the wailing began to turn howling wind into the sorrowful wails of a young alicorn. Applejack began to slow her pace as she saw the alicorn, sitting in the middle of a plot that was separate from the rest of the graveyard. As she began to near the first gravestone, what she read there filled AJ both emotions of cold and pure rage, “Oh, Mirage, Ah swear when we find ya Ah’m gonna ram that tail down your throat,” she growled as she looked at each grave over the shoulder of the weeping alicorn.

Abigail Jacqueline III aged 94

Rainbow Danger Dash- aged 95

Rarity Belle-aged 96

Fluttershy Firewing- aged 98

Pinkemena Diane Pie- aged 97

“Celestia above,” Applejack said under breath, looking to Twilight. “Ah am so sorry sugarcube.”

“It is all right Applejack,” Twilight sniffled, much to the shock of the two ponies. “IT’s alright, you two are not the first Applejack I heard this day, or week...or month. I hear them all the time I come here, their voices. I can sometimes even see their faces.”

“Princess, how long have you been coming here?” Octavia asked, an eyebrow arched.

“Everyday, for the past seven months,” Twilight said calmly, looking over the flowers that she had left on each grave.

“Oh, Twilight,” Applejack thought as she reached out her hoof to comfort her friend, only to watch as her hoof passed through her body.

“I see them all the time when I come here, you know. Them alive and running around Ponyville or talking to me. I-I see their smiles and I watch them smile so happily when they leave me,” Twilight began to say as she lowered her head and began to cry. “Damn that Celestia, I wish I had never had gotten these wings.”

“Sugarcube, you know you don’t mean th-”

“The buck I DON'T!” shouted Twilight, interrupting Applejack. “If she had never sent me that book, then I would never have gotten these stupid wings. ”

“Hey, Celestia never gave those wings to you, they came from us because of how close we all had become. Nopony made you read that book but yourself, and nopony told you to read it out loud like ya did!”

Ignoring Applejack’s argument, Twilight muttered under her breath, “If these wings were a gift for being such a good friend, wish I never came to Ponyville.”

“Twilight, you better not say something you can’t take back. Reading up on Nightmare Moon, studying like you did? All of that was you. Are you really saying that you would throw it all away, our friendship, the things you did, and all of the ponies you helped?” Applejack asked, her brow furrowing in rage. After seeing Twilight turn her head away in silence, she let out a growl, “Ah don’t bucking believe you! If you get like this when we died, what were you going to do when your parents died? Just hold yourself up in your little tree forever?”

“What do you know?” Twilight yelled, her anger stopping her from thinking calmly. “I just lost my five best friends, like you lost any-”

“DON’T YOU DARE TELL ME AH DON’T KNOW THAT AH DON’T KNOW WHAT IT’S LIKE!!!” Applejack yelled, letting out a snort of hot air in anger. “Ah lost mah parents when Ah was only twelve.”

“This is different,” Twilight objected.

“Like buck it is,” Applejack growled, being held back by Octavia.

Looking worried, Octavia whispered, “Applejack, sometimes we need to hold back before we say something we regret.

Letting out a sigh, Applejack turned her head away from Twilight in disgust and said wiht a growl in her voice, “And Ah thought you were stronger than this.”

A long and sad sigh left Twilight as she spread her wings and turned around, “You thought wrong,” and with that she flew off.

With a frown, Applejack turned away and walked off, Octavia walking closely behind her, “Applejack, you are not planning on abandoning her are you?”

“No, Ah just need a moment to think and clear mah head!” Applejack said, kicking a nearby gravestone. “Ah just can't believe she gave up like that! We die, and what happens? She gives up on everything...never thought Ah would see the day,” the orange mare solemnly said, while OCtavia stood back, allowing the mare to continue her rant. “On the day mah parents died, Ah was a wreck. For a whole week, Ah barely did anything, got out to see anypony, and barely said five words to mah family. Then Big Mac came to mah room one night, and he told me ‘Applejack, you’ll have to be strong for me now. Applebloom needs all the love she can get from you and you need to do the things Ah can’t do.”

“So you became their tree,” Octavia said, watching Applejack nod in response.

“Ah did everything Ah could to support them. Ah pushed mahself to the limit: extra chores, baking, planting, reading stories, going to market, all of it. Ah did it all, and when Ah met mah friends, Ah did not less. Any problem they had, Ah would put it on mah shoulders. Their pain? Mine, Ah would shoulder all of the pain for them, but you know what? Ah still had hope,” slowly, Applejack looked over to the slowly fading purple dot that was her friend, “Because Ah had figured that, even if Ah had ever fail, she always had mah back. Ah could trust her to support me whenever Ah failed and she would always help me do the things Ah couldn’t. And now, to see her like this, Ah-Ah...”

Octavia placed her hoof on Applejack’s shoulder and sighed, “Sometimes, even the strongest of us fall. The ones we believed to be our strength, are the ones that need our love and help the most.”

Taking a deep breath, Applejack readjusted her hat and turned back around to look at the slowly fading Twilight. Putting her hat over eyes, she narrowed her eyes in determination and began to walk away, “You’re right, and Ah think Ah know how to help her.”

As Applejack trotted away, Trixie appeared next to Octavia, “And you did that without having to knock some sense into either one of them. Color Trixie, impressed.”

The grey earth pony sighed, “When one is a musician, you need to be able to sit back and listen to both your music as well as your bandmates. I have long learned that one should just sit back an listen to others rant and yell before you say something. It is an annoying habit that Vinyl hates.”

“Trixie thinks its more of an, admirable trait,” Trixie said, smiling softly.

Octavia nodded in response, then quickly ran off to catch up with Applejack.

Luckily for her, she did not have far to run in order to catch up with her famer counterpart, as Applejack had already slowed to a trot to approach Twilight, “Twilight?”

“If this is another argument waiting to happen, I don’t want to hear it. Especially from a dead friend,” Twilight spat.

“No, not an argument, just a question sugarcube,” Applejack said, walking slowly. “Are ya really alone?”

“What a stupid question, yes I am!” Twilight yelled.

“No you aint, and here are four reasons why,” Applejack stated, not changing her motherly like tone. “Spike, Cadence, Luna, and Celestia. Three o them have to deal with immortality and one has to deal with living longer than any of us. Do you know what all of this moping around is doing to them? Are you saying they don’t count as friends or family?!”

Twilight turned her head away, “They’re different.”

“How? Are you saying you are better than they are because you are dealing with a loss? Or worse? You don’t think Cadence is upset because of how she lost yer brother? Ah’m sure Celestia has lost plenty of close friends by now. And now she is losing her daughter,” Applejack said, looking Twilight in her eyes.

Twilight sighed, “They’re different because they lived with this. I-”

“What, you can’t? They seem to have been able to pretty dang well.”

“Are you saying I should face eternity alone? That I should just forget about all of you!?” Twilight yelled.

Applejack shook her head, “Ah’m saying you should learn to move on, to remember what you do have. You have a sister-in-law, a gal who thinks of you as an niece, and a mare who thinks of you as a daughter. Then, there’s Spike.”

Twilight paused at this, “S-Spike? What does he have to do with this?”

“Think about it? And Ah want you to think real hard about it, but, before ya got those things, who was going to outlive you?” Applejack asked.

“Spike,” Twilight said, her eyes opening wide as she began to realize something.

“If anypony was goign to be alone when we die, it was going to be him,” Applejack said. “His mother figure gone, the mare he loves, dead, and is more of a pony than a dragon. Yeah, Ah think he knows a little something about being alone. Now think of how much it must be hurting him right now. One of the few ponies out there who could live as long he is and she is busy moping. Think of how heartbroken he is.”

“I-I never thought about...”Twilight drifted off.

“And do you know what? He aint letting that get him down,” Applejack chuckled. “Ah mean, just look at all of what he is doing. Making friends, having fun, and livin.”

“The worst thing one can do with a long life, is to squander it by dwelling on those who are gone,” Octavia interjected. “After all, a pony is more than just her flesh. The heart and memories are far more important.”

Applejack’s eyes opened wide in realization, and then lifted up her hoof, “Ya think that this is us? This aint anything but a bunch of hair, a pony is here and here,” she added, pointing to Twilight’s chest and head. “We aint going away as long as you do two things, remember us and live. Ah know ya Twilight, Ah’ve had four great years to get to know ya, and while Ah don’t know if ya will become immortal or if these wings of yours is just you getting more powerful, Ah do know one thing...The Twilight Ah’ve grown to know and love would take this time of becoming immortal to study and live life as best as she can.”

“But what if I-” Twilight, tears welling up in her eyes, was about object but was stopped by Applejack’s hoof.

“Because the moment you stop living, the moment you just shut yourself in, that is gonna be when we truly die,” Applejack said plainly. “ We want you to live, go an make new friends, share the memories of us with them.”

“But they won't be you,” Twilight said.

Applejack shook her head, “Ah aint asking ya to replace us, Ah’m telling you to go and make new friends, then share the memories of us with them. Let the things we taught ya go to them, make new memories, and grow. Then you’ll have made us just as immortal as y’all. Heck, you know what,” Applejack then turned to walk towards a cliff.

“Applejack, what on ear-” Twilight began, but was quickly interrupted.

“All right, listen up Heaven, death, or what have ya! Ah, Abigail Jaquline III, am making aa promise right here and now! When Ah die, Ah’m going to say hello to mah folks and then Ah’m going to find mah way back to the land of the living and put mahself in a new body. IT might take me a few years, but Ah’m gonna do it!” Applejack yelled out. “That way, Ah can be sure that my best friend is never alone and is going to live life to the fullest.”

“Hmph, leave it to Applejack to deny heaven,” the ghost of Rarity said. She then smiled, “But I supposed that her plan will need somepony to help. I wouldn’t be much of a lady if I left her alone.”

“Hey, I’m coming too!”

“Oh, that sounds exciting! I’ll come too!”

“ I don’t want to face eternity alone, I’m coming too.”

As Applejack listened to the voices of her friends, a smile came across her face. Chuckling, she turned to look back at Twilight, “Ya hear that, we are all willing to come back to see ya again. So, no more moping around or crying around here, ya got that. Because when Ah get back, ah don’t want to see ya wasting your life crying over us. Especially not when there are so many things ya could be studying and researching. Who knows, ya might see me come back as a pegasus. Could ya imagine that? Me as a pegasus, flying around and all that? Might even do more than Rainbow Dash.”

“I would actually like to see that,” Twilight said with a smile, wiping her tears away.

Applejack then placed a hoof onto Twilight’s shoulder, “Now, come on Twilight, don’t let Mirage’s little nightmare get ya down. Not when you know that there is a whole world for you to discover, and as long as you live, we’ll be alive too. Right next to ya.”

Twilight smiled, and nodded, as she began to fade away into a star, “I think I would like to head home now.”

“Ya already are, sugar,” Applejack smiled.

Author's Note

Anyway, this was a big one that I had been working on since the whole project started. I wanted to bring out a story o Applejack handling something this big and this was it. After all, who better to handle this idea then Applejack herself. She has had a big loss in her life and would be the best one to talk about it.

Also, have you guys started to see a theme in Trixie's little team?