When Better Days Are Past

Chapters

Just A Rough Patch
It'll Get Better
We're Almost Through This Thing
Everypony Needs A Break Now And Again

Just A Rough Patch

When Better Days Are Past

Chapter 1: Just a Rough Patch

I love farming. I can’t say how good it feels to be able to get up in the morning and go out there to do some honest, hard work. There’s nothing like the satisfaction that comes with making something grow and then reaping the rewards of your own blood, sweat, and tears.

Shame how it can be so gosh darn hard to do sometimes.

I pointed at some half-eaten apples still hanging on their branches. “Ah have a problem, Junebug. The fruit-bats aren’t stickin’ to the west fields like they’re supposed to, and they’ve been ravishing mah crops.”

Junebug pursed her lips as she looked up into the branches at the fruit-bats that were hanging up there. “Do you know why they’ve left the west fields?”

“Ah don’t know! That’s why I got ya!” I snapped. I felt instant guilt for raising my voice at Junebug when I saw her ears flattened to her head. She was a decent enough animal caretaker, I supposed, and she hadn’t earned me being snippy with her. “Sorry, it’s just ... Ah really can’t afford this right now. It’s been a rough year, and it ain’t lookin’ to get better anytime soon.”

Junebug made some clicking noises with her tongue and coaxed one of the fruit-bats to land on her light-orange, outstretched leg. “I’ll see what I can do, though it might take some time.”

“How much time?” I asked.

She clicked her tongues a few times and the fruit-bat nuzzled her. “Probably a week. Maybe more.”

“A week?” I fumed over that, and I lashed out at a nearby tree. A fruit-bat flew out, irritated by my buck, half-eaten apples falling to the ground. I pick up one of the many apple and showed it to Junebug. “These varmints are eatin’ all mah apples! Ah ain’t goin’ to have anythin’ to sell at the market at this rate!”

Junebug winced at my outburst. “I know, and I’m sorry! I’ll do what I can as soon as I can. It’s just that it’s been a while since I dealt with this bunch here.” She gestured towards the bats in the nearest tree. “So it’s going to take me time to convince them to go back to where they belong. Plus I’m super busy with doing a bunch of animal censuses around here, and this bat issue came out of nowhere. I thought this was a problem we had pinned down already.”

“Yer tellin’ me.” I tipped my hat up and rubbed my forehead. Normally the fruit-bats kept to whatever field we gave them to keep them happy,—but for whatever reason, the rascals had decided not to cooperate. It’s why I’d called on Ponyville’s animal caretaker for help.

I did not like the idea of those fruit-bats having their way with my apple orchards. That was bad news I just did not need right now. Profits hadn’t been too good for the last year or two for Sweet Apple Acres, and I could see the farm’s bottom line falling further and further into the red every day. The farm had been going through a rough patch that we were trying to get through, and this wasn’t helping. I found myself doing the farm’s math again to estimate how we’d be looking by the end of the year. That was never fun. It has always been Big Macintosh who handled all the fancy mathematics for us.

“Are you alright, Applejack?” Junebug asked.

I nearly flinched at the sudden change in subject. Had I just spaced out there? I found myself looking into the animal caretaker’s worried eyes and wondering why she was looking at me like that. “Y-yeah, why do ya ask?”

She gently raised her hoof to encourage the fruit-bat to take flight and give me her full attention. “You look tired. Have you been getting enough sleep?”

I waved off her worries. “It’s nothin’. Just gettin’ into a busy season on the farm, is all. Farmin’ ain’t easy, ya know. Wouldn’t trade it for the world, but Ah do feel a might bit tuckered out when Ah do get to bed.” I gave her a confident grin. She didn’t need to worry about little things like me staying up late trying to fix up the barn. One of the things about running a farm, there’s always work to be done.

Junebug gave me a long look that made me feel more uncomfortable with every passing second before speaking. “So, Sweet Apple Acres is having some troubles?”

“What type of question is that?” I demanded.

“Sorry, just been hearing things.” She gave a brief shake of her head. “Rumors.”

I opened my mouth to tell her that everything was fine...

The mare I loved pursed her lips. She seemed to struggle with what she wanted to say before she spoke. “Applejack, is everything with the farm alright? I’ve overheard you and Big Macintosh talking and—”

I cut her off with a kiss to the lips. “Don’t ya worry about that none. We got it handled. Just—

“—a rough patch, is all,” I said instead, the words having their own comfortable ring to them. I pride myself on being an honest pony, and saying that everything was hunky-dory on the farm wouldn’t have been completely honest. “Nothin’ to get too worried about. Every farm goes through one sooner or later. Even the old Carrot farm went through a spell when they got hit with that blight a decade ago. We’ve gotten through them before, and we’ll do it again.”

Junebug’s mouth turned with a slight frown. “If you say so.”

I could tell that she wasn’t completely convinced. That was fine. A lot of ponies didn’t understand how you sometimes had to tighten your belt when times got tough. Junebug was an animal caretaker, and she didn't have the same worries I did. She worked for the government, so as long as she did her work and turned in her paperwork on time she would get to keep her job and get paid no matter what.

That just ain’t the same as working on a farm. With farming you could do everything right, work hard, play it smart, invest wisely, and still wind up in the red. All it took was for the weather ponies to mess up, pestilence to hit your crops, or varmints to eat everything you worked so hard to grow to ruin you. I’d seen it happen, and heard a hundred other stories besides. It was a mighty scary thought, but it was something all us farmers lived with. But in the end we persevered, one way or another.

But that was enough reminiscing. I needed to think about more practical things. “Get these bats back to the west field, and Ah’ll deal with the rest.” I gave a bat that had just taken a bite out of one of my apples the fiercest look I could. Didn’t do much, but it made me feel a little better at least.

Junebug rolled her shoulders and cracked her neck. “I’ll do what I can.”

I looked about my apple tree-covered acres, coming up with a plan for damage control. “Great. Do this for me quickly enough and Ah’ll make sure that there will be a mug of Sweet Apple Acres cider set aside just for you come cider season.” It would be worth the price. If those darn bats had their way for too long there wouldn’t be a cider season this year.

I moved to make my way toward the sections of the farm near the next nesting grounds of the fruit-bats. Maybe if I was fast and lucky enough I could save some apples from the flying fruity rats. “Now if ya don’t mind, Ah got a bunch of other chores to do around the farm.”

She let out a long huff and I could see her getting her game face on. “Go ahead, I’m going to be a while.”

“See ya later, Junebug.” We waved each other goodbye and I walked off to do what I could to keep my farm afloat.

I spent the better part of the rest of the day bucking the apple trees nearest the fruit-bats. It might not do much, given the varmints might just fly to the trees that still had fruit on their branches, but it was better than doing nothing. We needed apples to sell at the market anyways. Shame neither Big Mac nor I could get to the market today to sell anything. Granny Smith wasn’t feeling well enough to do it herself, and Apple Bloom was just too young to be minding the stand by herself. She needed to go to school, anyways.

After a few hours I had at least built up a buffer between the bats and the rest of the orchard. I had just finished up filling some baskets with apples when I saw Big Macintosh winding his way towards me through the apple orchard. I could see the grease that matted his coat, and looking at the way his mane was clinging to his head, he had probably also been wet recently. Guessing that he wanted to talk to me, I finished bucking the tree I was working on before turning towards him to give him my full attention.

“Any luck with getting the irrigation system up and runnin’?” I asked.

The old irrigation system had been pitching a fit as of late. It usually did that every so often. Shame it was something we absolutely needed running for the sake of the farm. The apples and the rest of the crops needed their water. Simple as that.

Big Mac grunted neutrally. “Got it goin’ again.”

I didn’t like the way he said that. “Somethin’ the matter?”

He rubbed at a shoulder to work out a knot that had probably built up. “Irrigation ain’t lookin’ so good.”

I bumped his flank with my own. “Aw, don’t worry too much about it. That old thing’s always acting up.”

Big Mac stared off into the orchard with a distant look in his eyes. He’d been doing that a lot recently for some reason. I’d asked what was on his mind in the past but he’d just shake it off as nothing. So I gave him room to do his thinking until he was ready to speak.

After a few moments thinking to himself he finally said, “Patch jobs ain’t gonna work forever.”

I gave my wife a loving nuzzle as she pulled down some plates for dinner. Her alabaster coat felt as wonderfully silky as always and smelled of lavender.

“Hey, sugar. I’ve been meaning to ask if I could get another loan to replace the irrigation system.” I’d been a bit reluctant to ask her for a loan. Again. I liked to think of myself as an independent pony who could pull her own weight. But we really needed that new irrigation system. Especially after that fight I had with the weather team manager. And if you couldn’t ask your spouse for a little bit of help, then who could you ask? “It ain’t doin’ so hot. So...”

The plates froze in place in the air. Silence hung between us for a tense moment. “Applejack, about that...”

I felt my heart clench as I thought about needing to replace the irrigation system. The topic only dug up bad memories. “Well, we’re just gonna have to keep patching it until we can get the bits to replace it.”

Big Mac blew a long breath out of his nostrils. “What we said last year, and the year before that.”

“Yeah, Ah know.” I pushed up my hat and rubbed at the sweat that had gathered on my forehead. My hat was good at keeping the sun out of my eyes, but it didn’t keep the thing from getting hot enough to burn at the touch from being beaten on by the sun all day long. “Ah know things didn’t work out. Not when we absolutely needed to get the new barn, an’ it don’t help that cider season was pretty much a bust last year.”

Cider season not working out had hurt Sweet Apple Acres’ bottom line. Cider was one of the farm’s big profit makers. Had always been so since my great grandpappy built the farm. We could sell apples as long as they grew on the branches and what survived in our stores. But it took a lot of apples to get the farm into the green. The zap apple harvest was a nice bumper crop to earn some bits. But they weren’t dependable as a crop given it was almost entirely random when the zap apples grew. In the end, it was cider that was the lifeblood of the farm.

Shame our profits for cider had dried up when those snakeoil salesponies Flim and Flam had shown up. Thanks to the apples they got from Carrot Top’s farm, they could produce enough cider cheaply enough to drive our business down. It had been an awful thing to experience. The farm barely made enough off of cider sales to cover our expenses, and if those two showed up again this year things'd probably be even worse.

Big Mac grunted as he lifted up a basket filled with apples. “Ya could apologize to Raindrops. Gettin’ more rain would help with our water problems.”

My temper rose at the mention of Ponyville’s boneheaded weather manager. “Ah told ya, Ah’m not gonna apologize for what that stubborn mule of a pony said to mah face.”

Big Mac huffed out a breath as he shifted the basket of apples on his back. His words had an angry edge to them. Something you normally don’t see in my big brother. “Ya aren't helpin’ any. Ya two are always arguin’ and it ain’t helpin’ the farm. Did ya turn in that request for rain like Ah asked?”

“Of course Ah did.” My brother narrowed his eyes suspiciously at me. “Ah put it into the weather services mail box yesterday while I was in town.” I nodded firmly.

“Ah wanted ya to give it to Miss Raindrops—not drop it off.” He looked away from me and shook his head. “She’s just gonna put the request at the bottom of the pile like always because you two can’t get along.”

I stomped a hoof on a rotten apple on the ground, splattering it across the grass. It didn’t do anything to help, but the topic of Raindrops always got my blood boiling, and Big Mac’s tone with me after a long day wasn’t improving my mood. “Well shame her havin’ a problem with me causes so much of a hassle for the farm!”

My brother closed his eyes and I saw his shoulders slump. “Can’t keep doin’ this forever, AJ.”

I ground my teeth. “There wouldn’t be a problem if—”

“Ain’t what I mean,” he said, interrupted me. That came as a bit of a shock to me. Big Mac was always so laid back that I could hardly think of a time he spoke up before somepony else was done talking. “It’s just...” He glanced around the ground as he didn’t meet my eyes. Either he’d been as surprised as I had been by him talking over me and didn’t know how to follow up, or hadn’t thought through what he wanted to say.

This was all starting to concern me. I frowned and gave him a nudge to the shoulder. “Yer actin’ a bit out of it today. Something eatin’ ya?”

He shook his head and let out a long sigh. “It ain’t just about yer fight with Raindrops. Or the irrigation system. It’s a lot of things, ya know?”

It dawned on me what my brother was talking about. I nuzzled his neck. He stiffened at the gesture. Big Mac was like pretty much every stallion about being fidgety about showing affection. “Hey, I know things are rough right now with everything coming down on us. But we’ll make it work.” I lifted up a basket onto my own back and gave him a confident smirk. “Us Apples always find a way. Hard work always pays off in the end.”

Ma and Pa had taught me the value of hard work. Hay, I could hardly think of a time when I hadn’t been working on the farm. Farming was in my blood. Same for Big Macintosh. And if anything was going to get us out of this pickle it was going to be some old-fashioned elbow grease.

Big Mac gave me a smile that seemed strained at the edges. “How ‘bout we get these apples to the barn?”

“Now yer startin’ to talk my language.” I bumped him in the shoulder was we made our way to the barn. “Just another rough patch. You’ll see.”

Big Macintosh kept his peace.

I was woken by one of the most annoying noises in the whole wide world. The bells of my alarm clock rang just like they did every morning, nice and early. I could be a pretty heavy sleeper after a hard day of work on the farm, so I needed an alarm that raised a racket. Of course, that did mean I had to wake up every morning to a ringing that was just about loud enough to rattle my teeth.

My hoof instinctively shot out to try and hit the clock to make it stop its ringing. I was still half-asleep, so it took a few swings to finally hit the alarm and make the dreadful noise stop. I rolled around in my bed for a few moments. My tired body just wanted to pull my warm covers back up and go back to sleep. But my internal clock had gone off, and I had work to do. There’s always work that need getting done on a farm.

My body protested as I started to move. I blinked my eyes and rubbed at them to get the fuzziness out. My muscles and joints felt stiff as they recovered from the previous day’s work. They protested me moving and getting out of bed as they locked up. I was forced to stretch while in bed to work out the stiffness and get blood flowing through my limbs again. It’s something I had done plenty of times before, and my limbs and back popped from the effort. Soon enough I was limbered up enough to get moving again.

Groaning as I got out of bed, my legs ached when I put my weight on them. I stretched them out a bit before I went to my dresser and pulled out a brush. Yawning as I put the brush on my hoof, I then started combing out the knots in my mane that I always got during the night. While I was doing that my eyes wandered to the family photos I had lined up on my dresser. The happy smiles of friends and family looked back at me.

All except for the one that was face-down. I knew I should do something about that. Either put it back up, or away in the closet where I wouldn’t have to look at it and be reminded what it was. It was as happy as the others. More so even.

I moved my hoof toward the photo to put it up. Maybe even look at it again. I hadn’t done that in ... months? Years now? My hoof started to push it up, but then I jerked it away like I’d touched a hot oven. My hooves trembled as I hurriedly pulled my brush off and tossed it onto the dresser. Taking a step back, I stared at the floor as a shiver ran through me.

I just couldn’t do it. It hurt too much to look at. Maybe sometime later.

I shook my head back and forth as I tried to clear my thoughts. I needed to get my head into the game. There were apples that needed bucking and a whole hay of other chores needing doing. Reminiscing wasn’t going to help anypony.

I quickly cleaned myself up in the bathroom and exited in time to see Big Macintosh waiting for his turn. He gave me a curt nod and a weary grunt as he made his way to the bathroom. My big bro wasn’t really awake until he got some breakfast and caffeine in him. So we all knew to give him some space until he had gotten himself sorted out.

I made my way to Apple Bloom’s door and gave it a few raps. “Apple Bloom! Time to get up and get ready to go to school!” I heard some groaning and a reply that was muffled by the door. Having already honored her privacy by knocking, I opened it a crack to see that my little sister had sat up and was rubbing at sleepy eyes. Confirming she wasn’t just going to nod off again, I headed downstairs to help make some breakfast for everypony.

Granny Smith was already in the kitchen by the time I’d gotten down there. She’d always been a morning pony, so it was no surprise that she was already up and getting started on the morning rituals. It was reassuring in its own way. Granny had been making breakfast for as long as I could remember.

“Heya, Granny.” I gave her a nuzzle on the cheek. “What’s fer breakfast?”

Granny stirred some eggs that were cooking on a skillet. “Just some haybacon, sliced apples, eggs, and hashbrowns to get the lot of ya goin’.”

It wasn’t anything fancy, but it didn’t really need to be for us simple farming folk. Being filling was way more important. Few things are worse that having to work on an empty stomach. Especially how farming makes you awfully hungry.

I sniffed the air and smelled the delicious aromas of the food that made my mouth water. “Need any help there?” I had every intention of helping her, but you always needed to be a mite bit careful about Granny’s pride. She couldn’t buck for apples anymore due to her bad hip, but she still wanted to help however she could.

She waved at the oven. “Check on them hashbrowns and then cut up some fruit, if ya would.” Granny tilted her head away from the eggs and let out a couple of coughs.

I gave Granny a quick look as I opened the oven. “That cough still botherin’ ya?” She’d been coughing for a couple of weeks now, and she spent most of that time at home due to her saying she didn’t really have the energy to do much as of late. I was getting a mite bit concerned. My grandmother was at an age where you really had to take care of yourself, and I hated the idea of her being sick.

Granny cleared her throat and went back to scrambling the eggs. “It’s nothin’. Just that dry late summer air gettin’ to me.”

“If ya say so.” Seeing that the hashbrowns were done, I pulled them out and placed them on a hotpad that sat on the counter. “Just be sure to tell us if it gets any worse, okay?”

Granny Smith grumbled something under her breath that I couldn’t quite hear. “Ah’m as hale as a horse. So don’t ya go and worry about li’l’ ol’ me.”

“If ya say so.” I pulled out a knife and a cutting board to start cutting up some apples we had sitting in a bowl.

I would have preferred Granny to go to the hospital to be checked out to be on the safe side, but the old matron of the family could be plenty stubborn when she wanted to be. I might as well try and pull a wagon with a broken axle and loaded down with anvils as try and get her to do something she didn’t want to.

I heard somepony’s hurried hoofsteps thumping down the stairs. It wasn’t hard to guess who it was that couldn’t just walk down the stairs, and I looked to see Apple Bloom right as she leapt the final couple of steps. That’s kids for you—can’t wait for anything.

My little sister trotted over and gave her granny a peck on the cheek. “Hiya, Granny!”

Granny gave her granddaughter a pat on the head. “Hey there, Apple Bloom.”

“Is breakfast ready?” Apple Bloom gave Granny a smile brighter than it had any right to be so early in the morning. “Ah’m starvin’!”

Figured she was thinking about her stomach. Kids her age were always growing and so had an appetite to match. From the way Granny put it, you could hardly put a plate in front of Big Mac before everything on it vanished. Everypony was worried the young stallion was going to eat us out of house and home. Luckily, my little sis wasn’t nearly as bad. She only made me wonder if I should take out a loan to feed her.

Granny chuckled. “Almost. How ‘bout ya go ahead and set the table?”

Apple Bloom put on a big grin. “Sure!” With that she started gathering up silverware to put on the table.

I heard Big Macintosh’s heavy and steady steps heading down the stairs. He looked more awake as he reached the bottom of the steps than he had been when I first saw him, but that didn’t keep him from immediately pouring himself a cup of hot coffee. Fixing a pot was pretty much mandatory here on the farm. It wasn’t always easy getting up bright and early.

Big Mac took a whiff of the coffee in his mug before taking a long sip of the stuff. His lips curled up and he hummed satisfactorily. We couldn’t exactly afford the fancy stuff, but getting something strong didn’t cost too much. And looking at my big brother’s satisfied grin, it suited him just fine.

I poured myself a cup in-between putting the food on the dinner table as it was finished and we all sat down at the dining room table and started digging into breakfast.

I sipped at my coffee and almost instantly started to feel invigorated by the brew. “So Ah was thinkin’ that Ah’d spend the mornin’ double-checkin’ where them mangy fruit-bats are.”

Big Macintosh sat opposite of me. “Need somepony to sell at the market.” He frowned as his chair rocked slightly as he shifted his weight. Reaching down, he pushed a sliver of wood back under one of his chair legs to keep it from rocking anymore.

He had a point. We had harvested a bunch of apples yesterday to keep them from getting eaten up by the bats, and all that work would have gone to waste if they just sat in the barn until they rotted.

“Ya wanna take care of that, Big Mac?” I didn’t really want Granny to head out given I wasn’t sure how she was feeling, and Apple Bloom needed to go to school. So that naturally left it up to either me or my brother to run the stand in the market.

My brother shook his head. “Eenope, yer turn.”

The two of us usually took turns at running the market stall so that each of us could get a break from the daily routine of farming. Not to say that minding the stall was easy. It took a lot of energy to constantly get ponies’ attention and see why they should buy your produce for a good price all day long. But at the end of the day, working the fields was tougher.

“If yer sure. There’s plenty of stuff that needs doin’ around here with the bats causin’ trouble.” I didn’t like the idea of leaving Big Mac to do a bunch of the work around the farm for the day, but I also knew that butting heads over who was to run the stall was just going to cause us to both dig in our heels. And we both had better things to do than stand around and argue with each other like a pair of stubborn mules. There was a reason why we took turns in the first place.

Big Mac finished chewing on a hashbrown before speaking. “Go ahead. Ah got the farm.”

“Well alright then.” I took a sip of my coffee.

“When can Ah help with the stand?” Apple Bloom asked with a mouthful of food. I gave her a disapproving look. She returned with apologetic smile and quickly swallowed. “Sorry.”

“It’s okay. Just be mindful of yer manners.” I poured myself another cup of coffee. “And to answer yer question, when you’re older. Yer still a bit young for that. And besides, ya got school to go to anyways.”

“‘Kay,” Apple Bloom said with a hint of disappointment. She returned to eating her food with the occasional yawn.

“Bah.” Granny Smith waved a hoof dismissively. “We’ll get that schoolin’ of yer’s out of the way soon enough, and then ya’ll be workin’ the fields alongside yer brother and sister.”

Apple Bloom’s face brightened instantly. “Cool! Maybe Ah’ll finally get mah cutie mark workin’ with mah family!”

My sister gave the two of us a big smile, and I found myself looking at Big Mac. He had looked the same time as me, his face carefully neutral, and our eyes locked. He and I had been talking where Apple Bloom was concerned, and I knew he was thinking what I was.

“Now she already does plenty around the farm with her chores,” I reminded everypony. “No need to rush her into everything else until she’s gone and graduated.” My sister had her chores each day to help around the farm. Plus the help she gave us during the weekends and when school was off. But Big Mac and I always made a point to not let it interfere with her school work. It was important she get her education.

“Eeyup,” Big Mac agreed.

“Yeah, I guess.” Apple Bloom frowned and popped a sliced apple into her mouth to chew on. “Ah’m never gonna get mah cutie mark,” she grumbled.

“Well, there’s a difference between doin’ some chores and a nice day of honest work,” Granny grumbled. She took a bite out of an apple slice.

Apple Bloom fiddled with a hashbrown sitting on her plate. “School is pretty boring.”

Granny murmured in agreement. “Seems kids spend too much time in school these days anyways instead of doin’ something useful, if ya ask me.”

Rather than continue the talk about my sister working the farm, I concentrated on something else more important to her right at that moment. “Speaking of, ya about done eatin’ there Apple Bloom? It’s just about time for ya to go to school.”

Apple Bloom looked down at her plate and sighed. “Guess I gotta.” She stood up and walked over to pull her school-bags from the wall. But instead of slinging them on like she usually did, she gave the bags a deep frown. “Um, I’ve been meanin’ to ask. Can Ah get some new saddlebags?” She poked a hoof into one of the bags and showed us where a hole was starting to form. “This one’s gettin’ kinda raggedy.”

I found myself wincing at the hole in the bag. “We’ll just patch the one back up when ya get back from school.” It shouldn’t be hard to do. I’d patched the thing up more than once with some needle and string. I wasn’t as good as ... someponies, but Granny had taught me the basics as a filly.

Apple Bloom’s lips puckered into a pout. “Why can’t Ah just get a new one? Ah’m gettin’ laughed at by everypony as school because mine’s gettin’ old.”

“Now Apple Bloom, ya know that—”

She levitated the new saddlebags to Apple Bloom. “There you go! A brand new pair of schoolbags for the new school year. Do you like them, darling?”

“Sure do!” Apple Bloom gave her a big hug. “Thanks, sis!”

“Now ya didn’t have to go and do that,” I said. “The old school bags were doin’ just fine. They just needed a bit of patchin’ to get through the year.”

“Applejack, those old hoof-me-downs were falling apart.” She gave the old schoolbags a look of disgust. “I realize sharing between siblings saves money, but there comes a time when you need to throw something away and get a new one. I mean, look at this.” She lifted the bag up with her magic and showed me a spot where one of the straps threatened to break.

I rubbed the back of my neck. “Alright, fine. Ya can throw the old thing away.” I leaned in and gave her a quick peck to the cheek. “And thanks for the new schoolbags.”

“—T-that...” I trailed off, unable to say what I was originally going to say. Mentioning her still hurt too much. “L-look, those fruit-bats are ravishin’ our fields right now, so bits might be a little tight for a while.”

Apple Bloom’s face creased into a scowl. “That’s what yer always sayin’!”

“That’s what you said last year.”

I winced. “I know, but it’s the honest truth. There’s always new things we’d like to get, but we just can’t afford them. That’s just how it is. And Ah’m not even gettin’ into all the stuff around the farm that needs replacin’.” Apple Bloom didn’t meet my eyes as I put a hoof on her shoulder. “Now Ah promise that as soon as we can save up some bits we’ll talk about gettin’ some new saddlebags for ya.” I gave her an encouraging nudge. “Hey, who knows. Ah might even win some money at the next rodeo. If that happens then Ah’ll definitely get ya somethin’ ya have been askin’ for.”

My little sister bit down on her lip and looked like she wanted to argue some more. She scuffed her hoof on the floor and let out a huff. “Fine.” Strapping on her schoolbags, she moved towards the front door. “Ah’m headin’ to school.”

I felt mighty terrible watching her walk out all miserable like that and knew I needed to do at least a little something to boost her spirits at least a bit. We’d asked a lot of poor Apple Bloom and I hoped to repay her back what she was owed someday.

“Alright, but first how about ya give yer family a hug.” I spread my forelegs to offer her an embrace.

“‘Kay.” Apple Bloom turned around and gave each of us a hug. I made sure to give her a good squeeze before letting her go. She gave all of us a final farewell and left for school.

That left the rest of us to clean up after breakfast and get ready for the rest of the day.

I had just finished dumping all the dishes in the sink to be washed when Granny gave me that grandmotherly smile of hers. “Don’t ya worry about Apple Bloom. She’ll understand the value of a bit when she gets older and starts buckin’ some trees herself.”

“About that, Granny...” I looked to Big Mac to get some confidence. He met my eyes and nodded firmly. We’d been talking about having this discussion with Granny for a while now, and it seemed the time had finally come.

Granny looked between the two of us. “Ya two got somethin’ ya wanna talk about?”

I nodded slowly. “It’s about Apple Bloom. Ah—the both of us think that we need to tell her the truth about the farm.”

Big Mac nodded in agreement. “Eeeyup.”

Granny narrowed her eyes at the two of us. “What’re you two talkin’ about ‘the truth about the farm?’ She knows we’re goin’ through a rough patch. That ain’t never been a secret.”

I thought really carefully about how I was going to work what I was about to say next. “It’s more than that. Granny ... Ah think we need to tell Apple Bloom that this farm just can’t support a third pony workin’ it.”

My grandmother’s eyes widened. “What nonsense are ya talking about?”

I shrank back a little bit from her. We knew from the start that this wasn’t a talk Granny was going to want to hear, but it needed saying. “It—it all comes down to acreage. The farm just ain’t big enough for the three of us. We’re buckin’ every tree bare and sellin’ just about everything we put on the market, but we’re only barely keepin’ our heads afloat. Havin’ Apple Bloom around ain’t gonna help anythin’.”

“The math don’t add up.” Big Mac stepped over to stand next to me, and I felt reassured by his gentle presence.

Granny’s look of bewilderment slowly turned into a fierce scowl. “Ah can’t believe Ah’m hearin’ this. Ya two should be ashamed of yourselves. Ya two are talkin’ about abandonin’ yer little sister and leavin’ her in the cold, aren’t ya?”

“That ain’t what we’re sayin’!” I had to take a moment to calm myself. Granny’s reaction wasn’t a surprise. This was a family farm, and Apple Bloom was part of the family. What I was trying to explain to her wasn’t easy for anypony. “Ah want mah sister to know how things stand with the farm. She deserves to know what her expectations should be if she wants to be a farmer.”

Granny prodded me in the chest with a hoof. “What do ya mean ‘if?’ Of course she wants to be a farmer! She’s an Apple, and Apples are apple buckers through and through.”

Arguing wasn’t going to help anypony, and certainly not my little sis. So I worked to keep my voice firm but reasonable for my granny. “Now Apple Bloom don’t have to be an apple bucker if she don’t want to.”

Granny snorted derisively. “Of course she wants to be an apple bucker! What got it into yer head otherwise?”

“We didn’t want her to feel tied down to the farm if she didn’t want to be. Especially given how hard strapped the farm is.” I looked away from the fierce glare Granny was giving me. “And she has the right to be whatever she wants to be.”

“Which will be a farmer unless you two”—she gave the two of us an accusatory sneer—“get it into her head that she ain’t welcome on her own family’s farm.” I opened my mouth to say something, but Granny put a hoof to my muzzle. “Not another word. Now let me set ya straight: this farm has supported four generations of Apples, and Ah’m not about to see that change on mah watch. Especially not with mah youngest granddaughter. Ah’m not gonna see her workin’ as some poor laborer on another pony farm. We’re Apples, and we have our pride, if nothin’ else.”

I pushed Granny’s hoof from my muzzle. She might be my grandmother, but she was really pushing my buttons now. I didn’t like the insinuation that I didn’t care about my sister’s future. “Ain’t ya listenin’ to me?! Another pony workin’ this farm ain’t gonna help worth a gosh darn bit.”

“All Ah’m hearin’ is the talk of a quitter.” She waved a hoof in Big Mac’s direction. “Or the silence of a quitter. So tell me, Big Mac, did ya sister browbeat ya into agreeing with her, or was this yer foolish idea to tell yer sister she ain’t welcome on the farm?”

Big Mac scowled down at Granny, looking about as angry as I’ve ever seen him, and he took a step closer to me. “We both decided.”

Granny went into a coughing fit. I instinctually stepped up to help her but she waved me off. “So yer both quitters. If ya both really care about Apple Bloom, then ya’ll buckle down and get some work done. Ya know, earn some bits, expand the farm, use them heads on them there shoulders of yours.”

My brother ground his hoof on the floor. “Ain’t that easy.”

I walked to a nearby window to look outside. Bucking a few apple trees was looking mighty tempting next to an argument with Granny that was tearing me up inside. “The two of us have already looked at what options were available to us, and nothing turned up. We even went to a couple’a banks to see if we could maybe get a loan to buy up some more land, but nopony would give us the time of day with all the debt we’re already under.”

Granny blinked at that. “And how long have ya two been talkin’ about this behind mah back? Behind yer sister’s back? When were ya plannin’ on telling me yer were trying to take out another loan for the farm?”

My ears fell against my head. That accusation hurt enough to take all the wind out of my sails. It was true that the two of us had been kinda shady about this business. But Big Mac and I wanted to know for certain what we could do for our little sis before we brought this up to the rest of the family. Especially Apple Bloom. Still didn’t change the fact Big Mac and I had been talking about this for a while now.

“We’re tellin’ ya now, Granny.” That sounded lame even to my own ears.

Granny’s uncompromising glare didn’t waver for a second. “Ya should have told me sooner.” She shook her head and her tone sounded disappointed. It was the disappointment that hurt the most. “Ah can’t believe ya went behind mah back over this.”

“It’s not like we wanted to, or meant to hurt ya,” I explained.

Big Mac nodded, not meeting Granny in the eyes either. “Eeeyup.”

Granny Smith’s ears wilted. “Well ya did.”

I turned back to Granny and felt like a little filly being scolded by her mother after she’d been caught doing something mighty foolish. “Just let us explain. What we were thinking was—” I stopped when I caught a light yellow colored movement out of the corner of my eye and saw the last pony I wanted seeing her family arguing with one another.

“Apple Bloom, why aren’t ya at school?” I must’ve sounded angrier than I meant, because Apple Bloom flinched at my voice.

With a second look, I could tell something was wrong with her. Her eyes had a puffiness about them that told me that she had been crying. The saddlebag that had the hole that Apple Bloom had shown me earlier now had a gaping hole in it—something that caused my guts to twist, and was carrying books and other school supplies in one of her forelegs.

My sister looked down at the ground—avoiding eye contact with us. “A-Ah was goin’ when Ah ran into Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. They were pickin’ on me an’ then they got really mean an’ tore the hole open further an’ all mah stuff fell into the dirt, an’-an’-an’—”

I wrapped my little sis in a hug. She had started shaking when she went about telling us what happened, and looked like she was about to fall apart. So I pulled her to my chest and gently shushed her. “It’s alright, Apple Bloom. It’s j-just a saddlebag. Ain’t no big deal.” I stroked her mane lovingly.

I couldn’t say I was thrilled that Apple Bloom hadn’t toughed it out and gone to school, but from what my sister had said, those bullies had really laid into her.

Apple Bloom’s lips quivered as she looked up to me. “I-is what y-ya said true?”

My heart clenched. This was not how I wanted her to learn about what we had been discussing. “How much did ya hear?”

Her ears flattened to her head. “I d-didn’t mean to listen in. Ah was just runnin’ home when—”

“Apple Bloom,” I said, cutting her off. We would need to talk about her needing to go to school and everything else, but we needed to deal with something else right now. “Ah’m not mad. Ah just want to know what ya heard.”

Big Mac placed a large, comforting hoof on our sister’s shoulder. There had always been a gentle strength about my brother, and it showed itself here. “It’s okay.”

Apple Bloom looked at the floor, and I could feel her reluctance. “Is it true that ya don’t want me on the farm?”

It felt like Apple Bloom had stabbed me in the heart with a cold knife with her words. I was quick to tell her the truth. “No! It ain’t nothing like that.”

Big Mac gave his little sis a rub to the back intended to make her feel better. “Eenope!”

She looked me in the face with pleading eyes. “Then what are ya talkin’ about how Ah’m not gonna be able to work on the farm?”

I thought over my words carefully. It would have been a lot better if I would have had some time to think this through instead of having to rush through explaining some pretty important things to my little sister. This was her, and ours for that matter, future. “Now Ah need ya to listen to me: the first thing Ah want to say is that we all love ya, and nothin’ ain’t ever gonna change that. But what Ah’m gonna explain to ya is some pretty important stuff that ya were gonna have to listen to eventually.”

Apple Bloom sniffed. Probably a result of all the crying she had been doing as of late. “Um, okay.”

I guided her to sit down at the table while Big Mac took the damaged school-bags and put them off to the side. I briefly caught a disapproving look that Granny was giving me while I sat down next to my sister. She was gonna work her way into this conversation in a way I wasn’t going to like, but I couldn’t think of a thing to do about it. Asking her to leave was going to make her madder than a riled-up hornets’ nest, and I couldn’t put off this talk with Apple Bloom now that we had gotten this far. All I could think to do was keep going and hope for the best.

I placed my hoof on Apple Bloom’s and gave it a squeeze with my fetlock. “So ya have probably figured out that our farm ain’t as big as some of the others around Ponyville, right?” She gave me a nod of her head that told me that she was listening and so I kept going. “Well the fact of the matter is that ya need so many acres to support a pony. And given ours ain’t so big, it can’t really support many ponies.”

My train of thought was interrupted when Granny Smith slammed a hoof down on the table. “Now that’s just a bunch of hooey. As Ah told your brother and sister, this farm has supported generations of yer kin, and it can do the same for ya.”

I could feel my temper slipping with Granny’s interruption. “Granny, now Ah’m tryin’ to explain to Apple Bloom how it is.”

Granny didn’t back down an inch as she kept right on barreling over me. “There ain’t nothin’ to it. Yer fillin’ your sister’s head with garbage that she ain’t wanted.”

I ground my teeth as I bit back the first thing I wanted to tell my granny. “Ah don’t think there’s anythin’ wrong with tellin’ mah sister that we’ll be proud of her no matter what she decides to be.”

Granny nodded firmly “Well that’s good, because she’s gonna be an apple bucker just like every other Apple. Like she’s supposed to be.”

“Unless she doesn’t want to be,” I shot back.

“Of course she does!” Granny let out a couple dry wheezes before catching her breath again. “Tell’em, Apple Bloom. Talk some sense into yer siblings.”

Apple Bloom head turned back and forth between me and Granny Smith, and she looked like she wanted to shrink under the table now that her granny had put her on the spot. I could hardly believe that Granny had pulled Apple Bloom into the argument like that. About the worst thing you could do to a kid was put them in the middle of an argument between her guardians. Taking a hint from our own parents, Big Mac and I had always taken any major disagreements we had, especially where Apple Bloom was concerned, beyond where she would have to listen to it.

I slammed both my forehooves on the table. “Now don’t ya drag her into the middle of this like that!”

Granny didn’t even flinch at my reaction. “Ya dragged her into it when ya came up with this nonsense. Ya should be the one ashamed of yerself.”

“Ah ain’t ashamed of nothin’.” I made a cutting motion in the air with a hoof. “Least of all lookin’ out for mah sister’s future.”

Big Macintosh put a hoof on Apple Bloom’s shoulder to get her attention. “Ah think it’s ‘bout time ya went to yer room fer a little bit. Come on.”

Apple Bloom moved with him to leave, but immediately drew the ire of Granny. “Now where do ya think ya’re slinkin’ off to?”

Big Mac stepped between Apple Bloom and the rest of us—looking as though he were shielding her from the argument. Apple Bloom, for her part, kept her head down and seemed to be trying really hard not to be noticed. The part of my head that wasn’t occupied being furious with Granny flinched at that. Could this have gone any worse?

“She don’t need to hear this,” Big Mac said plainly.

Granny stomped a hoof. “Not before she answers mah question, she ain’t.”

“Eenope.” He nudged Apple Bloom to get her moving again.

Frankly, I would have been more than happy if Big Mac had pulled Apple Bloom out of there while I took the time to set Granny straight. But Granny was digging in her hooves now, and she wasn’t gonna let it end there. She moved to keep my brother and sister from leaving the kitchen, but I was a mite bit younger and sprier than her, and I headed her off.

I stuck my face right in hers. I couldn’t think of a time I had stood up to Granny like this, but this whole thing had sent my blood a’boiling. “You and I are havin’ a talk, Granny. Right here an’ now!

“Where do ya get off—” Granny was cut off by a hack. “Ya don’t to just—” She stopped again as she went into a coughing fit.

The anger melted from me as concern took over. “Granny?” I stepped next to her as she kept hacking and I helped her to sit down. “Granny, are ya alright?” I exchanged a worried look with Big Mac while Apple Bloom watched with trepidation.

“C-can’t bre—” Whatever Granny had been trying to say was stopped by more coughing. She was hardly getting a breath in and it was really starting to scare me. I held her, feeling helpless as her hacking didn’t stop.

I looked to my brother. “Big Mac—”

He cut me off with a “Yup!” and darted outside, reading my mind to get the cart so that we could take Granny to the hospital.

I turned back just in time to see her start to fall to the floor. I barely grabbed her in time to cushion the fall, and my heart now raced as I fought down the urge to panic. I knew I should have told Apple Bloom to do something, but I couldn’t think of what as she just stood there wide eyed.

Granny kept hacking as I held her. “Granny! Granny, stay with me here.” She didn’t react to my pleas. I held my hoof to her forehead—unable to think of anything else to do until Big Mac got back—and found her to be burning up. My eyes blurred at the stupidest time and I had to waste time wiping at them so I could see.

I felt her fading quickly in my hooves, and I watched as her eyes closed. I shouted her name, time and time again, but not once did she respond. Her breathing grew faint, and all I could do was sit there and hold her, waiting for my brother to come back.

What else could I do?

Author's Note

I would like to give a big thanks to my editors Chengar Qordath, Comma-Kazie, and JakeTheGinger for all their help. And also to my prereaders Multae Kappae, Luminary, Swiftestshadow, Infinion, and Pegasusnumber 5, who put a ton of effort into reading over this chapter and making sure it's presentable.

It'll Get Better

When Better Days Are Past

Chapter 2: It’ll Get Better

I don’t like the hospital. Nothing feels right about it. It’s just so sterile and lifeless. It all seems too clean for what you know happens there. Everypony is either sick, injured, or waiting on somepony who is.

Ponies don’t really go to the hospital unless something bad happened. Probably why I never liked being there. Usually when I was there it was because my brother or I had a cracked hoof, or a serious cut. Good as it got was when I took Apple Bloom in for one of her regular checkups. Then there were days like today. The worst type of days.

We’d all run Granny Smith to the hospital quick as we could, and it all felt like a blur now as we sat waiting in the lobby. I remembered carefully putting a limp Granny into the back of the cart with Apple Bloom, hitching myself up next to Mac, and sprinting for the hospital like a bat out of Tartarus. I'd never run faster in my life, but even then I had trouble keeping up with my brother’s long strides. When we arrived I could barely explain what happened between breaths as nurses ran out to help. Granny hadn't stirred an inch since we left.

Then came what had to be the worst part: the waiting. I hated waiting. It was probably the Apple in me, but when there was work to be done, you got to it. I knew the doctors were doing something back there, and it felt like there was something I should be doing too. I didn’t know what, but there had to be something better than sitting around fretting and worrying, just waiting for news on how Granny was doing.

I snapped to attention every time I saw the doors to the back open up. I had nothing but bad memories of this place. After all, I'd once had bad news about kin here before.

I looked to my right and saw Apple Bloom curled up in her brother’s forelegs. Given how Big Mac was holding her to his chest, I wasn’t sure who was getting more comfort out of the embrace. It was clear that he was trying to be strong for her, but I saw the way my big brother’s weary eyes turned towards those doors just as often as mine did. I was a bit jealous of the two of them, but I just couldn’t bring myself to ask to hold Apple Bloom for a bit. If my little sis needed her big brother right now, then that’s all there was to it.

“Applejack?” I jumped a bit at the sound of Apple Bloom’s voice. We’d been sitting there silent for so long that I’d been almost completely lost in thought.

I recovered and looked my sister in the eyes. She looked the worse for wear given she was covered with a pretty good coat of dirt from the wagon ride, and her bow had become loose. From her matted fur under her eyes, it was pretty obvious that she’d been crying. Resisting the urge to fuss over her and clean her up, I asked, “What is it, Apple Bloom?”

She fidgeted in her brother’s legs. “Can we talk about that stuff for the farm? Ya know, what you were talkin’ about before.”

I broke eye contact at the question. Talking about the farm really wasn’t something I wanted to do at that moment. Not after the argument with Granny. But Apple Bloom just sat there, looking up at me, her big sister. I could see the desperate need for answers in her eyes. She’d probably been thinking over the argument the entire time we’d been sitting here. That had been ... I looked at the clock and saw that more than a couple of hours had passed. Had it already been that long? How can two hours feel both like an eternity and no time at all?

Anyways, my sister deserved an explanation. I wasn’t thrilled that she had overheard our argument that she wasn’t supposed to hear, but she had, and there wasn’t any way to turn back the clock. We were gonna have this talk sooner or later, so might as well get it out of the way. At least we’d be able to get our minds off Granny for a bit.

I looked to Big Macintosh to see what he thought and he gave a nod of agreement. No time like the present then...

I reached out a leg to wrap about Apple Bloom’s shoulders, Big Mac letting her shift so that she could sit between the two of us. “Here’s how it is. Ya know that the farm is going through a bit of a rough patch, right?”

Apple Bloom didn’t meet my gaze as she gave the barest of nods. “Yeah, it’s why ya can’t buy me new saddlebags.”

“That’s right.” My jaw clenched at the reminder of my sister’s ruined saddlebags. I think I might have some words for the parents of those bullies who gave Apple Bloom such a hard time. “The fact of the matter is that the farm’s only big enough for so many ponies to work. It’s pretty tight as is with just me and Big Mac, and there isn’t much sense in having three ponies working such a small plot of land.”

“Oh...” Apple Bloom wrung at her hooves, not looking at either me or Big Mac. “So does that mean Ah’m not gonna be able to stay with you two and Granny?”

I waved my hoof in the negative. “That’s not what Ah’m sayin’.” I pulled Apple Bloom against me to give her a comforting squeeze. “Nothing’s set in stone yet. Whatever ya want to be, we’ll stand behind ya one hundred percent. As long as yer doin’ an honest day’s work to make a livin’, we’ll be proud of ya.”

Big Mac put a hoof on Apple Bloom’s back and gave her a brotherly smile. “Eeyup. We just want ya to be happy.”

Apple Bloom puckered her lips as she thought that over. “But what if Ah get a cutie mark for apple buckin’ and Ah want to be an apple bucker?”

“Then we’ll look at our options.” I tipped up my hat as I rubbed at the side of my head, trying to recall all the ideas Big Mac and I came up with. “If need be, we’ll do somethin’ like take turns runnin’ Sweet Apple Acres. Some of our kin are always lookin’ for help on their farms. Cousin Braeburn’s always askin’ for help out west. Ya remember how last year Big Mac and Ah switched off goin’ to Appleloosa to help your cousin set his farm up?”

“Uh-huh.” The shadow of a smile crept onto Apple Bloom’s face. “He’s pretty goofy.”

I ruffled my little sister’s mane, and I smiled through the ache in my heart. “Yeah, little bit.”

Braeburn was a bit of an odd pony. He had a good heart, and infectious grin, but some of us thought he was a bit nuts moving all the way out west to start up a farm in the middle of nowhere, but it looked like he had carved out a niche for himself out in Appleloosa.

Those doors opened again as a doctor entered the lobby. Our heads snapped towards the door and I felt my heart clench. I wondered if we were about to get news on Granny, but I was disappointed as he turned to talk to some other ponies in the lobby. I sighed and turned back to Apple Bloom. “But mah point is that while Ah don’t like the idea of workin’ on somepony else’s farm, we’ll do what we have to. And at least that way it would be working for our kin instead of just somepony we hardly know.”

“Why don’t we, you know, get a bigger farm? Buy some more acres?” Apple Bloom looked between the two of us with worried eyes. “That’d fix everything, right? We’d have more land to farm and earn more money and everything.”

She turned a page for the farm’s account books. A worried frown creased her lips. “And how much would more land cost?”

I felt something in me sink. “It ain’t quite that easy. Thing is ... we just don’t have the bits. We’ve tried to save up some bits to do just that, but every time we do, somethin’ always seems to come up. Usually it was somethin’ that broke and we had to pay to get it fixed or replaced. Or that year some of the trees got sick. And just like that, there went all our savings.”

There were a lot of things we would have liked to save up for. We had almost saved up enough to have Granny’s rickety old hip replaced, but when that storm came in from the Everfree Forest it really messed up the farm. It sure would have been nice to help Granny in her twilight years. Especially since the farm was the reason she had a bum hip in the first place. Apple bucking could be hard on a pony.

I watched my little sister’s spirits sag as her ears wilted. “Oh...” She leaned against me and nuzzled my chest. “How about a loan? I overheard some other farmers talkin’ about gettin’ a loan so they can get a bigger farm.”

Big Mac’s ear twitched. “Can’t get a loan for that.”

“Why not?” Apple Bloom said in a whine.

I told her how much we owed the bank.

She blinked. “Applejack, that’s far too much.”

“Because the banks won’t loan us any more money,” I said, a bit more harshly than I intended. Taking a moment to calm myself, I continued. “We’ve already taken out all the loans we can to keep the farm runnin’.”

Things had gotten rough at Sweet Apple Acres after—when Big Mac and I had to take over the farm. In all honesty, we were just too darn young to do it on our own. Big Macintosh wasn’t even fully grown at the time, and I was too small to help with things like plowing fields, pulling stumps, or any of the really hard work. Not to mention Granny was no spring chicken anymore. It hadn’t exactly helped when I up and ran off to Manehatten for a while either.

The farm had lost a lot of money back then.We were already under a mite bit of debt, but that really made things ugly.

I could see the gears in Apple Bloom’s head turn—probably trying to think of some way to help save the farm. I could sympathize. I’d spent more than one night wide awake, just thinking of what we could do to get out of the red. Those were long nights.

Apple Bloom grabbed onto one of my legs and her eyes pleaded with me. “Ain’t there anythin’ we can do? There has to be somethin’ that’ll make things better.”

“We’re workin’ on it.” I stroked her mane to try and comfort her. “It might just take some time to turn things around.”

Big Mac gave Apple Bloom’s shoulder a squeeze. “We’ll make it work, one way or another.”

“I hope so.” Apple Bloom hugged my leg again, and I drew her to my chest. I waited for my sister to ask more questions, but all the fight seemed to have gone out of her and she kept right on hugging me. Not surprising, given the long day she’d just gone through. I was pretty drained myself. Why did life have to be so darn complicated when all I wanted to do was farm my fields?

I was considering asking Apple Bloom if she had anything else we could help clear up, when I noticed the doors to the back swing open again. One of the hospital’s doctors stepped through and walked our way. My heart started to beat faster as he approached.

I exchanged a look with my brother, and he must have read my mind as he turned to our sister. “Come on, Apple Bloom. Let’s see if there’s anythin’ to eat in the cafeteria.” I wanted either myself or Big Mac to get the news before Apple Bloom did. If it was bad, then she should hear it from family, and not from some pony she’d never met before, not in a place like this. My brother and I learned that the hard way.

Big Macintosh reached down to help her up, but she clutched at me all the harder. “Ah don’t wanna go yet,” she protested. “Ah wanna see Granny. Ah wanna know she’s okay.”

“Go with yer big brother, Apple Bloom.” It hurt to do it, but I gently pried my sister away towards Big Mac. “Ah just need to talk to the doctor first, and then we’ll see if they’ll let us visit Granny.” I tried to think of something to make Apple Bloom feel like I wasn’t just pushing her away. “Maybe ya could buy her some flowers at the gift shop? Ah’m sure Granny would appreciate that.”

“Granny would want ya to get somethin’ to eat too,” Big Mac said, wrapping one of his big legs around Apple Bloom. “Yer a growing filly, ya know.” It felt wrong manipulating Apple Bloom like that, but I really didn’t want her there when the doctor started laying everything out.

Apple Bloom let her big brother pull her close and gave a short nod. “Okay.” It hurt seeing her so dejected, but there wasn’t much to be done for it at the moment.

I got the sense that the doctor had taken his time walking his way over to us. Probably waiting for us to finish before talking to me. Wasn’t hard to guess that he’d probably seen this type of thing a hundred times over.

The brown-coated unicorn looked about what you’d expect a doctor to look like. Clean looking in his white coat, studious, and carrying himself professionally. He stepped up to me and offered a hoof. “Are you family to Granny Smith?”

“Yeah, Ah’m her granddaughter.” I took his hoof and shook it. “Name’s Applejack.”

He nodded deservedly. “I’m Doctor Feelgood, your grandmother’s physician. And I’m in charge of her treatment.”

The introductions only served to make me more unsettled. I was so nervous it felt like my heart was going to beat out of my chest. It was all I could do to keep myself from shaking. “How is she, Doc?”

Adjusting his glasses, Doctor Feelgood levitated up a clipboard to look at. “We managed to stabilize her, and she’s currently resting.” I felt some of the tension in my body release as my worst fear was put to rest, at least for the moment. “It seems that she’s suffering from a case of acute bronchitis. We’ve put her on oxygen to help her breathe, given her some steroids to strengthen her lungs, and hooked her up to an IV to help keep her hydrated.”

It didn’t sound so great that Granny needed all that, but I just had to trust that the doctors knew what they were doing.

His eyes turned up from his clipboard to look at me. “Has she been dealing with a cough for a significant period of time?”

“Um, for the past couple of weeks, yeah.” I rubbed at my upper foreleg, not liking the idea that I may have ignored my granny’s health. Could we have avoided all this had we just talked Granny into going to the hospital? I doubted I could have convinced her in the first place. She never liked the hospital much. Confronting her about it probably would have just led to her digging in her hooves. Even getting her to come in for a checkup could be a chore. Why did she always have to be so stubborn all the time?

The doctor muttered to himself as he wrote something on his clipboard with a pen. “Has she also had a fever?”

“Ah don’t really know. She said she was fine when I asked.” That excuse sounded weak even to me, and I could feel the disapproval in the doctor’s tone as he answered.

“Your grandmother is reaching an age where she needs to be more careful with her health.” He flipped through a couple pages on his clipboard before finding the one he was looking for. “She was warned during her last checkup that she needs to slow down more. A mare her age doesn’t have the energy she used to, which can leave her vulnerable to diseases like this.”

I had to agree with the doctor, up to a point. Granny really needed to do more to take care of herself, especially after what happened today. Shame that trying to herd Granny around was about as effective as talking to a brick wall. It didn’t make things any easier when we really needed her help making baked goods to sell on the market. Selling ponies things like apple fritters, tarts, and pies did a lot to boost our profits. Big Mac and I weren’t slouches in the kitchen, but it was Granny who taught us everythin' we knew. Put down a couple apple pies made made by Granny, and ponies would be able to tell the difference. I couldn’t help but feel like I was playing second fiddle whenever I helped her in the kitchen.

So that put us in a bit of a pickle. If Granny did less cooking, then it was going to hurt our bottom line. Not to mention that me and Big Mac baking would take time away from working the fields and selling in the market.

And what was I thinking? I was balancing bits against the health of my own granny! That didn’t sit well with me, not at all. Made me feel more than a little guilty. I needed to get my priorities straight, and fast.

“I’ll make sure to talk to her about it, Doc,” I said. “We’ll work on it.”

The doctor held me with a stern look, long enough to make me uncomfortable, before nodding. “See that you do, for her sake.”

I didn’t much like Doctor Feelgood chiding me over what I needed to do with my granny, so I decided to move onto things a bit more important at the moment. We’d talk to Granny about slowing down when she came home again, but right now she needed her family. “Can we see her?”

“Of course,” he answered. “Though I’d like you to keep the visit short. Right now rest is really important for her recovery, but seeing her family should do her some good too.”

I couldn’t help but smile at that news. From the state she’d been in when we’d arrived, just seeing that Granny was alright would mean the world to me. Not to mention Big Mac and Apple Bloom. We might not be able to see her long, but it was far better than not at all. “Thanks. Where’s her room at?”

He gave me the directions along with the normal visiting hours for future visits. “Did you have any other questions?”

I rubbed at the back of my neck, feeling the strain of the last few hours there. I knew there was probably something I should be asking the doctor, but I couldn’t think anything else. Frankly, I was distracted by the idea of seeing Granny, and making sure she was alright. “Nah, I can’t think of anything right now.”

“Alright then. If you have any questions, just ask one of the nurses at the desk.”

“Thanks for everything, Doc.”

“Of course.” We made our final farewells and the doctor went back through the doors he had come from.

I didn’t want to keep Granny waiting, so I went looking for my siblings. It didn’t take me long to find them in the cafeteria. The two of them were sitting at one of the tables opposite of one another. Apple Bloom was slowly poking at the food on her tray, and Big Mac, for his part, was sitting over a half eaten sandwich and absent mindedly sipping at a carton of juice. From the looks of it, neither one of them was particularly hungry. Couldn’t blame them. My own stomach was in such a knot that I could barely even think about eating.

Apple Bloom was the first one to see me and all but leapt from her seat at the table. She knocked me back a step when she tackled me with a hug and words flowed out of her mouth. “Is Granny okay? Where is she? What’s wrong with her? Can we see her?”

“Whoa nelly.” I had to push Apple Bloom back a bit to help settle her down. “Granny’s fine, the doctors are helpin’ her, and we can go see her when you two are done eatin’ here.”

Apple Bloom looked like she was about to shoot off like a rocket the moment I pointed in a direction. “Ah wanna see her right now. Ah’m not hungry.”

Big Mac stood up from the table. “Eeyup.”

“Alright, just pack up yer food for later.” I didn’t see much sense wasting bits paid for perfectly good food.

Apple Bloom impatiently pulled on my leg. “But Ah wanna see Granny now! And we don’t have anythin’ to put it all in anyways.”

I felt a twinge of annoyance at my sister’s wastefulness. “Now Ah’m sure the ponies here have a bag or something we could put that in.”

Big Mac stepped up to speak quietly to me so Apple Bloom couldn’t easily hear. “She’s been waiting to see Granny for hours. Forget the food.”

I had to fight down the urge to argue against my brother. That wasn’t the type of thing Apple Bloom needed to listen to right now of all times. And my heart softened when I saw her looking up at me with those orange eyes of hers. Right, priorities.

“Alright, let’s get goin’ then. Follow me.” I led my siblings towards Granny’s room.

It was pretty much what you expect out of a hospital room: tiled flooring, plain blue walls, and a bed with a nightstand next to it. Or at least it’s what I had come to think of what a hospital room should look like. Ponyville Hospital had been the only one I had ever been to, really.

Granny was lying in one of the two beds in the room. Like the doctor had said, she had one of those IV things sticking out of her leg and a small hose running from a tank of oxygen to her nose. Looking at her, she just looked tired. Her eyes were sunken and her chest rose and fell slowly as she lay there. She looked pretty pitiful, and it hurt to see her like that. Granny had always been such a pillar in our lives, and now she had been reduced to this. Why did we have to get into that stupid argument that got her here? And why couldn’t she have been less stubborn and let us take her to the hospital before it got this bad? It didn’t have to be this way—yet here we were.

Apple Bloom gave a cry as she ran to Granny’s side and nuzzled her. “Ah was so worried! We ran here as fast as we could, and you were coughing, and we waited and waited, and all I wanted to do was see you!”

Granny chuckled, only to start coughing again. I grimaced and began to wonder if I should go get a doctor when she cleared her throat and smiled at us as though nothing was wrong. Big Mac and I gave each other a worried look, but neither of us said anything. She might not have been coughing up a lung like she had been back at the farm, but it was clear she was a long way from healthy.

“Now don't ya worry none, Apple Bloom.” Granny patted her granddaughter on the head. “Your old granny'll be outta here and fit as a fiddle 'fore ya even start missin' me.”

Apple Bloom sniffled and I could tell she was trying her best not to cry for her granny’s sake. I wrapped a leg around my sister’s neck to give her a comforting squeeze. “Ya did give us a bit of a scare,” I said. “Ya’re really gonna need to slow down from here on out.”

Granny Smith snorted. “Now don’t ya go and repeat that nonsense the doctor was goin’ on about. Ah’m gonna be just fine—just ya see.”

There was Granny’s stubbornness kicking in again. Apparently, the doctor had already worked her over, and all that did was cause her to dig her hooves in. Knowing that arguing with her wasn’t likely to make her budge, I gently placed a hoof on her leg. “Granny,” I said cautiously. “Ah—we’re not askin’ ya to stop helpin’ around the farm. We just want ya to cut back on how many chores ya have to do every day.”

Granny’s firm frown didn’t slack any, but her voice softened a bit. “Ah think Ah’m the best one to say what Ah can and can’t do.”

“We just don’t want ya getting sick again.” Big Mac put some flowers in a vase by Granny’s bed and fussed over them. “AJ and I can do most of the stuff ‘round the farm.”

Granny shuffled in her bed and straightened her sheets with a grumble. “And who's gonna do the cookin’ for the stuff we sell at the market? Farm’s gotta make money somehow.”

That caused me to wince. It was hard to deny that Granny’s work made a good chunk of the farm’s profits. Still, I didn’t want a repeat of what happened today. Maybe there was some sort of compromise here? “We can help some more with the cookin’. You’ve been teaching us since we could walk. So we know our way ‘round the kitchen.”

“Ah can help!” Apple Bloom gripped Granny around the leg. “Ah’ll do whatever needs doin’. Ah just want ya to get better and not have to go to the hospital again.”

Granny was about to say something when she started coughing again. Something ripped inside of me watching her doing that until she stopped and leaned back down onto the bed. “We can talk about it later when Ah’m better.” She settled further into the bed. “Ah’m sorry, but Ah’m a mite bit tuckered out now.”

“That’s alright, Granny.” I helped fluff Granny’s pillow. “We understand.” Part of me felt relieved to see Granny getting ready to rest, even if it meant had to clear out soon.

“But we just got here,” Apple Bloom lamented. She looked up at me with a pair of sad eyes that made me feel like a heel for pulling the two of them apart. But I needed to be strong and sensible so that Granny could get her rest. Sometimes we did things we didn’t want to because we had to.

Big Mac wrapped a leg around Apple Bloom to gently pull her away from the bed. “Come on, Apple Bloom. Yer granny needs to sleep.”

Our little sis looked like she wanted to argue, but instead, she let out a resigned sigh and let her big brother guide her away. “Okay...”

I helped pull Granny’s covers up. I wanted to do something to make her feel better. Anything. “There, ya good there?”

“Ah’ll be fine,” Granny mumbled. “Just you see.”

“Ah know,” I said, desperately hoping it would be true. Life without Granny was something I could hardly imagine. I gave her a peck on the head and watched for a sec as she drifted off. I then followed after my brother and sister. I caught up with them in the main lobby.

Apple Bloom scuffed a hoof on the floor before looking up at the two of us. “We’re gonna be able to visit later, right?”

“Of course,” I told her. I gave her a supportive nuzzle. “We’ll visit her again after school tomorrow, alright?” She murmured in agreement, but it was pretty clear she didn’t have much energy left in her after everything that had happened today. “Let’s go home. You look like you could use a nap, and yer brother and I still have things that need doin’ around the farm.”

Big Mac lifted Apple Bloom onto his back and let out a sad sigh. “Eeyup.”

With that, we made our way back home without Granny.

My alarm clock started ringing an hour sooner than it normally did and I groaned as the stupid thing made its racket. My head pulsed with pain as I struggled between needing to get up and needing to sleep. I had hoped to avoid this by going to sleep half an hour early. Somepony needed to go to the market to sell some apples—especially given nopony had gone to town to sell anything for a couple of days now. And we also had to prepare some other dishes to add to the cart to help make some extra bits. With Granny in the hospital, that came down to me.

Big Macintosh had offered to get up with me to help, but I told him to go ahead and get his rest. No sense the both of us getting up when one pony could do everything. We’d argued a bit back and forth about things like split labor, and the both of us getting up half an hour early, and things like that. But in the end he agreed with my plan. At least for now. We would just have to see how things worked out with Granny. Besides, my brother can get mighty grouchy when he hasn’t had enough sleep. I’d rather get up a bit early by myself than have to deal with that all day.

But I’d be a liar if I said I didn’t regret that decision right at that moment. My early to bed, early to rise plan would have worked a lot better if I had actually gotten to sleep like I’d planned. I didn’t want to think about how long I’d been tossing and turning through the night thinking about Granny and everything I was going to have to do in the morning. As desperately as I wanted—needed to go to sleep, the stupid gears in my head just wouldn’t stop turning.

And now it was time to get up and get to work.

I swatted at the alarm clock until I finally managed to hit it, shutting it up. A pained groan escaped my lips as I fought to stay awake and get moving. When I finally managed to get my eyes open, I saw through blurry eyes that ten minutes had already passed. That wasn’t any good. I moaned and rolled off the bed. My legs nearly gave from fatigue when I hit the floor, and I immediately leaned against the bed for support. Rubbing my hoof at my eyes to try and get the blurriness out of them, I fought to try and get awake.

I found myself sitting back down on the bed, stretching my limbs to get blood flowing in them again. My legs and back popped and cracked until I felt like I could move properly again. Looking at the clock, I saw that twenty minutes had passed since I had woken up.

Shoot, this wasn’t working out at all. There wasn’t much point in getting up early to get some work done if all I was going to do was shuffle around like a zombie. I slapped myself in the face and rubbed my cheeks to try and get my brain to jump-start.

Forcing myself to move, I did my usual morning grooming before heading to the bathroom. That was the one benefit of getting up this early: no competition for the bathroom. Something you became very well aware of living with two siblings and your granny. If I ever got an opportunity to expand the farmhouse, I’d want to add another bathroom. Not something that was likely to happen anytime soon, but a mare could dream.

I finished cleaning up in the bathroom and took a couple of pills to deal with the headache that threatened to pound its way out of my skull. That done, I headed down to the kitchen to start fixing everything I’d need to sell at the market. First though, I started on the one thing that I desperately needed to start the morning: coffee. I saw that the coffee can was getting close to empty and made a mental note to pick up some more in town later while I was at the market.

Wth the coffee on the burner, I went about making everything I would need for the market. Time seemed to fly by in a haze as I got into tempo with my work—even after I got some coffee in me to wake me up. I guess that was one of the benefits of Granny’s training in the kitchen; everything just seemed so automatic as I went about it.

I hardly even noticed Big Mac making his way into the kitchen. “AJ,” he said in simple greeting. Predictably, he made right for the coffee.

“Big Mac,” I said back. I didn’t even stop to look at him as I cut some apples up.

Big Mac sipped at a mug of coffee before turning to me. “Got any breakfast goin’?”

The movements of my knife stopped as the question finally got through the blur that had been fogging up my head since I’d woken up. I rubbed at one of my eyes and let out a low groan as I realized I had completely forgotten about breakfast. I’d been so tired and busy that it hadn’t even occurred to me that I might need something to eat. “No, I plum forgot.”

My brother just nodded and went to the icebox to pull out something to eat. “That’s fine. As long as we got somethin’ ready in time for Apple Bloom to eat before goin’ to school.”

“Right, you remembered to wake her up before headin’ down here?” I asked.

Big Mac froze and looked to me. “Didn’t you?”

I quirked an eyebrow at him. “Ah wasn’t gonna wake her up that early. And Ah’ve been busy cookin’ since I got up, remember?”

A long moment of silence hung between us. As one, we both glanced at the clock on the wall, and I was surprised by how much time had passed. I must really have been cooking up a storm to have lost track of time like that.

“Ah’ll get Apple Bloom,” Big Mac said, already making his way towards the stairs.

I could all but hear what he was thinking. “Ah’ll get some breakfast ready.” We needed to get our little sister up and ready for school. I guess the two of us had completely forgotten to coordinate yesterday on who was supposed to wake Apple Bloom up. Normally I went ahead and took care of that, but that went with my normal sleeping schedule. Not to mention Granny usually gave us a reminder to get her up when Big Mac and I got downstairs.

But Granny wasn’t here, and there were things that still needed doing. So I got to work making a quick breakfast so that Apple Bloom could at least go to school on a full stomach. I’d given her schoolbags another patch job to get her through at least a few more days. So she was good to go there at least.

By the time I got around to putting some jelly and butter on the table I was thinking that maybe it was about time Apple Bloom got her own alarm clock. She was at the age where she could take that much care of herself. Problem was that we were already pinching our bits as it was. Alarm clocks weren’t exactly the most expensive thing in the world, but they still cost money. Money we didn’t have at the moment. Maybe there was some old thing up in the attic that none of us remembered. I’d make sure to check later when I got a break.

Just another thing to add to the list of things to do.

After walking Apple Bloom to school, I made my way to the market. I set up shop at the Apple Family’s usual spot and got to work. There hadn’t been enough time to cook up as much as I would have liked to, but I still had enough to make the work worthwhile. It wasn’t going to be fun getting up that early from now on—at least until we got through this rough patch—but I was sure we would manage. Better than letting Granny overwork herself, anyways. We’d just have to find a way to let her relax a bit more.

But it would get better, I was sure of it.

The good news was that I was doing really well at the market. Ponies knew who had the best apple and apple-based products in Equestria, and that showed as I quickly started to sell everything in the cart. By the end of the lunchtime rush, I had sold over three quarters of what I had loaded up. That was good given a lot of what I had sold has been saved from the area around those darn fruit bats. It would have broken my heart to see all that go to waste. But it hadn’t, and it looked like the farm was going to make a tidy profit for the day.

Though it was a bit of a downer when I kept having ponies come up to me saying they were sorry to hear what had happened to Granny Smith. I wasn’t surprised given how quickly news got around in a place like Ponyville. We were a pretty tight knit bunch.

I knew everypony meant well by it, but I didn’t want to be reminded a thousand times in a day that my granny was in the hospital. It’s the type of thing that can drive you sick with worry. Not to mention it made me feel bad when ponies didn’t put up much of a fight while bargaining with me, given that made me feel like I was taking advantage of them. And I had known a lot of these ponies since I was a little filly. It seemed that even when I was doing well, something still wasn’t right these days.

After the rush around lunch, I decided to take a short break. I had been so wrapped up in selling apple that I had almost forgot how worn out I was. It felt like I was running on automatic the entire morning. My head pounded with a dull ache and my body kept demanding at least a nap. Shame there wasn’t any time for that.

So, I let out a yawn as I glanced over my wares to see what looked appealing for a snack. One of the apples on the cart met my fancy, and I plucked it to start eating. It felt good to get something in my belly after what had been a long morning. By the time I had finished the first one, I found myself picking up another one to eat. I was so caught up in just enjoying a nice fresh apple that I didn’t notice somepony come up behind me.

“Hi, Applejack,” she said. I nearly jumped as I was yanked from my thoughts. I turned to see an earth pony mare with a pale goldenrod coat and curly carrot orange mane. The carrot farmer we all knew as Carrot Top gave me a warm smile. “How’re you today?”

I rubbed at my eyes to try and wake myself up, and I had to fight not to splurt out some slogan I normally gave ponies to try and sell them some apples. Say something enough times throughout the day and it starts becoming instinct. Especially when you had trouble just keeping yourself from yawning.

“Ah’m fine,” I assured her. I let out a yawn despite myself. “Sorry, just been a long past couple days.”

“I can imagine.” The edges of Carrot Top’s smile dipped a bit. “I heard about Granny Smith. You holdin’ up alright?”

I tipped up the edge of my hat to rub at my scalp. “Well enough, I guess. Just got a big scare, ya know?”

“I can imagine.” She looked around us to see if anypony was close to us, she placed a hoof on my shoulder and gave it a comforting squeeze. “Wanna talk about it? I know I’m not family or anything, but sometimes it can be nice just to have a shoulder to cry on.”

I shook my head. “Nah, to be perfectly honest, Ah’m just at the point Ah don’t wanna think ‘bout it.”

Carrot Top’s mouth turned into a sympathetic grimace. “I can understand that. You’ve probably been listening to ponies wishin’ your granny well all day long.”

“Pretty much, yeah.” I looked out at the crowd of ponies gathered in the market square. Many of them turned glances our ways and spoke to each other conversationally. I wondered how many were talking about my family. Ponies were always gossiping about something, and it wasn’t a surprise my family and especially Granny were the topic of the day. “So can we just not talk about it?” I pleaded with her.

“That’s fine.” She gave my shoulder another squeeze before lowering her hoof back down to the dirt.

There was a moment of uncomfortable silence as we didn’t exactly look at each other. Guess that figured, the two of us hadn’t exactly talked to each other a whole lot in the past. I wouldn’t call it bad blood, but we’d had words with one another. That kinda happens when you’re technically business rivals. We weren’t big fancy corporations or anything, but it was a fact that there were only so many bits to go around, and I had a farm to run. Carrot Top too for that matter. Even if her farm seemed to be doing a whole hay of a lot better than mine.

Guessed it helped when her family founded the town to start with. It did give them the inside track for buying up farmland around the town. The size of the Carrot farm had been a fact of life since I had been a little filly. Kinda hard not feel a little bit jealous looking out beyond my fence and seeing how many acres she had—especially when I thought about how much better off we’d be if we owned just a few of those acres.

Carrot Top’s ear twitched and she finally broke the silence. I guess I had kinda zoned out there for a bit. Stupid lack of sleep. “So the other farmin’ gals and I were wonderin’ if you’d be interested in joining us for a girls’ night out? We were thinking about going to one of the bars or something to just unwind one of these days. You interested?”

I thought about that one for a second. It would be nice to do something relaxing for once. Especially with how wound up I’d been feeling. But I did have a bunch of things to do around the farm. Not to mention taking care of Apple Bloom. And hanging out with the gals would end up taking time away from things that were really important to me. Not to mention drinks didn’t come free. A few mugs of cider can quickly add up.

After thinking, I let out a long sigh. “Ah don’t know, Carrot Top. Things are pretty crazy at the farm right now. Granny ain’t gonna be able to do as much now on account of her gettin’ older and everything. So the rest of us are going to have to pull more weight. Not to mention we’re goin’ through a bit of a rough patch with those dang fruitbats harrassin’ our trees.”

Her eyes turned towards the ground and she scraped a hoof along the ground. “Oh, I understand.” I worried that I had just killed the conversation deader than a graveyard when her ears perked. “You know, I could always use a few more laborers on the farm. Everypony here knows you and your brother are hard workers, and I could use your help with my apple orchards.” My ear flicked when she mentioned her orchards, given we both knew who they had belonged to to start with. “I’d be happy to pay you two, and those bits could help you through this rough patch of yours.”

I tried not to groan as Carrot Top tried to pitch that idea of me and my brother working for her again. She always seemed to do that now and again. So I gave her the same answer I always did. “Thanks, but no thanks, Carrot Top,” I replied sternly. “The two of us are proper farmers. We ain’t no laborers or sharecroppers.”

Carrot Top pursed her lips for a moment. I could see something churning around in that noggin of hers before she spoke up again. “Come on, AJ, don’t just turn me down out of hoof like that. I know you’ve turned me down in the past, but it really looks like you could use the extra bits right now. Look, sleep on it for a couple days before making a decision. I’ll understand if you want to think about it and weigh the pros and cons.”

Her pushing her offer churned some anger in me, and I glowered at some of the apples on Carrot Top’s own cart. Not nearly as good as Sweet Apple Acres’s apples, but enough to cut into our profits. “No offense, but that just sounds like a plum-dumb idea on my part. To be frank, Ah’d just be helpin’ ya put mah farm out of business.”

There was more of an edge to my voice that I’d intended, and Carrot Top flinched away at my tone. But there it was, and I wasn’t gonna apologize for it now. Still, I tried to take some of the edge off while still firmly saying what was on my mind.

“AJ, it ain’t like that,” she pleaded. Her eyes flickered towards some of the other ponies around us and lowered her voice to make it harder for anypony else to hear. “Look, we all know how big your farm is. There’s only so much you can do with a plot that size. You have to know that. Much less when you have fruitbats eating all your produce.” She gave me a friendly smile—probably to try and butter me up if I had to guess. “And I promise you that you’d get fair pay for your work. Hay, I bet you and your brother could be managers over the apple fields given nopony knows apples like you two. Especially if I expand my apple orchards like I’m thinking about doing. And that would put more bits into your purse. At least until things turn around for you. ”

“It ain’t like that!” I repeated. I could feel my blood coming to a boil at the idea of her expanding her apple orchards. Especially when more than a fair share of those were acres we had to sell in order to keep Sweet Apple Acres afloat.

My eyes turned to the FlimFlam Cider sitting in nice, neat rows on Carrot Top’s cart. One of Carrot Top’s laborers was even selling it to somepony right that moment. “If yer not tryin’ to put me outta business, then how can ya explain selling that cider? That just ain’t right, ya know. Ponyville’s supposed to be Apple Family cider territory. I can still hardly believe ya made a deal with those snake oil salesponies.”

Carrot Top let out an annoyed huff. “We’ve been over this. Just because you couldn’t make a good deal with them doesn’t mean I’m not allowed to. Instead of just telling them to hike after they made their first offer like you did, I sat down with them and hashed out a deal that let us both earn a good profit.”

“And its hurtin’ mah farm!” I stomped a hoof.

She spoke patiently, lifting a hoof to rub at the side of her head, as though explaining something to a child. Can’t say I appreciated that. “I’m sorry if I’m hurting Sweet Apple Acres. But I’m running a farm—just like you are.”

“Don’t mean ya have to be so greedy,” I grumbled. “Can’t help but notice ya got the biggest farm around here. No reason for ya to cut into everypony else’s business.”

Carrot Top’s voice started rising to meet my own. “And you could stand to be a bit smarter in how you run your farm.” More ponies started looking at us as we started going at it, but I wasn’t one to care right at that moment. “For instance, I can’t see you turning that much of a profit dragging that cart of apple pies out to that swamp. Not when it takes you all day and all the special equipment you need for the trip.”

I turned back to my cart and started putting things away. Suddenly, I didn’t feel like staying in the market anymore. “Ah ain't gonna tell ponies that've been buyin' from us for years and years they can't have any more pies just 'cause it's not efficient to sell to 'em.”

“Still doesn’t change the fact you aren’t getting a good return on that.” Walking around so that she could face me again, Carrot Top tried to catch my eyes with her own. “It’s that type of thinking that’s helped get you into trouble to start with.”

My head snapped towards Carrot Top and I fixed her with a glare that made her take a step back. “Drop it, Carrot Top. Ah ain’t interested in talkin’ no more.” She had pushed me as far as I was willing to go and if she had any sense she’d back the hay off. That pony had no right to tell me how to run my business. I’d run it the way I wanted, and I’d do it through good old hard work and ingenuity.

Carrot Top took a few steps back away from me. “O-okay, Applejack. If that’s how you feel.” She turned to leave but stopped to look over her shoulder at me. There was something remorseful in those eyes of hers. “My offers still on the table if you change your mind. Have a nice day, and I hope your granny gets better.”

“Yeah, me too,” I murmured in grudging agreement. I barely paid her mind as she left and I kept packing up the wagon. I probably could have sold a bit more for the day. But I was now in such a rotten mood that I didn’t think I could be all nice and friendly to everypony as I should be while selling apples.

Whatever. It’ll get better. I’m sure of it.

Author's Note

I would like to give a big thanks to my editors Chengar Qordath, Comma-Kazie, and JakeTheGinger for all their help. And also to my prereaders Multae Kappae, Luminary, Swiftestshadow, Infinion, Pegasusnumber 5,Cryosite, Hopeless Appraisal, 621Chopsuey, Nekonyancer, Web of Hope, Rodinga, and Malefic Scholar who put a ton of effort into reading over this chapter and making sure it's presentable.

We're Almost Through This Thing

When Better Days are Past

Chapter 3: We're Almost Through This Thing.

Even though I love farming, it can be hard work, and that’s when everything’s going perfectly. Once problems popup, they tend to just pile up on top of one another.

My muscles twinged from soreness as I bucked another tree. When the apples fell, I worked out the built-up kinks in my spine and legs and I felt them pop. It helped a bit to stretch myself out in different ways, but only a little bit. There just wasn’t any way around how getting up early, earlier really, was making everything hurt more. Shame the work around the farm wasn’t gonna do itself. Never had, never will.

I was dragging the baskets back to the barn when I saw Big Mac walking beside somepony I wasn’t particularly happy to see.

“Raindrops,” I acknowledged, with a bit of a growl working its way in. I didn’t mean to sound ugly, but Raindrops and I had a history. Really, Raindrops had rubbed me the wrong way since the day I met her. I’d really have preferred if somepony else had been chosen as weather manager of Ponyville, somepony I didn’t have to fight every step of the way, but I was stuck with this one.

The jasmine-coated mare put on a strained smile. She was a fairly large mare. Built more like a bulky and muscular earth pony farmer than some streamlined weather pegasus. When she spoke, it sounded tense, like she really didn’t want to be here. “Hey, Applejack. How’s it going?”

“It’s goin’,” I said tersely.

Raindrops’ wings fluttered, and she seemed to be trying to look at anything that wasn’t me. “So ... I kinda needed to touch base with you over what you needed for weather next week. Usual stuff, ya know?”

“Guess it’s ‘bout that time.” I wasn’t quite sure what Big Mac was planning right at the moment. He usually dealt with Raindrops whenever she came flying by to report the weather or take requests. It was just easier for everypony involved. Sure, it may have meant we didn’t get quite as much rain as we would have liked, but we managed.

Big Mac let out a belabored sigh as he looked between the two of us. He leaned in to whisper to me. “AJ, can we talk for a moment?”

I raised an eyebrow, not quite sure what my brother was thinking. “Err, sure?”

“If ya don’t mind, Raindrops?” he asked.

Raindrops tried to sound casual when she spoke, but it came across as forced. Figures the mare would have to force herself act halfway decently with me. “Nah, go ahead.”

Big Mac ushered me to the side of the barn. He spoke to me in a quiet tone, though I sensed a twinge of stress. “AJ, could ya try to get along with our weather manager?”

I grew annoyed. “Why? Ah ain’t done nothing’ wrong. The problem’s all hers.” I frowned as a thought crossed my mind. “Is this some thing where you’re tryin’ to get me an’ Raindrops to work together?”

“Eeyup,” Big Mac said without any of his usual cheer. “You two need to bury the hatchet. This feud you two have been havin’ has been goin’ on too long. It’s bad fer the farm.”

“Applejack!” she chastised as Raindrops flew away after our latest argument. “That was hardly the way to treat Ponyville’s weather manager. I can’t imagine offending her will help your farm.”

Raising my nose, I sniffed in a none-too-pleased manner. “We’re doin’ just fine if ya ask me. The big grump still gets us enough rain that we can get along. So it’s not like there’s a big problem anyways. Besides, you can talk to her when that needs doing.”

“Ya know it’s a hassle when Ah have to track her down to tell her what we need, rather than just tellin’ ya for when she happens across ya. And we don’t get much as we want.” Some of the energy seemed to sag out of my brother as his shoulders slumped. That concerned me. It wasn’t something I was used to seeing from him. “The irrigation system ain’t doin’ so well, ya know. Would it kill ya to just try and get along with her. Ah ain’t asking ya to be her friend. Ya hardly even need to talk to her. Just tell her what we need for weather.”

I took a long breath. “Fine, Ah’ll talk to her and tell her what we need. Though she’s gonna have to meet me halfway and not act so grumpy all the time.”

Big Mac’s lips curved into a smile, and there seemed to be a hopeful glimmer in his eyes. “Good.” With that, he led the way back to Raindrops, who had been waiting by the front of the barn.

Squaring myself as I faced her, I decided to try and keep this nice and simple. Big Mac must have done some work to drag Raindrops out here, so I didn’t want him to have wasted all that time and effort on my account. “So, about the weather.”

Raindrops didn’t quite meet my eyes and sounded as though she would have prefered to have taken flight right then and there. “Right, so what were you needing next week?”

“We could use a bit more rain for the western fields than usual.” I waved in the direction of the fields. “We’re plannin’ on concentratin’ there next week, so it’d be nice if the apples were a bit more ripe when we get to them. Then we’ll be needin’ more cloud cover than usual. It’s gettin’ a mite bit hot these days, an’ Ah don’t want our orchards dryin’ up.”

The weather manager puckered her lips as she thought that over. “I can probably get you the rain you need, but the cloud cover’s gonna be tough since everypony’s asking for good cloud cover this time of the year. Carrot Top’s in the middle of harvesting some of her crops, so she kinda gets the higher priority right now.”

“Right, of course Carrot Top’s farm gets more attention than Sweet Apple Acres,” I grumbled.

“Hey, not my fault!” Raindrops wings flared out as she took a more aggressive stance. “It’s my job to help get the biggest crops for my area of authority, and Carrot Top’s farm needs that cloud cover more than you do right now.”

My temper freyed. We were the ones struggling and needing help! Seemed that the rich were just gonna get richer while the poor got poorer. My mouth started shooting off before I could stop myself. “Right, because—”

“AJ,” Big Mac growled. I wasn’t used to him taking that tone with me. I’d seen him do it with Apple Bloom often enough when she’d done something wrong, but he hadn’t done so with me in a long time. “Be nice. Raindrops is doin’ what she can.”

“Fine.” I tipped my hat over my eyes, not particularly wanting to look at the weather manager. “Just do what ya can, then.”

Raindrops lifted off the ground with a few flaps of her wings. “Uh, right. Yeah.” She stopped, looking as though she were struggling between flying off and staying. After a couple of moments she seemed to decide to turn to face me. “So, hey, um...” She awkwardly rubbed at the back of her mane. “I’ve heard your farm has kinda been struggling. So if ya need a bit of extra help...”

“Sweet Apple Acres is doin’ just fine, thank-you-very-much,” I said sharply. I was sick and tired of ponies asking if they could give a little extra help at the farm, or talking about how much trouble the farm was in. Yeah, we weren’t the wealthiest farm in Ponyville, but we managed to pay our bills eventually.

Raindrops scowled at me as she continued to hover. “Hey, I was just offering to help. It’s not like I want your farm to go under.”

I stomped a hoof. “Mah farm ain’t goin’ under!”

She crossed her forelegs across her chest. “That isn’t the way I’ve been hearing it. Not with the fruit-bats going to town on your apples and everything else going wrong. Sounds like you could use all the help you could get.”

“Raindrops. AJ...” Big Mac put a hoof on my shoulder but I shrugged it off, stepping closer to the weather manager. I didn’t need him telling me how to deal with Raindrops. Especially when she was going off and spouting nonsense about the farm going under. We were getting through everything one day at a time.

“Ah don’t need no help from nopony! Especially not from you!” I jabbed a hoof her direction. “Our farm has been around as long as Ponyville, and we ain’t goin’ nowhere. Ya hear me?”

“Whatever.” Raindrops snorted and started flying away. “I don’t need to argue with some stubborn farmer who yells at me just for offering help.”

Big Mac trotted after Raindrops to keep up with her. “Raindrops, wait. Please.”

Raindrops ears flattened as she saw my big brother. “Sorry, Big Mac, but I don’t need this stress in my life. Tell me when your sister cleans up her act, then maybe we’ll talk.” With that, she increased her speed and altitude, making it impossible to have a real conversation.

“Well, good riddance.” I returned to the basket of apples I had been moving and got back to work. “We don’t need to bother with the likes of her.”

“And that’s your idea of gettin’ along, huh?” Big Mac snapped.

“I could have, but she hasn’t earned it yet.” I finished putting the basket into the barn. “There’s just nothin’ you can do for some ponies, and Raindrops is just one of them.”

Big Mac’s nostrils flared. “We need to be on her good side, AJ. She’s our weather manager, in case ya didn’t notice. You’re just making it harder on all of us when there ain’t no need for it.”

“Well, Ah’m done talkin’ ‘bout it.” I stomped my way back out to the fields to pick up the next basket of apples. “The two of us ain’t gonna get along, and that’s all there is to it.”

Rubbing at his face, Big Mac huffed in frustration. “Ya know what, Ah’m done.” He started stomping his way towards the house. “Ah’m just finished.”

I stopped what I was doing, not liking the sound of finality in the way Big Mac spoke. “What’re ya talkin’ ‘bout?” Trotting after him, I caught up with him halfway up to the house. When he didn’t answer me right away, I bumped shoulders with him. “Hey, what’re ya goin’ on ‘bout?”

He stopped short of the house and let out a long sigh, all the wind having left him. “Ah’m quitting the farm, AJ.”

“I’m sorry, Applejack, but it’s just not working between us,” she said,packing her bags.

I blinked and felt as though my big brother had just slapped me. “What do ya mean you’re quittin’ the farm? Y-Ya can’t just do that! This is our farm, our family’s farm.” This just wasn’t making any sense to me. Was he serious about leaving the farm? No, I must have misheard something. He was just so mad that he wasn’t thinking clearly. Just about everypony got to that point sometime in their life. So he just needed a talk, and that’s something family was good for—listening to each other and what’s bothering them.

Though weary, his features became more resolute as he squared his jaw. “Ah can, and Ah am.” He stepped onto the porch and opened the front door. “Ah’m goin’ to Appleloosa. Ah’ve already made mah decision.”

“I’m leaving for Canterlot.” She couldn’t look me in the eyes. “I just need to get away from here.” Away from Ponyville. Away from me.

“Ya can’t be serious.” I followed him inside and closed the door after me. “Hey, talk to me here!”

Big Mac made his way to the living room where he sat down on the couch. “It just ain’t workin’ out here. None of it is.”

I sat down next to him and put a hoof on his shoulder. “Big Mac, if this is about mah argument with Raindrops, then we can talk about it. No need to do anything rash. Ah know things are kinda rough right now, but we’ll work through it.”

“‘Tain’t rash.” His head hung as he leaned back into the cushion. “Been thinkin’ ‘bout it a while.”

I felt like I’d swallowed a stone. “And ya haven’t been talkin’ to me about it?” Something in me felt a bit betrayed by that. How long had he been thinking about leaving for Appleloosa? All without telling me?

Big Mac put a hoof on mine. “Ah wanted to get all my ducks in a row before bringing this up with ya. Didn’t seem right to worry ya without knowin’ for certain what I was doin’. Here, Ah can show ya what Ah’ve found out.” He stood up from the couch and made his way to the office.

“Ah think Ah had a right to know considerin’ you’re talkin’ ‘bout half of our labor force here. Ah still can’t believe that you’re thinkin’ of leaving the farm.” I stood up and followed Big Mac, watching as he gathered paperwork from one of our cabinets. Normally it was Big Mac who handled most of the paperwork, though it still surprised me how long he must have been thinking this over. Well, that just meant I would have to argue all the harder to make him see reason and stay on his family’s farm. “This is the farm of our ancestors, Big Mac, goin’ all the way back to our great-grandparents. Granny’s lived here for most of her life. You know that. Ya really plan on leavin’ that behind?”

“AJ ... the numbers just ain’t addin’ up.” He took the papers he had gathered and placed them on the kitchen table. Grabbing a pencil, he started writing down some of the math for the finances of the farm for me. “Even if we don’t have a bad year, we’re never gonna get out from under this debt, as is. At least not for a long time doin’ what we’re doin’. Ah know ya don’t like handlin’ the finances of the farm, but just look at this.”

I glanced through Big Mac’s numbers, and tried to decipher them. “C’mon, we can turn it around. We have to. This is Sweet Apple Acres we’re talkin’ ‘bout here.”

Big Mac rubbed at his face with a tired sigh that spoke to months of worry. “Ah know that. Land’s sake, Ah know that. But there comes a point where you’re just throwing good money after bad.”

“Applejack, I can’t loan you that kindof money,” she said as she put a hoof on my shoulder. It was the first time she had told me ‘no’ where our finances were concerned. It wouldn’t be the last. “It would just be tossing good money after bad, at this point.”

“Please don’t put it like that. Please.” I put down the papers with shaking hooves. I didn’t want to have this talk again. Not again. Not with my own flesh and blood.

My brother must have seen how upset I was; he drew me into a hug and gave me the type of squeeze only a big brother could give his little sister. “Ah know this ain’t what ya wanna hear, but it’s the truth. Listen, Ah don’t want to spend the best years of my life breakin’ mah back on a farm that ain’t never gonna turn a profit. More than likely it’s going to go under sooner or later. Ya can’t tell me Ma and Pa would have wanted us to be poor and miserable by tying ourselves down to a patch of dirt.”

I pushed off Big Mac to break the hug. What he was saying hurt too much for me to let him hug me like that. “A-Ah can’t believe you’re just quittin’, just like that. We Apples aren’t quitters. J-just because times are tough right now—”

“They’re never gonna get better,” Big Mac interrupted. “There’s just too much debt. Best thing we can do is sell off the farm to the highest bidder, pay off our debts, and take what’s left to start over.”

“Sell the farm?!” Even knowing that the conversation was going this direction, it still felt like my brother had punched me in the gut.

He held up a hoof to stop further protests from me. “Now hear me out. If we do this, we can all move out to Appleloosa.” He picked up a couple of papers for me to look at. I scanned them, seeing Big Mac had outlined a few sections that listed the prices of farms out near Appleloosa. “Look, land’s a lot cheaper out there on the frontier, and laborers are paid more too, since there aren’t as many ponies out there to work. Even if we have to work as laborers for a while, we’ll be able to save up for our own farm in a couple of years. Hay, Braeburn may even help us get one by co-signing the loan we need to get the farm to start with. Not to mention there’s a bunch of government grants out there to encourage ponies to settle out on the frontier.”

“Ah can hardly believe mah ears.” I rubbed at my brow, trying to digest everything I was listening to. My big bro had even gone as far as to talk to our cousin about how to make this crazy plan of his work without even giving me—his own sister—a hint about what he was up to. “This type of talk would kill Granny, ya know that? Hay, our last argument over Apple Bloom maybe not being a farmpony was enough to send her to the hospital. What do ya think tellin’ her we’re sellin’ the farm will do to her?”

Big Mac’s ears flattened. “Ah know Granny ain’t gonna like it, but there ain’t no sense sinking with the ship. There comes a point where we need to look out for our own futures too, ya know. Especially when we got a little sister to raise. Darn it, AJ. She deserves to have a few nice things in her life instead of a bunch of hand-me-downs. She’s our little sister.”

“Applejack,” she said disapprovingly. “Do you really want your sister to grow up like this? Poor and with no real future?”

I slammed a hoof on the table. “What, so ya just gonna pick her up and take her out to the frontier? Appleloosa ain’t no place for a little filly, and you know it. Not with all those rough sorts out that way. What if those buffalo start raising a ruckus again? Ah’m not gonna put our little sis into danger.”

Big Mac spoke in a calm and soothing tone. “They’re workin’ it out with the buffalo, and Appleloosa’s becomin’ more friendly for families every year. It’s basically a normal town like anywhere else in Equestria now. Ya know me, AJ. Ah wouldn’t take our baby sis to a place Ah didn’t think would be safe for her.”

“Alright, but even if it is safe, and Ah’m not sayin’ it is, do ya really think she can be happy out there? It can be a hard life out there on the frontier. Not to mention you’d be taking her away from Ponyville and everything she’s ever known. She’d be moving away from all her friends here. You know separating her from the Cutie Mark Crusaders would break her heart.”

“She would make new friends,” Big Mac countered. “And she can get to know her cousin better too!”

“Ah don’t know.” I shook my head. “Ah don’t even wanna be considering this.”

Big Mac placed a hoof on each of my shoulders and looked me in the eyes with a hopeful smile. “Come with me, Applejack, please. Ah want to start over with mah family. Get a fresh start. We can do it and make it work, Ah promise.”

I considered that for a long moment. Should I go with him—sell the farm, pick up our whole family, and move out to Appleloosa? If Big Macintosh was right, then things would turn around for us. Maybe we’d finally have some bits to do things. Go out for a drink or a nice meal, a play, dances, all sorts of things. Apple Bloom wouldn’t be stuck with so many hoof-me-downs.

Though if I did go along with his plan, I’d be giving up on Sweet Apple Acres. The farm that belonged to my great grandpappy, been given to me and my brother to take care of and pass down to our own foals someday. If I sold the farm, I’d be breaking my promise to keep the farm going. I’d pack my bags, take my family, and leave the farm and town I loved, breaking Granny Smith’s heart in the process. All for the sake of some bits.

I took a step back to break contact with my brother. “Ah’m sorry, Big Mac, but Ah can’t. Ah can’t just abandon the farm and everything Ah know.”

“Oh...” Big Mac ears flattened to his head and his head sunk so that he was staring at the floor. “If you’re sure ‘bout that, then that’s your decision. Ah won’t make ya sell the farm, but Ah am goin’ to Appleloosa. If ya change your mind, you’re more than welcome to join me an’ Braeburn.”

“Please don’t go,” I begged him. I didn’t want him to leave, with all my heart. Yeah, we’d butted heads now and again, but he was my brother—family. He’d always been there for me, just as I’d been there for him. The idea that he wouldn’t be a part of my life just felt wrong.

“Sorry, but this’s somethin’ Ah have to do.” He reached out and pulled me into a hug and I returned it. “Apple Bloom can stay in Ponyville at least until Ah get settled. After that ... we’ll see.”

I squeezed him, wondering how long it would be until our next hug. He had made his decision. That was the thing about us Apples, once we made a decision we stuck with it and not much could change our minds. Arguing probably wouldn’t change a thing other than make us angrier with each other. “When were ya thinkin’ of leavin’?”

Big Mac sighed. “Probably in a week. No sense draggin’ in out. That’ll give me enough time to get everythin’ ready.”

“I’m taking the next train to Canterlot.” She said, her sad looking orbs looking into my own. “I have a new shop set up there.”

“Yeah, guess so.” I nuzzled him. “Ah’m gonna miss you.”

“Me too, AJ.”

“Ah don’t want ya to go!” Apple Bloom wailed while holding onto Big Macintosh. She had barely let go of her big brother since we arrived at the train station. I suppose it wasn’t a surprise that my little sis hadn’t taken the news that Big Mac was leaving us well.

Big Mac had our little sister wrapped up in those big legs of his as he tried to comfort her. “Ah know, Apple Bloom, and Ah’m sorry. But this is just something’ Ah have to do.”

She sniffled as tears ran down her face. It was about as pitiful a sight as you had ever seen. A part of me wished that Big Mac would give in and not go in order to make Apple Bloom stop crying. This was just hard on everypony involved.

“But why?” Apple Bloom demanded.

Big Mac lifted her head up by the shin to look her in the eyes. “Now, we already went through this. Ya know why Ah’m goin’.” Apple Bloom looked like she wanted to say more as her lips quivered, but she broke down into more sobs and nuzzled her brother’s chest. I’d figured this wasn’t going to be easy.

I looked around, trying to find anything else to look at other than the pitiful sight in front of me. My eyes eventually fell on Granny Smith sitting next to me. She had finally been released from the hospital a couple of days ago, so, thankfully, she was able to see Big Mac off to Appleloosa. The doctors had warned us to make Granny take it easy. She was still a mite bit weak and we didn’t want to see her get all sick again. Granny had made a fuss about it, but we had eventually convinced her to do fewer chores around the farm, and to sleep in a bit later. At least until she recovered.

I knew it was going to be a tough slog to keep a hoof on her so that she didn’t strain herself now that Big Mac was going. At least when it was the two of us we could double team her to get her to back down, but when it was just me it was just two Apples banging their heads together. From a lifetime dealing with my kin, that ain’t no way to get things done.

With nothing better to do while we waited on the train, I asked, “How ya holdin’ up, Granny?”

“For the last time, Ah’m fine. Ya don’t need to hassle me.” While the words had been combative, she was just teasing from the way she said it. “How ‘bout yerself?”

I rubbed at my forehead. “Ah’m holdin’ up. Can’t say Ah’m happy.”

“Oh, don’t ya worry.” Granny gave me a friendly pat on the shoulder. “Yer big brother just has some wanderlust, is all. Plenty of stallions get it his age. Give him a year or two working it off on his cousin’s farms or wandering around and he’ll get it out of his system. Just you see. Especially if he finds some nice mare to settle down with along the way.”

“If ya say so, Granny.”

Given my conversations, though really they were arguments half the time, I had my doubts. Sure, there were plenty of ponies that just needed to get away from the town they had spent their entire lives in for a spell. Hay, I loved my farm and home, and I’d still gotten it into my head to go to Manehatten. Granted, that was because some things happened that made me want to get away from it all, but I came back to Sweet Apple Acres all the same once I realized who I really was and what I loved.

Problem was that I didn’t think that was the case here. Most young ponies who left home for a bit didn’t really have much of a plan, or at least not a very good one. Sooner or later they figured out that they belonged on their parent’s farm, or shop, or whatever and returned home. Big Mac had a whole plan on how he was would work as a laborer in Appleloosa, how much he would earn each month, what he was would need to save, and the cost of buying his own farm. By his figuring, he’d have his own decent-sized plot of land to work in a few years. Maybe a bit sooner if I joined him...

“Just make sure to say your goodbyes.” Granny stared on as Big Mac and Apple Bloom continued hugging. Big Mac continued to try and calm our little sis down while she begged him to stay. “Ah know yer not real happy with him right now, but you’ll regret it if ya don’t give him a proper farewell. Trust me, ya don’t want to live with that type of regret if you can help it.”

I sighed, not really having the energy to argue. “Ah’ll keep that in mind, Granny.”

“Ah know you will.”

I heard a train’s whistle and saw that a train was moving down the tracks towards us. Seemed the time had finally come.

Big Mac slowly and carefully broke the hug with Apple Bloom. “Now Ah need to say goodbye to everypony else. Okay?”

Sniffling and crying, Apple Bloom could only nod as she wiped the tears from her eyes.

“Gonna miss ya, Granny,” Big Mac said with a hug for our grandmother.

Granny returned the gesture. “Ya know yer always welcome back.”

“Ah know.”

The two of us had decided not to mention the whole selling the farm idea to Granny. At least not until Granny was well enough for that type of talk. Big Mac leaving the farm was likely hard enough on her, despite her brave face.

With a final pat on Granny’s back, he turned towards me. A long moment of silence hung between us. “AJ ... Make sure to take care of Granny and Apple Bloom. ‘Kay?”

I bit back saying that he should stay and help take care of them himself. It wouldn’t have changed anything, and I didn’t want our last words together for what might be a long time to be harsh ones. “Ah will.”

The silence returned between us. Big Mac glanced back at the oncoming train before speaking again. “Make sure to write. Ah will. Try and earn some bits to send back to help ya out. Get somethin’ nice for Apple Bloom.”

“Alright then. Just make sure to save up while yer out there.” I coughed, my throat feeling tight.

The train pulled into the station, meaning that our time was running short. “AJ...” Big Mac opened his forelegs for a hug. I hesitated. I felt like I was dreaming, like any second I’d wake up, and Big Mac would ask about the farm’s chores for the day. Hugging would make the dream a reality. My brother gave me a pleading look, and he extended his forelegs. “Please.”

Granny gently nudged me forward, and that broke the dam. My chest felt tight as I embraced Big Mac. I bit down on my lip and I tried to fight back the tears. My brother was leaving home, and there wasn’t a darn thing I could do about it. He held onto me and rubbed at my back to try and comfort me. I just wanted him to stay and keep us a family under one roof.

Apple Bloom looked from side to side, seemingly unsure what she was supposed to do. After a moment of indecision, she stepped forward and joined the hug. Big Mac and I each draped a leg around her to include her and we sat there in silence for a minute.

“Ah need to go,” Big Mac said finally. “Train’s gonna leave soon.”

“That’s my train,” she said,as the train to Canterlot rolled into the station. She turned her gaze from the train to look at me. There was a moment of hesitation before she said, “It’s time for me to leave.”

He gave Apple Bloom a final squeeze. “Make sure to write.”

“Ah will.” Apple Bloom’s chest heaved a couple times as she tried not to sob. “Ah’ll write every day.”

“Good,” he said while ruffling Apple Bloom’s mane. We all made our final goodbyes. Darn it if every moment of it didn’t hurt. Big Mac picked up his bags and stopped short of actually boarding the train. “Ah’ll miss all of ya.”

I pulled my sister to my side and held her close. “We will too.”

Big Mac stood there, hesitating to move as he stared at us. He swallowed and finally stepped onto the train. All of us stood around watching as the train slowly made its way out of the station.

And so my brother left my life.

I woke up with the sun's gentle rays warming my cheeks. A second later, I realized what that meant to a pony who was normally awake an hour before dawn.

“Consarnit, Ah’m late!” Springing out of bed, my brain ran through molasses as it tried to take stock of what I needed to do. I regretted jumping out of bed the moment my hooves hit the floor and my legs nearly gave out from under me. I fell against the side of my bed. Pinpricks ran up my legs as blood went through them, and I could barely move them. The past few days had been long. I had get used to a whole different routine to get everything done, and I was feeling it all over that morning.

I’d been plum tuckered out the night before, and probably fell asleep the moment my head hit the pillow, forgetting to set my alarm clock in the process. Such a stupid thing to do. Either that, or my old alarm clock had finally broken. Not something I wanted to think about, given I couldn’t find that one alarm clock back in the attic for Apple Bloom.

Apple Bloom!

I glanced at my clock and a pit formed in my stomach. Apple Bloom was gonna be late for school! “Apple Bloom, wake up!” I called out. I grunted as I quickly stretched my legs to get blood moving through them. This was not what I needed to wake up to in the morning. Granny wasn’t getting up as early as she used to, so she hadn’t woken me or Apple Bloom up. Why hadn’t Big Mac gone and woken me up? He was ... oh. Right...

I shook my head and tried to wipe the sleepiness out of my eyes. I was wide awake, but my body was only beginning to catch up with me. Stumbling my way into the upstairs hallway, I urgently knocked at Apple Bloom’s door. “Apple Bloom, git up! Yer gonna be late for school!” My hoof fumbled with the door knob for a couple of seconds, the blurriness in my eyes and numbness in my leg making it difficult to move it around, but I finally managed to get the door open.

Apple Bloom groaned as she sat up. “Applejack?” She blinked a couple of times as she stared at me.

“Git up and get goin’!” I hobbled over to her bed and gently pushed her to encourage her to get moving. “Ya need to get ready for school right away or yer gonna be late. Up and at’em!”

“Fine, fine.” She hopped out of bed, and went about getting ready for school.

“Hurry up. Ah’ll get somethin’ ready fer you to eat on the road while ya get ready.” I probably looked like a mess given I hadn’t had time to groom myself, but that just wasn’t as important as getting my sister to school on time. I could live with ponies seeing I had bedmane.

I nearly fell down the stairs as I made my way down them. My body just wasn’t cooperating that morning. Still, I quickly sliced up some apples and some crackers, and put them in a bag for Apple Bloom. “Are ya ‘bout ready, Apple Bloom?” I called up the stairs as I finished my sister’s breakfast.

Apple Bloom groggily made her way. “Yeah-yeah, Ah’m comin’. When we goin’?”

Lifting her up onto my back and headed towards the door. “Right now.” I took a moment to toss Apple Bloom her breakfast, and she caught it. “Ah’ll trot, you eat.”

She rubbed at her eye as she yawned. “Alright then.”

“Now hang on!” I ran as fast as I could to the school.

I slumped down at the dinner table with a sigh. I’d managed to get Apple Bloom to school, and not a moment too soon. We had arrived just after the schoolbell rang. Frankly, we were lucky that Ms. Cheerilee let us off the hook and accepted my explanation for why we were a mite bit late. It probably helped that I looked like I had just taken a run through the Everfree Forest. Hopefully Apple Bloom wouldn’t get teased too much at school from how I looked.

Now that the excitement was over, it was time to deal with the more practical parts of the day. First, I needed some coffee. You would think after oversleeping a couple of hours I would be ready and raring to go, but now that the adrenaline was wearing off, the weariness in my body was coming back hard.

Pulling myself to my hooves, I walked over to the cabinet and got the coffee can. Opening it up, I saw that last thing I wanted to see. “Empty,” I groaned. I tossed the can into the garbage can in disgust. During all the recent craziness, I had forgotten to get more coffee. My head thumped against the kitchen counter as I beat myself up over not remembering to buy more of what I desperately needed at that moment.

“Somethin’ a-botherin’ ya, hon?” Granny asked, entering the kitchen. It was about the time she was supposed to be up and about. At least while she was getting better, anyways.

“We’re outta coffee.” Seeing nothing else I could do unless I wanted to march all the way to town or beg one of the neighbors for some coffee, I went about searching the cabinets to see if we had something like tea or anything else with caffeine in it.

Granny murmured neutrally as she went about gathering supplies for breakfast. “Want me to go to town to get some later?”

I shook my head. “Ah’ll take care of it. You just relax, Granny.”

“If yer sure ‘bout that.” Granny cracked an egg, and emptied the yolk into a skillet.

I had a feeling it was going to be one of those days.

Rifling through the cabinets, I found a box of tea sitting against the wall. It looked like it had been there for a while, so I took a gander at its expiration date. Luckily, it looked like I had caught it a month short of when it was supposed to go bad. I would have hated for it to go to waste. Not that I drank tea much. Especially jasmine flavored tea like I was holding. That was more of Ra—

“Something wrong, AJ?” Granny frowned at me. “Yer kinda spacing out there.”

I blinked a couple of times. “N-no, Ah’m fine. Just thinkin’ is all.” I gave her a smile that I hoped was ressuring. “Let’s just get breakfast goin’.”

Granny considered me for a long moment before saying, “If ya say so, dearie.” A matronly grin creased her lips. “Let’s get some food in yer belly. That always makes a pony feel better.”

I couldn’t argue with that, so I set the tea on the stove and helped Granny make a meal. After getting some food and drink in me, it was back to the fields to get some good honest work done.

As the day dragged on, something just didn’t feel right. I mean, the whole day had started off on the wrong hoof when I woke up late, but there was something else nagging me. I couldn’t think of anything right off the top of my head that could be wrong. The fruitbats had been taken care of, the trees looked fine, and our supplies were good for a while.

Whether it was my experience as a farmer or my earth pony senses, I wasn’t sure, but I knew my instincts were right. It was about halfway through the day that I figured out what was wrong: the orchards were too dry. The rain had been on schedule, so that meant something must have been wrong with the irrigation system.

I marched up to where we had the irrigation system stored on the farm. I marched up to the small barn where we stored the irrigation system and started looking around for problems. Our irrigation system was getting pretty old now, so we were always having one problem or another show up. Hopefully, it was just some minor problem that would require a quick part repair.

It didn’t take me long to figure out what was wrong. The pump had broke, badly. Without a working pump, we couldn’t get any water out of the well, and if we couldn’t do that...

From the looks of it, the engine had broken down. I knew a thing or two where irrigation systems were concerned, having repaired them now and again for half my life, but this was a bit more complex than what I was used to. A few of the parts inside of the pump were so busted up I could hardly tell how they were even supposed to look. I looked around the shed, and couldn’t find any of the parts I’d need to fix it either.

That was bad—really bad. Without that well-water getting pumped, a lot of our apples were gonna dry right on up. Given how bad of a year we were having, that could bankrupt the farm.

Sweet Apple Acres was doomed if I didn’t get the irrigation system up and running, and I didn’t know how to fix it.

Author's Note

I would like to give a big thanks to my editors Chengar Qordath, Comma-Kazie, and JakeTheGinger for all their help. And also to my prereaders Multae Kappae, Luminary, Swiftestshadow, Infinion, Pegasusnumber 5, Cryosite, Hopeless Appraisal, 621Chopsuey, Nekonyancer, Web of Hope, Rodinga, and Malefic Scholar who put a ton of effort into reading over this chapter and making sure it's presentable.

Everypony Needs A Break Now And Again

When Better Days Are Past

Chapter 4: Everypony Needs A Break Now And Again

“Can ya fix it?” I asked.

Tool Time grunted with annoyance as he looked over the pump. “You have to give me time to actually look at what we’re dealing with here before I can make a judgement call, Applejack.” He wiped a brown hoof across his sweaty brow. “These things take time.”

I went back to pacing around the shed while Tool Time examined the pump. “Sorry, Ah’m just nervous is all. Every day the irrigation system is down means less bits in my purse, and I can’t really afford that right now after everything that’s happened.”

“Give me a few minutes to look everything over, and then I’ll tell you what I can do for you.” Tool Time stroked his white goatee as he frowned. He put the pump down and started looking over the rest of the irrigation system.

Tool Time was one of Ponyville’s mechanics and repairponies. Not a big surprise, given his wrench on a pegboard cutie mark. I didn’t like the idea of paying somepony to fix something. I didn’t mind fixing something if I just had the know-how. Normally it was Big Mac who fixed the irrigation system, and he’d made some improvised repairs that got it working again somehow. Shame the irrigator looked about as busted up as I had ever seen it.

At least Tool Time was an honest sort. Some of those mechanic types were none too trustworthy as far as I was concerned, but Tool Time had never done me or my family wrong in the past. That didn’t mean his services were cheap, though. You got what you paid for, after all.

After about half an hour of waiting, it felt like I was starting to dig a ditch into the floor of the shed from pacing. I just couldn’t help but be nervous with so much on the line.

With a grunt, Tool Time stood up from looking over the irrigation system. I immediately sprung over to him. “So how long do ya think it’s gonna take to get the parts to fix it?”

He pursed his lips for a long moment, seeming like he was considering really hard what he wanted to say. “I got some bad news, Applejack. I don’t think I can fix it.”

It felt like I’d been slapped. “What do you mean? Ya have to fix it. If ya can’t, at least tell me somepony who can, or else mah farm is gonna be in a lot of trouble.”

Sighing, Tool Time went about putting his tools back into his bag. “I know that, but you need to understand a few things. This irrigator is old. Nopony makes parts for it anymore, and at this point it would cost you less to buy a whole new irrigation system. At least, when you take into account the whole thing. Just glancing at it I can tell that Big Mac’s been jury rigging repairs for a while now, but it’s getting to a point where that just isn’t gonna cut it anymore. I’m kinda surprised you’ve gotten away with it this long. Even if I do this one repair, there are a bunch of other parts that are going to quit any time now, and you’ll be right back where you started. It just isn’t worth the money to keep working anymore.”

That was not what I wanted to hear. The old irrigation system had been around longer than I had, and it felt wrong to just give up on it. Especially when the only reason we couldn’t fix it was because some bigshot pony somewhere decided they weren’t gonna make more parts for it.

Still, I had to be practical and do what was best for the farm. “So do ya know what a new irrigation system costs these days?”

The amount he gave me felt like a gut shot.

“That much!” My heart clenched. “Ah don’t have that kinda money right now! Not with the fruit-bats tearing up my orchards and everything else. Hay, Big Mac isn’t around anymore to help. How am Ah supposed to turn up that many bits?”

Zipping up his bag, he faced me. “Wish I knew, really, but I don’t. Haven’t you been saving up for an emergency like this?”

I looked down and scuffed my hoof along the floor. “We tried, but somethin’ always came up. Stuff like this.”

He tipped up his hat to scratch at his scalp. “Sorry to hear that. What about getting a loan from the bank to cover the expense?”

“Ah can try...” I didn’t like the idea of visiting the local bank again. We already owed them more than I cared to think about. It was a struggle to make the minimums on our bills as it was. Adding more to our debt was not gonna be fun, and that was assuming they would loan me the money at all.

Tool Time seemed hesitant on what to do as he looked between me and the door. “You gonna be okay? If you need anything...”

“No! No.” I shook my head to clear it out. I wish it didn’t feel like I was swimming through molasses all the time. Wish I had more time to sleep. “We’ll be fine. Ah just need a bit of time to figure out what I need to do.”

“If you say so,” he said without conviction. “Was there anything else while I’m here?”

“No, what do Ah owe ya?” I asked.

“Nothing,” he was quick to say with a reassuring smile. “You’re a repeat customer. I’ll give you a bit of slack today to let you get back to your hooves.”

A flicker of annoyance ran through me. “Ah’m not a charity case here, Tool Time. My bits are as good as anypony else.”

“Didn’t say there was anything wrong with your bits,” Tool Time said firmly. “Just thought you could use the break. Everypony needs one of those sooner or later. I know I did when I started up my business.”

I didn’t like the idea of bringing Tool Time all the way out here for him to get nothing, but bits were mighty tight at the moment. “How ‘bout you take some apples before ya go? It’s the least I can do.”

Tool Time rubbed at his chin. “Some apples do sound good.”

“Great.” So that was one minor matter settled. Now if only figuring out how to save the farm was that easy. If I was going to do that, then I was going to need some money.

“I’m sorry, Miss Applejack, but I’m afraid we can’t approve giving your farm another loan,” the loan officer told me.

“B-but Ah need those bits!” I protested, and I resisted the urge to bolt out of my seat in the bank office cubicle. “If Ah don’t, then I won’t be able to get the irrigation system to save mah farm.”

The loan officer, Gold Standard, put the papers back into the financial portfolio I had given him. He wasn’t a very notable pony with his gray coat, his lighter gray mane, and darker gray suit. He was just about the least outstanding pony in appearance I had ever seen, yet he was deciding the fate of my farm. “Once again, I’m sorry, but I can’t in good conscience loan you the money you’ve requested. It just wouldn’t be a good investment on our end.” He squared his jaw and pushed the portfolio back across the table to me. “I’m afraid you just don’t have enough income to justify it. Especially in light of how much you already owe.”

I didn’t pick up the portfolio “It’s not like Ah’m gonna be able to pay ya back if mah farm goes under.” Stupid money-grubbing banks. Couldn’t they see how important this was?

Check spread his forelegs in a gesture of surrender. “Be that as it may, it’s against the bank’s policies to grant you a loan under these circumstances.”

“Ain’t there anything Ah can do to change your mind?” I tried to think of anything I could say to turn this around, but my mind drew a blank. I just didn’t know much about banks and numbers and what made their minds tick. “Ah’m desperate here.”

He shook his head. “Unless you can show you’re going to generate additional income, my hooves are tied on the matter. There isn’t much that can be done in a situation such as this, otherwise I would suggest it. Now is there anything else I can help you with?”

“No.” I scooped up the portfolio in a huff. “Ah think Ah’m just gonna show myself out now.” Stomping my way out of there, I didn’t give him the chance to give me an answer. As soon as I had left the Ponyville Bank, I slumped against its wall. I couldn’t recall having ever felt more worn out than I did then, as though all energy had left me. I rubbed at my eyes, trying to think what to do next. It was so hard to think anymore.

Eventually I managed to get myself moving again in a daze until I bumped head first into somepony. I let out a grunt as I bounced off of the light-orange pony and my hat was knocked into the dirt. “Sorry! Sorry.” I shook my head to clear my thoughts.

“It’s okay, Applejack,” said Junebug, giving me an inviting smile. “You look like you have something on your mind.”

“Yeah, sorry again.” Picking my hat off the ground, I gave her an apologetic smile. “Just workin’ through some stuff, ya know?”

“No harm done.” She frowned as she looked me up and down. “You doing alright there?”

“Ah’ll figure it out,” I insisted. I wasn’t sure how yet, but I’d get there, somehow. Not wanting to get into the business of the irrigation system, I decided it would be best to talk about something else. “By the way, June, ya get those bats outta mah orchard yet?” I knew they hadn’t been expanding into the other fields, but I hadn’t had time to properly check if they’d been vamoosed yet. I wasn’t going to get any apples out of those trees until they were gone.

Junebug let out a long, frustrated sigh. “I've been trying, but they're stubborn, and I've been really busy lately. The caterpillars in the Everfree aren't getting enough food, and—”

I interrupted her; I wasn’t interested in caterpillars when fruit-bats were having their way with my fields, “Just get them bats outta mah orchard soon as ya can, alright? Ah can't afford the bits they're costin' me.”

“I'll try to squeeze it in,” she said with resignation. “I’ve just been really busy as of late.”

More than a little part of me wanted to get into an argument with her, to tell her to do her job before I was eaten out of house and home, but all my weariness creeped back into me and sapped my will. “Just ... just do what you can, alright? It’s important.”

“I’ll do what I can.” Junebug made her way around me. “See you later, Applejack.”

I waved her goodbye. “Yeah, later, Junebug.”

That out of the way, and not really sure what to do next to get the bits I needed, I made my way back to the farm. I could hardly think of a time I was more lost. My whole life, the answer to my problems had involved hard work, some elbow grease, and maybe a bit of good old ingenuity. Shame that didn’t seem to be the answer here—at least not in any way I saw.

I slunk my way into the house, feeling terrible about everything. I had nearly made it to the office to drop off the portfolio when I heard Granny call out, “Applejack, are you okay? Ya look a mite bit under the weather there.” She must have been working in the kitchen, because she had splotches of flour all over her.

“Just got some stuff on mah mind, is all,” I was quick to say. Too quick. I really didn’t want to get into this talk with Granny. She was already trying to get better from being sick, and I didn’t even want to think about what the stress of what I was dealing with would do to her.

Granny frowned and put aside a rag she had been wiping her hooves with. “You seemed to be in a mighty hurry to get to town after Tool Time was here, and now ya look like a pony who’s got their own personal storm cloud hangin’ over her head. AJ, is there something ya wanna talk about?”

“No! No.” I rubbed at my face, trying to get my brain to work instead of just slacking around. “Ah’ll take care of it, really. Just need a bit more time.”

“If ya say so.” She cupped my cheek with a hoof. “But ya know ya can talk to me if somethin’ is botherin’ you, right?”

I gripped her hoof and gave it a squeeze. “Yeah, Ah know that. This is just somethin’ Ah need to work out by mahself.”

“Okay then,” Granny said. She didn’t sound completely convinced, but she was at least backing off. Thank goodness. “So what’re ya doin’ next? You’ve been running this way and that all day, though Ah’m not sure what for.”

That was the question, wasn’t it? What was I going to do? The bank wasn’t gonna loan me the money I needed, and most of the ponies I knew were either not able or willing to just give me that kind of money. Nopony except maybe—

Her.

My throat tightened when I said, “Ah think Ah’m gonna head to Canterlot for a bit, Granny.”

Granny gave me a curious look. “Oh, why’s that?”

I didn’t want to tell Granny just how much trouble we were in. The added stress wouldn’t be good for her health. So I worked to see if I could tell her as much as I could without lying. “The irrigation pump broke earlier, and we don’t have the part to fix it here. Ah’m gonna have to head to Canterlot to get everything we need to get a workin’ pump again.”

Granny nodded. “You better do that then. We need that water pumpin’ out to the fields, and we’ll survive ya not bein’ around for a couple of days.”

“Right.” The world seemed to spin as I considered the possibility of seeing her again. “Granny, Ah think Ah might need to lie down in mah room for a few minutes.”

“Ya feelin’ alright?” Granny felt my forehead to check for a fever. “No fever. Hm, y’all have been tryin’ to get used to a new schedule since yer brother left. So maybe a brief nap is exactly what ya need to perk up. Yer the one doin’ most of the work ‘round here nowadays, so you need to watch your health.”

“Yeah, maybe,” I said weakly. “Thanks, Granny.”

I started toward the stairs when Granny spoke. “Applejack, Ah just wanted to say that Ah know how much ya do ‘round here. You work so hard every day to provide for yer family. Ah know it ain’t easy since you were given a pretty raw deal, but you do your best to make it work every day.” She gave me a proud smile only a grandma can give her grandkids. “Ah’m proud of ya. Ya know that?”

The guilt felt like a hundred pound bag of manure pressing down on me. Granny had entrusted me with the farm, and it seemed that no matter what I did, or how hard I worked, it just wasn’t working. We were going to lose the farm unless I could get the irrigation system replaced.

My mouth felt dry as the deserts out by Appleoosa when I said, “Th-thanks, Granny. It means a lot to hear ya say that. But if ya don’t mind...”

“Go right on ahead.” She waved for me to go upstairs. “Ah’ll get started on somethin’ for ya to eat when ye’re ready to get up.”

We parted ways, and I headed up to my room. I closed the door and slumped down onto my bed. I just laid there and stared at the ceiling. I ached. I ached in my body and my soul, and there didn’t seem to be anything else but pain. After everything that had happened, I felt completely overwhelmed. It was like everything was falling apart around me, bit by bit.

I looked over to see the picture frame that was lying face down on the dresser.

Reluctantly, I did something that I hadn’t for years. I picked up the picture frame and looked at the photograph. It showed the day of our wedding. The two of us were standing there in our dresses, made by her, of course, and we were smiling at the camera. The two of us had been so happy that day. I could hardly think of a time I was happier. Why did it have to all go so wrong?

My eyes started stinging and I squeezed them shut. It was all I could do as I hugged the picture frame to my chest.

The next morning I took the train to Canterlot. I didn’t like having to spend the bits on the ride, but I needed to get to the city quickly. It wasn’t like all the apple trees were going to die if I didn’t get a new irrigation system right away, but it was going to put a strain on our crop every day the trees weren’t properly watered.

It didn’t help that I never really like coming to Canterlot. I was a farming filly, and the city just didn’t suit me. All the hoity toity types walking around, the way the city looked with all its white streets and towers, and just how different it was made me feel out of place. Not to mention what happened the last time I was here...

After spending a bit of time getting my bearings and asking for directions, I found the shop I was looking for. The Carousel Boutique was pretty much as I remembered it with its various shades of purple and blue decorating it. There were a pair of large windows displaying outfits for everypony to see. It both stood out and fit in with all the other stores that lined the street since every building was both colorful and showing their goods, but not in a way that clashed with each other. I guessed it was a Canterlot thing.

I stared at the door, too nervous to enter. What if she wasn’t willing to help? Would she throw me out onto my rear the moment she saw me? Would she hear me out only to let me down gently? I desperately hoped she would give me the money I needed. It had been years, but maybe, just maybe...

I took a long breath to try to keep my heart from thumping so loudly, and opened the door. A bell set over the door rang as I entered the clothing store. Little surprise, the boutique was filled to the brim with fancy dresses, suits, and other clothes. It was all a little too frou frou for my tastes, but I could see how the ponies of Canterlot might like them. She always had a way with making things that looked nice.

One of the walls was taken up by pictures of what looked like various well-to-dos in Canterlot who were wearing her clothes. From the looks of it, she had gone to a lot of fancy events, and she seemed to be having the time of her life hobnobbing with the elite of Equestria.

From the back, her voice rang out, “Just a moment...”

I froze in place, unable to say or do anything. The nervousness I had felt outside redoubled. It was as though my body and mind had been paralysed just by hearing her. I just stood there as the sounds of cloth and boxes being moved around echoed from the back.

“Terribly sorry, but I thought I didn't have any appointments scheduled for right now and I was rather ‘in the zone’, so to speak.” Rarity trotted out from behind the curtain leading further back, carrying a new dress out with her. “Now then, how can I—” She froze upon recognizing me.

A painful silence fell between us as we stared at one another. I could see the questions running through Rarity’s mind.

Eventually I summoned the courage to break the stifling silence. “Hey ... Rares... Been, um, been a while.” I put on a smile that I just couldn’t put my heart into. Darn it if this didn’t have to be the most awkward thing ever.

Rarity stood there for a long moment before she decided what she wanted to say. “Yes. Yes it has.” It came out stilted, not that I could blame her. She shifted on her hooves and licked her lips. Her mouth half-opened as if she were about to say something, but nothing came out.

I turned my eyes towards the floor, feeling guilty for having bothered her. It had been forever since we’d last spoken, and only now had I had dragged myself out to see her. Still, I tried to break the ice a little, if only so we both didn’t just stand there saying nothing. “So, things been alright for ya?”

She didn’t meet my eyes either as she turned to put the dress she’d been carrying on a nearby rack. “Yes. Quite good, actually.”

“That's ... good. Really, Ah'm happy to hear it.” I struggled with what to say next and just grabbed at the first thing that came to mind, though I felt like a fool stumbling around without any direction to where I was going with the conversation. “Ya work really hard, and Ah know how much all of this means to ya.”

“Yes, I'm rather proud.” Rarity went over to one of her dresses and toyed with it. “How are the others?”

I was thankful to finally get on a topic that I at least had some hoofing with. “Apple Bloom's doing good. Ah’m sure yer sister writes all the time about all the trouble the Cutie Mark Crusaders are always gettin’ into. Ya know how kids can get at that age.”

“Mmm, yes.” A slight smile crept onto her lips. “Though sometimes I do fret over some of the things I hear about. The incident with the hang-glider and the rockets for instance...”

I shivered when I remembered that little incident. “Yeah, we all gave them a talking to ‘bout that.”

“I imagine so. Mother and Father were quite unhappy. Though it was good to hear about Sweetie spending time with friends last time she visited.” Rarity shuffled awkwardly and turned her attention to look through a few outfits. It didn’t take a genius to tell she was trying not to look at me as she fidgeted with her wares.

My mouth felt dry, and I swallowed to try and get some saliva going so that it didn’t feel like a desert in there. Not seeing any alternatives other than more awkward silence, I kept right on going with the topic of my family. “Big Mac moved out west to Appleoosa last week. Says he’s goin' to try and buy a farm out that way someday.”

“Oh.” For a moment, I thought that was all she was going to say as she moved a few dresses on a rack around. Probably to some organization system I couldn’t make heads nor tails of. “Well, I wish him the best of luck,” she said finally.

“Right.” I rubbed at my face, feeling like a coward to be dancing around the real reason I had come here with chit-chat. “Granny's alright. Though she got a mite bit sick a little bit ago. We ended up havin’ to take her to the hospital, but she's gettin' better now. Just takes awhile for her to bounce back these days.”

Rarity pulled out an outfit to examine it. “She is getting to that age.” That was a fact I didn’t like to think about. Not after Big Mac moved away and everything else that had happened. “... And you?”

“Ah'm ... gettin' along. Kinda.” Unable to bring myself to look at her, I turned to look at one of the ponyquins. It was wearing a dark blue dress with plenty of frills, and purple gems lining the lace. The dress was different than the ones she had made in Ponyville, but even now I could see her touch in them.

“Kinda?” she asked while raising an eyebrow inquisitively.

My throat tightened, and I had to fight to keep from choking up. “The farm ain't doin' so well right now. It’s ... we’re really hurtin’.”

That caused Rarity to finally turn to me with a carefully neutral face. “I see. Are you going to have to sell, then?”

It hurt to know that she could guess how bad it was. Still, I needed to give my pitch to Rarity if there was going to be any hope for the farm. First, I needed to explain the situation so that she didn’t think I was being frivolous in asking her for bits. “Not if Ah can get the irrigation system replaced. Right now we don't have the money to get a new one after the old one finally broke. Ah went to the bank to see if Ah could get a loan, but they turned me down.”

Rarity’s features became all the harder as she saw where I was going with this. “I see.”

The accusation in her glare made me feel like a filly who had disappointed her parents, and my shoulders slumped in defeat. “Ah came by to see if Ah could get a loan from ya. If Ah don't...”

Her ear flicked, and her eyes narrowed at me. “Tell me you're joking.”

“Ah'm not, and what am Ah supposed to do?” I asked, desperation creeping into my words. “Roll over an' die? This is mah family's farm, Rares.”

Stomping her way over to me, Rarity jabbed me in the chest with the tip if her hoof. “You don't write, visit, or talk to me for more than two years. And now, when you finally decide to get in touch with me, it's just because you need another loan from the Bank of Rarity! Unbelievable!”

My mouth opened but no words came out. I saw that look of fury and pain in Rarity, and I blinked as tears started to well up. It was all I could do not to just give up right there and walk away in shame. Still, I fought on, thinking of the farm and my family who needed me to do this. “B-because it h-hurt too much.” The dam finally broke. “Ah'm sorry, Ah just couldn't bring mahself to ... do it. Any of it. The ... the d-divorce hurt too much to think about. That was the worst thing to ever happen to me, and Ah just couldn’t deal with it.”

The fierceness on her face softened as she watched me, and that made me feel even worse. She took a step and sighed. “Applejack...”

The world swam in my vision, and I fell to my rump as my back legs gave out. It was all just too much. “A-Ah just don't know what Ah'm supposed to do anymore. Ah grew up bein’ taught that Ah just needed to work hard to be successful, and it just ain't workin'. Everything's fallin' apart. Big Mac left. Fruit bats ravaged mah orchards. Ah even told mah own little sis that the farm just ain't big enough for all of us. Not with all the debt and problems we have. It feels like Ah'm just diggin' a hole Ah ain't never gonna get out of, and Ah don't see any alternatives. Ah’m just goin’ in circles.”

Rarity turned away, unable to face me. “Carrot Top made you a very generous offer for the farm, once. Is it still on the table? Or perhaps your family could help?”

I rubbed at my left foreleg. “Carrot Top would probably still buy the farm if I offered. Ah think, anyways. Family doesn't really have the money to pull us out of the hole, and Ah can't just go beggin' to them when they got the same problem Ah do. It just wouldn't feel right. Farmers don't exactly have a lot of spare bits just lyin' about. Most of their money is tied up in land, and I don’t want to drive them all into debt too by askin’ for bits.”

Grinding her teeth, Rarity asked, “But you’re fine with taking my hard earned bits?”

“Ah'm desperate,” I said. “Ah don't know who else to turn to.”

“I’m flattered,” she said dryly.

“Ah didn't mean it like that!” I struggled to try and put into words what I was feeling. “It's just ... Ah've already asked too much of ya. Ya don't deserve me botherin' ya with this. Not ... not anymore.”

“No. I don't.” Rarity sighed and rubbed at her face. “Applejack, do you have any idea, any idea at all, how hard it has been for me ... to move on?”

“Yeah.” I swallowed, my throat dry. “Since Ah haven't.”

Rarity gave a sympathetic flinch. “You haven’t?”

It cut deep as I told her the honest truth. “H-haven't th-thought of another pony like Ah thought of you since ... Ah signed the papers.”

“Oh, Applejack.” She instinctively took a half-step toward me to comfort me, but stopped short. What I would have given right then to let her embrace me and make everything feel better. It had been a long time since I’d had a hug like that.

I took my hat off held it to my chest, giving Rarity a hopeful look as I poured my heart out. “You were the best thing that ever happened in mah life, Rares.”

Rarity hesitated and bit down on her lower lip. “Darling, I...”

“Ah just wish Ah could make it right between us,” I said over her, the words pouring out of me. Words that I had been saying for I didn’t know how long. “Ah've been such a fool. It feels like mah whole life is just one big mess. Ah can’t help but feel like Ah’ve lost sight of what’s important. Ah’ve fought so hard for my farm, gave up so much for it, and now it’s all fallin’ apart around me.”

“Applejack, I...” Rarity sighed, and I could see her will slowly crumble before me. “... How much do you need?”

It was as though somepony had picked up a barn off my chest when I heard that. “Ah haven't had much time to look around, but from what Ah've heard...” I gave her the amount.

There was a long, pained silence between us. She chewed her lip again; she always did that when she was thinking hard about something. “And there's no other way to save the farm?”

“If there's a way, Ah can't think of it.” I returned my hat to my head and stared at the floor. “Believe me, Ah've been tryin' to come up with a way, but nothin' is comin' to me.”

“I...” She stared at me, taking in my defeated stance until her own head and shoulders slumped. “I'll go get my checkbook, then.”

I bit at my lips and blinked to try and keep tears from forming. I felt relieved that Rarity was going to give me the help I desperately needed, but it still made me feel rotten about having to stoop to this. She didn’t need me bothering her like this. “Thank you, Rares. Ah ... Ah don't know what to say.”

Rarity didn’t say or do anything to acknowledge me as she went into the back and came back a minute later with a checkbook. She laid it down on the cashier counter and started writing the check.

Her coldness hurt, but could I really blame her after everything that had happened? “Ah wish Ah could make this right with ya.”

“I know,” she said simply, silently stating what we both knew—that it wasn’t likely I ever would. She finished the check and levitated it over to me.

“Yer too good to me.” I grasped the check but Rarity held onto it with her magic, preventing me from taking it.

“Thanks for the check, Rares.” I gave her a peck on the cheek for helping cover the losses from that blight hitting the southern orchards.

She didn’t return the kiss, and based on the disapproving frown she was giving me, she wasn’t very happy with me. “Now,you understand this is the last time, right?”

“Ah know,” I said confidently. “This is just to get through this rough patch. Ah couldn’t plan for mah apple trees gettin’ sick and dyin’, now could Ah?”

“No, I suppose not,” she said, not sounding terribly convinced to my ears. “But I do have my own business to run, you know. And sinking money into your farm isn’t doing the Carousel any favors.”

“It’ll get better, you’ll see.” I put the check away in my hat considering I planned on going to thebank here soon anyway.

Rarity closed her checkbook. “I sure hope it does, because this can’t keep going on like this.”

“Yeah ... Ah know,” I said without any energy. Figures I wouldn’t even be able to feel good about saving the farm. Though that wasn’t much of a surprise given I had done it by begging Rarity for bits ... again.

There was another long painful silence as I put the check into my hat. “Was there anything else you wanted?” Rarity asked.

“Ah don’t suppose Ah could ask ya for a place to stay for the night?” I asked hopefully. I didn’t want to impose on Rarity anymore, but more than a little part of me hoped I could patch things up with Rarity at least a little bit. Maybe I could make her a nice meal like I used to? Gosh, it’d be good just to sit down and have a chat again without any of those things that got us arguing in the past getting in the way. “Ah haven’t made time to get a hotel yet, and it’s gonna be pretty late by the time Ah’m done findin’ a new irrigator.”

“I can’t.” Rarity scuffed a hoof along the carpet. “I ... have a date later tonight.”

I flinched, and my hopes started to sink. “A date?”

Rarity puckered out her lip in disapproval. “Yes, a date,” she said defensively. “We've been divorced for over two years. I'm allowed to see other ponies.” She turned to some of her dresses and looked them over. It wasn’t hard to guess that she was thinking about what she was going to wear to her date.

“Yeah, I guess you are allowed to do as ya like.” It was hard to think about us being separate for that long. Had it really been two years already? That both seemed like so little time and yet an eternity ago. “W-who is it?”

“You wouldn't know her,” she was quick to huff out. “She’s never been to Ponyville as far as I know.”

“No, Ah guess Ah wouldn't then.” The idea that Rarity was seeing somepony else ... I wasn’t sure what to think. I knew she was right about being allowed to move on, but that didn’t mean I liked the idea. Still, I wanted what was best for her. “Ah ... hope she treats ya right.” It felt like I had stabbed myself saying that.

Rarity glanced at me out of the corner of her eye with a look I couldn’t read. “She's been good to me.”

“That's ... good,” I said lamely.

Rarity nodded slowly. “Yes.” She glanced back and forth between me and the dresses, and conflict danced over her features. “Applejack, I...”

I felt a whisper of hope in my soul. Maybe, just maybe... “Yeah?” I let a smile creep onto my face.

There was a moment of hesitation before she said a quick, “Good luck with the farm.”

My ears flattened as my hopes were dashed—again. “Oh, thanks.”

“I should get back to my dresses.” She turned her back on me to rearrange a few more dress racks. “And your family needs you.”

“Ah guess so.” I reluctantly moved towards the door, but I stopped short of it to look back at Rarity. “Ah'm sorry for botherin' ya.”

“It was no trouble at all.” She stepped to the curtain to the back but paused before going through them. “Please, don't forget to write.”

I shakily nodded my head. “A-Ah’ll make sure to do that.”

Rarity gave me slight smile. “Wish Apple Bloom and Granny Smith well for me.”

“Ah will.” I stood at the doorway, unable to move forward. It had been two years since I had exited that door, and I had to wonder if I ever would again after today. It felt like something would end the second I did. “Ah can do that much, at least.”

She gave me a small nod and started moving through the curtains slowly, slow enough that I felt a reluctance to her steps. If there was ever going to be a moment for me to catch her...

“Ah love you!” I blurted out, taking a couple steps towards her.

She stopped cold in her tracks. “And I love you.” Once again, the flames of my hopes reignited, and my ears perked. Shame it was immediately extinguished by her sad, bitter chuckle. “But love was never the problem, was it?”

My eyes stung at that harsh truth, one I knew deep down to the bone. “No, it wasn’t. Is there ... any way Ah can make it better? Set everything right?”

Closing her eyes, Rarity shivered. “Applejack, please don’t.”

“Please don't what?” I demanded. “Try and fix somethin' in mah life?”

She spoke quietly, and I had to concentrate to understand her. “I have a date tonight. Please, just let it go. It’s over.” With that, she moved through the curtains and out of my sight, and out of my life.

I couldn’t stand to be in that place anymore as I exited the Boutique, my shoulders slumped in defeat. It was probably all for the best in the end anyways. She really was too good for me. That was the truth. We both knew it. It’s why she had moved on.

I returned to Ponyville the next day with the new irrigator. After cashing the check, I had visited one of the shops in Canterlot that had a bunch of farming equipment inside. Not something you’d exactly expect in a fancy-schmancy place like Canterlot, but everything a farmer needs to run their farm had to come from somewhere, and they made a lot of things in the city. Turns out I had been lucky for once. One of the irrigators had been on clearance, and once I was sure that everything was alright with it, I bought it on the spot. I had even saved enough money that I was able to buy some tools we needed to replace and some spare parts, just in case. I even made sure to get Apple Bloom some new saddlebags with a few bits I set aside just for that.

First thing I was going to do at the end of the day after the new irrigator had been installed was to write Rarity a letter thanking her for everything. It might have been over between us, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t show a bit of appreciation for her. She deserved at least that much. I just wish I could give her more of what she deserved.

Still, it was good to be back in Ponyville, and with what I needed to keep my farm running. Overall, things were looking up. Even if my trip to Canterlot had been heartbreaking. Though, as I thought about it, Rarity and I had needed to say a few things to one another. She had moved on, and I could understand that. Maybe some day I would be able to as well. Maybe.

There was some good news, even if things were over for good between me and Rarity. With a new irrigator, I wouldn’t be spending so much time repairing the old one, giving me more time to manage the farm. Also, while I didn’t like Big Mac being gone, Sweet Apple Acres had a number of acres more suited for one pony to work than two, so it would make managing the farm more efficient that way. Big Mac had even promised to send back some bits once he got himself established in Appleloosa. Maybe in time he’d be able to work up the bits to put the farm on steady ground. That would sure be nice. We might even be able to expand the farm after a few years if everything turned out alright.

So I was in a pretty chipper mood now that everything was starting to go my way again. All I needed to do was get the family cart so that I could carry the irrigator and everything else I had bought back to the farm, then I’d be good to go. I guessed it was true that all everypony needed was a break now and again.

As I stepped onto Sweet Apple Acres, I realized that day hadn’t come for me. I stared on in horror as I realized that all of the apple trees were bare. Not a single tree had an apple on it.

“No, no, nononono!” I frantically ran from tree to tree, hoping that it was just one tree, or a few, or just a couple acres, but in my panicked search I couldn't’ find a single apple anywhere on the farm. My mind raced as I tried to contemplate what I was looking at and how to deal with it.

“AJ! AJ!” somepony cried out. I looked and saw Apple Bloom racing towards me as fast as her little legs would carry her.

“Apple Bloom!? What happened? Why—” I was cut off when my little sister nearly barreled me over as she tackled me with a hug.

Her chest heaved, whether more from the run or from crying, I didn’t know. She spoke in a unthinking rush as she started coming apart at the seams right in front of me. “A-Ah’m sorry, AJ! Ah t-tried, I really did, but it wasn’t enough. Ah tried to everythin’ Ah could t-think of—”

I pulled her close and gave a comforting squeeze as I gently shushed her. “It’s okay, Apple Bloom. Just take a minute to catch your breath, and then explain what happened.” In truth, I could hardly wait to hear what had happened on our farm while I was gone, but my sister wasn’t going to help nopony as she was right then. Also, she’s my little sister, and she was in a bad spot. If I couldn’t be there for her when she was hurting, then what good was I?

That was apparently enough for the dam to finally break, and Apple Bloom sobbed into my chest. I held onto her and stroked her mane, being the big sister she needed. After a few minutes, her sobs slowed and her breathing gradually became normal. “You feeling better now?” I asked.

She gave me a weary nod, rubbing the tears away from one of her eyes. “K-kinda.”

“Good. Now how about ya tell me what happened?” I asked gently.

While sniffling, Apple Bloom gradually summoned the courage to speak. “I-It happened the day you left. A big old c-caterpillar swarm came out of the Everfree Forest and started eatin’ everything! A-Ah did what Ah could, but Ah’m not as good as you and Big Mac at apple buckin’, and everypony else was busy savin’ their own crops. And Granny’s too old to do too much anymore, and Ah begged her to let me do everythin’ like ya told me so that she wouldn’t get sick and have to go to the hospital again.” Her sobs started returning as telling me what happened became too much for her. “Ah’m so sorry, AJ! A-Ah couldn’t do it all on mah own!”

“Hey, hey, it’s fine.” I gave her another comforting squeeze. “Ah know you did your best.” Apple Bloom’s story helped explain everything. Those darn caterpillars came out of the forest every so often to menace everypony’s farm. Junebug had even told me they were a problem. Had the caterpillars gotten out of hoof because I had told her to concentrate on the fruitbats? Did I cause this, or would it even have mattered? Of all the rotten times for me to be out of the town. If I had been here I probably could have done something to save the crop, but now...

“Everything’s gonna be okay now that you’re here, right, AJ?” She looked up at me and pleaded with her eyes.

“Y-yeah, it’ll be ... it’ll...” I trailed off as the truth hit me and it felt like I’d been bucked in the chest. That was it, we were done. The farm was sunk. After everything that had already happened, we couldn’t afford to lose a whole crop like this. I’d failed. I’d failed Sweet Apple Acres, I’d failed my family, and I’d failed myself. Even my marriage had been thrown on as kindling to my failure. All my hard work, all my sacrifices, four generations of effort had been run into the ground by me.

“AJ, are ya cryin’?” She reached out with a hoof to press to my cheek.

No, I couldn’t let her see me like this. “Go to the house, Apple Bloom,” I said, snapping my head away from her hoof as I fought back the stinging tears.

Apple Bloom jerked her hoof away like she had nearly been bitten by a dog. “AJ—”

“Ah said go to the house!” I snapped. Pulling myself away from her, I stood and turned my back to her. “Ah need some time. So please, just go. Ah’ll be in after a bit.”

She hesitated for a long moment, staring at me as though she wanted to say something before she made her way towards the house. I wished I could have said something to make it all better, I really wished I could, but I couldn’t. It would have been a gosh darned lie, and she would have known that soon enough.

All I could do was walk as the tears flowed. I didn’t have any direction in mind as I wandered the farm, tears making it hard to see exactly where I was going. I tripped on more than one tree root or pothole and fell to the dirt, only to pick myself up again to keep walking around aimlessly. I was lost on my own farm, a farm that wouldn’t be mine for much longer.

Sometime later, hours probably given how much the sun had moved, I arrived at Carrot Top’s farm. I hadn’t meant to go there, but there I was. Maybe some part of me that was still thinking knew what I needed to do.

Some of the laborers on the farm stared at me as I came stumbling onto Carrot Top’s property. I must have looked like a mess to them. Fair enough, given I was a mess in addition to a failure by that point.

“Applejack, is everything alright?” I heard Carrot Top ask.

I turned to face her. She must have snuck up on me. Not that hard given I had hardly been paying attention to anything or anypony. “N-no.” I hiccuped as a sob threatened to overwhelm me. “A-Ah’m g-gonna have to s-sell the farm. I-It’s t-too much. The fruit-bats, the debt, Big Mac leavin’, and now the caterpillars...” I nearly collapsed where I stood, but Carrot Top dashed forward to catch me and let me down gently. “Ah’m done. Ah’m just done.”

“Oh, Applejack.” Carrot Top pulled me into the type of hug a mother would give her child to make everything feel better. “It’ll be alright.”

No, it wouldn’t.

The End

Author's Note

So there you have it everyone. The end of this long, miserable, depressing story where I absolutely break poor Applejack. This story was born out of some talks between me and Chengar Qordath when he was discussing his plans for a short AU story involving Rarity and Rainbow Dash. Thinking upon Chengar's own story, I then came up with When Better Days Are Past.

You see, I wanted to write a story that could make me sad. I have a pretty high tolerance on what makes me sad, I mean really sad. And I didn't want to fall back on simply killing some character, inflicting an obviously sad and hard thing one somepony, and making them react to it. No, I wanted to write a story that would indeed be crushing. What resulted was a depressing pile of suffering that was a struggle for me to write. There were a few lines and scenes I wrote that made me just sit and stare at the screen for a bit, feeling bad over what I had done to everyone's favorite applebucking pony.

This is more an end to Act I of what I conceived as a two act story. While Act I was about—well, what you just read, Act II would focus on Applejack's decision to sell the farm and the aftermath of that as she tries to put her life together. I'm not quite sure if I will ever pick this story up again for Act II. As it is, I'm pretty happy with how this story has ended at the moment and I want to move onto other writing projects. I suppose it depends on what how I feel in the future, and what my readers think.

I would like to give a big thanks to my editors Chengar Qordath, Comma-Kazie, and JakeTheGinger for all their help. Without them this story likely wouldn't even exist.

Then I would also like to thank my prereaders Luminary, Swiftestshadow, Infinion, Pegasusnumber 5, Cryosite, Hopeless Appraisal, 621Chopsuey, Nekonyancer, Web of Hope, Rodinga, and Malefic Scholar who put a ton of effort into reading over the chapters of this story and making sure it's presentable.