Apple To The Core
As the first rays of sunlight fell over Equestria, almost everypony in Ponyville was still asleep. Everypony except for Applejack and her family. But today was special for them as well. During Breakfast, they were even more silent than usual and when they got up, they just stood around the table and stared at a small red bag with a green apple half on it. After some time, Applejack took it in her mouth, put on her saddlebags and left the big house, the other Apples and Winona following right behind her. But Granny Smith was not going to the market, Apple Bloom hadn’t set off for school and Applejack and Big Mac hadn’t startde their chores yet. No, today they were all following the same path, a path filled sadness and memories.
During the walk, Applejack remembered the last time she walked this way, with her mother, her father, Big Mac and Granny Smith. They hadn’t been able to take Apple bloom with them, she had still been to small at that time. She remembered how Granny Smith had led the procession that time, her mum and dad with her at the front. Just like she was leading now, Big Mac with her.
Winona was running through their feet, licking Apple Bloom’s face and trying just about everything else to cheer her masters up but nothing worked. After a while Applejack couldn’t stand it anymore.
“Winona, STOP! Just… stop. You’re not helping. You can’t cheer us up right now, you less than anypony else!” Startled by Applejack’s voice, Winona sat down and laid her ears down, wondering what she had done wrong. “Why am I even talking to you? You’re just a stupid dog anyway. It’s not like you could understand anything at all.”
“Now, now Applejack, she’s just trying to help. Don’t be mad at her.”
“I know but… she still was his present for my seventh birthday. She just brings back so many memories…”
After some time they reached the entrance to a special place of the farm, never seen by anyone outside of the family. Their best trees stood here, the ones that produced the special apples that the farm was known for. The trees that stood longer than any other tree on all of Sweet Apple Acres. And today was the day, that a new tree should be planted here. Applejack stopped, her legs trembling.
“D-Do Ah really h-have to do this Granny? I-I already miss him so much, I don’t think I can take this.”
“Now listen here, Jaqueline Apple. I know this is hard for you. But it’s just as hard for me and I already did this for my own daughter and her husband. As the head of the Apple family, it is your duty to fulfil this rite.”
“But why do I have to do this alone? Why can’t I have my family around me when I need them the most?” Her eyes were filled up with water, just waiting to be released.
“But you’re not alone in there. We maay not be with you but you will still be surrounded by family. Now go. And… treasure the time in there, for that it is a sacred place of our family.” Applejack gulped once but turned around and started into towards the Apple Family graveyard.
As she stepped behind the archway, she saw a long row of apple trees, each one of them adorned with an item that was special to the person who was lying there. A rusty horseshoe there, an old miner’s batea here. To her right all of the male members of the Apple family were lying, to her right all the female ones. Ancestors she never knew. At least until she reached the two newest trees, both having a handkerchief hanging from a branch, one of them red, the other one green. This was it, she couldn’t hold them back anymore. Her tears started flowing freely as she sat down and looked at her mother and then at her father. She laid down the bag and started talking.
“H-Hey Ma, hey Pa. It’s nice to see you again. I’m afraid I’ve come with bad news. B-Big M-Mac died.”
She started sobbing uncrollable. After several minutes, she started talking again. “I-It came p-pretty suddenly. H-He j.just collapsed one d-day while working. W-We got him to t-the hospital a-as quick as we c-could but it w-wasn’t enough. The doctors s-said his cardiovascular system failed. T-They weren’t a-able to reanimate him. S-So please. T-Take good c-care of for him up there. A-And tell him that w-we’ll always miss him.”
Still sobbing, Applejack walked next to her father’s tree and started digging a small hole. Ocne it was big enough, she opened the bag and emptied it above the hole. Out fell a small apple seed and the ashes of Macintosh Apple. She closed up the hole with dirt and took a watering can out of her saddlebag. After she watered the seed, she opened her other saddlebag and took out Big Mac’s harness. She held it in her hooves for a second and a new flood of memories and tears overcame her. She touched the harness with her forehead. Then she laid it down in front of the seed.
She cleared her eyes and stood up. She knew that she had to be strong now. She had a little sister to raise, one who was now missing a father figure. She also wondered about how she would deal with the upcoming apple bucking season. But then five faces came into her mind and she realised that, while she had lost a brother, she still had amazing friends that would always help her, whenever she needed them. And even though they could never replace her brother, they could give her the power to stand up straight and look forward. While Big Mac’s loss would hurt for as long as she lived, she wasn’t alone. As she trotted towards the exit, she turned around once more, a sad smile on her lips. She whispered: “Goodbye, Big Mac. Until I join you up there.” And for a moment, she could recognise three ponies standing there, smiling. She simply stared as the figures waved at her. She blinked once and they were gone. And wether her eyes were just pulling a prank on her or if she really had seen them, she left, knowing that her parents had heard her.
