beauty of sound

         Applejack awoke to the familiar sound of the rooster and sighed. Lazily, she grabbed her stetson from the nightstand as she reluctantly got out of bed. She placed the stetson on her head and grudgingly trudged down the stairs to the breakfast table, letting out a long, tired sigh. Today was not a good day for her. Granny Smith and Big Mac glanced up silently, both seeming just as down trodden. Applebloom looked uncomfortable, like always when the family got like this. She forced a bright smile, trying to drain the tension from the room and cheer them up. "Mornin' sis.”


          Applejack looked at Applebloom and silently stepped towards her, pulling her into a hug. "Mornin' AB... Y'all just keep smilin' fer me today, ok? Ah'm sorry, I know it's uncomfortable for ya seein' us all like this."



          Applebloom began to tear up and looked at Applejack. "AJ... Can ah ask ya somethin?"



          Applejack hesitated, knowing exactly where this would go. 'No... Ya can't deny it this time Applejack... It's time...' after a long moment of silence she nodded, "course ya can sugarcube... I'll answer whatever question you have..."

          "What happened... What happened to them?" She looked up at Applejack, a longing to know showed in her eyes.

          Applejack's ears pinned back as she turned her gaze to the floor. "I think it'd be best ta do this after breakfast... I'll take ya to visit em and... I-I'll tell ya the story then alright?"

          Applebloom nodded and broke the embrace as she turned to her breakfast. Applejack sighed and sat down between her and Big Mac. Granny Smith looked at her and a sad, approving smile crossed her face. Applejack just looked down at her pancakes and began to eat. Breakfast was quiet and when it was finished, Big Mac was helping Applebloom wipe down the table and counters while Applejack was helping Granny Smith do the dishes when a knock was heard at the door. Applejack sighed and set her washcloth down as she moved to the door. "Ah'm comin!" She called out.



          Applejack opened the door to see a surprising sight at the door. "Rara...? What are y'all doin' here?"



          The pale, mint colored earth mare smiled, "hey AJ. I thought I'd drop in for a surprise visit today... You know..."

          Applejack looked down and nodded. Rara knew about her parents and about what had happened. She had been the one to convince Applejack to pick her guitar back up as a filly in camp friendship.

Applejack was at the pier looking out at the lake, a guitar sitting beside her. She glanced at it and snarled as she stood up. "Stupid guitar! Ah don't need ya! Ah don't need ‘em! They just left!" She picked up the beautiful guitar that was almost to big for her and looked out over the lake.

Applejack closed her eyes, ready to throw the guitar into the lake. Suddenly, it was snatched from her grasp. "AJ what are you doing?!"

Applejack looked up startled, then glared at her new friend."Hey! Rara! Give that back!"

"You were about to throw it in the river!"

"Ah don't need it!" Applejack yelled, "Ah don't need it! Ah don't need them!"

Rara looked at her distressed friend, "AJ... What do you mean 'you don't need them'? Who are 'them'?"

Applejack looked down, tears in her eyes and streaming down her cheeks. She opened her mouth to speak but nothing came out so she closed it again and held her gaze to her hooves. Rara gently set the guitar aside and pulled Applejack into a hug. "Please tell me..." She said quietly, worry and wonder in her voice.

The little, orange filly buried her face into her friend's chest and sobbed, "m-ma a-a-and... P-pa..." She stuttered. "T-they... They left!" She said between the sobbing.

Rara hugged her friend tighter. "It's ok..." She turned her gaze to the guitar where she got a good look at a gold apple symbol on it. When Applejack finally calmed down enough to speak, Coloratura pulled away and looked at her. "Why were you trying to throw it away?" She pointed to the instrument.

Applejack sniffed and looked at the guitar. "It was a gift... The last one ah got from them before-" She squeezed her eyes shut as more tears threatened to fall down her face. "-Before they left-"

Rara thought for a moment. "Could you play a little for me?"

          Had it not been for her, the guitar would probably be at the bottom of the lake. Applejack would have gotten rid of her most prized possession in a single moment. The other fillies and colts had since forgotten that Applejack could play, they were more amazed at Rara's singing than Applejack's guitar. She stepped out of the house and pulled her friend into a hug. "Thank you for comin' Rara..."



           Rara smiled and hugged her back. "No problem AJ... So, are you going-you know?"

           She nodded, "yeah... Ah'm gonna tell AB what happened..."



           "You sure you're ready for that AJ?" Concern glistened in the old friend’s eyes.



           "Yeah... Ah gotta tell her sooner or later..."



            Rara nodded and Apple Bloom came out. "Ya ready to go si-" her eyes widened, "Countess Coloratura! You're here!?"



            She chuckled. "Just Rara AB. I came to visit Applejack. You ready to go?" She asked Applejack.

            "Yeah, let's go..." Applejack sighed and looked at her hooves. "This is gonna be hard..."

            Rara nodded in understanding and gave her one more quick hug before the three started walking down the path towards Ponyville. The air was tense and the walk silent. It was a little unnerving for Applebloom, she was finally going to know what happened... But was she truly ready to know? "...A-Applejack...?" She said uncomfortably.



           Applejack looked at her younger sister. "Yeah Apple Bloom?"



          The little yellow filly looked at her hooves. "Ah'm scared..."



          The orange farm mare sighed and pulled Apple Bloom close to her as they walked. "Ah know... It's ok sugarcube. If ya want, the story can wait till next year."

           Apple Bloom shook her head. "No. A-ah wanna know what happened now..."



           Applejack nodded silently and nuzzled the young filly comfortingly as she looked at Rara. She was the only one, other than Big Macintosh and Granny smith that knew the full story. The walk was tense but they soon reached the graveyard. Applejack walked past the rows of gravestones, closely followed by Rara and Apple Bloom.



          It took ten minutes for them to reach the two stones. They were marked as Annie and Cortland Apple, both having their cutie marks engraved on the stone. Annie's was an apple tree and Cortland's was a single apple. Applejack sat down and pulled Apple Bloom close to her while Rara sat next to her. "Ready Apple Bloom?"



            Apple Bloom was hesitant but nodded as she settled into Applejack's comforting hug. "Yeah... Ready as ah'll ever be..."

           Applejack nodded and began. "Alright. It all started the day you were born..."

Annie was coughing into her foreleg with her other hoof resting on her bulging belly. Sweat glistened on the maternal mare from a heavy fever and her bloated stomach bounced like a bowl of jelly from her hacking cough. Slowly, the sick mare settled back into her pillows, trying to relax. She was weak, and the foal was due any day now. Annie sat in her bed with a cold cloth resting on her forehead, propped up in a sitting position against the wall with the pillows for cushions. Sweat was beading down her face, staining her pink coat and her red mane stuck to her face, disheveled from being left unkempt for so long. Suddenly the bedroom door opened to reveal a large yellow stallion with an orange mane. He was carrying a bowl of soup on a tray with a glass of apple juice resting on it.

"Hey Honey, how ya feeling?" The stallion asked gently as he walked over and set the tray down in front of her. It broke his heart to see her like this. "Ma made ya lunch."

Annie smiled weakly up at her husband. "That's sweet of her. But you know it won't do any good."

"Don't talk like that, ya’ll get better, ah know it!" Cortland said as he held up the spoon.

The bedridden mare let him feed her and shook her head. "Ah heard the doctor Cortland. Ah know he said ah wouldn't make it. That doesn't matter though as long as lil' Bloom here lives." She patted and rubbed her stomach.

Cortland hung his head and picked up the spoon as he carefully fed the sick mare. "Gotta eat more an' ya do if ya want her to make it," he said as he coaxed the spoon into her mouth.

Annie sighed and slowly ate the meal as it was given. She ate less and less as the days wore on, her appetite lacking greatly over the past couple of days.

          "So ma died cuz' a me?..." Apple Bloom trailed off at the end, sadness in her voice as tears welled up in her eyes.



          Applejack hugged her sister tightly and shook her head. "Course not sugarcube... It was gonna happen whether we liked it or not an' ma knew full well. Now, 'bout a week after that, ma went into labor and had you... She was mighty weak after the birth and she'd lost a lot a blood... Died shortly thereafter."

          Apple Bloom sniffled and looked up at her big sister, who she could tell was trying to stay strong for her. "W... What about pa?..." She was hesitant, almost didn't want to know but Applejack knew she would find out eventually and sighed. "Pa... Over the next couple a years wasn't doin' to great. He... He gave in ta alcohol and-and violence.Then one day..."

Applejack was hauling a load of apples into the barn, by now she was almost a teenager and was developing her muscles and figure, losing her baby looks but still obviously looked to be just a kid. She was growing into what would be a beautiful young mare. From a burn on her back leg, she was just slightly limping.. The young farmer made her way nervously to the barn. She took a shuddered breath as she placed a hoof on the barn door, trembling in fear as she braced herself for the worst.

It'd been three years since her mother's death, as of today, and she knew he would be more hostile than ever.

Cortland wasn't allowed to be alone with Apple Bloom for fear of what he'd do to the small foal. She was about three years old so she would be to young to remember anything about him beyond her big brother and sister often having new injuries that she didn't understand. That's how the two Apple siblings planned to keep it.

Applejack closed her eyes andgulped as she slowly pushed the door open. "P-pa... A-ah'm sorry ah'm l-late.." She peaked open an eye to look at him and what the young mare saw left her frozen in fear. Her pupils turned to pinpricks at the horrific sight. Her father was completely still. He hung by his neck, from the thick rope in the middle of the barn that hauled hay into the rafters. His sightless eyes bore into her soul. Applejack screamed and pulled the door shut as she took off down the path.

Big Macintosh had heard the shrill scream. Stepping into the path, he blocked his panicked sister. In a flurry of tears, she tackled himto the ground. Finally, they stopped. Applejack was on top of him, a sobbing mess. The stallion moved into a sitting position and pulled his distraught sister into a hug. "Shhh... It's alright..."

She tried to form words but it came out as unintelligible rambling. Tears streaming down her face she shook her head, her body trembling as she threw herself into his grasp.

Big Mac comforted his sister as his alarm grew., Applejack wasn’t the sort to just start ballin’ her eyes out.He started to ponder on what could've shaken her up so badly. Could it have been... No. This was more panicked and frightened than even that. Taking a breath to steady his own nerves, he gently started rocking her back and forth in an attempt to calm her down.

It was a full hour before she was finally able to at least form words so Big Mac decided to ask now. "What happened, AJ...?" He was hesitant about wanting the answer. The young orange mare mumbled quietly, forming unintelligible words as she started to panic again.

"AJ, yer’ gunna have ta speak up an’ say it slowly.” Big Mac soothed.

"P-p-pa! I-i-it's Pa..." She whispered quietly as the sobs began to grow again. "H-he..."

Big Macintosh felt rage boil up in him. If that pony had tried to beat her so brutally that she ran he-

"He's dead..." She finally managed to say.

Big Mac’s head jerked upwards, his body frozen.  "What!?"

She sniffled. "H-he killed 'imself..."

At those words, Big Mac hefted his sister onto his back and made his way towards the barn, knowing she was to upset to do much still and he wasn't about to leave her alone. He was the stallion now. He had been since their father fell apart and would continue to be so now. He reached the barn and pushed it open to see the same thing Applejack had only to see the young mare bury her face into his neck, not wanting to look at the sight. Big Mac hesitantly stepped closer and noticed a note on the ground below the hanging body and picked it up. He began reading it out loud so Applejack could hear.

To whomever finds this note, I need to tell my kids something.

I need to tell them I'm sorry...


I need to tell them I was wrong...

Now that I am thinking clearly, I see no coming back from this...

There is only one solution...

I'm coming my love

~Cortland Cheshire Apple

PS, take care of lil Apple Bloom... I love you all.



          Applejack fought back tears as she looked down upon her weeping sister. She didn't like seeing Apple Bloom like this. In some way, however, a giant weight was lifted from her chest. There were no more secrets with the young apple. No longer did darkness shroud this dismal time.. Despite everything that happened during those three years, both she and Big Mac still loved their Pa dearly. It indeed was a hard blow to take.



          Later that night, Applejack and Rara had walked back to the farmhouse with a passed out Apple Bloom on Applejack's back. The poor filly had cried herself to sleep a mere half hour before.

          Quietly, Applejack tiptoed up the steps and put the young filly to bed. She grabbed her guitar case and walked to the hill, closely followed by Rara. "Thanks fer comin' ta visit Rara."



          "No problem Applejack." The young music artist pulled her friend into a quick hug and then looked at the guitar case as she watched Applejack open it. "You still have it?"

          "Only ‘cause of you. If ya’ hadn’t ' knocked some sense inta me-" Applejack removed the guitar and got into her sitting position. She tested some of the strings before taking a deep breath and beginning to play.

          The notes were sad. With all her heart, she poured all the stress into the song. Each bit rang clear into the air as the sun set on Ponyville. "Sound the bugle now... Play it just for me... As the seasons change, remember, I used to be..." Rara sat back and listened as the tears came to Applejack's closed eyes and began to stream down her cheeks.



          "Now I can't go on... I can't even start... I got nothin' left... Just an empty heart..." Applejack took a shuddered breath and continued on with the song.

          Thunderlane was sitting on the cloud alone, listening as the words rang through the air. It was hitting too close to home for him. The words were coming too close to his own struggles and it began to make him think. Think about a lot of things. What was he doing? He didn't feel right about anything in his life and this song was forcing him to reflect on it all.  Then the song went further... "Lay right down and decide... And not to go on. Then from on high! Somewhere in the distance... There's a voice that calls! 'Remember who you are!'"

          He looked up at those words and one thought rang through. 'is that voice you...?'



          "If you lose yourself... Your courage soon will follow... So be strong tonight. Remember who you are."


    
          The tears were flowing freely now the song drew to a close. "Yeah! You're a soldier now! Fighting in a battle... To be free once more! Yeah, that's worth fighting for!" She let the final note ring clear and fade off as she opened her eyes and cried. Rara walked over to her friend and pulled her into a hug. She admired how strong the farmer was. To be able to tell her sister the truth and then even be able to keep going after carrying such a burden. As she reflected, Rara realized, she could never fully understand such a loss.

Edited and proofread by CowgirlVK