The Road Lonesome

The sun breaks the dawn over the land, over towns and cities all round. Waking every creature from its slumber, all except the still sleeping orange lump in the large bed on an apple orchard just on the outskirts of a certain town filled with color. Also an over energetic party goer.

The sleeping creature under the thick quilted blankets stirred from her deep slumber with a half snore. She then moved her head upwards letting some of the blanket slip down to her neck base. Her beautiful blonde mane hung loose without the band that so adeptly held it in a pony tail.

She turned her head looking with bleary eyes around the dawn lit room, looking first at the near empty closet, it would have been filled with expensive gowns and things like that, but the orange creature saw no need for herself to wear expensive clothing all the time. Hell the most she ever wore was a Nightmare night costume and even that was a tad over the top to her.

A yawn escaped the mare. She then turned her gaze to the simple ticking wall clock it was six forty five ante meridian. The usual time the quadrupedal life form awoke from its sleep.

A light pitter patter of hooves passed the door leading into the bedroom. A young filly had woken earlier than what was usual, usually the little creature slept until at least seven thirty.

'Ah wonder what she'd be doin' up so early,' the orange mare thought.

It wasn't completely odd, it wasn't too early, but it wasn't late enough either. The orange mare shifted out of the soft bed and landed adeptly on the floor making little more than a light few taps.

The orange mare then turned to a small hat-rack that sat a few steps away from her bed. A Stilton hat was hanging from its hook in the soft dawn light, making it pleasantly dark brown. In truth the hat was light brown from years of wear. Like the boots of a workman that had spent years tending to the dusty construction sites, or fixing pallets in the yards.

The blonde mare walked over to the lone hat on the hat rack, picked it up and slipped it onto her head. the fit was slightly snug, but still had just enough room to fit a picture or a deck of cards without raising much awareness of it even being there.

Slowly the blonde mare turned and walked out of her bedroom door, to the hallway. It was rather bare, more or less just painted doors and doorways, a carpet and that was just about it, there were pictures hanging on the walls but they weren't much special.

'Maybe she just woke up from uh, snoring?' the orange mare reasoned to herself.

'Or she could have set plans to abandon her chores and go out early on this fine morning?'

A slight laugh escaped the orange mare. She'd had a short chat with herself in the mornings when she waited for the others to wake up for breakfast while she either read or played with a small red ball she had bought just for the reason to not be bored in the mornings.

'Yeah maybe, or she just needed to go to the bathroom,' she thought, rolling the idea around in her mind.

That seemed the most plausible excuse. Quietly the mare trotted down the hallway and the stairs, stopping at the landing for a quick scan of the area to make sure the filly wasn't waiting for her.

Oddly this wasn't the first time that this had happened. It usually ended in one of them, well precisely the orange one, getting covered in flour or glue and feathers, specifically flour though.

That was what happened when she didn't follow the filly quickly enough. After carefully scanning the area and having nothing conspicuous turning her view she began to walk to the lavatory where she assumed her sister would be.

After arriving at the door she knocked, no reply came through the door. She jiggled the handle a little. It wasn't locked, so that meant the filly wasn't in there. The orange mare looked about trying to find some indication of where the filly was or had gone.

After a moment the orange mare decided the little filly might be outside the building. She adjusted her hat and walked outside her home, looking about as she went out the door. It wasn't all that hard to find the little yellow and red filly.

She was sitting on the hill just a little to the right of the building. She had her eyes closed, taking in the sunlight and morning air. The dawn was serene almost like a scene from a book or a movie.

The orange mare walked up as quietly as possible. Trying not to alert the filly of her presence.

"It's not all helpful when your been bumbling around downstairs when your trying to get the drop on your little sister, sister," The little light yellow filly said.

The orange mare sighed, "Drat," she muttered.

She then took a place next to the filly, who was clearly relaxing in the warm glow of the sun.

"What are you doin'?" The orange mare asked.

"Sitting, what are you doing?"

The orange mare smiled, the answer was slightly cheeky but still, she did answer.

"Sitting and asking you what your doing only to get a half reply."

The little filly opened her light orange eyes. They were truly the windows into her soul. She then turned her head to the full grown mare next to her.

"Sitting and relaxing, now what are you doing?" she said in full.

The orange mare smiled and gave the filly a pat on the back.

"What your doin' sis."

The two sat there for a while, in the warming glow of the sunlight that bathed the land in warmth and color that the night changed when it crossed the land.

"Hey sis let's go back inside, Gran would be up round now," the orange mare said.

"Did you really say Gran?"

"Uh huh, problem?"

The little filly shook her head. Her large red bow wasn't in her mane which made her look a little odd, there was more hair on her head than the orange mare really ever noticed.

"Come on up, up, it's about breakfast time," the orange mare said as she stood on her four legs.

The little filly lingered in the light, basking in its warm glow before moving. She stood and followed her sister into their home.

"So what do ya want to eat?" The orange mare asked.

The little yellow filly rubbed her small light yellow chin, thinking truly on what she wanted to eat.

"How about some oats?" she asked.

The orange mare smiled.

"Ah think were fresh out sugar cube."

The little filly shrugged.

"Dunno, what would you want?"

The orange mare chuckled at what was said.

"How about some fresh toast and a glass of milk?" She asked

The filly nodded, "Some jam toast would be wonderful sis."

The blonde mare opened up the cupboard and removed a cuttingboard and a knife. She then went to the pantry and got out a loaf of bread. It was down to the last few possible cuts before the family had to get another loaf.

A loud pitter patter was heard from upstairs.

"Big brother's up," The filly said.

The orange mare smiled and started to carefully cut the bread into even and precise slices. She ensured that each piece was in necessity the same. She then placed four pieces in the large four slot toaster and slid the lever into place.

The toasting unit let off a very slight electrical buzz to show it was on.

The sound of a shower being turned on could be heard. The orange mare leaned against the countertop. The little filly sighed and leaned back in the chair she had sat on.

"It's gonna be really hot today sis," she stated.

The orange mare looked at the redheaded filly and tilted her head a little.

"And how would you know that?" The mare asked.

"Well your friend told me."

"Which one?"

"The blue one."

"Ah yeah i suppose that she would have, bein' a weather manager in all, she would probably know that," The mare paused, "Wait did you just call her the blue one?"

The little filly smirked.

"Yeah, problem?"

The orange mare realized there that she hadn't finished getting the items to make the toast.

"Sis," She began, "You want zap apple jam?"

The filly shook her head.

"Just ordinary apple jam thank you."

The orange pony smiled and opened the refrigerator and removed the apple jam, a carton of milk and a few other items of food. She placed them on the counter then closed the fridge.

The lever on the toaster sprang up, revealing the toast it had finished making freshly. Quickly the blonde mare used a butter-knife to spread the cooled jam on the warm toast, she then pulled another heated piece of toast to the cutting board and did the same, spreading the jam on the toast.

She then placed the toast on a plate and placed it on the table. She then removed a glass from one of the cupboards, and placed it with a seemingly bartenderly way then poured the fresh milk into it. She then placed the glass on the table just a little in front of the filly.

"Thanks sis, your the best," The little filly said, hugging her big sister.

"Ahh don't worry 'bout it," the orange mare replied, returning the hug.

A few moments passed as the mare continued to make more breakfast for her brother, granny and self. It was fairly easy with such a large toaster. She had finished making the mornings meal by the time her big brother had finished with the shower and come into the room.

"Morning sis," the large light crimson stallion, with a short cut light orange mane,  said as he entered the room.

The little filly looked at the large stallion and smiled, "Mornin' brother."

The Stallion looked at the orange mare and tipped his head, "Mornin' A.J."

The Orange mare smirked, "Morning big brother."

The light crimson stallion sat next to the little filly where a plate was located, along with a glass of fresh orange juice. He grabbed the toast and started eating.

"So how's school?" The orange mare asked.

The little filly finished the glass of milk and looked at her sister.

"Oh it's fine, today were going on a field trip to Canterlot," she replied.

The orange mare smiled.

"Oh yeah, and where are ya goin' in Canterlot?" she asked.

"Uh, to a museum?"

The mare chuckled lightly.

"Ya don't know do ya?"

"Nope."

The filly then excused herself from the table and left the room. The orange mare looked at her brother who had just finished his breakfast, still with some crumbs on his chin.

"Got anythin' special on?" she asked.

The stallion placed a hoof to his chin, rubbing it slightly.

"Uh, not that i know of, today at least," he replied.

"Sure?"

"Eeyup."

The orange mare looked out the window, the sun sat in the sky just a little from the horizon. It was clear today would be hot. There were no clouds in the sky, it also had a burnt orange color to it.

"It's gonna be a scorcher today sis," the stallion commented.

The mare looked at her brother and smiled.

"The blue one tell you that?"

"Uh, if thats what you call her now, yeah, she told a bunch of ponys."

The mare chuckled. She was sent a letter specifically detailing the weather for the next few weeks, so was every pony else. But it seemed that they had muddled up one of the specifics and made the current day a hot desert like day instead of a simple warm one like it said.

"So she give you any other details or just say 'It's gonna be a scorcher,'?" she asked.

"Uh, not that i can recall, but probably, something short and not really needed to be added."

A knock came to the door.

"Huh, wonder who'd be knockin' at this time, everyone's still getting up."

The mare went to the front door, leaving her brother to set up lunch for the two farmers. Ususally every second day he'd make the lunch, but it seemed that his sister had taken the job of making breakfast when it was in turn what he was supposed to do.

The mare opened the door, revealing Derpy, the mailmare.

"Mornin' Derpy, whatcha doin' here?"

"Uh i have a letter for a Big Macintosh here," Derpy stated clearly.

"Uh he's in the kitchen, but uh I'll take it to him."

Derpy produced a small clipboard and a fountain pen.

"Sign here," she said, pointing at the dotted line on the bottom of the small sheet attached to the clipboard.

The orange mare signed her name, Applejack, in neat cursive writing on the line.

"Thanks Applejack, have a good day," Derpy said, taking flight.

Applejack waved as the grey colored mare flew away. She then looked at the letter in her hoof.

'Wonder who this could be from?' she thought.

The letter seemed lightly odd. It wasn't made from the traditional white envelope paper. It wasn't white at all, in fact it was coloured black, with a red and blue seal. Applejack turned the letter over and looked at the back. Sure enough there was Big Macintosh's name in silver writing, cursive too.

Although she didn't want to be nosey she was rather curious as of why the letter was so well delivered, and directly to Big Mac, usual mail was sent to the building and ended up on the table. It was unusual that a pony within the building ever got any mail from any-pony outside of Sweet Apple Acres, other than taxes of bills from companys that supply the lumber for the fences and other assortments of things.

Carefully she opened the envelope and removed the letter. It was a smaller envelope within.

'Oh come on is this a joke?'

Applejack then opened the envelope that was about half the size of the original to reveal another envelope.

'This is getting annoying, who posts a letter in a letter in a letter?'

she then opened the envelope to finally get to the letter, it was a simple piece of folded paper which was written in the neatest cursive Applejack had seen.

B. Macintosh.

The cake you ordered for Applejack has been delivered to Sugarcube Corner as requested. It will be held for two conscutive work days before it requires a better location.

The cake cannot be stored in an average refridgeration unit as you know, and as of which cannot be kept within the cooling units of Sugar Cube Corner.

She might catch on.

P. Pie.

"Oh so that's what he's been so secretive about the past few days," Applejack muttered to herself.

Meanwhile Big Mac finished making the sandwiches for his and Applejack's lunch, then placed them in simple brown paper bags.

"Oh brother!" Applejack called.

The red stallion turned around an began to head to the sound.

"Yeah just a moment A.J."

Big Mac made his way to the front door of the Sweet Apple Acres main building.

"Yeah sis? you wanted somethin'?" he asked.

"What's this 'bout a cake?"

The light crimson pony smiled sheepishly and hung his head.

"Ya got me," he chuckled, "Wanted to surprise you but, you just had to find out didn't ya?"

Applejack smiled at her brother, and gave him a sympathetic pat on the back.

"You wanted to throw me a surprise birthday party tomorrow didn't ya?" she asked.

The Stallion nodded, "Uh huh."

"Well Pinkie did go to a length to make sure the letter was safe," Applejack said, holding the three envelopes up in one hoof, "Didn't make sure ah wouldn't get it though."

The stallion chuckled.

"Yeah i guessed she'd do that, i did say it was for a surprise party, and uh, she's throwing one no matter what i say to try and stop her, so act surprised at least, please."

"Don't worry brother, ah will."