Each step of the pulldown ladder leading up to the attic of the Apple Family’s barnhouse creaked under Rarity’s hooves as she ascended, cautious so as to not slip or worse, scuff a hoof. A sea of old family relics and heirlooms greeted her upon the landing: memoirs from generations passed handed down from parent to child or collected from their numerous relatives over the years. Some were packed in moldering boxes, others simply covered by ancient sheets, but all coated in a layer of dust that time had left like its own little memorial bouquet.

She knew the pony she sought was up here somewhere, but she didn’t need to call out to find her. She weaved wordlessly around an antique dresser and past a stack of boxes filled with old hand-me-down toys and foals’ clothes where the back of an orange earth pony mare came into view. Applejack was seated before a large chest lovingly decorated with burnt engravings of apples and horseshoes and other little pleasantries. Worryingly, however, was that she was not wearing her signature hat, instead leaving it to sit in the dust atop the chest.

Afraid to upset the stillness, Rarity crept closer on light hooves and eased herself into place beside her lover. In response, Applejack slipped a foreleg around her shoulders and they leaned into each other.

Applejack had an old scrapbook lying closed before her. Its cream-colored cover was cracked and peeling in places, but the words ‘Apple Family’ painstakingly painted on the front read clear as day despite its age. Without a word, Applejack slowly opened it and began flipping through the pages.

Ponies’ entire lives flashed by before Rarity’s eyes. A young colt chewing cutely on a blanket next to the same colt showing off his apple tree cutie mark next to that same stallion standing beside his wife. A young mare breaking the ground on a new farm next to a picture of her several years later holding a baby in her forelegs.

As Applejack neared the end of the filled pages, Rarity saw more familiar faces. A few pages had several pictures of Granny Smith throughout her life. The next had ponies Rarity knew were Applejack’s father and siblings. Then came Big Macintosh and even Applejack herself. Rarity had always been quite fond of one of her still in diapers. She was wearing her mane in the most adorable pigtails.

After Apple Bloom came a few more of the younger cousins before they reached the first nearly-empty page. The only decoration was the word ‘Ace’ written in green at the top.

“Apple Bloom wrote that last night,” Applejack said. “She has neater writin’ than I do.”

She grabbed a loose photo from off the chest and laid it face-down on the book before grabbing a nearby glue stick and lathering the back. Flipping the photo back over, she lined it up and pressed down. When she pulled her hoof away, Rarity took a look.

It was from Soarin’ and Braeburn’s home in Appleloosa. The two were sitting on the couch, snuggling against one another as Braeburn held Ace in his forelegs. The bags under Soarin’s eyes were even more noticeable than usual and Braeburn had lost his hat somewhere, but even still neither looked like they could have been any happier. She thought it was quite the lovely picture.

Seeing Applejack putting the glue stick aside, she frowned. “You’re not going to put in one of you and Ace in the hospital?”

“Nah, I figured I shouldn’t.”

“No? Are you worried about Ace finding out when he’s older? I thought Braeburn and Soarin’ weren’t going to keep it a secret from him,” Rarity pressed.

“I know they’re gonna tell him when he’s old enough to understand; it’s not that. It’s just…” Applejack trailed off, looking down at the photo. “I just don’t think I can. Not yet.”

After a moment of silence, Rarity realized she was either unwilling or unable to continue. “How are you holding up, Darling?”

Drawing Applejack’s attention away from the picture finally got a weak smile out of her. “Doin’ pretty good. Getting used to being active again and the Doctor says I can get back to work anytime now. And before you even say anythin’, yes, I’ll take it easy for a while. Big Mac’s already made me promise to stay on half-chores for at least a week ‘til we see how I can handle it.”

Rarity grinned even as she rolled her eyes. “I wasn’t going to say anything. I trusted that you’d only do as much as you can handle. But I notice you didn’t say anything about how you were sleeping. No better yet?” Rarity had tried to spend as many nights on the farm as she could just to be nearby, but she had her own work to tend to. However much she didn’t like it, she’d had to leave Applejack alone several times since she’d gotten out of the hospital.

Applejack just shrugged. “Sleeping meds the doc gave me have helped, but I still wake up every now and then. Just… feel like I should be doing something, you know?”

“Oh Darling,” Rarity cooed as she nuzzled Applejack’s cheek. “You know Soarin’ and Braeburn are taking good care of Ace. He’s in good hooves!”

“Yeah, I know. Jus’ hormones still actin’ up. I’ll be happy when I’m back to normal!” Applejack said, trying to laugh.

A thoughtful look crossed her face after that. She fell silent as she contemplated whatever was going through her mind, and Rarity let her. After a few moments, she spoke again.

“Actually, thinking ‘bout that… Rares, when we were in the delivery room, you said… that you wanted foals. Did you really mean that or were you just trying to help?”

Rarity frowned in return. “I’ve been thinking about that a lot since then. I don’t know if I was lost in the heat of the moment when I said that, but it wasn’t untrue. I do want foals, Applejack. I want to have little ones running around under hoof while we try to work. I want to watch them grow up and experience life and all it has to offer. I want to see them find their cutie marks! But more than that…”

She trailed off as she pulled out of Applejack’s embrace. They both turned so that they were facing each other, Applejack with a hesitant expression. Rarity took her strong hoof in her own.

“Applejack, do you remember our first kiss?”

The hesitation Applejack wore only seemed to grow, but along with it bloomed fondness for the happy memory. “How in the world am I ever supposed to forget that day? Caught out in the park in the worst sudden downpour Ponyville’d had in years!”

“But that old gazebo made a fine shelter, didn’t it?” Rarity asked, fluttering her eyelashes. Applejack wasn’t fazed by the old flirting trick anymore, though. Sighing, Rarity let herself become serious again. “I’ve always wondered… why did you kiss me that day?”

Applejack’s smile slipped slightly. “I’ve asked myself that a lot. ‘Specially in the days right after that. I’m not real sure, to be honest. We was leanin’ together for warmth, shivering and wet and… You were jus’ there and you looked so beautiful. Yer mane was all slicked down from the rain and yer makeup was runnin’ and for jus’ a second you looked… I don’t know how to put it! Real? Natural? It was the first time in a long time that I’d seen you not lookin’ all perfect.

“All of a sudden, you looked like a pony instead of one o’ them models in those fancy magazines you read.”

“Let me get this straight,” Rarity said slowly, trying to talk around the lump that had formed in her throat. It was hard to not let show how much her words had meant. “You only kissed me because I looked like a mess?”

“N-now, Rares, that ain’t what I meant!” Applejack said, flustered. “I meant that you were looking a li’l vulnerable and… No wait, that ain’t it either! Uh… C’mon, you know I’m not good with words like you are!”

Having had her fun, Rarity cut her off with a quick peck to her cheek. “Yes, I know what you meant, Darling. There have been times where I, too, have been struck by how breathtaking you are. Seeing you with your family, or tending to your trees. The compassion and kindness with which you treat everypony around you. There’s this… sense of quiet integrity to you; an inner strength that I can only ever marvel at.”

Rarity paused to look into Applejack’s eyes. Those familiar emerald depths, brimming with love, put her mind at peace as she prepared to say what she’d been thinking about for so long.

“We’ve been together for several years now, Applejack, and we’ve known each other far longer than that. Many of my days start with you next to me, and just as many end the same. I’ve come to be rather fond of it. I never want there to be a day where I’m not at your side. I want to be a part of your family and have you be a part of mine. I want us to grow old and wrinkled together and sit hoof in hoof as we watch the sun set over the orchards. And yes, I want you to be the mother of my foals.”

She paused once again to withdraw a small velvet box she’d kept hidden carefully behind her back. She floated it up to the mare she loved, who in turn gasped. Applejack’s eyes were already starting to water as Rarity flicked the lid open.

Sitting inside was a necklace. A single charm graced it, featuring a single ruby apple and a blue diamond. They were leaning together like they were supporting each other. Framed around them was a golden band.

“Applejack, My Darling. My Diamond. Will you marry me?”

The only answer she received was to be pulled into the deepest, dearest and wettest kiss of her life.

“So when’s the wedding?! Can I be yer best mare, AJ?!” Apple Bloom chirped as she danced in place in front of the couch Rarity and Applejack were sitting upon. The latter of which couldn’t stop lovingly touching the necklace gleaming around her neck.

“Not for a while, AB,” Applejack choked out. Her voice was still low and hoarse from crying.

“Mac!” Granny Smith called nearby from her rocking chair. The stallion in question sniffed and stopped wiping his eyes with a tissue long enough to listen. “Yer gonna have to give your sister away since yer pappy isn’t here to do it, alright?” He nearly broke out in another wave of sniffles as he nodded.

“Well, we may want to have the wedding sooner rather than later,” Rarity said primly, trying to sound reserved despite the bubbly energy welling up in her. “We’ll want it out of the way before you start to show again.”

Apple Bloom stopped in her bouncing to look confused. “Show? Show what?”

Applejack smiled and elbowed Rarity who gave a squeak of surprise before huffing in shame at her outburst. “Rares and I are gonna have a baby of our own, AB. You’re gonna be an aunt!”

“I’m gonna be an aunt?!” Apple Bloom shouted. “Yes! I’m gonna spoil it rotten!”

“Now you see here, young’un! Spoiling the foals is a grandparent’s job! Or great-grandparents, as it is!”

“Eeeyup!”

“Not you, too, Mac!” Applejack grumbled, slapping a hoof to her forehead. “Y’all realize Rares and I have to deal with the baby when you’re all done with it, right? It’s gonna end up a spoiled brat at this rate!”

Rarity laughed and kissed her fretting lover’s cheek. “Cheer up, Darling! The baby’s going to be surrounded by family that love it. What more could we want?”

Recognizing her defeat, Applejack sighed and kissed her back. “I guess nothin’, really.”

What more could we want indeed? Rarity thought to herself as she relaxed into Applejack and immersed herself in the general excitement in the air around her. Granny Smith eventually left to bring some food into the living room and together they all sat down to eat and enjoy each other’s presence. They laughed and talked about idle things as all such close families are wont to do.

And as she lifted a fork to playfully feed Applejack a bite of her food, she wouldn’t have had it any other way.

Until Apple Bloom suddenly appeared between herself and Big Macintosh. She wore a large, devious grin on her face as she wrapped a foreleg around her brother’s shoulders.

“You know, this has been a great day! We have a new member of the family, even if she’s been with us for a while, and soon we’re gonna have another! I have a question, though. Mac, I know you’ve been seeing a certain special somepony for a while now. So…”

She paused to give him a playful squeeze as his eyes went wide in a mixture of realization and fear. “When’re you gonna make Ms. Cheerilee an Apple?”

Author's Note

And so draws to a close another tale of the TFaRverse. I won't take up much of your time here, I just wanted to say that I hope you've enjoyed it and I look forward to seeing you as TFaR's true sequel begins.

Until next time, everypony.