As Twilight approached Sweet Apple Acres on that sunny Monday she was relieved to see Applejack right next to the sign, mending one of the white fences. She was headed there to talk to her friend and now she didn't have to make the trek through rows of apple trees in search of her.
“Applejack?” Twilight said once she was close to the earth pony, “Can I ask you a question?”
Applejack looked up and smiled. She dropped her hammer from her mouth and said, “Why sure, Twilight. Ask away.”
Twilight smiled and blushed, “Well, it's kind of personal. . .”
Applejack rolled her eyes a little. “The answer is I don't rightly know. Nopony's caught my eye, so I can't really say if it'd be a stallion or-”
She stopped, seeing the confused and embarrassed look on Twilight's face. Applejack blushed, “Er, different question?”
Twilight nodded, “Uh-huh. But I'll. . . um. . . keep that in mind.”
Applejack chuckled nervously as she leaned against the fence. Then she smiled again, “Right. So what'd ya' wanna ask me?”
“Well, I was going through the genealogy section of the library and I found a book about your family.” Twilight said. She magically lifted the book from her saddlebag, showing it to Applejack. It was green, with a large red apple on the cover not unlike the ones on Applejack's cutie mark.
“We're a big family.” Applejack said proudly. “Folks that like to know their great-great-uncle and alla that keep track of us.”
“Well, I read it, and there was something a little strange. . .” Twilight said, turning the book to herself and flipping it open.
Applejack seemed to deflate, and her expression became unreadable. “That so?”
Twilight nodded. “You see, there's a whole chapter about Granny Smith, and how she took over the farm when her parents died and the things she did in Ponyville. But it says she never got married, and it doesn't mention any children. It doesn't mention any other Apples living at Sweet Apple Acres until the last chapter, where there's a line about you and Big Macintosh and Apple Bloom.”
Applejack nodded with the same unreadable expression. Her answer sounded more like her brother than her, “Eyup. All sounds right.”
Twilight wasn't sure if she should go on. Obviously Applejack didn't want to talk about this. But her curious nature was getting the better of her, and she was sure that Applejack trusted her. She had said that it would be a personal question, after all. So she took a deep breath and asked, “Applejack, if Granny Smith didn't have any children then how can she be your grandmother?”
“She ain't. Granny's her name, Sugarcube. You even call her Granny.” Applejack pointed out calmly, glancing down at the grass.
Twilight almost couldn't believe what she was hearing, her eyes went wide and she hopped into the air as she shouted, “Granny Smith isn't your grandmother?! What- I mean, who- How are you related to her, then?”
Applejack frowned, and thought about that for a moment. “I'm an Apple and she's an Apple. Guess that's best I can explain it.”
Twilight relaxed and smiled, “This whole book is Apple genealogy. Who were your parents? We can find out how you're related to her.”
Applejack bit her lip, “Sugarcube, I think you're gonna wanna sit down for this one. It's a story that takes a bit of tellin'.”
***
It all started with the train wreck. The worst anypony could remember, just outside of Ponyville. Everypony in town was there to help find survivors and clear the wreckage, and of course Granny Smith was taking charge. She was younger then, with yellow hair and a smooth green coat, and a formidable personality that nopony in Ponyville wanted to cross. Everypony said she would have been mayor if she weren't the only Apple left to run Sweet Apple Acres.
Granny was working towards the back of the train, helping survivors to safety. She'd carried a half a dozen ponies over to the first aide tent already, so she was surprised when somepony set a basket on her back.
“What's this?” She snapped.
“A survivor, Granny.” The pony answered nervously.
Granny Smith turned to look in the basket, and a small red face framed with an orange mane peered back at her.
Her face softened, and she sadly glanced back at the wreckage. “Let's hope your folks are okay, little fella.”
She dropped him off at the first aide tent, but she was thinking about him the rest of the day. Later that evening when all of the wreckage had been cleared, Granny went back to the tent.
Heedless of what anypony else was doing, she stepped in front of a nurse. “You find the family of that little colt?”
“Um, colt?” The nurse asked, confused.
“The little red one. I brought him in here all by his lonesome.”
“Oh, um, well they did find his mother,” She said, sadly. “Just. . . not among the survivors. I believe the Mayor is trying to decide what to do with him.”
“Where is she?”
The nurse motioned to a corner, then fled as Granny walked away.
Granny found the young pink haired Mayor speaking to Sugar Plumb. “I can promise it would only be temporary.”
“I know, Mayor, but I can't really. Bon Bon is so fussy, and I don't think I can take in another foal for right now.”
“Course you can't.” Granny announced. “That's why I'm takin' him.”
Both mares looked at her in surprise. Finally, the Mayor said, “That's very kind of you, Granny Smith, but I'm sure that somepony is available who has more experience with foals.”
“I'm sure there is too, but I said I'm takin' him, and takin' him I am.”
The Mayor cast a desperate glance around for any last minute volunteers. Finding none, she sighed. “Very well. This is only temporary, I'm sure his relatives will be looking for him.”
Even if it was supposed to be temporary, Granny Smith took the colt home and got him settled in. She bought diapers and a crib, cleared out a room, and gave the boy a name. She had to leave more work than she liked to the hired hooves, but the colt cheered up her life in a way nothing had for a long time.
A few weeks later she was giving him a bottle when there was a knock at the door. Granny answered it, and found the Mayor on her doorstep. She invited her in and went right back to feeding the colt.
Granny didn't bother trying to make conversation, so the two sat in awkward silence for a moment.
Finally, the Mayor spoke, “It's been nearly a month now. All of Equestria has heard about the train crash.”
“I reckon they did,” Granny said. “Ain't every day so many poor ponies lose their lives.”
“All the families that could be found have been contacted, so I think it's time to proceed.”
Granny narrowed her eyes, “I don't follow, Mayor.”
“The foal. No family is going to come forward, so he should be sent to an orphanage. Maybe a nice couple will want to adopt him.” The Mayor said with a smile.
“Orphanage, ya' say?” Granny asked, eyeing the Mayor suspiciously. “With who knows how many other poor foals, hopin' maybe someday somepony'll come along who's half way decent to give him a family?”
The Mayor sighed, obviously hoping to avoid this. “Yes, Granny Smith. We appreciate you taking care of him, but we know you're very busy running the farm. You know that we never expected you to take on responsibility for raising an orphan-”
“Well then, it's a good thing I don't see no orphan 'round here.”
The Mayor stared at her, and Granny just laughed. “Nope, Mayor, no orphans here. Only a big red Apple. And I'm right good at raisin' Apples. Right, Big Macintosh?”
Macintosh smiled and cooed.
The Mayor stayed another hour trying to talk her out of it, Granny was a spinster with no experience with foals and a whole farm to run. But once Granny made up her mind she couldn't be budged.
Nopony said it to her face, but the whole town thought she was crazy taking in a colt to raise by herself, at her age. But Granny Smith had been called crazy too many times in her life to care what ponies thought. Besides, there was one group of ponies who would never think she was crazy. The Apple clan, the part of it spread out over Equestria, never thought twice about where the little red foal came from. If Granny Smith said he was an Apple, that was good enough for them.
***
“I can't believe this! Big Macintosh isn't your brother?” Twilight was beyond incredulous.
“He is so my brother.” Applejack said. Her tone indicated there was no room for discussion on the subject, but Twilight's logic begged to differ.
“But if his parents died in that train crash, he can't be.” Twilight said. She felt like she was trying to build a completely new understanding of the Apple family from this information.
Applejack continued her resistance to the idea. “Don't matter who his folks were, he's my brother. How'd you like it if I said Shinin' Armor isn't your brother?”
Twilight rolled her eyes. “But Shining Armor and I have the same parents.”
“Is that all it takes?” Applejack asked softly.
Twilight thought about it. Logically, yes. If two ponies have the same parents, they're siblings. But the things that made Shining Armor her brother, her BBBFF, didn't really have anything to do with their parents. And she could see the same things between Applejack and Big Macintosh.
She smiled at Applejack. “I guess not.”
Applejack nodded, “Macintosh has been my big brother since he first laid eyes on me. . .”
***
If folks in town thought Granny Smith was crazy, it seemed somepony somewhere appreciated the gesture. Word must have gotten around that she took in Macintosh without a thought given what showed up next.
It was a bright sunny summer day and the field hands were bucking away. Granny Smith was getting older, her hair was going white, but that couldn't keep her from doing her share of the bucking. She was in the middle of her work when Macintosh came running up.
He was just a little tyke, still waiting for his cutie mark. He was quiet both at home and at school, and Granny sometimes worried that he was lost in his own world too much.
“Granny? There's somethin' by the front fence you oughta see.”
Granny paused in her applebucking, and wiped the sweat from her forehead with a hoof. “Right, then. Let's see it.”
She knew that the colt probably wanted to show her a birds nest that had fallen, or an interesting rock, but she didn't mind a break to spend a few minutes with her boy. He needed to talk more to other ponies, and if she was the other pony he had to talk to then she'd better make sure that she was up to the job.
As they neared the front fence and Sweet Apple Acres sign, Macintosh pointed out something brown on the ground. An old stetson hat, Granny saw. She was about to tell Macintosh he could have it, but as she got closer her eyes went wide at what was inside of it.
Curled up in the stetson was a tiny orange foal with gold mane. She was sleeping soundly, sucking the edge of her forehoof in her mouth, her gold tail wrapped around her like a blanket.
“Well I'll be. Another Apple.” Granny muttered, looking around. There was nopony anywhere. She thought for a moment that she oughta try to find the filly's parents, but she didn't have any real hope. Babies don't fall asleep in hats and get left on the side of the road by accident.
“Who's she belong to Granny? What do we do with her?”
“Well now little fella, unless somepony comes lookin' for her we'll keep her and raise her up. Looks like you got a little sister.”
He smiled gently at the sleeping foal. “I always wanted a sister.”
“I bet little Applejack here always wanted a brother.”
As time went on, it turned out that Applejack did want a brother. From the time she could trot, she followed Big Macintosh everywhere on the farm. Big Macintosh remained quiet, but Applejack did the talking for both of them. Often Granny would hear a one sided conversation and peek in the barn to find Macintosh literally roped into teaching Applejack to use a lasso, smiling gently as Applejack yammered away, often tangled in her own rope.
In the evenings, after dinner, the two would lay on the floor and play checkers while Granny knitted and listened to the voices of happy foals.
“Tell me again 'bout the hat, Mac.” Applejack said cheerfully.
Big Macintosh gave a smile, and said slowly, “Well, one mornin' I was walkin down by the front fence, and I spotted a hat.”
“A stetson.” Applejack grinned as she moved her checker piece.
“Eyup.” He nodded. “And I thought, that looks like a mighty fine hat. It'd look good on me.”
“It woulda been way too big back then.” Applejack giggled.
“I woulda grown into it. But when I got to the hat and looked in, I saw it already belonged to somepony else. It belonged to the cutest little foal I ever laid eyes on, layin' there and suckin' her hoof.” He said, chuckling to himself.
Applejack was still giggling, “I was not suckin' my hoof!”
“You wanna tell the story?” Mac smiled and raised an eyebrow, moving on of the checkers forward.
“Nah, go on.” Applejack said, grinning.
Mac nodded, “So I saw this little foal, and I loved her right away. I knew she was gonna need a big brother, someone to look out for her, and play with her, and show her how to farm. I went and got Granny Smith, and she told me you were my little sister, Applejack. And that's how it's been since then.”
“I sure am glad you went to look at my hat, Mac.” Applejack got up from the checker board and walked over to her brother. She was beaming as she gave him a nuzzle on the cheek.
He blushed a little and patted her head, “I'm glad you were in it. It'll look better on you anyway, when ya' get a bit bigger.”
***
“So, you don't know who your parents are?” Twilight said, dazed. This was more than trying to understand her friend's unusual family, this was trying to form a completely different picture of one of her closest friends.
“Nope. But I got Granny Smith.” Applejack said, as though that was the end of it.
For Twilight that certainly wasn't the end of it. “Well, yes, but your mother and father. . . I mean, they probably weren't Apples, right?”
Applejack seemed a little annoyed by the question. “I don't know, and I don't rightly care.”
“But Applejack, that means that you might not be an Apple. And. . . your parents might still be alive somewhere! They could be rich and famous, or even royalty!” Twilight was beginning to get excited. This kind of mystery could be so much fun, there would be research to do and clues to uncover . .
She used her magic to lift Applejack's hat off. “I wonder if we could start with this. Maybe we can find out where it was made and-”
Applejack yanked her hat out of Twilight's levitation and flipped it on her head. Then she glared at Twilight, “Twilight Sparkle, you best shut your mouth right now and listen to me. All my life Granny Smith's been mother and father to me. All my life I lived on this farm. Nopony has ever, ever told me I ain't an Apple. And I don't care who left me here, 'cept that they did right by me and put me just where I belong. Every one of us here on this farm is an Apple. . .”
***
Granny was in the kitchen first that morning, so she heard the crying. She opened the kitchen door and peaked out. There on the doorstep was the source of the noise. A little yellow baby foal with a bright red mane, nestled in a basket.
Granny wasn't as young as she once was. Her hip bothered her something fierce, and her applebucking days were through. Taking in another little foal at her age wasn't going to be easy.
Even so, Granny picked up the basket by the handle and lifted it onto the table. Granny always knew that Celestia put her here to care for all of the apples on Sweet Apple Acres, and if this foal found her way here, she was an Apple.
Applejack walked into the kitchen, followed by Macintosh. The filly was big enough to wear her hat now, and almost never took it off. Big Macintosh was full grown, and lived up to his name.
“Mornin' Granny! What do ya' have there?” Applejack said happily, as she noticed the basket on the table.
“Well, seems the two of you got a baby sister now.” Granny said, then she set a frying pan on the stove like any other day.
Applejack's eyes went wide, and she darted to look in the basket. “A baby sister! Where'd she come from? Who're her parents?”
Big Macintosh just made his way over to the basket slowly, smiling. “Don't matter. She's an Apple now.”
Applejack pulled the baby out and cradled her in one foreleg. She smiled as the little filly waved her hoof around. “Well, I guess she is. Ain't she the sweetest thing? Pretty as an apple tree in bloom.”
“Apple Bloom.” Granny said, smiling as she glanced over her shoulder. “That's a fine name, Applejack. She'll thank ya' for it later. Now, I ain't as young as I was when the two of you showed up, I'm gonna need a whole load of help with this young'un.”
Granny chuckled as Applejack puffed up the way she always did if anypony asked her for help. “Don't you worry, Granny! I'll be the best big sister you ever seen. It don't matter how hard it is, she's an Apple now. Right, Mac?”
“Eeyup.” Mac said, smiling at the pair of them.
Just then, Applejack started laughing. “Ya' know, I reckon we shoulda been expectin' her to show up. My cutie mark's three apples, right?”
Granny smiled at her little family as she made breakfast. She'd raised her foals up right, Applejack and Big Macintosh were good, dependable ponies who'd take care of her and her farm in her old age, and there was no doubt in her mind they'd help raise their new sister up just as strong. Everypony in town thought she was crazy when she took in that little red colt, but it was the smartest thing she'd ever done.
***
“So there ya' go, Twilight. You don't need to go lookin' for my parents, 'cause my family is all right here, and they're the best family anypony could ask for.” Applejack finished explaining everything to Twilight with a smile on her face, and maybe a little tear in her eye.
Twilight was a little sniffy too. She remembered the warm welcome Applejack and her family had offered on her first day in Ponyville and realized that she had always known that the Apples accepted anypony, no questions asked. She just never realized how deep that went.
“I'm happy for you, Applejack. You guys are really lucky. You're the closest family I know. I guess it doesn't matter how you became a family, if you all love each other so much.”
Applejack grinned, “I know it. I thank my lucky stars every night, for alla them. Now, if you don't mind, I gotta take care of my farm and finish fixin' this fence.”
Twilight smiled, “Before I go, can I ask one more question?”
“Sure.” Applejack said as she straightened up and stretched a little.
“If somepony dropped off another baby foal here, would you all take them in?” Twilight asked, almost sure of the answer already.
Applejack just chuckled. “Ain't even a question, Twilight. There's no orphans on Sweet Apple Acres, just Apples. And we raise some mighty fine Apples.”
