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From the prompt, "Write an Appledash story about how Granny Smith is too old-fashioned to accept a love between two mares and kicks Applejack out of the house," by Reddit user Backupusername.

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“You gotta do it, there, Applejack. There ain’t nothin’ else for it.” Applejack stared into the living room, her hooves unable to take another step. Applebloom was off crusading with her friends. They’d said something about rodeo cutie marks before they disappeared with several length’s of her rope, so Applejack figured they’d be tied up for a while. Big Mac was in town, his turn to work the stall at market, and it being mid-afternoon, the stallion would be neck deep in customers right now. There wasn’t going to be a better time than this. “So why can’t Ah go in there and tell her?”

Applejack chanced a peek around the door frame, and sure enough, there was Granny Smith, knitting away at a scarf or sweater or some such. The grizzled mare hummed as she worked, some aimless tune that AJ couldn’t place. The afternoon light was inching its way towards her through the western window, and in an hour or two, Granny would be fast asleep in her rocking chair. There wasn’t any better time than now.

Her hooves still frozen in place, AJ watched the scene for a minute, then another, and another. The swath of knitted fabric got longer and longer, and Granny Smith still rocked back and forth, back and forth. A stray breath of wind blew in through the window, catching a glass mobile Applebloom had built in school. The teardrop crystals spun on the string, throwing tiny rainbows across the ground as they caught the sun. Applejack took a deep breath and entered the room.

Granny Smith didn’t even notice her granddaughter was there, until the younger pony was standing in front of her, coughing to announce her presence. “Oh, hey there, Applejack,” Granny Smith said. “Yew all done with chores?

“You bet,” Applejack said. She grinned wide. Too wide. She pursed her lips together, hoping Granny Smith wouldn’t think the grin was weird. “Ah milked the cows this morning, slopped the hogs, done all the bucking for today.” She had, too. Trying to work out all the nervous tension this moment was bringing, she’d bucked twice as many apples as she’d hoped, and finished what was supposed to be a full day’s work in a couple of hours. Her legs knew it, too, and now Applejack could feel the strength in her legs melting away.

Granny Smith must have seen that, because she motioned towards the couch with a flick of her head and said, “Why don’ cha sit down, then? Take a load off them dogs!” The elderly mare guffawed loudly, and Applejack sunk down onto the couch. Granny Smith went back to clicking away with her knitting needles.

Sitting on the couch, Applejack breathed in, then exhaled slowly, steeling herself up for what she was about to say. She could smell her own sweat, mixed in with the sharp scent of fresh apples and dirt. It was a comforting smell, one she’d been around all her life. “Ah have somethin’ Ah need to tell you,” she said. Nothing happened. Granny Smith didn’t look up from her knitting, no timberwolves howled, the world didn’t end. The rocking chair squeaked a little. “Ah, uh, Ah don’t rightly know how to say this.” Applejack took off her hat and began turning it over and over in her hooves, feeling the worn leather of the brim. Her father’s old hat.

“Well, spit it out, girl. Ah ain’t getting any younger.”

“Ah, Ah, Ah like mares, okay?” There, it was out. Applejack braced for the incoming torrent.

But there was nothing. When Applejack looked up, Granny Smith was still knitting away. In the dirt outside, Winona yawned loudly.

“Ain’t you gonna say nothin’?” Applejack asked. “Ah thought you might, Ah dunno, get mad, or somethin’.”

“Ain’t news to nopony but yerself, girl.”

“What?” Applejack said.

“It’s that rainbow gal from town, ain’t it? Y’all spend ‘bout all yer time together.”

Applejack blushed. A memory of a multi-colored mane and the smell of rain crossed her mind. “Yeah,” she said breathily. “It’s her.” A smile rose unbidden to her lips. “Say, Ah thought for sure you’d yell at me at least. Ah’m glad you’re okay with this.”

“Ah ain’t said that.”

The blood froze in Applejack’s body. Her lungs struggled to inhale. It was like someone had socked her a good one right in the gut. After a momentous struggle, Applejack finally managed to squeak out a “What?”

Granny Smith put down her knitting and looked at the now-petrified young mare. “Ah knew Ah’d have this talk with yew sooner or later. Hoped Ah wouldn’t, but knew Ah would all the same.” Applejack waited as Granny Smith leaned back, shifting her weight from one hip to the other. “What’s the most important thing to ya, girl?”

“You are,” Applejack answered with some confusion but no hesitation. “You, and Applebloom, and Big Macintosh.”

“That’s right.” The old mare nodded, head bobbing up and down like a tree branch, bobbing in the wind. “Family. Family’s what’s important.” Granny’s voice was calm, more collected, stronger, than Applejack had heard in a long time. “The Apple Family, that’s like an orchard. Yer uncle Strudel’s a tree out in Hoofington. Brown Betty and her kids over in Fillydelphia, that’s another tree. Even Braeburn’s a little saplin’ over in Appleloosa.

“And ev’ry one of them is gonna grow, each branch grows its own little Apples, and they become the new trees in our orchard. Right here, yew, me, yer sis and Big Mac, we’re our own tree. ‘Tain’t much, just a few small branches. Ah ‘bout thought we were done fer, when yer parents passed. Ah’m old, dried up. Ah ain’t got no more fruit in me. And our tree’s gotta grow, or it ain’t gonna live.”

Granny Smith stared hard at her granddaughter. “Yer brother, he’s a kind soul, but he ain’t gonna buck anythin’ that ain’t a tree. And yer sister,  still jus’ a filly. What’s she gonna do when she finds out her big sis she loves so much is a fillyfooler? That girl thinks the world of ya, always tryin’ on yer hat, playin’ with yer rope and puttin’ on yer ribbons when she thinks yew ain’t lookin’. Think she’ll want to settle down, have kids? No, by Celestia, this family’s had hard enough times, and this, you’ll be killin’ it.” Granny Smith groped next to the rocking chair until she found her walker. She heaved herself up out of the chair and began moving with slow, steady steps outside. “Ah’m gonna go set in the sun a bit. Yew, go on and think powerful hard ‘bout this. Yew decide yew want to live yer life with no thought to the sweat yer family put into makin’ this farm, the blood yer own two parents poured into these trees. If that don’t mean nothin’ to ya, and yew can let our family die, Ah don’t wanna see yew again. The res’ of us got along well enough when you had that ‘cherry’ fixation a’ yers, we’ll be fine without ya. If’n yew decide you really do love yer family, Ah’ll see you in church tomorrow.”

When Applejack joined the other Apples at Sunday service, she said nothing to her grandmother, and her grandmother said nothing in return. And when she and Rainbow Dash suddenly stopped speaking to each other, not even the staunchest assault by her friends could convince Applejack to explain. And when Applebloom asked why Applejack didn’t have a very special somepony, Applejack just said that she hadn’t find the right stallion yet, and left it at that. And life went on at Sweet Apple Acres as it always had, and if anypony wondered why Applejack went inside whenever she happened to see a rainbow, nopony asked.