The silvery glow of the moon seemed cold despite the lingering warmth of the last day, like the chilly night encroaching on the dying embers of the campfire. The stars hung as hard, unmoving points, once objects of beauty that had been usurped as cruel reminders of Equestria's fate.
Applejack struggled to keep her gaze from drifting towards the rebellious sky as she galloped towards Sweet Apple Acres, swallowing hard as she realized what awaited her once she set out to meet her friends at the edge of what could very well be oblivion. What was usually a short journey for the earth pony seemed to stretch to torturous length, giving her far too much time to reconsider her decision.
She uttered a shaky sigh at the sight of the homestead. Her heart pounded as the farm remained as disturbingly quiet as the streets of Ponyville. She refused to believe that the Apples were cowering inside, too terrified to set a single hoof outside, as if they truly thought it would protect them from the ravages of endless night.
When Applejack burst inside, the first kin she saw was the old mare Granny Smith, and she had no time to speak before the elder matriarch threw her fore-legs around her granddaughter.
"Oh, Applejack, where in tarnation were you?!" Granny cried, her quavering voice serving up equal measure of relief and admonishment. "I was worried sick about you!"
"I-I'm sorry, Granny, I really am," Applejack said, still out of breath. "I got here soon as I could from the library."
Granny broke off the embrace with a shocked look as Big Macintosh stepped up. "The library? What possessed you to go there?!"
Applejack sighed. This was going to be much harder to explain than she had ever realized. The forlorn looks of Granny and Big Macintosh made it no easier. She had only just opened her mouth when a cry rose from the hall, and suddenly a little filly was clinging hard to her.
"A-Applejack, I'm scared!" cried Apple Bloom, her glistening eyes giving her big sister a pleading look. "Wh-what's going on? Why hasn't the sun come up?!"
Applejack blinked in confusion. "But ... Apple Bloom, you were there, you saw--"
"Princess Celestia always raises the sun! Why can't she jus' raise the sun?!"
Granny lay a hoof on Applejack's shoulder. "She doesn't understand," she said in a soft voice.
Applejack stared, her eyes wide. "Didn't y'all try to explain it to her? Granny, you know the legend of the Mare in the Moon yerself, why didn't--"
"We tried," said Granny.
"Eeyup," said Big Macintosh in a somber voice.
"We just couldn't get through to her."
"Nope."
Applejack's heart ached. Perhaps she had been foolish to expect otherwise. She wrapped her fore-leg around her little sister, but Apple Bloom still trembled and whimpered softly in shock.
The temptation was strong to simply bid a perfunctory goodbye to her family knowing -- or hoping -- she would return with the sunrise when she could beg for forgiveness. The more she thought about it, the more it disgusted her. If anypony deserved the truth, it was her own family.
"I don't have a lotta time to explain," said Applejack. "But I gotta go."
Apple Bloom's eyes widened. "Go?" she said in a tiny voice. "G-go where?"
"To fix this. To help bring the sun back."
Apple Bloom just stared.
"What in tarnation are you talkin' about?!" Granny demanded, stomping a hoof. "You don't gotta go nowhere! Yer place is here!"
"Granny, you remember Twilight Sparkle, right? She came over here right before the celebrations started."
Granny narrowed her eyes while Big Macintosh frowned. "Yeah. What 'bout her?"
"She said we gotta go fix this. We gotta ... go ... d-defeat Nightmare Moon."
Her words were met with stunned silence.
Even Applejack was shocked at her own words. What had she signed up to do? Were her friends seriously considering this as well? Even Fluttershy? Were they really headed to the edge of the Everfree Forest now? Or were they hoping as she did, that this was just some terrible dream that they were about to wake up from?
Granny broke the silence. "Are you outta yer apple-buckin' mind?!"
This was what Applejack had feared more than her own indecision: a fight with the family. She looked down at Apple Bloom. The little filly trembled as she started to say in a weak voice, "P-please don't g--"
"Apple Bloom, go to yer room," said Applejack.
Apple Bloom gave her a stricken look. "B-but--"
"Please, do as I say."
Apple Bloom uttered a soft whimper and stepped back from her sister, staring as if at a stranger. She sniffled once and galloped off.
Applejack took a deep breath to stave off tears. She felt horrible for what she had just done, but the last thing she wanted her little sister to see was Apple against Apple.
"Fine way to treat yer family," Granny muttered darkly.
"Eeyup," Big Macintosh said with a frown.
"I gotta do this to protect my family!" Applejack cried. "To protect all of us!"
"That's how you protect yer family?! By goin' off with some mare you met jus' a day ago?!"
"She's not jus' some mare! Y'all made friends with her when she was here! An' she's Princess Celestia's student!"
"Then what makes her such an expert if she's jus' a student?!"
"I-I wish I could explain this to you. I jus' don't have the words for how right this feels. Like I'm bein' called to do this."
"Well, that's all fine and dandy fer you!" Granny snapped. "What 'bout the rest of the family? What if you don't return? Yer practically the mother 'round here."
Applejack had never wanted to be perceived as such despite having been forced into the role by circumstance. "I'm not the only one, Granny. There's plenty of mares in the Apple family who would be fine in that role."
Her words were met with shocked looks, but no more so than what she felt. She knew in that one statement she had just contemplated the unthinkable for the first time.
As if seeking a distraction from her own disturbing thoughts, Applejack looked around, hoping to find support from other kin. Only then did she realize how silent the house was. "Where are the rest of the Apples?"
Granny frowned. "I sent them home."
Applejack gasped. "You did what?!"
"They wanted to be with their families. Mebbe you should take that as a consarned hint!"
Applejack wanted to rail at them that this was bigger than anything she had ever experienced in her life. She felt in her heart that something even more important than the return of the sun was at stake.
She tempered her reaction when she saw the glistening fear in Granny's eyes and the desperation in Big Macintosh's face. They had already been forced to watch helplessly as they had lost beloved members of the family, and now Applejack was asking them to do the same with her.
Her conviction wavered. Her eyes misted as she contemplated abandoning her friends to their fate. When the very idea turned her stomach, she closed her eyes tightly and shook her head. "No ... I'm sorry ... I can't ... I c-can't stay."
She expected an explosion, but when she heard nothing, she plowed on. "I don't expect y'all to understand. Mebbe I don't understand it myself. Mebbe I'll prove to be a fool in the end." She opened her eyes. "Big Macintosh, remember what our parents said when you were all upset because of what the others in town were sayin' about you jus' 'cuz you didn't talk much?"
Big Macintosh said nothing in reply but scraped the ground nervously with a hoof, glancing to the side. A very nasty rumor had been started that he was mentally slow, just a big brute of a stallion with little brains. That terrible myth had been long since dispelled, but it was still a painful memory.
"They said, you gotta be true to yerself," Applejack said. "Remember that?"
"Eeyup," Big Macintosh said in a quavering voice.
"That's what I gotta do. I gotta be true to myself. Jus' like you did. I--"
Applejack was cut off when the breath was squeezed out her by a sudden bear hug from Big Macintosh. When her brother backed off, his eyes had misted, and his lips curled into a shaky smile. Applejack did not say a word. She did not want to spoil this moment. Having his tacit approval meant the world to her.
She finally risked a glance at Granny Smith. Her face was still twisted into a frown, but her eyes were uncertain. She finally sighed and said in a low voice, "You always did have yer parents' stubborn streak. Once they were set on an idea, ain't nothin' was gonna change their mind."
"This ain't the same as what happened to them," Applejack said in a strained voice. "A-at least I could say--"
"It ain't goodbye," Big Macintosh declared.
Applejack forced a small smile. "Big Mac, thank you, but I--"
"Nope, I won't hear of it. Yer comin' back."
Applejack's smile became more natural. "Yeah, yer right. I'm comin' back."
"You better come back!" Granny snapped. "If you think this is some lame excuse to get outta helpin' me with the next zap-apple harvest, then you've gone plumb crazy!"
Applejack laughed and hugged Granny. "Well, now, you jus' reminded me of somethin' to look forward to comin' back to."
Granny sighed. "Applejack, I gotta admit, I don't understand any of this."
Applejack wished she could explain it herself. When she repeated in her head everything she had heard from Twilight about the Elements of Harmony, it sounded like a fairy tale. Then again, that was what the Mare in the Moon was supposed to be.
"But I know you too well," said Granny. "Yer gonna do what you think is right, and to hay with what others think."
That was not really true, and Applejack wished she could convey that. She desperately wanted her family's blessing. Perhaps that was the real reason she had wished the other Apples were still there. She could have used their support to bolster her own wavering conviction.
"I'm sorry, Granny, but I gotta get goin'," Applejack said.
Granny nodded once. "You be careful, Applejack." Her lips curled into a tiny smile. "An' make the Apple family proud."
Applejack smiled. "Always, Granny. Always."
She turned and cantered away. She hoped the others were not already waiting for her, or worse, had gone on without her thinking she was not going to show up. No, the others had hinted that they were doing the same as she, despite not giving it its proper name: putting your affairs in order.
She was about to the door when she suddenly skidded to a stop, her eyes widening as they beheld the little yellow filly who sat on her haunches in her path. "A-Apple Bloom ... I thought I had told you to ..." She trailed off when she saw the tears welling up in her little sister's eyes.
"D-Don't go."
"Apple Bloom, what--?"
"Please don't go."
Applejack was too stunned to move or speak.
Tears rolling down her cheeks, Apple Bloom raced to her sister and hugged her fiercely. "P-please don't go!"
"But I have to, I--"
"I don't wanna lose you, too!" Apple Bloom wailed.
The dam that had strained before her family finally broke, and tears spilled down Applejack's cheeks as she embraced her little sister. She knew she had to get back to the others, but if she left Apple Bloom like this, she would break the little filly's heart, and all the sunshine in Equestria would not mend it.
The Elements of Harmony would have to wait a little longer.
Applejack slowly broke off the embrace. "Apple Bloom, will you come with me to the orchard? I got somethin' I wanna show you."
Apple Bloom wiped her eyes with the back of her hoof, looking at her sister in confusion. She nodded.
Applejack led Apple Bloom out of the house and into the fields. "I'm gonna show you one of the first orchards our parents ever planted here."
"But I've already seen that," said Apple Bloom. "You and Granny said we gotta let it lay fallow for a spell."
"But did I ever tell you why?"
Apple Bloom paused, then shook her head.
Applejack led her into the orchard. The trees looked less well-tended, having been left to let nature take its course. Even then, many sported bright red and green apples, gleaming even in the dimness of the moonlight.
Apple Bloom swallowed hard as the orchard grew darker the further they advanced, until they came upon a small clearing covered in silvery light. As scared as she was facing eternal night, she could not help but admire the gossamer beauty. In the center was a lone apple tree, its branches thick and wild, its fruit only barely visible through the leaves.
"Didja know that our parents had a big row when they first were plannin' out this orchard?" said Applejack as she looked up at the canopy.
"Really?" Apple Bloom said in surprise. "What about?"
"About the kinda apples to plant, of all things. Our Mom wanted green apples. Our Dad wanted red apples."
"But we got both kinds now. Even in the same trees."
Applejack chuckled. "Yeah, we do, don't we? But not back then. That's where this ol' tree comes in."
Apple Bloom tilted her head. "Huh?"
"Y'see, they couldn't agree no matter what they did. So they decided to settle it another way. They came out here, an' they each planted an apple seed in the same little plot. One red, one green. They said whichever tree grew better than the other and bore fruit would decide the matter."
Apple Bloom stepped up to the tree. "But there's only one tree here."
"Yep."
She lifted her head. "I can't tell what color the apples are. Who won?"
Applejack smiled. "Give the tree a buck and find out."
Apple Bloom gave her sister an odd look, but turned herself around and kicked with her rear hooves. Her strike was true, if nowhere near the power of her big sister, and several apples fell. Applejack ducked under one and caught it in her mane to break its fall, then bent down to let Apple Bloom take it.
"Oh, it's red," said Apple Bloom.
"Heh. Turn it around."
Apple Bloom did and gasped. "What?!" Her eyes wide, she turned it around again. "Wait, but ... how did ... I don't ... only the zap-apples are ...!"
The apple was precisely half red and half green.
Applejack smiled. "This tree convinced them how foolish their argument was. They were never closer, never more lovin' to each other than after that."
Apple Bloom stared at the apple, her eyes glistening. "An' you never told me," she said in a tiny voice.
Applejack placed a hoof on her little sister's shoulder. "You were so brave those days after our parents passed on, I wasn't sure how'd you take it."
"I-I thought they hadn't left us nothin' but the farm!" Apple Bloom cried. "They didn't even h-have time to say g-goodbye."
Applejack hugged her little sister tightly. "No, they did leave us somethin'. Somethin' real important. Somethin' that was a sign of what they cared about. I come out here sometimes, an' when I do, I sit in front of it, an' it's like they're with me again." She uttered a quavering sigh. "But if I don't go ... if I don't try an' help bring the sun back, this here tree will die."
Tears spilled from Apple Bloom's eyes, and she buried her face in Applejack's chest. "I miss them so much," she whimpered.
Applejack could not help but feel a little bad, yet this was the only way to get Apple Bloom to understand. Things like losing the farm and widespread famine were just abstracts to a foal. Applejack had to make it personal for her sister to grasp it.
She had every intention of telling Apple Bloom about this tree. The time just never seemed right. She had underestimated both her little sister's capacity for understanding and need to express her grief.
"Apple Bloom, I know I'm askin' a lot of you," Applejack said. "But I want yer blessin'. I want you to understand how important this is."
Apple Bloom sniffled and lifted her head. She looked towards the tree and uttered a tremulous sigh. "I don't wanna lose this tree. But I don't wanna lose you, either."
"I'm not lookin' to get lost. But if I don't do this, it won't matter no more. Nothin' will."
Apple Bloom looked up at her sister. "You really think you can get the sun to come up again?"
"I'm sure as hay gonna try."
Apple Bloom's eyes widened. "You gonna become a princess like Princess Celestia?"
Applejack smiled. "Now that'd be a frightful sight, me with a horn stickin' up outta my head."
Apple Bloom giggled.
"Besides, ain't no apple trees to buck up in Canterlot. I'd be bored outta my mind!"
Apple Bloom laughed, and Applejack joined her, giving her another hug.
"I ain't gonna lie," said Applejack. "I dunno what exactly's gonna happen. But I do know this. No Apple has ever backed down from a challenge. No Apple has ever run away from a problem, an' I ain't gonna be the first. An' I don't think our parents would want me to, either."
"I'm still gonna worry about you, sis," Apple Bloom said. "But I know you need to do this. I'm sorry I cried all over you."
"Don't ever be sorry 'bout that. You got a big heart, Apple Bloom. Don't ever ferget that."
Apple Bloom smiled and hugged her sister one more time.
Applejack slowly rose. "I gotta go. The others are waitin' for me."
"Please be careful, Applejack."
"Always."
Apple Bloom raised her hoof and waved as her sister departed. She turned back towards the tree and trotted up to it, placing a hoof against the bark. As she looked up into its branches, she felt a sense of peace. This was what she had been missing: a connection to her departed parents. She still had plenty of grieving to do, but that could wait. Now she just wanted to enjoy having them here again, even if just in spirit.
"Mom? Dad?" she called out softly. "Don't y'all worry none. Applejack will be back." She turned around and sat on her haunches. "So let's wait for the sunrise together."