Two Hearths as One

Two Hearths as One

by Candy Apples

Part One: Introductions

Pinkie Pie thought Applejack looked cute wearing her saddlebags.  Of course, she thought AJ always looked cute, but the green bags really brought out the green in her eyes.  Pinkie noticed, as they walked from Friendship Castle to the train station, that those eyes looked worried.

"Sugarcube," Applejack finally said.  "Won't this be the first Hearth's Warmin' you spend with your family, since you moved to Ponyville?"

"That's right," Pinkie said.  "There are always so many parties in Ponyville this time of year!  And Sugarcube Corner gets so many orders!"  She was grateful that Mr. and Mrs. Cake had insisted she take some time off.  Mrs. Cake had nearly teared up while reminiscing about back when they had been first engaged, and their families had gotten together and made wedding plans.  "This will be such a happy time for you," she had told Pinkie, "so take the whole week off!"

"And last year we put on the play in Canterlot," Applejack said.  Pinkie Pie remembered how adorable AJ had looked in her Smart Cookie costume, and smiled.  "But, honeybuns," Applejack continued, "don't you think there's another reason you don't usually go home?"

Pinkie Pie slowed down, and cocked her head toward Applejack.  "What do you mean?"

"You once told me that life on the rock farm was 'no talkin', no smilin'--nothin' but rocks,'" AJ continued.  "Do you think maybe you've been... avoiding going home for the holidays?"

"But I love my family, Applejack," Pinkie said.

"I'm not sayin' that you don't," AJ told her.  "I'm just saying..."  she sighed.  "Well, I'm not really sure how to put it inta words."

Pinkie Pie felt, somewhere deep inside, that maybe this was one of those times where Applejack needed her to say something serious instead of silly.  But she wasn't exactly sure what words she would use, either, so instead she said, "C'mon, cupcake!  Your family's already on the platform.  We don't want to miss the train!"

“Candy crystal Windigos!” the pony pushing the snack cart down the center aisle of the train called out.  “Gingerbread ponies!  One bit apiece.”

Apple Bloom bolted out of her seat and ran over to drool over the colorful, sugary treats on the cart.  Applejack wondered if her little sister would have any pocket money left by the time they got to the rock farm.

Across from her, Granny Smith was snoozing next to her older brother, Big McIntosh.  Pinkie Pie was on the seat next to her, and they sat close, touching hooves.  Despite the occasional apprehension Applejack had about Pinkie's relationship with the rest of the Pie family, she was still incredibly happy to get to spend time with them.  And she was excited that her whole family was coming along to get to know them, too.  “It’s gonna be a hoot gettin’ both our families together under one roof!” she said.

“Apples and Pies,” Pinkie said.  “It’ll be like… apple pie!  Who'd have thought those two things would go together?!”  Her eyes widened with amazement, an expression that Applejack always found endearing

Apple Bloom trotted back to their seats.  “Have you tried the crepes shaped like the Equestria flag?” she asked with her mouth full.  “The fillin’ is blueberry!”  Applejack felt she could have guessed that, judging by the blueberry smeared over her sister's face.  Apple Bloom snuck a glance at the snoring Granny Smith, and lowered her voice, even as she crammed more candy crystals into her mouth.  “Don’t tell Granny I peeked, but her suitcase is full of presents!”

“Now hang on, sugar,” Applejack said, putting on her best older-sister voice.  “You know Hearth’s Warmin’ isn’t only about sweets and presents, right?”

Apple Bloom swallowed her mouthful.  “Uh-oh.  That sounds like you’re gonna start lecturin’.”

“’Fraid so!” Applejack said.  She couldn’t let this teachable moment pass by, so she cleared her throat to begin a history lecture.  “Way back when, Earth ponies, Pegasus ponies, and Unicorn ponies didn’t get along.”

Pinkie Pie grabbed cookie versions of the three types of ponies from Apple Bloom’s haul from the snack cart, and used them as puppets to illustrate AJ’s point.  “I don’t like you!” she made the unicorn pony say.  She held up the Pegasus pony and said in a different voice, “And I don’t like you!”

Applejack smiled at Pinkie, grateful for the element of fun that she was adding to her story.  That was one of the things Applejack knew she could always count on her partner for.  “But then, the evil Windigos came, and they almost iced up everythin’,” she continued.  Pinkie added a candy crystal Windigo to her puppet show.  Applejack continued, “So all three types of ponies decided to work together.  Their cooperation drove them nasty critters away.”

In her squeaky Pegasus voice, Pinkie said, “Scram, Windigos!” Then she ceremoniously disposed of the icy spirit-creature by chomping its head off.

“They raised a new flag to celebrate the coming together of all three tribes, and that’s how Equestria was made.”  Pinkie held up an Equestria flag crepe.  Applejack turned toward Apple Bloom, ready to drive home the moral of the story.  Then she was distracted by a crunching noise, and she looked at Pinkie’s puppet display.  The ponies were still there, but the flag crepe had disappeared.  “Uh… where’d the flag go?”

“I don’t know,” Pinkie Pie said, but her voice was muffled by the blueberry filling in her mouth.

“Is that why we always have a flag raisin’ on the mornin’ of Hearth’s Warmin’?” Apple Bloom asked her sister.

“Mm-hmm!  And tonight, we’ll have the traditional supper to remember the shared bounties of our ancestors.”

“We do that, too!” Pinkie Pie said.  She looked like she’d never even considered that other families might have the same traditions as hers.

“Then we’ll hang our Hearth’s Warmin’ dolls—one for each of us—over the fireplace.  That’s to remind us of the warmth shared on that fateful night.”

“That’s what the Pies do, too!!” Pinkie said, getting even more excited.

“And tomorrow, we’ll exchange presents!”  Applejack added.

Pinkie was so excited that she leaped out of her seat.  “That’s also what we do!!!”

Applejack chuckled.  “Sounds like the Apples and the Pies have all the same traditions,” she said affectionately.  And if so, Applejack thought, then she'd have nothing to worry about, after all.  This Hearth's Warmin' would be just as joyful as all of the ones she'd celebrated with her own family at Sweet Apple Acres.

When they got off the train, Pinkie was still so excited!  She bounced alongside the Apples on the train platform as they made sure they had all of their luggage with them.  She was so happy, she felt like she could stand up on the rooftops and shout about how happy she was and how much she loved Applejack!

Pinkie thought that Applejack had seemed to perk up on the train ride, so she'd assumed that AJ had forgotten about her worries.  But something must still have been nagging at her, because Applejack pulled Pinkie away from her family so that only she could hear her.  “What if… our families don’t get along?”

Pinkie Pie didn't think there was anything to worry about.  “We love each other, Applejack,” Pinkie said confidently, “and after tonight, our families are gonna love each other, too.  Everypony will love everypony else.”  She paused, and then said, all in a rush, “Do you know what that means?  There will be so much love that our hearts will fill up and then we’ll explode and they’ll have to come and pick up all our pieces and try to stick them back together except they’ll mix them up and you and me will be like one pony and we’ll have just one heart squished together and we’ll always be together and never can be apart!”  She paused for a breath, and then added, “That might make the wedding a little awkward, though.”  Her point, Pinkie knew, was that this Hearth’s Warming was going to be as awesome as any of the most stupendously spectacular parties Pinkie had ever thrown!

A gray pony with heavy eyelids came around the corner of the station.  “Maud!” Pinkie squealed, bounding over to hug her sister.

Maud Pie didn’t react to Pinkie’s hug.  “Congratulations on your engagement, Pinkie Pie,” she said without inflection.  “You too, Applejack.  I hope you had fun skiing yesterday.”

AJ looked taken aback.  “How’d you know I went skiing?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” Maud asked.  “There are specks of extrusive basalt in your mane.”  When Applejack still didn’t seem to get it, Maud sighed, “It’s a rock.  The only place you can find it around Ponyville is in the mountains.”

“She’s good,” Granny Smith said, impressed.

Pinkie thought that introducing their families was going well already.  “How’s school?” she asked her sister.  Maud had recently started studying for her degree in rock science.  Studying, shmudying, Pinkie thought, but she was proud of her big sister nonetheless.

“If you thought quartz had a symmetrical crystallization pattern, wait ‘til I tell you about garnet.”  There was still no inflection in her voice, but Pinkie, who was very highly attuned to these things, thought she could hear just a hint of excitement.

And when someone she loved was happy, that made Pinkie Pie happy.  “It’s so good to see you!” she said, giving her sister another hug.

As they crested the ridge, Applejack saw the farmhouse and rock-silo, both lit up with strands of twinkling lights against the early twilight.  This was her first view of the home Pinkie had grown up in.  She felt her worries start to slip away again, as she saw the bright, welcoming windows nestled against the snow.  “It’s as purdy as a picture!” she said.

“C’mon, everypony!” Pinkie said, beginning to bounce down the hill.  “Meet my splenderiferous, wonderifical, super-fabulous, and just plain awesome family!”  The rest of the Pie family came out of the front door as they approached the house.  “Everypony,” Pinkie said, indicating the Apples, “meet everypony!”  She gestured towards the Pies, who had arranged themselves in a row in front of the farm house.  Maud went over to join them.

Applejack had briefly met Pinkie’s parents, who she already thought of as Ma and Pa Pie, before, but of Pinkie’s three sisters, she’d only interacted with Maud.  She smiled shyly at Limestone Pie and Marble Pie.  The colors of their coats and manes were just as dull and muted as Maud, Pa, and Ma Pie.  Applejack wondered, not for the first time, how the bright and bubbly Pinkie she loved so much could have come from this rock-farming family.

Pa Pie, wearing a dull black hat, approached the matriarch of the Apple family.  “Good morrow to thee, Granny Smith.  Thou shalt know me as Igneous Rock Pie, son of Feldspar Granite Pie.”

His wife, her mane pulled back in a no-nonsense bun, trotted up to stand next to him.  “Prithee call me Cloudy Quartz.”

Igneous added, “May thou comfort our humble homestead bring.”

Applejack held her breath as she watched this first meeting between Granny and her future in-laws.  She felt her heart drop as Granny grimaced and said, “Y’all’s got some real funny-like words.”  AJ wasn’t sure that Granny Smith would take to the Pies.  But then Granny smiled and said, “What didja say them thar’ names were?  I’m just gonna call you Iggy,” she said, pointing a hoof at Igneous Rock Pie.  “And you,” she squinted at Cloudy Quartz, “Big Mama Q!”

The Pies glanced at each other, eyebrows raised, but then they looked back at Granny and smiled welcomingly.  Applejack let out her breath.  It seemed like the ice was broken, and Granny and Pinkie's parents would get along just fine.

The Pies then turned to Applejack.  "Welcome," Ma Pie said to her.  Applejack smiled at her future mother-in-law.

Suddenly, Limestone Pie trotted forward and gave all of the Apples a fierce, scowling look.  “I keep things running on this farm, so you better make sure you follow my rules," she said.  "Rule One: Nopony enters the mine without permission.  Rule Two—”

“Okay, Ms. Crabby Pants!” Pinkie interjected, ruffling her sister’s mane.  “Nopony’s gonna mess with your mining operations!”

Limestone tried her best to continue to look fierce, even with frizzled flyaways framing her face.  She was not very successful.  “Or Holder’s Boulder!” she said, gesturing towards a huge rock, as tall as six ponies, that stood on the edge of the cliff that dropped down to the quarry.

Pinkie Pie rolled her eyes.  “Nopony touch Holder’s Boulder.  Happy now, Limestone?”

Limestone continued to try to scowl.  To divert everypony's attention elsewhere, Applejack turned toward the final member of the Pie family, who was standing back behind everypony else, with part of her mane covering half of her face.  “And you must be—” she started to say.

“This is Marble Pie, my baby sister who was born only a few minutes after me but she’ll always be a widdle biddy baby to me, isn’t that right?” Pinkie said in a rush, grabbing Marble’s face and pinching her cheeks.  Marble looked mortified.  “She’s so excited to meet everypony!” Pinkie continued.  “Oh, and she wants to wish you all a happy Hearth’s Warming!”

Everypony looked at Marble and she blushed, her face turning almost as pink as Pinkie’s.  Finally she said quietly, “Mm-hmm.”

Applejack wondered if growing up, Pinkie Pie always did the talkin’ for her.  Then she wondered if the Pies would show her photo albums of Pinkie as a filly.  She hoped so--Pinkie Pie had probably been pretty cute when she was young!

Pinkie bounded up to the top of the huge rock, and gave a sharp whistle.

“What’d I say about Holder’s Boulder?” Limestone grumbled, though gently.

Pinkie Pie ignored her.  “Everypony get settled in!  You all have bunks in the guestroom upstairs.  And then it’s time for Hearth’s Warming Eve dinner!”  This announcement was accompanied by an explosion of Pinkie’s signature confetti.  Applejack smiled, glad that the introductions were over.  Ma and Pa Pie looked relaxed, and Limestone had stopped scowling.  Granny Smith and Apple Bloom were smiling.  Big Mac hung behind them shyly, but he also looked content.  Everypony seemed to be in a good mood.

“So far, so good!”  she whispered to Pinkie as they followed their families into the farm house.