Twilight Sparkle ran her hoof carefully over her schedule searching for the current date. "Hmm... mother's day. Good! That means there's a big party at Sugarcube Corner for all the m... m..." Her purple eyes widened in shock. "Oh no.... mom!" Spike wandered in to find her rifling in a drawer and ducked as a quill came zooming across the room at him. "Watch it!" He shouted as he caught it. "You're gonna put someone's eye out!"
"SPIKE!" Twilight yelled, "I need you to send a letter to my mom, telling her about the party, tell her to hurry! And um... apologize for me?" She added, a rosy blush coloring her cheeks.
"You really should do this sooner than the day of the party Twilight.." Spike chided before blowing his flames over the letter to send it.
"Yes yes Spike." She replied. "Now we have to go over the guest list, there's Rainbow... oh she's bringing her dad?" Twilight frowned in confusion. "Rarity is bringing her mom and dad, Pinkie Pie invited her whole family, AppleJack... hang on... Spike this can't be right." Spike peered around her at where she was pointing.
"Oh yea Twilight, AppleJack said she couldn't come and she's really sorry. But everyone else is coming, oh and we're gonna get to see Maude! She's always a hoot!" The sarcastic owl in the corner gave a small "whoo!" at this remark and Spike left Twilight to her obsessing to go chat with him.
"AppleJack isn't coming? How could she not be coming?! Mothers day only comes once a year and it's really very important!" Frowning in frutration she crumpled up the guest list and tossed it in the nearest bin. "Well we'll just see about this." All around town ponies were stringing up colorful streamers and banners declaring the occasion. Twilight smiled softly as she thought about how nice it was going to be to see her own mother that evening, she didn't get to see her very often after all. Seeing a pink pony soothing a foal she wondered briefly if Cadence and her brother would come. Maybe not, being a mother was great but being a new mother could be awfully stressful. Before long Sweet Apple Acres came into view and she saw Big Mac loading up a wagon. "Big Mac have you seen AppleJack?" she called.
"Nope." Big mac shook his head and continued with his task. Wondering for a moment what he was up to Twilight trotted toward the barn and saw a familiar blonde tail disappear into the apple cellar.
"AppleJack!" She called, frowning as she saw her friend tense up in the process of retrieving a bucket of apples.
"Oh uh... hey Sugarcube, shouldn't you be at the big party gettin' ready?" Applejacks eyes wouldn't quite meet Twilights which caused her frown to deepen. "Yes I should... and so should you. Why aren't you coming?" Applejack shifted the bucket of apples on her back a bit and began climbing out of the cellar. "Well I... just have so much work to do." AppleJack's face srunched uncomfortably. "Sorry Sugarcube, but I bet ya'll will have a just dandy time without me." Twilight stamped her hoof as AppleJack walked away toward the cart. Her tail dragged slightly in the dirt as she went and Twilight knew something was up. Suddenly she remembered, AppleJack was not against accepting help, if they could get all her work done then AppleJack could come to the party after all!
She hurried after her friend and lifted the bucket off her back by magic, placing it carefully in the wagon. "Well maybe I can help!" She suggested. "I don't know..." AppleJack's eyes shifted to the left, still not quite meeting Twilight's. "You've got so much work to do an' all... if ya spend all afternoon helpin' me out you'll be too plum tuckered to enjoy the party!"
"Nonesense." Twilight insisted. "I'll go talk to the others and I bet between the lot of us we can get your work done in no time! Then you can come to the party too!" With this Twilight took off and Big Mac gently nuzzled his sister's shoulder.
"She just don' get it does she Big Mac?"
"Nope."
Twilight was out of breath by the time she reached Sugarcube Corner but had she not been her breath would have likely caught in her throat. The place looked great! Every ounce of space was covered in gifts or colorful decorations. "This looks wonderful girls! But I need your help! AppleJack said she's got too much work to do to come, but if we work together I bet we can help her and get it done in time!" Suddenly all the chattering ponies stopped, and looked at her. Pinkie Pie shifted uncomfortably before saying "um... Twilight? AppleJack never comes to our mothers day celebration..."
"But why not?" Twilight demanded. "This is Cadence's first year as a mother and if she's not too tired to come I want everyone to be here!" Rarity took a deep breath and approached Twilight, laying a hoof on her shoulder. "Twilight.. dear... AppleJack has somewhere else she goes on mothers day. She goes to... the south fields... to visit her own mom." Twilight frowned.
"Why does her mother live in the south fields and not up at the house with everyone else?" Rarity let out a slightly exasperated breath. "Twilight... come and sit down."
The sun was just setting as AppleJack hauled herself into the wagon and let AppleBloom lay her head in her lap. "Tell me somethin' new about her?" She asked, meeting AppleJack's sorrowful eyes.
"Well Sugarcube... she was a lot like you. Full'a life an' energy... an she always made sure everythin' was just fair. Pa spoiled me an Big Mac a little but Mama always made sure everthin' was jus' so..." The ride up to the south fields was long and Granny Smith and AppleBloom were asleep by the time they got there but AppleJack was wide awake. She could have sworn she was sleeping though as she saw her five friends standing in a line before a cluster of tables draped with linens and streamers. "What's goin' on here? Did you know about this Big Mac?"
"Nope."
Twilight trotted up to the wagon and helped AppleJack down while AppleBloom rubbed the sleep from her eyes. "We thought this year we all wanted to celebrate together, so we brought the party here to your mom." AppleJack's eyes swam with tears that refused to fall as she swept Twilight into a hug. "M'sorry Twi... I jus'..." Twilight shook her head.
"You don't need to explain AppleJack. I'm sorry for not understanding sooner. Come on, let's go say hi to your mom."
As the stars were just started to peek out from behind the clouds Cadence made an appearance looking slightly disheveled. "The baby is asleep, but Shining Armour stayed behind to sit.. but I wanted to celebrate with you all even if I can't stay long. I thought the party was supposed to be somewhere else though?" Twilight smiled.
"I think we'll be having our mothers days parties here from now on." Starlight followed her gaze to where AppleJack was rubbing AppleBloom's back. "Gee Twilight, I thought you knew everything about friendship." She whispered. Twilight let out a soft sigh.
"Friendship lessons never really end Starlight. There will always be things your friends keep secret, for your protection or theirs, and a good friendship is always evolving and changing. You will never stop learning new things about your friends."
Pinkie Pie yawned and smiled brightly. "I'm really glad we got to spend mothers day with AppleJack this year Twilight." Twilight smiled as she heard AppleBloom starting to recite the story of how she got her cutie mark. "Me too Pinkie... me too."
