“Applejack, are we poor?”
Applejack, who was laying upon the couch, looked up from her book at the sound of her sister's question. Apple Bloom was standing in the middle of the living room, her wide eyes silently pleading for a response. She could feel her stomach turning as she jumped down, taking a spot just a few hoofsteps away from the youngest apple. With as sheepish a voice as she could muster, Applejack muttered, “Beg pardon?”
Apple Bloom's expression did not change. “Are we poor?”
The first tiny bead of sweat started to make its way down Applejack's brow; thankfully, the shadow of her hat was enough to mask the fear, at least so far. Even in this state, she was still able to give her sister an honest smile and reassuring pat on the head. “Now why would y'all worry your head about something like that?”
Apple Bloom shrugged. “Dunno. Just curious, I guess.”
“Well, don't you worry about nonsense like that.” Applejack swung her right foreleg in front of her left and grinned. “There's a lot more to life than just making money.”
Apple Bloom's eyes narrowed just slightly. “So what you're saying is that we're poor.”
It took Applejack nary a second to recognize her blunder. The sweating was more profuse than before, and no headgear would be able to obscure it this time. She took a step back, only for Apple Bloom to counter with a step forward. Desperate, Applejack looked around the room for some kind of support or escape, but there was none to be found. Granny Smith was already in bed, and Big Mac was still out on a delivery and would not be back until the next morning. Their friends were all back in town, and unless Pinkie Pie's strangeness had rubbed off on her, there was no way she could make it out there for, say, Rarity to explain the inner workings of wealth and prosperity to a youth.
Then again, the idea of having Rarity do that made Applejack's blood boil...while also giving her an idea.
Applejack loudly cleared her throat and looked her sister straight in the eye. “Is anypony at school picking on you? This sounds just like the sort of nonsense Diamond Tiara would...”
Apple Bloom gasped. “Applejack! I keep telling y'all, DT isn't a bully anymore! I mean, yes, I suppose it feels weird that our families founded Ponyville around the same time, and she lives in a mansion while we live in a barn, but that doesn't...”
“So is that why you're asking?” Applejack could feel the hostility radiating in her voice, but she couldn't help it. “Apple Bloom, the Riches have a very different idea of what makes a good life from us Apples, that's all. Everypony does.”
Apple Bloom cocked her head. “What do you mean?”
“Well...”
Applejack scanned the room once more. This time, however, she found the perfect example: the family portraits along the wall, depicting the current generation of Apples, their ancestors and relatives, and wherever Granny Smith fit into the scheme of things. She leaped over to the wall and pointed her hoof towards them, with Apple Bloom slowly following her. “Well, one of the things that make someone rich is having a big, loving family. We have cousins living in every corner of Equestria. Each of them has a different job or passion or lifestyle, to be sure. Aunt and Uncle Orange like the sophisticated life, while your cousin Braeburn prefers the rough-and-tumble frontier. But they are all still a part of the Apple Family. How many families can claim the same thing?”
Apple Bloom tapped a hoof to her chin. “Well...I suppose not many...”
Applejack grinned triumphantly.
“But cousin Goldie Delicious lives in an old shack with a bunch of junk and cats.”
The grin dissipated. “Um...well...”
“And Braeburn's house is pretty small and stuck far out from here. Babs' family has a very small apartment, and that's not even getting into where some of the other Apples live.”
“But that's not the point!” Applejack plodded a hoof against the floorboards. “Think about how big and wonderful our family is...”
Apple Bloom shrugged. “Diamond Tiara has plenty of relatives, too. And they all live in huge houses with servants and pools and everything. And Pinkie Pie has a lot of siblings, but they live on an old rock farm and eat...rock soup.” Apple Bloom paused momentarily to allow her stomach to settle. “So again, Applejack, are we poor?”
And once again, Applejack found herself staring down a pair of pleading, desperate eyes. Now that her first evasion had gone bust, she looked around desperately for another solution. That was when she spotted an old quilt Granny Smith had pulled out of the attic earlier that day. It was gray, dusty, and covered in cobwebs, but it might just work. She approached the old blanket with the gravitas of a museum curator. “Would you take a look at this?”
Apple Bloom rolled her eyes in confusion. “That old thing?”
Applejack's hoof traced its way across the quilt's surface, highlighting the exquisite embroidery. There were delicate flowers, beautiful rainbows, and smiling pony faces sewn into the fabric's surface, echoing of ages long past. “This quilt was created by your great-great-great granny. When Granny Smith and the first Apples came here, they brought this quilt with them, and it has remained in our family ever since.”
Apple Bloom nodded her head. “Uh-huh.”
“And just think of all the other treasures we have stashed away up there!” Applejack pointed towards the ceiling. “Some of our furniture has been in the family for generations! We have books, toys, and other things that have been passed from one Apple to the next! Anypony can go buy a blanket at a store, but something like this quilt....it's priceless.”
Apple Bloom leaned in just a bit closer. Her eyes scanned every inch of the old, dusty quilt. “Except...you know, the store quilt would be a lot nicer. Probably a lot more comfortable, too.”
Applejack could feel her eyes crossing. “Well...I suppose that's true. But when ponies buy something like that from a store, they'll usually just throw it out when it's no good anymore. When you have something hoofmade, that darn near sings the story of the ponies that poured their time and effort into making it, you can just feel how valuable it is.”
“I'm not saying it's not important,” said Apple Bloom. “It's a family heirloom, after all. It's just that I think the ones from the shops are nicer. It's just that you say we can't afford anything whenever we go out.” She turned her gaze back to Applejack, her lips quivering from a not-undue amount of frustration. “So does that mean we're poor?”
Applejack's heart skipped a beat, and then another, and then another one three seconds later. She could feel a tightness in her vocal chords as she stammered out a series of, “Well... Well...,” over and over again. Salvation came, however, in the form of the front door. The top half had been left open to let the cooler night air in, and through it, Applejack saw the answer. Her confidence returned as she righted herself into a proper pose, kicked her hooves up, and trotted over to the door. “Apple Bloom, come over here for a second.”
Apple Bloom let out a groan and rolled her eyes, but still did as her big sister commanded. She raised herself on her hind legs and propped her front hooves on the door's lower half's frame as Applejack swept her own foreleg across the empty air before them. “Don't you see how beautiful it all is?”
Outside, the orchards that supplied Sweet Apple Acres' signature crop were silhouetted against a starry night sky. The moon, full and bright, shined down like a spotlight on the apple trees, causing their red fruit to almost glisten like diamonds in a jewelry store. A slow wind pushed its way against the branches, causing them to brush and snap against each other. When paired with the rhythmic chirping of crickets and the distant hooting of owls, the rustling seemed less like a bunch of old trees and more like a natural symphony.
Apple Bloom, a smile on her face, turned back to Applejack. “It's gorgeous.”
Applejack likewise smiled and nodded. “This is the land our foreponies settled, and it's still ours. It's hard work, and requires a lot of sacrifice, but we have kept this farm running since before Ponyville was founded. We may not have fancy duds or hang out at the most sophisticated places, but we still have this land. When Rainbow Dash did her Rainboom, it reminded me of how precious this farm and our family really was. And that, Apple Bloom, is worth more than all the tea in Canterlot.”
The littlest Apple lowered her hooves back to the floor. “You're right. We really do have something special here...but that just means we aren't land poor.”
Applejack's eyes widened. “W-Well, I suppose...”
“And if the land is so valuable, then why do we have to rely on the cider sales to support us during the Winter? Shouldn't we still have plenty of bits by then?”
“W-Well,” Applejack said, her voice now a low squeak. Sweat was racing down her brow like rain from a storm cloud, and her muscles were quivering like a bowl full of gelatin. “You see, Apple Bloom, sometimes...”
Apple Bloom pointed a hoof up towards the opening. “And what about all the bad apples? We can't sell those! And the fruit bats! You were so worried about bits that you wanted to exterminate them when they first showed up! If we didn't have money problems, you'd never would have done that!”
“B-But...”
Apple Bloom's eyes narrowed. Her knees locked up. Her head lowered as her mouth turned into a snarl. “So could you please just answer the question?! ARE. WE. POOR?!”
"YES!”
Apple Bloom took a sudden step back, and if Applejack weren't in the midst of hysterics, she would have joined her as well. In one fell swoop, the filly had reduced her older sister to panicked, heaving breaths and fractured her ability to stand straight or look her in the eye. “It's true, Apple Bloom! We're poor! Darn near every bit we make goes back into keeping the farm alive, and even that sometimes isn't enough! We're in debt to our eyeballs! I might have to sell some acres to keep us from getting foreclosed on next month! There are some days where one of us big ponies have to go hungry just to make certain you have something to eat!”
“A-Applejack, I didn't mean...”
“And don't you know how bad it makes me feel?” Tears began to pour from Applejack's eyes – a rare occurrence, to be sure. “I've heard how ponies talk about us, about how we're just a bunch of poor farmers and they should take pity on us for not being as well-off as them! I can see all the things you want us to buy, all these wonderful things that would make you happy or healthy or better, and it breaks my heart to know that I can't give them to y'all! I can't take breaks to play with you or your friends without putting off work, and that means even less of what we barely got to begin with!”
Applejack finally stopped rambling. She slowly sank onto the floor, her body and head tucked between her legs as she quietly sobbed. Apple Bloom wiped the water from her own eyes and stepped closer to her big sister. “Applejack...why didn't you just say so?”
“Because I didn't want you to feel ashamed.” Applejack looked up from the ground. “I mean, I'm a poor farmer, Apple Bloom. Always have been, always will be. But you...” She glanced at the shield decorating Apple Bloom's flank. “You're still young, Apple Bloom. There's no telling where you'll go with your life. And I just wanted to make sure you didn't feel...well, ashamed to be so broke.”
“Just because I'm a Cutie Mark Crusader doesn't mean I'm not an Apple!” Apple Bloom smiled at Applejack. “I just...I heard Big Mac going over the books and...wanted to know if we were poor or not. He just told me to ask you and...skedaddled out of the room real fast.”
Applejack sniffed and stood back up. “R-Really? That's what this is all about?” She made a mental note to have a long, detailed conversation with Big Macintosh about this come the morning – the kind of conversation that usually netted her a few hours off while somepony else got to muck out the pig pens.
“If it will help, I can go without dinner once or twice. I could just get a bigger lunch at school or...”
In a flash, Applejack's hoof was touching Apple Bloom's mouth, silencing the filly. “None of that! I'm sorry I yelled all that at you, but I'm not going to let my little sister starve. Got that?”
Apple Bloom smiled and nodded. “Absolutely!”
“Good!”
The sorrow and despair that had gripped Applejack seemed to have disappeared, leaving instead a mare full of confidence and pride in herself and her heritage. She gave her hat a quick adjustment and turned towards the stairs. “Well, if y'all excuse me, I'm feeling a bit tuckered out. I think I'll hit the hay early and...”
“Applejack, I'm really not ashamed to be poor.”
Applejack turned towards Apple Bloom. The filly had trotted up alongside her, a warm smile on her face. “I know what you meant back there...you know, about the family, the quilt, and the orchard. We really do have a lot to be proud of. I'm sorry if I made you feel...”
Applejack smiled and gave her sister a gentle nudge. “Whoa there, don't go feeling bad for yourself now. Yes, I did get a little emotional there, but that's only because I care so much about y'all. We may not have mountains of bits, but we will always have each other, no matter where we go in Equestria.”
A tiny part of Apple Bloom wanted to argue that point, but the greater part was strong enough to remind her that this was not the time or place. And in any case, there really wasn't much of an argument to be made. She leaned into her sister, giving her a quick and loving nuzzle, before trotting towards and up the stairs. Applejack locked up the barn and slowly followed along, this time paying no heed to the creaking boards that would require replacing. Her brain wasn't trying to run over all of the fancy financial calculations her brother typically handled, nor even the orchard she had to buck clean before the week was out.
And as both Applejack and Apple Bloom laid themselves to rest in their respective rooms, they still felt richer than the wealthiest ponies in all of Equestria.
Author's Note
I'm sorry.
