One Month Ago

Little Strongheart enjoyed the feast that was set after the buffalo's annual stampede. Stampeding can work a huge appetite for her people. The feast was also a good way to relax after a days worth of running. The today's feast was what she was looking forward to thanks to the added addition to the apple pies from their former enemies and now friends from Appleoosa.

She and her tribe sat around the campfire in a tight circle with loads of food mixed with the buffalo's tradition food and the apple pies from the cowponies. The buffalo chatted with each other in good fun about their day and their excited anticipation of trying out the apple pies. They waited as it was Chief Thunderhooves who starts the feast when he receives his pie which he waited for patiently. The Chief's pie was extra special as it was received as a gift from Appleloosa's sherif in the anniversary of the bound between buffalo and ponies.

Little Strongheart was listening to Fierce-Horn's chatting about how he won a fight between two of his brothers to show who was the strongest when until…

"STOP THAT HARE!!!!" a buffalo shouted.

They turned to see a couple of buffalo chasing a hare who managed to steal a pie. It wasn't just a pie but a pie that was meant for the Chief. Needless to say, he was not happy.

"CATCH THAT THIEVING HARE!!!" he roared.

The tribe obeyed their leader as they chased after the hare around their camp. The thieving long eared pest had did all sorts of tricks to increased the buffalo's fury. Making them run in circles when then they realized that the hare was gone. Running around a teepee chased by two buffalo until one stopped and waited for the chaser and the chasie to come around to surprise attack the hare but only ended up hitting his brother. The hare even did a dastardly move when he had snuck up on one bull and lit his tail on fire with a stick on fire from the campfire. The chase then left the camp and into the desert with the hare chased by a horde of angry bisons with Little Strongheart in the lead.

She looked ahead to see a hole that is likely to be the hare's hideout and pushed further ahead to catch it before it can reach it. But then she saw another hare ahead running towards their direction also being chased by what she can only describe as a giant boar with face of anger that would make Thunderhooves jealous.

The rabbits had reached their escape but the charging forces didn't seem to stop. Sensing an incoming clash, Little Strongheart jumped to the side for safety. Unfortunately, her bulky brothers and the hulking pig weren't as graceful as they tried to skid in the dirt to stop but the result still ending in a huge crash. The Bisons and pig were sent to the air and land back to the earth and ended in a disgruntle heap of fur, horns, and the singular tusks.

Little Strongheart looked at the group with a grimace, having felt that crash despite her quick escape. She looked to her right and saw that out of nowhere, a dragon, as tall as her chief and dressed in a cowpony getup, standing next to her, calmly looking at the pile of buffalo and the lonesome boar.

She stared in surprise at him when he turned towards the female calf and simply tipped his hat to her.

"Evening." was all he said.

Present

"..And thats how we met Mr.Northstone and Ricardo." Little Strongheart told Applejack, who laughed hileriously at the story.

Applejack had settled in the buffalo camp after her mood went downward to depression but was back in good spirits when Strongheart told her the story about how her dragon rescuer and the buffalo tribe first met.

Mentioned dragon was sitting with them near the camp fire, laying down on his with his head rested on a log with a smirk on his scaly maw.

"And also how the war between buffalo and a hog almost started with the way Thunderhooves was more mad then fire ants being poked by a stick." he said humorously.

Applejack looked to Little Strongheart in shock, seeing if it did almost happened. The calf smiled sheepishly.

"The Chief and Ricardo almost had a duel when they recovered until me and Mr.Northstone calmed them down." she confirmed.

"Your Chief really needs to stop making wars because of his temper." Northstone added with a deadpan tone.

Wanting to change the subject, Applejack directed her attention to the sheep dragon.

"So Northstone, how did ya managed to get a hog like Ricardo and make it your sheep…pig?" She asked, pointing to the giant pig who narrowed his eyes at her for being mentioned.

Northstone gave a humorous snort from his nostrils. "Two years ago, When I was hanging about in this some small town that i don't remember the name of, I took a job as a bodyguard for these small group of ponies that were running this cryptic creature documentary. You know, those ponies who go on and on about how they search for the monster of the day only to end up with nothing but zilch and wasting your time. Monster adventure or something along those lines I think they called it." He explained

Despite the different fields of work, these ponies remind Applejack of some certain con brothers. She nodded her head for the dragon to continue.

"Anyway, after they left and with me had wasted two weeks of my life, I was about to leave for Manehatten until I discovered a young piglet, alone in the forest. Poor little guy was shivering. I didn't know what happened to his parents so I took him in and fed him until suddenly we found ourselves inseparable when the week was done." He said, smiled while he petted his boar companion.

"It was only until Ricardo was one year old when I found out that he was no simple boar. He was already the size of bull and the attitude of one. He then killed his first timber wolf when we started sheep herding. I never lost a sheep when Ricardo is around." Northstone said in a proud tone.

Applejack was touched by the story and her respect for Northstone increased. She could see that he was dragon of experience and character, reminded her of ponies like Princess Celestia, Zecora, and her father. But she then noticed that in his eyes that there was a small amount of loss and pain. It wasn't really there but her element helped her saw that his calm facade was a mask as she noticed that when he wasn't talking, he had deep thoughtful, if almost somber look. He would stare at his hands when he wasn't part of the conversation.

She stopped her analyzing when he stood up and stretched, shaking his joints awake.

"Well, I think its time to hit the sack, you girls get some sleep, especially you Applejack as we need to leave early." He said.

He and Ricardo left the campfire and headed towards their herd. The while the opposite gendered pair entered a small teepee that belonged to Little Strongheart. They organized the rugs to get ready to sleep. But before they could, Little Strongheart spoke up.

"Applejack, is something bothering you? you seemed a bit dishearten after you mentioned Sugar Belle." She said, concern laced in her voice."

Applejack was surprised by the sudden question and thought about brushing it off. But she didn't want to do that to a friend who was only concerned about her. That, and she remembered her poor lying skills.

Giving in, she signed and handed Little Strongheart her locket from her bags. The calf looked at the picture of a happy family.She already figured that the two older ponies were the apple pony's parents. She looked back at the mare for clarification.

"That picture was taken after my mom gave birth to Applebloom. Things were looking bright for all of us, us as a family raising the orchard together." She sadly smiled at the future that never came true.

"But after my parents…were gone, it was hard on me, my brother, and granny smith. We had gotten in bits trouble along the way but in the end, we had endured and made Sweet Apple Acres lived up to its reputation." She said, with her smile switching to a sad look for what she was going to say next.

"But then Big Mac met Sugar Belle and ah was pumping excited to meet her. She is very sweet and is very passionate about her work. Ah can easily tell that she and Big Mac love each other." She then paused, getting her bearings.

"But the more Ah think of her and Big Mac, the resemblance that they are to my parents, this painful feeling comes inside of me. Ah want them to be together but Ah can't bare this terrible reminder of that..my parents aren't here." She finished, laying down as the sadness was weighing her down.

Little Strongheart looked at her friend helplessly. She didn't know what to say as she has no idea what Applejack was going through. She almost was being dragged by her own sadness until an idea came to her mind, bringing a smile to her face.

"Im sorry, Applejack. I don't know what to say to you in your time of grief but I know someone who can." She looked outside of the teepee. Applejack followed her line of sight to see it was directed at Northstone who was gathering some leftover food near the campfire, unaware of whats going on in the teepee. Applejack then suddenly gotten a weird feeling as she stared at the dragon, almost as she seen this before.

Little Strongheart looked back at Applejack. "Mr.Northstone had helped me get through some trouble thoughts of my own, I bet he can help you of what you're struggling with." Little Strongheart said encouragingly.

Applejack went into thought for a bit before she answered. "Alright, ah'll talk to him but first, we need to get some sleep." The calf agreed and then they went to sleep.

The odd feeling in Applejack lingered in her for a bit until sleep took her over.

This was Applejack's favorite part of the apple family reunion. When her older members were making apple fritters, she would sneak under the table and wait for them to not be looking before she would grab apple flavored pastries. The table cloth hid her from confused eyes when the adults were wondering were the fritters had gone too. Applejack quietly giggled when she saw the familiar green colored furred hooves of her grandmother, grumbling at the sudden mystery of the hoofdinie treats. But Applejack's mischievous smile formed into confusion when two scaled feet with spurs appeared next to her grandmother.

"Howdy Smith, whats wrong? You look like a rattlesnake looking for a pony that threw a rock at it." A deep toned voiced had said.

Her granny anwsered "Hello Onyx. Im just looking for the wipper snapper that had took the fritters." Her voice came with small amount of frustration.

Applejack watched their feet walked around the table, failing to see the thief. Her granny then sighed contently.

"Thanks for coming over Onyx, I appreciate the extra help for the reunion. Things have been going rough with Buttercup being a bit depressed lately.

"Is it about her father?" The male said with a somber tone.

"Yes, seeing all these family members together must've reminded of her how she can't get these moments with her own family now. Ah swear, if ah see that no good Grand Pear again, Im gonna give him fistful of apples." she said angrily which made young Applejack winced.

Her scaly companion laughed good naturally. "I find it beautiful that you had took in Buttercup as one of your own. I remembered you saying that apples don't fraternized with pears you had eloquently said, last time I was here." He said with humor in his voiced.

"Ah'll admit, it was strange having a pear living under the same roof with us apples, but later on, seeing the love she and Bright Mac have and them giving birth to two foals ah am proud to call my grandchildren. It helped me see the good it had brought." She said, a loving tone replacing her previous one."

Suddenly, Applejack heard some shouting in the distance. She couldn't make out what was said but apparently, Granny Smith's friend did.

"Huh, looks like Braeburn is trapped in the well again. I better go in and help. We'll catch up later, Maria." The spurred feet then headed towards the problem, leaving Granny and Applejack alone. The former not aware yet of latter.

Granny signed longingly, "Ah can see how ah went out with you back when we were youngin's "

"Ewwww." A little voice said, surprising the middle age mare.

Granny looked under the table from the voice came from and saw a little orange filly covered with fritter crumbs on her face.

Granny gave a deadpan stare at Applejack. "Now, what you got to say for yourself, Missy?"

The filly's only response was a sheepish smile.

Applejack woke up from her dream and sprung up from her rug bed. She looked around the teepee and saw that Little Strongheart was asleep. She looked outside to see it was dark out with nothing but the occasional baww from the neighboring sheep.

"….What the hay?" Applejack said, her confusion up to 100.

Author's Note

Alright, the next chapter will defiantly be the last as originally, I meant for this to be a one shot but this….thing became longer and longer. Anyway, Like I said before, give me your honest but polite opinion about what was good (If there is any) and what was bad. Also, I would like to shout to Bloody Khan and Sparrow40 for following me to their deaths-I mean for just following me…thats what I defiantly meant to say.
Keep on living bronies. I know I can't, what with me being a skeleton