A ringing sound broke through Granny Smith Apple’s mental funk. It came from the bell above the entrance to the cafe where she sat alone, nursing a cup of cooling coffee. A soft buzz of conversation rippled through the few other occupied tables, prompting her to raise her eyes from the cup.
She felt her stomach knot at the sight of Mayor Mare, who stood in the doorway, giving her a tense frown.
Granny Smith looked down again, and took a slow sip of the cold, bitter liquid. It tasted almost coppery on her tongue. She focused on the sensation, purposely ignoring both the chatter of ponies around her, as well as the sound of approaching hoofsteps.
“Good morning, Granny Smith,” Mayor Mare said right next to her. “I wasn’t sure if you’d be in town this morning, what with the harvest preparations and, ah, changes in your home.”
“Harvest or no, I couldn’t rightly ask Bright Mac and Pear… Buttercup to get up at the crack of dawn on their first morning as husband and wife, now could I?” She raised the cup to her lips again, wrinkled her muzzle at the scent of stale coffee, then set it back down. “Reckon I might not get much response if I tried, anyway.”
“That’s kind of you,” Mayor Mare said, clearing her throat. “I suppose there’ll be a lot of little changes like that to get used to.”
A long, awkward silence broke between them, and Granny Smith watched as Mayor Mare’s eyes tightened, and as she shifted her weight back and forth between her left and right set of hooves.
“We’ve been friends a long time, Marey. Now I reckon you’re either just stoppin’ by to use the little fillies’ room, or you’re waitin’ for me to ask you to pull up a chair so you can talk about what’s eatin’ ya.”
“Oh! Sorry.” Mayor Mare planted her hooves, then took her time lowering herself into the chair opposite Granny Smith. A look crossed her face that hovered somewhere between a genuine smile and nervous tension.
“This is gonna be about you marrying away my little boy without so much as a how-do-you-do, ain’t it,” Granny Smith said, her tone flat.
Mayor Mare’s muzzle pulled into a tight frown. “I would've come around later today to talk to you about it. Lately, Bright Mac had been telling me about how the two of them had been getting more serious, but I… I just could never quite find the right words to tell it to you.”
“Well, don’t you worry too much, Marey. Truth is, I don’t rightly have the words for it now, either.”
Granny Smith watched the other mare reach out across the table and place her hooves atop her own. “I am so sorry,” Mayor Mare all but whispered, looking down at the woodgrain of the table. “Bright Mac made a heck of a case for why I ought to marry them right then. You’ve got a gentle, smart, and charismatic son there; you should be proud of him.”
“Sure I’m proud of him, Marey.” Granny Smith sighed. “Though you know them two ain’t much past legal to get married. Shoot, from what I've heard, Princess Celestia might be lookin' to raise limits.”
“I… I know.” Mayor Mare met her eyes again. “And you should know I wouldn’t do this for just anypony. If I didn’t know how sensible Bright Mac is… if the whole town hadn’t known how much they cared about each other, or how unfair… ah, her father was…”
“You was gonna say, ‘Their parents.’”
Mayor Mare blushed. “I wanted you to see it; everypony did. And it seemed like there was still time to bring you around, until her father forced their hooves.”
“Well, that’s a Pear for you.” Granny Smith shook her head. “I ain’t mad at you, Marey. Not exactly, anyway. Not at my boy, either. Definitely not at that sweet girl o’ his. Can’t say as I could’ve done much better in their place.”
A smile worked its way across Mayor Mare’s face. “Granny, you have no idea how relieved I am to hear that.”
“Now, let’s not be callin’ me that just yet,” Granny Smith said.
“Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean anything by it. I just meant it like you call me ‘Marey.’”
“I’m sure ya didn’t… but there is a difference, ain’t there? I reckon with them two lovebirds takin’ over the master suite, it ain’t gonna be long before that lil’ space in the middle of my name feels like a big ol’ space, if ya know what I mean.”
“I can’t think that that’s all bad? Though I’m sure it’s still a lot to take in.”
“No, it ain’t bad, Marey. I just feel…” Granny Smith squeezed her eyes shut. “Well, a bit… overwhelmed. Like in a way, it was hard to think about my boy bein’ old enough to date, much less go steady, much less with a Pear. Now suddenly he’s married to a sweet young thing who’s gonna need a heap of help adjusting to a new life in a new family. Harvest this year’s gonna be different too, with them Pears run out of town; maybe we ain’t gonna have to spend as much time fighting over stall space, but then Bright Mac ain’t gonna have his head in the game quite like he used to.” She shook her head, and forced another sip of the awful, cold coffee. “Everything just changed, all in one fell swoop.”
Mayor Mare frowned. “It isn’t all changing, though. Maybe yesterday was an eventful day, but we can take it one day at a time, you know?”
“Ain’t got much choice now,” Granny Smith said in a brusque tone. “Reckon I might need some time alone to take things in, though. Maybe just today will be enough. It’s gotta be. Can’t sit around mopin’ about my feelings with the harvest on its way.”
“I suppose if that’s what you really need…” Mayor Mare hesitated. “I hate leaving a friend alone at a time like this, but if that’s the best way I can be your friend right now… I guess I understand. Just sitting alone sometimes can be nice.”
Granny Smith met Mayor Mare’s frown with a half-smile. “Thank you, Marey. I know this ain’t the end of the world, but sometimes I just need some time when big stuff happens.” Her grin became more wry. “And I’ll tell ya what, I might’ve just thought of one thing you could do to make it up to me.”
“Anything! Definitely.”
“Why not take my son and daughter-in-law out to eat tonight? Might be they’d appreciate a chance to get to know the mare who married them a little better. And, it might be that I need a lil’ more time to wrap my head around them being married ‘fore I have to sit through dinner with them makin’ goo-goo eyes at each other.”
Mayor Mare smiled. “I suppose that I could do that, for a friend.”
“Well then, I’m much obliged, friend,” Granny Smith said, raising her cup.
