Of all the times of the year this was always Applejack’s least favorite. She had to deal with it so many times by now that it had gotten easier, routine even, but it never stopped being a somber affair when it came to the anniversary of her parents’ deaths. They didn’t do much for it really, they wanted to keep it a small and simple thing knowing that their parents wouldn’t want them to make a huge deal about it. In fact Bright Mac and Pear Butter probably just wanted them to act like it was a normal day, but that just wasn’t something their kids could do. Well, it wasn’t something that Applejack allowed them to do.
Apple Bloom and Big Mac were here with her too, the former with a bouquet of flowers and the latter with a basket full of an even mix of apples and pears. The three of them did something like this every year. The pears were a fairly recent addition though. Applejack had really wanted Sugar Belle to join them for the first time this year too but the date happened to coincide with one of her deliveries. Nothing to be done. All they’d be doing now is putting their things down by the small grave markers, maybe Applejack would say a word or two, and then it would be back to business as usual on Sweet Apple Acres for the three of them.
There wasn’t a wind blowing through the orchards this afternoon, Applejack absently thought as she looked up at the trees around her. The graves of her parents were situated near the far end of the orchards from Ponyville, making it a decent walk but giving them plenty of privacy and quiet.
“Wish I could’ve shown them my Cutie Mark.”
Apple Bloom’s voice cut through that quiet and drew Applejack’s attention to her. A smile quickly appeared on the orange farmers face as she walked over to her little sister and playfully ruffled her mane.
“That’s just how life goes sometimes,” Applejack reassured her. “It might make you feel down a bit but you can be happy too knowing they would’ve been so proud of you and what you’re doing. Just like how happy they’d have been to see Big Mac getting married. You can’t just dwell on the sad things, I think we’ve all spent enough years now knowing that.”
The eyes of her little sister looked up at her, a blank expression on her face instead of either the grateful smile or sad frown that Applejack had expected to see. It was puzzling. Why was Apple Bloom looking at her like that?
Big Mac coughed and Apple Bloom awkwardly turned away from her big sister, nodding slightly at the same time. “Mhm, yeah.”
She was probably just feeling down, Applejack figured. This day just brought everybody’s mood down. Made em feel weird. Applejack probably knew that the best of them. So close to her parents and then pretty much having to take charge of the farm and grow up right then and there. She never really counted herself as much of an introspective pony and really liked to think she was an open book, but this time of the year always did something to her. Her stubborn pride and desire to just grit her teeth and trudge through poor weather could clash with that “open book” idea too. Although she knew she had gotten a bit better about that in recent years thanks to her friends.
But it still bugged her with how Apple Bloom was acting. Curse her curiosity it was just a little strange for that filly. And that cough from Big Mac was getting to her too. Something up that she didn’t know about?
Applejack was about to ask when Apple Bloom opened her mouth again.
“Did you wanna just put the stuff right in-between them?” She said as she walked up to the tiny grave markers, motioning to lay her flowers down between the two.
Applejack nodded, shaken out of her wonderings. “Yep. That’ll do just fine, sugarcube.”
Their memorial to their parents started with Apple Bloom putting down her flowers and Big Mac coming right up next to gently place his basket of apples on the ground too. That big softy, Applejack thought, he almost looked like he had some tears in his eyes. It was something that got a sad smile from her and she stepped up to put a comforting hoof on his back, something he probably wished Sugar Belle was here to do for him instead. She then looked down at the small offering, simple and personal, perfect for the Apple family. It was a sight that warmed her heart despite the nature of it all and the dulling effect this time of the year had on her.
A slight breeze ruffled the leaves in the trees around them and Applejack let out a small sigh as she took her hoof off Big Mac and stepped up to the graves.
“I aint got any words in particular this year. I think we know how things are and what they’d be thinking of us.”
“Eyup,” Big Mac agreed as he and Apple Bloom came up beside her.
“Next year maybe we can do something a little different or special if Sugar Belle’s joining us. What do you think?” She asked the two of them.
“Yeah, that sounds fun,” Apple Bloom responded, smiling up at Applejack this time. “Maybe we can make it like a breakfast or something and then come out here?”
Applejack let another breeze gently caress her mane, enjoying the sentimental moment spent with her family. “Mm. Even if she can’t join us again next year it’ll be alright with just the three of us. Like we’ve always done together.”
She didn’t see the look shared by Apple Bloom and Big Mac as she kept her gaze firmly on the ground but she did hear the strangely uncertain and subdued voice of Apple Bloom next.
“Yep, the three of us.”
A fuzzy feeling was growing in Applejack, the words from her little sister making the sounds from the orchard start to feel distorted, like she was halfway to falling asleep on her hooves. What was nagging at her mind? Applejack couldn’t really think about it as she saw movement out of the corner of her eye, making her head turn automatically to just barely see the vague fog-like pony shape disappear like the vapor of a hot breath on a cold morning. She blinked to clear her vision. Uncertain of what she had just seen. Or if she had really seen anything at all. Things were quiet again, her big brother and little sister were right beside her, all three of them paying respect to their parents.
She turned her face back to the graves. And once she did a wisp of fog appeared in the corner of her eye at the edge of her vision.
“What-”
Applejack perfectly bucked the apples off one of her trees. It filled her with so much joy to see all the apples fall into her perfectly placed buckets, the kind of thing she had done so many times you might think she wouldn’t get that little buzz of happiness each time but you’d be wrong. That skill she’d developed over her years of farm work was something she had a lot of pride in. Especially since it was so key to the maintenance of Sweet Apple Acres and the Apple family way.
“There’s nothing like a busy morning of work to get you sweating now is there?” Applejack said to herself as she wiped a bit of sweat from her brow with a pleased smile on her face.
Turning around she saw Big Mac pulling a wagon into the barn and decided to let her baskets stay where she had left em. Her bro would come back out and pick them up on his next lap, in the meantime she could head to her next tree or see what else needed to be done around here. There were always some chores to do around here. She should probably check the fence for the pig pen or the chicken wire. Apple Bloom was around here somewhere, doing who knows what, Applejack would have to find her sooner or later.
It was quiet again this morning. No wind. And late enough that there wouldn’t be any mist left low to the ground.
Or there shouldn’t have been. But for a while now Applejack swore she could see something every now and then that Big Mac and Apple Bloom vehemently denied was there. They said she was “tired” or overworking herself. The thought of it turned her pleased smile into an annoyed frown. What was up with them? She knew what being overworked or stressed out was really like and that’s not how she was feeling right now.
She was feeling-
-as she walked to the pig pen to inspect it she could already tell from a glance that one of the posts was loose. Chalk that up to her sharp eyes that could easily pick out whenever something wasn’t in tip-top condition. As much as she liked working it was still an annoyance when something that should be nice and tidy and in good shape just wasn’t. Now where was her toolbox?
Now that was another thing. She was sure things had been misplaced around here lately, or she’d been forgetting where she left them. But naw, there was no way it was that. Applejack never forgot where she left her tools and farm equipment. It’s just that there was no other explanation she could think of for why things weren’t always where they should be. Even if Apple Bloom or Big Mac was responsible they wouldn’t have denied it. Maybe some playful critter had come around the farm and was messing up their stuff, like one of Fluttershy’s raccoons.
Applejack shrugged. Whatever it was it didn’t matter right now, she had work to do.
She had to go searching a bit for the toolbox but eventually she found the thing and brought it over to the pig pen. Putting her hoof atop the loose post she could see the reason for its wobbliness was a hairline crack down the side. The post was near close to splitting in two at this rate.
“Well shoot,” Applejack frowned. “Gonna have to replace this whole part of the fence.”
She’d have to dig the nails out of the post connecting it to the other beams of wood and then dig the whole darn post out of the ground and replace it with a new one. What a hassle.
“Aint nobody said farm work was easy,” Applejack said to herself as she pulled out her hammer and grasped it in her mouth. The claw end was well worn after years of use tugging old nails out of wood and now it was about to get one more use.
The two prongs dug divots into the wood as the head of the nail slid right into place. Easing the hammer back and forth she slowly pulled the first one out of the post. A few more.
One of the nails was stuck in pretty hard and the post not being as sturdy as it should’ve been was making pulling it out more difficult than it normally would be. The straining of the wood was getting louder and Applejack wouldn’t have been surprised if she accidentally broke the whole post in half just trying to pull this nail out.
As often when putting a lot of force into something that suddenly gave away, there was quite a bit of recoil when the nail finally popped out and Applejack fell backwards onto the ground, the prongs from the hammer coming back to hit her right above her eye.
“Ow!” She exclaimed, bringing up a hoof to rub where she had been hit after spitting out the hammer. “That really smarts.” The orange pony said as she brought her hoof away to see a light amount of blood on it, the skin broken.
Applejack clicked her tongue. “Now that’s a might bit embarrassing.”
She shook her head and stood up, walking over to her toolbox that should have some gauze inside it just in case of something like this. To her dismay though the more her hooves ruffled around inside the box the less likely it was that she would find any gauze. Where was it? She definitely should have had some, she couldn’t even remember the last time she had had to use any.
The sound of soft steps reached her ears and she perked her head up to see Apple Bloom walking towards her. Perfect.
“Hey there, Apple Bloom. You know where all my gauze has gotten to?” She asked her little sister.
Apple Bloom paused, a blank look on her face as her eyes peered straight into Applejack. It was a longer pause than it should’ve been. One where she clearly wasn’t searching her mind for where the gauze might be. Instead she seemed to be thinking about something else entirely. Apple Bloom visage was so lacking in her usual joyfulness and energy that it was almost starting. But finally the filly spoke up.
“Don’t you remember, Applejack? We used the last of the gauze for aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa-”
Applejack could see a fog coming into her eyes, she blinked once and turned to see the apparition of a pony standing beside her.
“What are-”
It was a cold morning that Applejack woke up to the next day, even in her bed and under her thick blanket. She shrugged it off with no problem, used to cold mornings, and hopped onto the floor. Her strong hooves made a thump as they hit the strained wood, sending familiar creaks throughout her room and the rest of the Apple family home. Work to do just like every morning, less she was called away by the Cutie Map or something else came up. It would’ve been almost normal at this point for Twilight to suddenly burst in and say there was an emergency.
Applejack chuckled at the thought and went to leave her room. Breakfast first, then work. She glanced outside her window to see what the weather was like this morning, despite it still being fairly dark out, and saw a low fog hanging around the ground. That wasn’t so bad though. She’d bucked apples in worse conditions than a little old fog. Hay, she’d buck apples even if the apocalypse was happening.
As she opened up her door to leave she glanced back at the nightstand beside her bed. A photo of her parents sat out there, right next to another photo of her, Big Mac, and Apple Bloom all standing together. Her family. She gave a warm smile to them and headed down the hallway, closing the door shut behind her. Big Mac’s room was right beside hers and Apple Bloom’s a bit away, she walked by the two of them towards the stairs, lastly walking by-
-room and beginning her trot downstairs to the kitchen. From the sound and smell of things, Apple Bloom had woken up before her and had already started to get breakfast ready. That made Applejack mighty proud, knowing she had helped raise such a responsible little sister.
“Big Mac still sleeping in?” Applejack said as she walked into the kitchen, getting to see Apple Bloom stirring a pot of thick porridge.
“Yep, but I’ve got enough ready for everyone. It’ll be done in a minute and then you can get to working, sis,” Apple Bloom looked over her shoulder and smiled at Applejack.
Applejack smiled and nodded at her little sis, taking a seat at their kitchen table. Four Four Four Four Four Four bowls were stacked up next to the large bowl of porridge. Applejack paid it no mind and glanced down at Winona, who was happily wagging her tail and looking up at Apple Bloom. Dogs will do as dogs will do.
It had gotten a little colder in the kitchen, Applejack wondered if Apple Bloom had opened up a window when she came down and started cooking. Whatever the reason for it the fog had started to roll in too. She’d check around and close any windows on her way out to the orchards after she finished eating breakfast.
Whatever Apple Bloom needed to do to finish up the porridge she had apparently done it and began spooning big helpings of it into their individual bowls. Applejack couldn’t wait to taste it as her little sister brought her bowl over to the table, then another one for Big Mac when he finally got up and finally her own. Leaving the fourth, foggy, bowl of porridge sitting on the kitchen counter.
Applejack raised an eyebrow and looked at her sister. “Apple Bloom? We expecting somebody else or something? Why’d you make four bowls?”
There was something else in the kitchen with them. Applejack could see it by the counter, hovering over that fourth bowl. It was familiar to her, a transparent pony that looked like it came in with the fog or wind. Her eyes caught on it for a second before she heard Apple Bloom answering her question.
A deep sigh started things off before the words came out of the small filly. “It’s for-”
But Applejack heard nothing more after that, or if she did she forgot, or couldn’t understand. The fogginess entered her eyes and her mind and left her in a frozen state while she sat at the table. The specter or whatever it was was right next to her now. Standing there. Looking at her even though Applejack could no longer turn and face it. The words from it were far clearer than the words from Apple Bloom.
“What are you-”
“Look now, I’m telling the both of you that I aint going crazy. There’s a ghost or something here and it’s haunting Sweet Apple Acres. I mean it!” Applejack stamped her hoof on the ground as she talked to Big Mac and Apple Bloom out in the orchards, a determined and almost angry look on her face. Her brow was furrowed and her eyes narrowed as she looked between her older and younger siblings.
The large red stallion looked down at the small yellow filly with a sad frown, she responded with a sad shake of her head to him as well.
That sight just made Applejack annoyed. “Okay, now what’s all that about too? Don’t think I haven’t noticed anything strange now.” Applejack raised a hoof and rubbed her forehead as she squinted. “My memory hasn’t been too good lately and I don’t know why but I still can remember all the stuff that’s been missing and misplaced around here and how the two of ya have been acting so strange. So what’s going on?”
Big Mac shuffled about on his hooves for a second before responding in his big, lumbering voice. “There’s no ghost here or anything Applejack. We’re not being haunted.”
“Well I’ve been seeing something, ya hear?!” Applejack angrily retorted.
“That’s not…” Apple Bloom started before trailing off.
“What?” Applejack asked, only to see that neither of them were going to say anything else. She huffed and started pacing back and forth. “Well fine then, if you aren’t gonna tell me anything I’ll just go to Twilight. She’ll have an answer.”
Apple Bloom looked up at her and bit her lip. “We’ve already been to Twilight. At the beginning, but I guess you forgot that too.
That left Applejack flat out flabbergasted. “What in tarnation are the two of you talking about? I’d remember if I went to talk to Twilight about a ghost haunting Sweet Apple Acres.”
“That isn’t what we went to talk to her about,” Apple Bloom told her. “We went to talk to her about your memory problems but when the subject was brought up you just sort of… went away and forgot about all of it.”
Applejack’s eyes lowered to the ground and swiveled side by side, searching her head for some memory of this while she nervously chewed on the inside of her mouth. But nothing was coming up. “Hold on… I know I’d remember something like that. And even if it was true then how come the two of you haven’t told me anything and are just acting like this is all normal?” She asked as she looked back up at her two beloved siblings.
“Twilight said it was something you had to realize and overcome on your own,” Apple Bloom shrugged. “She said if anyone else tried to tell you about it you were just going to shut down.”
“Tell me about what?” Applejack demanded.
It was so strange to think her brother and sister were being so secretive about something with her. Weren’t they closer than anybody? What was going on with her that things had turned out like this? Applejack had no idea what might be so wrong, she had no idea what that foggy thing was she knew she had kept seeing around here was either. What couldn’t she remember? Sweet Apple Acres was the same as always, her work was the same, when had this even started happening? Everything was so wrong. So cold.
Neither Apple Bloom nor Big Mac wanted to answer her. Applejack could see that much even through the rolling fog that now blanketed the orchards. Far heavier than any morning mist.
Maybe they couldn’t answer her. But perhaps the apparition she saw out of the corner of her eye could. It came in before she noticed it even as Big Mac and Apple Bloom silently stood in front of her. They paid this new occurrence no mind or heed, only Applejack turned to look at it.
Before she could fully see it, Apple Bloom spoke up again.
“Applejack? Is there something wrong, you’re getting that look again… where… you...”
Her words faded away as everything aside from the supposed ghost disappeared from Applejack’s world. What was it? She couldn’t move her mouth to ask any of the questions she wanted to, she couldn’t think them.
“What are you afraid-”
There was no one else in the house with her that she knew of. And when she looked outside she wasn’t sure what time it was, all she saw was darkness and thin wisps of fog licking at her window. She couldn’t remember when she came back into her room, and despite the quiet stillness of the rest of the house she wasn’t sure if she wanted to leave it. Applejack wasn’t really sure of anything right now. Where was the ghost? What was that thing trying to tell her and why was it bothering her in the first place. Where had Big Mac and Apple Bloom run off to now?
Was she all alone?
Applejack wandered over to the side of her bed where her nightstand sat.
She grabbed the picture of her parents and held it close to her chest, cradling it. Even when everything was so wrong she could seek solace and comfort from them. Applejack closed her eyes and began speaking to her dearly departed parents.
“I don’t know what to do, or even where to start. I figured if one day something ever happened to me I could at least count on my family and my friends but now it’s like I’ve been left all alone and I don’t even know why. I can’t talk to Apple Bloom or Big Mac and something is after me but I don’t know what. There’s something nagging at me and I know something’s wrong with my memory but how am I supposed to remember what it is in the first place then?” She opened her eyes and put the picture back down, looking at the other one that held her and her siblings. Slowly she shook her head back and forth. “It just aint right, is it?”
There weren’t any sounds of hoofsteps but Applejack could still tell that something was walking towards her door.
The fog was rolling in through the window as she heard the knob of her door being turned open. She knew what that ghost was going to come and say to her now, she knew that was the answer but she didn’t know what it meant or why this was happening to her. Something she had forgotten. Something missing in her life. Something she was afraid to realize. A truth that hurt too much to think about.
That same apparition stood behind her, waiting for Applejack to take her eyes away from the pictures of her family and face it.
Applejack saw the foggy form of the pony in front of her, no longer at the edge of her vision, no longer confused. Even with her memory and mind in the states they were she was determined to not let the cold truth this apparition brought with it beat her.
“What are you afraid of?”
She glanced back at the pictures of her family even though she didn’t have to. She knew the answer in her heart of hearts without having to think about or consider it at all.
Applejack woke up in her bed to a groggy morning. She brought her hooves up to rub the sleep from her eyes and quickly stood up, looking at the beautiful sight of Sweet Apple Acres outside as the sun shined down on all her apples trees. She had to smile at it all. This was the kind of morning that just made her love her life and her farm.
Applejack didn’t look at the pictures on her nightstand as she closed the drapes on her window, she cracked her neck and walked to the door that led into the hallway, keeping that smile on her face. When she stepped out from her room she could she movement from downstairs, enough that told her that both Apple Bloom and Big Mac were up this time.
That wasn’t what she was interested in this morning though.
Applejack walked a bit down the hallway to Granny Smith’s room, with a movement of her hoof she pulled the door open and stepped inside.
“Hey there, Granny.”
Granny Smith lied cooped up in her bed, her right foreleg bandaged up in a sling, and looking like she was bored out of her wits most of the time. She was wide awake right now though and eyeing Applejack with a thoughtful expression and wide eyes.
“Well hey yourself, sugarcube. Been a few days.”
“Uh, yeah… it has been. Sorry about that,” Applejack uncomfortably shuffled about, rubbing at her mane while her eyes searched about the room. “I don’t know what happened to me. It’s just… when you got hurt, and right around Ma and Pa’s anniversary, I just… something in me just broke. I couldn’t take it.” Applejack’s feelings were now pouring out of her after she had kept herself locked up for so long. “For so long I’ve been strong, I had to be, but that-”
Granny Smith cut her off with a quick interjection. “Now you don’t need to explain nothin’. I know just how strong my granddaughter is and what she’s had to do for her family.” She smiled and patted the bed with her good leg. “You come on right over here.”
Applejack didn’t need to be asked twice, sidling over to the bed and halfway leaning on it and pressing right up to her grandma for a small hug. “I just don’t know what I’d do if… when I lose you.
“Hah!” Granny Smith snorted. “Child, I aint going nowhere for years, you quit being a storm cloud already, ya hear?”
“Sorry, Granny. It’s been an exhausting few days for me. I gotta get my head back on straight,” Applejack sighed.
“Well Bloom and Mac are downstairs getting breakfast ready right now, what say you go and get me my share and the two of us can talk some more this morning. Would you like that?” Granny Smith smiled at her orange granddaughter who she had raised for years.
Applejack smiled back at her. “Yeah Granny, I would.”
Author's Note
Just something I thought up one day and felt like writing.
