It was slightly late in the afternoon, and Applebloom had rather quickly eaten lunch a little while ago. Or was it an hour ago? Two hours? Honestly, Applebloom couldn't tell. Right after she'd eaten, she had bolted out to the main gate of Sweet Apple Acres, and had taken up a restless vigil at the threshold to her family's land. The young farm filly switched between pacing back and forth at the gate, sitting on her haunches, and lying on her tummy; all the while still looking out ahead of her. Eventually, her patience was rewarded, and she gleefully took off to meet her big sister as she approached.
"APPLEJACK!" the filly cried out with sweet joy as she hugged the mare, who warmly returned the embrace and threw in a loving nuzzle to boot.
Applejack smiled at her little sister and said, "Sure appreciate the warm welcome, darn tootin'."
Applebloom jumped back and grabbed Applejack by the foreleg, pulling her forward as she said, "C'mon, c'mon! Ah gotta know all about how ya freed all those slaves! Ah've been dyin' to hear how ya bucked those slavers from there to next Sunday!"
Applejack just chuckled as she let her sister pull her along, the wheels of her mind still turning on how the story of tonight, and the unexpected events, would go over with her family.
The Apple sisters entered the barn house, where the rest of the family awaited them. Granny Smith was in her rocking chair as usual, and Big Macintosh was sitting with his new wife Sugar Belle. They couple had returned from their honeymoon a month ago, and the unicorn bride had very quickly settled pretty well into farm life on Sweet Apple Acres.
"The heroine returns," Sugar Belle said with a smile.
"Eeeyup," Big Mac said.
Granny Smith momentarily ceased her rocking as she looked upon her eldest daughter. The elderly mare had a twinkle in her eye as she said, "Eh, back from that Klugetown pit already, are ya? Shame Ah wasn't a decade younger, or Ah'd have gone with ya and really given those torturer slaver types what for!"
Applejack grinned at this, but it wasn't out of humor. As old as Granny Smith was, Applejack had come to understand the full extent of the Apple family matriarch's vitality. Granny Smith's old and creaky body only slightly held back a powerful soul, as seen by her love of roller coasters and recent swimming feats. That being said, a high dive into a bucket of water would be dangerously pushing it without a doubt. . .
Applebloom jumped onto the couch next to Big Mac and asked eagerly, "How many bad guys did you fight, Applejack? Ah bet you took on three, no five, no ten all at once!"
Applejack rolled her eyes, but kept her smile as she said, "Shoot, Applebloom. You know that mah friends and Ah had a whole army with us when we took on Klugetown."
Granny Smith leaned forward a bit and let out a dry chuckle before inquiring, "But ya still made sure to buck the brains out of some of the scum fer yer old granny, didn't ya?"
Applejack adjusted her hat a bit and said, "Let's just say any creature who thought sneaking up behind on Apple was a good idea learned two good reasons why it wasn't."
"Eeyup," Big Mac chimed in stoically.
Applejack then stood with her legs crossed and said with a bit of pride she was simply unable to hide, "Aaaand, Ah suppose Ah was the one to lead the charge on the slave compound."
Applebloom was bouncing around like a rubber ball with thrilled excitement. "Ah knew it! Mah sister freed the slaves! Mah sister saved them all!" she exclaimed with glee.
As Big Mac reached over to gently hold the hyped up filly down, albeit with an amused expression on his face, Applejack blushed a bit and said, "Ah, no, c'mon now. Ah wouldn't nearly gotten that far without, well, the whole dang army Tempest had put together. Now, listen here, ya'll, and Ah'll tell ya the entire tale."
Applejack regaled her family with the key events of the Battle of Klugetown. She started with Rainbow Dash delivering the message of "release the slaves or prepare to fight," and Verko's inevitable refusal to comply. She spoke of the pegasi, thestrals, and hippogriffs flying first, braving the arrows that the evil Klugetowners fired up at them. The she spoke of the unicorns led by Twilight, Starlight, and Spike who occupied most of the foes while the earth ponies charged in. She also touched upon how Fluttershy led a team of medic ponies to tend to the injured, how Tempest worked with the kind Klugetowner Vera to create a safehouse for any fleeing slaves, and even how Pinkie Pie took out the vile, heartless, scourge wielding, slave master Dorf.
Inevitably, Applejack came to her role in the story.
". . .And Ah said, 'Howdy, ladies and gents! Anycreature fancy being liberated today?'" Applejack said with a smile.
"Woohoo!" Applebloom cheered gleefully as Sugar Belle and Big Mac chuckled.
Applejack gave a nod, and she briefly turned to steal a glance at the clock. She smiled at the time, then resumed her story, "Well, with the royal guards backing me up, Ah was free to take a good look at all of those slaves. They were all penned in and cramped in the dark, all half-starved and beaten. Between them and me was this great big iron gate with a big honkin' lock in the middle. Seeing all those poor creatures, taken away from their homes and families and dreams, like Tartarus it got to me. Ah just had to set them free, right then and there."
Applejack pushed up the brim of her hat as she said in a serious tone, "So, Ah turned around, Ah stood firm like the oldest trees on this farm, and Ah bucked out at that hated lock. Ah hit once, twice, three times! And it cracked! A fourth time, and it cracked even more! And then, as Ah thought about. . .how much it hurts. . .to be. ..separated from somepony ya love more than anything. . . Ah snapped that lock in two and brought Verko's slave trade to an end!"
Applebloom let out another cheer, and Granny Smith clapped her hooves and said, "Hot-diggity, yer a grand girl, that's what yer are, hon."
Sugar Belle nodded and said, "I can't deny that. And I have to say, what those slaves went through makes living without my Cutie Mark seem like nothing. You've done an amazing thing, Applejack."
"Eeyup!"
Applejack shook her head and said, "Well, as good as it felt, it's like Ah said earlier. Ah wouldn't have gotten that far without everycreature who was willing to risk their lives and fight for freedom." Applejack then gained a strange nervous tremor, as if anticipation was building up inside her, and said in happy yet nervous voice, "Anywho, Ah think Ah should mention that. . .well. . .Ah ran into some familiar faces in that slave compound."
The atmosphere in the room seemed to change a bit at this time. Applejack's audience became rather inquisitive and slightly confused with Applejack's statement.
"Familiar faces?" Sugar Belle questioned, "In the slave compound?"
Applebloom's eyes widened, and she asked, "You knew some of the slaves?"
Applejack's smile seemed to rapidly fluctuate from a sad, bittersweet smile to a genuinely happy one and back as she nodded and said, "Well, yeah. Two of them, to be exact. In fact, Ah'd say most of us here know 'em."
"Eh?" Granny Smith said, looking utterly bewildered by what her granddaughter was saying.
"Sugar Belle wouldn't know 'em," Applejack explained, "And Applebloom was too young to remember 'em, but-."
The clock suddenly struck the hour, and not a second after it finished chiming, there was a knock at the door. Applejack took a deep breath and let it out. She put on a big smile and said breathlessly, in spite of the deep breath she'd just taken, "Well, it's about time, ain't it. Twilight said she'd be sure they be here right on the button. If that girl ain't anything she's on time."
Applejack then turned to the door and approached it. When she reached it, she didn't hesitate for a moment. She boldly opened in, and stepped out of the way to allow the two ponies waiting outside to come in.
Never had the barn house been as silent as it was when the couple finally re-entered through its doors after so many years. The stallion's breath caught in his throat as he took in about a hundred or so familiar sights and smells that he had nearly forgotten, only to have his mind go nearly blank when when his eyes fell upon the rest of his family. As for the mare accompanying him, she was already on the verge of tears the moment she stepped over the threshold, and not even she could tell where the tears regret stopped and the tears of relief and joy began.
As for the others in the room, their reactions were a veritable grab bag. Sugar Belle seemed to be stuck in a state of dawning realization as she beheld the pair, while Applebloom looked simply. . .confused. Big Mac was in a very rare state, that is to say, he looked frightened. . .perhaps even terrified as he just sat on the couch, motionless. As for Granny Smith, she had immediately brought her rocking chair to a halt and was leaning forward, staring at the two ponies as if in a daze.
Applejack was grinning like a fox as she beheld the scene playing out before her, although it appeared to be stuck on pause at the moment. So, Applejack turned to Bright Mac and Pear Butter and, with a subtle nod of her head, said in a gentle voice, "Go on, now. . ."
Pear Butter couldn't even begin to find her voice as she beheld her oldest and youngest children. Luckily, Bright Mac had it in him to step forward as the first one to speak. Unluckily, even he was having trouble finding the right words to say. And so, he took the path of least resistant and looked to Granny Smith.
"H- howdy, Ma," was all he could think of saying, with a awkward smile on his face yet.
With exuberance that should be impossible for a mare of her age, Granny Smith leapt out of her rocking chair and embraced her son, hooting with laughter as she pulled him round and round in a circle.
"Hot-diggity, I knew it the whole dang time I did!" Granny Smith shouted out loud, her laughter reaching near manic levels, "A rock-slide!? A rock-slide put down any son o' mine? Hogwash! Horse apples! It takes a heck more than that to bring an apple down!"
The elderly mare started laughing again, only to suddenly flip into a state of pure wrath as she turned to stare into space. Still clinging tightly to Bright Mac, she spoke with a voice dripping with scorn, saying, "Curse those dang slavers! Let 'em die a thousand deaths, and their stinkin' worm filled corpses rot in the depths of. . ."
Granny Smith then immediately clung tightly to Bright Mac and sobbed.
"Oh, Ma," Bright Mac whispered as he held he gently, "They ain't worth thinkin' about. We made it through. We're here."
Granny Smith suddenly raised her head and glanced over at Pear Butter. "Git over here. C'mon, yer Ma's waited long enough," she croaked out with a twinkle in her teary eye.
Filled with a joy of acceptance only felt one other time, after her wedding, Pear Butter ran over and joined the embrace. Bright Mac smiled, not all minding, and perhaps even welcoming, the sensation of being cried on by the two mares.
Meanwhile, Pear Butter finally spoke. "Thank you," she said to Granny Smith with more sincerity and meaning than the most impassioned of rousing speeches, "Thank you for. . .everything. . ."
Granny Smith understood exactly what her daughter in law was saying, and she said, "Yes. . .yes, yes, alright now. Ah ain't gonna hog this evening." Granny Smith slipped out of the embrace and wiped the tears from her eyes. Then she turned to find that Big Mac had already gotten up off of the couch, still with a look of fear in his eyes.
Granny Smith just shook her head, a smile on her face as she walked past the young stallion, only to give him a quick shove forward.
Big Mac stumbled from the unexpected push, and he breathed heavily as he beheld his lost parents. They looked slightly different than how he remembered, but only slightly. Slightly older. . .slightly smaller, although he had grown slightly bigger since he'd last seen them.
Big Mac's hooves were trembling as he looked at them, but then, as he looked closer, something began to chase his irrational fear away. Pear Butter was smiling through her tears, and Bright Mac's eyes were sort of. . .twinkling with something. Big Mac couldn't really pin point what it was at first, but whatever it was seemed to create a strong urge within him to step forward and close the final distance between them.
"He's just like you kept saying he be, ain't he?" Pear Butter said suddenly as looked lovingly between the father and son.
Bright Mac nodded and smiled like a sunrise on the first day of Applebucking Season. "He's every bit the stallion I was. . .only better."
It was those words that gave Big Mac the answer. The look Bright Mac was giving him was nothing less than pure, adoring pride.
"Ah was. . .sure you were ghosts," Big Mac finally said with wide eyes.
Bright Mac nodded, "Eenope."
"Yer. . .was slaves," Big Mac said.
"Eeyup."
"For. . .all those years."
"Eeyup."
Bright Mac's third reply came with tears, and then Pear Butter stepped forward and said to her eldest son, "You know. . . no matter how big you get, you ain't too big for a hug."
Big Mac didn't have to run to quickly reach his parents, closing the distance in one long stride. They worked together to fully contain the large stallion in an embrace, only briefly stopping so Bright Mac could run his forehoof through his son's mane.
"You kept the farm going," Bright Mac said lovingly, "You kept the family safe. You've made me so happy, son."
And with that, there was only one Apple sibling left. Said filly was still seated on the couch with Sugar Belle. The filly still had the confused expression from when the pair first entered the room. Technically, Applebloom should've know who they were, and in fact, in some corner of her brain, she in fact did recognize them. It wasn't due to some long faded memory, although she did have a number of those. Applebloom had seen photographs of them, of course. But, perhaps there will always be a disconnect between what is seen in a photo and what it witnessed live right before one's eyes, especially when one has been told and long since accepted that these two ponies before her were. . .
Applebloom frowned and turned away as her brother continued to be embraced. She shut her eyes tightly as her head began to pound for no apparent reason. She put a forehoof to the side of her head as thoughts buzzed around in her head like the twittermites from her darkest nightmare. Applebloom struggled to work through her thoughts, making use of all her experience finding her own Cutie Mark and helping others understand their own talents in order to make sense of what could possibly be going on right now.
"Applebloom?"
Applebloom opened her eyes and turned fast to Sugar Belle. The unicorn had a calm smile and look of someone who's heart was filled with joy for others. Sugar Belle nodded and motioned for Applebloom to turn and look. The filly complied, and saw that Big Mac, misty eyed and smiling, had stepped away, leaving Bright Mac and Pear Butter to look upon her with adoration.
Then, Applejack stepped next to them and said with the happiest of voices, "Applebloom, c'mon and meet yer Ma and Pa."
Applebloom gasped and leaned back a bit. Her brain already knew it, and was already wrestling with the fact. But hearing Applejack of all ponies say it plainly to her pretty much sent the rest of her body out of whack as well. It was like she was gonna be sick, being attacked by a Cockatrice, and had the Cutie Pox all at once. The filly mustered up all of her courage and knowledge, and finally was able to speak.
"No."
Applebloom stared hard at the arm of the sofa, refusing to look anypony in the eye. Her entire body trembled as she took a breath and went on, "Applejack and her friends went on all sorts of adventures. They met tons and tons of creatures and monsters. Yer could be evil Changelings, of some sneaky type of sirens or hippogriffs, or some other monster or a curse from Sombra or. . . maybe. . .Ah don't. . ."
Applebloom's voice trailed off. She honestly didn't know what to say, and she was wincing at how pathetic she sounded. She shut her eyes tightly, and became all the more frustrated when she felt tears begin to leak out. She was beyond sad or upset at this point. She felt. . .cold. She wanted. . . she needed. . .she craved. . .
In a near instant, in the twinkling of an eye, Pear Butter was right there next to the filly. It took everything she had to keep herself from just scooping up the filly and holding her as tight as she could, never letting her go for the rest of her life. Instead, Pear Butter held herself back, even resisting the urge to stroke her daughter's ruby red mane, and silently beheld the nerve wracked filly before her. In spite of the happiness such a reunion should bring, Pear Butter's heart was breaking as she saw that Applebloom was teetering on the edge of a panic attack.
The mare knew she had to be careful, but thankfully, she also knew just what to say.
"Do you know why I named you Applebloom?"
The one thing still functioning well in the filly's mind was her curiosity. Pear Butter knew this, as most children are nearly always curious. This was the key that that allowed Applebloom to open her nervous eyes and turn to look at Pear Butter. The mare was smiling, and the innocence in her daughter's wide eyes touched her heart.
Pear Butter slowly raised her left forehoof and brought it close to Applebloom's cheek, not yet touching but close. Then she answered the question she had posed earlier, "I named you that. . . because when you were born, I looked at you, and just knew that you'd would do things that nopony else in our family had ever done before. You'd stand out like the most beautiful blooming apple blossom on an apple tree." Pear Butter tilted her head to get a look at Applebloom's Cutie Mark, and she said with a smile, "Looks like I was right."
Applebloom was amazed by the words she was hearing, so much so that she hardly even knew how to respond. Lots of ponies had complimented her on her Cutie Mark, but the appreciation, confidence, and loving faith she was recieving right now was on a whole new level.
And then, now that the filly was spell-bound, and perhaps a little distracted by this new revelation, Pear Butter finally touched her hoof to Applebloom's cheek. It was a very simple action. She gently stroked the child's face in a way only a loving mother could. As simple as it appeared, it had all the meaning on the world for the mother and daughter.
For Pear Butter, it was a moment many years in the making. Something she had taken for granted, only have it cruelly ripped away from her for all those years. But now she had it back, and it was like an elixir of life that brought life back to her aching heart and soul.
For Applebloom, it was an experience that fat outdid the moment she and her friends received their Cutie Marks. At that moment, it occured to her that a piece of her spirit had been missing. It had been gone for so long that she had never even noticed it, which was possibly a blessing in disguise as it allowed her to live her life normally. However, now it had finally come to the surface, and Applebloom understood. She knew what she wanted. . . what she needed. . .what she craved. . .
A mother's loving touch.
Applebloom threw herself into her mother's embrace, letting the tears flow as she sobbed into her mother's chest.
"Mama," she finally said, a sense of relief, freedom, and joy rushing through her body as she said the word.
Pear Butter shed tears of joy of her own as she hugged and nuzzled her daughter. "Oh, my precious little Applebloom," she said lovingly, her heart finally feeling complete.
It was official. There was not a dry eye left in the barn house. If Winona hadn't been napping outside, it wouldn't have been a surprise if even she had shed a few tears as well.
After Applebloom had more or less used up her happy tears and lifted her head to smile at her mother, Bright Mac approached and nuzzled her softly, saying, "Applebloom, Ah promise you that Ah won't let anything separate us like this again. Your Ma and Ah will be here for you for as long as you need us. Ah promise."
Applebloom turned and looked up at her father. It was a little strange at first. He had the general build of her brother, but the coloration was her own. And yet there was a sense of sweetness and integrity mingled in with his strength that made its way into his words, making it impossible to doubt the sincerity of his promise.
Still sitting comfortably in her mother's embrace, Applebloom smiled, sniffled, and said the only words that came to her mind, "Ah love you, Pa!"
Bright Mac smiled the biggest smile he'd had in years, and he laughed out loud and said, "Well, and Ah thought Buttercup's singing was the most beautiful thing Ah'd ever hear!"
Any attempt Pear Butter made at looking hurt failed, and she just laughed and remarked, "Oh, you!"
Everyone joined in on the highly infectious laughter, as the love and good cheer in the room was almost intoxicating. As the laughter wound down, however, Pear Butter inevitably brought her attention to the only unicorn in the room.
"Well... I don't believe we've been acquainted," Pear Butter said in a genuinely friendly manner.
Sugar Belle, who had previously gotten up off of the sofa to give Pear Butter and Applebloom ample space, froze up for the briefest of moments upon being addressed. But she quickly returned a smile and stammered out, "OH! I I I mean, yes. Of c c course. Yes, um, I..."
Big Mac immediately came to her rescuse and walked to her side. Standing close to her, he said with a smile, "Ma. Pa. Ah present you, mah wife, Sugar Belle."
As she stood there smiling, Sugar Belle fervently hoped that she wasn't sweating. She knew that the fears and disastrous scenarios playing out in her head were irrational and silly, and yet as the older couple looked upon the newer couple in surprise, she couldn't help but feel highly nerve wracked as panic surged through her from her hooves to the tip of her horn...
"Oh, doesn't she just look so pretty and sweet when ya'll are standing by each other!" Pear Butter crooned in delight.
"Ah can see it in your eyes, son. You know now, how I felt... and still feel. You two are more lucky than you can imagine," Bright Mac said with pride as his heart swelled with happiness.
Sugar Belle didn't even bother to hide her sigh of relief.
Author's Note
NEXT CHAPTER:
All the Pears
(Come on, you all know I wasn't gonna leave a certain old stallion out of this. How could I. We've got an emotional dinner scene to unveil, and that stallion got an invite.)
". . .And then, after smashin' the entire obstacle course ta bits, his whole disguise just fell off right after we crossed the finish line!" Applebloom regaled excitedly to the dining room table audience.
Not even Big Mac's red fur could hide the blush on his face as he got various levels of laughter from the ponies gathered around the table. Even Sugar Belle was only trying and failing to stifle her laughter. However, Big Mac bore it all well with a sheepish smile on his face.
Bright Mac was the least restrained in his laughter, hooting with laughter as he pounded the table with a forehoof. Pear Butter was laughing melodiously, wiping away tears of mirth as she was unable to get the image of her big strong son in a dress out of her head.
Big Mac was suddenly slapped heartily on the back by his father, who said to him, "Now that's what I call being there for yer little sis! Nice work, son!"
His father's words caused the blush on Big Mac's face to fade. Big Mac had understandably been quite nervous when Applebloom had launched into a recap of the "Orchard Blossom Incident". But now, Big Mac was pleased to see how understanding his parents were about the whole situation. The red stallion couldn't help but smile confidentially, as he now felt okay about bringing up a certain case of Cutie Pox.
At that moment, however, there was another knock at the door.
Still smiling from the story of the "Brotherhooves Social", Applejack nodded and said, "Woo-ee, looks like our special guest has arrived."
Pear Butter looked over at her middle child, and she immediately noticed the excited and kinda secretive look on Applejack's face. "Okay, what are you up to, Applejack?" she asked with a grin and a raised eyebrow.
Applejack stood up from the table and said, "Well, ya'll got to surprise us, so Ah'd say it's about time ya'll got surprised."
Sugar Belle "hmm"ed to herself and said curiously, "Well, you seem to be just full of surprises today, aren't you?"
Applejack winked and said, "Ya'll could say that. Although. . .Ah'd bet a case of Zap Apple Jam that most of us Apples know where this is going."
As Applejack turned to answer the door, Big Mac and Applebloom turned to each other and exchanged excited glances. Applebloom rubbed her hooves together eagerly while Big Mac nodded with excitement. Granny Smith just chuckled knowingly as she got up to fetch another plate for their guest.
Bright Mac turned to his wife and said, "Well, ain't this exciting. Any ideas on what they're planning?"
Pear Butter shrugged and said, "None at all. Although, I suppose we did have many friends in Ponyvile before. . . that unpleasantness, but I don't really see why we couldn't just meet 'em all at-."
". . .Thank you, and I'm glad to see you're doing well after fighting those slavers in that Klugetown place. Although, I'm a bit baffled as to why you insisted-."
Pear Butter voice was taken away when she spotted the speaker, which Applejack had ushered into the dining room. The old stallion's voice was taken in a similar fashion when his eyes fell upon the mare.
"Wha. . .what. . .what is this?" Grand Pear croaked out, his mouth going dry and his knees shaking as he stared at Pear Butter.
The mare still couldn't speak, but could only put a hoof over her heart and gaze back at her father with a look of longing in her eyes.
"What is this!?" Grand Pear repeated, this time a bit louder. It was not in anger, but in genuine confusion. The confusion increased when he saw the smiles on Applebloom's and Big Mac's faces. Then Granny Smith came back in a gave him a winking smile. Grand Pear then turned to Applejack, who was smiling a bit more gently and with misty eyes.
Grand Pear turned back to Pear Butter again, and his eyes widened when he saw Bright Mac sitting right next to her. Grand Pear turned back to Applejack, almost too terrified to look at the couple again, and asked desperately, "What is happening right now!? They're gone! The rock slide. . .and nopony dared go down to recover their. . . recover them 'cause of the Quarry Eels. . . then that flood cleaned it all out. . . they were gone!"
". . .Ask 'em," Applejack said plainly and gently.
Grand Pear inhaled loudly, as if Applejack had just causally asked him to raise the Sun. Yet, the old stallion slowly turned, inch by inch, until her was facing the couple he had thought to be long dead. As a storm of conflicting emotions raged inside of him, all he could manage was one single word.
"How?"
Bright Mac silently showed his support by holding his wife's hoof in his own. Pear Butter let out the breath she had been holding without even realizing it, and she answered, "It wasn't the rock slide. . .it was slavers."
Grand Pear looked utterly horrified as the implications of that statement seeped into his brain. A terrible sickness spread through him as gut wrenching thoughts and images flashed through is mind.
"Oh, sweet Celestia," he gasped out, that horrified look still plastered over his face, "My precious daughter. . .my poor Pear Butter. . ."
Frightened that his father might actually faint, Pear Butter reached out to him and smiled placatingly. "Nonono, it's okay! I'm fine! See, I'm completely. I'm right here and in good health! See!" she called out with forced eagerness.
As Grand Pear carefully took in the general appearance of his daughter, the look of horror on his face faded, but his eyes still appeared haunted and pained. He shut his eyes and hung his head, and he spoke sorrowfully, "Darling, I'm sorry. I'm so-."
"Hold it right there, Pa!" Pear Butter said as she stood up forcefully, "What happened to us was in no way your fault, so don't you go on apologizing for that! You got nothing to do with slavers jumping out at us on a lonely road. It was all that Storm King and cronies, and they got theirs in the end, so don't you go taking the blame away from them."
Grand Pear raised his head and opened his eyes, still not looking any better after his daughter's words. "Darling, I've still got so much to answer for," he said miserably.
Pear Butter sighed, and she slipped her forehoof out of Bright Mac's forehoof so she could walk around the table and towards her father. "Pa, you were angry and stubborn, and there was just so much bad blood between the Apples and Pears." Pear Butter felt hot tears run down her cheeks as she shook her head furiously and cried out, "Dang it, Pa! I just wanted you back! I never hated you! I just wanted you to give us a chance, that's all! Don't you get it! I never hated you!"
Pear Butter rubbed the tears out of her eyes with a fetlock, and then looked directly at the stunned old stallion and said sincerely, "I never hated you."
Grand Pear was too shocked to even cry at this point, he only stared blankly at her daughter as he fought to make sense of everything that had occurred. But then, he finally gave up and stepped forward to give his daughter a long overdue hug. The father and daughter remained like this, just silently hugging as the rest of the family gathered in the barn house watched in silence.
When Grand Pear finally lifted his old head off of Pear Butter's shoulder, he began to carefully study the mare's body. He ran his forehooves along her forelegs and neck, and then placed them onto her cheeks and said softly, "You. . .look okay. . . I feared the worst. . .the things those monsters could've done to you. . ."
Pear Butter shuddered slightly and remarked almost off-hoofedly, "Well, thank Celestia that Bright Mac was there when-." She stopped in mid sentence and immediately clammed up.
Eyes widened with panic, Grand Pear put his his forehooves onto his daughter's shoulders and said, "What?! What happened? He was there when what happened? Tell me!"
"Oh dear. . ." Pear Butter whispered as her nervous eyes gazed into Grand Pears' frantic ones. She then looked over at her husband and said, "I'm afraid the cat's out of the bag, Bright Mac. Show 'em."
Bright Mac suddenly appeared extremely self-conscious at the moment, and as his eyes darted around, he found that now everypony in the room was staring at him. "Aw shoot, couldn't we just-," he began awkwardly.
Pear Butter just frowned and shook her head. "Sorry, but we gotta. Besides, I think they need to know."
Bright Mac met her gaze for just a second before sighing and nodding in response. This was the one mare he could never say no too, besides his mother, and perhaps maybe Applebloom considering how adorable she was. Nevertheless, he got up and walked up along the side of the dining room table. Then, with great reluctance in his body language, Bright Mac put both his forelegs up on the table and sort of leaned up onto it and on his side, revealing his chest.
There were gasps and cries of horror all around as all those present bore witness to the six inch long scar that ran up the stallion's chest.
Pear Butter closed her eyes and shuddered again as she whispered, "If he hadn't been there. . .that would've been me. . ."
Applejack's head was spinning after seeing the mark of her father's horrible injury, no doubt inflicted by a particularity cruel lash from a slaver's whip. "How the hay did Ah not notice that?" Applejack thought to herself, "Ah was hugging him and real close to him and everythin'!"
Pear Butter opened her eyes and said strongly, "He saved me. It was the single most bravest act I've ever. . ."
As Pear Butter's voice trailed off, Bright Mac got off of the table and said in a slightly grim yet resolute tone, "Aw, shoot, Buttercup. Ah just saw something Ah had to keep from happening, and Ah did what Ah had to do. Ah'd do it again."
Meanwhile, Grand Pear was gazing at Bright Mac as if he had never seen anything like him before. He lifted his forehooves off of his daughter and stumbled towards Bright Mac, saying in a faraway voice, "I finally see how wrong I truly was." Like a blind stallion, Grand Pear shambled up to a pitying Bright Mac and said, "You always were an honest, honorable stallion. But of course I couldn't allow myself to see that. I don't expect to get your forgiveness, but I apologize anyway."
Grand Pear hung his head miserably, but it didn't take more than three seconds for Bright Mac to give his reply.
"The way Ah see it, you were angry and stubborn and let that old feud control you. But now you're here, admitting you were wrong and everythin'." Bright Mac paused at this, and with determined nod to himself, he gathered the nerve he needed to carefully embrace Grand Pear. "What good would it do to not forgive you?"
Grand Pear's only response was to weep openly, releasing any remaining pain and regret he had yet to free himself of. Pear Butter quickly joined in on the embrace, and soon the father, daughter, and son in law enjoyed their tearful, heartfelt reunion.
As everypony looked on at the heartwarming scene, Applebloom just had to crack a smile and say, "Ain't ya all glad Ah brought home that jar of pear jam?"
The complete and utter innocence in which the young filly said this was brought a welcome feeling to all those present to hear it. For in a world where not all things are as easily connected by simple cause an effect, where not all loose ends are neatly tied up, it was a rare and priceless moment in which everypony could take in the fact that all of the Apples and all of the Pears were once again gathered back in their bushel.
