Come Hell or High Water

by Shaslan

Rating: teen
Tags: Adventure, Tragedy, Applejack, Autumn Blaze, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Length: 6281

Autumn Blaze receives a parcel from her friend Applejack. But when she sees the cutie marks of Applejack's parents emblazoned on the bottles within, a memory is triggered. A memory Autumn wishes that she could forget...

Autumn Blaze is thrilled when she receives a parcel from her best (and only) friend, Applejack. But when she sees the cutie marks of Applejack's parents emblazoned on the bottles within, a memory is triggered. A memory Autumn wishes that she could forget...

Winner of the the Quills and Sofas duos speedwriting contest. Written in 90 minutes in partnership with Red Parade.

Published 2020-12-16 17:30:00 UTC
Last updated 2020-12-16 17:30:00 UTC

A friendship broken

It was springtime in the Perilous Peaks, and the sky was bright with promise. The air was crisp and clear, and Autumn Blaze sucked in a single deep breath as she stepped out of her door. The little wooden cottage atop the cliff was perfectly placed to receive the fresh spring breezes, something Autumn appreciated anew every year.

She was ready for the new year; ready to bid the long cold winter farewell and revel once more in the sunlight. She had planned out the perfect day to welcome in the new season. A trip into town, to see her fellow kirin and thaw out the frost that still remained between them as surely as the sun would that the frost from the soil. She could stock up on a few supplies, maybe poke her head into the theatre, pay a few social calls. It was going to be great, she just knew it.

Her step was light as she hurried through the forest. The sound of birdsong trickled down from the branches above. Autumn Blaze reached the outskirts of the village before the sun was fully above the horizon, and called out a greeting to the nearest kirin.

“Hey there, Cinders! How are you doing today?”

Cinders rewarded her cheery tone with a mere grunt, but Autumn let the slight disappointment roll off her like water. It didn’t matter -- Cinders would come around. They all would.

Bending her steps towards the theatre, she paused just long enough to stick her head around the door of the post office. “Anything for me today, Emberglow?”

She knew full well what the answer would be, of course. A surly ‘no’, just the same as always. So when Emberglow spoke, Autumn nearly fell over in shock at his words.

“Yep. Got a package for you.”

Nearly tripping over her own hooves with enthusiasm, Autumn Blaze barrelled into the little shop. “Really? Let me see!”

Emberglow harrumphed and produced a small wooden crate, clearly weighty by the way he groaned as he lifted it. A delighted grin nearly splitting her muzzle in two, Autumn Blaze snatched the box from him. A parcel! For her! What could it be? In all the years she had been asking the postmaster for letters, he had never proffered a package. A letter, perhaps, a few scrolls here and there. But a real, live, honest to Rain Shine parcel? It was unheard of!

Unable to contain her excitement, she hauled her prize outside of the postmaster’s office and settled onto her haunches to inspect it. It was a sturdy wooden crate, bearing a small piece of paper pinned to the top. ‘Autumn Blaze, co/ Perilous Peaks Postmaster’, it read, and below was the return address. Autumn Blaze clopped her hooves together in joy when she read the name.

“Applejack!”

Well, that settled it. Now she knew she couldn’t wait till she got home to open this. Her best friend in all the world -- apart from, of course, her oldest companion, Silhouette Gloom of the Sundown Lands -- had sent her a parcel. It was just begging to be opened now.

A few determined tugs with her magic at the nails holding the lid in place were all it took. Her horn aglow, Autumn levitated out two brown glass bottles and a scroll. She turned her attention first to the letter.

“Dear Autumn,” it read. “I recently found my Mama and Daddy’s old recipe book, and I’ve been getting near everyone I know to try out their prize-winning Apple and Pear Cider. I thought I’d send a couple of bottles over -- who knows, if you share them with your friends up in the Perilous Peaks, I might get myself a few orders in! Hope you enjoy them. From your friend, Applejack.”

“Oh, wow!” Autumn trilled. This was really something. Applejack valued her opinion, Applejack wanted to share her parents’ recipe with her. Pulling the two bottles eagerly towards her, Autumn leaned in to study the label.

And her blood ran cold.

It couldn’t be. It was impossible. But there they were, those two cutie marks. The green halved apple, with a little star in the centre, and the jar of preserves. Emblazoned side by side on both bottles, looking just as they had on the day that -- on that day -- the day --
-- Autumn’s breath came faster and faster, and she sucked in a few shuddering gulps of air. She thrust the bottles away from her, back into their crate, and slammed the lid back in place. When they were gone, when she could no longer see the cutie marks, she could breathe a little easier.

It couldn’t be, could it? They couldn’t be Applejack’s parents?

Shakily, she got to her hooves and tottered back into the post office.

“Uh, Emberglow?”

He turned, and his eyes widened. “Are you alright?”

It was unlike the curmudgeonly stallion to express concern, but Autumn Blaze barely heard him. That green apple was still floating before her eyes.

“Could I borrow a quill and some paper? I think...I think I need to send a letter.”

The world seemed to fly right by the window. Trees and lush, green leaves became nothing more than blurs of color, melding and shaping together as they became nothing more than streaks of color. The scene was obscured by a fog as Applejack gently exhaled, clouding up the train window with her breath.

She sighed contently as she sipped from the mug of cider she had purchased from the stewardess, feeling the bubbly and bitter liquid sting inside of her mouth. It wasn’t as good as Apple Family cider, obviously, but Applejack didn’t mind.

Applejack set her cup down on the table in front of her, pulling up the brim of her hat and turning her eyes to the horizon. As serene as the passing forestry was, it wasn’t exactly effective at quelling the anxious tick that had planted itself in her every heartbeat.

“Anything I can get ya?”

She exhaled sharply as the nasally voice of the steward reached her ears. The pony stood patiently behind his cart of pastries, waiting for a reply.

“Yeah, how about some answers?” asked Applejack in her mind. Instead, she smiled and shook her head. “Eenope, thanks for askin’, but I reckon I’m just fine.”

“Of course. Have a nice day, ma’am,” the steward replied before continuing down the aisle.
Applejack’s smile quickly slid away from her face as the pony moved away from her. She chewed her lip in thought before reaching into her saddlebag and pulled out the letter she had received just last night and read it over to herself.

“Dear Applejack, I hope you’re well. Do you think you can stop by Kirin Grove? I have something I want to show you. Something I need to show you. Your friend, Autumn Blaze.”

The tone of the letter was neutral enough, but Applejack didn’t need to be Twilight to figure out that something was wrong. The paper was crumpled and ripped in a few spots, as if it had been composed in an act of desperation. There were a few stains near the bottom, as if someone had spilled some liquid over the pages.

Perhaps most worryingly of all however was the sheer amount of crossed out words that dotted the page. Autumn Blaze was a particularly verbose individual, so it was strange to see that she had limited herself to such few words.

This was the type of Kirin who could easily outpace Twilight’s writing on a subject as mundane as flower types, and yet here she hadn’t even written a paragraph.

Applejack frowned, setting the letter back down on the booth’s table. “It’s more than unusual,” she muttered. “In fact, it just ain’t right. Consarnit, Autumn Blaze, what in Equestria is the matter?”

She sighed, glaring down at the letter, hoping to read through the scribbles to find the message hidden beneath. But try as she might, she couldn’t make the lines move, and the letter stayed the same.

“...Drat,” she whispered, slumping back in her seat. With nothing more to do and only thoughts of the future in her mind, she crossed her forelegs and went back to staring out the window, at a landscape that seemed all too eager to pass her by.

Autumn’s hooves tapped nervously against the stone of the platform. She had been here since five in the morning, just waiting for Applejack’s train to roll in. She had been talking -- to Silhouette Gloom, to the other friends who had been with her all through her long isolation, to anyone, no matter how unreal they were -- but no matter how she rehearsed it, it wouldn’t come out right.

“Applejack, I have something to tell you. I...I...no, that’s not it. Come on, Autumn! Focus. Applejack -- Applejack. I have...I did something. I didn’t mean…”

She let out a sigh, half a sob, of despair, and let her head slump into her hooves. It was no use. How could she describe what had happened that day? The way things had spiralled out of control. Nopony could understand it unless they were there. Nopony but another kirin could grasp the way rage could take hold of you, even if you didn’t want it to. Even if you tried to fight it.

The sound of hooves on the platform startled her, and she flinched and looked up, but it was only the station master. An elderly pony, clearly not a native to the Perilous Peaks, she stared at Autumn Blaze with blatant curiosity. Clearly, she was not used to seeing kirin crouch on her platform and mutter for several hours in a row.

Autumn Blaze jerked her head away from that unkind gaze and snarled into the silence. Come on, she told herself firmly. Focus. You can do this. She’s your friend.

But not for long, whispered another voice, a darker voice. Who could be your friend after this? Once she learns who you really are she’ll leave you too...and you’ll be just as alone as you were before.

“No!” Autumn Blaze said aloud, at a volume high enough to earn her another wide-eyed look from the station master. “No.” She shook her head. “No. I won’t let it go silent again. I...I matter to ponies now. And kirin. I matter.”

A faint whistle sounded on the horizon, and Autumn winced again. She looked up, and sure enough, the train was just visible on the horizon. Applejack was coming.

Getting to her hooves, Autumn Blaze tried to paint a welcoming smile onto her face. It faltered a little as the engine’s brakes shrieked, but by sheer force of will Autumn kept it in place. Just about.

With a hiss of cooling steam, the engine finally came to a halt. “Perilous Peaks!” The conductor cried, leaping out from the cab. “Last stop, Perilous Peaks!”

Anxiously, Autumn scanned the windows of the train, looking for that battered old stetson, but she could see no one on board. It was almost a relief. Maybe Applejack had missed her train. Perhaps she wasn’t coming. Perhaps Autumn Blaze could cling a little longer to that most precious of illusions -- that she actually possessed a friend. That somepony cared about her; indeed, that she was a kirin worth caring for.

But then the door to the first carriage swang open, and Autumn Blaze’s tenuous hopes were shattered.

“Howdy, Autumn!” called a familiar voice, its country twang at once so familiar and so unfamiliar to Autumn’s ears. “It’s been a long time, ain’t it?”

For a second, Autumn’s wobbly grin became genuine as she looked into the smiling green eyes of the pony before her. “Applejack! Hi.” But then she saw the cutie mark on Applejack’s flank -- another apple, red instead of green, but still so similar -- and it all came crashing back down on her. The grin died at last.

Applejack’s own smile of greeting died a little as she came closer. The saddlebags on her back shifted gently with every step. “Say, sugarcube, you don’t look good. What’s the matter?”

Autumn Blaze gulped. Her throat was as dry as a bone. Her tongue rasped like sandpaper over the roof of her mouth. “Uh...I…”

“C’mon, now,” Applejack said in a coaxing tone, the same way one might speak to a petulant foal. “Tell me what’s wrong. And why you called me out here in the first place.”

Helpless and unable to answer, Autumn Blaze could only shift her hooves and stare at the floor.

“Autumn, you gotta tell me.” Applejack’s tone hardened. “I dropped plum near everythin’ to get out here and help y’all. Your letter was...well, it was weird, sugarcube. Now tell me what’s wrong. I just wanna help.”

All that Autumn could hear was the thudding of her own pulse. It was deafening, a thunderous cantering beat. Surely Applejack could hear it too? How could she not hear it?

Behind them, the train screeched into motion once more and chuntered away down the track. Applejack placed a hoof onto Autumn’s shoulder, and though Autumn wanted to lean into the caress, she cringed away.

“Don’t, I--”

“You don’t what?” Frustration was clear in Applejack’s voice.

Autumn Blaze hung her head and her voice was a whisper. “I don’t deserve it.”

The hoof on her shoulder tightened. “What in the hay are you talkin’ about?”

A tremulous look up into Applejack’s face showed Autumn that the other mare’s face was filled only with compassion. There was no hatred -- yet, whispered that insidious little voice -- and those green eyes gave Autumn courage. She could do this. She had to be honest. Applejack would do the same for her.

It was just...what friends did.

“I did something bad.”

The words were so quiet that Applejack had to lean forward to hear. “Well, what’d you do, sugarcube? I’m sure it ain’t so terrible as you think.”

“I...when I was young I...I was so angry…” her voice tailed off. She couldn’t do it. She couldn’t break the fragile trust between them. No matter how much she knew it was the right thing to do -- Autumn was incapable of driving away the only pony who had ever looked on her as a friend. She hung her head lower, her chin almost buried in the soft curls of her mane. “I...I think maybe I should just show you.”

With that, she pulled away from Applejack’s soft hoof, and turned to lead the way back up the mountain path. Her head hung low, like a kirin condemned, but though her steps were slow there was a determination to her walk. Autumn Blaze knew what she had to do.

It was eerily quiet as Applejack followed Autumn Blaze down the path and deeper into the forest. It seemed that with every single step they took, the paved path melded further with the grass, and the chirping of birds dropped in volume, until they were practically wading through a sea of green in complete silence.

The treeline looked onwards as they passed, standing at attention like seasoned guards, leaving Applejack feeling like she was entering the domain of some long-forgotten forest king.

Applejack looked about, flicking her ear in a futile attempt to expel some of the nervous energy flushing through her body. “Autumn, where in blazes are you taking me?”

Her friend took a few more moments to respond. “To the place...the place where it happened.”

Applejack sighed at the reply, shaking her head. “Why in Equestria are you being so cryptic? Can’t you just be straight with me?”

Autumn’s answer was a whisper almost too low to be heard. “I’m trying, Applejack. I’m trying.”

All around them, the forest seemed to warp and change. It was eerily quiet now, to the point where even Fluttershy would have trouble coaxing out an animal to break it. The leaves and branches became still, and the easy spring breeze was all but gone now.

It was like someone had completely frozen the world around them, leaving it suspended in an unnatural state. The world seemed to be holding its breath, casting its eyes away from them, almost as if it were scared to see what would happen next.

The tree covering grew thicker and thicker, and the grass and flowers only grew taller. Soon, the blue of the sky was murdered by the green of the trees as the canopy triumphantly took its place, asserting itself as the new king of the sky.

Shadows bounced across Autumn’s back as she forged onwards; shady blacks draping across her like stray pieces of fabric. Applejack flinched as a branch snapped underneath her hoof. It felt ten times louder and sounded more like bone than wood.

“Whatever this is… I sure don’t like it,” she muttered to herself, unnoticed by Autumn Blaze.

Applejack glanced around them, becoming so entranced by the world around her that she almost collided with Autumn when she stopped abruptly.

“Here.”

“What…” Applejack trailed off as her eyes grew wide. Tucked away in the forest was the twisted wooden corpse of what was once a wagon. A wheel missing several spokes was propped up against a rock, with a vine weaving its way through its body. Splintered pieces of wood were scattered about the area, charred and broken. The body of the wagon itself was leaning next to a tree, the cloth covering ripe with holes and burn marks.

A few shattered wooden crates lay about the area as well, empty and vacant. Whatever cargo they once held was long gone. As Applejack neared the wreck, spiderwebs and plant life came into view, interwoven with the pieces. It was as if nature was trying to claim this wreck, tucking it away in a blanket of grass and plant life, burying it beneath its artificial canopy sky.

“What… what is this?” Applejack asked in awe. “I wasn’t aware anypony traveled out this far. I mean, this path doesn’t even look like it’s been used in years…”
Applejack froze.

A little ways off from the wagon were two lumps in the ground, marked with two long sticks that had been stuck into the soil. The very tips of the markers pointed straight up at the sky, and their surfaces seemed to be burned.

Applejack exchanged a glance with Autumn, who refused to meet her eyes.

Taking a deep breath, she approached the mounds. As she drew closer, she quickly realized that the tips were not seared in burn marks, but instead painted on. A stray bit of sunlight penetrated the thick foliage above, casting more light on the graves.

The drawings depicted two shapes, crudely drawn onto the wood. Applejack froze mid-stride as something in her mind clicked. Her heart seemed to stop beating and the world around her ceased to matter.

Because she had seen these shapes before. She had seen them in family photo albums and in her dreams. She had these shapes burned into her mind, from when they left her and she never saw them again.

Applejack had seen these shapes before: on the flanks of her parents.

“Autumn.” Her voice was gentle, nothing more than a hoarse whisper. Applejack was surprised at how quiet her own voice seemed. “Autumn,” she said again without looking behind her. “What is this?”

“It’s what I’ve been trying to tell you,” Autumn murmured, her words shockingly loud in the silence. “When I was -- when I was young, only a kid, really -- the fights began. Kirins weren’t getting along. Tempers just kept getting higher, and so did the temperature.”

Applejack knew this story, but she couldn’t see what it had to do with the terrifying spectacle in front of her. “The nirik, the fires, the stream of silence. I know that story. I’m asking what is this?” Her voice was climbing higher, her words growing louder, and she thrust a hoof towards those two dreadful mounds.

Autumn’s hooves clapped over her eyes and her words came in a flood. “I was just going to market -- I was just on my way to the market. And then I saw them arguing -- Lark Song and Bramble Vine. They were shouting, it was over something stupid -- and then Bramble just burst into flames. She went full nirik--”

“Autumn.” The word was a warning. “I need you to tell me what happened here!”

“It’s like a disease,” tears were flooding from Autumn’s eyes, darkening her fur with their passage. “When there’s one nirik around, there’s just so much heat and anger, and you can feel it, burning you up. I was so angry with them, for being so stupid, for picking an argument -- but I did what we were meant to do; deescalate, take some space. I went home. My mom came downstairs, and I guess I hadn’t cleaned my room that week. She must have been feeling it too, the anger, and she yelled. I yelled back, and it just kept coming, all this vitriol that I didn’t know I had in me. I screamed and I screamed at her, and this rage was burning through me, filling me up. And then all of a sudden the world was different - I was strong, I was powerful, I was fire. I had the power to make the world burn like I was burning.”

Applejack’s mouth felt like it was filled with ashes as she stared at the charred and abandoned wagon.

“I ran.” Autumn’s voice was empty. “I ran, and I ran, and I burned. And around me, everything was burning too. The other nirik, our homes, the forest. The animals.” She scuffed at the ground with one forehoof. “It’s all a blur, but...I remember...I remember galloping past a wagon. I remember seeing it burn.”

The world swayed beneath Applejack’s hooves and she felt bile rise in her throat. “No.” The word was almost a plea. “No.”

“No fire can burn forever.” Autumn’s tone was bleak. “Not even a nirik. When I...was calm again, when I was myself again, I woke up. I walked back home, following the path I had burned through the trees, hoping that what I remembered wasn’t right.”

“And you found…?” But Applejack already knew what Autumn had found.

“I found two ponies. With cutie marks...like those.”

Stunned, Applejack stood in silence as the long moment stretched on into infinity. The foundation of her world -- her missing parents -- was concrete at last. No more empty space, no more mystery.

No more hope.

“Murderer.” The first time she said it was uncertain, but the second time it was with more conviction. “Murderer.”

“What? No, I was a kid, I was a nirik, I didn’t mean to--” Autumn Blaze’s eyes were huge with hurt, but Applejack was implacable.

“You killed my Mama and my Daddy!” Suddenly, she was screaming, her muzzle pressed right against Autumn’s. She didn’t even remember crossing the distance between them. “Innocent ponies, good ponies, with foals at home! You burned them!” Her flanks were heaving with dry, racking sobs. “They went on a supply run! They were only meant to be gone a week! It was Mama’s first trip out since she gave birth to my baby sister. And -- and -- they never came back.” She shook her head, utterly at a loss, and stared into Autumn’s frightened face. “How could you?”

“Please, Applejack,” Autumn Blaze said desperately. “I never meant--”

But before she could finish her sentence Applejack’s hoof was connecting with her nose, in a solid, meaty crunch -- and then Applejack was galloping away, tears blinding her, as the last fragments of hope that she hadn’t even known still existed crumbled into dust.

As Applejack’s hindquarters vanished into the foliage and the last ringing words faded into silence, Autumn’s world faded into numbness. Everything suddenly seemed a little darker.

It was over.

Her single, abortive attempt at friendship was at an end. The only pony who had ever extended the hoof of kindness. The green eyes in which Autumn had dared to hope she might see forgiveness.

Over.

The years of guilt, of nightmares, of voiceless screaming and the stench of burning flesh. Her attempts at healing, at forgiving herself. The vague fantasy that maybe, just maybe, ten years of solitude and silence broken only by the sound of her own voice had been penance enough.

It had been a lie. Nothing would ever be enough. The look on Applejack’s face had been enough to show her that. The mere fact that a pony as kind, as forgiving, as Applejack could look at Autumn with such hate told Autumn everything she needed to know.

She was a monster, unworthy of life.

Autumn began to walk. Her steps were slow and dragging, but gradually, her direction grew firmer. It was becoming more clear to her now. Rain Shine had been right, all along. Emotions were dangerous. Emotions were evil. All they led to was pain. Pain and misery.

Autumn Blaze was not a creature that could be trusted with emotions.

Finally, she halted, and looked down into the swirling blue depths of the water before her. The Stream of Silence.

It would be easy enough. To go downstream to the calm part of the rivulet, to walk through and emerge as she had done the last time she had felt such deep despair as this. The Stream would cleanse her, make her numb again.

But that was not punishment enough.

Murderer.

It was true. The Element of Honesty had, as always, spoken the truth. Autumn Blaze was a murderer, and did not deserve to live.

A voice cried out, very distantly, but Autumn paid it no mind, wrapped deep in her own despair.

She looked down into the swirling, tempestuous rapids, and she knew at last what the right thing to do was. How, at last, she could repay those she had wronged. How she could repay her only friend.

Autumn Blaze closed her eyes tight, and jumped.

Applejack didn’t remember heading back into the town. She wasn’t sure how she found her way out of the forest without Autumn to guide her, but when she blinked, she was standing just on the outskirts.

She took a hesitant step forward, then found herself falling straight down to the ground. A faint throbbing in her rear hoof said that she had tripped, but Applejack wasn’t quite sure. She rolled onto her back, not quite in pain but not quite fine, and stared up at the endless blue expanse above her.

Applejack was crying.

Her blurry vision seemed to confirm that. She tried to take a breath but it came up shaky, and her lungs seemed to reject the air they took.

Applejack was suffocating.

Her breaths grew more panicked as she continued to shake. Half of her wanted to curl up into a ball, but the other half didn’t want to move at all. The sky seemed to drop lower to swallow her whole. Its waves crashed around her and she seemed to fall again, a feeling of vertigo churning throughout her body.

Applejack was drowning.

She bit on her lip hard, trying to bite back the sob that was building in her throat. But it soon grew into a wail and finally broke through. She screamed, slamming a foreleg into the dirt as the floodgates failed and her dam of tears broke open.

Applejack wasn’t sure how long she laid there, it could have been minutes or hours or a millenia. It didn’t quite matter to her. Nothing did, anyways.

Voices seemed to shriek in her ear, though she couldn’t make out the words. Emotions were waging a war inside her heart, trying to tell her how she should feel. Angry, perhaps? Sad? Bitter?

She didn’t know.

“Applejack!”

Then through the haze came a new voice, one that rang with power and authority. But perhaps most importantly, one that rang with concern.

Applejack lifted her head up, swiping at her eyes to try and make out the form in front of her. She felt a hoof lift down and raise her chin, and when her eyes began to clear she saw a worried face staring back at her. “Applejack! What is the matter?” asked Rain Shine.

“I…” Applejack choked again, her body shaking as another sob broke her words in half.

Rain Shine pursed her lips and gently pulled her into a hug, resting a hoof on her shoulder. “Please, Applejack, tell me. What happened?”

Applejack began to speak, but her own voice was lost to her ears. Instead, her mind projected an image of Autumn Blaze, looking hurt and ashamed as she took a deep breath. Ready to tell a story that would break her heart.

She pictured her parents, sitting on a picnic blanket and giggling to each other as they devoured daisy sandwiches, smiling as they took each other’s hooves and leaned into each other.

Then she saw fire. She saw burning, smoldering wrecks of wood crashing down around them. She watched as her parents turned away, hugging each other tightly, as the roar of flames drowned the world out around them.

And through the smoke she saw a set of eyes, burning with a rage that seemed impossible to match. But when the eyes saw her, they widened in horror. There was a guttural scream that broke through the flames, dousing over everything like a sudden flood of water.

Applejack blinked again and found herself sitting on a bench a few feet away from where she had collapsed, Rain Shine by her side and listening intently. “Autumn Blaze killed my parents,” she heard herself say. “She… Sweet Celestia, she killed them.”

Rain Shine blinked slowly, and a frown etched itself onto her face. Her ears drooped down and she let out a long, low sigh. “Applejack, please listen to me. I know you are upset and that you are angry, and perhaps you have a right to be. But what I am about to tell you is important, far more important than anything you have learned today.”

“What in Equestria could be more important than that?” Applejack snapped, jerking her shoulder free from Rain Shine’s hoof.

Rain Shine was unphased and dipped her head in shame. “Autumn Blaze, bless her heart, is not responsible for your parents’ demise.”

Applejack forze mid sob. “W-what? But… but she said--”

“Listen to me,” Rain Shine commanded, holding up her hoof. As Applejack fell silent, Rain Shine continued. “I remember what had happened on that day. I had spoken with Autumn, and I had known she was bitter and angry. I did advise her to try and take some time to herself. To blow off steam, I believe. But it seems she took me a bit too literally.”

“It is true she started a fire. I watched as her flame grew bigger and bigger, and as it spiraled out of control. Perhaps I should have stopped her, stepped in to help, but I too was young and scared. So I broke away.”

“But you said she didn’t kill my folks,” Applejack protested.

“She did not,” Rain Shine asserted. “Please, Applejack. Let me finish. I was in the woods that day, but not because of Autumn. In the woods that day there was a fight between two others, one that rapidly spun out of control.”

“I tried to break it up, but you know how Niriks are. When one gets angry, the rest are bound to follow. And worse off we were young, Applejack. We weren’t in control. It wasn’t long before we began to burn. But that is when your parents arrived.”

Rain Shine paused, glancing up at the sky. “I know not what they thought when they saw us. Perhaps they mistook us for ponies at first, or thought that we had caught on fire. But no matter what they thought, they didn’t hesitate to step in. And step in they did. I remember that your father was brilliant in separating us, even as we were at each other's throats.”

“And your sweet mother was able to talk us down. She doused our fire better than the Stream of Silence could.”

“But…how did they go?” asked Applejack with a sniff.

Rain Shine gave her a sad smile. “They may have brought us down, Applejack, but the damage had been done. And they were only two ponies while there were many of us. They had left two of the instigators alone to focus on some others. They didn’t know that our tempers could flare up again just as easily as they died down. A few harsh whispers escalated into something worse, and the two fully turned Nirik again.

“It didn’t last, but it was long enough, I’m afraid. I don’t recall much, but I remember watching in horror as a tree came crashing down on the wagon. I began running, but your father turned around and charged back in.” Rain Shine’s voice began to waver but she pressed on. “I later found out that your mother was caught beneath it. They begged your father to run, but he refused to leave her behind. Even as the burning wood seared his coat he stayed, desperately trying to free her. The others stayed as long as they could until they had to flee.”

Rain Shine was quiet for a second. “When the adults calmed down and found out an entire party surged into the woods. I didn’t go with them because I was so young, but they returned defeated. They buried your parents where they laid, right next to each other so they could lay in peace forever.”

Rain Shine blinked before clearing her throat. “Applejack, what happened to your parents was horrific. But Autumn Blaze was not to blame. Perhaps we all were, but to hold her alone accountable isn’t fair. It pains me greatly to know that she has thought herself to be at fault all these years.”

Applejack was quiet, shifting uncomfortably in her seat. “I--I wish I…” A few stray tears slid down her cheek. “I called her a murderer,” she whispered. “Oh, Celestia, I wish I knew. I was just so mad, and so upset, I… I wasn’t thinkin’ clearly at all.”

“And nobody will blame you,” Rain Shine said solemnly. “You are right to be hurt, Applejack. I am truly sorry for you to have learned what happened like this. If only we knew before…” She quickly shook her head. “Let’s not dwell on the past, my friend. There is still time for you to make amends with your friend.”

“Of course!” Applejack said, sitting up. “Autumn don’t deserve the things I said to her. It… It ain’t right. But… where is she?”

“My Queen!”

Both ponies glanced up as a wide-eyed kirin began charging towards them. “Cinders, what is the matter?” Rain Shine asked worriedly.

“My Queen,” panted Cinders, “I just saw Autumn Blaze running for the Stream of Silence! I tried to stop her but she wouldn’t listen!”

Rain Shine and Applejack’s eyes widened. “Oh Celestia, what is she doin’?!” Applejack cried, leaping to her hooves.

“Applejack, go!” Rain Shine commanded. “I will assemble a party and meet you there. Hurry!”

Applejack was moving before Rain Shine finished her sentence. She grit her teeth and charged forwards, dodging Kirins in the streets and flying as fast as a Wonderbolt through the streets.

“Hold on, Autumn, hold on!” Applejack whispered to herself.

The village passed her by in a flash, and within seconds she was at the riverbank. “Consarn it! Where are you, Autumn Blaze?”

Applejack glanced up and down the bank, scanning the river’s surface.

Finally, she saw something: a spot of red against the current. Without hesitation, Applejack leaped into the river hooves first.

The water was cool around her body and she felt something constrict around her, tightening around her throat and silencing her vocal chords. But she paid it no mind.

She focused on the limp form floating just in front of her, vaguely in the shape of a pony. Applejack wrapped both forelegs around her barrel and began to pull. The current fought her every step of the way, and the weight of Autumn seemed to drag her down further.

Applejack grit her teeth and pulled harder. She glanced up at the surface and thought she saw two faces smiling at her, giving her strength. A faint glow that surrounded her, and Applejack felt the body in her hooves grow lighter. With a final heave of effort, she pulled herself onto the surface, as a group of Kirins cheered.

She hauled the corpse onto the bank, and tried to recall what she knew of first aid. Airways, clear the airways. Desperately, she shoved down onto Autumn’s chest -- again, and again -- until finally a fountain of water spurted up from the kirin’s mouth. Autumn Blaze gasped and sucked in a gulp of air.

“Get the shaman!” Rain Shine shouted, her voice dull and muted in the background. “Someone go fetch some foalsbreath!”

Applejack couldn’t say the words that were heavy on her tongue, but she dragged Autumn into a tight embrace, and after a moment, the kirin returned it. Applejack pulled away and looked into her friend’s eyes, and tried with all her might to convey the forgiveness in her heart.

I’m sorry, Autumn Blaze mouthed, choking on her tears and sobbing silently. I’m so sorry.

I know, Applejack replied with a smile. I am too.