“Maybe we could…”
“Nope, wouldn’t do no good. Already tried it.”
“But Applejack, ya don’t even know wut I was gonna suggest!”
“Don’t matter, Apple Bloom. Dog food? Squeaky toy? Whistling really high? Bin there, done that and got the overalls to show fer it.”
“O-Overalls? I think yer s’posed to say ‘t-shirt’…”
“Listen Sugarcube, we ain’t no bunch of fashion-conscious city-slickers like Rarity’s clique. We’re the Apple family, an’ have our own way of expressing ourselves. Ya know, like ‘a rooster in the hoof is worth two chickens in the henhouse’ an’ ‘many hooves make light farmwork’? You’ve spent too much time among townsponies! Startin’ to forget your roots… an’ it shows!”
“Hey, wait just a… who’s the one that goes off gallivantin’ ‘round Equestria and beyond with her friends, leavin’ me an’ Big Mac behind to take care of basically everythin’? I’d wager my favourite ribbon on me buckin’ twice the amount of fruit as you last year! An’ you know how busy it gets durin’ Zap season! I had to see Nurse Sweetheart ‘bout my poor, swollen hind legs! ‘Repetitive Stress Injury’, as she tells it! Or… somethin’.”
“...Y-You might have a point there, even if me and the girls savin’ the world takes slightly higher precedent than muckin’ out the pigs. Maybe.” Applejack finally acknowledged, putting a hoof around a grumpy Apple Bloom as if to show how appreciative she was of her younger sister’s efforts in picking up the slack over the years. “But we can chew the fat ‘bout that later. Right now, we still have to figure out how to shift that darn dog from…”
“Hey, don’t call her that!!” An already perturbed Apple Bloom had further cause to be upset, and quickly thrust her hooves over a nearby prostrate canine’s floppy ears as if to muffle the unexpected profanities. “I know it’s frustratin’ bein’ as we’ve bin stuck here for hours tryin’ to entice her away, but there’s no need for that kinda language! Apologise, right now! O-Or… the next time you need somepony to look after things when you’re gone, I may just have a hastily-arranged week-long Crusader sleepover with my friends!”
“B-But…” Applejack was about to protest that she could’ve said something even worse (after all, ‘damn’ is so much more offensive than ‘darn’). But just to keep the peace, she decided to eat humble pie instead (‘apple pie’ in her family’s unique vernacular.)
“Look, I’m sorry, ‘kay? Winona didn’t deserve that. Despite her disobeyin’ us right this minute, nopony could wish for a more lovin’, loyal and just darn cute pooch. I trust that use of the word meets with your approval, Miss Apple Bloom an’ furry companion?”
“It sure does!” Apple Bloom’s expression turned from annoyance to satisfaction on a bit, but her dog’s morose gaze downward remained as fixed as ever. “Now, Winona. Applejack’s said sorry for losin’ her rag, d’ya think you could show a bit of mutual understandin’ by lettin’ us take you home, girl? Please?! It’s startin’ to get dark, an’ I don’t wanna camp out here all night…”
Apple Bloom shifted her hooves to behind Winona’s ears, as if scratching behind them would jolt the animal into some kind of movement finally.
But instead of revelling in the friendly gesture as she usually would, the uncooperative pooch’s only response was to move her head a few inches away from Apple Bloom’s affectionate caresses.
“Oh, come on!!” Apple Bloom held her hooves aloft in irritation, mimicking her big sister’s pose earlier when exactly the same tactic had been attempted. “We’ve waited for you all day. Brought you all your favourite stuff from Sweet Apple Acres. I jus’ defended your good name! An’ this is the thanks I get?! What do we have to do? Drag you outta here, you stupid… oops.”
“Now who’s the one that’s being harsh?” Applejack gave her younger sibling a rueful smile, as if Apple Bloom was now in a position to empathise. “When you’re angry, really, really, angry at somecreature, you’d be shocked at the things that can spring outta your mouth. When me and Big Mac used to argue ‘bout the chores at the farm, you shoulda heard some of the stuff we used to yell at each other. It’d make today’s bout of unpleasantness seem like an afternoon picnic by comparison, I tell you what!”
“W-Was that before or after M-Ma an’ P-Pa…” Apple Bloom stopped chastising herself long enough to gaze wistfully up at her big sister, her golden eyes as wide as saucers.
“Both. Don’t matter that there was a tragedy or not, ponies will always have differences with each other an’ that ain’t changin’ anytime soon. Even family. What counts is patchin’ things up afterwards, an’ understandin’ each others point of view.” Applejack was not exactly in the mood for reminiscing, especially after doing so much of it earlier. “Anyway, I’ve been thinkin’...”
“Really? Well, there’s a first time for everythin’ I guess…” Apple Bloom had apparently recovered enough from her earlier guilt to cheek her sister jovially.
“Oh, ha ha! I see as far as humour goes, the apple ain’t fallen far from the tree!” Applejack frowned back, referencing one of the few sayings that hadn’t been changed to fit the farming family’s specifications. “Seriously though. You know that thing you just tried? With her ear? The same trick I tried earlier, to no effect?”
“Uh-huh.”
“Well, an’ this is gonna sound pretty strange so hear me out, but I have a feelin’ that might be makin’ things worse.” Applejack stated bluntly, staring down sympathetically at Winona as if she finally understood.
“W-wut?” Apple Bloom almost fell backwards in surprise, such was the shock value contained in the statement. “B-But… that’s bin her favourite spot to be scratched since she were a pup! Even more than under her belly an’ chin combined! You showed me yourself, when I was barely a foal! How could ya think…”
“ ‘Cos that’s where she used to pet Winona, before feedin’ her the best scraps at the table!” Applejack blurted out the facts of the matter without hesitation. “After such a sad and stressful day, with the hundreds of family members ‘round to say goodbye, the last thing the poor dog needs is to be reminded that it’ll never happen again.”
Almost immediately, a metaphorical light bulb appeared above Apple Bloom’s head. “A-Ah. I see. It all makes sense now. I guess even dogs can grieve as well.”
“Course they can! An’ we were fools for not picking up on it before. We had our grand funeral earlier, this is her way of bidding the dear old gal farewell.” Applejack lovingly patted Winona on the head, though this time without any hidden agenda. “She’ll miss Granny. We all will. Not that it needs sayin’, but anyways.”
“S-So now we know what the problem is, what’s the solution?” Apple Bloom pondered out loud, somewhat exhausted. It’d been an emotionally draining day, and right now her bed felt like the best place to be in all of Equestria.
“Problem? I don’t see no ‘problem’ here. Jus’ a loyal mutt keepin’ watch over a dearly departed loved one, an’ she ain’t moving. That’s her choice, not ours. She’ll find her way back when she’s good an’ ready. As for us two though, we have to git.”
“ “Git’? But... where?” Apple Bloom turned fully around to face her sister, now under the distinct impression she’d been selfishly intruding on a private engagement all this time.
“Back to the farmhouse, silly! After all, we only live a few hundred yards away. Big Mac will have the table set by now, and we still have to wash our hooves.” Applejack gestured to their rustic place of habitation, just over a nearby hill. “We make do the best we can without Granny, an’ live life to the fullest in her memory. She would’ve wanted it that way. ‘Sides, if we didn’t… she might just come back an’ haunt us ‘til we did. You know how stubborn she could be…!”
“ Yeah, you’re right Applejack! Why, I remember when I refused to dry the dishes on account of a new Daring-Do book I was readin’, and she only went an’ hid it til’ I’d wiped each one so clean you coulda seen your face in them! An’ you’ll never guess where the book was… right under the last plate…!”
Both sisters laughed whilst exchanging nostalgic stories on the short trip back to Sweet Apple Acres, and it was only as they disappeared from view that Winona deigned to lift her head once more.
She turned towards the headstone she’d been leaning against for most of the day after all the guests had gone, as if studying the words carefully engraved on there.
‘HERE LIES GRANNY SMITH
AN APPLE HAS LEFT THE ORCHARD
A FAMILY HAS LOST A LOVED ONE
BUT HER WISDOM AND COMPASSION WILL LIVE ON
THROUGH THE MANY SEEDLINGS SHE HAS INSPIRED
AND THE FIELDS OF GOLD SHE LEFT BEHIND
THOUGH WE MAY BE BRUISED AND BATTERED FOR NOW
A FRESH CROP IS ALWAYS ON THE HORIZON
WE MUST PERSEVERE EVEN THROUGH OUR TEARS
LET THEM HARVEST THE GROUND
TO BECOME FERTILE SOIL
UPON WHICH WE CAN GROW ANEW
HER LIGHT WILL CONTINUE TO SHINE
FROM SEASON TO SEASON
GENERATION TO GENERATION
HER BODY MIGHT FADE WITH TIME
BUT HER DEEDS WILL LIVE ON FOREVER
TO US HOWEVER
SHE’LL SIMPLY BE ‘GRANNY’
WE’LL MISS YOU, GRANNY.
LOVE APPLEJACK, BIG MAC, APPLE BLOOM…
AND WINONA.’
Author's Note
My first fic of the new year. Things are looking up already! 
Don't ask me why I wrote this. Maybe I was feeling depressed about a recent loss I've experienced, maybe I'd just seen a sad movie and it inspired me to return to my keyboard. Whatever. 
In any case, hope you liked it and don't forget to comment and so forth. More soon, either in the form of one-shots, chapter updates or obnoxious blog postings. Wait and see. 
