Chapters After Hearthswarming, Finally
The day after Hearthswarming Day, the Apple Pear family of AJ, Bartlett, and Apple Tartlett pack their bags and hop on the first train to the Crystal Empire. After the next two days pass, the trio arrive in the Crystal Empire where they’re greeted by Twilight Sparkle and Shining Armor.
“Y’all are early,” says Twilight with a giggle, “but it’s good to see you, AJ. I know you’ve been busy with the giant Hearthswarming Family Reunion. How’d that go by the way?”
“It was good but absolutely chaotic, so so many foals running around,” giggles Applejack.
A few minutes later, the quintet arrive at a Crystal building. The three Apple Pears are led inside by Shining Armor and Twilight. “This is the Cozy Crystal,” says Shining, “it’s a new rentable house or whatever. Enjoy your stay. We’ll see you tomorrow for the appointment. Me and Cadence that is.” Shining then leaves leaving the Apple Pears and Twilight alone.
“I know you’re not alright, AJ, I see it in your eyes,” says Twilight.
AJ motions Bartlett and Tartlett away to their rooms before returning to talk with Twilight.
“Honestly,” says AJ to her friend, “it’s a miracle that we even have Tartlett. She’s a miracle foal. She wasn’t even supposed to make it initially. After her difficult birth, I was told it would be unwell for me to try natural conception again. And then Hearthswarming happened, and I saw Big Mack and Cheerilee happily expecting another, and that nagging ache returned. I wanted another foal to call my own and a sibling for my daughter so she wouldn’t be alone. After all, her cousins can’t spend the night every night or come by everyday to keep her company. Well, those that aren’t Apple Bloom’s two that is. I hope that makes sense, Twi.”
“It sure does,” responds Twilight as she lifts up AJ’s face with her hoof. She wipes away her friend’s tears with a tissue she levitates with her magic. “And tomorrow will go just fine. Pretty much everypony who comes through the orphanage ends up adopting a foal.”
“Well, that’s good to know,” responds AJ. She hugs her friend. The two mares then part ways. Twilight flies off to join up with her brother and AJ goes and eats dinner with her husband and daughter.
The following morning, the three are up with the sun and at 9:00, they’re in Cadence’s office at the orphanage for their appointment. “Hello Applejack, Bartlett, Apple Tartlett,” says Cadence with a smile. “It’s good to see you all again.” She then leads them to the room of foals soon being accompanied by Redheart’s niece.
“Hello,” say the foals to the newcomers with smiles on their faces. They’re soon led into a secondary room where only five foals are present. The foals introduce themselves to the trio per Cadence’s request.
“Hello,” says the fist of the five, an earth pony filly with a pale yellow coat with pale green speckles, “my name is Daisy Fields.” Her mane is pulled back in two piggy tails held in by two daisy themed ponytail holders. She is two years younger than Apple Tartlett. As the other foals go around and introduce themselves to Applejack and Bartlett, Tartlett can’t stop chattering away with Daisy Fields. AJ whispers to Bartlett.
“I think our daughter has already decided who she wants her new sister to be,” says AJ in Bartlett’s ear.
“Yeah, sure does,” agrees Bartlett. Even Cadence soon realizes the chemistry between the two fillies. Cadence leans over the two with a smile on her face.
“Fillies, do you want to actually be sisters?”
“Mmhmm,” responds the two fillies in agreement, “we sure do!” The two excitedly hug at Cadence’s legs. Cadence soon shakes them off and leads AJ and Bartlett to a separate room to talk with them while the fillies continue to get to know one another.
“That’s probably the fastest I’ve ever seen two foals connect,” says Cadence with a smile. “Their chemistry is infectious. I’m glad Daisy found a home with you guys.”
“Yeah, us too,” agrees AJ with a smile. Cadence then tells them the full gambit of the paperwork process to which they eagerly agree. They then go to her office, Tartlett once again in tow, and sign the paperwork. They do find it difficult to separate the two fillies however. They literally have to pull the two apart using Cadence’s magic.
Several months later, Daisy is officially an Apple Pear and there is a whole ceremony with all of everypony involved. Needless to say, it overwhelms the poor dear a little bit.
Sugar Cube, Are You Okay?
“Sugar cube, are you okay?” Daisy hears as she comes to. She soon sees AJ and Tartlett standing over her.
“Yeah, just overwhelmed,” responds the filly. She begins heavy breathing and AJ provides the poor thing with her inhaler. “Thanks,” she says when she’s able to breathe again. AJ then leads her upstairs to rest for a bit. As a concerned sister as well, Tartlett doesn’t leave Daisy’s side the entire time.
Meanwhile downstairs, AJ and Bartlett finally convince everypony else to leave, after explaining the situation to them. Being the understanding ponies that they are, the other Apples and Pears finally leave sans Apple Bloom. She stays with her sister to just talk.
“AJ,” says Apple Bloom.
“Yeah, what’s up, sis?” Responds AJ.
“How’s Daisy gonna fair in this massive family? Especially with her asthma?” Says Apple Bloom concerned.
“She’ll be fine once she gets used to it all,” responds AJ, “we just threw her into it all a little too fast is all.”
“Okay,” responds Apple Bloom. “One other thing.”
“Yeah what?” Says AJ’s voice turning to concerned about her sister.
“It’s Strawbert, the split custody stuff is really starting to drive me crazy. It just feels like I don’t really see my own daughter enough anymore.”
“Well, you agreed to the arrangement,” responds AJ. “Adjusting it is going to be a little tricky.”
“Yeah, I know,” responds Apple Bloom, “but it would be worth it to see my daughter more. For her to be able to spend more time with her sister, too.”
“Well, whatever you decide, know I support you,” responds AJ, “now I need to go check on my daughters.” She hugs Apple Bloom goodbye before going upstairs where she soon finds Daisy fast asleep and Tartlett sitting on her bed reading her fairytale books.
“I wasn’t going to leave sister all alone up here,” says Tartlett with a smile.
“I know,” responds AJ as she sits down next to her daughter and hugs her close to her, “I know.”
Three hours later, Daisy joins the rest of them downstairs for dinner around the table. They have Apple pancakes topped with pear jam. Daisy and Tartlett gobble up all of it before running off to play but not before Daisy grabs her inhaler.
“That’s my girl, good of ya to remember on yer own,” says AJ with a smile and a giggle. She then picks up all the dirty dishes from dinner and places them in the sink. Bartlett goes off to their bedroom to take a nap. AJ can handle the fillies on her own for awhile.
About an hour into their play, the fillies both pass out absolutely exhausted and AJ carries them both up to bed on her back and tucks them in for the night before turning in for the night herself. As she climbs into bed, she is greeted by a yawn and a smile from Bartlett. “This is all worth it to see you happy and smiling again, my love.”
“Yeah, and I love seeing our daughter happy too,” responds AJ with a yawn. “Adopting Daisy is the best decision we’ve ever made. For my sake and for Tartlett’s sake. She was so lonely before.” She says goodnight to her husband before rolling over on her side and falling fast asleep. Everything is perfect and she wouldn’t have it any other way.
Four months later, Cheerilee welcomes a healthy little filly with a pink rose colored coat and a pale blond mane and tail into the world. She and Big Mack name her Rose Butter. A few days later, the rest of the family comes to meet the new foal.
“She’s precious, congratulations,” says AJ as she gives Cheerilee a hug. “What’s her name?”
“Rose Butter,” responds Cheerilee with a smile, absolutely beaming.
“That’s a perfect name,” agrees AJ her eyes welling up a bit with tears. She looks up at her brother.
“Yeah, we decided to take the Butter part of maw’s name,” says Big Mack as he walks over and takes his sister in his hooves in a hug to comfort her.
“Yeah, I figured,” chokes AJ, “and like I said, it’s perfect.”
Over the following hours, the adults talk while the foals play in the room next door. AJ and Cheerilee smile as they watch Cherry, Joy, Tartlett, and Daisy play. The two mares then turn back to their chattering. “So, how is it going for you?”
“It’s going good,” responds AJ with a smile, “adopting Daisy was the best thing we could’ve ever done, both for me and for my daughter. I’ve never seen Tartlett so happy. She used to be so lonely, now she has a friend, a sister and they have gotten along since they met that first day at the orphanage, they were meant for each other from the start. It was truly truly,”
“Fate,” giggles Cheerilee.
“Yeah,” responds AJ. “Absolutely fate.”
AJ lets out a sigh and smiles over to the fillies in the other room. “What’s it like having four now?” She inquires of Cheerilee.
“Well, Lil Mack is an adult himself, so it’s really just three in the house nowadays but it’s good, I enjoy being a mom oh so much! I wouldn’t have it any other way! We’ve been so incredibly blessed!”
“Yeah,” responds AJ, “ya sure have been.” A few moments later, AJ calls her daughters to her, they share goodbye hugs and head home to enjoy the rest of their afternoon there. Daisy goes right upstairs and passes out absolutely exhausted and as per usual, Tartlett gets her book back out and plops down on her bed. The two are truly inseparable and that alone makes AJ smile from ear to ear just radiating so much joy.
A few weeks after Daisy’s being brought into the family officially, the young filly accompanies her mother and sister to Cheerilee’s foalshower. Cheerilee is now eight months pregnant and having another filly. “This is so nice, so simple,” says AJ as she helps note down all the presents for her sister in law.
“Yeah, after the first one, I never bothered with a big fuss ever again,” giggles Cheerilee in response. She takes the next gift in her hooves and reads the card before opening it. This one is from Scootaloo, her little sister. She opens it. “The Little Chick, a board book,” reads Cheerilee before hugging her sister. “Thank you.”
“Anytime,” responds Scootaloo with a smile. “I’m so happy for you, sis! I can’t wait to be an auntie again!”
“Well, only four months to go,” responds Cheerilee with a smile. She takes up the next gift and opens it. She reads the tag. “Rainbow Dash,” she reads. She then opens the box. Inside she finds hoofmade burp clothes. She thanks RD and moves onto the next box. “Fluttershy,” she reads. She opens the box. Inside she finds a hoofsewn set of wunzies. “Thank you, I love it,” says Cheerilee. She then moves onto the next one. She reads the next tag, it’s AJ’s box. Inside she finds a hoofsewn quilt decked out with little apples. She also finds a little apple rattle. She thanks AJ with a hug before moving on to the rest of the gifts. She opens up the ones from Babs, Apple Bloom’s, Pinkie’s before the shower finally wraps up for the afternoon. She hugs everypony goodbye before heading off for a nap.
On the way back to the house, AJ happily talks with her daughters, sister, nieces, and cousin. “Hard to believe there’s gonna be another little Apple soon,” says AJ with a smile. “I’m so happy for Big Mack and Cheerilee.”
“Yeah, same here,” agrees Apple Bloom.
“Yeah, can’t wait!” Agrees Babs.
A few minutes later, they arrive back at Sweet Apple Acres where they all enjoy lunch out in the orchard together. It’s been a good day and they wouldn’t have it any other way. While the adults talk, the fillies and Babs’ colt run through the orchard laughing and having an all around good time. They play for hours on end, only breaking for snacks or for Daisy to do her inhaler. Definitely definitely a perfect afternoon indeed.
