Twenty hours. Twenty hours of the worst pain Applejack had ever experienced had brought her to this moment.
The painfully white tiles of the hospital ceiling faded in and out of focus and her mane stuck to her face and neck in stringy, sweaty strands. Not even the busiest harvest season of bucking apples until her hooves were ready to fall off had left her this exhausted. She rolled her tongue around in her mouth in a futile attempt to create some moisture while she fought to catch her breath. Voices were talking all around her in thick, warped tones like when Granny Smith tried to play one of her old vinyl records from the basement after it flooded.
But finally, one sound cut through her waterlogged brain and over the pounding of her own pulse in her ears. A single mewling wail that sent her struggling to sit up despite the screaming protest of her body.
Somepony was kind enough to shove a pillow behind her back to help her stay upright as her eyes scoured the tiny, achingly white room. An unfamiliar panic caught her throat for an eternity of seconds before she saw them.
A nurse whose name Applejack hadn't bothered to remember held a loosely wrapped bundle in her hooves and a gentle smile on her face.
"It's a filly."
It could have been a draconequus for all Applejack cared as the nurse carefully lowered the bundle into her hooves and she could finally see her foal's face.
Her foal.
A round face screwed up in anger at the bright, cold world. Little hooves twitching and shaking in the unfamiliar air. The same air that Applejack drew into her lungs with a shaky breath. Her eyes were stinging. A flood was crashing against her and it wouldn't go away until she gave that breath back--when she finally breathed it out on her deathbed.
She was perfect. Every single hair on her little body was perfect in ways that Applejack hadn't thought possible.
"Whooo-ee!" Now that's a fine little filly!" Granny Smith squinted her rheumy eyes at the lump in her daughter's hooves with a gap-toothed smile.
"Eeyup," Big Mac agreed with a smile, undoubtedly thinking about his own foal that would be along any day now.
Applejack was almost surprised to see them there. A part of her had forgotten that they had been with her the whole time. Her head finally surfaced after so long underwater and reality began to creep into her tired body.
She had a foal.
She was a mother.
Her family was here with her just like they had always been.
Except for one empty space.
"Too bad Apple Bloom couldn't make it," Applejack's voice was as harsh as sandpaper against her throat and her tongue stuck to the roof of her mouth. Were these dang doctors ever going to let her drink some water?!
Granny nodded sadly, "Real shame," she agreed.
More likely than anything, Apple Bloom's train would arrive tomorrow. Applejack could already imagine the look on her little sister's face when she saw her niece.
Niece.
Apple Bloom was an auntie now.
"Too bad the young'un's daddy didn't show up neither."
"That lyin' son of a diamond dog ain't comin' anywhere near my filly even if he wanted to!" Applejack retorted with more fire than she realized she had left. "He done used up more than his fair share of last chances already."
"That's true enough," Granny agreed calmly, "still a shame that he didn't want to see his own foal. I remember when y'all were born--your daddy was just as proud as a rooster with a new comb every dang time!" she smiled fondly at the memory and leaned closer to the foal, "My first great-grandfilly," she mused, "and just in time too."
Applejack didn't have time to question what she meant by that before Granny looked up at her with cloudy eyes. "Well?" she demanded, "Ain't ya gonna name her?!"
Despite the aching tiredness throbbing through her body, Applejack laughed, "Yeah, yeah, lemme think for a second." She looked down at the foal in her hooves, now sleeping peacefully with one tiny hoof in her mouth--not a care in the world.
Applejack wasn't good at thinking of names. Big Mac came up with the names for all of the trees. Every dog she ever owned was named Winona--the name of her mama's dog.
Mama....
Applejack could remember the look on her mother's face when Apple Bloom was born. The edges were worn out from the passage of time but the image of her face was as plain as day because she knew it was a mirror of the look she had right now. She could see her looking down at the tiny bundle that was her baby sister and say in a voice that she couldn't quite hear anymore, "What a perfect little flower."
A flower....
"Blossom..." Applejack said slowly, "Apple Blossom."
Granny nodded, "Sounds like a fine name to me," she said, "Apple Bloom'll be happy ya thought of her."
"How did...?" Applejack shook her head. Granny's almost uncanny intuition was something nopony truly got used to but at least this time it was a little easier to see. The names were similar--so similar in fact that Applejack considered changing her mind. But looking at the flawless, sleeping face of her daughter no other name came to mind.
Applejack swung her head to look at her brother, "I didn't go and steal one of you and Sugar's ideas, did I, Big Mac?"
"Nnope."
Granny Smith died two weeks later. She was in the hospital when Sugar Belle gave birth to a beautiful filly they named Candy Apple. They brought their filly to Granny's room for her to meet and hold and three days later she was gone.
The funeral was massive. Every Apple from the farthest reaches of Equestria was there along with all of Ponyville, all with sad faces and kind words to mumble to each other. It was hard to imagine the Apple family all being so quiet.
Applejack's face was a stone mask as she stared at the ornate tombstone everypony had chipped in to pay for. The ornately carved apples and likeness of Granny etched into its face didn't make anything better. It made about as much sense as putting one of Rarity's dresses on a pig--it wasted something pretty on something ugly.
She didn't need to look to know the pony who quietly approached and sat down beside her. Her chest rose and fell in a heavy sigh that turned to vapor in the frigid autumn air. Dark clouds in the distance served as a reminder that bad weather was on its way. The pegasi would only delay for so long. It had been hard enough scheduling a day for the funeral anyway.
"What are we gonna do, Twilight?" she muttered, seeing the pony beside her twitch out of the corner of her eye, "I've got Blossom, Big Mac and Sugar have Candy, Apple Bloom is busy teachin' at the school. How're we gonna keep the farm goin'?"
"You'll figure it out, Applejack," Twilight said in that...princess way she had picked up from Celestia. Distant. Aloof. Separated. This didn't affect her at all. Applejack could have told her that Winona had died and her reaction would be exactly the same polite concern and condolences she was offering now.
She missed Twilight--the real Twilight. The one she could talk to without guards watching her every move. The one she could call on night or day and always count on finding a listening ear instead of one that was always up to her horn in politics and fancy parties. Who would always have her muzzle in some book or a quill in her journal.
"Applejack..."
"Sorry, Princess," Applejack pulled her sleeping filly closer to her chest as the first icy drops of rain started pelting her coat, "I've gotta meet with the family. We've got a lot of plannin' to do." She didn't look at her friend when she turned away, forcing her face into the freezing rain to join her family in the barn.
Twilight didn't follow her.
There was work to do. Work that the princess couldn't help her with. This was Apple Family business.
Applejack looked down at her little Blossom and smiled despite the coldness seeping into her bones. "We'll get through this, sugarcube," she whispered, "Apples never give up."
Author's Note
Just a short, slightly sad one shot to see how people like my writing style before I try to write anything too lengthy. Let me know what you think!
