You never know what’s going to happen
The sun peeked over the horizon, lighting up the world beneath and filtering into the windows of everyone in Ponyville. The few Thestrals in Ponyville made their way home as the world around them began waking up, a few early birds making their way to work or making breakfast for themselves or their families. At the far end of Ponyville sat Sweet Apple Acres, a roosters crow sounding across the farm and into the Appleseed Farmhouse.
Pear Butter grumbled as she woke up, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes and rolling over onto her back, staring at the ceiling for a few seconds. She looked over and found her husband still sound asleep, his chest rising and falling slowly.
She smiled and rolled over again, placing herself on top of him. She leaned forward and brought him into a kiss, Bright Mac returning it after a minute as he himself woke up.
She pulled away after a few seconds, smiling at him. “Good morning.”
“Mornin’.” He replied curtly as he sat up and stretched. “That’s gotta be one of the best ways to wake up.”
“One of?” Pear Butter asked curiously.
“Well, Ah can think of one or two other ways that’d be better~” Bright Mac said with a wink.
“Oh hush!” Pear Butter punched him in the chest teasingly. “It’ll be a cold day in Tartarus before Ah wake yah up like that.”
“Just saying.” Bright Mac held up his hooves defensively before giving Pear Butter's forehead a kiss and climbed out of bed. “Ah’ll check on Bloom and wake up the kids.”
Pear Butter watched him walk towards the door. “Yah know, we may be able to do something tonight.” Bright Mac stopped and turned around. “Depending on when we get chores done and if Bloom sleeps soundly of course.”
Bright Mac smirked and hummed in acknowledgement. “Sounds like a plan.” He said before walking out the door. “Ah’ll be looking forward to it.”
Pear Butter shook her head before climbing out of bed herself. She stretched and trotted to the bathroom, freshening herself up and brushing her teeth before walking down the stars and into the kitchen.
There, she found Granny Smith already in the kitchen cooking breakfast. “Ma!”
“Ah.” Granny Smith looked over. “Mornin’ youngin.”
“Ma, what’re yah doing up so early?” Pear Butter asked with concern as she walked up next to Granny Smith.
“Early? Ah’ve been waking up when the roosters crow my whole life, Ah’m not going to stop now!” She said, flipping a pancake.
“Ma, yer getting older, yah shouldn’t be up so early. We talked about this.”
“It’s precisely because Ah’m gettin’ older that Ah need to wake up early. Soon Ah won’t be able to work the farm at all. This is my way of contributin’, someone’s gotta hold down the fort and yer too busy with the farm and Bloom.” She moved two eggs onto a plate. “‘Sides, Ah haven’t reached sixty just yet.”
“Ma-”
“Don’t try arguin’ with me youngin, Ah feuded with yer family for thirty years. Ah’m a stubborn gal, yer not going to convince me to not wake up to make breakfast for my family. Not even when Ah’m fallin’ apart and Ah start forgettin’ all of ya’ll.”
“That’s rather morbid, ma.” Pear Butter grimaced but sighed in defeat. “Fine, but Ah’m not bailing yah out when yah and Mac get to arguing… make sure to cut the yolk out for Jackie, she prefers eggwhites.”
Granny Smith merely hummed in acknowledgement as Pear Butter left the kitchen and went back to the stairs. “Mommy!” She stopped and looked up to see Applejack run from her room and sped down the stairs.
“Applejack! What’d Ah tell yah about running on the stairs!?” She ran up the stairs and stopped Applejack halfway, giving her a disapproving look. Her eyes softened when she saw Applejack wearing her husband’s hat. “What’s that on yer head?”
“It’s daddy's hat! Ah pretended to be asleep and ripped it off his head when he tried to wake me up!” She said, sounding a little too proud of herself.
“Stealing yer pa’s hat?” Pear Butter asked with an amused tone, grabbing Applejack and pulling her towards herself as she began tickling her. “Yah little stinker, ah ain’t raising no thief. Ah’m not letting yah go till yah give it back. It doesn’t even fit yah!”
“N-never!” Applejack struggled out through fits of laughter and giggling, squirming in her mother’s grasp.
“Just let her wear it, it was a good plan.” Pear Butter stopped and both her and Applejack looked to Bright Mac at the top of the stairs holding a baby Apple Bloom. “Besides, Ah’ll get her next time.”
“Yeah right daddy!” Applejack challenged before turning to her mother. “Can Ah? Just for today? Pleeeeaassseee?”
Pear Butter hummed in thought. “Alright, just for today. Now, go brush yer teeth missy.”
“Yay! Thank yah mommy!” Applejack said as she ran back up the stairs.
“And no running on the stairs!” Pear Butter yelled as Bright Mac climbed down the stairs to hand Apple Bloom off to her. “Yer ma woke up early and is cooking breakfast.”
“What? We talked about this!”
“Ah told her that but she insisted, said she has to contribute ‘cause she’s getting older.”
“She watches Bloom while we’re working and makes lunch, what more does this mare want?”
“To not feel useless most likely. It’s probably an old person thing.”
“Ah’m middle aged! Not old!” Granny Smith called out from the kitchen.
“Yer sixty ma!”
“Not for three more months!” Granny Smith peeked her head out the door. “Take my advice: don’t get old. Everything falls apart when yah turn forty and youngins think a light breeze will kill yah.”
“We’ll keep that in mind ma.” Bright Mac shook his head in exasperation towards Pear Butter who only smiled in amusement. “Just as yah should keep in mind that yah can’t-”
“Ah can do anything Ah set my mind to!” Granny Smith harrumphed before going back to cooking. “Young whippersnappers think Ah’m already dead!”
Bright Mac sighed. “Please tell me yer not going to be like this when yer her age?”
“Of course Ah will, Ah’ll just take it out on yah instead of our kids and their partners.” She teased before looking over as Big Mac's door was opened, the colt in question slumping out of it. “Ah, good morning sugarcube.”
“It’s too early to be yelling...” Big Mac said tiredly as he turned and walked towards the bathroom.
“Three, two, one-” Yelling suddenly came from the bathroom as Big Mac and Applejack began arguing. “-like clockwork. Want me to break them up?”
“Macs too tired, he’ll exhaust himself arguing with her before it gets too far.” Pear Butter walked down the stairs. “Ah’ll feed Bloom, yah look over the list and get the cart ready.”
“Got it.” Bright Mac stole a small kiss from his wife as he trotted away. “Make sure Jackie doesn’t steal all of my eggwhites while Ah’m gone.”
“Yah two are so weird, preferring eggwhites over yolk. Wouldn’t yah agree?” She turned to Apple Bloom who began giggling. “Why does yer daddy have to be so weird? Sometimes, Ah wonder how he ever managed to convince me to marry him.” Pear Butter said in a baby voice as she walked back into the kitchen, Apple Bloom continuing to giggle in approval.
“Yah sure we got everything hon?” Bright Mac asked as he looked over their cart, double checking all the supplies.
“Ah’m sure, Ah looked it over three times already. Now stop being paranoid.” Pear Butter answered. “Besides, it’s not the end of the world if we forget something. Ah’ll hold down the stall while yah go back home.”
“Just making sure. The weather service said they were planning a storm today, Ah don’t want to walk in that.” Bright Mac looked up, watching a few Pegasi fly around in the sky and place clouds together. He turned around and began strapping the harness around his torso, Pear Butter coming around to help strap him in. “... Yah get yer letter?”
Pear Butter stopped before nodding gingerly. “Yeah.” She answered before finishing strapping him in.
Bright Mac nodded and Pear Butter climbed in. Bright Mac took off and pulled the cart behind him, stopping at the front to let Pear Butter place her letter in the mailbox before continuing on.
The two continued in silence for a long time, the sky darkening as the Pegasi covered the sky in gray clouds. “... He’ll answer this time, Ah can feel it.”
“Yah say that every time.”
“And this time it’ll happen!” Bright Mac reiterated, flashing Pear Butter a reassuring smile. “Yah’ll see.”
“He won’t, but thanks.” Pear Butter smiled appreciatively. “... Maybe Ah should stop, it’s been ten years now.”
“Yah say that every time.” Bright Mac said with some amusement. “Mark my words, yah’ll stop for a month then immediately get back to writing.”
“Well, then Ah’m wasting my time aren’t Ah?” Pear Butter huffed in annoyance. “Ah shouldn’t care he isn’t answering, he’s wrong for abandoning me. Ah’m just wasting my time writing to him.”
“Yah want him to answer ‘cause yah love him.”
“Well maybe Ah shouldn’t!”
“He wasn’t abusive.” Bright Mac turned his head to argue. “He was a good father, if perhaps a bit strict. Yah have every right to love him and want him back.”
“Why are yah defending him?” Pear Butter frowned. “He never accepted us, yah should hate him!”
“Ah do hate him!” Bright Mac snapped, his face softening when he realized he had just yelled at Pear Butter. He cleared his throat and looked away in shame. “He abandoned yah and refuses to meet our children. Ah can never forgive him for that.”
Pear Butter looked surprised. “Then why do yah-”
“Because yah don’t.” Bright Mac interrupted. “Ah know it hurts yah, more than yah let on, and it’s my fault. It doesn’t matter if Ah won’t forgive him, it doesn’t matter if Ah hate him, if the only way yah’ll stop hurting is if he’s back in yer life, then so be it. Thats why Ah’m defending him, Ah want yah to stop hurting.”
There was a long silence between the two. “Yah blame yerself?”
“How could Ah not?” Bright Mac looked back towards Pear Butter. “If it was anypony else, yer father wouldn’t have disowned yah. Ah’m the one who started courting yah, not the other way around.”
“Ah courted yah just as much as yah did me. Ah chose to marry yah!”
“But Ah’m the reason he disowned yah.” Bright Mac sighed. “Ah hate feeling like that. Ah hate Ah’m the reason yah two are estranged. Ah hate how there’s nothing Ah could do about it but pray.”
“Mac-”
“Hon, nothing yah say is going to change my mind. As long as it still bothers yah, Ah’m gonna feel this way.” He looked back towards the road. “Ah just want yah to be happy…”
The two traveled in silence for a long time, both unsure on how to continue the conversation.
Eventually the two made it to the market and started setting everything up, Bright Mac handling the heavy loads while Pear Butter organized everything and wrote down prices.
“... Ah am happy.”
Bright Mac looked to Pear Butter. “What?”
“Ah said-” Pear Butter turned around. “-Ah am happy. Ah’m the happiest Ah’ve ever been in my life.”
“Uh-”
“Ah have a mother in law who adores me, Ah’m married to the greatest stallion in the world, and Ah have three beautiful children. Ah have everything Ah ever wanted.”
“Ah wasn’t-”
“Perhaps it is yer fault in a way, but Ah don’t care and yah shouldn’t either. If Ah had to choose between yah and retaining him as my father, Ah’d choose yah every single time.” Pear Butter marched right up to Bright Mac. “Of course Ah hope my pa comes to his senses and we can be a family again, but if he’s too stubborn to do that, then so be it. Ah don’t need him in my life to be happy.” She placed hoof against Bright Mac's chest. “Ah just need yah and the kids. So, stop blaming yerself for what happened, Ah’m equally to blame. Ah courted yah, Ah married yah, and ultimately Ah chose yah over him. And Ah will never regret my choice.”
The two stared at each other for a small eternity, Bright Mac smiling and chuckling lightly. “Yah always know what to say to perk me back up.”
“It’s a wife thing.” Pear Butter smiled, pulling her hoof away and placing it back on the ground. “Ah’ve had a lot of practice.”
“Ah needed to hear that. Ah’m still gonna feel this way till yer father comes back into yer life, but Ah’ll keep yer words in mind from now on.”
“Fair enough. Just don’t put all the blame on yerself.” She turned around and made her way back to the stall. “Now come on, we need to sell as much as we can before the rain. Ponies won’t come out when it’s raining.”
“On it!” Bright Mac nodded and grabbed a large box, pulling it with him as he ran.
“We really need to invest in a covered wagon.” Pear Butter grumbled as she tried holding a box lid over her head as rain poured from the sky, lightning occasionally lighting up the sky and followed by rolling thunder.
“For the one time a year we end up walking in the rain?”
“Hey! Given enough time, this wagon will flood!”
“It’s not raining that hard.”
“We’ll see about that when we unload everything. Everything will be ruined at this rate.”
“Ah don’t see why yer complaining.” Bright Mac teased. “Ah’m the one pulling the wagon and getting all muddy over here.”
“Oh, yah think Ah like sitting here getting soaked? Is that it?” Pear Butter asked with a small smile.
“Better than walking and getting muddy.”
Pear Butter hummed. “Touché.”
Bright Mac smiled proudly, thankful to finally win an (pseudo) argument with his wife, and continued on. “Yah think ma saved us some lunch?”
“When does she not? Ah just wonder what she managed to cook that AJ and Mac could agree on.”
“Why do those two argue over everything?”
“Oh what, yah never argued with yer siblings?”
“Betty was a sweetheart and me and Bloomin’ got along. We never argued. At least, not as much as those two do.”
“Uh huh, Ah’ll be sure to ask yer ma to see if she agrees with yer assessment.”
The two shared a small laugh. “Say, what if we all went into town tomorrow after all the chores are done? We could visit the Sweet Shoppe, or even that Sugar corner place that just opened. Then maybe after that we have a picnic in the park.”
Pear Butter hummed in thought. “Depends on when we get done, Ah don’t want to be out after dark. But yeah, sounds great. We’ll just have to run it by yer ma f-” Pear Butter yelped as she was thrown out of the cart as it suddenly dipped to the side, Bright Mac barely keeping himself from falling over.
“Pear!” He quickly unstrapped himself and immediately ran to his wife. “Are yah alright? Anything broken? How many eyes do yah see?”
“Ah’m Fine, nothings broken, and yah have the same amount of eyes as always.” The two looked over to see the left wagon wheel had come off the axis after they had run over a large rock.
“Great.” Bright Mac groaned as he looked over the damage. “The wheels busted, a few spokes came off and most of the rest are cracked.”
“Will it still turn?”
“Not for long, Ah say we’d make it right to the front of the farm before it breaks entirely. We’ll have to get the kids to help us take everything inside.”
Pear Butter looked at the various supplies still in the cart. “Perhaps we can get some more mileage by lightening the load?”
“That could work, but Ah can’t carry anything ‘cause Ah’m pulling the cart. It’ll slow me down.” He turned his head to Pear Butter. “Try not to carry too much, just carry what yer comfortable with.”
Pear Butter nodded and started taking some items out of the cart and setting them down, Bright Mac looking over the wagon axis to see if that too was damaged. When she was done, Bright Mac pushed the cart up and Pear Butter grabbed the wheel.
“Alright, really push it in there. Ah can’t help yah while Ah’m holding the cart up.”
“Relax, this isn’t my first busted wheel.” Pear Butter rolled her eyes and began aligning the middle of the wheel with the wagon axis, suddenly shoving it through and pushing it in as hard as she could.
Bright Mac slowly set the wagon den and looked over their handiwork. “Good work. Now, get the supplies and lets get a move on before-”
Bright Mac was drowned out by thunder as a bolt of lightning shot from the sky, striking a large tree off the side of the road.
The tree split in half, one half falling against another tree, while the other leaned forward and crushed the wagon, Pear Butter, and Bright Mac under its weight.
“Granny! Mac keeps making fun of daddy’s hat!”
“Ah’m not making fun of pa’s hat, Ah’m making fun of yah wearing pa’s hat!”
“Yer just jealous cause he gave it to me!”
“Yah stole it!”
“Enough, both of yah!” Granny Smith got between the two before they could continue arguing. “Before Ah give both of yah a butt whoopin’!”
Both grimaced at that and stopped arguing, glaring daggers at each other. “Ah can’t wait till Ah finally have a brother for once.”
“Well Ah can’t wait till mommy and daddy have another sister!” Applejack pouted.
Granny Smith opened her mouth to berate the two foals, but a knock at the door got her attention. “Ah need to get that. Yah two stay here and behave yerselves till Ah get back.”
Both of them mumbled something that sounded like an agreement as Granny Smith made her way to the door. She opened it and was surprised to find a young mare with a light blue coat and yellow mane wearing a police officer's uniform. “Oh! Officer Swift Order, to what do Ah owe the pleasure?”
“Ma’am…” Swift Order took off her hat. “A group of ponies found your son and daughter in law crushed under a tree on the road.” Granny Smith's eyes widened. “They were already dead when a doctor got on the scene and they couldn’t be resuscitated. They’re gone ma’am.” Granny Smith shakily put a hoof to her mouth as tears welled in her eyes. “I’m so sorry.”
“Granny!” Applejack yelled as she and Big Mac ran into view. “Big Mac said the police came to arrest me because Ah stole daddy’s hat!” She said indignantly. Both her and Big Macs face softened as Granny Smith said nothing and fell onto her haunches.
“Granny?” Big Mac asked with concern. “Is… is everything alright?”
Granny Smith looked over, tears falling freely as she began to sob in anguish.
Applejack and Big Mac looked at each other with a frightened expression, both of them exchanging looks and silently debating with eachother before the two of them walked over.
Granny Smith immediately grabbed them and held them in a tight hug, Applejack and Big Mac returning it as Swift Order looked on as the family held each other.
Author's Note
Hello everybody, decided to participate in a contest for once, been working on this one for a few days now.
I was originally going to write about Rainbows parents, but then I had a perfect idea for AJs parents.
For reference, Granny Smith is 59, Bright Macs 35, Pear Butters 34, Big Macs 10, AJs 8, Blooms like 6 months old, and it’s been 10 years since Pear Butter and Bright Mac died in this continuity.
I know it isn’t exactly confirmed whether or not Thestrals ~~exist~~ live in Ponyville, but I like to think there’s a few running around.
The Appleseed Farmhouse is a building from the mlp game made by game loft. I know the the Apple family most likely lives on the second story of the barn, but that’s not how farms work. Barns are big and need multiple stories for storage. They also usually stink and have noisy animals in them. Not a great place to live in.
Farms usually have the actual home a little bit away from the barn, which is how SAA is like in this continuity even if we never see any home in the series proper.
I decided to rate this story teen for the very minor sex implication, but I didn’t think it was worth having a sex tag for the story proper.
I originally was going to call Granny Mrs. Smith, but that felt like it’d be confusing. Her actual name in this continuity is Smith Apple, not actually Granny Smith because that seems like a cruel name to call your child.
Pear Butter calls Granny ma because, at this point, she’s practically Granny’s daughter. Especially since it’s likely that Pear Butters own mother is dead. I thought it’d be cute between mother and daughter in law.
I also thought it’d be interesting to have AJ and Bright Mac prefer eggwhites over yolk. No reason really, just a personality quirk.
I also know that you don’t typically cut yolk out to get eggwhites, but eh.
I always kind of imagined young AJ to be exciteable and energetic.
And that she and Mac would constantly be arguing when they were younger.
The whole letter thing is a reference to the ’The Life I never Lived’ comic, which I refuse to believe isn’t canon. That’s such a good comic.
I also feel like Mac would hold himself responsible for Grandpa Pear disowning his daughter and that she’d never get over it, but that Pear Butter would never regret her choice.
It was never exactly clear how everyone was related to eachother in the Apple family, but I’ve decided that Apple Brown Betty is Bright Macs sister as she was explicitly called an aunt and that Aunt Orange is also Bright Macs sister who was originally called Bloomin’ Apple before changing her name to Bloomin’ Orange (and it was way too hard to find a name that fit with the Apple theme, everything was already taken! I had to look up Apple desserts) after marrying her husband.
The Sweet Shoppe, in this continuity, is a business Bon-Bons mother owns that sells sweets and candies that Bon-Bon eventually inherits. This isn’t supported in the series at all, but I think it’s a nice touch.
And now, time to talk about the deaths.
This was planned all along, it was the idea I started with. I would put the death tag on, but I wanted their deaths to be a surprise and the tag itself says death needed to be a major theme, and I felt it wasn’t a major enough theme or plot point to justify putting it on.
I made their deaths so sudden and unexpected because, well, that’s often how deaths are in real life and probably how their own deaths were in canon. I wanted to make it especially tragic by having them make plans for the next day and even that night. What’s even worse is that if they weren’t in that exact spot or the wheel had held up just a little bit longer, they wouldn’t be dead, which is often how deaths in our own world are like.
I thought a long time on how I’d kill them off. Originally I was going to have them end up in a ditch, but I couldn’t think how I’d do that. Then I was going to have a bridge collapse for some reason and kill them, but the bridges we’ve seen in canon have been over a river, and I feel like they could swim and that wouldn’t kill them. I thought maybe they could be over a ravine, but those would really only be in the Ghastly Gorge, and why would they be there? So then I thought they could be struck by lightning, but it felt like I was stretching it by having them both be hit by lightning and dying.
Ultimately I decided on a freak weather accident.
I foreshadowed and hinted at their deaths in the story and chapter names, Granny telling them to not get old, the storm being set up, and lightning arcing in the sky. So, good job to anyone who caught on what was about to happen.
I wanted to end it there, but that felt too sudden and tragic a note to end on and I felt it was a weak ending, so I extended the story a bit.
It’s also ambiguous whether or not Ponyville has a police force, being such a small town after all, but I like to think there’s at least one person keeping the peace.
Plus, it serves a convenient excuse to have the family notified if Pear Butters and Bright Macs deaths.
The officers name is inspired by a Fanfic I read where a cops name was Swift Justice. I was originally going to call them Swift Justce but I felt somebody might get mad I stole a name.
I felt this ending was more powerful, leaving it on a bittersweet note rather then the sudden and tragic note of Pear and Mac dying.
Anyway, thanks for reading my fic!
