Twilight takes Applejack up on a chance to study new kinds of relationship, but will this experiment end pleasantly, or will their relationship crash and burn around them?

When a dark shadow comes crawling out of the past, the pair may find themselves lost in Ponyville's twilight hours.

Thanks to Meta Four for proofreading.

Zecora goes shopping in Ponyville and runs into Applejack and Rainbow Dash. She decides to join them for lunch at the Cafe, but they keep asking her about a hypothetical apple. The perimeters are that she can't use more than one word, and this idea goes over her head.

Applejack is old. Age has taken much from her. It has worn down her joints and muddied her memories, but it has not yet bowed her proud head, nor has it taken away her great heart. When a sick colt has only one hope, Applejack knows what she must do.

Though much is taken, much abides, and so Applejack must walk the trails through the Everfree alone one more time.

Applejack has never known how it feels to believe that her life is coming to an end...

....that is, until she awakens one day to find herself falling through the sky....to a seemingly inevitable death...

When Applejack needs an extra hand around the farm during harvest season, Sunset Shimmer is the only one of the girls who has time to help.

During the long hours of work and play, they grow closer, learn more about each other, and discover what family means to each of them.

Learning to settle and make do with what you have been given is a fundamental part of being an adult.

So is wishing things had turned out differently.

Some questions have easy answers. Why Applejack never revealed her feelings for Twilight was a question like that. When she discovers that her reasons were wrong, what she should do next seems like it should be, too. However, some questions are more difficult to answer than they first appear.

Editing by bookplayer, Jake R, and JetstreamGW.

The spell didn't completely remove Discord's influence, and Applejack and Rarity know this better than anypony. Months on, they're still having difficulty; a perfect record is difficult to return to after you've tasted corruption.
They do, however, have each other.
Contains some darkness, and some fluff. More fluff than darkness, I suppose.

The Apple Family has traditions for everything. Funerals are no exception.

Originally written for the final 'Thirty Minute Ponies' prompt.

Jealousy. The infamous heart parasite, that feeds on and sours most flavors of love. The changelings call it "that which spoils food". For years it has nestled within Big Mac, feasting upon every exploit of Applejack's, every newspaper article bearing her name and photograph, every excited babble of Apple Bloom exaggerating Applejack's feats. He kept it under control, hidden from his family, until now.

And never noticed how much worse she had it.

Takes place shortly after Brotherhooves Social. Contains minor spoilers if you have not seen it.

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