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// 11: Shedding Tears [Slice of Life] 
// Story: Thirty Days, Thirty Twilights 
// by Esle Ynopemos 
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((Prompt: Why is Applejack crying?))

Applejack hated this part.

She stood at the counter, puffy red eyes fixed on her work. No matter how she tried to stop them, tears continually overflowed the corners of her eyes and spilled down her cheeks. In the next room over, Twilight perched on a chair, her nose buried in a book.

“Where—” Applejack coughed, fighting back the tightness in her throat. “Where's this thing gonna be?” she asked.

Twilight did not respond. Her attention remained locked on her book.

“Twi?”

“Hm?” Twilight blinked. “Oh, sorry, Applejack, I wasn't paying attention.”

“That's a real surprise,” Applejack muttered under her breath. Another hot tear stung her cheek.

Twilight perked her ears forward. “What did you say?”

Applejack raised her voice. “I asked where—”

“The park,” Twilight said. “It'll be at the park.”

Applejack nodded. She sniffed her runny nose. “An', uh, who's gonna be there?”

Silence. Applejack turned to see that Twilight's attention was back to her book again.

“Dangit, Twi!”

Twilight's head snapped up. “Sorry, sorry! Uh, you asked who to expect there, right?”

The farmer nodded, her hooves still busy with her work. “If it ain't too much trouble for ya.”

“Well, Pinkie will be there for sure,” Twilight said, tapping her hoof on the end-table. “Fluttershy and Rarity said they would be late, but they would make it. Rainbow Dash... well.”

Another tear trickled across the sensitive hairs on Applejack's cheek. “I understand. Five of us, huh?”

“Looks like.” Twilight put a bookmark in her book and shut it. “You almost done in there?”

Applejack smiled and wiped her knife off. “I never much liked onions, but this oughta be enough for five sandwiches.” She wiped the moisture from her eyes with a hoof. “When Rainbow gets back from her big Wonderbolts tryouts, we'll have to have another one of these.”

“Picnics just aren't the same without her,” Twilight agreed.