Back in Ponyville, Twilight was walking through the town with a melancholic expression. Her tail hung down more than usual, though it looked neater than before after she had time to brush it. She still felt tired, and that could be seen by the way she dragged her hooves across the ground.
She was walking toward the direction of Sweet Apple Acres, hoping to find Applejack there, since she did not return to the library. She had a hunch the orange mare did more than just ‘step out’, but left the library entirely.
Before she could continue further, a pink figure could be seen bouncing her way. Twilight sighed knowing just who that pony was, mixed with her low fatigue.
“Hiya Twilight!” Pinkie Pie chirped, as she bounced around the lavender mare with vigor. “Why the long face?”
“Hey Pinkie... sorry, but I can’t talk right now. I have to get to Sweet Apple Acres and talk to Applejack.”
“Oh, I saw her earlier!” She stopped bouncing, and her expression was replaced with one of blankness. “She had a long face too. What is it with everypony today and long faces? They should shorten them because long faces are a big no-no for a happy pony.”
“Pinkie, I just need to talk to her alone. Could you please leave me be?”
“Why?” Pinkie asked, tilting her head in confusion. “Is there something going on between you two? Is it something I can help with? Can it be fixed with cake?”
Twilight looked back at Pinkie, who was suddenly holding a whole cake in her hoof with a hopeful smile.
“It’s strawberry!” she spoke in a singsong voice. “Everypony loves strawberry!”
Twilight had enough, and she just wanted to be left alone. She turned her head to the pink mare and yelled, “Pinkie!”
That startled her, making her eyes widen in surprise, and causing her to cower behind her cake. Twilight just facehoofed and slid her hoof down her face tiredly.
“I’m sorry Pinkie. I’m just not in the right mindset to have a conversation right now. I have to get to Sweet Apple Acres. Goodbye.”
She turned back, head hanging as she walked away from the sad pink mare. But something just wasn’t sitting right with her. Twilight knew personally what happened to Apple Bloom, and Applejack was told firsthand. There would be no doubt that she had told the rest of the Apple Family too. In a few days, ponies would be suspicious when they figured they haven’t seen the yellow earth pony filly in days, thinking she disappeared. They would ask where she had been, what happened to her, how she had been doing. Sooner or later, they had to know.
Twilight stopped, and faced Pinkie again. “On second thought, could you invite Rainbow Dash, Rarity and Fluttershy to Sugarcube Corner? Once I’m done talking to Applejack, I have something to tell you guys.”
Pinkie sprung up enthusiastically, making the cake shoot up twenty feet in the air. “I’m on it!” was all she said before zipping off to find the others. Two seconds hadn’t passed before she zipped back and caught the whole cake in her mouth, and she giggled before running off again.
Twilight had ignored that weird moment, just focusing on the task at hand. It had been minutes before she arrived at Sweet Apple Acres, home of Ponyville’s proud Apple Family and where all of Ponyville’s apple produce had been, well, produced. Everything still looked fine and sound.
“Anypony?” She called loudly. “Anypony here? Applejack? Big Macintosh? Granny Smith?”
Looking around, she saw nopony in sight. The only things she saw were the barn and the apple orchard, as well as the Apple Family house.
She decided to check for the Apple Family inside the house, so her hooves carried her toward their home. When she opened the door and took a look inside, the first thing she noticed was Big Macintosh sitting down on a sofa. But something didn’t seem right about him. He looked to be in tears, and he was sobbing uncontrollably.
Being held in his large forearms was Granny Smith, and from what Twilight could hear, she was also crying her eyes out. Both Apples sat and laid there crying, and as Twilight stared at them, she felt her heart drop intensely. They looked like they had seen better days, and it reminded Twilight how much this whole situation was her fault, all because she wasn’t looking after Apple Bloom.
To attempt to calm them down, or at least talk to them, Twilight moved her hooves forward, coming closer to the two earth ponies. “Big Macintosh? Granny Smith?”
Granny Smith didn’t bother moving an inch, but Big Mac opened his eyes upon hearing Twilight’s voice. His eyes weren’t bloodshot, so that was an indicator that this had only happened recently.
“You heard the news, did you...?” she asked.
All he could do was nod his head slowly, as Twilight stared at the red stallion. Granny sobbed a bit more loudly, and Big Mac held on to her tightly as she shed tears onto his shoulders. Twilight didn’t know what it was like to have a close family member lose their life, but however it felt, she could see how drastic the effects were on those who did.
“Where’s Applejack? Is she alright?”
Big Mac shook his head, and simply pointed out the door where Twilight came from. She didn’t see her outside when she came through the front gate. Twilight had figured she was outside tending to work like she usually did, when she was this upset about something.
“Thank you, Big Mac,” Twilight said, before she walked back into the outdoors. Not ^wanting to waste any time, she galloped through the farm in search of her friend.
The fact that Applejack didn’t return to the library raised a few questions for Twilight. Exactly how upset was she when she heard the news? Did she tell anypony other than Big Mac and Granny Smith? What effect did this have on Applejack’s well-being?
Twilight had seen firsthand what Applejack and Apple Bloom’s relationship was like. They were like the best of sisters. They loved each other deeply, and they were closer than most other sisterly ponies were. They played with each other a lot, they supported each other, and most important of all, they were always there for each other. She had seen that Applejack cared very much for Apple Bloom, and the filly returned that care.
But now, ever since the night before, that bond was broken. Twilight knew this was her fault, and she couldn’t take that night back. She couldn’t take back losing Apple Bloom, or wasting time finding Zecora for nothing, for finding part of her bow in a tree without the filly there as well, and worst of all, she couldn’t take back wiping out her murderers before the deed was done.
Thinking back on all of this made tears appear in Twilight’s eyes once again, and she couldn’t control them. But she set her own emotions aside to find Applejack, as she made her way through the apple orchards. Eventually, she did come across a certain group of trees, and pounding her hind hooves against one of them was her orange-coated friend.
Unlike Big Macintosh and Granny Smith, Applejack had a rather fierce expression on her face. She bucked the trees around her like nopony’s business, and if Twilight guessed that if she kicked any harder, she could knock the tree off its roots.
Slowly but willingly, she approached the apple bucking mare, but kept her distance just to be safe. “Applejack?” she called out. “Are you alright?”
“Just fine,” she spoke in an angry yet broken voice. Whatever Applejack was feeling, Twilight knew it was anything but just fine.
“Are you sure?” Twilight asked back.
“Yup. Now leave me to my business. Ah ain’t up for talkin’ right now.”
“Applejack, I need to talk to you.”
Applejack’s eyes narrowed a bit more, and she turned her head to look at the lavender mare. “About what?!”
Applejack’s fierce tone startled Twilight, making her step back a foot. Her angry gaze could be compared to a raging bull. Twilight didn’t know why she felt this way, but she was going to find out. She sighed deeply before starting her interrogation.
“Alright Applejack, it’s just... you look so frustrated. At least, compared to Big Mac and Granny Smith.” She looked back at the house with a downtrodden look before she turned back to Applejack, who was emptying the apples in a basket.
“They’re inside crying their eyes out, while you’re out here trying to kick down apple trees instead of being with them inside, trying to cope with the situation.”
“Buck apple trees, not kick them, and Ah’m just fine out here, thank ya,” she explained with a huff. “Now leave me alone and let me get back to work.”
“So, you’re telling me you’re not even a bit sad?” Twilight asked with concern for her friend. Applejack just stared her down, not letting her threatening expression falter.
“I mean, your little sister just fell to zombies, and I even gave you proof that what I saw is real, and not a fake story I made up. Why would I, even? Do I look like a pony that would make up a story like this? Maybe Pinkie Pie, but-”
She was cut off as Applejack’s angry appearance deepened, and she turned back around as she headed for another tree with apples still hanging on its branches. She turned her body and struck the bark of the tree hard with her hind hooves, shaking the tree and causing the vibrations to knock down the apples into the baskets.
“Can ya please leave me alone?” Applejack begged while trotting past Twilight. “Ah have apples to be buckin’, and I can’t have ya distractin’ me from my work.”
Unfortunately for the hard-working mare, Twilight stepped in front of her with an annoyed expression of her own. “Not until we get this straightened out. I’m trying to figure out why you aren’t sad about this like the others are. I thought you’d be devastated.”
“Ah’m...” Applejack paused a bit, her expression weakening briefly before going back to her fierce look. “”Ah’m gettin’ over it.”
She sidestepped Twilight in order to fill up the wheelbarrow with her collection of apples from the earlier tree. Once she emptied the apples into it, she headed back to repeat the apple bucking process. But no matter how much Applejack pleaded, Twilight kept following her.
“So, you aren’t saddened at all by this?” Twilight asked as Applejack got into position.
“Ah was,” she sharply replied before kicking her rear hooves back, knocking down the next batch of apples.
“And?” Twilight questioned as Applejack went back to empty them again.
“Ah’m gettin’ over it. Now please, leave me be. I don’t need a stern talkin’-to.”
She trotted past Twilight to another tree, and at this point, Twilight couldn’t take anymore of Applejack’s attitude. She wanted to bring out Applejack’s caring side, but was ultimately failing. So she thought of trying a different approach.
Applejack was all ready to make the next buck, and as soon as she did, she awaited the next collection of apples. However, they never fell. Applejack looked back to see her baskets empty, then looked up to see if the apples ever fell in the first place. Her eyes narrowed further as she saw the apples being held in place by a purple glow.
She looked back at Twilight to see her horn glowing the same hue, and she clenched her teeth. “Drop those apples, now.”
Twilight shook her head. “Not until you fix that attitude of yours. This isn’t the Applejack I know. The Applejack who would care deeply about her family, no matter what. The Applejack who would never lie to anypony.”
Applejack kept up her deathly glare, but didn’t do anything rash yet. Twilight could still see that, but still chose her words carefully. “Now I’m going to ask you... did you even cry once after I told you what happened to Apple Bloom?”
Applejack had been holding back a feeling since Twilight approached her, but she didn’t want the purple mare to know what it was. So far, she didn’t lie one bit, but she wasn’t feeling up to talking about her emotions at the moment. Twilight could understand if she was hiding something, as anypony wouldn’t know what to feel from losing somepony so near and dear to them.
“Ah did cry...” Applejack answered, but didn’t say more in an attempt to keep herself cryptic.
“And? Nothing else was felt-”
“Just drop the apples now, Twi!” she huffed, stomping her hoof on the grass as she said ‘now’. That startled Twilight, but she kept her guard up.
“Not until you drop the tough act and tell me how you’re really feeling,” Twilight retorted, keeping the apple tied to the branches with her magic.
Applejack had just about enough of Twilight’s arrogance, and before Twilight knew it, Applejack’s hind hooves struck her square across the chest. Twilight’s eyes widened as she took the brute force of the earth pony’s hind hooves, making her fly backwards a few feet and sliding across the ground for about two seconds, before coming to rest just near the wheelbarrow.
Twilight knew Applejack as a rather tomboyish mare. She was always tough, and didn’t back down from any challenge. An honest-to-goodness pony, moreso than anypony else in Ponyville. She was usually a morally good mare, up until now. Twilight never expected Applejack to get this physical with one of her friends, of all ponies.
Once Twilight’s sliding stopped, she looked up at the huffing Applejack, and a few tears slipped from her eyes. She had never received a blow that hard before in her life, and it hurt immensely. But it didn’t hurt nearly as much as seeing one of her best friends in emotional pain.
Once she figured she was alright enough to successfully stand on her hooves, she stood and backed away from the orange mare.
“Ok, I can see you just need time to yourself...” Twilight said shakily. She could feel a bit of bruising in her chest where Applejack had struck it, but she wasn’t worried about that now.
“I’ll just go. I hope you feel better.”
She turned around and headed out of the orchards. Once Applejack saw that she had fully left Sweet Apple Acres and out of her sight, a few tears streamed down her cheeks as she headed back to work.