As soon as Applejack and Caramel walked through the doors to the Apple Family's house, Granny Smith shooed Applejack to bed. "It'll do no good for us if you're completely exhausted, now will it little filly?" she asked. Applejack shook her head, and walked to bed. She fell asleep, and she had the same dream that she always did when she was depressed.
It was a dark and gloomy night. Young Applejack stood over her ailing mother, who had brain cancer. She looked in the corner, and saw her father crying silently. She wanted to go and comfort him, but knew that he wouldn't appreciate it. A cough sounded from her mother. Applejack turned, and saw that her mother was awake. Her mother spoke, and her words were weak, nearly disappearing. "AJ, honey, you do know that one day you, too, will get brain cancer, right?" Applejack nodded. "Honey, I want you to promise me somethin', okay? I want you to promise me that you will never fall in love. If ya do, and when ya get brain cancer, it will kill 'em to see ya in such pain. You'll cause so much pain, even if ya don't mean to. Please, promise me sweetie." Applejack nodded, tears forming in her eyes. The dream flashed forward in her life one year.
Applejack sat at her mothers and fathers funeral, staring at their closed caskets. Remembering how her father had killed himself after her mother died, she re-vowed that she would never fall in love. She saw what it had done to her father, and she never wanted to see that happen again. Big Mac sat down next to her, holding baby Apple Bloom, crying silently, just like her father had, into her blankets.
Apple Bloom was learning how to walk. Applejack had told Big Mac to watch her, but he had accidentally fallen asleep. Apple Bloom walked out of the open doggy-door, and kept on walking until she was in the Everfree forest. Going inside and seeing her baby sister gone, Applejack screamed. She rushed outside, galloped into the Everfree, and found Apple Bloom playingwith a baby timber wolf. She promptly picked her up and galloped home, before the mother returned.
Granny Smith was sitting in her rocking chair, sipping coffee, when she fell. Applejack rushed in, hearing the noise, and cried out. Big Mac came running, saw Granny on the ground, picked her up, and raced to the cart. Applejack followed, practically tripping over her own feet. They rushed to the hospital, where Nurse Redheart took her into one of the back rooms. The siblings sat, wondering what was happening. The doctor came out, nodded, and said, "Your grandmother is fine. You got her here just in time. She had a heart-attack, but she will be fine now. Please come over and fill out some paper work." They had done that, and then they were let in to see Granny. The look on her face reminded Applejack of how their mother had looked on her death-bed. She hugged Granny Smith, and didn't want to let go.
Applejack woke up sweating and crying. Her sheets were drenched, and she was shaking uncontrollably. Them darn dreams! she thought. Why do they have such a big affect on me? She sat there, curled up, for a period of time.
Downstairs, Caramel was telling Granny Smith about what happened. "...so, she kinda blew up on me about this promise thing and I am so confused!"
Granny Smith interrupted. "A promise that she made to somepony else? Like, about love an' stuff?"
Caramel nodded, surprise that Granny knew about it. "Yeah, something like she promised never to fall in love..."
Granny sighed, leaned back in her rocking chair, and shook her head. "Ah knew that she had talked to her, but Ah never knew that she had made her promise..."
"What's that?" Caramel asked, trying to make sense of it all.
"Well," Granny said, still shaking her head. "Ah had better start from the beginning. My daughter, Yellow Harvest, got brain cancer. My husband got it, and now it goes from generation to generation of mares in the fam'ly. Yellow Harvest got a little crazy towards th' end, and she started making us all promise weird things, especially Applejack. Her husband, Green Bough, said that he heard her make Applejack promise never to fall in love, but Ah never..."
Granny trailed off, immersed in her own thoughts.
"I-I think that I get it," Caramel replied, speaking slowly. "AJ would feel horrible is she broke her promise to her dead mother...she is, after all, the Element of Honesty..."
The old mare nodded. "You're smart Caramel!" she smiled. "I remember when you were just a little lad an' you was playin' wit' Applejack, it was so sweet!"
A tired voice came from the doorway. "What was sweet?"
"Applejack?" Granny called.
"Yeah," she responded, entering the light. She had dark circles under her eyes, and she seemed more tired then before.
"Now, missy, weren't ye' supposed ter be sleepin'?" Granny Smith asked accusingly.
"Couldn' sleep," Applejack said, her words slurred.
"I don't darn tootin' care! Ye' better go and pretend to sleep, or else!" Granny sounded like an old mother trying to get a little kid to go to sleep.
"Fine, fine! I will!" The orange mare walked back to her bedroom, nearly falling over in the process.
Once Applejack was in her room, Caramel faced the mare in the rocking chair. "Granny? I am here to help you with the farm, but I am also going to help you find Applebloom, okay?"
"I knew it sonny, I knew that ye were gonna help us wit' that!" Granny cried, jumping out of her chair. "Where ye gonna start?"
Caramel shook his head. "I have no idea."