- train to Ponyville, present day-
The train from the Crystal Empire back to Ponyville left early the next morning, which Twilight and Sunny both caught right after a quick breakfast and a send off from both Cadence and Shinning Armor. Sunny couldn't wait to get back to Ponyville and see the wonderful image that was the Apple farm. And more importantly, what made the Apple farm the Apple farm were the ponies who live there, and made it a home. The Apple family; Granny Smith, Apple Bloom, Big Macintosh, and last, but certainly not least, Applejack. Sunny smiled and dozed off as he looked out the train at the scenery of the Crystal Empire turning into the Arctic tundra, but his mind and heart were a million miles away, in a town called Ponyville, where a certain special somepony was waiting for him.
"Oh buck!" Sunny ghasped once he realized his mistake. His sudden actions almost sending Twilight flying out of her seat.
Up until then Twilight had been trying to decipher the coded texts of the books that Sombra had hidden in his second bedroom. She figured Sunny had a lot to try and think about on the way home, and this would be a great time for her to get started on it. She didn't know he was about to have a heart attack. She looked over at the nervously pacing stallion and asked him "Is everything alright, Sunny?"
"No, no, no, no!" He half answered, half muttered to himself. "I can't believe I just left like that! Without telling anypony where I was going! I wonder if they think something happened to me! What I
if they think I just abandoned them?! What if it was my turn to run the apple stand?! Ugh! They'll be behind on everything and all because I didn't take two seconds to tell them were I was going!!!!"
Twilight chuckled lightly before placing a book mark in the coded book and gave Sunny her full attention. "I'm sure they will be fine, and I'm sure somepony talked to Spike. I'm sure he told somepony you going with me."
"You're right, your right..." Sunny said as he began to calm down, but kept pacing.
Twilight held out a hoof to stop the yellow unicorn. When she did, he turned to her and watched as she mimicked Cadence's deep breathing exercise. Putting a hood to her chest as she took in a breath, held it in for a moment, then released her breath as she pushed out with her hoof. Sunny paused and began to do the same. As he did, he felt his worried nerves began to relax. After a few deep breaths, Sunny took his seat across from Twilight and smiled at her.
"Thanks Twilight" Sunny said with a smile. "I needed that, more then you know."
"Glad I could help" Twilight said with her gleaming tone, which quickly turned forlorn. "And Sunny, I know things haven't been easy for you... But if you ever need to talk, I'm here for you. They didn't make me the princess of friendship for nothing."
"That's true" Sunny said, his heart now half sunken. "I'll.... I'll do that. Talk to you, I mean, about any problems, that is."
Twilight only nodded then turned her attention back to Sombra's book, while Sunny sank in his seat and felt his heart drop halfway into his stomach.
'I can't tell her about my past....' the yellow stallion told himself. 'No pony can know... It's better this way... Just to leave the past in the past and focus on the present...'
-Ponyville the previous day-
Applejack had decided to get to work, with or without Sunny. But she would be lying to herself if she said she didn't miss the feller. As she continued setting up the wagon up for the day's work, placing baskets inside and oiling the wheels, she caught a glimpse of Apple Bloom, Sweetie Bell, and Scootaloo heading to their club house with... With Diamond Tiara?
Applejack did a double take of that. Yep, it was her. The spoiled rotten doughtier of the richest stallion in Ponyville, Filthy Rich. Filthy's family and the Apple family go way back, but that didn't mean they much like each other. Applejack especially didn't like how his daughter treated Apple Bloom and her friends, but all Applejack could do was help her sister when she got down. It was good that Apple Bloom deal with ponies she didn't get along with every now and again, builds character. But it still bothered Applejack as a sister to see Apple Bloom down about being called a 'blank flank' or something that there of.
"Excuse me" a stallion in a slightly wrinkled suit called out to Applejack, tearing the orange farm pony from her thoughts. He was a brown, bald, earth pony, with bright blue eyes that were half hidden behind his eyelids. His posture was slightly bent over, but it was obvious he was trying to stand upright.
Applejack smiled and hopped down from the wagon. "Howdy, partner" she called out as she extended a hoof. "What can ah do ya for?"
"Are you the mare in charge of this farm?" The stallion asked, his eyes only half open as he looked upon Applejack.
"Ah am, name's Applejack, and you are?" Applejack added as she kept her hoof extended to the stranger, who, in turn, just looked at her hoof with disgust then forced a smile as he pulled out a small, black note book.
"The name's Money, Money Bags the IV," he began to say as he flipped through the little note book. "And I'm here to collect."
"Collect?" Applejack repeated his last word, slightly confused. "Collect from what, Mr. Bags?"
"Well you see, Ms. Applejack" Money Bags began to say as he found the page he marked earlier. "I represent a bank from Canterlot, the Golden Nugget Equeateian Bank, perhaps you've heard of us?"
"Can't say's ah have" Appeljack commented as she was starting to get nervous, but she remained level headed and appeared calm.
"Well" Money Bags continued. "According to our records, your great grandfather borrowed some money from the bank and used the farm as collateral. And well, I'm here to collect either the money or the farm."
Applejack's heart rate increases as we heart jumped up into her throat. She tried to calm herself down as she nervously laughed and adjusted he Stetson hat. "W-well, not exactly the greatest 'how-do-ya-do', but ah've heard worse. So ugh, how much do we owe ya?"
Money Bags glanced over his notes once more then calmly answered "54 bits."
Applejack exhaled and wiped her brow in relief. She had more then that stowed away in the family safe for an emergency. "Well that ain't too bad, give me a moment ta run up to th' house and ah'll have that money ready for ya, licitly split!"
"Hold on there, miss Applejack" Money bags stopped Applejack and gave her a deviant grin as he pulled out a small black calculator. "That would have been years ago. But I also need to collect the interest."
"Ugh... Ok" Applejack said as she felt the concert return to her voice. " and how much is that?"
"Well let's see...." The collector said as he began pushing in numbers to the calculator. "54 bits.... Times .2 Interest.... Collected seasonally.... Over the course of the years.... Comes out to... 809, 034 bits."
"Over 8 hundred thousand bits?!?!" Applejack's heart rate doubled as she felt all the blood flow out of her body, making er head feel like it was full of cotton.
"Oh, plus the fee for sending a collector" Money Bags continued. "Which is only another 54 bits."
"But we don't have that kinda money!" Applejack started to panic. "Isn't there anything we can do to pay it off? A payment plan of some sort?"
"I'm afraid not" Money Bags said with a greasy smile as he slammed his little black book shut. "I have other business to attend to in town. I'll be back first thing tomorrow morning to collect. Either have the money ready, or the farm belongs to the Golden Nugget Equeatrian Bank."
The stallion didn't say a another word as he happily strutted down the road, a vile cheerful expression plastered on his face as he left Applejack there, completely dumbfounded, so stricken with fear that she couldn't think or move. After Money Bags was long gone and completely out of sight, Applejack darted back into the farm house, just barley missing Apple Bloom and the other Crusaders as they zoomed out of the club house, chasing after a very fast moving Diamond Tiara.
Applejack slid down the hallway and almost missed the doorway leading into the kitchen. She caught a glance of Granny sticking a few pies in the oven and jumped to her side. "Granny! We got trouble!"
Granny put down an unbaked pie before she stuck it in the oven and turned to her eldest granddaughter. "Applejack? Now what's got you all in a fuss? Why, ah haven seen ya so worked up since ya had that dream that the trees had come ta life and were protest in'."
Applejack then proceeded to tell her grandmother about Money Bags and the debt from her great grandfather's time, hoping that Granny had some recollection of the event. She couldn't recall off the tip of her mind, but she always kept such important things on file. She lead Applejack into the attic and began scrounging around for the files from that time in the Apple family. After pushing through several dusty boxes and various keep sakes, Grannt finally found what she was looking for.
"Ah ha!" The elderly green mare called out in victory as she popped the lid off of the old box. A few moths that had been trapped in the box quickly took to the air and disappeared. "Now let's see... Mah grand pappy.... Grand pappy... Gotcha! Right here!"
Granny pulled out a small file with the image of a red apple missing a pony sized bite on it. Granny quickly began flipping through the papers as she scanned them. Not half way through the file did she find an official looking document with gold trimming around it. She pulled it out and began to read over it very carefully. After reading it once over, the elderly mare's ears dropped, and she proceeded to read it over again, hoping she read it wrong.
"What is it Granny?!" Appeljack asked, trying to sound hopeful, even though her hope was fleeting quickly.
"Well..." Granny handed the paper over to Applejack as she began the painful explanation. "It seems that not long after the Apple farm started to really get a goin', yer great grand pappy needed a loan. The incident with the vampire fruit bats must have hit harder then my grand pappy was willing to admit. And wth as much family as we had on th' farm, we needed the extra help."
"So what your sayin' is that we really will lose the farm?!?!" Applejack began to panic, her heart racing a million miles per hour.
"Now now, calm yourself child" Granny moved closer and began to steady the nervous orange granddaughter. "Ah have a few friends who owe me a bit or two in town, and we have some bits put away for a rainy day."
"M-maybe ah can talk ta Twilight" Applejack began to calm herself down. She sighed as er head hung low. "Ah hate ta ask a friend for help like this... But it's either that or we lose our home...."
Granny put a hoof on Applejack's shoulder. Applejack turned and looked back into grandmother's sad and weakened gaze. "No mater what, Applejack, our home will always be wherever our family is. Weather on this farm, in a house in Boltimare, or even a cardboard box." The elderly green mare grew a small smile. "We'll always have each other."
Applejack nodded as she gave Granny a hug, then dashed down and out of the house and as fast as she could through town and down the road, being very careful not to slip on the ice as she did so, and to the mystical tree like castle that belonged to her dear friend, Twilight Sparkle. The snow was still thick all around. The castle, and the lake was still frozen over, and of course, it was just like Twilight to have already taken down the Hearths Warming decorations, where most ponies leave them up at least the day before winter wrap up. Applejack arrived at the front door to the castle and tried opening the door, but it had been locked! Twilight never leaves the front door locked when she's in! She can't be gone, can she?! Applejack, desperate for the aid from her best friend, began knocking vigorously on the front door.
"Ugh, everything ok, Applejack?" Spike asked as he approached her, having just come from the train station. His eyelids were droopy, nose runny, and he was wearing a blue, wool blanket around his entire body.
"Spike! There ya are!" Applejack dove for the little fellow. "Where's Twilight?! Ah, ugh, need ta talk ta here, ASAP!"
Spike sneezed, an orange and yellow flame came shooting from his mouth, melting some snow. As he wiped his drippy nose on his sweater sleeve and let out a miserable moan, he wearily looked at Applejack and answered. "She's gone to the Crystal Empire. Took Sunny with her. They were going to help Cadence with something. They'll be back tomorrow."
Applejack began to panic again when Spike let out a series of several sneezes, now clearing the area all around him of snow. Applejack pushed her worried of the farm aside and moved closer to the sick baby dragon. "Why don't we get you inside, Sugar cube, and get ya restin?"
Spike unlocked the front door, the key to it was under the welcome mat, then he and Applejack made ther way inside. Applejack helped him get settled in bed before going into the kitchen. Moments later, she retuned to Spike's side with a bowl of hot gem soup. She found the gems in the pantry, and thought it would help the little guy recover faster if the soup was made with something the little feller liked.
"You rock, AJ!" Spike said as he took the bowl enthusiastically and dug right in. After several spoonfuls, he noticed Applejack seemed a bit down. "Ugh... So what did you need Twilight for, again?"
Applejack sighed and reluctantly told the little dragon about the debt that they owed Money Bags, and how they needed to pay him tomorrow or they would lose the farm. Spike was so taken back he almost dropped his precious bowl of gem soup. "That's terrible! W-we have to do something!"
"Twilight ain't here Spike" Applejack reminded him. "And ah ain't gunna just help mah self to th' royal treasury."
"I'll get it for you" Spike said, then sneezed several more times, catching his blanket on fire. As Applejack quickly put the fires out, Spike grabbed a few near by tissues, blew his nose, then continued. "Twilight will understand. This is your home we're talking about, after all."
Applejack sighed and readjusted her stetson hat again, feeling more and more ashamed that she had to stoop to this level. "Thank ya Spike.... Yer ah true friend...."
Feeling revitalized not only by the soup Appeljack gave him, but not a strong since of purpose, Spike dashed with the farm pony down the great hall to the far end of the castle where the Royal treasury resided behind a pair of locked, thick, steel door. Applejack began to panic when the door didn't open, but Spike remained ever confident.
"No worries" Spike said as he pulled a quill and scroll out of nowhere. "Twilight may have the original key on her, but Princess Celestia has a copy for safe keeping. Ever since we caught wind of those bandits from the west, Twilight wanted to make sure that not only were her rarest books safe, but the treasury as well."
As Applejack began to relax, Spike wrote up a quick note with the password to Celestia, humbly requesting the key and stating it was an emergency. But as the little dragon readied himself to shoot the magical green fire that would send the letter off to Canterlot, instead, his mouth produced the destructive orange and yellow fire! Which burned the letter to a crisp!
"Ugh... Let me try that one again..." Spike said bashfully as he began quickly re-writing the previous letter. But again the fire he produced just burns it to ash. Several more times he tried to send a letter after rewriting it, and each time Appeljack's hopes sunk a little deeper and deeper. After the 9th time, the orange farm mare just put a hoof on the baby dragon.
As he turned around to face her, she could see that he was in even worse shape then when she found him outside in the cold, pushed to exhaustion by his tireless effoert to aid his farm pony friend. "C'mon, partner. Let's get you to bed. Y'all need yer rest."
"But.... But what about the farm?!" Spike said, starting to panic, which was the last thing his sick little body needed right now.
"Don't you worry none about that, partner" Applejack dug deep for some enthusiasm. "We'll figure somethin' out. Sides, we've faced worse then this before. Remember th' time when the parasprites ate the barn? Or th' time with them Flim Flam brothers? They almost took the whole farm!"
Spike smiled at the thought of the song and dance routine the Flim Flam brothers did when they can to town. If they had taken that kind of show on the road, focused more on their music and dancing, they might have made more money then by trying to swindle ponies. "Yeah!.... Or, or the time you ran a cart into the barn during your family reunion and almost ruined the whole thing?"
Applejack gulped, painfully remembering her not so proudest moment. "Y-yeah. We got through all of that. We'll be fine. Don't you worry 'bout us. Ok?"
After the baby dragon as reassured, he felt the gravity of Equestria increase as his head seemed to fill up with air. Before he passed out, Applejack caught him and put the tuckered out little guy on top of her back. She carefully carried the little guy back to his room, tucked him in, making sure that he had his stuffed Rarity plushy under his little arm, placed a glass of water by his bed side, then quietly walked out, slowly shutting the door behind her. As the orange farm pony left Twilight's castle behind, she couldn't help but hang her head in defeat. The hope she had showed Spike had run out and reality had begun to set in.
The walk hope took longer then Applejack wanted, but with a severe loss of hope, her hooves couldn't carry her like they normally did. She glumly walked through town, wishing for some miracle. Even is she had gone to all of her friends and they gave her every but they had, she didn't think it would even cover half of what se needed.
"Applejack! Hey Applejack!" Apple Bloom's voice caught Applejack off guard. Her head whipped around as Appeljack's heart sank.
'Did Apple Bloom find out 'bout th' farm?!' Applejack feared as her little sister, followed behind by their older Big Mac, ran up the snow covered streets to her. Applejack cleared her throat and forced a smile. "H-hey there you two. Ugh, what's got ya'll so excited?"
"Look! Look!" Apple Bloom turned to the side to show her older sister the greatest news.
Applejack's jaw dropped. She was shocked to see that her little sister had gotten her cutie mark! A tri-colored shield with an apple in the center! The news brightened Applejack's spirits, making her temporarily forget about her financial troubles. The orange farm pony wiped away a tear as se pulled her sister in for a hug. "If mom and dad were here, they'd be so proud of you."
"Thanks Applejack" the little yellow filly smiled up at her sister. "Sweetie Bell and Scootaloo got their cutie marks at the same exact time! And Pinkie's throwing us a party over at Sugar Cube Corner. Wanna come?"
"You bet yer britches" Applejack replied. "Just let me check on Granny, then ah'll head on over."
Apple Bloom zoomed off, meeting up with a small group of other goals from school, and together they all went strait for Ponyville's number one backery, leaving Applejack and Big Mac alone. Big Mac, although excited about Apple Bloom getting her cutie mark, didn't over look the worry on his other sister's face.
"What's up, Applejack?" Big Mac went strait to the point.
"What? A-ah don't know what-" Applejack tried to say, but Big Mac cut her off.
"Applejack?" Big Mac was never one for words, but his eyes spoke volumes to his sister. He knew something was up, but she wasn't going to say.
Reluctantly, Applejack sighed and told her brother "listen... Ah'll tell ya tonight. Ah'm gunna have ta. But... But let's wait until after the party, ok... Ah... Ah don't want to ruin this moment for Apple Bloom..."
Big Mac took a good hard look at his sister. He could feel she was hiring really bad. But he couldn't tell what it was. Weather it was something out a friend, or Sunny, or even the farm. But I there was one thing Big Mac could trust in, it's that his sister keeps her word. She'll tell him later. It must be something awful important for her to not say anything now. Must be bad enough that she thinks it will ruin the party. Big Mac nodded, then walked casually down the road leading to Sugar Cube corner, leaving Applejack all alone.
The walk back to the farm hurt more then before. How could Applejack tell her family they were going to lose the farm? Especially on a day that they all should be happy? The day Apple Bloom finally got her cutie mark. Finally reaching the edge of the farm, Applejack looked back at the setting sun, a few tears tricked down her cheeks. Would this be the last time she saw the sun set on her family's farm?
Now, at the very edge of her rope, as she's reached rock bottom, having thrown her pride to the wind and sunk lower then she ever hoped in her most desperate of hour and with no hope left, there was only one thing on her mind. "Where are you Sunny?.... Where are you when I need you the most?..."