Anything For a Friend
By Claw in Cursive
Princess Twilight Sparkle immediately left Canterlot for Ponyville when she received the scroll. She didn’t wait for her traditional pegasus-pulled carriage – she spread her wings and flew as fast as she could until she was within teleport range. Buck the headache she knew she’d get for ‘porting such a long distance – she couldn’t waste any time.
Upon arrival at her destination, the young regent took a moment to compose herself, then knocked on the front door of the home with a gold-shod hoof. A middle-aged mare answered. She had grey streaks through her red mane and tail, and her yellow coat showed off the apple-on-shield cutie mark on her flank.
“Princess!” the mare said, bowing.
“Apple Bloom, it’s so good to see you,” Twilight said, and the two embraced. “How’s Carousel Boutique?”
“My daughter’s doing great with it,” said Apple Bloom.
“Are the others here yet?” asked Twilight.
Apple Bloom shook her head. “They’ll be here soon.” Over AB’s shoulder, several other ponies could be seen in the living room, some with awed expressions to be in the presence of royalty, but most were worried. Bloom’s voice dropped to barely above a whisper. “She’s – in her room.”
Late afternoon sunlight filtered through lace shears to illuminate the bedroom. A peg held a familiar brown Stetson near the door, and several photographs lined the walls. Photos also stood on the dresser and nightstand. Some showed six familiar ponies at different stages of life, but several also featured a stallion, square-jawed, broad-shouldered, but with kind eyes. More photos showed foals who were a combination of the stallion and one of the mares. A four-post bed dominated the room, and it had a checkerboard-pattern quilt of alternating light and dark green, with bright red apples on the lighter squares. Under the quilt, dozing softly, was an old mare. Her mane was completely grey, and her skin was wrinkled from decades of working outdoors. Her orange coat still showed the freckles on her face.
A soft knock at the door stirred the sleeper, and a purple magic glow turned the doorknob. “Applejack?” Twilight softly called as she entered the room.
“Is that you, Princess?” replied the old friend, struggling to her elbows.
Twilight came to the bedside and laid a reassuring hoof on her friend’s shoulder. “Please. For you, it’s always Twilight. Rarity and Fluttershy are on their way. I sent word to Spike, but with his job as the official Equestrian ambassador to the dragons, he might not be able to come.”
“Oh, shoot. Y’all shouldn’t make a fuss over me. I took a tumble, is all.”
“It wasn’t just a tumble, was it?”
The elderly pony settled back against her pillow and sighed. She seemed to age ten years before Twilight’s eyes. “I never could lie to you, Twilight. I reckon my time is here.”
Tears welled in the royal’s eyes. She laid a hoof on AJ’s hoof.
“Don’t say that, Applejack.”
“Oh, sugarcube. Don’t look at me that way. I’ve lived a good, long life. I married a wonderful stallion, raised a fine family, and watched my foals have families of their own. Sweet Apple Acres is the biggest apple producer in all of Equestria. I’ve had the best friends a pony could ask for, and as an Element of Harmony, I’ve been places and done things I never dreamed about growing up on a farm in Ponyville.
“But, honey, not all of us can be alicorn princesses.” Applejack referred to the fact that while Twilight had gotten taller and her mane and tail had gained the ethereal flowing quality Celestia’s and Luna’s had, she was largely unchanged from her days as Ponyville’s librarian. “Rarity had to sell her boutique to AB when she couldn’t see well enough to thread a needle, and Fluttershy can’t keep up with the critters.
“I want to see my sweetheart, Big Macintosh and Granny Smith again. I miss them, Twilight. What I wouldn’t give for one more sonic rainboom from Rainbow Dash. Since Pinkie Pie’s been gone, there ain’t as much laughter in the world.”
“I’m ready, Twilight.”
At that moment, Rarity and Fluttershy entered the room, Rarity pushing Fluttershy’s wheelchair. Both their manes and tails were grey, and their coats were wrinkled. Rarity had on thick glasses, and Fluttershy’s hooves trembled. The four friends talked together for half an hour, then some other Apple family members joined them.
Around midnight, Applejack fell silent, and so did the rest of the house. The vigil started, and nopony dared speak. In the middle of the night, Spike arrived. He was too big to fit in the old farmhouse, so he stayed outside the bedroom window, occasionally reaching a claw in to brush Applejack’s mane.
“A whole herd of dragons couldn’t keep me away,” Spike said.
The sky turned from inky black to deep purple – twilight time, mused the princess – and Applejack’s breathing shallowed. As the first rays of dawn shone across the early spring sky, her comforter stopped moving. Tears flowed like rivers at Sweet Apple Acres.
A bright, cheerful day had been on tap for Ponyville, but Twilight couldn’t bear to feel warm rays from the sun when her chest so ached. She made a deal with the Weather Patrol for an all-day gentle rain in exchange for an extra week of sunshine later.
Celestia, Luna and Cadance came to the farmhouse to give Twilight shoulders to cry on. She’d managed to keep her composure – it wouldn’t do to have a royal breaking down in front of her subjects – but when the alicorns were alone, Twilight collapsed into Celestia’s forelegs, bitterly sobbing.
“Oh, Princess,” said Twilight, briefly returning to the student-teacher relationship, “does it ever get easier?”
Celestia held Twilight out so she could look into her former protégé’s eyes, and she could feel the younger pony’s anguish. “I’m afraid not – but should it?”
Twilight insisted on having a public showing for her friend, and even she was surprised. Every single pony in Ponyville, and many, many more from far beyond the town’s borders, streamed in to see a heroine of Equestria one more time. Everypony had a story to tell about how Applejack lent a hoof to help them when they needed it, and how she never asked for anything in return. So many ponies wanted to pay their respects there had to be a second day of showing, and the lines still stretched long and wide.
One particular visitor caught Twilight’s fancy. It was a young mare with her little filly. The filly looked at the former Element of Honesty, forehooves folded over the trusty hat laid on her chest, and asked, “Who’s this, Mommy?”
“That’s Applejack, honey,” the mother said. “She’s the strongest mare who ever lived. She once bucked all the apples in Equestria off the trees in a single day, and she kicked the Changeling Queen so far into the future, she should arrive back sometime next decade.”
The filly gasped. “What’s she doing lying there?” Her mother chuckled.
“Oh, her body’s resting while her spirit’s off wrasslin’ the Ol’ Grim Reaper. When she wins, she’ll come back to make all of us enough apple cider to last a hundred years.”
In spite of her sadness, Twilight couldn’t help but chuckle at the legend her friend had already become.
After the service, Twilight, Rarity and Fluttershy gathered at the Perky Pony Coffee Shop in downtown Ponyville. Spike had to return to his duties as ambassador, but not before promising a long visit with his pals.
The three remaining Elements of Harmony sat at a large table with six chairs for extra privacy; nopony said no to a princess’s request. Twilight cried so much over the last few days, she felt like a dried out corn husk. They hadn’t changed out of their black dresses and dark veils. At first, the mares sipped their java and nibbled their cakes in silence. Then Rarity let out a short bark of laugher.
“Do you remember,” she began, “when Applejack caused all that mayhem around town because she tried to harvest the entire apple crop by herself?”
Fluttershy giggled. “That bunny stampede ate everything they could reach, and they looked so ridiculous overrunning everypony.”
Twilight surprised herself with a little laugh. “She sounded so loony when she hit her head on that tree branch.”
Soon, more stories came out about all their friends absent and present, and a type of magic more incredible than any spell Twilight ever cast happened. Rarity’s eyes shone more brightly than they had in years, and Fluttershy’s hooves quit shaking. More tears were shed, but these were tears of laughter. A tight knot around Twilight’s heart she wasn’t even aware of loosened, and for the first time since she got the scroll, she didn’t feel terrible.
In the midst of their reminiscence, Twilight paused. For a moment, she could have sworn she heard a pair of earth ponies, a pegasus and even a baby dragon joining in the levity. Perhaps, somewhere, somehow, they had.