//------------------------------//
// The Promise 
// Story: Appledashery Vol. Two 
// by Just Essay 
//------------------------------//

On the Southwest side of Sweet Apple Acres...

Atop a quiet hill...

In a tiny clearing surrounded by aged apple trees ripe with fragrant blossoms...

A pair of headstones stood above freshly buried graves.

A teenage mare trotted uphill, approaching the stones.  She carried a velvet sling around her shoulder—in which a red-headed infant was suspended, cooing pleasantly in the warm afternoon breeze.  She balanced a brown stetson hat on her flank, and when she finally came to a stop before the graves she plopped down on her haunches, cradled Apple Bloom in her grasp, and placed the stetson on the grass in front of her.

Eventually, a pair of orange hooves gently kneaded the brim of the hat as she exhaled.  Another breeze, warm and invigorating, and Applejack gently spoke past it.

"Ma...?  Pa...?"

Sunlight.

Glinting freckles.

Smiles.

"Y'all got nothin' to worry about, I promise."

Apple Bloom squeaked and gurgled something.

Applejack—misty-eyed--leaned down and nuzzled the little filly.

"Granny Smith is takin' good care of Apple Bloom.  Shoot, we all are..."

She looked up, breathing softly.

"But t'ain't all we're lookin' after."

An orange brow furrowed.

"We got the latest harvest done in time.  The local townsfolk even came to help.  But dun you fret..."

Blonde bangs billowed in the wind.

"Big Macintosh and I?  We'll be handlin' the next harvest to come... and the one after that and the one after that."

Grinning, shiny teeth.

"Of course, Granny will be around to guide us along.  She's got a lifetime of experience.  Several.  She steered you right... and she's fixin' to do the same for us.  Everythang's gonna go just fine.  I promise."

Apple Bloom yawned.  Her sleepy eyes fluttered shut as she rested her fuzzy cheek against Applejack's sweat-stained neck.

"Now..."

Applejack's hooves kneaded the edge of the stetson again.

"Dun... dun be thinkin' that we all dun need you now that we've got thangs so together-like..."

A shuddering breath, and the fetlocks almost creased the hat's brim.

"Truth is... yer always with us... in heart and in mind.  Only... well..."

Applejack looked up.

She smiled.

Moisture was forming in her emerald eyes, but...

She smiled.

"Now it's a healthy thang.  I promise."

She shivered slightly.

"It truly... truly is."

Applejack gulped.

"I want to thank you... the both of you... and... and I want you to know..."

She sniffled as the smile was christened with tears.

"...that you'll always be loved... every second of every day... and we're gonna make y'all proud..."

She finally raised the stetson to her head... and smiled in spite of how large and off-center it was upon her crown.

"...that is the honest truth."