For the first twenty minutes, neither husband nor wife had spoken a word since they began their work in the kitchen, preparing for dinner. Of course, they weren’t the only ones cooking. Granny, Applebloom and Big Macintosh lend a hoof into preparing the meal – yet, the uneasy silence between the adults didn’t go unnoticed.
“Is something wrong?” the old mare inquired as she measured out the cinnamon glaze over some roasted apples. “You two had gone awfully quiet.”
“Huh?” Bright Mac looked over his shoulder from the boiling potatoes. “Oh, sorry Ma, it’s jus’ that we have somethin’ on our minds right now.”
“How so?” Applebloom inquired while she was setting the table. “Was it something that Applejack said?”
Both Bright Mac and Buttercup glanced at each other nervously. “Not really,” the mare confessed. She was next to her husband trying fritters over a frying pan deep in oil. “We’ve just realized something that’s rather… uncomfortable.”
Their son raised an eyebrow from the salad bowl. “Why? What’s wrong?”
His father sighed but hesitated. “What would any of ya do, if you’d jus’ found out, that you might not live fer very long?”
Granny’s expression drooped, “Did AJ told ya how you’d… pass away?”
Buttercup shook her head, “No. She never said anything about that. We just figured out that, if this really is the future, and Applebloom is our third child, that also means that she’s the last.”
“That means,” Her husband added, “As soon as she’s born, the clock will be tickin’ down fer us. Ma, the truth is, Ah don’t know how we’re gonna die, and frankly, Ah don’t think either of us wanna know.”
“It’s going to be hard when we go back,” his wife nodded. “Now that we know that our time is precious,” she placed a hoof over her belly, “Give or take a couple of months. It’s tragically funny in a way, we wished to look into the future to see how your children would be like, and not only that, we found out that we’re not going to be alive for much longer.”
“Jus’ like the old sayin’,” commented Granny. “Always be careful fer what you’d wish fer, you’d end up gettin’ more then what ya bargained for.”
“Ain’t that the truth,” Bright Mac stirred the pot of potatoes.
“Pa, you’d know what Ah would do?” the red stallion spoke up. “Ah mean, if Ah knew that mah time was limited and all. Like say Ah have like a year left – not that Ah do, but jus’ fer pretend is all.”
His father told him that he was listening.
“Ah guess, that the first thin’ Ah might do is…” he gulped, with a touch of pink on his cheeks. “Is purpose ta Sugar Belle while Ah still can.”
Both parents paused at this; Big Macintosh’s mother was the first to respond, “Who’s Sugar Belle?”
“She’s a gal that lives up North,” Applebloom explained. “Ta a village where he delivers apples to every so often. She’s his first real crush that he has on.”
“Oh?” Bright Mac slunk over to his son’s side, “When did this happen? That you’ve found yerself somepony special?”
His son blushed and silently nodded. “Couple of months now, Ah tried ta visit her whenever Ah could get ta.”
“Now this Ah’ve gotta hear when we get all this done. After all, Ah need some time ta come up with a few good lines ta tease ya with,” the father chuckled.
“Ah ain’t finished yet,” Macintosh said meekly. “Ah was gonna say that if Sugar Belle does say yes, Ah would spend every bit Ah have ta make her as happy as Ah could while Ah’m still livin’. Not only that but set aside some of the bits to Applebloom fer college so she might be able ta go without gettin’ inta debt. Then, befor’ Ah die, Ah would find somepony that would work as hard as Ah do ta keep this farm afloat.”
His mother smiled, “That sounds very selfless of you.”
The red stallion shrugged as her husband returned to check on the potatoes. “That’s somethin’ Ah would do, after all, Ah can’t take the money Ah’ve made when Ah go. So why not give it to the ponies that would need it most if Ah’m not around.”
Buttercup turned to her husband, “Did we ever write up a will?” she whispered.
Bright Mac thought for a moment, “Horseapples, Ah don’t think we did.”
“We’ve gotta take care of that as soon as we get back. Now that we know we won’t be around for much longer, we’ve got to take care of the children.”
The yellow Apple agreed in doing so.
About twenty minutes later, when the food was prepared and the table was set, Applejack came through the front door. “Ah’m back! And Ah’ve brought grandpa with me!”
This piece of news surprised the couple, “Ma,” Bright Mac said. “Ah didn’t know you’d remarried.”
Granny exchanged a confused look, “Whoever said Ah did?”
“So what exactly is the surprise you keep mentioning?” an elderly voice inquired.
Buttercup took an immediate reaction as her ears perked up and turned her head towards the front door. Although it was clearly aged, the mare knew exactly who it was. Entering into the kitchen, was not only her daughter, but a stallion that although his mane and tail have turned gray, and there were wrinkles on his light tan coat – the pear cutie mark and green bandanna gave it away who it was.
“So where exactly is my…” he trailed off as he spotted the living ghosts by the dining table.
“Dad?” the orange mare was bewildered, practically mirroring the old stallion’s expression.
Bright Mac, however, snorted with a flash of anger across his face. “What are you doin’ here?”
“Ah invited ‘em,” Applejack objected. “Since you two are here, Ah figured of givn’ him a once in a lifetime chance to patch things up while Y’all still could.”
“Applejack,” her father said, “You don’t know this stallion as well as we do.”
“Pear Butter?” the elderly stallion stepped further into the kitchen. “Are you really…?”
The Apple’s mother nodded. “Hey, dad… long time no see…”
There was a pause between father and daughter, “Pear… Could I… Speak with you for a moment?”
“No wait for just a-” Bright Mac was about to object, but his wife lifted a hoof.
“Let me take care of this.”
“Hon, you do know that he-”
“Yes I do,” she interrupted. “Bright, just finish setting up the table. I can handle dad, just give us a few minutes.” Buttercup and her father went around towards the back door, wherein the light of a porch light, they sat against the door of the farmhouse. Overhead, twilight stars emerged while the orange glow of the sun disappeared with every passing minute over the apple trees.
For a moment, neither of them said anything underneath the spotlight overhead. Pear Butter waited on her father to make the first move, and he knew it. But for a minute, he looked as if he was about to start, only to close his mouth to think of something else.
“You know,” Grand Pear said at last. “Even with given this second chance… I still have no idea where to begin.”
“Besides the whole, ‘By Celestia, you’re alive!’ thing?”
He laughed weakly, “Yeah… How did you-”
“We’ll explain this over dinner,” she interrupted. “But I don’t think that’s what you want to talk to me about, isn’t it?
There was an awkward silence for a moment. “Pear Butter…” he began slowly. “I’m… I’m so sorry. This is entirely my fault.”
“Dad, no-”
“It is! This whole feud came about because of me. Everything that had happened was because I couldn’t keep my mouth shut. This brouhaha could have been prevented altogether and… things might have been so much different. And I would have known that I have grandchildren from the Apples a good deal sooner…”
Pear Butter placed a hoof on her father’s back, “But what about the letters? I’ve been trying to reach out to you every month.”
His ears folded back against his head. “Pear… the truth is, I didn’t bother to read any of them. Each time one came, I tossed it into a drawer. Almost like clockwork whenever your name on an envelope came, I throw it away in a dusty old desk for years until… it stopped altogether. I honestly thought you had given up on me, that I was hoping… maybe your last letter was saying that you’re through. It wasn’t until a couple of months ago that I bothered to look at them, really look at them to see what they said.” He put his hooves over his head. “I didn’t know about Big Mac, Applejack or even Applebloom until I started to read those letters. I didn’t even know you… passed away until it was too late. Far, too late.” He gave an uneasy breath, “I have been the worst father that ever lived.”
“Dad, don’t say that ” her daughter said softly.
“I meant every word. Pear, I’m not asking for forgiveness. Dead or alive, you still have every, single right to be angry at me for disowning you like that. For letting my anger and prejudice take over what I thought was best, and ended up taking you for granted. If anything, I deserve all of this, but I am sorry. So sorry, for everything.”
The elderly stallion felt a hoof wrapped around his neck, in which he found himself being hugged by his daughter. “Dad, I’ve already gotten over it. Nopony said that I’m upset with you, if anything, I’ve forgiven you before Big Macintosh was born. All I wanted was for you to get to know the family I and Bright had created, I guess it’s better now than never huh? So, how about we go back inside, and try to make up for all that lost time while we’re still around.”
Grand Pear smiled, trying to fight back the dam of tears. “Thank you Pear Butter, for having the heart to forgive an old fool like me.”
“C’mon dad,” his daughter got up. “It’s time for dinner, and I can’t wait to hear all the stories that my children have to say.”
And there were many stories that were told that night around the dining table. Of vampire fruit bats, to a nearly disastrous family reunion on the farm, from Applejack taking up the call to be a national hero, to the tale of how Applebloom and her friends got their cutie mark, and even Big Mac’s plan to take up the disguise of Orchard Blossom – comedy and tragedy weren’t spared as the family spun a story for the parents of their lives. They shared with them many details, even showing them the family scrapbook that helped Bright Mac and Buttercup to catch them up to date.
All except for one detail that both parents had specifically told them to leave out: their death.
Eventually, the dinner plates were cleared off, and Bright Mac was about to reach for the jar of cherries at the suggestion before the youngest Apple made a suggestion. “Do you think we oughtta show them the tree?”
Both husband and wife looked in confusion, “What tree?”
“The one that we’ve shown Grand Pear a couple of weeks ago,” it took a moment for the Apple siblings to click at what she was talking about.
“Oh! That tree,” Applejack nodded. When her mother asked her what they were talking about, she responded. “Well, before y’all left fer got… Ah remember that you’d shown us a tree that grows on the farm, somethin’ that you two left behind.”
Bright Mac raised an eyebrow, “Which one? We’ve planted several trees in the past.”
“This one is special,” Big Mac explained. “It’s somethin’ that helped us a good deal so that we’d feel closer to ya. In fact, you’d even know the place.”
Curious, the couple asked if they could see this tree for themselves. So grabbing some lanterns, and still tossing his saddlebag over himself, Bright Mac and his wife followed their children into the nocturnal orchard. Behind them were their elderly parents who seemed to know something that they didn’t.
Apart from the lantern, a full moon was the only other source of light that flooded the farmland underneath a blue light. While this part of the orchard seemed unrecognizable at first, there were little clues to the couple to help them indicate where they were going. A fence here, an oddly shaped boulder there, husband and wife tried to recall of the significance of this part of the farm.
“Wait a minute,” Buttercup spoke up as the landscape became familiar. “We have been here before, haven’t we?”
They heard chuckling from behind. “Y’all should.” This came from Granny Smith. “It’s from the most important day of yer lives.”
Only when they reached a clearing did their memories clicked at not only to where specifically they were but also at what was growing in the very center of it all. It wasn’t just one tree, but rather, two of them that had intertwined, becoming inseparable from one another. An apple and a pear tree growing side by side.
“Ain’t this the spot where we got married in?” Bright Mac blinked.
His wife looked around. “It is! Those rocks and how the land slopes too…” she trailed off at the fused tree. “I can’t believe that it’s still here.”
“You know,” Applejack rest a hoof on the bark. “Fer a long time, we couldn’t figure out how this tree came ta be. Especially when half of it was a pear tree, we thought it was jus’ a freak of nature. Fer a while, we try ta press it ta Granny ta get it removed or somethin’ but she wouldn’t allow it, only until recently that we found out why.”
“It’s better than any tombstone if you ask me,” Grand Pear commented. “And even a fitting legacy.”
The couple went up to the three; they too placed a hoof on the bark to feel it. The yellow farmer smiled, “This is perfect.”
“I couldn’t agree more,” Pear Butter wiped a tear from her eye. “Thank you, kids. This is really touching.”
No response.
“Kids?” they turned around, only to find an empty space with no sign of their elderly parents nor their children. Turning back to the tree, they too saw that the three had unexpectedly grown a good deal shorter, but still intertwined.
Bright Mac scanned the trees, “Where did they go?”
His wife looked around until her eyes rested upon the moon that was now a crescent. “Did… Did we just go back?” She took several steps back from the tree. “I think we must have, this tree is much shorter now.”
The yellow husband looked back towards the farmhouse. Only one way ta find out.”
“Hello?” Buttercup called out. “We’re home!”
“Ma! Dad!” they were immediately tackled at the front door by a much younger Big Macintosh. “Where’ve ya been? Y’all has been gone fer hours!”
“Is yer Granny around?” Bright Mac inquired, and his question was immediately answered.
“What in yer grand pappy's beard took ya?” Granny Smith entered from the kitchen with a small, sneezing Applejack on her back. “Ah think the dearie is runnin’ a cold. You’d said that you’ll be back a good five hours ago! What took ya? Have ya got the cherries at least?”
“Oh!” the yellow stallion reached into his bags and pulled out the jar, “Yeah, got it right here.”
“Ma,” the red colt called out for his mother’s attention. “Where’ve ya been? We’ve been waitin’ forever.”
She embraced him in a hug. “I know, and I’m sorry. Have you eaten?”
“Yeah, jus’ leftover soup from last night.”
“Well come on, let’s dish up some ice cream.”
“And while we’re at it,” Bright Mac added. “How’d you like it if we take a trip someplace. Don’t matter where just ta have some fun fer a while.”
His green mother looked at him confused, “What for? You’d know that them trees need sprayin’.”
“But we’ve been workin’ way too hard Ma, let’s go somewhere fer a bit. Ah promise that Ah’ll get somepony ta look after it, but fer now,” he looked over to his wife. “Let’s try ta spend as much time with our family as we can.”
As they start to enter into the familiar kitchen, Buttercup paused as she felt another kick. “Just a few more months my little filly,” she said to herself.
Her oldest son looked at her confused, “Filly? What makes ya say it’s gonna be a girl?”
“Oh… I have a feeling. Now come on, I’ll make that hot fudge you like.”
Big Mac rushed into the kitchen without question, leaving his mother with a smile on her face.
Bright Mac Apple and Pear Butter Apple, a couple that had wished to look into the future to see what their children will be like and ended up with more than what they barged for. Even knowing that their own time is limited, they will spend the rest of their lives to make the most of it. Both for each other, and their family, they gain a newfound dedication to the service of happiness up to their dying breaths. It is a small, simple lesson to be learned, even from the boundaries of the Twilight Zone.