//------------------------------// // Intro // Story: Pear Family Gathering // by Mirror Star //------------------------------// (Flashback) In the house of the Pear Family, a young Pear Butter is asleep in her bed, supposedly dreaming of her and Bright Mac. While she’s sleeping, somepony is rubbing her head in order to wake her up; it worked. As she is rubbing her eyes, she notices a pony in a brown hood that is covering his face; but Pear Butter already knew who this is. “Sorry to wake you like this, but I just wanted to say goodbye.” Pear Butter said noticing a bag next to the hooded pony “So, you really are leaving?” “Yeah. I can’t stay here any longer, not with “him” and not with this stupid feud getting the way. However, I wanted to say goodbye to you first.” “I understand. You want to achieve your dream and you can’t be here for that.” “I would take you with me if you wanted.” “I can’t.” “Because of your boyfriend?” “Yeah. He may be an Apple, but I still really, really, like him.” The hooded pony said before giving Pear Butter a hug “That’s fine with me; you have my blessing. As long as he “really, really” likes you back, I don’t have a problem with that. I have to go now; I’ll write to you as soon as I’m able to.” (The hooded pony sneaked out of the house while Grand Pear was asleep; but not before grabbing three books from the cabinet and leaving a note on the table. After he took care of that, he walked away from the farm. While he is walking away, Pear Butter is watching him leave from her room.) “Good luck, big brother.” (End of Flashback) At the clubhouse of the CMC, Apple Bloom is going over some recent letters and request from ponies from different parts of Equestria who want to sign up for the next full session of Cutie Mark Camp. She has to do it by herself since Sweetie Bell is with Rarity in Manehattan to help with one of her stores and for a photo shot and Scootaloo is with Rainbow Dash and her family on a beach trip for a few days. While she is working, she hears a knock on the door and decided to answer it. At the door is a green pegasus pony with blue eyes and pink mane and a green earth pony with blue eyes and a brown mane. “Excuse me, are you Apple Bloom?” “Yes.” “I’m Sonic Gale.” “I’m Pyrus.” “We’re twins.” “Ok. Nice to meet you. Are you here to sign up for Cutie Mark Camp.” Pyrus said before Sonic Gale bops her on the head “Yes.” Sonic Gale said before giving Apple Bloom an envelope “No. Well, yes and no. You see we were told to give you this first and then we can ask you if you could help us with our cutie marks.” Elsewhere, Applejack is getting off the train after she finished delivering some apples to The Tasty Treat in Canterlot. As soon as she got off the train, a yellow pegasus pony with a long blue mane, blue eyes, a brown jacket, and a falcon cutie mark on her flank, stopped her from going anywhere; she also has a pet falcon sitting on her mane. “Can I help you?” “You’re Applejack, correct?” “I am. Who wants to know?” “My name is Falcon Eye; this is my pet falcon, Elizabeth.” “Nice to meet you.” “We’re here to give you this.” “What is it?” “It’s an invite to a family gathering my husband is having with some of the members of his family.” “What does that have to do with me?” “Read over the invite and you’ll find out; however, you already know about my husband’s family already. By the way, do you know where I can find your brother?” “If you’re looking for Big Macintosh, he’s at my house baking with his girlfriend, Sugar Belle. If you want, I can give you his invite.” “That would be much appreciated.” At Sweet Apple Acres, Sugar Belle and Big Mac are getting a few apples for a big order that she has to do which requires a lot of apples and pears. They’ve managed to finish about half the orders, they still have a long way to go. While Sugar Belle uses her magic to get the apples, Big Mac is bucking the trees to get them. Big Mac said after bucking the apple tree of its apples “Is that enough apples?” Sugar Belle said while holding the bucket of apples with her magic “Yes, this is plenty; now all we need are the pears. Are you sure your grandfather doesn’t mind use getting pears from his farm?” “I already asked him yesterday and he said it was ok.” “Alright. After we get the pears we need, how about we take a break?” “Sure. I’ve been meaning to ask, who is this order for anyway?” “It’s for somepony that placed his order under the alias, The Emerald Mustang.” “The Emerald Mustang?” “Yeah, I was confused by that alias too.” Sugar Belle then notices somepony in a brown hood walking toward the pear trees on Grand Pear’s land. “Big Mac, is Grand Pear expecting any pony?” “Nope.” Big Mac and Sugar Belle head in the direction of the hooded figure to see where he or she is going; they made sure to follow this pony in secret to make sure not to alert him or her. While they followed him, Big Mac realized that they are going in the direction of his parent’s apple-pear heart tree. When they arrived at the location near the tree, they watched from behind the apple trees as this hooded pony looks at the tree and starts to say something. “I don’t know if you can hear me, but if your spirit is somehow connected to this tree in any way then it’s good to see you again, Pear Butter. Even though you told me about this spot, I never would have guessed that your seed and Bright Mac’s seed would grow into such a lovely tree. I’m sorry that I didn’t do more; I should have been able to do more for you. I don’t know if what I’m about to do is going to make this up to you in anyway nor do I know if you’re angry at me for not doing something sooner, but I will make things right. I love you, little sister.” The hooded figure says to Big Mac and Sugar Belle “I know you two are there, so you can stop trying to hide behind the trees.” Sugar Belle asked as she and Big Mac came out of hiding “How did you know we were following you?” “I have special skills that make it easy for me to tell when somepony is following me, miss.” “It’s Sugar Belle; my name is Sugar Belle.” “Nice to meet you, Sugar Belle.” He says to Big Mac “So, is she your girlfriend, Big Macintosh?” “Yep. Wait, how do you know my name and how do you know my mother?” “Because we’ve met before. You don’t remember me because you were just a foal at the time.” The stallion took off the hood, revealing himself to be a light amber earth pony with brown eyes, black cut short mane, and a shield with a pear emblem on it cutie mark.” My name is Roast Pear; I’m your uncle.”