//------------------------------//
// Heraldic 
// Story: Appledashery Vol. Two 
// by Just Essay 
//------------------------------//

"S'long, everypony!"  Granny Smith waved from where she stood in the front door entrance to the house.  The sun had gone down, and crickets serenaded the exit of several ponies marching towards the distant dirt road.  "It was a real hoot havin' you around!  Golden Harvest—I'll be sure to try out that recipe you threw my way, young'n!"

"Good by, Ms. Smith!"

"See you later this week!"

"We'll darn sure finish that barn for ya!"

"We'll finish it together, ya silly whippersnappers!"  Granny Smith bore a wrinkly smile.  When she was done smiling, she exhaled and trotted slowly back into the heart of the house.  The screen porch slapped shut behind her.  "Ehhhhhhh..."  She winced, cracking a bent joint or two.  "Mmmmm... fine bunch.  Dang fine bunch."  She wandered into the kitchen where several pie pans lingered—littered with crumbs—along the main counter.  "Y'know, AJ... at first I had my doubts 'bout havin' so many ponies stumblin' around the farm.  But they's swell ponyfolk.  And they sure do have a master chef's taste for bakin'!  Hyeheheh... this ol' mare's certainly learned a thang or two!"

Applejack was silent.  She stood quietly in the center of the candle-lit kitchen, leaning back against the table with a thoughtful expression.

Granny Smith placed a few pans into the kitchen, yanked the pump, and began washing them clean.  "What's the matter, AJ?  Barn caught yer tongue?"  She chuckled again.  "Sure is mighty perplexin' how it fell apart like that.  I know it couldn't be none of the ponies.  They was doin' their jobs.  Maybe Big Mac forgot a nail or two, but t'ain't like him."  She scrunched her wrinkly muzzle as she gazed out the window into the starlit fields.  "Mmmmm... when was the last time we ever had an earthquake in Ponyville?  Hrmmmff... could be some varmint escapin' from Tartarus, but would we even feel it from this far?"  She continued washing the pans and spoke over her shoulder.  "Maybe we should consider a cement foundation, AJ.  Just to be on the safe side—"

Applejack trotted up quietly and hugged Granny Smith from behind.

Granny Smith blinked.  She placed the pans down in the sink and looked back at the mare nuzzling her.  "Applejack... darlin'... I ain't hurt.  Will ya relax already?"

"I am relaxed, Granny..."  Applejack sniffled, holding Granny Smith close.  "Celestia help me, I'm the happiest and luckiest I've ever been..."

"Awwwwwwwww shucks, will ya quit it already?"  Granny shuddered.  Nevertheless, she patted one of Applejack's fetlocks, smiling warmly.  "I ain't leavin' ya, darlin'.  Not anytime soon.  Not if I can help it."

"I know, Granny..."  Applejack sighed, clenching her wet eyelids shut.  "I know.  It's just..."

"Shhhhh..."  Granny Smith tilted her chin up, smiling as she caressed the mare's freckles.  "It's just nothin'.  You've spent enough of yer life laborin' and frettin'.  Dun let it slide back downhill now."

Applejack gulped, nodding.  She cracked a tiny smile.  "I won't, Granny..."

"Besides..."  Granny smiled, returning back to the dishes.  "...you've got a Sisterhooves Social to help plan, don'tcha?"





Plans and paperwork for this year's Sisterhooves Social lay untouched across Applejack's vanity.

The mare sat on the edge of her bed, gazing across the shadows of her room.  Crickets sang and timberwolves howled in the distance.

Hatless, the mare stared at the velvet case lying on her pillow.  She knew something feathery and soft lingered within, but she didn't have the energy to reach out and touch it now.

She was still shaken by what transpired earlier that day.

So, with a melancholic breath, she stepped down off the bed and trotted slowly out of the house.





Minutes later, she shuffled up the hill again.

She stood before the stones—their granite surfaces glinting in the cold moonlight.

Applejack felt to her knees.  She fought the urge to sob, and eventually murmured, "You... you sent a guardian angel, didn't you...?"

Silence.

Applejack let her gaze fall to the ground.  She shook a few times... heaved.

At last, when she looked up, she was smiling through fresh tears.

"This family won't shrink no more.  That is a promise."  A shuddering breath, and she smiled even more warmly.  "Yer gonna have plenty of ponies to look after from now on.  I-I guarantee it..."

She kissed her hoof, then placed it on both stones, one after another.  And when the moment had leeched the last tear from her being, she turned back around and returned to the house.