Twilight soared high over Sweet Apple Acres. From this vantage point she could see all of the farm spread out before her. The forest of apple trees stretched nearly to the horizon, their canopies bathed in the light of a late-afternoon sun. Some had already been harvested, but many still offered an abundance of apples ripe for the picking. Elsewhere fields of corn, wheat and oats grew tall, and beyond them lay pastures filled with luscious green grass.
Suddenly she caught sight of a large wagon overflowing with red apples. Though she couldn’t observe who was pulling, flashes of a brown stetson hat clearly identified the harnessed pony as Applejack. As the wagon disappeared into the barn, Twilight gradually descended and touched down just before the door. Taking a final deep breath to prepare herself for the challenge ahead, she slowly entered. “Applejack?” she called out.
Poking her head out from behind the cart, Applejack replied, “Twilight,” before returning to work. Her tone wasn’t friendly, nor was it hostile; it was merely an acknowledgement of Twilight’s presence.
Twilight walked around to the other side of the cart. “Applejack, we need to talk.”
“Ah’m kinda busy unloading this here wagon.”
“Your work can wait,” she insisted.
“Nope. Ah’ve gotta sort these apples b’fore the market opens in the mornin’.” Applejack resumed sorting the apple varieties into different baskets.
Twilight ignored her friend’s rebuff. “This is important.”
“Is Chrysalis back?”
Taken aback, she replied, “No –”
“Is Equestria under attack again?”
“No, why –”
“Is somepony in danger?”
“No, but –”
“Have we been summoned by Princess Celestia?”
“No, it’s –”
“Then it ain’t that important. Ah’ve got ta get ready for the market. Some of us have a business ta run.”
Frustrated by her friend’s dismissal, Twilight took a breath to calm down. She lit her horn, gently closing the the barn door and leaving the two ponies alone together. “Applejack, I’m – we’re... concerned. All of us. We’ve noticed how you’ve been acting lately.”
“What’s that supposed ta mean?”
“Well, you spend all your time working and haven’t joined us –”
“Now don’t ya go frettin’. Just because I don’t come to y’all’s parties or picnics don’t mean that somethin’s a matter.”
“Applejack, it’s not just your friends that are worried.... Big Mac came to see me earlier today.” The farm pony stopped unloading the wagon but did not look up. “He’s really worried for you.”
“Ah’m fine,” she insisted, then began dragging a basket full of apples towards a smaller cart.
Twilight levitated the basket and carefully set it down inside the cart used for hauling produce to market. “Applejack, he says that you hardly speak to them –”
“He’s one to talk.”
“And you spend most of your time alone.”
“So?”
“Applejack, something’s really bothering you –”
“No.”
“I can see it.”
“Nope.”
“Ever since Granny Smith –”
Applejack spun around and stood muzzle-to-muzzle with Twilight. “Nothing’s wrong! Ya ’hear!”
Twilight stumbled backwards. “Applejack – this – this isn’t like you,” she stuttered.
The anger in Applejack’s face disappeared and she turned to face the far end of the barn. She hung her head low and slumped, seeming to carry the weight of the world on her back. “Maybe Ah’m not the pony ya know,” she muttered.
“What?” asked a confused Twilight.
“Nothin’,” she quickly replied.
Twilight stepped forward and placed a hoof on her friend’s shoulder. “Please Applejack. I want to help.”
“There’s – there’s nothin’ ya can do.”
“You don’t know that.”
“Yes, Ah do.”
“Talk to me AJ. Help me understand what’s going on.”
Applejack merely shook her head.
“I know you’re in a lot of pain and I want to help. I’m your friend, Applejack – you can tell me anything.”
The two just stood there in silence for a long time. Then the farm pony took a deep breath then let out a long, slow sigh. “Do... do ya promise that ya won’t tell nopony?”
“I Pinkie Promise,” Twilight said, giving a hopeful smile as she went through the absurd routine to bind her pledge, but Applejack didn’t notice. After a long pause, Twilight gently urged, “Applejack?”
“uhmnnanannapll.”
“I couldn’t understand you.”
“ahmananannapel.”
“I still can’t –”
Applejack turned, tears filling her eyes. “Ah’m not an Apple!”
Twilight blinked. “What?”
Applejack hung her head low again. “Ah’m... Ah’m not an Apple, Twi.”
“Of course you’re an Apple. You’ve got a brother and sister who care for you –”
“They’re not mah family... not mah real one.”
“Applejack?”
The farm pony turned back to gaze at the far wall, as if she was looking into the past. “That’s what Granny Smith told me on her deathbed. Ah ain’t an Apple. One day pa found me in a basket sittin’ on the front porch. No note or nothin’. They tried ta find out where Ah came from. But when they couldn’t find mah real parents, they decided to raise me. They got a birth certificate fer me, so as far as anypony knows Ah’m a real Apple.”
“You are a real Apple. Just ask Big Mac.”
“He doesn’t know.”
“He doesn’t?”
“No. He was pretty young when Ah came along... way too young ta know where foals come from. As he grew older, he just assumed Ah came along in the normal way.... Nopony knows, ’cept the two of us.”
“Applejack, I – I –”
“Ah know. Ah’ve been livin’ a lie.”
“You didn’t know.”
“Doesn’t matter. All this time, Ah thought Ah was an Apple. But – who am I?”
“Would you like me to help you find out?”
Applejack jerked her head up. “What?”
“Maybe I could help you discover who your birth parents are.”
“Ah don’t think ya can – not after all this time.”
“I don’t know, but I can try.”
Applejack thought for a while, then sighed. “Ah don’t know. Ah mean, Ah don’t really know if Ah want ta meet them. They left me, Twi. Ah love the Apples, but...sniff – why did mah parents abandon me?” She began to cry and Twilight wrapped her in a caring embrace. “What kind of ponies abandon their foal to strangers?”
“I don’t know, Applejack. But I do know one thing – they chose a good family to raise you.”
“Yeah. Yer right.”
“I don’t know if I can find them, but if I do, you don’t have to meet them. But knowing who they are might bring you some closure.”
“Thanks for being here for me.”
Twilight squeezed Applejack tightly. “Always.”