Twilight walked along the dusty country lane leading to Sweet Apple Acres. Normally she would fly to the farm, but walking was... slower. In fact, she had walked all over town that day.
First, she visited Fluttershy to drop off Owlowiscious for some grooming. The pegasus, always happy to have a visitor, insisted on serving tea and the two chatted for most of the morning. Fluttershy talked at length about her success with the new animal sanctuary and her work with the Equestrian Society for the Preservation of Rare Creatures. Twilight asked many questions and urged the pegasus tell her more. During breaks in the conversation, Applejack’s name was mentioned several times, but Twilight found herself too intrigued with Fluttershy’s work to be sidetracked.
Next Twilight stopped by Carousel Boutique. Rarity happily measured her friend for a new Grand Galloping Gala gown. Though there were numerous backorders to be worked for the boutiques, not to mention preparing for Manehattan Fashion week, Twilight managed to convince the unicorn to join her at the spa. The two mares spent several hours relaxing, enjoying everything from time in the steam room to full-body massages to hooficures. Rarity naturally inquired about Applejack, but Twilight demurred and instead asked questions about the latest fashion trends from Prance.
After the spa, Twilight dropped by Sugarcube Corner for a snack. Pinkie Pie was busy in the kitchen whipping up chocolate-chip cherry seaweed green chili cupcakes and offered free samples to everypony. Twilight politely declined, but did enjoy some banana-nut-fudge brownies. When Pinkie mentioned Applejack, Twilight provided suggestions for potential parties, causing the pink mare to rush to her party-planning cave to make notes.
Finally, now that Twilight had no excuse – ahem, task – left, she found herself slowly walking to Sweet Apple Acres. Even so, the trip still took far longer than it should have. She didn’t take that many detours or side trips, and she didn’t stop and talk to every pony she met, but somehow the afternoon seemed to pass by.
Twilight stopped, hearing the distinctive Thud! of an applebuck. She veered off the well-worn path and wandered into the orchard, looking for the source. Here the trees were picked clean of fruit. Eventually she came upon Applejack, hauling baskets of fresh apples to an awaiting wagon.
“Twilight?” greeted her friend.
“Applejack,” responded Twilight, trying to sound as friendly as possible.
“Where you’ve been, Twi? Ah ain’t seen you since... well, you know.”
“I’ve been in Canterlot the past few days, researching memory spells.”
After a long pause, Applejack looked to Twilight and gently urged the alicorn on. “And?”
Twilight decided to give a thorough lecture on her research, because none of it would make sense without a long discussion that delved into every detail and addressed every tangent. “And it turns out there’s several spells that can proved helpful. The first one, created by Clover the Clever – remember I played him in the Hearth’s Warming play? – aided in reconstructing memory fragments. And yours was certainly a fragment. Very little to it. As the memory came from you, I had to combine Clover the Clever’s spell with another one from Marelin the Magnificent to make it work. It was a difficult, as one was written in Old Ponish and the other in Middle Ponish. I spent hours translating them into modern Ponish. I used the two spells to reassemble the memory. At least as well as I could. But I still couldn’t see the ponies clearly. So I tried –”
“Twi?”
“Yes Applejack?”
“It’s real interesting an’ all, but is it all really necessary?”
“I just wanted to tell you how I went about analyzing your memory.”
“Thank ya kindly. But, didja – did ya find my – parents?”
Twilight bit her lip and nodded slightly.
“And?”
Twilight hesitantly reached into her saddlebag and drew forth a manila folder. “The – the results are all right here.”
Applejack reached forward, hooves trembling, and grasped the folder. She simply stared at the blank cover for a long time, before reluctantly looking inside. After a moment, her eyes went wide and a look of horror spread across her face. Applejack dropped the folder and stumbled backwards, landing hard on her flank. “No! It cain’t be! Ya cain’t be serious.”
Twilight stepped forward and spoke softly. “I’m sorry Applejack. After I reconstructed your memory, they were the ponies I saw.”
“But, mah memory – it cain’t! It must be wrong. Mah memory ain’t that good!”
Twilight sighed. “I was skeptical too. But it all fits.”
“It must be a mistake. Ya could ’ave made a mistake, right?” pleaded Applejack.
Twilight shook her head. “I – I ran a paternity test.”
Applejack gasped, “Ya can do that?”
“Yes, there’s a magical spell that can be used to confirm a pony’s heredity.”
“But it could be wrong? Ah mean – no.”
“Applejack, I won’t deny that I could be wrong, but the odds –”
“What are they?”
“I put the odds of me being wrong at, well – smaller than a thousand-to-one.”
“Ya sure? Ya absolutely sure ’bout this?”
“Yes.”
“I wondered who mah parents were, but Ah’d never expected – them!” Applejack removed her stetson and ran a hoof through her mane.
Twilight sat down next to her friend. “I know it’s a lot, but I’m here for you Applejack.” The farmer sat in silence for a long time. “Applejack, do you... know what you’re going to do?”
Applejack shook her head. “No. If Ah say anthin’, it’s gonna stir up a whole hornet’s nest of trouble.”
“There’s nothing wrong with keeping it a secret.”
Applejack shook her head again. “Then Ah’d be livin’ a lie.”
The two remained quiet, simply staring out into the orchard. At last, Twilight said, “Applejack, it’s your decision, and I’m not going to tell you what to do. But whatever you decide, I’ll be here to support you.”
Without another word the two watched the sun set below the horizon.