//------------------------------//
// Look At This Photograph 
// Story: Broken Stems 
// by TCC56 
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A gentle snow fell on Hearth's Warming, just as the weather schedule had said it would. Not enough to cause problems, but plenty to lay a light blanket of white across Ponyville and set the tone for the holiday. 

And what a holiday it was - Tempest Shadow (née Fizzlepop Berrytwist) hadn't seen the like since she was a filly. It was, admittedly, the first she'd enjoyed among her fellow ponies since joining the Storm King (and later reversing that mistake), but that didn't make it any less wonderful to experience. 

After too many years alone, she found herself in a place of solace: Sweet Apple Acres. Here, she was surrounded by friends and their families - and had been told in no uncertain terms that this meant she was family, too. Just the thought of that made Tempest smile. Like a great many things today, now that she considered it. 

Most of the ponies in attendance were inside right now, gathered around the tree and singing carols. The strum of Applejack's guitar was fading in Tempest's ears after a heartfelt chorus of Days Gone By finished. She herself preferred this moment of quiet away from all that - standing on the farmhouse's porch, watching the snow fall and sipping on a mug of cocoa. No need to rush. No underlying tension. No looming battle. Just... peace. 

Tempest had forgotten what it felt like. 

Minutes later, she was joined by company. Applejack herself had split off from the party and emerged from the house with meandering hoofsteps. Tempest acknowledged her with an earflick. 

The two stood beside each other in silent contemplation, watching the holiday scene that nature (and the weather team) had laid out for them. It was the farmer who broke the silence, in time. "Need a refill?"

The soldier tested the weight of the mug in her hooves for a moment, then shook her head. "I'm fine."

"Hope you're not hidin' out here 'cuz you don't feel comfortable," was the next statement - the true reason for Applejack's appearance. 

And once more, Tempest shook her head. "No, it's not that. I'm just enjoying the view and the chance to let my soul take a breath." 

Her response was a soft nod. "Ah hear ya there. That's one thing Ah find we're mighty short on. What with Twilight's day planner lookin' like a train schedule, Rarity being constantly hoppin' from one project to the next, Rainbow being physically incapable of slowing down when she ain't asleep and Pinkie Pie being, well, Pinkie Pie? 'Bout the only one of the girls who can stop to smell the roses is Fluttershy, and she's got Discord turnin' her life into chaos every time it does slow." Applejack shook her head. "So yeah. A breath ain't anything Ah'll begrudge anypony."

Tempest sipped her cocoa, taking her time to respond. "Shame," she finally decided on. "This is a great place for it, too. Your family's really got something special here." 

Applejack couldn't help but smile at that. "Yeah. Yeah, we really do. Been a long time and a lotta work to make it that - blood, sweat an' tears of three generations of Apple." That made her pause in thought, however. "Tempest, come with me fer a sec? There's somethin' Ah don't think Ah told you about yet."

Though that got a raised eyebrow, the soldier followed the farmer inside. She paused to put down her cocoa and brush the snow off the black frock she wore, but it only took a minute before the two stood in the front hall of the farmhouse. Further inside was the low murmur of activity as the rest of the party went about their business. The scent of the next pie wafted through - as did the sound of Granny Smith scolding Scootaloo to let it cool. Sugar Belle could be heard as well, going over family trees with Sweetie Belle to see if they could find a distant relation like Pinkie Pie had found with the Apples. Neither Applejack nor Tempest paid the hubbub much attention.

Side by side in the hall, the quiet pair looked up at a family photo of six ponies - six smiling Apples. A maudlin one of her own came to Applejack's lips. "Tempest Shadow? Ah want you to meet our parents, Bright Mac an'--"

"Buttercup," Tempest finished at a hush. 

A moment's surprise disappeared just as quickly - there was no need for Applejack to ask the question. After all, Pinkie Pie existed. She probably had warned Tempest ahead of time about the sensitive subject. "Yeah."  She let out a heavy sigh. "We all miss 'em since they passed on, but if it weren't for their work? Sweet Apple Acres wouldn't be the place it is today. An' we wouldn't be the ponies we are." She turned to face Tempest - and stopped. 

The orchid mare's eyes looked haunted - no, hunted. It was the look of a sheep cornered by timberwolves. 

"Tempest?" Applejack took a concerned step towards her friend. Tempest - the most battle-hardened pony Applejack knew, who had faced down all four Princesses without blinking - took a step back. She retreated from the farmer. Another concerned step forward, and Tempest broke into panicked flight.

Applejack pursued, and the pair charged out into the snow once more with the door rattling behind them. Tempest was in a blind run, careening through the orchard with the care of a stampeding steer. More than one apple tree shuddered as she bounced off it in a desperate attempt to be anywhere else but the farmhouse. And every step of the way there was an Apple only a yard or two behind her. 

Finally the chase ended in the most ironic of places - a patch of snow slipped under Tempest's hooves and sent her tumbling down an incline. Snow filled the air as she rolled, chaotic momentum pushing her desperate flight just a little further. Then there was a muffled thump as she came to rest against a rock at the base of two intertwined trees - one apple, one pear. 

Coming to a more controlled halt, Applejack held out a hoof. "What in tarnation's gotten into you, sugar?"

The help up wasn't taken. Tempest scrambled to her hooves on her own to find herself backed up against the stone. It was the end of the line. Resigned to her fate, Tempest closed her eyes and finally said it. "...I've seen them." 

A chill zephyr cut across the snowy orchard in the silence that followed. Several different forms of confusion washed over Applejack's face. "Ah don't understand. Did Pinkie show you one've those photos before?" 

Tempest shook her head, still unable to look at the farmer. "No, Applejack. I've seen them."

"That's impossible. They-- they died." Applejack's words hitched. "Years ago. Right after Apple Bloom was born."

"They didn't." Uncharacteristic panic crept into Tempest's cracking voice. "Applejack, I didn't know! I--" 

An orange hoof slammed into the rock beside Tempest's head and knocked a few tiny chips free. The soldier flinched away. The farmer's ire rose all the more. "This ain't funny, Tempest! Ah know Rainbow lets her pranks go too far sometimes, but even she knows better than this!" 

The dark mare's eyes popped open. "Applejack, if I'd known they were your parents I would have told you sooner. I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!"

Snarling, Applejack pushed in close, muzzle to muzzle with Tempest. Her heart raced, flip-flopping between injury and anger. "Take it back. Now. Ah'm gonna give you one chance to say yer sorry an' we'll forget this happened."

Blue-green eyes full of sadness locked with Applejack's. "I swear on my Mark - when I set out alongside the Storm King to attack Equestria, Bright Mac and Buttercup were alive."

Deathly silence blanketed the snowy orchard. Tempest waited to see what Applejack was going to do and... Applejack waited for the same thing. A dozen instincts in her screamed to buck the wine-dark mare right in her lying mouth. But behind that was a single voice - the voice of a foal Applejack could barely remember being. And it asked a question that snuck out of her lips. 

"...You swear it?"

That voice wasn't the Applejack that Tempest knew. It was a painfully familiar one, though - the voice of a small filly who's life had fallen apart around her. Tempest swallowed roughly and nodded. "I swear, Applejack. Pinkie Promise or anything else you want me to do. It's the truth." 

Applejack sagged - the hoof planted right beside Tempest's head did all it could as only thing keeping her upright. The anger simply... wasn't as that little voice cried out louder. After nearly a decade and a half, there was hope. Careful to not shatter the glass of the delicate moment, Applejack softly pushed for more. "Why'd you run?"

Tempest wasn't able to stop her nervous laugh. "A good soldier understands when to fall back. I know what your family means to you. If you thought for even a second that I was involved in--" 

A gentle orange hoof silenced Tempest. "Ah know. We're close enough to the same age - you'd have been just a filly too." Applejack shook her head. "Ah know you didn't do it, and at that age Ah don't think Ah could blame you if ya had."

Now it was Tempest's turn to let the tension drain from her. But she didn't sag - it steeled her spine instead as the weight lifted. "I've spent the last two years trying to atone for what I've done," she noted as she rallied. "I've had to face a lot of horrible things that were my fault, and it hasn't been pleasant. You're one of the few ponies I can call a friend, Applejack. You invited me into your home, gave me my first Hearth's Warming since I was Apple Bloom's age, and I repaid you by telling you your parents were slaves under my watch. The idea that I could hurt you so much..." She trailed off for a moment, unable to meet those green eyes. "I couldn't take it. Not after how you brought me into your lives today."

In the snow, against the stone - they hugged. 

Minutes passed in somber silence before they broke apart again. And Applejack asked a simple question. "Where are they?"

"Last I saw them? The Citadel of Storms - the Storm King kept them close." Tempest paused before elaborating slightly. "He didn't have a lot of Equestrians as slaves and considered them valuable. He, ah.... liked the earth pony work ethic."

"'Course he did," Applejack grumbled with dark, dry humor. "But they were okay? They're still probably there?"

Tempest set a hoof on the farmer's withers. "Applejack, I know what you're going to say and I agree. Tomorrow we'll gather everypony up, contact Twilight and--" 

Instead, Applejack shook her head. "Nope."

"...What?"

"Nope," repeated Applejack. "We ain't gonna do that." And then she explained with a deep sigh. "Granny Smith's too old for somethin' like this. Apple Bloom's too young. And Big Mac... well, he's plenty capable but he's got a family of his own to start real soon now. If they know about this, every Apple from here to the ends of Equestria is gonna come clamorin' up." She shook her head with a deep frown. "And Ah know you know how dangerous this is gonna be." 

Tempest gave a solemn nod. "It will be. It's probably even more dangerous now that the Storm King's gone. At least when he was around, someone was firmly in charge."

"We head out tomorrow. You an' me. Nopony else." Applejack took a deep breath and cast her eyes back to the distant farmhouse. "Ah won't risk their lives on this. Not gonna save our parents just to lose one've them along the way."

In turn, Tempest followed that gaze back to where the party still played on. "To Canterlot and the Princess, then."

Applejack didn't turn her eyes to her co-conspirator. "Does Canterlot know?"

"...Partially," was the dark mare's admission. "I told the Princesses that the remnants of the Storm King's armies did still have some Equestrians in chains. That's... part of what I've been trying to fix since then. Freeing those that the remnants of his army still hold. I never said who was being held - I didn't know those two were so important."

A small smirk cut across the farmer's lips. "Not important to Equestria. Just lil' old me." 

And gently, Tempest bumped her hip against Applejack's. "So - important, then."

The smirk became a smile. "This is family business, Tempest. Ah'm not gonna cut you out because Ah won't deny you that atonement--" 

"And because you know you need me."

Applejack rolled her eyes in much the same way she did at Rainbow Dash. "And because you'll be mighty useful, yeah. Knowin' the ins and outs of that place sure ain't gonna hurt any. Point is though - if Ah tell Twilight, she'll throw everything she can at it. And Ah can't do that. She's gotta prioritize all of Equestria now." 

Tempest narrowed her eyes. "I think that's a really big mistake."

"Maybe," Applejack agreed. "But it's mine to make." 

That hung in the air for long moments before Tempest nodded in reluctant agreement. 

"Good. Tomorrow, you an' me start the trip." Applejack sucked in a breath of chill air through her teeth. Her eyes turned skywards - habit momentarily overwhelming hope. "Ma? Pa? Sure as summer - Ah'm comin' for you."