//------------------------------// // Lost Apples // Story: Skrrriiitchhhh! // by Mister E //------------------------------// Granny made her way as quickly as possible through the dangerous byways of the Everfree. She strode with the confidence of lifelong familiarity as she walked down the familiar paths of her youth. Before long she found herself approaching Zecora’s cabin. She paused a moment to catch her breath, while bittersweet memories and family secrets played across the landscape of her mind. She remembered the last time she was here. The last argument. The realization that they were both too stubborn to EVER back down. She remembered what they said to each other as Granny had stomped off. “Away with you benighted hag, and never again darken my door, t’was you that caused my best friend’s death, you’re haggard visage I now abhor!” Zecora shrieked, tears falling from her cheeks as she raged at the departing form of Granny Smith. “I’m leaving, you evil child. You’ll have your wish. But never even think of stepping onto Apple Family property ever again. You have no place there! Keep to your twisted forest with your twisted plants and potions. You’re the real reason she’s dead! And now, somehow, I have to raise three grandchildren on my own! But I’ll tell you this. No matter how long or how hard that struggle will be, its still better than ever having them know the likes of you!” Granny shouted, before disappearing into the forest. “Oh, she’ll just love this.” Granny mutters to herself. “After all these years, here I am, crawling back. And why? Just so I can swaller everything I said last time and beg for help. Oh yes, she’ll just eat this up... But what choice do I have?” “Indeed, that I too wish to know,” a well known voice said from over her shoulder, nearly causing Granny’s heart to stop. “Just why your muzzle you dare to show. After what was said when last you came, I had hoped never to see you again.” Zecora said, a scowl firmly set into her face. Granny heaves a huge sigh. “I know. Believe me I know. An I was all set ta forget I ever knew you. But something happened on the farm. An Apple Bloom seems ta be involved. And, unfortunately, you are the only pony I can turn to about it.” Granny says bitterly. “But you have banished me from the farm.” Zecora says smugly. But still, she cannot help but to ask. “But Apple Bloom… has she come to harm?” “No, not yet,” Granny says in a worried tone. “But I’m powerful worried about what MIGHT happen.” “Seems, I’ve heard THAT song before. And had you then left well alone, my friend and I would still be fine, and you would not have so much to atone.” Zecora stated hotly. “You can blame me all you want, but if the two of you hadn’t been meddlin with things you shouldn’t have, it never would have happened in the first place. And you know full well that I took care of her the best I was able. No pony could have done better back then. It wasn’t as if Twilight Sparkle was around, or I had the ear of a princess like pappy did.” Granny said bitterly. “An besides, where were YOU when it got really bad? She kept callin for you, but you never came. Not until it was too late...” “How DARE you say such things to me, in a mocking voice so proud and sure! I labored long both night and day! Unceasingly searching for a cure!” Zecora yells, pointing an accusing hoof toward Granny. “Took care of her? That is a lie, unless by care you mean locked away. Tied to her bed, and often gagged, with no hope to ever get away.” “Don’t be a fool.” Granny fires back. “You know how she was toward the end. Did you WANT her to get loose? Come after me and the foals? See us all dead? Would THAT have made you happy?” “Now YOU it is who is the fool, to think I’d wish them any harm. The only Apple I know like that, is the one who runs the family farm.” Zecora retorts. “Stop… just stop.” Granny says wearily. “We’ve done this over and over. I admit I did all I could think of to do at the time. And… and I’m sorry for what I said back then. Lookin back I realize that you were doin everything you could to try an save her, even if it meant you ran out of time to save yourself. But please, even if we can never put things right between us, please just hear me out… for Apple Bloom’s sake.” Zecora was completely stunned by Granny’s admission. Not once in all the long years since their last tragic meeting had she ever admitted to anything being her fault. Had anypony asked, Zecora would have been confident that Granny would go to her grave before ever even speaking to her again. “I… I have no idea just what to say, you’ve never said such things before. But I cannot just turn you away. Please... come inside and shut the door.” Zecora says, quite shaken, as she leads Granny inside her hut. Granny makes her way inside. Not having been here for over a decade, she marvels at the interior. “Land sakes youngin, looks like you really took this zebra thing to heart.” Granny says looking around, while running a hoof across a voodoo mask. “I find it helps when visitors come, to make me seem mysterious and wise, how I wonder would they would feel, if they knew I was an Apple underneath the lie?” Zecora said, as she made Granny a cup of herbal tea. “Hah, we should find out one day. Have you show up at the next family reunion. Bet that would turn a few heads.” Granny said with an unexpectedly honest smile. Zecora gives a quick snort, but then a giggle escapes her lips. “Oh little Braeburn would have a fit, if he were to see me now. Quite the crush that little colt, carried for me for quite a while.” “Oh he ain’t so little anymore. An from what I hear, you may have been the last MARE he ever had a thing for. Course that’s just from the rumor mill.” Granny said sipping her tea. Granny sits quietly for a minute. Thinking. “Zecora… Clivia,” Granny says haltingly. “This is… nice. What we’re doin. Chatting like this. This is nice.” “Clivia… a name long past, so strange to hear, and yet familiar to my heart, this is going better than I had feared… perhaps, we could… make a new start?” Zecora probes, both Granny and her own feelings. “I… I didn’t expect we’d have much to say to each other.” Granny admits. “I reckon I thought we’d be at each others throats from the get go. But I knew I had to try, for Apple Bloom. Maybe, maybe after all this is over… maybe I can come back? To catch up on things? Maybe we can see how it goes...” Zecora sips her tea as she takes a moment to think. Granny doesn’t notice, but Zecora’s hoof is shaking so badly she is practically rattling her cup. “I think,” she says at last. “I think I’d like that, very much. To spend time with you after so very long, and… and call me Clivia if you like, and perhaps I could again call you… mom?” Zecora says, holding her breath. “Well.” Granny says, quite surprised to ever hear that word again out of her long lost daughter’s lips. “Well, I reckon, that would only be fair.” She says, a single tear rolling down her cheek before being quickly wiped away. “Well… that is… good,” Zecora says, trying to pull back from the mire of emotions that has begun to swirl inside of her. “But as to why you came, please tell me what has you so scared, and who it is we have to blame.” “Well, as to that” Granny says, sitting back in her chair. “It’s a long story. And I’ll go ahead and warn you, you ain’t gonna like it.” “There’s been… an incident.” Granny begins. “And I’m afraid it involves Pear Butter.” “The situation must be dire, to bring you here beside my fire. A moment please, before we continue, there is one thing I think I must do.” Zecora says, rising from her seat and retrieving a small vial of blue liquid from one of the many racks beside her massive cauldron. She returns to her chair, and giving Granny what could only be described as a mischievous smirk, she quickly drinks down the contents. In a matter of moments Granny witnesses a startling transformation. Zecora’s coat changes to a light yellow, while her mane and tail grow out full and lush and red. Her cutie mark changes as well to reveal half an apple beside a mortar and pestle. “Oh my stars!” Granny exclaims, nearly falling from her chair. “You did it, you found a cure!” “Well, yes and no,” The red maned beauty says, looking sad. “I managed to find a way to temporarily inhibit the poison’s effects, but I’m afraid it only lasts about two hours. Also, taking it more than twice in twenty four hours has… side effects. Very unpleasant side effects. Still, if we are going to attempt to have our first serious conversation in over ten years, then I’d rather do it without being forced to rhyme every single question and response… Mom? Are you okay?” “Oh my girl, my sweet little girl. I’d forgotten how beautiful my twin angels were.” Granny says, as tears start to well up in her eyes. “Oh mom. Don’t you start. I’m hardly little, and we both know I’m not at all sweet.” Clivia says, choking back emotions of her own. “Sorry… I’m sorry. It’ just… seeing you like that, alive and talking to me. It’s just something I never thought I would see again. It’s twice as hard since you look like yourself again… and like... him.” “Yeah, I understand. The only way to tell us apart as fillies was by our cutie marks.” Clivia says, her mind filling with memories. “Remember when we were little, and used to cover ‘em up, and drive all the kids crazy trying to guess which of us were which?” “Yeah.” Granny says smiling. “You two were always both destined to be heart breakers. I figured your dad was going to have to fight ponies off with a stick. But we both know how THAT ended up turning out.” “Eeyup,” Clivia nods sagely. “I reckon one thing runs true in this family. We were all good at keeping secrets. Especially HIM” “All those years, and I never knew until it was too late.” Granny says sadly. “An now we end up with something even worse going on.” “Worse?” Clivia says in surprise. “What could possibly be worse than what HE did?” Over several cups of tea, Granny explains what has been occurring at Sweet Apple Acres. Starting from when Apple Bloom moved into her new room, all the way until Granny’s grim discovery this morning. “One set of hoof prints leading away from the hole. And you said no hoof prints leading TOWARD it?” Clivia asks. “Eenope.” Granny replies. “Just one set leading away, off toward the forest.” “You think… you think she’s still alive? After all this time?” Clivia says incredulously. “I know it sounds crazy. But the only other thing I can come up with is that she’s some kind of zombie. Either way, the only pony I could turn to if I wanted to keep this quiet, was you.” Granny says looking her daughter in the eye. “Well, I see some things haven’t changed.” Clivia said looking right back across the table. “More Apple Family Secrets.” “And it’s a good thing I keep our secrets.” Granny fires back. “Imagine what your new friend Twilight would say if she found out that her mysterious zebra friend wasn’t a zebra at all. Or what kind of experiments you and Pear Butter got up to. Why I reckon she’d have you locked up in some lab or another, picking apart your brain, and doin who knows what kind of experiments on you. Or am I wrong?” Clivia begins to answer. Then, thinking about how Twilight gets when she has a new mystery to solve, she quickly changes the subject. “Getting back to the matter at hoof,” She says evasively, “I don’t think we are dealing with a zombie. She’s been in the ground far too long for any flesh to remain on her bones, and that’s not counting what we … did to her, before she was buried.” So we’re thinking the same thing then.” Granny says more as a statement than a question. “I’m afraid so,” Clivia confirms. “She must still be alive. Even after all we tried, that poisonous brew must have still been able to bring her back. It just took all this time to do it’s work. And considering the roots of her stupid pin oak tree were probably feeding off of her remains the whole time, that would explain the scritching, and other noises.” “What in Equestria are we going to do?” Granny asks, concern filling her voice. “The only reason we won last time is that we caught her off guard. She’s not going to fall for that again.” “You said the tracks were leading off into the forest. Do you think she might have just been running away? Trying to get as far away from the ponies that buried her as possible?” Clivia asks hopefully. “Oh I really wish that were so,” Granny says. “But you remember how she was right at the end? She was obsessed. She wanted us all dead. That poison changed her, just like it did you. Only she got it so much worse. No, she’ll be coming back. Coming back after all of us. And when she does, we need to be ready for her.” “So what can we do about it? If what we did before didn’t kill here, and over ten years in the ground didn’t kill her, then at this point I don’t know that she CAN be killed.” Clivia says. “I don’t rightly know,”Granny admits. “I had my hopes up for a minute there when you changed back to normal. I thought you had a cure that we could use on her.” “Mom, that’s it!” Clivia says excitedly. “What? What’s it?” Granny asks in confusion. “We can use my cure, we can dose her with it! And then, when she turns back to normal, we can...” Here Clivia falters, unable to voice what she has in mind. “We can… can...” “Shove a big sharpened stick through what’s left of my daughter’s heart, and lop off her head?” Granny asks her other daughter. “Well, yes. Something like that,” Clivia admits reluctantly, shuddering outright. “It’s a pretty grim idea youngin,” Granny says, placing a hoof on her shoulder, “but I reckon it’s the only thing we can do. Best make up a big batch of that ‘cure’ of yours, and meet me at the house at sundown. I’m not going to tell the others why ‘Zecora’ is really paying a visit. Or just what we are up against, but I’ll tell ‘em something. Maybe a shapeshiftin critter from the Everfree, that you are coming to help put down. That would cover it.” “You just cannot tell ANY pony the truth can you?” Clivia says in frustration, favoring Granny with a bitter glare. “And what exactly do you want me to say? Hmm? Oh sorry youngins, yer maw is back from the dead, trying to kill us all, cause that’s what made us put her in the ground in the first place. And, oh yes, Zecora isn’t really a zebra, but your long lost aunt, and that story ‘bout her being eaten by a hydra was just so you’d not go running off to the Everfree, and end up like your momma and her did. And then of course there’s your pappy-” “All right, all right, I get it!” Clivia says becoming upset. “If you tell them some of it, you’d have to tell them all of it. I understand.” Then after a moment. “Wait, a HYDRA? Really?!?” “Well, I had to tell them something. I mean after the accident, you left to try and find a cure, and then when you came back, an what I made you help me do... Well, you didn’t want anything to do with me, after that, and I’d be lying if I said the feeling wasn’t mutual. So I just figured that would be the best all around ta keep them out of the forest, and away from you.” “Of course.” Clivia says bitterly. “And I’m sure you had nothing to do with all the mistrust that was generated in Ponyville, every time ‘Zecora’ came for a visit?” “Well...{mutter, mutter}” Granny mumbles. “I’m sorry, what was that?” Clivia says icily. Granny sighs, “I said, it might be possible I know something about it...” “As I thought.” Clivia said, shaking her head in derision. “My own mother...” “I was trying to protect my family.” Granny exclaims. Clivia favors her mother with a cold stare. “The REST of my family. The ones that COULDN’T take care of themselves.” Granny clarifies. “Oh of course, of course.” Clivia says condescendingly. “Youngin, I reckon we’d better stop right here before one of us says something that the other is gonna regret.” Granny says, getting her stubborn up. “As if YOU ever regretted anything you ever did in your bitter, hate filled life!” Clivia fires back. Granny is about to speak. About to offer another hurt filled scathing remark. “Blast this stubborn child” she thinks to herself. “Why did I come her in the first place? I don’t know what I was thinking.” Then she remembers Apple Bloom, and Mac and Applejack. “They can’t survive what’s coming.” She thinks, “and I can’t protect them. Just like I couldn’t protect...” “I couldn’t save you. Either of you.” She says in a sad broken voice, to a still angry Clivia. “W-what?” Clivia said, brought up short by the unexpected confession. “I knew it was all MY fault, after I done it.” Granny confesses bitterly. “When I can bustin in, all sure of myself, all sure I was doin the right thing. You warned me, you both did. But I was filled with my ‘righteous’ fury, bustin' up all your stuff. And then the last thing she did before the explosion was to push me clear, push me out to safety, and for that she took the worst of it, and got covered in that… that poison, from hoof to mane. You were always right to blame me for it. Always right to hate me. But I was angry, and hurt, and I couldn’t take that blame on myself. So I turned it around. I placed it all on your shoulders. Made out like you were fools, and were messing with things you knew nothing about. But it was me.” Granny says, as fresh tears begin to fall. “I was the fool. I couldn’t accept that you two could do something the rest of us couldn’t. I- I was jealous, jealous of my own daughter... but I never EVER could admit such a thing, not even to myself. And because I was a fool, I lost the two of the most important ponies in my life.” “M-mom. What… what are you saying?” Clivia says with wide eyes, her heart beating faster in her chest. “You were jealous, of US? That was the real reason you came busting in that day, the day of our final success? Mom. We had done it, we could have changed the world. And you… and you...” Clivia trails off bitterly. “Yes, I know.” Granny says quietly. “My sins can’t be forgiven. And I kept goin down that road, makin it worse an worse. I put the blame on a young mare who just lost her sister-in-law, and her life’s work, an her very identity. I blamed and blamed until she started believing it herself, and then I cast her out. But not until after, of course, what I made her help me to do to her best friend...” “Hah,” Granny laughs bitterly. “Applejack and her friends have taken down Sombra, and Tirek, and think they’ve gotten rid of the worst Equestria has to offer. But I’ve been here this whole time… here this whole time.” Granny says, then noticing what Clivia is doing she asks, “you’re packing a bag?” “Of course,” Clivia replies briskly, “there is no telling what else I may need besides my cure at this point. Better safe than sorry.” “Y-you mean... you’re still going to help me?” Granny asks, incredulously. “Oh Hells no, you bitter hate filled nag.” Clivia says cheerfully. “But I can’t very well entrust the safety of my nieces and nephew to someone who’s only skill is to make things worse now can I.” Granny wipes a tear from her eye, smiling as she gets down off of her chair. “Eenope.” She says, before trotting over to help her daughter pack.