//------------------------------// // Chapter 3: Applejack and Her Mother/An Apple To The Core Pt 1 // Story: Guardians of Harmony: Friendship is Magic // by Admiral Producer //------------------------------// Applejack stood by her mother Pear Butter’s bedside, sobbing relentlessly. The doctors had said that there was no known treatment or cure for her disease. The only thing Applejack could do was wait for her mother’s own death. It was terrible. They had tried everything. Big Macintosh had dropped out of college to care for the family, Granny Smith had been out lobbying the Equestrian Medical Association with the help of other eagle-eyed protesters, the orchards had been left not taken care of for months, and Apple Bloom…the poor filly. She would grow up without a mother, too young to remember very well and therefore not care, never knowing what Pear Butter had sacrificed to protect her family at the cost of her own life. A long time ago, Pear Butter was the daughter of Grand Pear, a stallion who belonged to the rival Pear Family. Their farm was right next door to Sweet Apple Acres. On one sunny day, she fallen in love with the son of the Apple Family, Bright Mac. Their love was forbidden and their respective families vowed to do whatever it took to keep them apart. Nonetheless, the young couple’s love persevered for years despite their families’ strong hatred of each other. Grand Pear knew there was only one thing to do. One day, he told his daughter that the Pear Family would be moving to Vanhoover, a city very far from Ponyville. Knowing that she would never be able to see her love again, she told Bright Mac of her families’ decision. Bright Mac would not stand for petty hatred to get in the way of their innate love for each other and arranged for Mayor Mare to host a wedding between the two, so that Pear Butter would legally become a part of the Apple Family and not have to leave. However, their parents found out and Grand Pear gave his daughter the choice of staying with the Apples or leaving with the Pears. Ultimately, Pear Butter chose love over her family’s feud and the Pears departed the next day. Pear Butter, given the nickname Buttercup by Bright Mac, grew their family over the course of several decades. First Big Mac was born, then Applejack, and then Apple Bloom. However, a couple years after Apple Bloom’s birth, Pear Butter would come down with a mysterious illness then unknown to medicine. Eventually, it was determined by the local Ponyville hospital to be a debilitating form of lung cancer, compounded with a variation of swamp fever. The disease was incurable, but Pear Butter was determined to stay alive for her family. She underwent a lot of treatment that prolonged her life by four years, but everything had turned out to be for nothing as the diseases came back at full force, but much worse. In a last ditch effort to save his wife and find a cure, Bright Mac sailed across the Celestial Sea to the far off, fabled zebra nation of the Sultanate of Zevera, but was never heard from again and presumed dead. Now Pear Butter’s breathing came slow and raspy, a sign of decaying health. There wouldn’t be much time left. Applejack didn’t know what to do. This was her mother and she was about to die. “Oh Ma…” Applejack whispered, “I don’t know what to do…” The tears came falling down as the feeling of helplessness overcame her. She felt something touch her hoof. It was Pear Butter, grasping her daughter’s hoof with the remaining amount of strength she had in her frail body. Her blue eyes opened and she faced her distraught daughter, “Applejack…it’s okay…” “Ma!” Applejack realized. She shook her head, “No, it’s not okay. I won’t let’cha die! I just…I just can’t…” “Applejack…” the strain of talking was taking its toll on the earth pony, “Don’t worry…about me. Don’t…waste your life…sitting helplessly by…my side…” She coughed, drops of blood coming out of her mouth, “You can be…anything you want to be…” “Not without you…” Applejack said, “What should I do? I can’t raise Apple Bloom by myself. Granny can’t do it. Yer the only thing keepin’ this family together.” Pear Butter smiled weakly, “Yes…you can….Applejack…you are…as much of a….part of the Pears…as you are of……Apples. You will…bridge the divide someday…” ——————————————————————————————————————————————— Applejack stood in the middle of the apple orchard in the dead of night. Her mother’s words were replaying in her head as she wiped the leftover tears from her eyes. She ran towards the nearest apple tree and bucked it. Four apples fell from the tree, falling into the untouched baskets lying beneath it. “The Apple Family…is more than just Apples…It includes the Pears too…you are meant to end the feud…that began long ago…” She wiped the sweat off of her forehead, breathing heavily as she tended to the next tree. There was a lot of work to be done as the orchard hadn’t been touched in a long time. “When you set your mind to something…you will do it no matter what…” After taking care of the trees, Applejack began cleaning around the barn. Since Pear Butter had become bedridden again, not much cleaning or maintenance had been done on the barn. She stacked the hays up on top of each other in piles, the effort putting a strain on her physical capacity. With a loud yell, she stacked the last one up. “No ancient feud can stop you…no law or ordinance can defy you…in terms of sovereignty and independence, the Apples are their own country, controlled and dominated by the next generation after the next, a responsibility that will soon…pass onto you…” The cycle repeated. Everyday and every night, Applejack would see her mother and then go off to help with the farm. And every time, she would get new advice and replay it in her mind as she did the chores. “The fate of Equestria will literally rest in your hooves…the entire Royal Army, you could defeat…with little effort…” Applejack imagined herself leading an entire army of her family against an evil ruler and the brainwashed Royal Army. As the two sides collided and fought, she bucked the next tree like she would do to an enemy soldier. More apples fell, this time more numerous. She carried the buckets towards the house, breathing heavily. “The balance between light and darkness…and the outcome of everyday will ultimately come down to your call…” On the third night, Applejack readied herself. She pawed the ground, and with a smile of determination on her face, sprinted into the orchards, bucking every tree in sight at the speed of a bullet. At the end of the lap, she made several trips, carrying the apples inside. She decided to make Pear Butter some apple juice and poured the fruits into the blender. “The question, no the challenge…won’t be doing it…it will be not doing, not seeing…it is the burden of this responsibility that will define you and who you choose to be…” Applejack prepared the apple juice and poured it into a large cup with a red straw. Picking it up, she carried it upstairs as carefully as she could, opening the door to her mothers room. Pear Butter was sleeping soundly. Gently tapping her, Applejack held out the cup of apple juice. Pear Butter’s eyes opened again slowly, and she grasped the cup, gulping it all down in just 10 seconds. Pear Butter smiled again and tears of happiness came to Applejack’s eyes, knowing that she had made her mother happy. Maybe she could do this. She stayed there with her mother for the rest of the night, the orchard finally having been taken care of. The farm was in good hooves once again.