It was rare for Applejack to have a day all to herself. With so much work to do on the farm, she doubted she could ever find the time to simply kick back and stretch her tired legs. Her days were long and tiring, especially under Princess Celestia’s hot summer sun, but that was to be expected when working on one of the largest farms in Equestria. It was also Big Mac’s turn to take care of selling apples at the local market in Ponyville and Applebloom was still at school, so there was nothing she could do. It was lucky that Applejack woke up early and cleared her part of the orchard long before her big brother, and right now she was wondering what she could do for the rest of the day.
She also knew that she couldn't hang out with her friends today. Rainbow Dash was busy with both Wonderbolt training for the next show and weather patrol. However, there was no doubt that she could also be napping. Rarity had a fashion lineup due up in Canterlot for her boutique, with extra details needed to be finalised with Sassy Saddles. Fluttershy had a sanctuary with lots of animals to look after, Ponyville's local vet Doctor Fauna had her hooves full again. Pinkie Pie would probably just be Pinkie throughout the day. There was also some party that needed to be planned. and Twilight is currently planning the next curriculum at the school of friendship with Spike and Starlight Glimmer.
Applejack sighed and wiped the sweat from her brow as she trotted into the barn, rummaging around the attic of the barn to find something to keep her busy and escape the crippling sense of boredom washing over her. She could train for the next rodeo in Appleloosa, practice buck ball training in case Pinkie Pie's too busy to play or something active to keep herself entertained, but it was simply too hot a day to run around and work up a sweat.
Applejack was about to open the next box in the barn’s attic when her hindlegs nudged something a little too hard and a box fell to the floor. Her ears perked up at the sound of what appeared to be an instrument of some sort hitting the wood flooring. She turned around and her heart skipped a beat when she saw what was lying on the floor, the light from the open wooden window revealing what had fallen out of its box.
A lonely single instrument lay on the floor, dusty and the strings were loose in their positions. It was a single guitar, carved with intricate patterns on the body and a gold shine beneath the layer of dust.
To an ordinary pony, it would seem like an ordinary guitar, abandoned and forgotten in some pony’s attic. Not to Applejack. She knew those instruments well. These instruments held a very special place in her heart.
A little piece of family memory.
A young Applejack tossed and turned in her bed one night. She just couldn’t sleep. A long hard day of work on the farm should put a pony to sleep the second their head hits the pillow. However, Applejack just wasn’t feeling like it. She moaned and groaned as she lay there, just wanting her eyes to close. Tomorrow was the start of a bumper harvest season, and Granny Smith wants every pony to be wide-eyed and bushy-tailed if they wanted to harvest those apples when they are at their ripest and juiciest.
It was then the sound of a door creaking open outside opposite her room reached the sound of her ears. A yawn was heard and the sound of hoof steps coming towards her room.
Her eyes widened and she turned to one side, facing away from the door, as it opened and a light orange pony with a brighter orange mane and tail walked into her bedroom. She smiled at the bed, particularly the lump made by the pony under the sheets, and quietly trotted forward and sat down beside it.
“Can’t sleep?” A voice, only a mother could make of love and care, asked the lump under the covers, “I heard a lot of noise from me and daddy’s bedroom and I came to investigate what’s keeping my daughter up tonight. We have a busy day tomorrow and we can’t fall behind on this harvest.”
Applejack chose not to reply.
“Come now, Sweetie,” The voice behind her cooed, “If anything is bothering you, your mother is always here to listen.”
“I just can’t sleep,” Applejack whispered beneath the covers.
“What was that, Applejack?” The voice asked from behind her.
“I just can’t sleep,” She answered, a little louder that time. she caused the voice from behind to chuckle.
“Is that all?” She smiled.
Applejack heard hoof steps leave the bed and quietly fade away down the stairs. Applejack wondered what she was up to, but something being picked up caught her ears and hoof steps could be heard coming up and back into her bedroom.
“How about I sing to you a song?” The voice returned, “I get restless sometimes as well, and a nice song helps me to sleep.”
Applejack nodded and slowly turned towards the pony keeping her company. Her mother was already beside her bed, hooves at the ready as she tested the guitar she got out from outside. She would always place the guitar in the corridor and out of harm’s way.
Pear Butter smiled and strummed the strings gently with a hoof.
“You ready?”
“Yes please… mum.”
Applejack picked up the guitar, a smile, but a sad one, forming on her freckled face. She closed her eyes and strummed the loose strings. The guitar was out of tune, but the notes were just there, ringing in her ears. After some more rummaging around, she managed to find a set of new strings. Removing the rusty old ones and replacing them with a new set, she tuned the guitar with precision, just as the pony who taught her long ago did when she was just a filly.
“Mummy? Could you teach me how to play?” Applejack coughed. She was unable to do her chores that day due to a bad day of the horsey hives.
Her mother looked up from her guitar and smiled at her daughter with loving eyes that caught the sunlight coming through the window.
“You sure? It’s pretty difficult.” She giggled.
“I’m a big pony now! I can do it!” Applejack sat up from her mother's bed where she has spent the entire day, hooves outstretched towards the instrument in her mother’s hooves.
Her mother just shook her head and sighed. She sat on the bed next to her and placed her daughter and the guitar on her lap. With the guitar carefully balanced on Applejack’s own lap, she placed her hooves on Applejack’s forelegs and positioned them to where they should be on the instrument.
“Remember the story I told you about how we celebrated the anniversary daddy called me Buttercup?” Her mother asked her daughter as she looked down.
“You mean that sappy love song you played to him?” Applejack scrunched up her muzzle at how overly-the-top Pear Butter and Bright Mac would retell that story to her and her siblings.
Pear Butter just giggled at her daughter’s description.
“Well, call it sappy all you like, but it was the most romantic anniversary I ever had. How about we start with the chords and then we can take it nice and steady from there. A seed doesn’t become a tree in a day, you know?”
Applejack nodded as her face scrunched up again in concentration, one hoof trying to touch the strings to make the correct chord and the other strumming the strings at the right angle. All the while, Pear Butter guided her daughter’s hooves up and down the frets. First came the D, then the E minor seventh, G and A chords for the verses. Pear then guided her daughter to the chorus, onto the E minor, G, D and finally back to A.
Applejack occasionally played the chords funny, her young and small hooves not getting in the right position in time on the frets. However, after a while, she started to find her rhythm and soon a steady tempo quickly developed.
“I guess musicality runs in the family as well,” Pear chuckled as she hugged her daughter fondly, “Ready for a sing-song?”
Applejack looked up at her mother’s face and beamed.
“Yes, please! Someday, I’m going to be better than you at guitar!”
“And I do not doubt that…”
“Applejack! Why weren’t you at school today to collect me?” A voice came from outside the barn, “I thought we were practising for the next Social.”
Applejack shook herself from her flashback and looked down to see Applebloom waiting for her impatiently on the ground.
“Sorry, Applebloom, guess I kinda got a little sidetracked,” Applejack chuckled sheepishly at her sister. Applebloom just huffed and pouted in frustration.
“More like you got sidetracked a lot,” Applebloom continued to tap a hoof on the flooring, a clear sign of how peeved she was. That changed when she noticed something in her hooves.
“Sis, what’s that you got there?” She asked. Applejack looked down at the guitar in her hooves. She climbed down the ladder and showed it to Applebloom, her eyes widening at the discovery.
“Is that?” Applebloom gaped.
“Yep, it sure is,” Applejack smiled, “It’s our mum’s guitar. She would often sing you lullabies when you were much younger than you are now.”
Applebloom reached a shaky hoof and touched the wooden board.
“She taught me how to play as well, you know?” Applejack smiled, “Long before I moved onto the banjo.”
“Really?” Applebloom asked, sounding surprised, “Why didn’t you say so before.”
“Well, with things about our family’s secret back then with Granny Smith, I didn’t want to reopen any bad wounds that I didn’t know would hurt her…” She trailed off, too caught up in so many memories of her lessons with their mum.
Applebloom, being her younger sister, knew something was up and reached up to embrace her. Applejack was surprised at Applebloom’s hug, but then a smile replaced her shocked look. Placing the guitar gently on the ground, she returned her sister’s hug affectionately. After a while, they broke the hug and Applebloom looked down at the instrument that held so much meaning to the both of them.
“Could you… Could you teach me how to play?” Applebloom asked from behind Applejack's shoulder. Applejack’s head looked down at her sister after they broke the hug. A smug smile formed on the fam pony’s face.
“You sure? It’s pretty difficult,” She smirked.
“I’m a big pony now! I can do it!” Applebloom said with a face of determination.
Just what I said to her, Applejack thought in her head. Positioning herself to allow her younger sister to sit in her lap with the guitar balanced in front of her, she then directed her sister’s front hooves to the correct positions. Both older and younger sisters smiled at each other.
“Okay, follow my lead…”