"Easy now big sis', you ain't all young anymore."
"Who do ya think ya' talking to? Ah still have some in mah hooves!"
To support her claims, Applejack gave a strong kick to a tree next to her and all the apples fell in the basket beneath the apple tree. Except one.
Apple Bloom had a little giggle that she tried to hide. Her sister stared at her, angrily:
"What!? It happens, apples not falling on the first kick!"
The yellow coated, and now tall, farmer mare had to turn her eyes away to not burst in laughter in front of her.
Applejack gave another kick in the tree, but the apple firmly stayed hooked to its branch.
"Darn!" cursed the mare while giving a bunch of other kicks in the trunk of the tree, as Apple Bloom gave up and laughed without restrain.
Finally, the apple gave way and crashed on the ground, spreading its brown flesh all over.
"And rotten with that!" Said the mare by her side, holding her ribs laughing.
Applejack glared with anger at her sister, then her face softened and she finally started to laugh as well.
Their giggling lasted a few minutes, in the grand Apple family's orchard. As they were calming down, a foal crying was heard, coming from the farm. Apple Bloom turned her eyes towards the house visible in the distance and sighed:
"Big Mac's messing up with the littl' again! Gosh, I'll see what's up! I'm leaving the rest up to you AJ."
"Eyup, no problem lil' sis!"
The little sister, not so little anymore with the years gone by, took a few baskets full of apples on her back and went back to the farm where cries could still be heard, the first foal being joined by two others in the meantime.
The orange coated farmer continued her harvest, as she had been doing for years. Green apples fell in the basket. Some Granny Smith. Applejack glanced at the baskets and an old voice emerged from the past and echoed in her head.
The blond mare sighed and looked away, resuming her harvest with good kicks. But she miscalculated and her hoof slipped against the trunk, spraining her right leg. She winced in pain. Apple Bloom was right, she wasn't all that young anymore. The harvest was over for now, it seemed, impossible to keep going with a leg in that state.
She sat down and massaged her muscle a bit. Maybe it was only temporary. She couldn't let her sister take care of the whole orchard on her own. She had tried herself before, without success. And more apple trees had grown since then!
The cries had stopped, that was a good sign. Apple Bloom wouldn't take too long and could continue the work for her.
The farmer mare heard a little "tip!" above her. She looked up and a drop fell right into her eye. Surprised, she shook her head strongly before rubbing her eyelid with her hoof. New "tip!", accompanied by "tap!" were heard.
"Oh come on, really now?" Said Applejack, lowering her hat to cover herself.
Ponyville's weather team hadn't announced any rain today. There was probably someone slacking! Applejack looked for a tree with enough leaves to protect her and sat down beneath it, slightly limping from her right hind leg.
There she was. In her farm, as she had always been. Her coat was losing some colour and her mane, once so blond, had lost its former shine. And despite years going by, some old wounds didn't fully healed.
The downpour didn't last long. A pegasus, with a long purple mane, appeared in the covered sky and popped the grey clouds.
"It's about time, Scootaloo!" Laughed Applejack.
The pegasus jumped in the air, not having noticed the farmer, and smiled when she laid her eyes on her, waving at her.
"Still sorry about that, some in the team still don't understand orders!"
"No big deal! Go, go!" Laughed the mare with a hat.
The orange pegasus waved goodbye and went back flying to Ponyville, leaving Applejack alone once more.
She hesitated on going back to work. For now, her leg wasn't hurting anymore, but for how long? She kept her eyes up in the sky, when a rainbow appeared. She had a sad smile. That weird multi-coloured half-circle was bringing back some memories. From her childhood, now so far away, and a friend as well, far gone too.
"You're losing yourself, sugarcube!" She said to herself, getting back on her four hooves, shaking her head. "Come on now, those apples ain't gonna harvest themselves!"
She got up and got her baskets in place for the harvest. But as she was putting on the last one and lifting her head back up, a small white thing appeared in her field of view. Thing that quickly vanished behind a tree.
The farmer frowned, intrigued, and took a look behind the tree. The small white spot was already gone, taking cover behind another trunk.
"What in tarnation is that thing?"
A tiny fluffy paw poked out from behind the trunk, followed by a bunny's head, ears down, visibly intimidated.
For a brief moment, Applejack thought it was Angel and her heart sank. But it was impossible. Yet, this bunny really looked like him. However, he didn't seem like he had Angel's bad temper. He was just scared.
"Ya don't need to worry, partner, I won't hurt ya," softly said Applejack, provoking a withdrawal from the bunny's neck.
A gust of wind suddenly lifted her hat, the animal got scared from this sudden movement and ran away as fast as he could.
The farmer maintained her hat on her head with a hoof, looking at the little bunny scampering as the wind was blowing even stronger, bringing in new clouds, darkening the sky without the orange mare noticing. A drop, but not from rain, fell along her cheek. She wiped it with the back of her hoof, before turning around.
"If even bunnies make ya think of the past, my poor girl..." She said to herself with a low voice, slightly tilting her hat in front of her eyes.
Suddenly, lightning struck less than a metre in front of her, blinding and deafening her as she jumped back. A smoking black spot was left on the ground.
Applejack backed off because of the surprise and put a hoof on her chest while grumbling. Her ageing heart had raced. She could feel it loudly beating in her rib cage, irregularly. Her back against a tree, her legs gave way and she leant against the apple tree, short breathed, a hoof still against her heart, trying to calm down.
Without her noticing, a small white figure had come back and was carefully approaching her. Once it was in front of her, Applejack looked up and noticed the bunny sat down in front of her.
Her heart skipped a beat, as they were getting more and more irregular.
"Everything's fine, small guy," she said, attempting a smile.
The animal titled his head, his eyes sad. He laid a fluffy pawn on the hoof that Applejack was leaving hanging next to her.
The farmer mare curled up in a new growl of pain as her organ was sending her a new pinch of ache, and the bunny took a step back.
Applejack closed her eyes while contracting, before releasing her breath and looking up, resting her head against the tree, staring at the sky that was starting to let its drops rain.
The bunny climbed up on Applejack's shoulder to take refuge below her hat. From the corner of her eye, the farmer mare smiled a bit when seeing the little white animal snuggled against her. Looking at the clouds, she whispered:
"I'm coming, girls..."
The downpour ended itself without the weather team's intervention, as they were overworked anyway. A voice echoed through the orchard. A call.
"Big sis'!?"
The mare with a yellow coat appeared, trotting in between the trees, looking for Applejack. The bunny got scared when seeing her and jumped off from the farmer's shoulder, which caught the eyes of the mare with a red mane.
"Ah! There you are!" She said upon seeing her, getting to her, noticing her state. "What happened to ya? You're all wet."
No answers came from the mare, who had her head leaning forward, as if she was sleeping.
"Hey!" Insisted Apple Bloom, shaking her a bit. "You fell asleep or what?"
The only answer she got was Applejack slowly tipping on the side and falling on the ground, her hat flying off during the fall, revealing a calm and fixed face.
The party that Pinkie had organised had just finished. There were only a few participants. Yet, a lot of people were here, in that plain north-east of Ponyville, under that small tree that had grown quite a bit and now possessed its first thick branches.
A crowd of ponies, gathered around a small rounded rock made on the same model as the two others that were here, apart from the fact that this one was topped with a hat. All the Apple family was here, as was the case every time such a tragic event took place in the family.
Apple Bloom, in front, was letting her tears flow in silence, staring at the tomb, her throat feeling tight, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo by her sides, silent as well. Big Macintosh had his eyes shut and was keeping his sadness for himself. The rest of the family had pronounced, one after another, some words, Braeburn being the one taking the most time.
"R.I.P. Applejack - The Honest," with the engraving "Friend of the princess" surrounding three apples.
A bit apart from the group, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Spike and Twilight were watching the scene in tears, the dragon on the alicorn's back. Another one had gone. And they didn't know if they should join in with the family or not.
Twilight looked at her two friends. Like last time, there was something in her eyes, a sadness that was detached from the present moment. The pink and the white mare exchanged a gaze, and understood when looking at each other's wrinkles. Twilight was the only one from the group which hadn't changed in all those years. Even Spike had grown a bit.
The two of them turned their eyes to the purple mare and came by her sides, hugging her, joined by Spike.
"Don't worry for us, Twilight..." Whispered Rarity.
"Everything is going to be fine, as always," added Pinkie with a bit of a forced smile.
The alicorn slowly nodded, snorting. No, it wouldn't be fine. Yes, she'd keep on worrying, because she had to. But, in such conditions, as a friend, she had to believe hers and listen to them, even if that implied denying her own certainties.
The three stones were now forming a quarter circle in front of the tree.