With Ponyville now behind her, Applejack began her trot along the long road leading to Sweet Apple Acers. Had it been only three days ago that she’d walked this path with Fluttershy and Pinkie? If only she’d listened!
“So Betsy’s the leader of the herd, she’ll keep ya updated on anythin’ that needs doin’ for the cows, but if you could also keep an eye on the chickens we’d appreciate it Shy. Pinkie, if you could just have a once over the orchards, no need to do any work mind, just make sure nothing is out of place, let Carrot Top or one of the other farmers know if ya think it needs seein’ to before we’re back, knowing you’re keepin’ an eye on things here is probably the only thing that got Granny to agree to go. Again I can’t thank ya both enough for this.”
“No problemo Jacko. After everything that's been going on, how could we not help you and Twi go to the biggest most apple-so-tubbly awesome party in all of Equestria? It sure is a shame I’m not an apple yet so I wasn’t invited.”
“Oh it's no problem, Elisabeck will enjoy some time with the other chickens I'm sure, and it's been far too long since I spoke with Betsy and the girls.”
It may have been a little later than planned, but the Apple family reunion was fast approaching, and this weekend would be the last chance to unwind with family before the Autumn harvest began. She was truly lucky to have friends she could ask to keep an eye on the farm in her absence. The timid pegasus walking beside her was already on good terms with all of Sweet Apple Acre's animals, and Pinkie pronking around to see if anything was amiss. The pink pony grew up on a farm, so she’d probably know what to look out for, Trees were kind of like rocks, according to Pinkie Pie, but Applejack had a sinking feeling in her stomach though, after all, there was one thing she needed to correct her friends about.
“Thanks, girls, but, Twilight ain't comin'.”
“WHATTT!” Shrieked Pinkie, as every trace of pink on the party pony turned into a violent red. “How could she refuse! The biggest PAR-TAY of the season, with the best Apple bakers from all over Equestria, AND SHE ISN’T GOING!”
“Now calm down Pinkie, it's not that big a deal.”
“NOT A BIG DEAL!? How can she turn down seeing your family for one of their legendary reunions? Where is she, I’ll give her a piece of my …”
“She’s not goin’ because I didn’t tell her.”
*Gaspe*
Applejack sighed, this was going about as well as she’d expected. Fluttershy was now frozen in shock, and Pinkie, well, she’d stopped shrieking and was turning back to pink.
“Ah know what you’re thinkin', but she’s busy being a princess and doesn’t have time to just up and leave for some silly gathering of farmers. Theirs barely a half dozen pegasus among the family and I doubt the only unicorn is up for travelin. She has better things to be doin' than muckin' it with us.”
If the various looks on Pinkie's face were anything to go by, many conflicting thoughts were currently running through her head. Pinkie still hadn’t recovered by the time Fluttershy spoke.
“Applejack, are you sure? We know Twilight’s been busy these last few weeks, but she’s doing her best to spend time with us, don’t you think that ..”
“Look Shy, I’ve given it a lot of thought and I’ve made my decision. The last thing She needs is to be set back a few days for something unimportant, so it's best to leave her to it. I doubt she’d even notice I’ve gone.”
Resuming her walk, Applejack resumed her walk to Sweet Apple Achers so she didn’t see what happened. As she walked away, Pinkie reached out a hoof to stop the Apple mare, only to be blocked by a yellow wing. Whatever words were said to change the pink pony’s mind were lost on Applejack, as the two mares galloped back to Ponyville.
She could still hear their hoof steps ringing in her ears, as if the two ponies were behind her at this moment, turning around however, only the early evening sky was present to keep her company.
********************
Applejack, Applebloom, Big Mac, and Granny Smith had all arrived in Appaloosa in good time, despite Granny’s reluctance to use the train, it was the only feasible way to get to the reunion and back without disrupting the harvest. An uneasy silence lingered over the family however, an unspoken question that the two oldest were reluctant to ask, and while Applebloom was silent on the train when Celestia’s sun had begun its descent, the youngest Apple could no longer hold her tongue.
“Hey sis, is Twilight joinin’ us later? I kinda thought she’d be on the train, but she’ll be here at least right?”
An innocent question from an innocent filly, Applejack thought to herself. As far as Applebloom saw Twilight's ascension, the local librarian who was her sister's close friend had become a rare awesome pony with wings and a horn. Sure she knew that the other princesses could do wondrous things and were very important, but to the young apple, Twilight was just another pony who lived in Ponyville.
Applejack sighed, of course, her sister would choose now to bring up this topic, Braeburn had tasked her with bringing the furniture into the barn, and while a few other ponies were helping, it wasn’t a quick job, meaning she had nowhere to escape from her sisters' questions.
“No Bloom, she’s a princess now. She has important duties to attend to.”
“But this is the Apple family reunion, and ain’t she your special somepony? So she’s family, and this is a big family reunion, she should be here right!?”
What was one family against every family in Equestria?
“Family is important, which is why she shouldn’t be here Bloom. We Apples are just one family in Equestria, there are tens of thousands more families out there, so we can’t hog her to ourselves. We shouldn’t be selfish when she has big important work to be doing. There are many ponies who need her help more than we do, it’s not worth us taking her time.”
The yard was quiet, every pony else must have stopped their work to listen to the conversation, it just meant she’d have to work a bit harder to pick up the slack. Surely they’d understand, she was a princess, no pony would dream that Celestia or Luna would simply drop everything to attend a commoner's party.
“Well sis, looks like you’re wrong about what's important. Hiya Twilight!”
Applejack froze, the princess, here!? But how she was busy, she’d bemoaned the point to her not a week ago, she had a meeting with Filthy Rich this entire afternoon to discuss plans for Ponyville’s expansion. But if she was here, how much of that did she hear? Turning around, she got her answer.
Before Applejack stood Equestria's youngest princess, breathing heavily, wings ragged from heavy use and distortions emanating from her horn. Had she teleported as far as she could, then flown the rest of the way? All questions immediately passed out of her mind when she realised that the alicorn had a look of pained horror on her beautiful face.
It only took a few moments, but the once busy yard was now clear of all other ponies, Applebloom was about to say something, but some pony scooped her up and bolted before the filly could utter another sylabill. For a while now, any time that Twilight and Applejack had been together, they were also in the presence of other ponies, be they friends, advisors, or even petitioners this was the first time the two had been alone since Twilight's ascension.
“Not important?” Twilight asked, her voice shaking as she fought to hold back her tears.
“Now Princess, please just hear me out.”
“You didn’t invite me, you hid the reunion from me, I didn’t want to believe them, I couldn’t, but then I couldn’t find you at the farm.”
“It’s just a small gatherin', it ain't a big deal, and they’ll be more when you’re less busy.”
“You’re doing it again, treating me as a *Princess* instead of your … you're not even treating me as a friend.”
“Now wait, please.”
Twilight's eyes widened with realisation, “I haven’t heard you call me by my name since … every time, its always an honorific.”
“It’s only proper, you’re …”
“I had this weekend clear, I made this weekend clear! Then you persuaded me to speak with Filthy Rich, was that to keep me too busy to notice you’d left?.”
Applejack froze, did she do that? The Prin … Twilight mentioned finally having free time, but the meeting hadn’t been booked, it made sense, but if she’d tried to make time for her … No, she couldn’t waste her time on some pony her, Equestria needed its Princess.
“Why?”
“Because you’re a princess, you’re important, and ponies need you! You can help them, and make the world a better place. It's you’re destiny to rule Equestria with the others ain’t it? In Canterlot with the important ponies, it's where ya belong!” Applejack yelled, she was angry, but why? She wasn’t angry at Twilight, was she?
Twilight closed her eyes, desperate to hold back her tears. “So that's it? Now that I'm an alicorn, I can’t spend time doing what I want, I can’t choose who to be with. Did, did you lie when you called us part of your family?
*“I think I’d love ta have the rest of my, family helping out.”*
Her own words, when she’d almost lost her farm, but the Prin … Twilight came and saved her.
“You pushed me away, just like when Discords Plunder Vines attacked, you’ve done it again.”
And how did that end? With Twilight in danger, saved by her and the others, but if Twilight hadn’t come back, they wouldn’t have rescued the tree, or saved the princesses, she wouldn’t have become just another Earth Pony. Twilight did come back to Ponyville though, but she had guards didn’t she? Nobles hounding her every moment? No, they were only sending her letters now, but Twilight made time to see her friends, almost like she didn’t realise how muc hhad changed.
She had guards, two of them, but hadn’t she ordered them to help out around Ponyville?.Her meeting with Filthy Rich wasn’t something that she couldn’t find time for, she’d been avoiding him for weeks because she wanted nothing to do with his plans, and Applejack forced her into meeting him.
She wasn’t worth Twilight's time.
“I thought I meant something to you, was I, was I the only one in love?”
Something inside Applejack broke.
No longer was an alicorn in front of her, but the purple bookworm, her friend, a pony she’d called family, the mare she loved. In front of her wasn’t a majestic ruler, but a pony whose battered wings drooped down, to sore to be folded back into place, a friend whose eyes were red and now had tears streaking down her face. Her special somepony, whom she’d forgotten was still a pony.
“Twi ..”
“Save it, if all I am to you is a princess then FINE! HAVE IT YOUR WAY!.”
With a near-deafening scream, a white alicorn, bathed in flame became the center of a maelstrom of magic. Applejack had felt powerful spells before, but this was on a whole other level. What could she do with that much magic? What could Twi do with that much magic?
With a final scream, Applejack got her answer. With a deafening crack and a blinding flash of light, Applejack was thrown clear out of the yard and into the barn. After crashing into some hay bales, Applejack picked herself up from the floor, crawling to her hooves to face Twilight, she’d at least face the alicorn whom she’d hurt so deeply, it was what she deserved for betraying her friendship.
But nothing happened. As Applejack made her way back into the yard only to find the destruction that the alicorn had left. The yards' fencing had been reduced to splinters, what patches of vegetation once grew there had been burnt to ashes, but where once stood her marefriend, only a molten crater remained.
She didn’t know how long she’d been standing there when a hoof brought her back to reality.
Big Mac was looking down at her, concern in his eyes. Concern and disappointment.
“We gotta find the princess,” Mac said.
“But, but she, I, she won’t …”
A large hoof closed her mouth as the large stallion began to walk towards the Appaloose train station.
“Other princess sis.”