Written by: Cid Gaius
Rated Everyone
Applejack lounged in the noonday sun, under a shady apple tree. She watched as a little bumblebee flew between each blossom and she smiled as the little bee buzzed about hard at work; Applejack knew that thanks to her,she would soon be hard at work herself come harvest time.
Applejack watched for a few minutes more before getting up, early spring have been a time of some leisure for the Apple Family but there was always work to do. Big Mac was plowing the west fields this year and--thanks to last year’s Zap Apple profits--he had bought a new plow. Applejack chuckled as she remembered him trotting about with it like it was made of gold. Little Apple Bloom and her friends were chasing behind him with the apple seeds trying to get apple sowing cutie marks. Granny Smith was visiting the farm’s beehive to sing for the queen; Granny said that it helped with the honey production.
Applejack’s job was to check all the apple trees for pests and fungus or even Firelight. They had once lost an entire field to the disease, but now they were much more careful. Thanks to some of Granny’s root mix there hadn’t been a problem like it in a while. Suddenly, Applejack heard a familiar buzz- the little bee from earlier had followed her!
“Huh, I guess she heard Granny Smith’s singin’!” Applejack joked silently to herself, but she was glad for the company just the same. She resumed her examinations with the quiet buzzing at her side. Quite a few of the Apple Family actually had bee-related cutie marks. These Apple clan members always argued that it’s the bee’s help that make the best apples. Their motto was “A happy bee works happy!” A lot of times Applejack found it hard to argue against it, the bees did help, but the farmers also put a lot of work into it. She always said that both sides were right and that’s the truth.
It wasn’t long before Applejack came across a small family of aphids, nestled on a twig. She hated to move critters from their home, but they could cause damage to the apple trees. ‘Maybe,’ she thought, ‘I can get Fluttershy to talk them into moving somewhere else.’ ; her little bee friend buzzed angrily at the little aphids--they were too close to her flowers. Applejack quickly moved on and luckily the bee followed her again, buzzing behind her in a huff.
Her next grove of trees had the biggest blossoms she had ever seen! Even Bloomberg hadn’t bloomed this well! The bee behind her lost all interest in anything else and began rushing to and fro dancing into each pinkish white flower with joy. Applejack chuckled and waited for her to gather her fill, and they started off to the next grove.
This grove had a disappointing amount of fallen branches scattered around. She began to tidy up as best she could but she would have to come back with the family wagon later. With all the branches in a small and somewhat neat pile, Applejack moved on.
At last, she had reached the Apple Family private grove, where every member of the Apple Family had planted a tree for themselves. Every Cousin, Aunt and Uncle came back during the Apple Family reunion and they took care of their tree or the tree of a deceased relative; the apples grown here were used in the big Apple Family picnic. Even the Oranges enjoyed such a feast, where quite a few stories and good memories were shared by all.
She stopped at Granny Smith’s, it was the first regular apple tree planted in Sweet Apple Acres. The tree was gnarled and old, but still bore the best tasting apples on the farm. Next to Granny Smith’s tree was Grandpa Crab Apple’s tree. The tree was a lot like him, Granny would say, tall, strong and too sour for words, but sweetest to those he loves. Applejack paused at the next tree; it belonged to her father, Sundance. The tree towered over the rest, broad and tough. Very much like her father. Sundance taught Applejack and Big Mac everything he knew about farming, but he also loved to cook and tried to teach them both, but Big Mac had always been more into growing the apples than cooking them. She remembered that he never saw the point when they could just eat them raw. Sundance was ecstatic to learn that Applejack loved to cook and helped her master the culinary art; it became their special time. Applejack chuckled--they had gotten so good that even Big Mac wouldn’t complain about their cooking apples.
Her mother, Cinnamon, was a different story than Sundance’s down home ways; she had been a plucky young mare from Manehatten, with a taste for adventure and a big heart. Applejack smiled half-heartedly, she remembered her mother always wandering around the small town greeting ponies and making sales for the Apple Family. Applejack always remembered the way she talked about her life in Manehatten, it was one of the many reasons why she had chosen to go there to live with her Aunt and Uncle Orange. She was always a big city girl, but she could buck apples with the best of the Apple Family. One of the best memories Applejack had of her mother was when she would sing her and her brother a simple lullaby,
Day is done, gone the sun
From the lakes, from the hills, from the sky
All is well, safely rest;
Luna is nigh.
Big Mac would always join in with his deep voice, even then.
Applejack smiled and wiped the tears away from her face; Applejack always sung it to Apple Bloom before bed, she just wished that her mother could be here to sing it to all of them instead. It was just after Apple Bloom had been born when Sundance fell ill and passed on. Her mother had taken it hard--she wouldn’t eat or sleep and when Big Mac or Applejack would ask her why, she would smile half-heartedly and quietly reassure them, though she soon fell ill herself. When she passed, Big Mac never sang again. Applejack decided then that she would go to Manehattan and live the life her mother had talked about.
Her time in Manehattan made her miss her life on the farm even more and after seeing Rainbow Dash’s rainbow trail, she galloped as fast she could back to her farm. That was when she planted Bloomberg and never stopped caring about the farm since. She said a quiet word of goodbye to her father’s tree and took off her hat in respect to her father; wiping away the last tear, she steeled herself against the urge to cry again. Her bee friend seemed to pick up on this and moved on to the next tree, urging her forward. She looked up at the sky and saw that the sun was fading with a deep red glow over the horizon. The next tree was her Aunt Orange’s, her mother had introduced Sundance’s sister, Valencia, to Mosely Orange. The two married three days after Sundance and Cinnamon. Next was her Uncle Barkley, who moved down south with his son, Braeburn. Following that was her Aunt Honeycrisp, who moved out west to Las Pegasus. She checked each of them: all were fine and strong.
Applejack came to Big Mac’s tree, it was as big and broad as he was and she chuckled as she saw the shallow indent of his hoof prints in the tree bark. Big Mac was always overly protective of his tree, he called it Bloomington and nopony else was allowed to buck it but him. He always kept everything neat and tidy and his tree was no exception.
Next was where her own Bloomberg had once called home. Applejack hated to part with her favorite tree, but he was the healthiest tree on the farm and could handle the strain of the trip and arid climate better than a cutting or a seed would. She had kept a cutting before she left for Appleoosa. She knelt down and looked closer at Bloomberg Jr. The bee rested on a leaf as she checked for problems and the spring blanket she kept around his newly formed roots was starting to slip, so she readjusted it to keep him warm during the cool spring nights. She recalled when she first came back from Appleloosa; Apple Bloom had laughed, carrying on that her own tree was bigger than Applejack’s. Despite Apple Bloom’s “enthusiasm”, Applejack thought she had taken good care of her own tree. ‘She is an Apple after all,’ Applejack mused. Applejack checked her tree over three more times. She looked up in the sky, it was getting almost too dark to see. After Apple Bloom’s tree she decided she'd hit the hay. The rest could wait until tomorrow.
Applejack knew Apple Bloom’s tree, despite its small stature, had the deepest and strongest roots on the farm. Apple Bloom had even made a small sturdy fence around it to keep it safe. As she finished with Apple Bloom’s tree and waved good bye to her little bee friend, who lazily flew off back to the hive. She heard the heavy clop of Big Mac’s hooves coming up the path. He was carrying a very sleepy trio of Cutie Mark Crusaders. Nodding to her brother, who returned the gesture, she began walking along with the four other ponies, one of the self-titled Cutie Mark Crusaders stirred, so Applejack began to sing softly.
Day is done, gone the sun
From the lakes, from the hills, from the sky
All is well, safely rest;
Luna is nigh.
A low deep sound joined in perfect harmony as Big Mac sang along.