Apple Bloom was just trotting around Sweet Apple Acres on a warm and sunny afternoon. The little filly looked up to the warm skies only to be met by a blue, cloudless sky and the lovely rays of the suns. She wandered about without a true aim and saw her sister. Who was leaning against a tree. She had taken the wise decision of taking a nap from her hard work and her hat covered her eyes. Apple Bloom let go a small giggle but as she looked to the hat, a question popped up in her innocent mind and she mumbled in herself. “How did she got that?”
The young filly walked up to the tree where her sister was lovely asleep and as she approached she heard the light snoring coming of the mare. Apple Bloom couldn't resist it as she started to snuggle up against her sleeping sister. Yet much to her own surprised, Applejack started to return the snuggle and the filly looked into her sister's closed eyes. “Afternoon sis,” the mare said as her eyes slowly opened revealing the green rims.
“Hey sis.” Apple Bloom replied as she kept snuggling. Her big sister wrapped her front hooves around her and she started to hug while snuggling.
“Is there som’thing Ah can help ya with?” asked Applejack in her sweet sounding voice after she had lift up her hat just a little bit to see what was going on.
“Well, there is something,” Apple Bloom said and then pointed to the hat. “That.”
“Hm?” Applejack didn’t fully seem to understand what the filly wanted from her.
“Yar hat.”
Applejack looked even more confused to her little sister. With a raised eyebrow did she ask the question that was on her mind. “What’s with it, if Ah may ask?”
“Well, how did you got it? I, I always see you with it, but I don’t know how ya got it,” the little filly said with her big eyes. It was a look that reminded Applejack to the moment when Apple Bloom said that she wanted her cutie mark right then.
Her sister let go a small chuckle. “Well, if ya really want to know, Ah tell you how Ah got it.” The filly then snuggled a little deeper and perked her ears in order to listen to the story that was going to be told.
---
“Well, as ya know, there was a time where Ah left the Sweet Apple Acres to look at the world, to see other things then the Acres. But as a farmer filly in the big city, everything was just so, different. Ah just couldn't get my turn with them, no offence towards the Oranges of course, not at all. But Ah just couldn't find mah place in it,” said Applejack as she had begun her story.
“Ya wanna to know why me and Rarity always have a little argument, but can relate to one another?” Apple Bloom gave a slight nod in response. The mare smiled warmly as she spoke further.
“Well, because of the high class of the Oranges, they made me also wear those frou-frou kind of dresses and went to those kind of parties. Ah have to admit, Ah didn't feel mahself home at all at those kind of things. But once Ah met Rarity and she told me about how she lived, Ah could relate to that because Ah have been through the same. Ah shall be honest with ya, Ah have deep respect for that mare because she is able to hold herself like that. Wouldn’t be able to do it mahself.”
“But sis, this does explain nothing!” the filly spoke up as she heard the story.
“Ah was just coming to that part, Apple Bloom, just let yar sister tell her story as she remembers it,” replied Applejack before she nuzzled her sister's little nose.
“After a while, Ah couldn't stand all the standards anymore and Ah said them goodbye. Ah was going to return back to the Acres, back to Granny and Big Mac. The Oranges luckily understood the choice Ah made and Ah packed my things and began on the journey back to Ponyville, back to the Acres.”
There was a small tear that began to build up below the eyes of the cowgirl while she told her story. “When Ah came back here, Ah was greeted with open hooves and warm hearts, it truly was the happiest day of mah life. The love of those two, is something Ah'll never forget. Neither how Big Mac tackle hugged me when he knew Ah was back here.”
Applejack wiped away a small tear as she looked at her sister and started to stroke her wonderful, reddish mane. “Ah still didn't had mah hat at the time when Ah came back. Big Mac was still wearing it. Day in, day out, he had it on his head. Oh now that Ah think back about that...”
“Huh!? Your hat, was from Mac?” Apple Bloom said in utter confusion. It was a thing she never had expected to hear. Applejack gave a simple nod to confirm the thoughts and speculation.
“Yes, it was from Big Mac, or as we called him at the time, ‘Little Mac’.” Applejack let go a small chuckle as she recalled the name for her brother. She leaned a little more against the tree before her mind took her on a trip down memory lane.
“It had been a long day, Ah had been working my utmost best to do all the chores that Granny gave me and Ah just fell down asleep in the field in a burning sun. It was when Ah woke up and walked back to the barn where Ah was waited up by Little Mac." There was a small moment of silence while she tried to formulate the words in her head about it all.
“Ah remember that moment after that, just so well. For Ah walked back to the barn, face redder than a cooked lobster. In the barn Ah met Little Mac as he too was doing some chores. What he did next, would change mah life forever. He took off his hat and placed it on my head, saying the words, ‘For you, little sis, you need it more than I do'.”
---
She wiped away another tear before continuing to snuggle her sister while continuing with the story.
“Ah just fell down on my flanks, holding the hat tightly in mah front hooves and looking at him with big eyes. Little Mac just nodded and said: ‘tis yours now’. Mah eyes only became bigger as he said the words.” A content sigh was given off by the cowgirl, before a chuckle followed up.
“Ah, Ah didn't know what to do at the moment, whether to hug him, say thank you, kiss him, Ah just didn't know. But before Ah could do anything he walked away because Granny needed him for something.”
The mare took off her hat. She looked at it and then to her sister who she kept hugging and snuggling. “Ah still do not know why he gave it to me, but Ah never questioned it to be honest. For it was one of the most amazing gifts Ah had ever gotten. Ah never thought that a simple piece like this...” She couldn’t finish her sentence. Instead she fell silent and looked a bit more to her sister.
The mare then placed the hat on the little filly who looked in pure shock as she got it. “S-Sis?” Applejack gave her a reassuring nod and a warm smile appeared on her face, comforting the filly.
“A piece like this could mean so much to anypony, but it proved itself. It truly is. And that, is how Ah got the thing that now rests on yar head.”
---
Apple Bloom had listened in awe to the whole story and was happy she asked that question, for now she had an answer. “Tis an amazing story, sis.”
Applejack nodded in agreement. “It’s a story Ah do not tell often but for family, Ah'm always willing to tell it.” The mare wrapped her other hoof back around her sister, resulting a tight hug as the filly lowered her head against the chest of her sister and nuzzled it.
“But why did he gave it to you? Any ideas” the filly asked with a soft tone to her voice.
Applejack shook her head a little bit at the question that was asked. “To this day Ah'm having no idea for it. But Rarity once told me this: stories are there to be told, but some are best left untold. And Ah do agree with that.”
Apple Bloom began nuzzling her sister's chest as the mare looked to the skies, the comfortable spot against the tree in the warm afternoon. All of it was just perfect. She looked back down to her sister and said, “How ‘bout a small nap before dinner partner?” The filly nodded under the hat and they both fell asleep under the tree for the time being.
A little while later was it Big Macintosh passed them. He just looked over at the sight of them and let out a smile. “And so passes it over, from generation to generation,” he whispered to himself before walking away again. “E’yup.”