//------------------------------// // Epilogue // Story: Withered and Blooming // by Soniclink137 //------------------------------// “Alright y’all it’s time ta start a good day of work!” Applejack said the morning after the party. Everybody was in the farmhouse living room, the same place as the party last night. Well everybody except for Pinkie Pie, Apple Bloom, and Spike. “So let’s get to it!” “I’m ready Applejack,” Caramel said. “Good,” Applejack told him as she went up right in front of his face. “Remember, it doesn’t matter to me whether you screw up or not, just try and make sure to fix it afterwards will ya?” “You bet I will,” Caramel said. What he wasn’t expecting was the response to that answer. As soon as those words parted his lips, they were instantly silenced by another pair of lips. Applejack gave him a little kiss before the day started, and of course Caramel’s eyes widened in surprise. “Ah just wanted ta make sure about that,” Applejack said. “Now show me why Ah liked ya when you were workin for us in the first place by workin has hard as ya always do.” “I’ll make sure to do that,” Caramel said. Applejack walked over to Big Macintosh and Fluttershy. “You both ready as well?” “Eeyup,” Big Macintosh naturally said. “Yeah I’ll…I’ll try,” Fluttershy said. “Just remember Fluttershy, if y’all ain’t able to help us and feed the animals ya take care of back at home at the same time, your welcome to go back ta doin what you used to do,” Applejack told her. “Ya don’t need ta help us if ya just can’t do both at the same time. We don’t want you to work yourself too hard.” “Ah would never have her work harder then she can’t handle,” Big Macintosh said. “Ah’ll make sure she ain’t workin too hard.” “Thanks Mackie,” Fluttershy said to Big Macintosh. “Look who’s talkin about workin too hard cousin,” Braeburn said. “Ain’t one of the reasons I’m here.” “And who asked you?” Applejack said as she moved her cousin. “Are you sure you’re fine Braeburn? Left Appleoosa in good hooves?” “Yup,” Braeburn said with a nod. “I ain’t about to leave the family in Appleoosa without making sure they’re fine first. Don’t worry bout them, they’re in good hooves. I’m here ta help you out cousin with whatever ya need me ta do. And I can stay here for as long as you need me to.” “Thanks cousin,” Applejack said. “I guess…if ya don’t mind that is…” “What are ya, Fluttershy?” Braeburn asked, which gained a blush from Fluttershy and a small, quick chuckle from Big Macintosh. “Sorry,” Applejack said. “What Ah mean ta say is…if ya want to Ah’d like ta have you cook like Granny Smith used to. Ah’m an ok cook on my own, but Ah know Ah ain’t as good as you.” “Well thanks cousin,” Braeburn said. “I’m glad you’re letting me.” “Just make sure this time if Pinkie randomly comes into the house ya let somepony know,” Applejack said. “Ah don’t need her suddenly surprising all of us. And Ah also don’t want you two to have the run of the house. Ah know full well we won’t have much of a house left if that happens.” As they were all planning there was a loud knock on the door. “Y’all can come in!” Applejack called out when she heard the knocking. “The doors open!” “Alright then!” came a confident voice. The door opened up and some hooves trotted across the floorboards. Eventually they saw Rainbow Dash and Twilight walk from the right into the living room door, and then walk in. “Hay everypony,” Twilight said. She was levitating a book in her face that was titled ‘How to Help your Friends when they are Grieving from a loss.’ “Listen I know that you are feeling sad from your loss,” Twilight said in a voice that made it obvious she was reading straight from the book, “but your friends are all here to help you through it. If you need anything from us, we are all here for you.” Rainbow Dash looked over at the lavender alicorn and groaned. “Really Twilight?” Rainbow Dash asked. “Could you be any more obvious?” “Well at least I’m trying to help,” Twilight said in an annoyed tone of voice as she looked back at Rainbow Dash. “What have you done so far?” “Well excuuuuuse me princess!” Rainbow Dash squabbled with a hoof trust in Twilight’s direction. It didn’t hit her, but it served a point. “I’m not good with all of this whole mushy stuff. Soarin’ is the one that’s better with all of that.” “Where is Soarin anyways?” Applejack asked. Twilight and Rainbow Dash stopped their arguing and snapped their heads over to look over to their friends, just suddenly remembering that the friend they want to help out was here right now. “Shouldn’t he be with ya both right about now?” Applejack mumbled the next part of her speech. “And askin me for some pie?” “Well saw Apple Bloom on the fly in here, or at least me and Soarin did since we left Twilight in the dust,” Rainbow Dash said braggingly, gaining her another angry look from Twilight. “Show’s just why you’re the Element of Loyalty,” Twilight mumbled sarcastically. “Hay, if a monster suddenly came and attacked I would have come back without a second thought,” Rainbow Dash pointed out as she turned back to look at Twilight. “And might I remind you because you pointed that out you almost beat me in the race anyways? If I weren’t so loyal I would have beat you by a mile easily.” The Apple Family, plus Caramel and Applejack all looked at each other as Twilight and Rainbow Dash started bickering again. They all enjoyed a good laugh as they listened to the athletic pegasus and the book smart unicorn fight about something somewhat pointless. It was of course their combined laughter that clued Twilight and Rainbow Dash back into noticing them. “You guys are…laughing?” Twilight asked as she flipped through the pages of the book. “This can’t be. According to the Kübler-Ross model you shouldn’t be reaching the stage of Acceptance until last stage. And even after that it should take you weeks before you are able to laugh. You are going much faster than you should be.” “Trust me, this isn’t nearly as hard as we laughed last night,” Breaburn said as he moved past Applejack and in front. “Ya should have been there. Pinkie and me threw a party for the Apple Family to help them feel better. And we had a real good laugh during that party thanks to that little dragon of yours.” “Spike?” Twilight asked. “What about him?” Braeburn pulled out a picture from his saddle bag and Twilight used her magic to put the book she had down on the table and then after setting it perfectly on the table Twilight levitated that photo in front of her face. She looked at it for a few minutes, taking in all of it’s features before she started laughing hysterically from what was depicted on the picture. Rainbow Dash’s curiosity got the better of her so she went behind Twilight to try and see what Twilight was looking at, but Twilight kept snapping the letter away from Rainbow Dash’s view, much to her annoyance. Rainbow Dash back and forth a few inches behind Twilight in order to get a better view, but Twilight’s magic was faster than Rainbow Dash’s acceleration. “Oh come on!” Rainbow Dash said. “Will you let me see the picture?” “Nope,” Twilight said. “Consider this your parenthood lesson in patience. You’ll need it. After all, patience is a virtue.” “But it’s a boring virtue!” Rainbow Dash said as this time she rounded Twilight in a flash and stole the photo right out from in front of her face. Rainbow Dash then looked at it herself and fell to the floor, landing hard on her back, laughing. “Hahahaha, poor Spike!” Rainbow Dash said as she kicked her hooves in the air from laughing. “He gets more kisses from Winona then he’s ever gotten from Rarity!” “Uhh…Rainbow Dash,” Twilight said. “Rarity…has gotten her own coltfriend and…it isn’t Spike.” “Oh,” Rainbow Dash said. She stopped laughing and got back up on her four hooves, feeling guilty. “Sorry.” Rainbow Dash handed the picture back to Braeburn and then walked back to her position next to Twilight. “Yeah she told me hoping I could help her let Spike down gently,” Twilight said. “I gave her advice from the book ‘letting your friend down gently’ but I’m still not sure how well Spike took it.” “Well Spike looked like he was havin a good time last night,” Applejack said. “And he and Apple Bloom apparently were havin a fun time playin yesterday. So Ah don’t think things were too bad for them. Speaking of Apple Bloom…” Applejack said in a deliberate voice to make Twilight and Rainbow Dash realize they still haven’t told her about that. “Oh yeah!” Rainbow Dash realized. “Anyways we saw Apple Bloom while flying over here and since Scootaloo was on my back I was going to drop her off to play with Apple Bloom, but Soarin’ wanted me me and Twilight to move on instead. So I had Scootaloo fly over on Soarin’s back and me and Twilight moved on.” ~ “Hay Apple Bloom!” Scootaloo called down from on top of Soarin’s back. Apple Bloom looked up into the blue skies to see the white pegasus stallion slowly descending towards the ground. As she looked up Scootaloo moved a bit to the side so Apple Bloom could see her. As soon as Scootaloo was in viewing distance of Apple Bloom she lifted a hoof in the air and started waving towards her friends. As soon as Soarin’ was just a few yards over the ground Scootaloo hopped off Soarin’ and hovered back to the ground afterwards. She landed on the ground right in front of Apple Bloom after doing a quick front flip. Scootaloo then looked over at her friend, thinking of what exactly to say. Scootaloo hadn’t talked to Apple Bloom lately because of Granny Smith’s death and even though she wanted to help her friends, just like Rainbow Dash Scootaloo wasn’t really good with all of the sappy stuff. So she decided to talk about the show last night in hopes to cheer her up. "You should really have seen last night's show!" Scootaloo said. "Man, was it awesome! They did so many cool loop-de-loops and tricks! They even did this one trick where they all flew real high up into the air!" Scootaloo jumped up and started flying high in order to act out what they had been doing. "And then they all flew around Rainbow Dash with her in the middle!" Scootaloo started flying downwards as a demonstration, and Soarin' spread his wings out, just in case he needed to catch her. "Rainbow Dash went faster and faster and faster-" Scootaloo didn't go down that fast, though, to Soarin's relief. "Then she did a Sonic Rainboom with the Wonderbolts all around her, and they somehow caused the colors to go bright and flashy!" Scootaloo finally settled back down on the ground. "Finally, once they reached where I was, they all went off in different directions, except for Rainbow Dash, who was still in the middle. This huge explosion of colors went into the audience! It was so awesome! You really should see one of their shows some day! Hey, as soon as she's back on season, why don't I have Rainbow help me get you tickets? “Naw it’s ok Scootaloo,” Apple Bloom said. “Ah’m feelin less sad today then Ah was before. Ya don’t hafta go through all that for me.” “No I’m going to,” Scootaloo said. “I was going to do this anyways. I’m just also bringing along Sweetie Belle to join in on the fun.” “Well alright but…” Apple Bloom looked away as she thought for a second. “If ya can get ticket for Sweetie Belle and me then…can ya also get tickets for Spike?” Apple Bloom looked back at Scootaloo. “Please?” “Uhh…yeah I guess,” Scootaloo said as she put confusion on her face. “Why?” “Well uhh…Spike sort of got let down by Rarity and…Ah think it would really help him,” Apple Bloom said. “Ok, I’ll make sure to get him tickets as well,” Scootaloo said. Scootaloo then turned around and looked at Soarin’. Apple Bloom also went to her side and looked over at Soarin’. “Yes, we can probably get you guys three tickets when we’re back in season,” Soarin’ said. “Anyways, you two can go off and play now. Just make sure to come back to Sweet Apple Acres before nightfall. That’s where you’ll find Rainbow Dash and me.” “You're probably going to be stuffing your face with pie,” Scootaloo mumbled. “Ah never really got that,” Apple Bloom said. “Why do ya like pie so much? Especially our pie.” Soarin’s face flashed a bit of worry for a few seconds but he quickly got rid of his worried expression as soon as it came. He managed to flash through that before Apple Bloom and Scootaloo noticed anything. He then put on a normal, if somewhat forced, smile on his face. “Because it’s just that good,” Soarin’ lied. “I’ll uhh…see you two later.” Soarin’ then took off from the ground with his wings extended and ready to fly, leaving the two fillies to play. He turned around and flew in the direction of Sweet Apple Acres, passing over the grassy fields below. He flew as hard as he could, going at speeds that only Wonderbolts tend to go at. Sorry…I lied to you, Soarin’ thought as he flew, his wings beating rhythmically behind him. I just…I can’t tell you that. At least not now after you just lost Granny Smith. You’re happy right now, and your sister probably is also. So I can’t tell you about the pie that saved my life…or the fact that I was probably the last pony to see your parents alive.