Blue skies. Sun. A warm breeze and the familar scent of a friend.
Am I dreaming?, was the first thought to go through Applejack's head as she began to wake up.
The feathers that tickled her ears as she shifted her head told her otherwise. She snorted as a primary teased her nostrils, making the owner wiggle a bit in her sleep. The noise made her aware of the pony curled up against her in turn, grunting a little in her sleep as a hoof waved in the air. Did they save another pony after I fell over?, turned out to be thought number two. A half-grown filly with an oddly familiar hat covering her eyes, a red ribbon tied in her mane behind the neck. Pink and blonde, but old enough to have a cutie mark that was a twin to the hat in every way.
Something sawed wood next to Applejack's head and she twitched again, upsetting the delicate balance of the pony-pileup she'd been sleeping in. Luna rolled onto one side and resumed snoring, her nose pointed into the air and her tongue lolling out to one side of her wide-open mouth.
"She's never been a quiet sleeper."
Applejack flailed briefly at the voice in her ear, managing to finish rolling Luna on to her belly and sending the filly into murmured protests about a few more minutes as her pillow shoved itself onto open ground. More gently, the long-legged Celestia rose to her feet and settled the filly against Luna.
"There we are. Thine sister and mine can get a few more minutes in, twas' a long night."
"But...but...Megan? MEG?"
"Is quite well, quite tired, and right there."
"THAT'S NOT MEG!"
The shout managed to rouse the younger pony, who blinked away sleep and looked up. "Huh? Wha...who?"
"Your sister, er... Nut...meg. Nutmeg Apple, wasn't it? You were so afraid last night after that monster came that you ran here and would do anything for your little sister. Why, you thought she was dead! But see, Nutmeg's going to be fine."
"Is'm...reaaaaaally tired. Gonna...zzz....", the filly managed to get out before the exhaustion of a REALLY hard night put her back in dreamland. Coming back from the dead will do that.
"So, why don't we take a little morning stroll?"
---
"The best we could do, Applejack. What she had...there wasn't enough left of her to make a human out of, but with enough of YOU, there was enough to make a pony. One that won't be seen as "the monster" that devoured three towns and made Danny and Molly go who knows where but far away from all the ponies who loved them. Twas' not her fault, but anyone who saw her wouldn't think otherwise. And with what you gave her, she's as much your sister as if you'd been born from the same mother."
Celestia frowned a bit. "We were working on a new name, but I had to improvise a bit when you woke her up. Luna's filling in as many of the gaps in her head as she can while she sleeps, but Megan...er...Nutmeg will think that she's been a pony all her young life, and that being a hero or monster was the dreams and scary nightmares by the time she finally wakes up. A little pony who really doesn't know much except that YOU are her big sister who saved her and is the center of her world. A big sister she's going to need and love for a very, very long time."
The light went on in Applejack's head, and it never stopped shining. Not for a very, very long time.
---
The Apple family orchards were something to marvel at, for centuries to come. The sun and rain came right on schedule, no matter if a pegasus or three was around to herd them. Two sisters were the first- Applejack, who kept the crops and trees growing tall and sweet, and Nutmeg, who could keep all the farm ponies working together through anything, and even sweet-talked herds of the local cows, sheep and pigs to make themselves a home on the prospering farmstead. The kind of knowhow and partnerships the Apples made became common in other farms, even if none of them seemed to have quite the luck that the two sisters did.
Why, you could say they'd been blessed or something. When the time came, as everyone's does- Nutmeg put her hat on the pony she'd picked out to take her place when she went to the Last Roundup, and her favorite little daughter got the big red ribbon bow that she'd always wear in her mane. She started a tradition or two on the way out, and to this day, there's an Apple with a hat made of hoof-me-downs, daughters with a big red bow in their hair, and an Apple farm that always seems to have a bit of good luck just when it needs it, as long as they work hard, love their family and don't complain too much about the little things.
It's an Apple family tradition, after all.