An elderly green mare approached. She moved slowly, peering at Sandow, taking him all in, muttering something to herself that Sandow could not hear. Her joints were knobby, and it was clear that she was old. But not as old as he was, he thought, thinking about what was said earlier. He remained silent. She had a lifetime of experience that he did not, something he respected.
“Granny Smith, this is Sandow Apple. Sandow, Granny Smith Apple.” Applejack said, introducing them to one another.
“Get down here!” Granny Smith demanded, finally reaching Sandow. He lowered his head, trying to be as respectful as possible. He felt a hoof against his cheek, moving and pressing the skin around, and then against his ear, doing the same, and finally the wizened old mare peered into his eyes, staring for a very long time, saying nothing, and making Sandow very uncomfortable. She walked around him, poking his ribs, kicking his hooves, making a full circle and nodding occasionally.
“He’s an Apple alright.” Granny Smith said after a moment. “Got good manners too, letting a wrinkly old nag poke at him. That dragon, Spike, he done told me a fair bit about what happened.”
She turned to enter the house. “Come on youngins, I have supper on the table. That dragon was awful helpful.”
She pushed her way through the door and was gone from view. The house loomed before him, as large as a palace, or so he believed. He had never actually seen a palace, but he had heard stories. Signs of wealth were everywhere. Every window had glass. Doors had metal fixtures. The walls were painted. There was decorative metal finishes all over.
“Come on.” Applejack said, giving Sandow a gentle push. “Let’s go. Before she gets all irritated and ill.”
Sandow stepped through the door and into a large room. He had no idea what it was that he was looking at, most of what he was seeing being completely new to him. He stood, frozen and confused, trying to take it all in. There were lamps, glowing with strange light. Big metal boxes. Strange metal pipes protruded from the wall. It was strange, all of it strange.
He felt another shove. “Go sit at the table. You can do that.” Applejack said patiently.
Granny Smith was sitting at the head of the table, and tapped her hoof on the table. “Right here, next to me.” She said warmly. Sandow did as he was told, trying to figure out how to sit on the wooden bench. He stumbled and nearly fell to the floor twice, but finally figured out how to settle in. He leaned against the table, hoping that he wasn’t doing anything wrong. The table was also covered in signs of wealth. Plates. Tableware. Food. So much food.
The others sat down at the table as well, and food began to be passed around.
They were doing something strange with their hooves. He stared.
Granny Smith waved a spoon at him. “Dig in.” She said.
“How…”
Applejack bopped her noggin with a hoof. “Sorry Sandow, I’ll explain later about the hoof thing. We’ll have to get you fitted for some special shoes. Help him somepony!”
Sandow sat as his plate was being loaded with more food than he knew what to do with. Different types of food, all in one meal. Like the fruit salad, it was a lot to take in. Mashed potatoes. Hot buttery corn. And peas. And green beans. And other things that he didn’t recognise. More and more kept being piled on his plate.
It wasn’t long until his plate had more food than he usually ate in a week.
He stared, wide eyed, unable to respond to the situation. He felt something cold stab him in the ribs.
“Go on, eat!” Applejack said, stabbing him in the ribs again with a spoon somehow held in her hoof.
Sandow ate. He stuffed his muzzle into his plate, trying to be as polite as possible, not knowing what good manners were any more. He ate. And ate. And kept eating. Until he felt like he was going to pop. And then he kept eating for quite some time more, as more food kept being added to his plate.
There was some kind of apple dish called a ‘cobbler’ that was the greatest thing he had ever tasted.
Finally, he couldn’t another bite. He sat on the bench, exhausted from eating, realising the table seemed awful quiet. His neck prickled as he came to the realisation that he was being watched, every eye at the table staring at him.
“You was starved.” Granny Smith said, her tone sad. “Feel better?”
He was surprised when Applejack wiped his face with a piece of cloth. Cloth! Something as valuable as cloth, being used to wipe away a mess. He realised that the table was covered in cloth as well. He began to stare, taking everything in. So much stuff. Items. Material goods. Everywhere. Spoons, Forks. Things that he had heard stories about. Stuff that unicorns kept. Things he didn’t recognise.
“You was married.” Granny Smith said, breaking his concentration. “Tell us about them.”
Sandow sat, unsure of what to say, suddenly very uncomfortable.
“Come on, out with it.” Granny Smith said. “How didja meet?”
Sandow sat, trying to flog his brain into cooperation.
“I won them. Gambling.” He replied at last, not sure what else to say.
“What?” Said Applebloom, her eyes wide, mouth open, a buttery kernel of corn stuck to her chin.
“I was in a logging town. I was passing through…” Sandow paused, thinking, “I had been there a few times, occasionally getting work. And somepony was offering two young mares, untouched, in a winner take all game. Took ten coppers to play.”
“I’m confused.” Applejack said.
“Untouched?” Applebloom asked.
“Shush ‘Bloom.” Applejack said, glaring at her sister.
“Their father had sold them to pay off his debts.” Sandow continued. “Over a dozen ponies had tossed in their coppers. The stallion with the mares made a fortune getting ponies to pay to play.” He paused. “A lot of the gamblers were logging camp owners who wanted the two mares to be camp mares.” Sandow scowled.
“I don’t understand.” Applebloom said.
“Later ‘Bloom.” Applejack said.
“They didn’t have much to look forward to.” Sandow said. "I tossed in my coppers with honourable intentions.”
Sandow paused, reflecting, thinking about a lot of things. “I suppose in these times, they wouldn’t be mares. But fillies. They were younger than I am by a year or two.” He hung his head thoughtfully.
“So, how didja win?” Granny Smith said curiously.
“Oh, I didn’t win.” Sandow said, causing everypony to look very confused.
“I knew the owners of the public house. I had done some work for them, hunting down debtors and thieves. They owed me a favour. They put tincture of Elder’s Relief into the round of drinks for the gamblers.” Sandow said, his face furrowed. “I cheated.”
“That’s… That’s… Why, that’s a laxative!” Granny Smith said, suddenly scowling, her wrinkled brow furrowing. Big Mac snorted in surprise and disgust. Applebloom stared, her eyes wide with horror, coming to a frightful realisation.
“I don’t know what you mean.” Sandow said.
“It gives ya the green apple splatters!” Granny Smith said in alarm.
Sandow winked. “Yeah it does. And it did. After a few rounds, there were explosive results. I snatched up the mares and the coppers required for play, and I high tailed it out of town.”
“You!” Granny Smith said, her voice low. “You! Yer a rotten apple. You fight dirty. And you stole those coppers.”
Sandow hung his head, shame prickling along the base of his ears.
“Good colt. Sometimes, a pony has to kick below the tail.” Granny Smith said, nodding wisely. “Buncha scum got what they had comin’.”
Sandow smiled faintly, feeling better.
“Yer still a rotten apple, and I have my eye on you.” Granny Smith said. “So what happened after that?”
“We ran for a long time. They were scared of me. I owned them and they knew that I could do whatever I wanted to them. And they were too scared to run, worried what others might do to them. It was a rough part of the world. I didn’t lay a hoof on them though or make them do anything. I left them alone.”
Sandow smiled sadly, his eyes watering.
“I just let them be.” He said. “I kept them safe. I had to beat some manners into ponies that wanted to buy them and wouldn’t take no for an answer, and nearly killed a pony that tried to steal one of them. Eventually, we made it to nicer patch in the world. I had two nice mares that were starting to trust me, a big bag of coppers and even a few gold and silver coins, and all the cockiness I could muster.”
Sandow yawned, unable to help himself. He was exhausted. And full.
“I returned to my sire Thud and my dam Bailey Sweet for advice.”
“Yer damn what?” Applejack asked, her voice angry.
Granny Smith rolled her eyes. “Shush Applejack”
“I settled down, stopped roaming, and bought an orchard.” Sandow said, yawning again. He felt his head droop.
“Applejack, be a dear. Get him upstairs to his room before he falls over.” Granny Smith said, her voice soft. “Good night Rotten Apple.” She added, chuckling.
Sandow struggled off of the bench, his hind legs finding it difficult to dismount the bench, and followed Applejack through the enormous house. She stood at the bottom of a flight of stairs, gesturing at him to go up.
He climbed slowly, Applejack behind him, his hooves heavy on the wooden stairs. At the top of the stairs, she nudged him towards the left, and he turned down the hall. She stopped him in front of a door, pushing it open.
“This is the bathroom.” She said, “If’n ya need to go.”
Sandow stared. He had no idea what the room was, or what anything inside of it did.
Applejack stopped her hoof in frustration. “Dagnabbit, I forgot.” We’ll show you what this is later. If you have to need to let some water out, go outside. Or anything else for that matter. There’s scrub and bushes.” She paused for a moment. “Just don’t piss off of the porch like Big Mac. Stinks when the heat of the day hits it.”
She escorted him down the hall, to a door at the end. It was open. She pushed him gently through the door.
He stood in the room, trying to take everything in. Cloth was everywhere. And glass. And wood. And furniture. More than one table. Lamps. And a bed, a very strange looking bed, but he could recognise it as a bed. Applejack gently shoved him over, causing him to fall onto the bed. Outside the window, the sun was setting, the sky was purple and orange.
Sandow felt another yawn escaping.
The bed replaced the sofa he had sat on earlier as the most comfortable thing he had ever rested upon. He felt his eyes grow heavy as something heavy was pulled over him.
“This quilt is a little old, but it’s warm as all get out.” Applejack said after releasing the quilt from her teeth.
His head was resting on something soft. He thought he could feel feathers. He didn’t know what it was, but it was soothing and somewhat cool against his cheek, standing out in contrast to the suddenly very warm bed and quilt. The feathers inside the cloth reminded him of his father’s wings when he was still very small.
It had been a long day. A day lasting hundreds of years. He was tired.
Sandow slipped into peaceful slumber as his distant relative kissed him goodnight.